Exodus 34 sermon notes

Look away now if you are coming to church in my parishes tomorrow.

It could go something like this? (Love the neat pithy headings, eh?!)

EXODUS 34 (page 93) & 2 CORINTHIANS 3 (p1159)

THE COVENANT RENEWED: The Compassionate God of the Second Chance

A great and important chapter

                The chapter which the OT itself most frequently quotes etc.

Summary of what happens: Through Moses, God re-made his covenant (Ex 24) with his people after they had broken it (Ex 32) (v27)

                2 new stone tablets with the 10 Words (v1)

(vv1-5 like a repeat of chapter 19)

• Praise God for 2^nd (& 3^rd & 4^th etc.) chances
  
  
  The relevance of this for us:
  
  

1. This is our God, the living and true God – and he does not change
2. The way God deals with us under the New Covenant through Jesus is similar to the way he dealt with his people under the Old Covenant through Moses
   
   
   God spoke to Moses, God proclaimed (v5ff) – the Word of God not an image
   
   
   God revealed his name / character (v6-7)
   
   

1. Yahweh, Yahweh –The LORD - I am who I am (Ex 3:13-15)
2. El, God (of power) 
3. compassionate and gracious
4. slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness & truthfulness / faithfulness (reliable, trustworthy)
5. keeping loving kindness to the thousands (generous) – (obviously not nasty Old Testament God and nice New Testament God!)
6. forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin and surely not leaving it unpunished (seems almost contradictory – How? - it’s the sacrificial system which answers this and ultimately the final sacrifice of Christ, substitutionary atonement)
7. visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth (generation) – cf. 20:4-6
   
   
   Jealous (v14; 20:5) – passionate protective commitment, not the green-eyed monster, not envy – a kind of love (the opposite is indifference)
   
   
   Moses is the mediator / intercessor / go-between (v8-9)
   
   

• Moses (and we) may relate to God (argue with him in prayer) on the basis of the Name he has given us to use – how to argue with God!
  
  
  God forgives his people (v7, 9) and agrees to go with them despite their sin
  
  
  God reiterates his promises of a Land for his people (v11)
  
  
• God calls his people to covenant loyalty (v10ff)
  
  
  e.g. obedience (v11), no compromise with other cultures (v12, vv15-16), no idolatry (v13, v17), sacrifice to God (vv19-20), Sabbath (v21), keep the feasts (v22-23), give to God first (v26) 
  
  
  Jesus the new and better Moses is the mediator / intercessor of a New and better covenant
  
  
  Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice for sin by which God can both justly punish wickedness and forgive (The problem of v7 solved. Romans 3:25-26)
  
  
  We see the Name and greater Glory of God more fully revealed in Jesus (2 Cor 3:7-11)
  
  

• We are to increasingly reflect the glory of God (as Moses did? – v29ff) as we “look at” Christ (in the Scriptures) – (2 Cor 3:18)
  
  
  God renews his New Covenant with you in Christ today! à Respond in faith and commitment to him as you reflect on Christ (from the Scriptures) with the Spirit’s help
  
  
• Pray that God would make us increasingly faithful to the New Covenant
  
  
•  Give thanks for God’s transforming power in the gospel of Jesus Christ