The Goodness of the Cross

- February 25, 2023

Exodus 34:1-7

The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. (See Isaiah 24:5)

Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.

No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.”

So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone.

The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed,

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,”

These instructions for approaching the mountain tell us the seriousness of the situation. The Lord is good - we are not. (Mark 10:18) He could- and should destroy Moses and the people - but He chooses not to. We see in ch 32 of Exodus, that Moses had barely received the first tablets of the Law before it was broken by the people (See Romans ch 7). It was written in stone by the finger of God himself: It could not be changed: It HAD to be fulfilled, perfectly and to the letter. Jesus Christ, God incarnate is the only One who can and will do that. And He will then satisfy the demands of the Law which all humanity has broken, by taking our punishment upon His own body on the Cross.

This is the goodness of God.

cont. vs7 “…keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Without the intervention of the Cross there is no end to iniquity…and therefore, no end to God’s punishment. This is what, not only this scripture, but the entire Bible is about…this is what the whole of the Scripture points towards. Without the Cross…without the Promise of Salvation (Yeshua), then the Lord’s revealing Himself to Moses…His Covenant with Abraham(Gen12)…His preserving of Noah (Gen7)…His covering of Adam and Eve (Gen3:21)…would all have been absolutely meaningless. (Is there any point to preserving them in this life, if they cannot be preserved in the next?)

“Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?

Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

(Romans 7:24-25a)

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

(See 1Corinthians 15:13-22)

{The Law was written in stone; it could not be changed…

However, we are made as jars of clay…and we can therefore be changed - even if we must become broken (as were the tablets of the Law) for the Lord to change us. See Jeremiah 18:1-6, Ezekiel 36:26 & Isaiah 64:8}

“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Even King Solomon in his state of hopelessness, realizes that as long as God in the heavens, life is never truly “meaningless”…But it’s meaning can only be found through the One who creates life…

The One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)

“…And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11-12)

“I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. (In other words: God is the judge of man - not us)

But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” (Exodus 33:19-20)

So how is it that we can now stand before the goodness of the Lord and not only live, but receive Life Eternal?…

It is exactly because of the goodness of the Lord - the goodness of the Cross.