“And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.”
—Exodus 32:7-14
When I was in London I had some very good older brothers who taught me about the Bible. One of them was called Sam, and his catchphrase was the word glory. He’d go into this super deep dive on how the Ten Commandments could actually tell us about God’s character, or how the building plans of the big temple could tell us about God’s relationship with his people, and after he was done, he’d look us in the eye and say – glory.
It was quirky and fun, like a very Christian, very nerdy way of saying that’s so cool. Now I haven’t spoken to Sam since I left London, and I gotta admit, my passion for the Bible isn’t as strong as it used to be. But there are parts of the Bible which still jump out at me, they’re weighty and powerful, they mean so much in just one paragraph. Today’s passage makes me say – glory.
It’s a Bible story that’s rooted in one, very specific point in time. It takes place soon after God rescues his people out of Egypt, with the ten plagues, and Pharaoh drowning in the sea, all that. If you remember the film The Prince of Egypt, today’s passage happens right after the film ends. Moses has gone up a mountain to meet with God, and his people, whom God has just saved, think that God has abandoned them, and so they make some golden statues and worship them as their new gods.
We’d probably expect God to wipe his people off the face of the earth, since they’re not only sinning, but they’re sinning against him in such a personal way — after all, hadn’t he stuck by them through thick and thin in Egypt? Hadn’t he saved them with a whole bunch of miracles when they were at their lowest? Why show any mercy to a people who treat their faithful God so faithlessly?
Moses gives a reason — remember. Remember who you are, God! Remember that you’re a God who makes and keeps promises. Remember that you promised the great, great, great, grandfathers of these ungrateful people that you would be their God, that you would stick by them no matter what. Remember who you are, remember what you have said. Remember.
And God listens — he doesn’t destroy or abandon his people. All because he let one man plead for mercy for his people. That an all-powerful God would let one person save everyone by standing in front of God’s punishment, that’s glory. That a good, righteous God – so good and righteous that sinners who even look at him will die – would choose not to destroy his sinful people because he keeps his promises, that’s glory. That God would always choose to be true to his character, true to his promises, no matter how bad things get, that’s glory.
But it doesn’t stop there. This story, like all good Bible stories, repeats itself. Fast forward one thousand years, and God’s people are still just as lost — they’re not chasing after gods made of gold, but they are chasing after more subtle gods like success, power, wealth, and looking religious. And again God sends another man to save them, like how he sent Moses in this story. But this time, this is no normal man, this is Jesus, the Son of God himself – and this time God’s people don’t just refuse to listen to him, they murder him. And as Jesus is about to get killed, what does he do? He tells God – remember. Remember, God, why you sent Jesus to save your people. Remember who you are, you are righteous, but you have mercy. Remember that you sent Jesus to give his life to save everyone. Remember all this, and don’t destroy these people, because they don’t know what they’re doing.
This time God doesn’t hold back his destruction — but he doesn’t send it onto his own people, the ones who murdered Jesus. He puts it on Jesus himself. Which means that anyone who trusts in what Jesus has done, trusts that Jesus took the punishment that should have been ours, is now right before God. Just as how God’s people in our story today were saved from destruction because God listened to the one pleading for them, so all Christians know that we are saved from destruction not because we’re good people, not because we get good grades or sing nice songs or treat each other nicely — but all because someone has pleaded for us, and taken the punishment that should have been ours.
This is what makes me say glory to today’s passage. It’s so many things all at once — it’s a story from the past that’s also a window into the present; it shows how God can have mercy on people who don’t deserve mercy; it reminds us that it’s not about how good or bad we are, it’s about trusting in the one who pleads for us, trusting Jesus to save us, just like how Moses saved the people in this story. This story is the Bible at its best, a story that means so many things all at once, and points us away from our goodness or badness, and toward God’s goodness.
Glory.
Remember, My Lord 
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