Exodus 33:11 says, And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.  God spoke to Moses face to face, as two friends speak to each other.  Matthew Henry says this means that Moses saw God with a greater clarity, which was an encouragement to him.  Joshua remained in the tabernacle since Moses did not want to leave it empty.  When we accept Christ as our Savior and Lord today, we see God with a greater clarity than we have ever seen Him before.  God talks to us as to a friend.  Verse twelve states, And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.  Moses told God that He had called him to bring up the people, out of the land of Egypt, but that God had not told him who He would send with him.  Moses said that God had said that He knew Moses by name and that he had found grace in God's sight.  We may not know all the details when God calls us to a particular task today, but we can know that God knows us by name and that we have found grace in His sight if we have accepted Christ as our Savior and Lord.  Of course, this grace of God is available to all, but they must put their faith in Christ for it to apply to them.  Verse thirteen adds, Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.  Moses asked God to show him that he had found grace with God so that he could lead the nation of Israel as God's people.  We through our faith in Christ are shown that we have found grace in the sight of God, but we can only claim this grace for our self.  We can only point others to Christ.  Verse fourteen declares, And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.  God told Moses that He would go before him, and that because of that Moses would find rest.  This required Moses to go in faith.  Today as Christians, no matter where God leads us, He will go before us and we should rest assured in His presence when we are following Him.  Verse fifteen says,:And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.  Moses told God if God's presence was not to go with him, then he didn't want to go any farther.  We need to make sure that wherever we are that we are following God's will.  We cannot go ahead of God and still be successful in doing what He has called us to do.  Verse sixteen asks, For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.  Moses asked God how he could know that he and the people of Israel had found grace with God and would it be because they were separated from the rest of the people of the world.  We today can only know that we have found grace with God by faith in Christ, and when we accept salvation through Him, we are indeed separated from the world spiritually.  Verse seventeen declares, And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.  God said that He would still be with Moses and the people of Israel even though they had rebelled against Him.  We today as followers of Christ can be certain that God is still with us even if we do rebel against His will at times.  Verse eighteen adds, And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.  Moses asked for God to show him His glory.  I believe that Moses just wanted assurance that God was still going to be with him.  We today can rest assured that if we are a Cristian that God will always be with us, and we should need no sign to know it.  Verse nineteen proclaims, And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.  I believe that God was basically sayin that Moses would simply have to put his faith in God because of Who God is.  We today must do the same.  We cannot dictate to God who will be saved, but we can follow Him in faith when we are.  Verse twenty adds, And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.  Though we were told that Moses and God talked as friends, Moses was still not allowed to see God's face, and neither is anyone else in this lifetime.  Verse twenty-one states, And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:  Verse twenty-two adds, And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:  Then  verse twenty-three concludes, And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.  Like Moses, we can stand on the rock of salvation, but we can never see God in His entirety.  This will only occur when we are called home to heaven.

Exodus 33;1 says, And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: God told Moses that it was time for the people of israel to go on to the land that He had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  God will never forget His promises to us, no matter how many years it takes for them to come to pass.  Verse two states,  And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:  God also told Moses that He was going to send an angel before them to drive out the people in the land.  All the people of Israel had to do was go.  When God calls us to a particular task today, all we have to do is go.  God will go before us and prepare the way, and the Holy Spirit will be with us to equip us, which is even better than an angel going before us.  Verse three adds, Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.  God told Moses that He was sending an angel, but that He Himself would not be in their midst, since they were a stiff necked people who He might destroy along the way because of their rebellion and lack of faith.  Though the Holy Spirit is always with Christians, we may not always receive the benefit of this because we are a stiff necked people.  When we doubt or defy God, the Holy Spirit can only bring us regret and call us back to the Father.  We cannot expect to claim God's victory over the obstacles of the world at such times.  Verse four declares, And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.  The people of Israel mourned when they heard this, and we today as followers of Christ should mourn when we know that we are out of the will of God.  This is never a time to adorn, or wrap, ourselves in the things of his world.  Verse five adds, For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.  God had given the people a warning through Moses.  They were to put off their ornaments, so that God would know that they were listening to Him.  We today need to put off the things of the world so that God will know that we are listening to Him.  The warning was that God could come in a moment and destroy them if they were not obedient.  We today, as followers of Christ, must never allow the things of this world to come between God and us.  Verse six proclaims, And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.  The people of Israel obeyed Moses, at least in the physical demand.  This did not mean that they were spiritually faithful to God.  People today may go through the motions of being obedient to God, but this does not men that they are saved.  It is only when someone accepts Christ by faith that that person is truly saved.  Verse seven says,  And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.  Moses placed the tabernacle outside the camp, since it represented God's presence and God had said He would not be in their midst.  Until we accept Christ as our Savior and Lord, God will always be outside of our life.  When we accept Christ, we will never be out of the presence of God, even if we are disobedient to Him.  The people had to go outside the camp to worship God, just as we today must go outside influence of the material things of the world if we are to follow God.  Verse eight states, And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.  When Moses went out to the tabernacle and went inside, all the people of Israel stood at their tent door and watched him.  When we as followers of Christ go to worship God today, the world will be watching.  Even more importantly, when we are out in the world and are followers of Christ, the world will be watching to see if we put God above the things of this world.  Verse nine adds, And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.  When Moses entered the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar, representing God's presence with the people, descended, and God talked with Moses.  We have no visible sign today that God is with us, but if we are truly following God by faith, the world should be able to see His presence in our lives.  Verse ten concludes, And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.  The people of Israel all rose up and worshipped God where they were.  We today should always rise up and worship God where we are,  We do not have to go to a particular place to worship God, but we are to worship Him wherever we are.  We are not just saved on a particular day or in a particular place, but we are saved every second of the every day wherever we are, and because of this we should continually worship God.

Exodus 32:30 says, And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.  Moses told the people of Israel that they had sinned a great sin and that he would go up the mountain and see if he could make atonement for them with God.  We today have committed a great sin anytime we do not follow God's word, and there is no one in the world who can make atonement for us.  Fortunately, atonement has already been made by Jesus, Who died to make atonement for us.  He is the only One Who can.  We can only point the lost to Jesus.  Verse thirty-one states, And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.  Moses returned to God and confessed the sin of the people to Him.  Moses was there to intercede for the people of Israel, since he himself had not participated in this sin.  If we are to make intercession for others, we must first make sure that we are not guilty of unconfessed sins our self.  Then, we must acknowledge that they need forgiveness, and bring our concern for them to God.  We cannot demand forgiveness for them, but can only ask that God forgive them.  Of course, if they are lost, then we can only ask that God help them to accept Christ as their Savior and Lord.  Verse thirty-two  adds, Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.  Moses told the LORD that he was willing to be blotted out of God's book of life if God would forgive the people of Israel.  We may be willing to be blotted out of God's book of life if He would forgive others, but it doesn't work that way.  There is only One Who can give Himself in our place, and that is Jesus Christ, and He already did.  Verse thirty-three proclaims, And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.  God told Moses that each person was responsible for his or her sin, and that has always been true.  We either attempt to find forgiveness on our own, which we cannot do, or we accept the forgiveness that comes by putting our faith in Christ's atonement, which is already an accomplished fact.  Verse thirty-four adds, Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.  Moses was told to go and lead the people to where God had directed him to go.  God did not say that Moses had obtained forgiveness for their sins.  Their sins would still be dealt with when God visited them.  When Christ returns, God will judge all people, and we will either stand before Him with our sins forgiven because of our acceptance of Christ as our Savior and Lord, or we will stand having to answer for our own sins, for which we cannot find forgiveness without having accepted Christ.  God did not immediately blot out all sinners, just as He doesn't today.  Verse thirty-five concluded, And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.  God plagued the people of Israel because of their sin of idolatry.  Notice that Aaron was given the responsibility of having made the golden calf.  Even if we have accepted Christ as our Savior and Lord, we may still suffer the consequences of our sins in this world.  We can never take sin lightly, because God certainly doesn't.

Exodus 32:19 says,  And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.  When Moses saw the golden calf and the people dancing naked around it, he was very angry.  Moses may have felt that God shouldn't be angry, without knowing what was going on, but when he saw, he was angry himself.  We often hear of breaking God's law, but Moses did so literally when he threw the stone tablets down and broke them.  Verse twenty states,And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.  Moses reduced the golden calf to powder, put it in water, and had the people drink it.  Not only did they lose their golden calf idol, but they lost all the gold that they had given Aaron to make it.  When we worship the things of this world, we will ultimately lose everything that we put into that worship.  Verse twenty-one adds, And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?   Moses questioned Aaron, since he was God's priest and Moses' second in command.  Moses wanted to know what the people did to Aaron to cause him t6o turn away from God.  We better hope that God never asks us what the world did to us to cause us to turn away from Him.  Verse twenty-two states, And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.  Aaron began to offer excuses, blaming things on those who were to be God's people instead of on himself.  We cannot shift the blame for our sins to others, though like Aaron, we may often try to.  Verse twenty-three adds, For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.  Aaron basically implied that it was Moses fault because the people did not know what had become of him.  Had they really put their faith in God, and not just when Moses was with them, they would not have so easily abandoned God.  If we are truly a follower of Christ, we should be faithful to him at all times, and not just when we are physically in the presence of other Christians.  Verse twenty-four declares, And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.  Then, Aaron lied.  He said the people brought him gold, he threw it in the fire, and the golden calf came out.  We were already told that Aaron fashioned the golden calf.  A golden calf forming itself in the fire is about as likely as the universe being formed by some cosmic accident.  Both required a creative force behind them, the golden calf Aaron and the universe God.  God took credit for His creation, but Aaron didn't.  We must take responsibility when we sin, then ask God for forgiveness.  We cannot blame our sins on others.  Verse twenty-five declares, And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)  Aaron had made the people get naked to shame them among their enemies.  Without God, we will always stand spiritually naked among our enemies.  Verse twenty-six adds, Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.  Moses asked those who were on God's side to come and join him, and the sons of Levi came to him.  There will always be a time when we must decide whether we are going to stand with God or with the people of the earth who reject God.  Verse twenty-seven continues,  And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.  Those who did not stand for God were to be killed.  Ultimately those who do not stand for God today will face a much greater punishment, and that is everlasting separation from God.  Verse twenty-eight states, And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.  The children of Levi obeyed Moses and killed about three thousand men that day.  Sin always has and always will bring serious consequences, but as followers of Christ, He has taken that penalty on Himself for us.  Verse twenty-nine concludes, For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.  Moses told the people that they had to make a choice, to either follow God or deny Him.  We today have that same choice, and even as Christians, we are often called on to do what the world says or do what God says.  Hopefully, we will always chose to do what God says.

Exodus 32:11 says, And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?  Moses questioned why God was angry with His people that He had delivered from Egypt with such a great display of power.  Moses did not know what was going on down the mountain, but God did.  When we as followers of Christ are doing something wrong today, the world may not know it, but God does.  We should not be surprised when God is upset if His people do not obey His word.  Verse twelve states, Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.  Moses continued to question God, saying that the Egyptians would claim that God had delivered the people of Israel simply for mischief.  Moses asked God to repent, or change His mind.  This was quite a blood thing to do.  If a person believers that God has already determined everything, it would be a useless thing to do.  I believe that if our prayers for others have no effect on God and His actions toward them, then we likewise are doing a useless thing.  Verse thirteen adds, Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.  Moses reminded God of His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.  I don't believe that God had forgotten His promise just as He will never forget His promise of everlasting salvation to those who accept Christ as Savior and Lord today.  I also believe that our actions can cause God to be angry with us when we disobey His leadership.  Verse fourteen declares, And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.  This is quite a statement.  This tells us that God can be influenced by our prayers of petition, but I don't believe that God ever needs to repent.  Verse fifteen says, And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.  Moses went down the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony, which were written on both sides.  When we come down off a mountain top experience with God today, we bring His word with us, not written in stone, but written in our heart.  Verse sixteen decades, And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.  This tells us that God had engraved the tablets.  The words of truth and the way to salvation and a successful life will always be found God's word.  Moses did not write these laws, but God did.  Verse seventeen adds, And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.  Joshua met Moses and told him that it sounded like a war was going on in the camp, and there really was.  It was a war between following God or following the false god that the people had created.  There will always be a war between God and the powers of this world.  The question is, which will we follow?  Verse eighteen concludes, And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.  Moses said that it wasn't the sound of suffering but the sounds of joy that he heard.  Many people today are rejoicing as they follow the false God's of the world.  That are not overcome by some government forcing them into servitude, but by following their own selfish desires.

Exodus 32:1 says, And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.  The people of Israel, God's chosen people, became impatient when Moses did not immediately come down from the mountain.  They demanded that Aaron make them gods to go before them, because they said they did not know what had happened to Moses.  I wonder how often we become impatient waiting on God today and begin to try to make our own gods.  Verse two says, And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.  Aaron went along with their demands, even though he was God's priest and Moses' spokesman.  He told them to bring him golden earrings.  God's spokesmen today certainly cannot afford to go along with the demands of the world.  Verse three says, And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.  These were things that God had blessed them with, and now they were attempting to use them to make their own gods.  We, as followers of Christ, cannot begin to worship the things that God blesses us with more than we worship God and still be faithful to Him.  Verse four states, And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.  Aaron, God's spokesman, took the the golden earrings and fashioned them into a golden calf and proclaimed it to be their god that had led them out of Egypt.  Aaron didn't just say this would be their god from now on, but he gave the golden calf credit for bringing them out of Egypt.  At this point, Aaron evidently didn't put his faith in God.  We can never afford to give credit to anything other than God for our success in the world.  If we do, this becomes our golden calf.  Verse five proclaims, And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.  Aaron built an altar before the golden calf and proclaimed that the next dy would be a day of feast before the LORD.  He was in effect attempting to turn this god that he had made into the real God.  No matter how hard we try, we can never turn God's creation into God.  Verse six adds, And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.  The next morning, the people of Israel, God's chosen people, got up early to worship the golden calf, then they ate, drank and rose up to play.  They were happy to have something to worship.  People today who do not worship God are going to look for something to worship and they will be happy to go about their lives feeling no need to worship the real God.  Verse seven proclaims, And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:  God told Moses to get down the mountain because Moses' people had corrupted themselves.  God did not say that His people had corrupted themselves, because at this point they were not His people.  They had turned away from God.  Though I do not believe that if we have accepted Christ as our Savior and Lord that we will ever stop being a child of God, I do believe that our actions may at times cause us to act as someone other than a child of God.  Verse eight adds,They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.  God told Moses exactly what the people had done.  They quickly turned away from God and made their own god, attributing it with having delivered them from Egypt.  I wonder how often God's people turn away from Him today because they become impatient in waiting on His answers.  After sll God had done for them, they quickly turned away from Him.  Vere nine continues, And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:  God pronounced the people of Israel, His chosen people who He had delivered from Egypt and blessed with so much to be a stiff necked people.  We can never afford to be stiff necked people in our relationship with God if we are followers of Christ.  We must never attempt to attribute the things that God blesses us with to anything other than God's blessings.  All that we have belongs to God.  Verse ten concludes, Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.  God told Moses to leave Him alone so that He would not consume the people of Israel in His wrath.  God has every right to consume those who do not believe in Him by His wrath, but He chooses to act in mercy instead.

Exodus 31:12 says, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Moses always recognized when God spoke to him, and so must we.  We cannot just assume that we know what God wants without first listening to what God has to say.  Verse thirteen states, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.  God again told Moses to tell the people of Israel to keep the sabbath.  It was a sign between God and them and was to kept forever.  As stated before, we today observe the Lord's Day, or Sunday, as our sabbath, but it should still be kept holy to God.  This is our day to rest and worship God.  Verse fourteen adds, Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.  Not keeping the sabbath brought a death penalty.  We might have a lot fewer people who profess to be Christians today if everyone of them who does not keep the sabbath, or the Lord's Day, holy were put to death.  Verse fifteen continues, Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.  God again told Moses that the people of Israel were to work six days a week then rest to keep the sabbath holy.  We only work five days a week normally, and still too often fail to keep the Lord's Day, our sabbath, holy  Verse sixteen states, Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.  Since God put so much emphasis on keeping the sabbath perpetually, I believe that we can say that it was and is important to do so.  Verse seventeen declares, It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.  This was to be a sign between the people and Israel and God.  The sabbath would have no meaning to those who were not God's people, just as the Lord's Day has no meaning to those who are not followers of Christ today.  Verse eighteen adds, And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.  These were the Ten Commandments, written by God's finger.  Again, these were not Moses commandments that he thought up, but the commandments of God.  They are till His commandments today.