Exodus 32:1-14, Psalm 106:1-6, Psalm 106:19-23, Isaiah 25:1-9, Psalm 23:1-6, Philippians 4:1-9, Matthew 22:1-14
A). WHO BROUGHT ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPT.
Exodus 32:1-14.
The people began by saying, “Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:1). Then they changed their mind, saying of the molten calf, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4; Exodus 32:8).
Speaking to Moses, the LORD referred to Israel as “your people, which you brought out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:7). Moses replied in prayer, “Thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand” (Exodus 32:11).
CONTEXT: Moses had told the people ‘all the words of the LORD’ (including the ten commandments): and all the people answered with one voice, ‘All the words which the LORD has said we will do’ (Exodus 24:3). Then the LORD called Moses back up into the mount, and Moses enjoined the elders to wait for him (Exodus 24:12-14). But he was gone ‘forty days and forty nights’ (Exodus 24:18).
EXODUS 32:1. When the people saw that Moses delayed, they became impatient. They called upon Aaron to make them “gods” to go up before them: “for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” It has been suggested that they were replacing not the LORD, but Moses.
EXODUS 32:4. Now this is part of the subtlety of sin. In their own minds they were not abandoning the worship of the LORD (Exodus 32:5), but they were making it more accessible. Yet they had already broken covenant with the LORD by making an image.
They offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings (Exodus 32:6). Notice, as a matter of interest, that they did NOT bring sin-offerings, because they had no consciousness of sin.
Stephen is clear in his criticism: ‘They made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands’ (Acts 7:41).
‘Neither be ye idolaters, as some of them,’ warns Paul; ‘as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play”’ (1 Corinthians 10:7). The implication is that the worship of Israel was reduced to an orgy.
This word “play” is interesting. It is the same word used of Isaac ‘sporting’ with his wife (Genesis 26:8). In that context it clearly has sexual connotations since the king quickly determined, ‘Of a surety she (is) your wife: so how come you said, “She is my sister”?’ (Genesis 26:9).
EXODUS 32:7. Ironically, even as Moses finished his business with the LORD in the mount, the LORD disowned His covenant people, telling Moses to get down “for your people which you brought up out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.” The indictment is that they had made a molten calf, worshipped it, and made sacrifices to it: and that they had said, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:8; Exodus 32:4).
Now the wrath of the LORD waxed hot against them, and He determined to wipe them out, and make a new nation out of Moses (Exodus 32:10).
EXODUS 32:11. Such is the humility of Moses that he does not even consider the option of the LORD making a new nation out of him, to replace wayward Israel. Instead, Moses’ response is a model of intercessory prayer.
First, he is zealous for the honour of the LORD. It is the LORD who has brought Israel out of Egypt, so why should He give occasion for the Egyptians to suggest that He brought them out only to consume them in the mountains (Exodus 32:12)?
Second, he appeals to the covenant promise which the LORD had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 32:13).
We are not told here of any sin-offering being made, but “the LORD repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people” (Exodus 32:14). Such is the power of prayer: that man should strive with God, and prevail (Genesis 32:28)!
The Cross of Jesus is the ultimate demonstration of God’s “great power and mighty hand” (Exodus 32:11). Through the sacrifice of Jesus, Christians have been brought out of captivity to sin and death (Romans 8:2). Because He took our sin, we are made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).
It is part of the purposes of God that His purposes should be fulfilled through the prayers of His people. We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous (1 John 2:1), who is ever interceding for us at the right hand of God (Romans 8:34). We are enjoined by Jesus Himself to ‘ask in my Name’ (John 16:24), and so we may come boldly to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).
Furthermore, though we know not what to pray for as we ought, yet (since Pentecost) the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us (and through us) with groanings that cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26).
B). THE GOLDEN CALF INCIDENT.
Psalm 106:1-6, Psalm 106:19-23.
PSALM 106:1. It is good to raise our voices in praise to the LORD, our covenant God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. It is good to give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, by which He has washed us from our sins by the blood of Jesus, His Beloved Son. It is good to celebrate the LORD for His continued mercy towards us, which He will never remove.
PSALM 106:2. As we contemplate His mighty acts, wrought for the salvation of His people, we cannot but be impressed with them. We cannot even begin to show all the reasons why we should forever be praising the LORD. So the two questions of this verse remain unanswered meantime.
PSALM 106:3. Yet, if we were ever to find a person who could answer the two questions of the previous verse, it would have to be someone who enacted justice and righteousness “AT ALL TIMES.” Such a person would be truly blessed, having found happiness unsought in pursuing holiness. Yet Israel, we find in this Psalm, fell far short of this standard.
PSALM 106:4. Here the Psalmist gets personal, “Remember me O LORD.” But this is not without reference to the wider community of God’s elect: “with the favour that thou bearest unto thy (covenant) people.” The LORD deals with us as individuals, but the salvation that we receive places us in the wider community of the church.
PSALM 106:5. So the Psalmist continues, “That I may see the good of thy chosen” (by being one of them, and sharing in their joy and gladness). The happiest people in the world are the people whose God is the LORD. ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ… To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved’ (cf. Ephesians 1:3-6).
PSALM 106:6. Whereas Psalm 105 spoke of the mighty acts and glorious deeds of the LORD, without reference to the sins of His people; Psalm 106 shows the other side of that coin. So it is appropriate here that the Psalmist begins with a corporate confession on behalf of his people, past and present: “WE have sinned with our fathers, WE have committed iniquity, WE have done wickedly.” Generation after generation the same old sins crop up in the midst of the LORD’s redeemed people!
PSALM 106:19. The very paradigm of such sins is the Golden Calf incident. After hearing the book of the covenant, the people asserted, ‘All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient’ (cf. Exodus 24:7); yet here they were at Horeb (which is Sinai) making themselves a golden calf from the gold that the Egyptians had given them at the time of their escape from slavery. They broke the second commandment when they “worshipped the molten image” (cf. Exodus 32:4).
PSALM 106:20. They exchanged the glory of God for some kind of fertility religion, based in the similitude of a grass-eating animal! The indictment against mankind for this kind of folly is echoed throughout the Bible (cf. Jeremiah 2:11-13; Romans 1:23). Anything that replaces the true and living God as foremost in our lives amounts to idolatry; and even today men worship, if not material idols, the idol of materialism: gold and the acquisition of wealth.
PSALM 106:21-22. How soon we forget our Saviour! How soon we forget the One who laid down His life for us, becoming sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21)! How soon we forget the great things that God has done by the blood of Christ, conquering sin and death and hell; the world, the flesh and the devil on our behalf!
PSALM 106:23. “Therefore He said that He would destroy them,” but He did not. Instead Moses stood in the breach and interceded for them. Just as Jesus our Mediator also stands in the breach between God and man and intercedes for us (cf. Hebrews 7:25).
C). THINGS PLANNED LONG AGO.
Isaiah 25:1-9.
This passage begins in song (Isaiah 25:1), and ends in song (Isaiah 25:9), with a feast in between (Isaiah 25:6-8).
The first song is a solo, “You are my God” (Isaiah 25:1) and begins with praise to the LORD for “the wonderful things” that He has done: His “plans formed of old, faithful and sure.” These plans no doubt include His acts of righteous judgment (cf. Isaiah 24:17-18), as well as His acts of grace and deliverance.
The “city” (Isaiah 25:2) represents man organised against God (cf. Babel, Genesis 11:4). Although Moab is later named (Isaiah 25:10), it could just as easily be (in the wider Biblical context) Sodom or Egypt, Assyria or Babylon, Tyre or Rome. The destruction described (Isaiah 25:2) is not vindictiveness on the part of God, but measured judgment, designed not only to punish (Isaiah 25:5; cf. Isaiah 24:21), but to bring the nations to the fear (reverence) of God (Isaiah 25:3), and to deliver the poor and needy (Isaiah 25:4).
Now the poor and needy are brought to a free feast (Isaiah 25:6; cf. Isaiah 55:1). “In this mountain” speaks of Mount Zion, Jerusalem (cf. Isaiah 24:23). The junction between heaven and earth. The place where the LORD meets with man. Here the LORD Himself is setting a table for a mighty feast. It is “a feast of fat things, of well-aged wines, of marrow with the fat, of well-aged wines well refined” (it sounds almost as poetic in English as it does in the Hebrew). And “all people” are invited.
It is here in this mountain, at this feast, that the LORD promises to cast away a shroud (Isaiah 25:7-8).
1. First, there is the shroud in which Jesus was wrapped at His death.
In the death of Jesus, God “destroyed” what the shroud represents (i.e., Death), and “swallowed up” Death forever. It is, first and foremost, in the Resurrection of Jesus that ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:54).
2. Second, the veil over the hearts of “all people” is removed (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:15-16).
3. Thirdly, the veil of mourning is removed. “The LORD God will wipe away the tears from all faces” (cf. Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:4).
4. And fourthly, “reproach” - i.e., ‘condemnation’ - is removed (cf. Romans 8:1).
Paul also builds on this passage in 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, adding in the taunt song of Hosea 13:14. Because of the death of Death in the death of Christ, Death has lost its sting for all who believe. Because He has indeed risen, we too shall rise and go to be ‘forever with the Lord’ (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
In the second song the whole congregation of God’s people rejoice in the LORD, the God of our salvation. “Lo, this is our God” (Isaiah 25:9). This is our hope.
1. On one hand, the death and resurrection of Christ, and their consequences - the forgiveness of sin, and a right relationship with God (cf. Romans 4:25; 2 Corinthians 5:21) - are already realised in the life of the Christian. We are already ‘seated in the heavenly places in Christ’ (cf. Ephesians 2:6).
2. On the other hand, we have not yet ‘shuffled off this mortal coil’ and must live yet in this body. The text calls us to “wait” for the fulness of our salvation (cf. Romans 8:23), which will be fully manifested when Jesus returns (cf. Titus 2:13).
D). THE SHEPHERD PSALM.
Psalm 23:1-6.
I. The LORD is my Shepherd.
Psalm 23:1-3.
When King David was a boy, he used to look after his father’s sheep - so he knew what he was talking about when he spoke of the LORD as his shepherd. As we all know, a “shepherd” looks after sheep. David led the sheep, but the LORD led David.
Yet one day the LORD called David away from that life of looking after sheep, and after many adventures David became king of Israel (Psalm 78:70-71). Instead of leading sheep, he was to lead God’s people. Now, more than ever, King David needed to follow the leading of the LORD God.
King David could look back on his life as a shepherd boy, and remember the times when God had helped him. One time a lion tried to steal a lamb. Another time a bear tried to steal a lamb. Both times the LORD helped King David rescue the lamb (1 Samuel 17:34-35).
Psalm 23:1. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not lack anything.”
Another Psalm tells us that there is ‘no good thing that the LORD will withhold’ from the people who walk in His righteous way (Psalm 84:11).
Jesus said that when we seek God’s kingdom, and His righteousness, He will provide for us all that we need (Matthew 6:33).
Psalm 23:2. “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” For a sheep, this means delicious green grass.
“He leads me beside still waters” – rather than scary noisy fast-running water in which the sheep might drown.
Sheep sometimes do silly things. I can remember seeing a sheep that had wandered onto the shore because it saw a nice piece of grass in the shallow water. When the tide started to come in, that silly sheep nearly got drowned.
God does not give us permission to go into silly places.
Psalm 23:3. “He restores my soul.” The shepherd rescues the sheep from dangerous and forbidden places. The LORD restores the life of His people.
“He leads me in the paths of righteousness” – the shepherd knows where the right paths are, and leads the sheep there. The LORD has given us His Word, the Bible, to guide us and to teach us in His ways.
“For His name’s sake.” The shepherd looks after his sheep properly so that people do not think that the shepherd is silly. When we disobey God, we dishonour His name.
Jesus is the good shepherd, who gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11). The shepherd calls His own sheep by name, and He leads them out. Those who hear the voice of Jesus will follow Him, and He leads us beside the still waters, and into the paths of righteousness (Psalm 23:2-3).
Jesus is the Shepherd of Israel (Psalm 80:1): but His flock (His people) includes those out of every nation, throughout all of time, who follow Him.
II. A Sheep's Response to the Good Shepherd.
Psalm 23:4-6.
‘All we like sheep have gone astray’ (Isaiah 53:6). Yet when we know Jesus as our Good Shepherd (John 10:14), we have full bragging rights (Psalm 23:1-3). One of the distinguishing marks of the Good Shepherd is His compassion towards an otherwise leaderless people (Mark 6:34).
Having told the other sheep about the Good Shepherd, the sheep now addresses Him in person. “You” are with me; “your” rod, and “your” staff comfort me (Psalm 23:4). “You” prepare a table before me; “you” anoint my head with oil (Psalm 23:5).
Finally, just in case the sheep still has fears in the dark valley (Psalm 23:4), the Psalm ends with the reassurance of a personal reflection (Psalm 23:6). The Lord is our Shepherd (Psalm 23:1), we might say, and His compassions they fail not (Lamentations 3:22-24). ‘Thus far the LORD has helped us’ (1 Samuel 7:12).
In the valley, death is only a shadow (Psalm 23:4). Since I am walking in the paths in which the Good Shepherd is leading me (Psalm 23:2-3), I need not yield to fear, for He is with me; His rod, and His staff they comfort me (Psalm 23:4). Countless times in the Bible we hear the LORD, His angel, and Jesus saying, ‘Fear not’ (e.g. Isaiah 41:10; Luke 2:10; John 16:33).
The “comfort” of the rod and staff is that they ward off enemies, but also keep me on the right path (Psalm 23:4). We have the ‘comfort’ of the Holy Ghost (John 14:26). This includes both direction and discipline.
The “table” is a place of feasting (Psalm 23:5). For the sheep, this is a plateau, previously prepared by the good shepherd. Cleared of noxious weeds, it is lush with the best grass.
There are both literal and spiritual applications of this concept for the believer. Just as the LORD provided manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16:31), so He provides our daily bread (Matthew 6:11). Yet in the Bible He also feeds us with His words, and they are a delight to us (Psalm 119:103); ‘the words that I speak,’ says Jesus, ‘they are spirit, and they are life’ (John 6:63).
Enemies (spiritual predators) can only look on when I am in the care of the Good Shepherd (Psalm 23:5). Our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, is pacing up and down, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). Yet he can come no nearer than the Lord allows (Job 1:12; Job 2:6).
“Anointing” (Psalm 23:5) is salve for healing, and the application of oil to deter parasites. It is also grease for the rams’ horns, to stop them from battering each other to death! The Lord tends to our spiritual injuries, and daily applies the ministry of the Holy Ghost to our individual situations.
The “overflowing cup” (Psalm 23:5) speaks of the kind of medicine that the shepherd might administer to the sheep in times of chill. It is a metaphor for the abundance that the sheep finds when it rests under the good shepherd’s care. The concept of blessings ‘running over’ appears also in the New Testament, as a response to our obedience to Jesus (Luke 6:38).
The cup of Christ’s suffering, which he drank to the full (Mark 10:38; Mark 14:36), fills our cup with an abundant overflowing of spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). Whatever we are suffering, He has been there already: rest in Him!
In the final verse, the sheep reassures itself that the mercy and love of the good shepherd have ‘got my back.’ David is saying, on our behalf, “my dwelling will always be with Him” (Psalm 23:6). This is a response of faith to all that has occurred so far, a response of confidence in the present, and a response of assured hope concerning all that is yet to come.
E). A CONTEXT FOR THE CALL TO REJOICE.
Philippians 4:1-9.
‘Our conversation is in heaven,’ said the Apostle in the previous chapter, ‘from whence also we are awaiting (as) Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ’ (cf. Philippians 3:20-21). “So, my brethren… stand fast in the Lord” (Philippians 4:1).
Paul calls his addressees, “my brethren,” "beloved,” “longed for,” “my joy” “my crown…” and again, “beloved.” The exhortations which follow are addressed in family love to one of his beloved churches, and the individuals within it. Paul has already expressed his longing for them in Philippians 1:23-24, and Philippians 2:24.
Just as Paul has owned the Philippians as “my joy,” so he will later exhort them to “Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). The Apostle also calls them “my crown” - or perhaps “my wreath” - an athletic metaphor that would be familiar to those dwelling in a Roman colony. The reference to standing fast, or standing firm, may also introduce a battle metaphor, which also would be familiar in a colony settled by war veterans!
The exhortation follows, naming two female members of the staff in the Philippian church. Paul beseeches them to “be of the same mind” - “in the Lord” (Philippians 4:2). There is an echo here of the exhortation in Philippians 2:2.
‘We are God’s fellow-workers,’ says Paul elsewhere (1 Corinthians 3:9). The word for ‘fellow-workers’ gives us our English word, ‘synergy,’ which speaks of a combined effort, a co-operation with God if you will. Paul uses this word four times in Philippians 4:3 -
“I ask you also, true (a) YOKE-FELLOW, (b) ASSIST these women who (c) STROVE TOGETHER with me in the gospel; with Clement also, and the rest of my (d) FELLOW-WORKERS, whose names are in the book of life.”
In Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice” is in the plural, meaning: ‘Rejoice, you all!’ There is fellowship in rejoicing together (cf. Romans 12:15).
‘Joy’ is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23): it is ours from the very first day that we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. What the world calls ‘happiness’ depends upon happenstances.
So, Paul insists, “Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS” - whatever the circumstances - “and again I say, Rejoice!”
It is because “the Lord is at hand” that Paul goes on to exhort the Philippians - and ourselves - to let our “patient self-control” be manifested to all men (Philippians 4:5). The outward look towards all men is part of letting the mind of Christ Jesus be in us (Philippians 2:5).
The Lord is at hand in two senses. First, Jesus has promised that where two or three are gathered together in His name, He is right there with them (Matthew 18:20). Secondly, He is on the sidelines, waiting for the Day that the Father has set for His return to the earth (Mark 13:32).
In saying, “Be careful about nothing” (Philippians 4:6), the Apostle echoes Jesus’ teaching about anxiety (Matthew 6:25-33). Prayerfulness is the cure to carefulness. Our supplications should be seasoned with “thanksgiving” - knowing that our heavenly Father hears and answers prayer.
Elsewhere, Paul encourages us to ‘renew our minds’ (Romans 12:2). The exhortation in Philippians 4:8 offers guidance as to how this might be accomplished: “Whatever (things) are true, whatever honest, whatever pure, whatever lovely, whatever of good report; if any virtue and if any praise, these things consider.”
The last instruction of this section is that the Philippians should remember, and emulate, Paul’s own example (Philippians 4:9). Which is, incidentally, the example of Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:1).
Finally, there is one especially important promise: “the peace of God, which is beyond mortal comprehension, will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). “The God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4:9).
F). A MARRIAGE FEAST FOR A ROYAL SON.
Matthew 22:1-14.
Following the failure of the chief priests and Pharisees to lay malicious hands on Jesus (Matthew 21:45-46), Jesus “answered and spoke to them again by parables” (Matthew 22:1). He spoke of the kingdom of heaven being “like unto a king, who made a marriage feast for his son” (Matthew 22:2). When the king first announced the wedding his invited guests refused to come (Matthew 22:3). So, according to custom, he sent out a second bidding (Matthew 22:4).
Can you imagine what a privilege it would be to be invited to a royal wedding? However, it is not only an invitation, but also a command. What a disgrace it would be to turn down the offer!
Yet there are people who hear the call of Jesus, and still refuse to come to Him. Any excuse will do: they “make light” (Matthew 22:5) of the gospel, thus insulting both the host and the groom. This is high treason of the worst kind in the kingdom of heaven.
# The one who is (literally) ‘apathetic’ to the Son shall not see life, but has the wrath of God abiding on him (John 3:36). And if he does not have a relationship with the Son, he does not have a relationship with the Father (1 John 2:23).
Such people prefer their own way to the King’s way; their own livestock to the feast that the King is providing; their earthly business to that which pertains to their never-dying souls (Matthew 22:5). There are also those in every age who have gone beyond mere refusal to actually persecuting the King’s messengers (Matthew 22:6): maligning and killing the prophets and apostles of old, and the missionaries and preachers of the Christian era.
Now Jesus speaks explicitly in terms which ‘the chief priests and elders of the people’ (Matthew 21:23) had already suggested (cf. Matthew 21:41). “When the king heard of their wicked deeds…” (Matthew 22:7) - surely what is mentioned here anticipated the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. This is the disgrace which the religious leaders brought upon their beloved city.
There still remained the need to furnish the marriage feast of the Son with guests. Those first invited proved themselves unworthy by their absence (Matthew 22:8). So now the word went out to others, in the highways and other places (Matthew 22:9), all and sundry, both good and bad (Matthew 22:10).
# ‘Come unto me,’ says Jesus (Matthew 11:28). So they ‘shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 8:11).
Yet this is not the end of the matter. There now appears to be ‘both good and bad’ in the kingdom of heaven. There is a bit of sifting which must yet be done, sorting wheat from chaff, sheep from goats, good fish from bad fish.
The King Himself comes in to see the guests (Matthew 22:11). High honour this! Yet there is one there who is inappropriately attired - representative of all who appear to belong, yet do not.
Play actors and hypocrites may fool men, and may fool churches too - but at the last their true colours will be exposed. “He saw a man which had not on a wedding garment” (Matthew 22:11). A man, in Scripture parlance who had not been clothed with the righteousness of Christ (Isaiah 61:10; Philippians 3:9), thinking that his own ‘filthy rags’ would suffice (Isaiah 64:6).
“Friend,” pronounced the King (Matthew 22:12). This appellation occurs three times in Matthew’s Gospel, each with an ominous ring to it.
# First, it addresses a representative of the discontented labourers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:13). Next, here, it addresses one who refused to wear the wedding garments provided by the King. Finally it addresses one who would betray Jesus with a kiss (Matthew 26:50).
The sleight came on account of certain would-be guests of the King refusing to wear the garments provided. Wilful men would force their way into heaven rather than drop their act, admit their hypocrisy, and bend their knee to Christ. Yet bend it they will, when they are left speechless in His presence (Matthew 22:12), and they are sent to join those others in the ‘outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (Matthew 22:13; cf. Matthew 8:12).
“Many are called” (Matthew 22:14), but not all are chosen. It is for us to ‘Put on the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 13:14), and ‘make our calling and election sure’ (2 Peter 1:10).
