Exodus 34: God's Character and No Idolatry

So, as you can see, we went through Shavuot, we went through Tammuz 17th, and now Exodus 34 is going to be Yom Kippur. And I'll try to explain that before we get on here with the three sets of 40. Remember, there are 120 days, Shavuot to Yom Kippur, three sets of 40. From Shavuot, the festival of Shavuot, month number three, to Yom Kippur, month number seven, 120 days. Moses was on Mount Sinai for three sets of 40. I think Deuteronomy 9 goes through that with the three sets of 40 if you want to read it for yourself.

So, we just went through the first 40 days, right? Where Moses was up getting the tabernacle instructions. That is Exodus 25 through Exodus 31, Exodus 32, golden calf, and then Exodus 33. And then the second set of 40 is Tammuz 18 to 29, or the fifth month, or I'm sorry, the sixth month. And then, or I'm sorry, the fifth month, excuse me. And then the last set of 40 is Elul 1 to Yom Kippur. Okay, three sets of 40. Shavuot to Tammuz 17th, Tammuz 18th to Elul 29 or 30, I'm sorry. And then Elul 1 to Tishrei 10. That will be the last set of 40. That's why it's called the month of repentance, the month of Elul. So that's why I try to tell people these three summer months, from Sivan, Tammuz, and Elul, are very transformational, very pivotal according to the feast days in the fall, because it goes with the story of Exodus, just like we're telling everybody.

So again, He came down on Tishrei, Yom Kippur, everything's cool, all's forgiven, here's the new commandments, and now let's go build the tabernacle, which I got during the first 40 days. So now let's read that in that context. Exodus 34: "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountains. Let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.'"

So He cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him. And He took in His hand the two tablets of stone. Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation." That's in Exodus 20 as well.

So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. Then he said, "If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance." My friends, you remember what David said in Psalm 110? "The Lord said to my Lord." Look at what Moses said here, verse number eight. Let's read it again. "So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. Then he said, 'If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people.'" My friends, he's saying what? He's saying, "The Lord said to my Lord." The Lord sent Yeshua in front of us. If Yeshua is the fire by night and the cloud by day, then Moses is talking about Him as well. Again, we've got to look at it as a continuing understanding of Yeshua was going to lead them there. Think about it. From Exodus to right now, He was the fire by day, or excuse me, fire by night, cloud by day. Moses is asking Him to go before Him now, His presence. And again, who's with Joshua conquering the promised land? Joshua chapter 5, Joshua saw Adonai, the Commander of the Lord's armies. Yeshua. Revelation 19:11, Yeshua, the Commander of the Lord's armies. So my friends, Yeshua's always been there, is what I'm saying. And again, this is what David said in Psalm 110: "The Lord said to my Lord." Yah said to Yeshua, the Father said to the Son, however you want to call it. Same way here: "If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people." Okay, so again, Yeshua was going to go in front of them. Yeshua was in front of Joshua. Yeshua is coming back as the leader and the Commander of the Lord's armies as well. And it's a really beautiful thing to tie it in from the beginning to the end. And He was in the beginning with Adonai, like the Gospel of John chapter 1 says. Very important.

"The covenant renewed. Now this is on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. And He said, 'Behold, I will make a covenant before all Your people. I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out before you the Amorites.'" Okay. "Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst," which obviously is a snare right now in their midst. "But you shall destroy their altars, break their pillars, cut down their wooden images." Christmas trees included. "For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." He's going back to the great commandments, the first 10 words, is what He's going back to. He's reminding them again, from Shavuot to Yom Kippur. Now He's reminding them again: no golden calves, everybody; no idolatry; playing the harlot with the nation's gods. That's what Jeremiah said all the time to the people. He said, "Don't act like the nations. Don't worship like the nations."