Exodus 32:11  And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12  Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
13  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14  And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
15  And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16  And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.

The Old Testament is rich with typology. God knows we learn better with the help of visual aids. When God used a visual aid, He always made sure it was accurate to what He was seeking to teach. None of the aids were able to fully depict the ultimate plan.
In our text we see Moses’ response to the words of God after He pointed out the sin of the nation of Israel. It was not just a few of the people that had accepted the false gods. It was from Aaron on down that had accepted this wickedness.
Biblical conviction is important, but it has always been in short supply. The only way we, those who are saved, can increase our conviction is by spending more time in God’s Word and obeying what we know to be right. As we obey God, He leads us further along the way.
In our text, God was testing Moses. He knew what He was going to do. A true leader needs to have a love for the people he is called to lead. A leader cannot just walk away from those he is supposed to lead. A true Biblical leader wants to see God’s people become more Christlike all the time. He also wants to see lost people saved. A true Biblical leader would not try to deceive people into doing something that was not true.
Moses demonstrated on more than one occasion that he was a true Biblical leader. He could have agreed with God and assumed that a new nation built with his family as the root, might be better than what was there at that time. However, he pleaded with God to spare the nation.
Moses wanted to know why God was so angry with the people now. He brought them out of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. What would He prove if He would destroy them now? Furthermore, the Egyptians would certainly look at this and they would draw wrong conclusions. They would belittle the LORD and that would not be good for anyone.
Moses demonstrated that he was a type of Jesus Christ. He was a mediator between God and the nation of Israel. Jesus Christ is the Mediator between God and mankind in general.
Moses asked God to turn from what He had said He would do. Moses asked God to repent of the evil He had spoken of bringing against His people. It is important to note that repentance is not a turning from sin. Too often people say, ‘you must repent of your sins and be saved’. The Bible does not teach that. The Bible teaches that repentance for man is a turning to God and in so doing, the person is wanting to leave their past behind. It is only by the grace and power of God that any person can turn away from sin. The power to turn away from sin comes from God. He draws the lost to Himself. He provides the changed nature to the repentant sinner. The matter of repentance is a big doctrine. We will need to dive into that more in the future.
God never sinned and there was no one higher than Him to turn to. For God, repentance is a sense of being sorry for the direction He wanted to go. God did not make a mistake in what He told Moses here. God was grieved with the course Aaron had led the people in. He said what He said to test Moses relationship with the people he was to lead. Where was Moses’ heart? God has proved over and over again, that His desire is for people to know Him and not have to be punished. He provided Jesus Christ for the purpose of standing in the gap between wicked, lost mankind and a holy and righteous God. God began to reveal that plan in Genesis 3:15. He built on that promise and prophesied many things regarding the coming of the Messiah. All people from Adam on, need to trust in His promise in order to be forgiven and saved. Most have chosen to reject His promise, and they behave just like Aaron and the people did here.
In verse 13, Moses reminded God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel (Jacob). God had promised them a land. He also promised them that He would multiply their seed as the stars of heaven. If God would kill the people and start over with Moses, that would break that promise. God cannot break His promises.
God was testing Moses and Moses passed the test. A mediator is someone who steps into the path of the person and intercedes on their behalf. Jesus is greater than Moses. Moses could plead with God but he could not redeem the children of Israel. Jesus Christ would go to the cross and shed His blood for mankind and offer man the opportunity to be forgiven and saved.
In verse 14 we read that the LORD repented of the evil He had spoken of. We see here an example of the fervent prayer of a righteous man. There needs to be an acceptable intercessor who can come before the LORD and plead on behalf of those in need. Not just anyone can take on this task. Aaron certainly was not in any condition to do this. He was more guilty than the people. He had the responsibility of guiding the people in the right way. He chose to be a puppet of the people, rather than rebuke them for their evil thoughts.
After God agreed to Moses’ plea, Moses went down the mount with the two tables of the testimony in his hands. These tables were written on both sides. God did the writing. These were important tables. The words on them were God’s Words. God’s Word must be respected. We do not worship His Words. We worship Him. However, God warns several times that man should not tamper with His Word. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.
Moses would act in anger when he would actually see what the people had done while he was in the presence of the LORD. He would demonstrate in a small way, the anger that God had expressed against the people.
God’s people have the privilege today to intercede on behalf of others who do not have the right to come before the LORD. We need to pray for those who are saved. However, we also need to pray for those who are not part of God’s spiritual family. We all have lost family members and others who are also lost. Some of them might assume they are saved and they might think they have access to the heavenly throne of grace. The fact is that lost people are very limited in their ability to speak to God. They can pray and ask God to forgive them and save them. God will hear that prayer from a repentant sinner. Lost people cannot ask God to guide them in their decisions, etc.
Again, many of them are deceived and they assume they can pray to God for anything. Sometimes they get an answer they wanted and they assume that God heard their prayer. The Bible tells us the rain falls on the just and on the unjust. God is good and He gives lost people many things in spite of their rebellion against Him.
Again, we do not judge truth by the results we see. We judge truth based on Truth. The Word of God is Truth. Lost people are separated from God due to their sin nature. They need to be forgiven and given a new nature. That happens at salvation.
Saved people can pray for lost people. They can pray for their salvation. They can also ask God to be merciful to some suffering lost person, for the purpose of seeing that person get saved. God does not want anyone to go to hell. Saved people do not want to see others go to hell either. We want to see people broken and trusting in the Lord for salvation.
Intercessory prayer is important. It is a privilege to be able to pray for others. It is an important ministry that God gives to His children. Be sure you are a true child of God and that you have access to His throne of grace to find grace to help in time of need. Don’t be deceived into thinking you will find help at that throne of grace when you do not know the Lord. If you know the Lord, you will desire to follow Him faithfully. That inner fact will be expressed by Biblically sound outer actions.
Pastor Bartel