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Paul Hayden

Christ our Mediator

Exodus 32; Psalm 106:23
Paul Hayden • July, 7 2026 • Video & Audio
181 Sermons
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Paul Hayden
Paul Hayden • July, 7 2026
181 sermons

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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Let us read from God's holy word from Exodus and chapter 32. Exodus and chapter 32. In this chapter we have the account given where Moses has been up in the mount receiving all the information about how the tabernacle should be made, how the Aaron, his garments, what he should wear and all those important information was given to Moses and yet at that time Aaron and the Israelites were making a golden calf and worshipping that. Exodus chapter 32 and commencing to read at verse 7. So there is that told about the fact that they made the molten calf.

So verse 7 of chapter 32, and just before I start reading, I really, on my mind is to speak on the aspects of the Lord Jesus Christ as a mediator and the vital work. We think of him a lot as the sacrifice, what happened at Calvary, But there's other aspects of what the Lord Jesus does as well. And a vital aspect of what he does is to be a mediator. And so I want to look at that and through the window of Moses and what Moses does as a picture of what the Lord Jesus does in such a greater way, and of course he's still doing today. Moses has long since passed away, but God is an unchanging one.

Exodus 32 verse 7, 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. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf and worshipped it. and have sacrificed their unto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 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. It's a great test for Moses. 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?

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, Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest 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.' And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do. unto his people.

I now want to jump on to verse 30 of this chapter. And here we have another prayer that Moses prays on behalf of Israel. Exodus 32 verse 30. 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. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, O this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if they will forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book. which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

Just read one verse in Psalm 106, which really gives an overview and a summary of what we've read. Psalm 106, verse 23 says, therefore he said this is god therefore he said that he would destroy them had not moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them so as we look at this subject we see here how absolutely vital Moses was for the preservation of Israel. God, because of their sin, of their rebellion, of their idolatry, God had said in judgment that he would, in verse 10 it says, now therefore let me, so this is Exodus 32 verse 10, now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them. So this is the righteous anger of God, is to consume his rebellious people. And was it not for Moses standing in the breach, then this whole nation would have been destroyed.

And so we see here that Moses, in the purposes of God, had a very vital role. And yet, who ordained Moses? Moses wasn't there of his own organisation, was he? God had appointed him. Indeed, in that verse we read in Psalm, had not Moses, his chosen, stood before him in the breach?

And so we see the anger of God against sin. And yet we see that, naturally speaking, was it not for Moses standing in the breach, Israel would have been destroyed. And we read at the end of Moses' intercession, and the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. Moses' intercession was successful. It turned away the wrath of God. So as we think of this, we might think, well, it seems, if we read this, that Moses is more merciful than God. God is saying, destroy them. And it's Moses that's standing in the breach and pleading on behalf of them.

Moses is absolutely vital. But we must look at this and realize that Moses There's a saying that a source of a stream, the stream can never run down and get higher than its original source. And Moses' source was God. And therefore Moses can never be more merciful than God. Moses can never be more gracious than God.

And so what we see here is that God is giving in this passage and many of the passages when Moses was leading the children of Israel, he's giving us a window into the work of a mediator. And of course, the real mediator is not Moses. It's God himself, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. In Timothy, we read those precious words. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. So as we see Moses and his intercession, we are having actually a picture of what is going on actually in the Trinity. between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We are seeing something of that vital work of the mediator. Yes, the Lord Jesus laid down his life, a ransom for many, and yet there is that necessity to then be a mediator and to bring together a holy God and an unholy people.

And as we go through the account in Exodus and look at Moses and look at his kindness and love and his generosity to Israel, we love Moses. But we must realize that Moses is but a shadow of the mediator. the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not greater than the mediator.

He is, it's a bit like that on a dark night. Clear night, the moon shining brightly. We see the brightness of the moon and it gives a brightness in that dark night. But really, none of those rays that come from the moon have began in the moon. all they are is a reflected light from the sun. And so as Moses is involved in this intercession, he is but like the moon, he's reflecting the greater light, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would become the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

So as I open this up, I want to look at that and look at the heart of Moses. You see in verse 10 of chapter 32 it says, now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them. You could read this that God is saying, Moses, get out the way, I just want to destroy them. But if God just wanted to destroy Israel, he didn't need to involve Moses at all. He could have just wiped out the entire Israel, couldn't he? He didn't need to involve Moses. But what God does is bring this to Moses.

And it's a similar thing that we read in when the angel that wrestled with Jacob said, let me go for the day breaketh. Did he really want to go? Did he really want to cease wrestling with Jacob? Jacob replies, I will not let thee go. except thou bless me. You see, he was drawing out Jacob.

And so here, many have seen that when God says, let me alone, he's drawing Moses into this so that he would be involved. And interestingly, if you look in verse 7, we see a strange thing said in verse 7. And the Lord said unto Moses, get thee down for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt. Moses' people? Do they belong to him? But you see, if you think of this as the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, God's people have been given to the Son, given to the mediator, for him to intercede for, for thy people.

And you see, Moses doesn't say, well, if that's what you think is best, you go ahead and destroy them. Oh no, Moses doesn't do that. You see, now let me therefore alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, that I may consume them, and I will make of their great nation. Oh, this sounds, this will be good for Moses' ego. He can be a great, he can be like the Abraham, a father of many nations. But Moses never picks up on this point at all. Moses is not interested in becoming a great nation himself.

He's interested in representing and pleading for his people. Now there's something beautiful in that. That's Christ. When he was on the cross, we will believe you if you come down from the cross, come down from the cross and we will believe you. Oh, he could have vindicated himself, couldn't he? He could have come down from the cross and vindicated his own power. But what about his church? What about his people?

And you see Moses, as God presents this, the judgment of God, Moses comes in and pleads. And you see this in verse 11, and Moses besought the Lord his God. Moses intercedes for Israel. And you think, well, surely this, then Moses has got the bigger heart. He's got the more mercy for these people than God.

No, God had, if you look at the text we read, had not Moses, his chosen, stood before him in the breach. God had raised up Moses. God had looked after him in the bulrushes. God had preserved him in the backside of the desert for 40 years. God had gone before him.

It was God that put Moses there. and it's God the Father that put the Lord Jesus Christ as the mediator. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ is, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He sent the mediator. It was not that the mediator got in the way of him, of pouring forth his wrath upon his people. It was his eternal purpose that a mediator would stand in between of them and a holy God.

And so we see in the heart of Moses this beautiful picture of the work, the ongoing work. We think of that beautiful statement, it is finished. And it is, it's a beautiful statement. The sacrifice is complete. All that was necessary to be accomplished has been finished at Calvary. But there's an ongoing work of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is, he ever living to make intercession. for his people.

So this is a great work and I think we easily overlook this. I speak of myself. We overlook this great importance of a mediator and how absolutely vital Moses was to Israel's ongoing safety. Without Moses interceding they would be destroyed. But you see God had appointed Moses to this work. And it was so unselfish. God has said, I will make of thee a great nation, but he's not interested in that. He pleads on behalf of them. And his pleading is not saying, Israel's not too bad. They're not that bad, really. They're quite good people, really. None of his pleading is along those lines. It's all about what God is, what God has said, that they're his people, that he has promised to bless them. He has promised to give them the promised land. And what will the enemy say if they get destroyed at Mount Sinai? What will the enemy say? What will thou do with thy great name? These are the arguments that Moses uses.

But they're not arguments because God is, as it were, not is not against God. God has appointed that there would be a mediator. And this is a beautiful aspect of the gospel. The God who is holy and righteous, he has appointed that somebody, that God the Father, God the Son would stand in the breach. And so Moses prays, and the Lord repented. The Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. In other words, Moses' intercession saved their lives.

Without that intercession, they would have been lost. Yes, they'd come out of Egypt. Yes, they'd come under the Paschal Lamb. They'd been under the blood. They'd been saved from the avenging angel there. But they would have been destroyed here at Mount Sinai because of their sin. Had not Moses, his chosen stood before them in the breach. But you see, Moses has passed away. Moses is dead. We don't have Moses now to intercede for us.

But what Moses was doing was but a shadow, like the moon is but a reflection of the sun, and the sun in all its glory and brightness is so much greater. Of course, Hebrews picks this up, that God in sundry times and divers manners spoke to us through the prophets, Moses being one of us, hath in these last days spoken unto us through his sun. The brightness of the sun, all the others are but moons, The Lord Jesus Christ is that son of righteousness which shines into the hearts of God's people.

But this is what he's doing. He's interceding for them. And as we came on then in the reading in verse 30, and it came to pass on the morrow that Moses said unto the people, this is verse 30 of Exodus 32. Ye have sinned a great sin. He's not diminishing what they've done. Now I will go up unto the Lord. Peradventure I shall make an atonement for you. You see, that's the moon. What does the sun say? Thou shalt call his name Jesus. for he shall save his people from their sins. Not peradventure, not I'll try.

Dear Moses, that's all he could do. But the Lord Jesus, you see, the great, the greater mediator, the true mediator, the one that Moses was picturing, is the Lord Jesus Christ. O this people have sinned, periventially I shall make an atonement for them. And Moses returned unto the Lord and said, O this people have sinned a great sin and have made them gods of gold. Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sins, he pleads on behalf of them.

But look at the cost to himself. And if not, block me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. Could you have a kinder, a more selfless mediator than Moses was to Israel. He was willing to have his name blotted out so that Israel might be united. He would stand in their place.

Well, God didn't accept this. Well, of course, because Moses was but a man. Moses could not pay for the price of their sin. He could not stand in the breach perfectly. But you see the one that Moses was reflecting, the mediator that Moses was reflecting was a mediator that did stand in the breach. He did stand in his people's place. He did bear the curse himself so that that people would go free and it was accepted. You see, Moses, as it were, he had the desire to do this, but he couldn't do it. He was but a man.

But the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, he delighted in that. And so as we see Moses, and as you read through the book of Exodus and Leviticus and the Pentateuch and see the kindness and the long-suffering of Moses and his kindness to Israel, We're not to stop at Moses. Yes, he was a dear man of God.

But where did Moses get that from? Who had Moses learnt that from? He'd learnt the truth of what, when Moses said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. In Exodus 34, verse six, and the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. Moses is not more merciful than God. The mercy that Moses was showing was but a foreshadowing of Christ, who would be the mediator, the one that would stand in the breach, the one that would pour out his life unto death for his people.

And so you see here we have that one who is a great one for us to look towards. And if you look in Romans chapter 8, we have these words, verse 34, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. But he doesn't stop there. This is Romans 8 verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. It's easy to think of Christ died for us and stop there. He died for us. has risen again. He's at the right hand of God and now he's interceding.

And he's not interceding with a father that is against his people. No, the Lord God the Father had appointed such a mediator in love to his people that there would be one that would stand in the breach. You see the Lord Jesus was just that appointed one. Isaiah 42 picks it up. Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighted. Talking of Christ. You see God the Father loved the Son, but he appointed him to this great work of mediation for his people.

And so as we come together for prayer, may we be given that faith. to recognise we have a mediator. Oh, you'd think Israel had such a friend in Moses. Their life depended on Moses, naturally speaking. Ah, but Moses was but a shadow of the Son of Righteousness, who arises with healing in His wings, And when Moses pleaded on behalf of the people, Christ pleads on behalf of his people on his own merits, on his own righteousness, on his own keeping of the law, so that they can be accepted in the Beloved.

We have not an high priest that cannot be touched with our infirmities, but we read that he, therefore he ever liveth to make intercession for us. So as we seek to pray, may we have a glimpse of that mediator who pleads our cause in heaven, not before a father that is against us, but before a father that loved us so much that he appointed a mediator to represent us, to stand in the breach so that we can be accepted in the beloved. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.
Paul Hayden
About Paul Hayden
Dr Paul Hayden is a minister of the Gospel and member of the Church at Hope Chapel Redhill in Surrey, England. He is also a Research Fellow and EnFlo Lab Manager at the University of Surrey.
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Same Scripture

Sermons on Exodus 32, Psalm 106

Sin, Wrath, and Mercy Frank Tate · Exodus 32:15-35
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