God's Glory Revealed In Judgment
- Moses’ mediation.
- God threatens to dis-inherit Israel and replace them with Moses’s descendants (11,12).
- Moses’ mediator-heart responds immediately: God cannot reject Israel.
- God’s glory is at stake: Israel must be saved for God’s own name’s sake.
- God had promised the Messiah through Judah, not through Levi (and Moses).
- And Moses pleads that God show His power to save by forgiving (17-19).
- God answers (20-23) and then enlarges his answer (26-38).
- He has pardoned, yet He will be glorified.
- Pardon is given so the nation as a whole is preserved. God heard Moses’ plea.
- But God’s glory will also be revealed in His severe judgment.
- Surely the present generation would not see Canaan (23).
- All this reveals God’s glory (the radiation of His virtues).
- His glory would be seen in His terrible judgment on the ten spies.
- And God’s glory is seen in that He forgives the remnant, who of themselves are really not any better.
- This had an effect on the people: “mourned greatly” (39).
- They now declared themselves willing to enter Canaan, admitted that they had sinned (40).
- They try to reverse God’s judgment, and now try to reverse it.
- True repentance is evidenced in humility, in sorrow for offending God, in admitting the justness of the punishment.
- Even when they are warned (41-43), they persist in their rebellion.
- Application.