8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
10 Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you. 11 Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 12 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. 13 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
15 “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. 16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.
17 “Do not make any idols.
18 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.
19 “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. 20 Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons.
“No one is to appear before me empty-handed. Exodus 34:8-20
Buried in this text is a phrase that is quite appropriate for the Easter weekend (v. 10). In fact, if you only read verse 10, you might come to the conclusion He was referring to this weekend.
Even though many are experiencing church withdrawal from not being able to meet with fellow parishioners – especially with Easter Sunday tomorrow – God is still awesome.
He performed mighty works for the Israelites when they were in Egypt and after they escaped. He did awesome works throughout their history and leading up to the birth of Christ.
The culmination of His awesomeness is the reason we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. We can’t meet, but we can certainly celebrate. As I write this, it is Good Friday; as you read this, it is the time after His death and when the Disciples waited patiently for something – anything – to happen. They were in anguish over what had just occurred the night before. Their faith was slowly diminishing as each hour passed.
But His Awesomeness was doing a work never before and after seen. The Son who had come from Glory itself was in the midst of three days of utter darkness ( 1 Peter 3:18-20). The Father had turned His back on the Son, and He was on His own (Matthew 27:48, 2 Corinthians 5:21).
He was alone.
How is that awesome?
How is it even called Good Friday?
Tomorrow we’ll describe The Rest of the Story, as the late Paul Harvey would say.
But I think you already know it.
The story will be Awesomeness Fulfilled.