WORSHIP AND THE EXODUS
The monotheism of Islam’s god (Allah) is a great improvement over the polytheism of the heathen. But despite the fact that Moslems acknowledge Christ to be a prophet like Abraham, Moses and Mohammed, they reject the message of the cross. In so doing they reject the righteousness of God and His agape as the Saviour of the world.
A right “understanding [of] who God is” involves worshiping Him as the God of agape (1 John 4:8). This undeniable character of God is revealed in Moses’ worship experiences in the book of Exodus.
Walking through the desert a shrub would be a common sight not worth going out of one’s way to see. However, a burning bush that was not consumed was a phenomenon worthy of Moses’ attention. It was Christ “the angel of the LORD [who] appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush (Ex. 3:2; The Desire of Ages, p. 23). God told Moses to put off his shoes for this was “holy ground” (Ex. 3:5).
Verse 5 is quoted by an inspired writer in connection with the following classic statement: “The humanity of the Son of God is everything to us. It is the golden chain that binds our souls to Christ, and through Christ to God. . . . Christ was a real man” (Selected Messages, Vol. I, p. 244).
To Mary the angel spoke these words at Jesus’ birth—“that holy thing” (Luke 1:35). Christ took our mortal, self-centered nature to His holiness and condemned it in the flesh right up to the final “one just [righteous] act” of the cross (Rom. 5:18, NEB). There is only One righteous person for all time.
Christ’s holiness was tested and tempted by the fires of persecution, but was not consumed. “The burning bush in which was the Lord’s presence did not consume away. . . . The furnace fire of temptation may burn, persecution and trial may come, but only the dross will be consumed” (Ye Shall Receive Power, p. 131).
Christ in His humanity was represented to Moses by the unconsumed burning bush. At Moses’ commissioning for the leadership of Israel he was assured of the fellowship of Christ. Moses worshiped and served God with a right understanding of the humanity of Christ who was “tempted in all points like as we are” (Heb. 4:15).
Later in Israel’s history when they allowed themselves to become slaves in Egypt, the Lord proclaimed the merits of Christ’s blood to deliver them from the Destroyer by instructing all with these words: “When He seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and not suffer the destroyer to come in” (Ex. 12:23). It was not when the Lord sees their obedience, but when He sees the blood.
At the time of the tenth plague they were to splash the blood of a lamb upon the door. It was the Lord’s Passover. When the Lord saw the blood, the firstborn was delivered. If there was no blood the restraining hand of the Lord was removed from that household and Satan, the Destroyer, slaughtered the firstborn even unto Pharoah’s house.
A child could understand the lesson: “If one died for all, then were all dead” (1 Cor. 5:14). If One had not died for all, then all would be dead. All both believers and unbelievers alike enjoy life and daily food by virtue of Christ’s death and His gift of pardon and deliverance. An appreciation of Christ our Passover Lamb is worship (1 Cor. 5:7).
Church goers sometimes have a love-hate relationship to the ten commandments. They look upon them as God’s do’s and don’ts. If you can obey them you’ll be saved, and if you can’t, you’ll be lost. The law has seemed like a heavy burden, ten precepts carved in cold stone, heavy prohibitions that crush out all the joy of life. Everything that was fun doing seemed to be, “You shall not!” The ten commandments seemed like roadblocks in the highway of happiness.
They forget the preamble to the law which makes them God’s continuing acts of deliverance from the servitude to sin. “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Ex. 20:2).
All are born naturally self-centered thanks to the first Adam. But Christ has fired him as our representative and made Himself the last Adam by incorporating all humanity into Himself. “In Him” we have all died and been resurrected. We are delivered from Egyptian slavery to sin. “The faith of Jesus” has been given to everyone which, if unhindered, makes it possible to keep the commandments of God.
The preamble reminds us that we have been delivered from Egypt for the purpose of worshiping the true God of love. The preamble is the good news of God’s new covenant promise transforming the ten commandments into ten great promises. God will never allow sin to bind us again.
The good news of the 1888 message is that when we understand and believe the inspired preamble to the ten commandments, when we appreciate what the Son of God has done for us, all this modern idolatry loses its charm. It’s not the gold or silver or wooden crosses in churches that captivate our souls; it’s the understanding of the love of Christ that is revealed at His cross.
After all of God’s providential leading and deliverance of ancient Israel from Egyptian bondage, how could they worship the golden calf? It seems incomprehensible that they should be so stupid.
The reason for their false worship came from inventing their old covenant promise to God. “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do” (Ex. 19:8). We will do everything just right, Lord. Their confidence in themselves to do righteously was the basis of their old covenant (“feeling that they were able to establish their own righteousness” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 372).
The result was a few weeks later “they broke their covenant with God” by worshiping the gold calf (Ibid.). It meant they were turning their backs on God’s plan of salvation and were deliberately going back into the sex orgies “worship” that was ruining the pagan world.
The little book Steps to Christ tells why: “You desire to give yourself to the Lord, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you” (p. 47).
Here’s the problem! The memory of your frequent failures to keep your promises makes you feel that you are no good and “that God cannot accept you” or respect you. And that is horrible slavery.
A far better way is under the “new covenant.” It was the new covenant that delivered me from a life of drug addiction. I had nothing with which to offer to help God and I could make no promise that could ever be kept.
Instead of promising God you will do better, worship is thanking Him that He has promised to save you, that Christ has given Himself for you already and bought you with His blood, and that you are precious in His sight. The “old” covenant is bad, the new covenant is good news.
