March 23, 2010

Exodus 34

Yesterday we saw that the Lord promised to place Moses in the cleft of a rock. There He would cover him until His front side had passed then Moses could see the back side of His glory. As He passed, the Lord proclaimed:

The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7“keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.

Today we see that Moses once again climbed the fiery mountain taking with him two fresh tablets of stone for the others had been shattered. The Lord kept His promise. While the New Testament does not explicitly say that the rock is a type of Christ, it does say, “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” I think we can safely say that the cleft in the rock is a type of Christ. Moses climbs into the cleft with the stone tablets. The stone tablets would soon have the writing of God upon them delineating the Ten Commandments. They would be commandments which every one of us have broken every commandment. There in the rock the ‘hand’ of God covered Moses until the justice of God had passed. Then Lord proclaimed His mercy, grace and compassion. Jesus is our place of safety from the wrath and justice of God. He is our place of refuge to receive mercy, grace and compassion.



Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee; let the water and the blood, from thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure; save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law's commands; could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling; naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace; foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath, when mine eyes shall close in death, when I soar to worlds unknown, see thee on thy judgment throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.

--Rev. Augustus Montague Toplady



But the glory of God does not stop with just the dispensation of mercy, grace and compassion. Notice at the end of the chapter that after another 40 days on the fiery mountain with God, Moses’ skin glows with the glory of God. What’s more, we not only receive mercy, but as we gaze upon His glory, we are made like Him, even more than Moses. As the word says in 2 Cor. 3:18: All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit. Wow, we receive mercy, grace and compassion, and then we have opportunity to be transformed into His image. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor John

Luke 1:57-80

"Dawn take you all and be stone with you." I'd have to look it up, but I think those were the words of Gandalf in The Hobbit. The occasion was that Bilbo and the dwarves had been captured by some trolls. Gandalf's problem was to rescue them all without them being injured. Gandalf's magic would work if the he could keep them outside until the first ray of light shone upon them. Gandalf managed to use ventriloquism to keep the trolls arguing among themselves until morning light. The dwarves and Bilbo were able to listen to the argument as to the best way to cook dwarves and hobbit. Encouraging, huh? The trolls argued right up unto the dawn. Then Gandalf pronounced the words, and the trolls turned to stone. Isn't that an interesting metaphor?

Zacharias speaks so much of the glory of the Lord. He prophesies about John preparing the way for the Lord. He speaks of the Lord as being the Dayspring or dawn from on high. We are those who sit in darkness. You ever feel like the powers of darkness were just sitting around arguing over the best way to cook you? Jesus is the dawn. When He comes our enemies turn to stone. He brings light and life. What is my problem anyway? The Dayspring is coming. I may be in the stinking hands of the powers of darkness now, but the Dayspring is coming. I may be listening to the conversation of the various ways that I might be cooked, but the Dayspring is coming. His glory turns my darkness to stone. I have light in which I may walk. He is my Dayspring. He is our Dayspring. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor John