Exodus Chapter 34 "Moses' Fifth Descent. [1 - 3]"
This
Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's
transcription/ location Exodus 34:1 And the Lord said unto Moses, "Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest."Sure God made the first two tables that held the ten commandments for Moses; but after Moses threw them to the ground and broke them. Moses will have to make the next two by himself, however God will do the writing on the stone for Moses. So the first covenant that God made with the children of Israel was broken; but God is telling Moses that I'm going to make another one with you and the children of Israel. Of course the ten commandments are the very foundation of that first covenant. Exodus 34:2 "And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to Me in the top of the mount." "Sinai" in the Hebrew text means "the bush of Yah [God]" This is where Moses went that first time before he was called to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, it was where Moses went to get the first covenant, and he is going back up on this sixth trip for God to reestablish the covenant with His people. Exodus 34:3 "And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be see in all the mount, neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount." Our heavenly Father doesn't want to see any of the children of Israel, nor their flocks in the area feeding. God is still mad at the Israelites for their idolatry during Moses' last trip up on the mount. Exodus 34:4 "And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone." Moses hewed two table of stone, and made them just like the first tables, only the writing was left off the face of the stone tables. Those two tables were polished and shined in the sun. So the next morning Moses got up early, and took those two tables of stone and ascended back up on Mount Sinai for the sixth time. So this is the sixth trip up the mountain for Moses, and the path must be well worn to the top. Moses is coming up on the mountain to see and talk to the Father. Do you know the way to the Father? That is what the chapter of the tabernacle was all about. How to cleanse yourself to get ready to face and talk to the Father. In Moses' day, you went into the table of offering to cleanse yourself, Then go pass the altar of incense, to please God, and then before the candlestick, to find the light, and on to the mercy seat that rest on the Ark of the Covenant, where our Lord sits to have Mercy on those that seek Him in the manner He sets forth. All these things are "ensamples" examples to us living in these end times, as to how we are to approach our heavenly Father. Today it is the condition of your heart that matters. Do you know the way to the Lord to find peace of mind and contentment? Exodus 34:5 "And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord." The Lord came down in a cloud and stood right along side of Moses. Though God was with Moses, Moses still could not see Him in that other dimension, they did communicate face to face. Exodus 34:6 "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, "The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth," God is giving to Moses His full title, for our Heavenly father is merciful to those that come to Him in repentance in Jesus' name. He is gracious and longsuffering as we read in I Peter 3:8, 9; "But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." [8] "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." [9] Our heavenly Father wants to bless those with his goodness and truth for all that are willing to seek His truth and follow His Way. God is not angry with you, unless you deserve the correction that comes your way. Exodus 34:7 "Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, That will by no means clear the guilty; and visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." Sure God will forgive iniquity and transgressions and sin, but God will not clear the guilty while they stand guilty before Him. They must deserve to be cleared before their is forgiveness. You can pray an intercessory prayer for another person, and pray that prayer the rest of your life, but the mercy and forgiveness for sin is not given until that sinner repents in Jesus' name, and comes under the blood of Christ. God will not redeem an unrepentive sinner that is guilty. Why would God continue visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children, grandchildren to the third and forth generation? God will continue the iniquity to the tenth and twentieth generation, if those children continued in the path of iniquity that their father followed. If the father took up the heathen worship of the Canaanites, in their grove worship, of their sexual orgies, such as practice hundreds of years later when Paul was in Corinth. Then that generation that was practicing those orgies would have the same degree of guilt as their forefathers that started it some twenty five hundred years prior. This is the same as in Exodus 20:5,6 "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and forth generation of them that hate Me: And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments." The condition that exists here is that when the children stop the wicked ways of their father's traditions and and turn to God to follow his laws and commandments, then God will show his love and mercy to those future generation. It is up to you personally whether you are to find mercy with the Father. He set the Way, and when you follow that you, you have His love and protection; but when you stay in the heathen practice of daddy's ways and tradition of the past, you will be judged just like the others in that way. The children are just as guilty as the parents because they follow in the same path and sin as the parents followed. Exodus 34:8 "And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped." Moses is standing in the presence of the Lord, and He bowed his head in prayer. Exodus 34:9 "And he said, "If now I have found grace in Thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray Thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked People; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance." Moses knew that the children of Israel were a stiff-necked people, and he had seen the doubt and distrust every time the people grew restless over something. They would see miracles happen before their eyes, and still not trust that the Lord would protect and provide for them. So here Moses is asking God to find grace in His sight for the people in spite of their shortcomings. Exodus 34:10 "And He said, "Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy People I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the People among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee." The things that God will do for His people, the children of Israel, will be an astonishing thing. It will be done for the People, and the people will see that their God will protect them in their travels. Exodus 34:11 "Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hettite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite." It was through the Perizzite that some of the giants, the offspring of the second influx of the fallen angels lived. The Jebusites are the ones that built the city of Jerusalem, where David hundreds of years later would take and dedicate to God. However, even with this promise of God's mercy and works for His people, Moses would send out spies, or scouts to view the promise land to see who and what was over there. When these spies came back, they had some awesome fairy tales of what they say, and the people believed their lies. In this verse, Moses is being told by God that He is going to chase them out and get rid of them, they will not be there. However even today we are being fed giant stories, things that will happen in our day, that go against the Word of God. Some of the stories are stretched to the limits, yet many people calling themselves Christian will take those lies as truth, rather then trust in what God has said through His Word. If you hear such stories you know to be a lie, we are to make a stand and put down those lies right were they are told. There are no giant to a Christian, and we don't allow people putting us under the fear of something that will not happen. God gave you the authority over the serpents and scorpions, the Kenites (Satan's kids,) and the fallen angels and demonics when the arrive, and you don't have to live in fear. Their are no giants to you. When this lie was heard and believed by the children of Israel in the wilderness, it caused an entire generation to die out there in their travels. The heard the lies that there were giants in the land, and they believed it. The people themselves prevented themselves from entering into the promise land, and they paid a price for not listening to God. God told them that the land was clean of these people; yet they would not believe Him. This then is part of that new covenant, and in that covenant there are no giants in our land. Don't live in fear that God can't protect you, when He says that He will. Exodus 34:12 "Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:" God is telling us, just as He told Moses; When you go amongst heathenistic people in a religious sense, Be careful what you pick up and listen to. Today we have religious freedoms, and there are those that would like to silence God and His people, and allow only the heathen tripe to be said. Godless people are all over our land, just as they were when the children of Israel entered into the promise land. Even if somebody calls themselves a Christian we still have to be careful what we pick up from them, for many of them teach and believe the imaginations of men, and not the Word of God. Exodus 34:13 "But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:" God's instructions to His people was when you enter into the promise land, the first thing you do is destroy their altars, break down their images and cut down their groves; God is telling these children of Israel to tare down their church houses, the places they go whoring after their gods. Their altars are where they burn their sacrifice to heathen gods; their images are their sacred pillars where they go to worship; and their groves are the trees grouped together for their phallic image worship. It is in the groves where they practice their lose sex rites and lascivious practices in the name of religion. Grove worship was started in the very earliest of times by the Canaanites, one of the nations that were still occupying the land that God was giving to the children of Israel. We aren't allowed to do that in our land today, for their church houses are protected by law. However we are to keep ourselves armed with the Gospel armor on and in place, so that we know how to walk in the world today. Exodus 34:14 "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, Whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" Our God is a Jealous God! Don't forget that, for it ties right into this commandment. Thou shalt worship on other god. God is jealous over you when you claim to be one of His children. God created your very soul, and He doesn't like His children worshipping and chasing after some of His creation. Exodus 34:15 "Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;" This isn't talking about the people, it is talking about their religion. It's one things to live next to a foreigner, one of these six nations; but it is still another thing to go whoring after their religion, and given your money to their fake ministries. Don't expect God's blessings on you when you go whoring after ways that go against the Word of God. When you move into a new area, it is important to get along with those that are your new neighbors. God is telling you to keep your distance from them, and don't mix with them. If you desire to serve God, we just don't do those things. We just don't mess around with false teachings and false teachers. If it doesn't align with the Word of God, it is false, and should be treated the same way as sacrifices to false gods. Stay away from fake religions. If it called a religion, stay away from it, for Christianity is not a religion but a reality. A way of live to be followed. Exodus 34:16 "And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods." If you start messing around with any fake and bad religion, your sons and daughter will be drawn right into the middle of it, by your endorsement of it. Exodus 34:17 "Thou shalt make thee no molten gods." Our God is a jealous God, and if you don't want trouble in your live, then don't mess with any thing that can be put between you and our heavenly Father. If you know some religious group or teaching is false and partake in it, God will cut you off from His blessings. This is the mark of the hand of the beast of the end times is. The giving of service to some heathen religious belief or teaching: Helping it along. It is doing the work of Satan, It makes our Heavenly Father mad. Matthew 24:19 "And woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!" This is spiritual, for we are to remain spiritual virgins, part of the bride of Christ, and when our Lord Jesus Christ returns, many will find themselves with Satan's child, not physical child, but they gave of themselves to Satan, and helped out to being other to Satan and his work. They will be spiritually impregnated by Satan's lies, and nursing the work of Satan through what they do and say. God hates it, so watch out for those religions that go against the Word of God. Our God is jealous. Exodus 34:18 "The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt." "The feast of unleavened bread" is our Passover, and today Christ is our Passover. The unleavened bread today is Christ's body, and we keep it by our taking of the communion table. That is the bread that we eat at communion. Remember that God set the time that this was to be taken each year, and Passover was marked off from the Spring Vernal Equinox, fourteen days, beginning with the fifteenth. This communion marks the time that the children of Israel came out of bondage and captivity in Egypt, and today God has set us free by the truth from His Word. So even today on the day of Passover, our communion still mark that day, and our freedom from the captivity of Satan and his bondage. Exodus 34:19 "All that openeth the matrix is Mine; and every firstling among the cattle, whether ox of sheep, that is male." Did you know that your soul belongs to God. Every person and creature that is born is a created being of God. That's why God gets jealous when you put other religious forms before Him, and give images credit for what God has done. Exodus 34:20 "But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. and none shall appear before Me empty." An ass is an unclean animal, and that is why the life of the ass is redeemed with a lamb. The ass is not fit for sacrifice in any form to God, for it is a work animal. You let a little lamb take the asses place or you kill the ass by breaking it's neck. God is telling us that when your sons come to Me, let them have their sacrifice in hand. We don't sacrifice any more, because Christ's blood on the cross is the only sufficient sacrifice that is acceptable to God. But the sacrifice we give to God is our sacrificial love for our Heavenly Father. We place our Lord for God on the altar of God. If the Lord leads you to give the tithe and gift, so be it. Exodus 34:21 "Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest." This second sacrifice is given at "earing time", when the corn starts to come forth, and in the "harvest time", after the harvest has been completed. After all the crops are in, everybody, including the animals sit back and take a rest. When Christ went to the cross, He became our Sabbath, as is recorded in I Corinthians 5:6, 7. So as much as Christ became our rest, He also became our Passover, our "unleavened bread" perfect in every way. So our Sabbath is every day of the week, for we rest in Christ. The Sabbath was not made for God, but was made for man. Exodus 34:22 "And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the "feast of ingathering" at the year's end." So these are the three times during the year that God expects you and I to observe Him and off our sacrifice of love through our taking of the communion table. The Passover, the earing time which is also called Pentecost, and the feast of weeks or ingathering in the fall Equinox are set times of the Lord. Notice that our taking of the communion table here is by the solar calendar. Exodus 34:23 "Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before The Lord God, the God of Israel." God requirement is for three times a year all the children of god shall appear before the Lord. Exodus 34:24 "For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year." God is promising the people that if they will come before the Lord this three times a year, He will protect their land while they are making that journey to appear before the Lord. When they did it God's way no matter where they were, they would live in peace. Exodus 34:25 "Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left unto the morning." "Leaven" is symbolic of sin, and we are not to have sin in our house. Today this is becoming very difficult with radio and television and many of the printed material that comes through the doors of our homes. Today people through out all the yeast and clean their house to be spotless, yet they leave their televisions and computers on to the filth of the world. This is what God is concerned with, that when you do clean your home, make that cleansing complete. Exodus 34:26 "The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk." Notice that this second covenant is identical to the first covenant that God made with Moses and the children of Israel. Some parts of that first covenant are strengthened. There was a belief that if you seethe a kid in milk it made the meat very tender and good tasting. The point here is that if you do seethe a kind in milk, make it milk from another animal that that kid's mother. It is a moral position, to take a mother's child, and seethe it in the milk that belong to the child for its growth. It gets down to compassion, not only with those around you, but also to the animal world. This also messes over the beauty between the relationship of mother and child. For this earth age of the flesh is a time of testing, and we all must enter it once through our mother's womb, to be tested, before we pass on. Exodus 34:27 "And the Lord said unto Moses, "Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel." God is telling Moses that this is the second covenant. This is the law and commandments of God, and Jesus Christ told us that He did not come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it. His death on the cross did away with all those blood ritual sacrifices, and allowed us to go directly to the mercy seat of God in repentance. Colossians 2 gives us those things that the death and resurrection of Christ did away with. Exodus 34:28 "And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And He wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. No there is nothing new under the sun, for this second covenant is just as the first covenant was. The commitment to the ten commandments is just as God gave it in the first covenant with the children of Israel. God wrote those letters on the stone with His Own finger, and Moses brought them down off the mount to the people. Our constitution and the laws of our land are drawn up of these laws that God gave to Moses, and the children of Israel, all the tribes. When a judge gives a decision in his court room, his decisions are made from the laws set down here in Exodus. Exodus 34:29 "And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai (with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount), that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while He talked with him." This was Moses seventh and last descent from mount Sinai, and when he came down, his face shown from the brightness of the presence of the Lord God. Seven is the number for spiritual completeness in Biblical numerics. The Law, Commandments, the tabernacle and the form to approach God have all be completed, and are in the hands of Moses. Christ did not change on part of that law, but He fulfilled the ritual sacrifice part dealing with animal sacrifice. When Jesus shed His blood on the cross, it ended the need for animal sacrifice for on and all times. Exodus 34:30 "And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him." Many of the old translators mistranslated this verse, in one form it was translated that Moses had horns of light, whereas in the Massorah text it means to radiate light from a source. The vulgate version mistook the Hebrew word "karan", meaning to radiate light, and translated it "keren" which means to beam or horn of light. Hence the traditional painting of Moses with two horns coming out of his head as he approached the people. So if you ever see this picture of Moses with horns, you know where it came from. Moses Face had the glory of God radiating from it. Exodus 34:31 "And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them." Because the people were all shook up over the glow from Moses' face, he put a vail over his face while he was in the presence of the people. Exodus 34:32 "And after all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai." This is even typical of our people today, for if something happens to scare them, they scatter, but when the threat is over, they all come back together like a herd of cattle. As they all came back together, Moses told them what the Lord said while he was up on Mount Sinai. When we see how the children of Israel react, it is no wonder that Jesus compared our people to sheep. The real truth will frighten many people, until they have time to think it over and respond. Many times even the real Word of God will cause them to leave, until they have the time to see the simplicity of the entire Word. Exodus 34:33 "And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face." Again, Moses put the vail on his head to put the people at ease, so they could listen to what was being said. Exodus 34:34 "But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded." So when Moses wanted to speak to God from this time on, he would go into the tabernacle; into the holy of Holies. Exodus 34:35 "And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with Him." Again to prove the error of the vulgate version, "the skin of Moses' face shone:" it radiated light from being in the presence of the glory of God.
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