Festival of the Annunciation of our Lord
Posted on March 25, 2021 by under
Scripture: Exodus 32:30-34 (NKJV)
32:30 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 the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 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! 32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”
33 And the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34 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.”
Devotion
“Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.’”
Moses felt the mountain tremble greatly. He saw the lightning and heard the thunder. He heard God call the people stiff-necked. He heard God’s voice warn him that He was about to “break out” against the people. But to make matters even worse, the high priest, Moses’ brother Aaron, collected gold from the people and fashioned it into a golden calf which they worshiped while Moses remained on the mountain in God’s presence. When Moses came down off the mountain and saw the great sin of the people as they worshiped the golden calf, he threw the tablets and broke them.
We are told that the very next day Moses went back up to the Lord, but the Scriptures also tell us the Lord visited the sin of the people upon them in the form of a plague because Aaron made the calf and the people worshiped it as an idol. Thus we see how seriously God regards sin.
God’s Commandments are established to show your sin to you. Repent, acknowledge your sins, and confess your sins to God. And believe that your sins are forgiven because of Jesus’ suffering and death to atone for your sins. Repent, confess, and believe. It was that way for the people at the foot of the mountain. It is that way for us now.
Prayer: We beseech Thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon Thy people, that by Thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
