After discussing our calling as a Royal Priesthood of Christ, it’s time to highlight a particular parallel: Aaron and the bride of Christ.

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• Exodus 32:1-35
• Deuteronomy 9:6-29

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Approaching His presence

Our culture likes to downplay the holiness of our God. We have become holders of an entitled view, thinking surely God must listen to us since He is a God of love. But I must warn you, the love of God is not the love of this world. This world preaches false acceptance and a forceful recognition of everybody as correct; truth has become relative and personal when it used to be the absolute standard. However, God brings a love that is kind and compassionate, forgiving all things, but also accompanied by gentle correction and revelation of unGodly things – that which is harmful. Yet His love is not the only thing that builds His character. Instead, it is only the carrier and foundation for the rest.

He is not a God of “you do you” but one of “choose what you will, but this is better for you.” His love allows Him to be the true and unbiased Judge. Without love, there would be no true justice, and because of this, He must give us the boundaries in which we should live – not because He is taking away our fun, but because He wants us to be safe and enjoy life as a loving father would for his children. A good father keeps his child away from the flame, not because it is wrong to be near it, but because the innocently curious child could reach out regardless of his patient father’s voice telling him not to do it. What would happen? The child gets burned. It is not beyond healing and forgiveness, but there will be a scar and a memory. It is not only an opportunity for the child to learn and teach others to not do it, but an opening for the father to show his unconditional care. But it still could’ve been avoided. When the child gets near the fire, the father must correct him because he loves the child, not because he wants to kill the fun.

It is the same way with God. In love and for our best interest, He gave us commands such as do not murder or do adultery and even no lying or coveting. These aren’t because He wants to keep us from it but because He knows these actions will break our relationships with others, and most importantly, they must be punished when broken. When we break them, we shrug it off as an “oops” and come right back to the Father and try to do something else. We come inside the house and stand in front of our mom in dirty clothes, “it was only a mistake.” Mom is not happy and tells you to get your filthy body outside before you step on the clean floor. It is the same with God. We enter His presence in prayer or worship, whether we are alone (like at home) or together with others (such as church), and only say, “oops! Forgive me.” with no intention of stopping ourselves from jumping in those mud puddles outside. We stain our clothes with worldly and fleshly things only for us to say “oops” and barge into God’s presence crying out that He is good and merciful.

Not to say that He will not accept you and forgive you just as the mother will still allow her child to eat supper, but He is not interested in forgiving something that you treat as trivial and continue to wallow in its filth. He opens the doors and welcomes the humble heart but detests and tires of the heart that claims it was an accident and expects forgiveness. We are to ask for forgiveness but with humility about us, not an arrogant sense of deserving His grace.

This is what happened with the Israelites in Exodus 19, except they understood. The LORD descended onto Mount Sinai. He touched the earth, and it quaked in His presence! If creation does it, why are we standing in defiant arrogance expecting grace? The people of Israel were terrified and didn’t need to be told to not touch the mountain. To prepare for His arrival, they had to clean themselves. They couldn’t enter His presence with even dusty clothes. Yet, they still shook in terror. They sent Moses up and said you go speak, we will not listen. They were terrified of just His presence!

Now, we must understand that through the blood of Christ Jesus shed, the veil has been torn from top to bottom; we can enter His presence without an earthly mediator. However, we shouldn’t throw respect and caution to the wind because it’s available. We must treat God as holy and come before Him on our knees, humbly seeking His favor.

Side note: worship is a great way to put your heart in the right mindset, if and only if it is centered on the holiness of God the Father and/or Jesus.

Away for a time

In chapter 20, the Israelites send Moses up to the edge of the mount to listen. In chapter 24, God calls up Moses, Aaron, and two more men while the people wait for them to come back down. Six days later, Moses is called in to receive instructions from the LORD God. Now, Aaron and the rest of the people are waiting for Moses, the middleman, to return. But they start to get antsy. Now why is that? It’s only this massive mountain in the wilderness that is smoking and trembling with their leader somewhere up on top, not to mention it’s been several days.

In Exodus 32, the people start to bring ideas up, making backup plans. “What if Moses is dead?” Their worry and fear lead them to backtrack in their mindset and slip into the old nature of Egypt. They don’t see or hear from God, so they slip into what they know will satisfy them: making gods to lead them.

Now hold up! The nation of Israel has seen the Red Sea collapse and fold in on the Egyptian armies. They’ve seen plagues unfathomable, bread fall from heaven, battles won against militant tribes, and water coming from a rock! They’ve seen God show up in their lives. They’ve had testimony after testimony of His faithful kindness. Yet they tell Aaron, who is alive and with them as a temporary leader, to make them gods! How stupid, right? Are we quick to point fingers?

When we face a delay in our timeline, do we give up on God?

Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

Exodus 32:1

They didn’t start doubting when Moses was with them, but when he didn’t return when they planned. Let that sink in.

Forty is a number known for trial and testing. The term “forty days and forty nights” is seen with the worldwide flood of Noah’s time, when Moses is on Mount Sinai receiving the ten commandments (our discussion), when he was interceding for the Israelites at the edge of the Promised Land in Kadesh Barnea, when Elijah is fleeing from Jezebel and is told to return, and when Jesus is in the wilderness being tempted after His baptism. Noah, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. All are pictures of faith, grace, obedience, and redemption. Noah lived to see a new beginning. Moses lived to see the land the Israelites would pass into from a mountaintop before he died. Elijah was a prophet full of the fire and boldness of the Lord. Jesus is a combination, fulfillment, and successor of all these men. Forty days and nights for these men. But do not we also experience the trials of forty days and forty nights at times?

We live in this present dark and evil age where testing and persecution are constant blessings we receive. We wait and tarry for the return of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Yet, do we not also grow anxious when He does not fulfill our man-made and presupposed timelines? In this hard reality, there is a blessing hidden. Moses came after forty days and forty nights. When the trial and testing are fulfilled – when everything is fulfilled – Christ shall come as Lawgiver as He descends the mountain of the Lord coming to earth as the Righteous Judge. We await that fearsome and terrible day. Yet, in the meantime, do we run to the mindset of Egypt when we think He is delaying?

Golden calf of compromise

In the time of trying their patience, the Israelites ask Aaron to make a golden calf. With no hesitation, Aaron is asking them for their golden earrings. If you’re like me, you never knew this until now, but the customs of the Egyptians and their gold make this action even more grievous.

Before Moses went up for forty days, God gave them the Ten Commandments, and the nation agreed to honor and obey them. Yet, according to Egyptian customs, they are now turning their backs. The gold in Egyptian culture was used to pay tribute to the holy deities and adorn their statues. They were not only making a god, but they were paying tribute to their fake idol. They were placing their treasures into this cast and molding it. They were placing their valuable things at the foot of idolatry. It gets worse.

Aaron forms and sculpts this mass to make it into a calf and says, “Here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.” Not only do the people place value in this idol, but Aaron declares that instead of the Yah whom they serve and their ancestors have known as God, it is this Egyptian idol.

The cow was commonly viewed as sacred in Egypt. According to my limited study (please study for yourself), Apis, the bull god of Egypt, represented their core values, common beliefs, eternity, and harmonious balance. Regardless of the exact meaning(s), the Israelites had thrown themselves at something they had just made, trading in God for the cultural customs they had just come from.

Now, as Christians in this world, we often slip into the old nature of the flesh. We forget to renew our minds and slip into old routines. We start to serve ourselves and forget about God. We place value in things with no life or eternal significance and chase after empty ideals.

The people had requested Aaron to create this calf when Moses had delayed his coming. Often in the church today, I see many compromising with the old nature and chasing things of the flesh. They mix the new with the old, straddling the fence while they wait for the Lord’s return. As we wait for our Redeemer and Lawgiver to come back to gather us as He promised, will we compromise with our old nature and forget to crucify our flesh? Or will we endure the trials, temptations, waiting periods, and hardships while we wait for his glorious return?

How will we be when He returns?

When Moses was still on Mount Sinai, the Lord told him to return. The people had started chasing idols and slipping. During our time on this earth, do we make Jesus want to put us in line, or is He looking on in satisfaction and favor of our behavior? Do we show the world that we trust the God who brought us out of our slavery and lifestyles that are leading us to destruction, or do we chase those destructive things and sink back into familiarity?

The name of Mount Sinai means thorny. We are in this world of bruises, scrapes, injuries, broken spirits, heavy minds and hearts, you name it. While Moses is in the Lord’s presence, Aaron is with the people. He hasn’t become a priest yet, but he is the leader now that Moses is not among them. Aaron means peacemaker. When we try to make peace with this world and forget to align ourselves with His timeline instead of forcing Him into our minds, we seek peace at any cost – even our faith. Do not compromise when He doesn’t answer when you think He should. Wait on Him.

Are we at Mount Sinai?

For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Hebrews 12:18-24

Mount Sinai is the mountain of judgment. The old covenant was external to show we cannot possibly do it alone, while the new covenant is internal to show us Who we can do it with. When we follow Christ, we no longer stand in front of the mountain that quakes and is covered in fire and smoke. Instead, we undeservingly stand before one that is covered in glorious splendor, peace, beauty, and all things lovely. We have been cleansed and transferred through the death of Christ into the resurrection and hope of His coming. We no longer need to stand in fear before His presence. However, we also must maintain our relationship with Jesus. We cannot ignore Him and expect our relationship to be on stable ground. We must remain humble as we seek His face. We are His priesthood, yes. But we must honor and respect the High Priest who intercedes for us in prayer.

Do not take His presence lightly. Seek His face. Do not trade Him for the mindset that He delivered you from. Compromising with the world is insulting to the One whom we serve.