Miniature ofrom Folio 8r of the Syriac Bible of Paris shows Moses before Pharaoh. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Who is on the Lord’s side?”

(February 20)

Moses’ challenge rang out, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” After all the dramatic experiences and evidence of God’s power as they escaped from slavery in Egypt and then witnessed the destruction of the Egyptian army that followed them – and then experience the dramatic physical happenings as they encamped before the mountain of God at Sinai, the majority of the people still had not perceived the special and wonderful nature of the one true God they were privileged to know in such a way that they were becoming “his people”.

He was asking them to have a relationship with him, but the great majority of them failed. When Moses was not physically present for 40 days they reverted to human ways of thinking and doing; they looked for a physical representation of God – finding it more satisfying to worship a representation of something he had made – than the Creator himself.

Moses is mortified – he becomes so greatly distressed that he breaks the stone tablets God engraved when he was in his presence on the top of the mountain. He comes down the mountain and his challenge rings out, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” Wonderfully the Levites responded to the challenge and stood with Moses – yet, among them, as we will soon read, there was to arise the experience of being unable to serve God properly. The Lord says to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book” (verse 33).

This is the first time we learn that God has a “book”! There are references to God’s book in different parts of Scripture which climax near the end of the last book in the Bible when, what is called “the book of life” (Revelation 20:12) is opened and “if anyone’s name is not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (verse 15). Obviously this lake symbolizes the trashing of all those who have had the opportunity to be “on the Lord’s side”, but decide to serve themselves rather than God and His Son. Are you on the Lord’s side?

- Christadelphian Today's thought

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