There was plenty of energy for this feast to the golden calf, and this we always see in connection with false religion. The people got up early in the morning and prepared their sacrifices. They gave willingly as well, and did not seem to mind it at all. Oh, that there were more of the true spiritual energy seen on behalf of the truth, and more of the free giving too! Of course we know that the enemy is always ready to oppose the child of God who would walk in the truth, but he never opposes false religion. Man, being naturally religious, likes a religion which salves his conscience and lets him live on in his sins.
Let us remember that the God with whom we have to do is a holy God who cannot pass over sin. Every sin must be punished, and unless your sins have been put away through the precious blood of Christ, you must bear your own punishment in eternal banishment from the presence of God.
Intercession
After attending to their idolatrous sacrifices, the Israelites spent the rest of the day in wickedness and sin until the Lord looked down upon them. They had fully earned His righteous vengeance and should have been judged, but it is beautiful to see Moses interceding for them. The Lord heard Moses and spared the people. May this be a word of encouragement for us when looking to the Lord in prayer. Let us intercede for the lost and for the children of God who are walking badly, knowing that our Father will hear.
As Moses was walking down from the mountain with his shining face, and Joshua with him, they came near the camp. Joshua heard a great noise in the camp and thought at first that it was the noise of war, but soon he heard a little more clearly and found out that they were singing. As they came a little nearer they could see the golden calf and the people dancing. They were having “a good time” as the people of the world would say. Why disturb them? Why be a killjoy? Such is the thought of the unsaved man who loves his sins, but Moses had the thoughts of God about what was going on there.
Leave the “Good Time” for Christ
Their so-called good time would have quickly come to an end if Moses had not interceded for them with God. It is only the goodness of God that causes Him to wait while His people proclaim the message of salvation through the finished work of Christ; otherwise, judgment would fall upon this world right now. The world would like to get all the real Christians out of the way so that they can have their good time. Little do they realize that when the Christians are gone their good time will be gone, too, and God’s most severe judgments will begin to fall upon the favored lands of Christendom. If you are one of the pleasure-seekers of this doomed world, let us warn you that your days are numbered. Your empty pleasures are soon going to end, and then your eternal destiny will be the lake of fire. How solemn! Why not come to Christ, and have the joy of His love in your soul now, and then in a coming day, “pleasures for evermore” (Psa. 16:11) in heaven with Him? Leave your empty religion and your empty pleasures behind, and be cleansed in the precious blood of Christ today. You will never, never regret it.
Further Meditation
1. How did Moses respond to the people’s sin?
2. What other persons in the Bible reacted to the sin of others with intercession, not irritation?
3. Our Intercessory Place in Relation to the World: And Our Attitude Toward Its Present Conflict by J. Bloore provides some brief thoughts on the necessity of intercession in our day.