The Lord says that He will no longer go with the people, He will
give an angel the job of accompanying them for they are stiff-necked and if He
went with them He would destroy them. The
people remove their ornaments, go about in mourning, at this announcement. They no longer have that which not only makes
them special but is their protection. They
are still in covenant but not in relationship, similar to Adam's situation
after he sinned in the garden. Moses still
has God's ear though and sets up the tent of meeting where he can talk to
God. His case is that if God doesn't go with
them, continue to speak to him and lead him then the people will lose
confidence and faith in Moses as the leader, the whole thing will fall apart
without God. Moses' leadership is
completely dependent on God's presence as proof that this is God's will. The Lord agrees to remain with them and Moses
asks for a theophany, to see God's glory and receives a promise to not only see
it but to hear God proclaim on His Name, the Lord. When was the last time you asked God to see
His glory rather than to see His glory in resolving some situation?
What does it mean to relax the Law? Paul was accused of this
constantly and we don't observe all "the Law." We eat prohibited foods, we wear garments
that contain more than one type of fiber, the council in Acts 15 relaxed the
Law by only requiring certain aspects of it be observed. On what basis do we relax the Law? On what basis did the Council relax the
Law? There were certain laws Jesus
Himself seems to not be concerned about such as certain Sabbath
restrictions. He not only heals on
Sabbath, He heals in ways that cause Him and others to "work" on
Sabbath. We don't see any place where
moral laws are relaxed by Him, these obligations to neighbor and moral laws are
never changed anywhere and we should look to that principal as a guide. We eat shellfish and other food because Peter
had a dream that three times was given to him, confirmation by several
witnesses, and then the dream was confirmed by the men taking him to Cornelius'
house and the Holy Spirit given to these who eat banned foods. The Council was clear on these issues, we can
think of them categorically, "abstain from what has been sacrificed to
idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual
immorality." Don't participate in
any form of idol worship, blood continues to matter because God equated it with
life, strangled means the life blood is still in the animal, and sexual
immorality is a basic tenet of the recognition of Yahweh's intent for being
fruitful and multiplying as the first commandment as well as other aspects of
relationships.
Paul's mission to the Thessalonians, as to all the other
churches, was completely for God's glory.
He wanted to see that glory and expected to see it as well. He knew that it was in the proclamation of the
Gospel that God was glorified and it was in the believers that the glory was
seen. His motives weren't impure in any
way, he gained nothing other than seeing that glory. Because the glory was seen in the people who
believed, he saw them differently, as brothers and sisters and not strangers
and aliens, not as Gentiles. The Gospel
changed all relationships, purified them, for Paul and his expectation was that
it was to do the same for all people who believed. No matter how much grief the churches or the
Gospel brought to him, Paul remained committed to both in love for it was there
that the glory of God was evident. Those
two commandments Jesus speaks of, loving God and neighbor, are our guides to
the Law.
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