MOSES AND PETER

In the thirty second chapter of Exodus we see Moses coming down from the mountain after a successful forty day foray to the top of Mount Sinai to receive the Law. This is a day that changes history. The Law of God is to be given to the Jewish nation. This will be their constitution; their law book; their founding document. They are now a nation. Their King will be God Himself. Their vice-regent is the man, Moses. He is on His way down from the mountain shrouded in darkness to deliver the Law. They have agreed to subscribe to it. God and His people will now be united by covenant. It will be a joyous time all around. But as Moses descends he hears human shouting. Joshua, the aide, insists it is the sound of war. Moses knows better. The people are partying. But why at such an august moment would they be yelling and dancing? Moses soon finds out. Tired of waiting for Moses to descend from the mountain, the people had clamored for a new god, a god they could see and relate to. Not that mysterious God hiding in a smoke-filled mountain. Aaron, the priest, orders a collection of jewelry and forges a golden calf. Now here is a god suited to their liking. They are not threatened by him, they can control him; they can even act silly around him. No smoke, no mystery, and, best of all, no need for sobriety. This is the god they always dreamed of. And better yet they can take him along on their trip back to Egypt. And won’t that be a jolly good trip filled with joy and laughter. Of course they did not once give thought to where they would get food and water. But that was only a minor detail. As Moses descends the mountain he gets the full picture. The Jews are dancing around golden object that looks like a bull. They are screaming and shouting and whooping it up. The author describes it as ‘eating and drinking and rising up to play.’ They love this new god. Moses and Yahweh are now completely irrelevant. The Jews have what they want; a tame God. Moses sees things differently. He comes from that old order where obedience matters, and where disobedience is punished. The rioting Jews think Moses is a grumpy old traditionalist. What’s all the fuss about a little sculpture? Moses is very angry… and so is God. He seeks out those who wish to follow Yahweh. The Levites respond. Moses tests their allegiance and commands them to kill the perpetrators. This do. After all is said and done, three thousand men lie dead. The covenant document has been violated. Moses breaks the twin stones. The Old Covenant is inaugurated in blood. It leaves behind a trial of death. And so it will ever be.

We move up the calendar 1500 years. We see another man coming off a mountain, a spiritual mountain. He has not gone up to meet a God shrouded in thick darkness. Rather God has come down to him by divided tongues of fire and a stiff wind. Like Moses this man will face a hostile crowd, a crowd who weeks before slaughtered the Jewish Messiah. But instead of wiping out the murderous crowd, this unlearned fisherman begins to preach a message of reconciliation. God will forgive them their rebellion if they will but repent and believe that the very One they murdered was the very Son of God. The contrast it startling. Instead of three thousand men dying by the hand of justice, three thousand will be saved by the hand of mercy. Who doesn’t see the symbolism here? Under Moses and the inflexible code of the Old Covenant the soul that sins must die. Later on someone will call it a ministry of death. This covenant has no choice but to punish the malefactors. Now comes Peter, the purveyor of the New Covenant. He preaches not a covenant of Law but a covenant of grace. Its message is forgiveness. Paul will call it the ministry of the Spirit. In this scene the malefactors are not killed but are spared. Three thousand Luke tells us (Acts 2:41). Do you see the message? Three thousand slain under the Old, three thousand spared under the New. The symbolism teaches us well. The letter of the Old Covenant kills, while the Spirit of the New Covenant brings life (2 Cor 3:6). Need we say more? Reader aren’t you glad you live under the New Covenant? You are sinner. You have rebelled against the living God. Your sin has murdered Jesus. But if you repent and trust Him as your Savior, your life will be spared; eternally. Ahh…. but if not, you will cast back at the foot of Sinai and there you will be judged for having rebelled against the Lord. And you will die just as those three thousand Jews died. And that forever. So which will it be?