Moses' Righteous Anger and God's Boundaries

"Verse 22: So Aaron said, 'Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the people that they are set on evil. For they said to me, "Make us gods that shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." And I said to them, "Whoever has any gold, let them break it off." So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and the calf came out.'"

"Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained, for Aaron had not restrained them to their shame among their enemies, then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp and said, 'Whoever is on the Lord's side, come to me!' And all of the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor."'" So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about 3,000 men of the people died that day. Then Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother."

My friends, it doesn't get more hardcore than that, to take your sword against your brother, does it? But that was the commandment of the Lord God of Israel, everybody. And everybody needs to understand that is who He is when it comes to idolatry. Enough of all this grace and all this stuff. No, the fear of Adonai is what He wants, because if not, that's what's coming. And this is why the prophet Zechariah wrote it: "The fast of the fourth will turn into a feast day." Look at what it says. "They turn into a fast day." And then it says, "Consecrate yourselves today to Tammuz 17th. Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, Tammuz 17th, for brother." Goodness gracious.

So my friends, you tell me, is Adonai, is this day very important to God? Absolutely. This day is very important to God for all of us to consecrate ourselves. That's why it's a fast day, to consecrate, to remember this, remember Exodus 32, why Israel fell into idolatry, and the warning that He gave them. And then look what happened: kill your own brother, kill your son. I mean, that's tough stuff, but that was the commandment of the Most High. Just like when Nadab and Abihu brought in strange fire, you know, they were drunk and all these things, He broke out on them. He broke out on them. So the Lord will break out on His people, all of us, if we're not careful. And this proves it. I mean, this is hardcore, but this is who He is once the limits are broken, the boundary lines have been overtaken. What are the boundary lines? The Torah, what they received at Mount Sinai. And they were out of alignment by idolatry and all of these things, sexual parties, and all that when you look into it.

So friends, this is super important. I plead with you to read this for your own account and to understand how important God looks at these things. There's too much false understanding out there that God's just okay with everybody just doing their thing. You know, create a feast day, create this day, create that day. Everybody's got their day. Well, that's great. They had their day. Are they going to worry about God's days? That's the question. Because from this story, the high priest Aaron came up with a different feast day on Tammuz 17th, and God turned it into a cursed day, a fast day, and says to remember this day and not fall into idolatry, and to understand that you will be a part of the feast day in the millennial kingdom on this day once we get to that picture and once we get to that point.

So friends, very hardcore stuff, but it's very important for us to read it in the proper context to understand the fear of Adonai needs to get back into the Christians' hearts and also the Jewish people. The fear of Adonai. We've got grace; everybody understands grace. Fear of Adonai is the seven spirits of the Lord. Go read Isaiah 11. The fear of Adonai is one of the seven spirits: the Holy Spirit, the spirit of wisdom, spirit of knowledge, spirit of understanding, spirit of counsel, spirit of might, and the fear of Adonai. It says in the Bible, "Fear Adonai." Fear Adonai. Even in the New Testament, "Fear God" in a holy way, in a reverence way, in an awesome way, in an awe-inspiring way. Not "all mean God." No, in an awesome way. Revere Him and trust Him, and fear that He will lower the gavel on every one of us if we're not careful. And that would not be a good thing as a nation or as an individual.

"Verse 30: And now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, 'You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to Adonai. Perhaps I can make atonement.'" Very important atonement for your sin. He's talking about the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, ultimately. So He's telling you right there, He's trying to make atonement for the people because of the golden calf. "Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, 'Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold. Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.'" And the Lord said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, for punishment I will visit punishment upon them for their sin." So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.

My friends, again, look at the heart position of Moses. We saw how angry he was when he came down on the mountain. He broke the tablets of the Most High with the finger of God writing on them. And then he made the people drink the calf out of the water, and then 3,000 people died. So he was in that righteous anger, that is for sure. But he still loved God and loved the people enough to intercede for the people to not blot them out. I mean, that is a heck of a balance to have, a hard position to have with righteous anger and also compassion. And that's what God expects us to have: righteous anger, but also compassion as well, because He's the only one that can judge people. So again, very important story for all of us to comprehend.