Thursday after Judica Sunday
Posted on April 7, 2022 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
When the children of Israel committed idolatry with their golden calf, Moses was willing to be the substitute for their atonement. He prayed, if God would not forgive their sin, that God would blot out Moses from the book of life instead. In this way, Moses prefigured the Lord Jesus Christ, who would take the sins of all mankind on Himself and die in their place.
However, God rejects Moses’s proposition, saying, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.” Moses was not the Christ. Moses was not able to pay for the sins of the people, because he himself was a sinful man. Yes, Moses was a faithful man, who remained with the Lord in faith and did not commit idolatry like the rest. But he was a man, only, and could die for no one’s sins except his own. In this way, Moses pointed forward to the Lord Jesus Christ, who would be more than a man; He would be man and God at the same time.
The Lord Jesus Christ is both like Moses and greater than Moses. He is like Moses because He intercedes between us and God, and prays that God would not condemn us for our sins. Again, He is greater than Moses because His sinless blood is worthy to atone for the sins of all people. And He did atone for the sins of all people!
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, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Season of Lent
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hatest nothing that Thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
