THE GREAT INTERCESSOR

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'”

"I have seen these people," the Lord said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."

But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. "O Lord," he said, "why should Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that He brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on Your people. Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom You swore by Your own self: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.'”

Then the Lord relented and did not bring on His people the disaster He had threatened.

Exodus 32:7-14

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

While the people of Israel were having a good time disobeying God by worshipping their golden calf and engaging in revelry, we see in our scripture passage for today that the Lord wasn’t sharing in their good cheer. In fact, He was seething in anger.

Affirming the truth that He sees all things, fully aware of the sinful behavior committed by His people who had sworn to obey everything He commanded, we read where God fills Moses in on what was going on:

"Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'”

"I have seen these people," the Lord said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."

At this very juncture, the people of Israel were on the brink of annihilation. God was ready to hit the reset button, eliminating them all and starting fresh with just Moses as He promised to make him into a great nation, just as He did Abraham. The people of Israel needed a miraculous, merciful change of heart from God and as we see, this is exactly what took place.

For who could have ever imagined that the almighty God, the Maker and Master of all things, could convinced by a mere man to reconsider what He was going to do?

And yet, this is exactly what happened for we read Moses saying this to his Lord:

"O Lord, why should Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?

It was a question born out of incredible courage as it was essentially a challenge to what God wanted to do but it also was a question that showed just how loyal Moses was toward the people the Lord had given him to lead.

If Moses had only cared about himself, he could have just said, "You're right God. Go ahead and destroy all of the people. They deserve it. You can count on me to make sure it doesn't happen again when you make me and my offspring into a great nation." But he wasn’t in that mindset at all because his words show how much he genuinely cared for his brother and sister Israelites. And as we will see later, it wasn't that he didn't believe in justice being served because there would be consequences coming for the sins of his brother and the Israelites. All Moses was trying to do was prevent their complete destruction.

So what strategy did Moses us to try and persuade God?

There were two parts to his plan.

First, he uses the Egyptian deliverance as a leverage point, saying:

"O Lord, why should Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that He brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on Your people."

Moses definitely made a good point here. For if God did completely destroy His people, then the leaders of Egypt would be able to use it against Him, spinning His rescue of the Israelites as being done with evil motives. They would make the case that Israel’s God was malevolent in nature, only taking His people out of Egypt to slaughter them at Mount Sinai under the ruse of the exodus.

In other words, killing all the people of Israel would present a huge image problem for God.

Secondly, Moses used God's prior covenant promises to make his case.

"Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom You swore by Your own self: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.'”

The point that Moses was making was that if God did kill everyone, He would be essentially breaking the covenant He made prior with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob) because it would remove their present descendants and remove the possibility for any future ones.

So in sum, Moses is highlighting the problems that complete destruction of the Israelites could bring and the scriptures show us that his intercession worked for God “relented and did not bring on his people the disaster He had threatened."

The Lord had listened to Moses and although He would still bring punishment, it wouldn’t be in the extermination of all the Israelite people.

So what are our takeaways from today's message?

I would like to propose these three points:

1. We should never be afraid to stand up for what's right.

Deep down inside, Moses felt that killing all of Israel was not the right thing to do.

Punish them, yes.

Destroy them. no.

With this, He was willing to boldly bring his concerns to God and his blessed intercession saved the Israelites who were engaged in their sinfulness far below, unaware of what he was doing for them above.

Moses wasn’t afraid to stand up for what was right and believers today should do likewise.

2. Never underestimate the power of intercession.

Think about what happened.

Moses, a meager human being , was all that stood between God and the destruction of the Israelite people. In this passage, we see him plead a case for saving his brothers and sisters, and convince God to reconsider the consequences He would bring.

Friends, through the actions of Moses, we should clearly see the awesome power and possibility found in intercession. For we can see that we serve a God who does listen to His people and is just as willing to exercise mercy, grace, and restraint as He is wrath. If you are aware of anyone who needs someone to intercede for them today, I encourage you to go before the Lord and pray for that person. Like Moses, be that loving, caring, and even courageous, intervener who is willing to put themselves second to plead for another.

This leads to my final point.

3. Jesus was the Great Intercessor.

Where would we be today had it not been for the redeeming, powerful atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus?

I think I can say there’s a probability that I wouldn’t be writing this today or you would be reading it because God would have wiped us out a long time ago. Thank goodness that He “so loved the world” that He “gave His one and only Son” so that anyone who “believes in Him” wouldn’t “perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Because of the pardon He brings to a Christian believer, we are assured that there is “no condemnation” for those who are in Jesus (Romans 8:1). Everyone will come before God to answer for the way they lived and no person stands a chance on their own. But in the case of those who have placed their faith in Christ, He intercedes for them, pleading their case before His Father and sealing their future in Heaven.

In support of this truth, look at these words found in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews:

"Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need—One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever." 7:23-28

Indeed, Jesus interceded for us on the cross of Calvary and has continued to do so ever since, right up to this moment and forever on until the day when He returns.

Friends, is this not the good news that sets us free to live, love, and serve as God and His Son commanded? Is this not the good news that we are to be telling others about?

Today and every day, let us remember our responsibility to share the Gospel, a responsibility Jesus gave us through The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) for there is a multitude of unsaved people in the world who need to know that they have a Great Intercessor and Savior who is Christ the Lord.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.