There was a rift. The covenant had been broken. God had said, “Obey My voice, keep My commandments and you will be My treasured possession” (Exodus 19:5). The people had responded, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do” (19:8). Covenant made . . . now time to live happily ever after. Ahhh . . . not so much. Fast forward a few pages to this morning’s reading . . . and there’s eating and drinking and goofing off . . . and it’s all centered on a golden calf . . . fashioned at the hand of Aaron . . . commissioned at the request of the people . . . declared to be “your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (32:1-6). Ok . . . this can’t turn out good. Covenant’s broken . . . deal’s off . . . wrath of God is justifiably on . . . cue the mediator!

This morning’s reading just happened to be last night’s focus at our men’s OT study. Love meeting with those guys . . . never quite know where the conversation is going to go . . . but never disappointed with the Spirit’s leading . . . and last night Moses as mediator hit me in a blessed, fresh way. Moses’ back and forth between God and the people of God surfaced in such a wonderful way . . . and the type presented of Christ as mediator evoked awe-filled praise.

The covenant had been broken . . . in a big way! The had taken other gods over the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Commandment 1, broken). They had made of gold an idol in the form of a calf . . . bowed before it . . . exalted it . . . reveled about it . . . evoking the jealousy of God (Commandment 2, toast). The had defiled the name of God . . . building an altar before the calf that they might sacrifice to it as “the Lord” . . . the name of my God carelessly attached to an inanimate object of man’s making . . . God will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain (Commandment 3, blew it!). What’s a just God to do in light of such stiff-necked sin? “Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them!” (32:10)

Enter Moses, the mediator. Moses implores God, for the sake of God’s glory and on the basis of God’s promises, to show mercy . . . “and the LORD relented from the disaster that He had spoken of bringing on His people” (32:11-14). Then Moses turns and goes down to the out-of-control mosh pit at the base of the holy mount. And there, he conveys something of God’s anger to the people . . . throwing down and breaking the tablets inscribed by the finger of God, thus indicating the breaking of the covenant by their sin . . . grinding the golden calf into power and force feeding it to the people that they might taste the bitterness of their folly . . . calling out Aaron for his part in this train-wreck . . . and finally, commissioning the sons of Levi to exact the wages of sin, death, “and that day about three thousand of the men of the people fell” (32:28).

A mediator represents the two parties to each other . . . Moses pled for the people . . . Moses represented the holy nature of God. But a mediator also seeks reconciliation . . .

The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 
(Exodus 32:30 ESV)

And Moses goes before the Lord . . . confesses the people’s great sin . . . pleads for God’s forgiveness . . . willing to die on their behalf. And God responds, “Go lead the people to the land I’ve promised them . . . I’ll send an angel before you” (32:34-33:3). But the mediator continues to plead . . . LORD what is the land of promise without the LORD of promise? Oh God, it’s not just the place we desire, but Your presence . . . it’s not just the gifts we seek, but Your glory . . . “Is it not in Your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth” (33:1-18).

And as I hover over this I see Jesus, God’s appointed Mediator . . . the One who reveals the nature and heart of the Father to a people entrapped in sin . . . the One who intercedes before God on behalf of the people . . . offering up His own life as payment for their sin, . . . “Father, forgive them for don’t know what they are doing” . . . the One who brings us into God’s presence . . . the One who brings God into our midst.

For there is one God, and there is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all . . . He is THE MEDIATOR of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
(1Tim. 2:5-6, Hebrews 9:15 ESV)

Behold, the Mediator . . . Hallelujah, what a Savior!