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Who's the Man? - Part 3: Rescued!

Here we are.  Moses is up on the mountain getting instruction from the Lord.  Meanwhile, the Israelite people have rebelled and turned their back on God asking Aaron to build them an idol to worship.  They have completely tossed Moses and God to the side and bowed down to a golden calf.  God is furious at the people to say the least and has told Moses that He plans to destroy them and start over and "make a great nation of you (Moses)." (Ex 32:10)  If you are one of these Israelites, you just turned your back on God.  He knows.  He's mad.  What do you want to happen next? 

Moses begins to plead with the Lord, "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?  Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume (destroy) them from the face of the earth?'  Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people."  Moses then continues to implore God to remember His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to fill the land with their offspring.  And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.  (Ex 32:11-14)

Moses just saved their tales.  I don't think the Israelites heard Moses' prayer to God but I imagine that when they found out about it there were more hugs, handshakes, and "thank you's" than Moses could almost stand.  He literally just saved these people's lives by crying out to God for mercy while doing two things.  First, he verbalized the reality of their sin and recognized God's anger, hurt, and disappointment as a result.  He also revealed God's promise to the people - His promise to multiply them in a land they would inherit forever.  God's grace and faithfulness to His promise trumped the people's rebellion and sin. 

Does that sound familiar to any Christians reading this?  If you've placed your faith in Christ, you know that He interceded for us on the cross to God the Father.  Moses was a hero to many people.  But Jesus is far greater.  While Moses pleaded before God to remember His promise and relent from punishment, Jesus stood in our place to take the deadly punishment of sin that we justly deserved.  A true savior.

In verse 14, we see God relent from the destruction that He had planned for the people.  Does that mean that God changed his mind?  Consider this: Have you ever been pulled over for speeding by a police officer?  If so, were you lucky enough to receive a warning?  By issuing you a warning, the officer did not change his character or his opinion of sin (speeding in this case), he merely extended grace to you as a warning to not do it again.  God did not change his view of sin, but He extended grace instead of judgment.  God does change his response to people and even nations based on prayers, repentance of people, and compassion.  "Knowing that God responded to the prayers of His people with mercy and compassion should motivate us to fervently pray for our lost friends and family members, knowing that we serve a God who is both just and compassionate."  It is now up to us as the church to intercede for the lost by praying for them to come into a relationship with God.  "The good news of this story and the good news of the gospel is that there is more grace in God than sin in us."

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