[AI translation] The true meaning of this Word is understood when we also consider the historical background. It describes one of the most tragic historical failures of the people wandering into the Promised Land, their disloyalty to, shame and dishonour of their covenant God. For while Moses was up on the mountain discussing the details of the covenant with God, receiving the two tablets of the covenant, the Ten Commandments, directly from God, and was on his way back to the people who remained in the valley, the people had turned away from God, had poured themselves a golden calf with Aaron, and had begun to worship him as a god instead of the living God. In short, he was plunged into the most abominable sin and shame, into a dark abyss from which no one could see a way out. Everything that had begun so beautifully with the deliverance from Egypt had gone completely wrong. The situation could not have been more confused. Even Moses himself messed it all up: in his fury, he threw down the divine law he had just received, the two tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments, and issued a commandment that resulted in a lot of bloodshed in the camp. And behold, God, who had been so wronged by this people, is still willing to renew His covenant of grace with them. That is the good news, that is the gospel of this story, that God is a God who begins again! Even after all that has happened, all that would have truly justified His turning away in anger from His people, God is still acting again, ready to begin again. Behold, this people when they did not need God, they needed a golden calf instead of a living God, God still needed the people! Is not a people, a country, a church or a man still bankrupt today, if he does not need God, if he needs a golden calf, call it whatever you want: money, power, weapons, blood, philosophical ideals, or anything else instead of the one living God?! And yet God has not retreated into offended solitude from this bankrupt world, but is beginning again, here and now, proclaiming to us that He is a mercifully restarting God! He is still not the final judgment-striking and all-annulling Judge of the world, but still a graciously restarting God!Let me first try to illustrate with an analogy how our situation is very similar to the bankrupt, broken situation of which our story speaks and which I have just outlined. I heard of a family who were able to go on holiday near Lake Balaton completely free of charge because a good friend offered them his own villa. There was great joy in the family, but one fine day a big problem occurred. They forgot to unplug the electric iron after using it, went for a swim, and when they came back, the whole kitchen was on fire. The fire was extinguished, but all the kitchen equipment was destroyed, the whole flat was damaged, and the smell of burnt things was all around the house. The most unpleasant part of it all was that someone else's property had been destroyed by their carelessness. Of course, the least they could do was to pay compensation, but still: what would the owner say? I don't know what happened next, but it's not important. Our whole human predicament is exemplified by this story. All of us are, as it were, free guests in the world that God has made available to us to dwell in, to live in, to enjoy the opportunities of the world, the gifts and riches of God. The whole furnishings of this world, from its natural treasures to the family way of life and our own individual spiritual world, are not our own: It belongs to God. Our whole life on earth is like a guest in a house that belongs to God, in which, according to His gracious good pleasure, we can live for a while, and for free! And what irresponsible damage has man done to the beautiful dwelling in which he can live as God's guest! A war sets whole parts of the world on fire, and millions weep in mourning over or under the rotten ruins. But it is not only mankind that has caused irreparable damage to the earthly furniture that belongs to God, but we ourselves, personally! How much damage have you done to your family, how much damage have I done to this congregation, how many irresponsible, inflammatory firestorms have we thrown into our neighbour's life with our speech, how much sad damage have we done to our own souls, for that is not ours, but God's! What will the landlord say, what will we say to him when the time of our stay is over and we have to move out of this earthly house?! That fire damage in the villa near Lake Balaton can be compensated with money, but what redemption can a man give for his own soul, or for the soul of another, if he has damaged it? The whole earth is almost filled with the stench of human life burning in the fires of sin. It is a complete bankruptcy, as there in the wilderness, around the golden calf and the breaking of the tablets of the Ten Commandments.
Yet God does not turn away from this bankruptcy, from this human life that has become irresponsible, but - look: he starts again! With Moses, with us! How? By calling his old servant to himself again, and this bad servant, who has failed so many times, learns obedience again. And this new obedience will be a blessing for the whole bankrupt people! Let's take a closer look at the features of Moses' new obedience.
First, this obedience was personal obedience. I understand this to mean that when God spoke, Moses acknowledged that God was speaking to him, not to someone else. He was calling him to himself, he was trying to start something over with him, even though, humanly speaking, he was not the main culprit in what had happened. This is a very important point. It means that he is speaking to you now, not to someone else, who you think is more responsible. In your family life, in the church, but also in the whole of Hungarian public life, a great deal depends on whether you personally hear the word of God today, and whether you are willing to start communion with him anew. God is willing to begin anew if there is someone who does not pass the responsibility for bankruptcy, fire, damage on to others, who does not repent for the sins of others but for his own, who does not expect repentance from others but is willing to repent himself. God is now waiting for someone who, with true humility, can bow down before him and say: it is not my fault, Lord, not the bishop or the deacon, not my neighbour or my partner, not the world's leading powers, it is my fault, I have been disobedient, I have been an active part of the disgrace of your Church, of the fallen state of your people, of all the sad damage done to your house and your house furnishings! - Brethren, he who ever thus came before God has never repented. It is the very first step of rising and unfolding, that is, of beginning anew. Are you ready for it? With God everything is ready! Don't expect this step from someone else, God expects it from you, yes, from you! Personally!
Then Moses' obedience was simple, very simple obedience. He didn't have to do some great thing. The word of the Lord was, "Cut two tablets of stone." That's all for now. As if he were not the leader of the people, but a simple craftsman, he had to do a job that any stonecutter could do. There's no heroism, no showy service, it's simple: cut two stone tablets. Moses did not sublet the command to someone else, he set to work with his own hands. He didn't mind doing such menial work. I think that this is the first test of obedience: can you obey God in very small, simple, ordinary things? Now, God does not expect from us heroic, grandiose obedience, but really simple obedience: simply to take up and do what God says where you are - in your family or church, at work or play. Show in the little things of life that you are a child of God!
Then Moses' obedience was a time-bound obedience. The command was: "Be ready in the morning." He had to do what God said immediately, because he had to be ready in the morning. All God's commands are like that. It is always immediate. The most crucial time in our lives is always today, the now, the moment we are living. It's not worth anything to you, no matter how blessed your ministry was yesterday, you must obey today. Satan doesn't care if yesterday or the day before, no matter how fervently you could pray, he can still get into you today! It's no use, no matter how earnestly you vow that tomorrow will be different, that tomorrow you'll start a new life, it will never come to anything. What counts is what you do today, now, from now on. Moses would have had every reason to make excuses as to why it's not a good time to make stone tablets now, there's so much confusion in the camp - he'll tidy up first, then go up the mountain later, just not now. It would have been very justified. Yet he went immediately! God's work, God's cause, God's command, can never be delayed. And we do the opposite, we think that the big laundry can't be postponed, and the shopping, and the other little problems of life, that is urgent for us, not God's business. It can be postponed, put off until a better time, wait until there is time for that, and mood, and mood, and surplus. "Be ready in the morning" - that's what it means: start now, immediately. Begin right now to repent of your sins, to accept forgiveness, to walk in renewed obedience, to come to terms with your acknowledged sins, to seek and do the will of Jesus. God is ready to start afresh with you if you are ready to obey right now!
Then we also read that Moses is to bring with him to the mountain a tablet similar to the one before, so that God may write on it the words that were on the tablets before. God does not want to say anything new, but the old things again! Today he is starting again with everyone, including us, by telling the old gospel again! Don't expect a new gospel, a divine revelation never heard before, something different from what God has preached among us so far. God does not correct himself. His great good news to the world today is the same as it has always been. Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ means that God is here among us, wanting nothing more than to meet with us, with you, to reaffirm His covenant with us by filling our lives anew with His presence and love. Not just this Sunday worship, but ordinary life, everyday life. He wants to confirm to us that the curse of our sins, the burden of our sins, has indeed been taken upon Himself in Jesus, and that we are therefore now truly free to live as His redeemed children. He wants to start afresh with us by giving us a truly new life with Him! That is the old gospel! You have heard it so many times. And it is still relevant today! Believe me, it is not the life of the Church that needs to change, nor other external circumstances, but something in us that needs to change: we need to be brought back, more truly and consistently, under the Lordship of Christ! This is what God is waiting for!
Finally, there is a great promise in this Word: "And He said, Behold, I will make a covenant; I will do wonders in the sight of all thy people, such as were not in all the earth, neither among the nations: and all the people wherein thou art shall see the works of the Lord: for wondrous is that which I will do unto thee." (Exodus 32:10) So when there is one who is willing to renewed obedience, God will make him a blessing, He will work miracles through him. This is true word for word. Now, near Lake Balaton, a simple working couple has dedicated their lives to the Lord in renewed obedience, and God is working such miracles through them that even people who were spiritually blind are forced to see what the Lord is doing: people who were medically declared hopeless are healed. The man who is consecrated to God becomes a channel through which God's restorative powers flow into this world. Through YOUR obedience, the healing of life around you, church and secular life, will begin. Believe that God wants to give more than we expect. He wants to do miracles.
Is there bankruptcy, is there despondency, is there hopeless darkness, is there a ruined life in you and around you, in the church, in your family, among your people? Well, the key to the solution is you: your renewed obedience, your personal renewal in obedience to God! God is a renewing God! And if you are willing to do it, life will suddenly start to rise from the present abyss!
Amen
Date: 18 August 1957.
Lesson
2Móz 32,1-10