THE JOURNEY RESUMED

Part 21

Exo. 33:1-6

Morning Meditation 11/22/16

Verse 1-6 says, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way. And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.”

The interlude is past and it is time to move on in the journey. God speaks to Moses in verse one and says, “ . . . Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto a land which I sware unto Agraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it.” The LORD said to Moses “Don’t forget what this deliverance is about. Don’t forget the reason for the journey. Keep the end in view.” God didn’t deliver Israel to bring them to Sinai. Sinai was just on the way. God didn’t save the people to put them under the law. That was just a temporary stopover on the way to Jesus! God told Moses that He had made a covenant with the fathers that He intended to keep. God always keeps His promises. He may not move fast enough to suit us, but He is never late and He never fails in a single promise. We are also a pilgrim people making our journey toward a promised land. The Christian that loses sight of the end will always end up wanderning aimlessly in the desert. I am afraid that is where a lot of Christians are today. They have lost sight of the purpose of their salvation. Romans 8:29 says, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Who do we favor? God’s purpose in savation is to conform us to the image of Christ. If we are not progressively looking more like Christ, God’s purpose is not being achieved in our lives. We must cooperate with what God is doing. He is making all things work together (vs 28) to achieve this purpose but He only works with volunteers (Rom. 12:1-3).

The next thing that the LORD says is a word of assurance. Verse 2 says, “And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:” God tells them there are some bad nations in the land but He will take care of them. The LORD tells Moses and the people that He will drive them out.. When the time comes they are not going to remember this promise. They are going to think they have to conquer the land and it just too big a job for them. We must live by the promises or we do not live by faith. 2 Pet.. 1:3-4 says, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” The word “partaker” translates “koinonos” which means “a partner, associate, comrade, companion.” It is an aorist tense verb and means that at the point of time we enter by faith (the only way possible) into the promises we become companions, partners and associates with God. What a thought! This is what Peter is saying. Faith has to have something to believe. It does not make up what it believes. God gives promises which are words of assurance of His presence and blessing along the way.

Before the journey could be resumed, the LORD had to make it clear that He understood their rebellious nature and the danger it put them in. God said, “ . . . for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.” First of all God knows us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. This addresses itself to the doctrine of total depravity. Jeremiah puts it like this: Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” The “heart” is the center of our intellectional and emotional being. The “heart” is deceitful above all things. This means we cannot follow our hearts. God says through Jeremiah that the heart is desperately wicked.. In all our sincerity, we may think because of past situations that we have gotten ourselves into, we have learned and won’t fail in the future.. But God knows we will. God tells them if I go up in your midst, you are dead. God is going to keep His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But to do this He must deal with their descendants in GRACE. They will never make it by law even though they have the law.

Israel entered into mourning when they heard these words. Verse 4 says, “And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.” This is the proper response to God’s revelation of our sins. There is no salvation apart from repentance. Repentance is a change of mind about ourselves, and God’s revelation that we are sinners. Repentance says, “God you are right about me. I am hopelessly lost. I cannot save myself. What will I do?” Repentance prepares us for faith in God’s answer for our sins. God’s answer is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Repentance is not just one act. It is an attitude of brokenness. David said in Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” David didn’t have this attitude when he sinned with Bathsheba. But he returned to it, when he was confronted by God with his sin. Christians sin the moment they take back their repentance. This is the reason we are to walk in humility and brokenness before God. Pride in the Christian is when he resumes the attitude he had before he was saved. Israel was a stiffnecked people but they knew how to repent.

Verse 7 says, “And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.”

This tent was not the one ordered by God in the mount for it was not yet made. It was a tent especially erected for the purpose of worship. It was a meeting place with God. It says, “ . . . that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.” God always has a special place where He meets with His people. It is the Church today. Eph. 3:21 says, “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” There are many criticisms that could be made of the church today. It has problems because it is made up of people! The original model had an unbeliever holding the office of an apostle. The first church had a boastful cocky apostle by the name Peter who went so far as to deny Christ. What need I say more? But I want to urge you not to build your life as a judge. There are no offices in the church for that position! Jesus loves the church in spite of her shortcomings. He said to the church of Laodecia in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” If you think Jesus in not in the church where you attend, then do what this verse says. Open the door! He has promised to come in and sup with you. When you do, you’ll feel like you have been to church, and the people you thought would have to get right before this happened, did not have to at all. It was you who had become so occupied with the faults of the people that you had ceased to enjoy HIM.

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White