If you can, please take the time to watch the video, it has more in depth content than the blog below.
We know what the promise land was for Israel. It was a geographical region which God promised to give them. What is the promise land mean for us? If there is a “promise land” for us is that the goal to walk in it, to rule in it? Does the promise land represent God’s Kingdom will His rulership and reign over a region, a nation, such that we make disciples of every Nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey Christ’s commandments.
Or is promise land walking in all the promises of God in our life and overcoming the power of the enemy is every area of our life. So we are free to live in the fulness of what Christ purchased for us?
When God blesses us, when He delivers us from the enemy and give us breakthrough the very thing that He gives us breakthrough in can become our focus as opposed to focusing on the ONE who gave us the victory.
When God delivered Israel from Egypt He brought them out with wholeness of body and with an abundance of spoils and riches. What did Israel do with the riches?
Exodus 32:7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. 10 Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
11 Then Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.
Moses goes down sees what’s really happening and basically says Holy sheep dung what the flock is going on and chucks the tablets to the ground in disgust and now Moses is the angry one!! Prior to that Moses calmed God down now Moses is burning mad.
Image courtesy of The Layman's Bible
19 It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.
25 Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies— 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. 27 He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’” 28 So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.
Now we see Moses doing what he talked God out of doing. Moses tells them “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel ...take your swords and kill.” Meaning kill all who are guilty. But remember Moses asked God not to do anything but chooses to let his anger burn and wants to punish Israel like God wanted to in the first place. The men who the Levites saw were directly involved with the Golden calf and were not repenting were the most obvious offenders. In fact most were probably upset that Moses melted down the calf.
29 Then Moses said, “Dedicate yourselves today to the Lord—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”
The blessing is that even though the Levites did not attempt to stop the people from making the golden calf they would be redeemed from their lack of action by taking responsibility to punish those who sinned.
30 On the next day Moses said to the people, “You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the Lord, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 Then Moses returned to the Lord, and said, “Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves. 32 But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!” 33 The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34 But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 35 Then the Lord smote the people, because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.
Exodus 33:1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham,Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way.”
So God is willing to fulfill His promise and get Israel into the promise land and even get rid of all the enemies in the Promise Land. He is just gonna do it through an Angel. So it would seem Israel should be happy, they are going to still enter into their promise land!!
4 When the people heard this sad word, they went into mourning, and none of them put on his ornaments. 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are an obstinate people; should I go up in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what I shall do with you.’”6 So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.
The stripped themselves of the very thing that had tempted them. The thing they were focusing on even worshipping.
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways (Hebrew word for ways is Derek) that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” 14 And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Derek
way, road, distance, journey, manner
road, way, pathjourneydirectionmanner, habit, wayof course of life (fig.)of moral character (fig.)
The root of Derek is Darak which means to tread, bend, lead, march. We get the idea that "the way" of someone is how they walk or march out their life.
Other passages that use the Hebrew work “Derek” can be found in:
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way (Derek) he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Psalm 37:5 Commit your way (Derek) to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
Now back to Moses and his desire to know God and for God to go with him and all of Israel:
Exodus 33:15 Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. 16 For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished (Palah) from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?
The Hebrew word for distinguished is Palah. Moses knew that the only way for Israel to be set apart and really attain the destiny promised to Abraham would be for God to be with them so they would be DISTINGUISHED.
Palah (Strong’s definition)
to be distinct, marked out, be separated, be distinguished
(Niphal)to be distinct, be separated, be distinguishedto be wonderful
(Hiphil) to make separate, set apart
Psalm 139:14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully (Palah) made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
Moses knew that it was not seeing God’s promises made manifest that would be a sign of God’s favor, nor would it be something that would have the most impact and others around him, it was the fact that God’s presence was with him that demonstrated that Moses had favor and would also demonstrate that Israel is God’s people.
17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” 18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” 19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” 21 Then theLord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; 22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”
Now Moses has to go up Mount Sinai again to re-make the 10 commandments on new tablets. Moses takes his desire to know God’s ways to a new level by asking for God to show Moses God’s glory. In the passage below we see that God indeed shows Moses His glory and we also get insight into God’s ways, His bent, his heart.
Exodus 34:5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord. 6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” 8 Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. 9 He said, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own possession.”
10 Then God said, “Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you. 11 “Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. 12 Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. 13 But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
Make sure you ascribe the most value to God and serve Him do not get lured into valuing anything else more the your God!!
15 otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. 17 You shall make for yourself no molten gods.
Otherwise you might fall into the trap of valuing other things, and give your heart to lust of the flesh, or love of money and things etc. Your children will see your heart and your actions which will cause them to stumble and do the same!
The true prize, the ultimate promise is knowing God!!! It’s not getting breakthrough, although that’s awesome, it’s not getting blessed, although God wants that for us. It’s simply knowing God so intimately that no matter what happens around you, nothing can take His Joy and Peace away from you ... you have true happiness that does not come from prosperity of body or of funds, but which only comes thru intimately knowing Christ Jesus.
Look at Paul’s heart as he share in Philippians chapter 3:
Philippians 3:7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ,the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
Matt 6:20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Where is your Treasure? As much as we desire breakthrough, victory over areas of our lives that hold us back, like needing healing, or finances or peace of mind, how much more do we need the ONE who give us the breakthrough so that when we get our healing, our provision our peace that breakthrough does not become our Golden Calf because we are so caught up in the true God who gave us the victory.
So in conclusion is a good thing to pray for breakthrough and God wants us to walk in victory but make sure that we don’t get more caught up in seeking healing than in seeking THE HEALER, in seeking provision than in seeking THE PROVIDER, in seeking peace of mind than seeking THE PRINCE OF PEACE!!