The Golden Calf Exodus 32 11/12/2006 Copyright by Mark Vaughan 11/2006 Have you ever really blown it? Either blown your testimony with others somehow or totally failed in something you committed to? All of us have probably done so at one time or another. And more than that, we all fail in little ways every day. How do you respond to those big and little spiritual blunders? Does your mind race with rationalizations that explain why circumstances or other people are to blame? Do you try to minimize what you ve done like it s no big deal? How do you think about and talk to God in such times? Your answers to those questions can reveal a lot about you. It may reveal why you walk around in spiritual doldrums at times or why you have manic busy periods of good deeds. It may reveal why you don t feel like praying or why you feel like your prayers don t go higher than the ceiling. It may reveal why people avoid you or don t bother trying to correct you or help you. The reason we can learn so much from your response to failures is because the Bible has many lessons on big and little failures. Guess what? You are not the first person to ruin a testimony or break a promise. The Bible is full of examples. In giving us His Word, God did not hide it when people sinned. In contrast, God often told exactly how bad it was because He knew exactly how bad we could be too. And God knew that we can gain valuable lessons by seeing how God and His people responded to failures. So God s Word can show us the right path to follow even when we ve blown it in big or little ways. As we return to our study of Exodus today, we come to one of the classic spiritual blunders in the Bible. We come to Exodus 32 when the Israelites had an unholy cow. I want to bring new meaning to the phrase don t have a cow today as we look at Israel s sin with their not-so-sacred cow. We ll organize the many applications of Exodus 32 under 4 general lessons that help us think rightly about how to respond to failures. So look at Exodus 32 with me and let s read about this infamous fiasco in Exodus 32:1-6. [READ] This is outrageous when we remember the setting here. These Israelites had seen God do the miraculous 10 plagues to rescue them from slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt. Then God had led them through the Red Sea and provided daily bread from heaven as He led them by a pillar of cloud and fire. 1
Then they had seen God come down in fire and smoke and trumpet sounds and majestic glory on Mount Sinai and they had heard Him thunder the 10 commandments. And after receiving the 10 commands and other laws in the book of the covenant, Israel had committed to follow the LORD Yahweh alone. Just 40 days before this, they had promised to do all God said. Then while Moses was at the top of Mount Sinai, where Israel could still see the fiery cloud of God s glorious presence, they got impatient. While Moses was receiving the details for God s visible dwelling place among them, Israel wanted to move on. After all of their incredibly privileged experiences that revealed the only true God as their Redeemer, Israel was tired of waiting. You ve never had restless feelings like that, have you? Of course we probably all have we ve wanted to escape the trial we re in and move on to other things. We ve felt like we ve had enough of waiting for God to answer our prayers or enough of the lessons God was giving. So we need to be warned because what happened with Israel is what can happen in our hearts too. First they shared their discontent with others and gathered momentum to rationalize their rebellion. Then they bullied their leader Aaron into doing something different. Rather than seeking satisfaction in this God who had so greatly and graciously revealed Himself to them, they decided they had to have something new. And they demanded that Aaron make gods to lead them elsewhere. They conveniently forgot that Yahweh had saved them and they said this guy Moses had brought them out of Egypt. They spoke of Moses with contempt and claimed not to know what had happened to him. Israel conveniently chose to forget all of the obvious evidence of their need for the God whose name is Yahweh, which is translated as LORD in all caps. They minimized or changed God s involvement in their history so they could get on with life with some new scenery. And in a colossal failure of leadership, Aaron caved in to the pressure and gave the people what they wanted. Instead of being a shepherd who protects the sheep and warns them about sin and reminds them of the truth, Aaron totally wimped out. So the people gladly dedicated their God-given gold earrings to make a different god. Then when this graven image of a young bull was made, the people proclaimed it to be their deliverer. This golden calf probably was a link back to a number of false gods of Egypt that were represented as a form of bull or cow. Though Yahweh had so powerfully and obviously shown His supremacy over all such Egyptian gods, Israel turned back to them. And that s like what you and I do when we sin as Christians. Jesus has conquered sin and death through His life, death and resurrection and He is the only God and only Savior of sinners. 2
He is the one who can meet our needs & carry our burdens. Only with Jesus at the center of our affections and His Word as the focus of our obedience will we ever be satisfied. And when we trust Christ, we are delivered out of slavery to sin and the emptiness of the world s pursuits and promises. So if and when we turn back to old ways, we are acting like Israel. Of course, when we do that, we usually try to Christianize it to make it seem acceptable like Aaron did in verse 5. Aaron made an altar & proclaimed that this was worship of the LORD. Though it was an idolatrous image, Aaron proclaimed worship before this holy cow as a festival to Yahweh God. And the people eagerly gave God-ordained offerings and turned the occasion into a big party that probably included immorality. But since Aaron said it was for the Lord, all was well, right? Wrong. Rationalizing idolatry or any sin is never excusable simply because we claim we re doing it for the Lord. Whether it s syncretistic acceptance of all religions like this or sharing a prayer request that s really a gossip nugget, spiritualizing any sin never justifies it. But we know from experience and from Israel s example how easily those rationalizations can creep in and lead us astray. You know how quickly other things or persons or pursuits can grow to have greater affection and importance in your heart. When we allow other things to compete against God s 1 st place in our affections, then we are doing what Israel did here. Or when we redefine the true God to be what we want Him to be, we are creating an idol. And such things can happen so easily, so quickly, and so deceptively. So we need to be warned by what happened in Israel only 40 days after Moses had headed up the mountain. That s why 1 st Corinthians 10:11-12 says these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. So take heed, watch out, and be vigilant to guard your heart against the dangerous enticements of sin. And be warned that God does not take sin lightly. Look at verses 7-10. [READ] God was not having a temper tantrum or reacting sinfully here. In His perfect, righteous holiness, God was sharing with Moses the evil of the people and what they deserved. God referred to them as Moses people, this people, not His people. He described them as having ruined themselves like stinking, rotten fruit and having shown themselves to be like a stubborn animal that resists its master s lead. What they deserved was total destruction by God s righteous wrath. And redefining it with some biblical language to make it seem ok does not stop it from being idolatry. Israel s sin had put them in danger of losing everyone and everything and God starting over with Moses alone. 3
So we learn something here about the danger of sin. And that s our 1 st general lesson from the golden calf episode: please learn something here about the danger of sin. Point #1 learn something about the danger of sin. Sin is dangerous because it deceitfully woos us to think lightly of God and think highly of our wants and sin s promises. Sin is dangerous because it can quickly capture us and lead us away from safe and satisfying closeness to God. And sin is especially dangerous because God hates sin and punishes it both in time and in eternity. So from Exodus 32, learn something about the danger of sin. Then 2 nd ly, learn something about God s glory in prayer. As a 2 nd lesson from Exodus 32 today, learn something about God s glory in prayer. As we read in verse 10, God told Moses what was going on at the base of the mountain among the people of Israel. God had trained and appointed Moses as the mediator between Him and Israel. Yet God put Moses to the test as Israel s representative by offering to destroy Israel and make Moses into a new nation. God told Moses to let Him alone and He would start over with only Moses and not all those frustrating Israelites. And God did not declare that His purpose to destroy Israel was settled. He left the door open to respond differently. Rather than immediately destroying Israel like they deserved, God allowed Israel s mediator to respond. And it seems without a hint of self-will or hesitation, Moses began to plead with God for mercy for Israel. We see Moses prayer and God s response in verses 11-14. [READ] Moses gave God at least 3 reasons not to annihilate Israel. First Moses referred to Israel as God s people, the same people God had delivered from Egypt by His glorious power. So God s past grace and faithfulness to Israel gave reason that God should not destroy them. And secondly, Moses appealed to God s glory as another reason not to destroy Israel. Egypt and other nations would mock both God and Israel if God only brought them out in order to kill them. And thirdly, God had repeatedly promised blessing on the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So Moses begged God for grace based on God s promises. Moses prayer was saturated with God-centeredness. He did not minimize Israel s sin or point to anything worthy in them that could give reason for God to be gracious. But God had prepared Moses for his role for this day. Instead, Moses prayed with a zeal for what God Himself is most zealous for God s own glory. 4
God would be more glorified by continuing His grace not quitting with these people He had saved. God would be more glorified if nations saw God graciously keep Israel not grievously kill Israel. God would be more glorified if He proved faithful to every promise to His people not if He started over with new people. So God allowed Moses intercession to be what changed His mind about destroying all of Israel. Of course, we should understand here that God does not change His mind in an ultimate sense, as 1 st Samuel 15:29 and Psalm 110:4 state. There s no contradiction between those verses and verse 14. As Isaiah 46:9-11 states, God has definite plans and purposes that He will accomplish and nothing changes those. But God also makes statements in relation to people that CAN change if somehow His relationship with those people changes. So in God s all-powerful sovereign workings, He PLANS for the prayers of His people to be answered. Moses prayer did not to change God s ultimate purpose or allknowing mind in any real essence. But God did plan for Moses prayer to change His response to Israel s sin. I need to clarify that so you understand that this text does not support any idea of the modern error called open theism. Open theists or those teaching the openness of God believe that God does not know the future and is not sovereign in His detailed plan for the ages. They say God must be limited if our choices are to be real. But that is not the God of the Bible who knows all and has planned and controls the future in detail. Yet in the majestic, sovereign complexity of God, He still graciously condescends to allow us to be involved in His plans. And so our prayers have a real influence on God s actions in time as He bends down to work with and through us. Though God never changes in His Person and purpose, He does change in his relationship with people as people pray. God didn t have to work that way. But in His infinite grace and His amazing design of humans as willing, responsible creatures, God chose to operate that way. So Moses prayed and God relented or changed His mind in that limited sense and chose not to destroy Israel. And there is that opportunity in God s grace that His judgment on people may change if people pray. That s amazing and far beyond complete comprehension! Yet it should be a wonderful and compelling invitation to us to pray and keep on praying. Moses prayer should teach us how to pray with God s glory in mind, appealing to His faithfulness and glory and promises. 5
God responds to such God-centered pleas with amazing transformation of events and actions. Never doubt that God does answer prayer for His glory. So learn something here about God s glory in prayer. And then pray for yourself and for others. Especially if you are a spiritual leader or teacher you should be praying for those to whom you minister. Do you intercede for others like Moses did? And parents, do you intercede with God for your children. You probably pray for your kids when they are sick. But do you pray for the spiritual ills that lurk in their hearts and lure them in the world? Do you pray for your kids to have a faith and integrity that will be strong when you are not with them? Note here that the Israelites went astray after a month without Moses. Teens, do you pray for God to help you be faithful even when your parents or other spiritual leaders are not around? What will happen or is happening when church friends or parents are not there? In everything we must pray with God s faithfulness and His glory and His promises in mind. We can plead with Him based on who He is and what He has already done and promised to do. We can pray verses like Philippians 1:6 that promises that God will complete the work He has begun in you. Don t be a fatalist who thinks God is going to do whatever He wants so praying is not all that critical. Look if God has given you a burden for someone or something that is not stealing your first love away from Him, then He probably gave you that burden so that you would pray. God may have planned for your prayers to be what moved Him to act. So learn something about God s glory in prayer. Then thirdly today, learn something about responding to sin learning something about responding to sin. Look at verses 15-20 with me. [READ] Moses did not minimize the seriousness of sin. Though celebration and dancing to the Lord was done after Israel crossed the Red Sea, this party was idolatrous and probably included immorality. So when Moses saw it, he dropped and broke the very tablets that God had inscribed. That breaking of the tablets symbolized Israel s breaking of their covenant with God. And Moses burned with holy anger as he went to work purging the people of this piece of bovine blasphemy. It s not clear why he had the people drink the gold powder in water but it is clear he wanted all evidence of the idol gone. For the good of the people, he cut off access to that path of sin again. 6
And that s how we need to respond to sin today too. You may say that you ll never do that sin again, but will you do what it takes to burn that sin out of your life? We need to char & pulverize our path to sin so we don t go there. We need to hate our own sin and do battle to kill it continually. And we need to be sure we don t respond how Aaron did when his sin was confronted. Look at Aaron s bad example in verses 21-24. [READ] In the same way that Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent, Aaron tried to shift the blame for his sin to the people. Calm down, Moses, don t overreact! You don t know all the details. You know how bad these people can be! Doesn t that sound like today oh, it s not THAT bad of a sin so you don t need to take it THAT seriously. Or it was really THEIR fault; I just went along with the crowd so I didn t offend anyone. Then when it came to Aaron s part in making the idol, he really got creative with his excuses. He said he threw the gold into the fire and out popped this calf. As if golden calves can evolve without intelligent design! Change the story just enough to hide the guilty parts. Admit it. We have all in one way or another done so. But that s lying that s not truthfully confessing sin and that is the wrong way to respond to sin. It s not like God doesn t know the whole truth anyway so we might as well go ahead and confess it all. And if you wonder why people avoid confronting you, consider if it s because you always argue or make excuses or shift the blame. Do you try to tone it down so your sin doesn t seem so bad and then accuse others of overreacting? Do you say that s just the way you are and give others a guilt trip for not loving you the way you are? Listen sin is sin and we need to stop the blameshifting and opposition that is the natural human tendency since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. We need to confess our sin when confronted and we need to be thankful for people who are LOVING enough to risk confronting us. Love requires that we confront sin even to the point of removing someone from fellowship in the church if they fail to repent. That restoration or church discipline process, which Jesus taught in Matthew 18, is how we deal with sin in the church as God s people today. Aaron did what we so easily do today too. Shade the truth here. Leave out some truth there. Though church discipline is often neglected in today s churches, it really seems like a minimal measure when compared with the way Israel dealt with serious sin. 7
Look at verses 25-29 to see what I mean. [READ] This incident was probably the time when the Levites were set aside as the tribe that would function as God s priests. They stood on God s side not the side of reckless abandon. And it seems that those who continued in sin that day were killed and others repented and ran for their tents. Since only about 3000 men died that day out of the nation of 600,000 men, God showed them much grace. But this drastic measure of punishment on sin shows us again how seriously we should view sin. We should deal drastically with sin in our own lives and gently confront sin in each other s lives. And we should take responsibility for our sins and confess them, not minimize them or make excuses. That s how to approach God in response to our sin. And as 1 st John 1:9 promises through Christ: If we confess our sins, He is faithful & righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And that leads us to a last lesson for today from Exodus 32. Lastly learn something about God s mercy and justice. Rather than minimizing it, Moses told both the people and the Lord that they had sinned a great sin. And please notice what Moses offered as atonement to pay for the sins of the people. If God would not forgive then Moses offered his own life. If God would not forgive then Moses asked to be blotted out of His book, which meant ending his life or damning him forever. Moses tried to satisfy God s just wrath on the people s sin by offering his own life in their place. Moses offered to be the substitute, the lamb sacrificed in place of the people so that they could live. But Moses could not offer himself because he could not be a perfect, sinless substitute. So God refused Moses appeal and promised to punish each person according to his or her individual sins. Yet God also promised to be gracious by not destroying the whole nation and by continuing His relationship with Israel. So God did hear Moses and respond with some forgiveness. God s punishment was much less than what the people deserved. So we learn that God is merciful and just. I trust we ve learned something (1) about the danger of sin, (2) about God s glory in prayer, and (3) about responding to sin. Now lastly learn something about God s mercy and justice as we finish Exodus 32 by reading verses 30-35. [READ] He does listen to our pleas and forgive sin. Yet He still may allow some temporal consequences for sins. That s true still today. 8
God may forgive sins from a past lifestyle but He may not automatically take away the physical, emotional or relational hardships that resulted from that past lifestyle. God allows some bad results of sin to remain in this life in order to warn all of us against the danger of sin. But those problems in this world are not the real punishment that is deserved for our sins. No. That requires an eternity of conscious torment. And Moses life could do nothing to pay that punishment. Moses was Israel s mediator he was the one who could go to God for them and come from God to them. But Moses could not make full and final atonement for sin. And that s why Moses only pictured the ultimate Mediator. Only Jesus could successfully do what Moses tried because only Jesus lived a sinless life as the God-man. Only Jesus could offer His life as a ransom for many, as the one whose death paid sins punishment for others. Only Jesus could confront that horrible danger of God s wrath on sin and fully satisfy God s justice. So as we learn these lessons from Exodus 32 about God and sin, they must ultimately lead us to Jesus Christ. If you have not come to God through faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, then please let us help you. And if you do know the joy of Jesus being your Mediator, then recall how He suffered for every sin you commit. Take seriously every sin as it is another stroke of God s wrath that Jesus suffered for you. Be warned against the danger of sin and be humbled to respond to sin with full confession and radical repentance. And be thankful that through Christ, God can and does grant forgiveness and hear prayer and respond to us as His children. If you know Christ, nothing you experience should be viewed as God punishing you in any way. He may discipline as His child, but everything He plans to allow into your life, whether it tries your patience or burdens you to pray, is all for His loving, good purposes for you. That is the true and living God that we worship. I pray you are glad to seek Him and know Him today. Pray with me as we close. And only Jesus can help us experience God s glory in prayer and respond to sin rightly and enjoy mercy with justice. As the NT letter to the Hebrews explains, Jesus is a better Mediator than Moses or anyone else. 9