EXODUS CHAPTER 32
                            -----------------

Chapter 32 through chapter 34 is somewhat parenthetical. In
chapters 32 thru 34 the flow of the tabernacle theme is somewhat
interrupted. Here we are told what transpired while Moses was on
the mount.

In chapter 19 Moses was called upon the mount that was altogether
in a smoke. Moses received the laws that are told to us in
chapters 20-23.

READ 24:3-18, Moses was in the mount 40 days. It was while Moses
was in the mount these 40 days that he received what was recorded
in chapters 25 through 31.

What happened with the children of Israel during that time is now
recorded in chapters 32 thru 34.

Verses 1-10, The Golden Calf
  COMPARE Acts 7:35-43.
  We see that it was not that they were upset at Moses' long
  absence, but that during his long absence their hearts were
  turned away from Jehovah and they cast off their allegiance to
  their God and their hearts were turned back to Egypt.

  The first two commandments that were written on the two tables
  of stone that were written with the finger of God (31:18) were
  "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make
  unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that
  [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or
  that [is] in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down
  thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a
  jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
  children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that
  hate me..." (Ex 20:3-5).

  This is the very thing that they did in Moses' absence.
  Pink says, "Man must have an object, and when he turns from the
  true God, he at once craves a false one."

  This has been true in every age, and even professing
  Christendom has been guilty of the same sin.

  As another has very well said, "Alas! Alas! it has ever been
  thus in man's history. The human heart lusts after something
  that can be seen; it loves that which meets and gratifies the
  senses. It is only faith that can 'endure as seeing Him who is
  invisible.' Hence, in every age, men have been forward to set
  up and lean upon human imitations of Divine realities. Thus it
  is we see the counterfeits of corrupt religion multiplied
  before our eyes. Those things which we know, upon the authority
  of God's Word, to be Divine and heavenly realities, the
  professing Church has transformed into human and earthly
  inventions. Having become weary of hanging upon an invisible
  arm, of trusting in an invisible sacrifice, of having recourse
  to an invisible Priest, of committing herself to an invisible
  Head, she has set about 'making' these things; and thus from
  age to age, she has been busily at work, with 'graving tool' in
  hand, graving and fashioning one thing after another, until we
  can at length recognize as little similarity between much that
  we see around us, and what we read in the Word, as between a
  'molten calf' and the God of Israel." (C.H.M.)

    Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
      evidence of things not seen.

    1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent
      we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
      7 Neither be ye idolaters, as [were] some of them; as it is
      written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up
      to play.
    1Jo 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

  The safeguard to idolatry is to be occupied with the Christ of
  the Bible. Many are occupied with a christ in their idolatry,
  but it is another christ and not the Christ of God's Holy Word.

  Moses was the typical mediator.
    Ac 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of
      Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you
      of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
  Moses was away up in the mount. Christ is away from this earth
  on High with God.
    Christ said to His disciples before he left, "Ye believe in
    God, believe also in Me" (Joh 14:1). So Christ is the object
    of our faith, but men have replaced him with an object they
    can see and taste.

  Why forty days? God could have communicated all to Moses in a
  moment of time, if He had so desired.
  It was a time of testing to Israel. Just as they were in the
  wilderness 40 years.
  FORTY is the number for: Trials, Probations and Testings.

  Aaron was left in charge of the congregation and instead of
  leaning upon God for strength, he feared the people and gave
  into their wish.

  The calf, or ox, was the principal Egyptian god -- "Apis" --
  with which they were familiar with in Egypt during their
  bondage.

    Ps 106:19  They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the
      molten image. 20  Thus they changed their glory into the
      similitude of an ox that eateth grass. 21  They forgat God
      their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; 22
      Wondrous works in the land of Ham, [and] terrible things by
      the Red sea. 23  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].

  Such is the flesh, ever ready to forget God's deliverance and
  turn back to the bondage that the man was once delivered from.

  Aaron even erects an altar before it and declares tomorrow a
  feast to Jehovah. They hid their idolatry by pretending to
  worship Jehovah (LORD). There were no feast days in the either
  the 3rd or 4th months (see Lev 23).

  So too, today men have erected idols and have invented feast
  days that were never appointed, and have sought to dignify and
  sanctify their inventions by worshipping them in the name of
  Christ. Most Baptist are against having idols, yet during the
  month of December will pull down their graven images from the
  attic and place them in their front yards for the world to see.
  And all is done in the pretence to worship the LORD (Jehovah).

  "And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt
  offerings, and brought peace offerings;" (verse 6).
  There was no mention of a "sin offering." How could there have
  been for it was the farthermost from their minds.
  Those offerings which pictured the Saviour in His devotedness
  to His Father and the fellowship that He had made possible
  between a Holy God and a redeemed people, they now had degraded
  with corrupt imaginations.

  "...and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and
  rose up to play." (verse 6).
  Having presented their offerings to the LORD in an idolatrous
  manner they now felt at liberty to indulge in the flesh.
  They ate, drank and played. Their playing was in the form of
  singing and dancing (verse 18 & 19) and it was sexual dancing
  (verse 25).

  During this time of the year many will go to mass in the
  morning (the offerings of Israel were in the morning) and eat
  and drink and dance the rest of the day.
  During the whole year, people will go to early morning Sunday
  mass, and get it out of the way (obligation), then  eat and
  drink and play the rest of the day.

  "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 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." (verses 7-8).

  Israel had now broken the legal covenant with Jehovah.
    Ex 24:6  And Moses took half of the blood, and put [it] in
      basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7
      And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the
      audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD
      hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8  And Moses took
      the blood, and sprinkled [it] on the people, and said,
      Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made
      with you concerning all these words.

  And how quickly they had broken it!
  God said, "They have turned aside QUICKLY out of the way which
  I commanded them..."
  How quickly Adam turned from the commandment.
  How quickly Noah failed after coming out of the ark.
  Many other examples are in God's word about human failure.

  "And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and,
  behold, it [is] a stiffnecked people:" (verse 9).
    De 31:27  For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck:
      behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have
      been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after
      my death?
  Stiffnecked signifies a state of insubordination. An, ("I will
  not be told what to do,") attitude.
    2Ch 30:8  Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers [were,
      but] YIELD YOURSELVES UNTO THE LORD, and enter into his
      sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the
      LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn
      away from you.
  Pink says, "A stiff-necked person is one who bows not to God:
  he is one in whom self-will is at work."

  This was the state of Israel and then God went on to say, "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." (verse 10).

  "Thus Israel, if dealt with according to the righteous
  requirements of the law which they had promised obedience as
  the condition of blessing, were lost beyond recovery, and would
  perish through their own wilful sin and apostasy" (Ed.
  Dennett).

  The reason God did not totally destroy this people and raise up
  another nation from Moses was because of the "typical mediator"
  who pictured the ONE Mediator between God and man, Jesus
  Christ.

MOSES - THE TYPICAL MEDIATOR
----------------------------

Man is the only creature that has the ability to intelligently
worship his Creator. While all of creation is to the praise of
the one true God, yet only man has the intelligent capacity to
offer praise to his creator.

Of course man sinned in the garden of Eden and has become
alienated from the life of God (Eph 4:18).

Though he is dead in trespasses and sin, alienated from God, which
is what spiritual death is, yet his faculties are all still there.
True, all of his faculties are now the instruments of
unrighteousness, but they still exist and function.

It is this very character of man's nature that distinguishes him
from all of the other creatures.
Man has a religious nature!
Yet he is fallen and alienated from God.
It is this religious nature which lies at the root of idolatry.
It is a religious nature alienated from God that leads men into
idolatry.

  No wonder Christ said, "If therefore the light that is in thee
  be darkness, how great [is] that darkness!" (Mat 6:23).

  The light that Christ was speaking of was man's ability to
  intelligently worship his creator, yet his faculty, which still
  functions, is in total darkness.
  Instead of worshiping God in truth and spirit, he now serves
  his own lusts, and honors idols patterned after his lusts.

What is the first commandment of God? And it was for a good
reason.
  "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."
  Then God says, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,
  or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or
  that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under
  the earth:"

This explains the universality of idolatry, and the cause of what
happened in Exodus 32. There we have a favored people, called
out of Egypt with a mighty hand, making and worshiping a golden
calf.
It was open and united idolatry. It was inexcusable. It was
nothing but rebellion against the God who had brought them out of
Egypt. It was a deliberate violation of God's first commandment.

What then is God's response to the situation, after He informs
Moses of their awful sin?
"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" (vs 10).

As fearsome as these words sound, yet the words, "let me alone"
suggests that Moses stood between Jehovah and His sinful people.
He did not have to say "let me alone that my wrath may wax hot."
He could have said plainly "I am going to destroy them all."

When God's people were cornered by the Egyptians, Moses besought
the Lord on their behalf. There were many other cases when the
Israelites wee faced with problems that Moses besought the Lord
in their behalf.
But now is a far greater problem. It wasn't the Egyptians that
were going to destroy God's people. What would Moses do?

  "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?" (vs 11).

  God had told Moses that he would "make of THEE a great nation."
  Moses could have been content with those words, yet he thought
  not of himself but for the good of the people.
  He declines to be made the head of another nation, choosing
  rather to be identified with this stiff-necked and disobedient
  people.
  HOW THIS PICTURES OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR!
    Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him
      the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
    Heb 2:16  For verily he took not on [him the nature of]
      angels; but he took on [him] the seed of Abraham. 17
      Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto
      [his] brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful
      high priest in things [pertaining] to God, to make
      reconciliation for the sins of the people.
    Heb 2:11  For both he that sanctifieth and they who are
      sanctified [are] all of one: for which cause he is not
      ashamed to call them brethren,

  Moses had every reason to be ashamed of his brethren, and Christ
  had every reason to be ashamed of us. What great love he had
  for His brethren!

There is another parallel. Notice back in verse 7 that God turns
the people over to Moses, and says that they were his people whom
he had brought out of the land of Egypt. God had every right to
disclaim them, but there is also a typical meaning here.

So God gave the stiff-necked bunch to Moses, and then in verse 11
Moses gives them back to Jehovah by saying "LORD, why doth thy
wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought
forth..." Notice the words "THY PEOPLE."

  In John chapter 17 verse 2 our Lord says these words, "As thou
  hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
  eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." In verse 6 He
  said twice that the Father had given them to Him. Repeats it in
  verse 9 again, and adds these words "for they are thine. And
  all mine are thine, and thine are mine..." (Joh 17:9-10).

Moses appealed to God on the behalf of his brethren on three
grounds.
  1) The grace of God
  2) The glory of God
  3) The faithfulness of God

  1) His grace: "thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of
    the land of Egypt..." (vs 11).
    They were in bondage in the land of Egypt, the house of
    bondage as it is called. There was no reason in them that
    caused God to have mercy on them and bring them out. It was
    simply His grace and love toward them.
      Deut 7:7  The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor
        choose you, because ye were more in number than any
        people; for ye [were] the fewest of all people: 8  But
        because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the
        oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD
        brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out
        of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of
        Egypt.
         { set his love upon you = love in action, to be
         attached to. }

  2) His glory: "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." (vs 12).
    What would the heathen say? "God brought them out of Egypt,
    yet had to destroy them in the wilderness."
      Ez 20:9  But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should
        not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they
        [were], in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in
        bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.
      Ps 23:3  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths
        of righteousness for his name's sake.
      Isa 48:9  For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and
        for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee
        not off. 10  Behold, I have refined thee, but not with
        silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
        11  For mine own sake, [even] for mine own sake, will I
        do [it]: for how should [my name] be polluted? and I will
        not give my glory unto another.

  3) His faithfulness: "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." (vs 13).
    Moses pleaded on the grounds of the promises that God had
    made.
    There was no ground within the people of Israel that he could
    make a plea, so he fell back onto the promises of God
    Himself. Moses didn't say, "Well you know Lord, most of the
    time they are pretty good folks, and their good works do out
    way their bad, so Lord don't destroy them because the really
    are good at heart."

    Moses went back to the absolute and unconditional promises
    made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
      Heb 6:13  For when God made promise to Abraham, because he
        could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 14
        Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and
        multiplying I will multiply thee. 15  And so, after he
        had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16  For
        men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for
        confirmation [is] to them an end of all strife. 17
        Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the
        heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
        confirmed [it] by an oath: 18  That by two immutable
        things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie, we
        might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge
        to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

"And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto
his people." (vs 14).

  It was not that the LORD changed His mind.
  James says that with God there "is no variableness, neither
  shadow of turning" (James 1:17).
  It was simply a figure of speech to let us know that God
  answered Moses' prayer.
  His eternal purpose was not changed one degree. he had from all
  eternity purposed that Moses would mediate on the behalf of his
  people, and that to prefigure that Great Mediator who was yet
  to come.

Moses was on the mount 40 days and 40 nights.
  Ex 24:18  And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat
    him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days
    and forty nights.
  Remember, it was while Moses was in the mount these 40 days
  that he received what was recorded in chapters 25 through 31.
  Then in chapter 32 we see him coming down from the mount.
  If this prefigured Christ ascension into heaven and his return
  then the 40 days must mean something.
  Forty what?
  Not days. Not weeks. Not months. Not years. He has been gone
  more than 40 years.
  Perhaps 40 Jubilees which is 2000 years.


THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE and ISRAEL PLAGUED
--------------------------------------
Exodus 32:15 - 33:2

We have seen how that Moses was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What happens next probably has a two-fold application.
  1) To Israel
  2) To Christendom

"Moses going up into the mount and entering the cloud to commune
with God is a type of the ascension of Christ, following the
triumphant completion of the work which had been given for Him to
do." (Pink)

The next event is Moses' descent.
Just as Moses came down from the mount, so too our Blessed Lord
will not remain on high forever.
It is interesting that Moses came down from the mount twice. So
too, there will be two stages of Christ's second advent. First,
when He descends into the air to catch away His saints (1Th 4:16-
17) and the Second, when He returns to the earth itself (Zech
14:4).

As far as Israel is concerned, these two stages of Christ's
return will affect Israel in different ways. At the first, after
the Lord's people are caught away, then Israel will suffer
terrible judgements, and many will be killed. After the second,
Israel will enter the Millennium, an era of unparalled blessing.

During Moses' absence from the camp, Israel had gathered
themselves unto Aaron and said, "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." (vs
1).
What about the Jews in this day of grace? They no not what has
become of their Messiah. He should have come by now. Will he ever
come? And they are busy, not so much with entertaining the flesh,
as the Gentiles are but with obtaining gold. They have a lust for
gold. You could say that they worship the golden calf. So at the
first stage of our saviours advent, Israel will be in pursuit of
material riches.
So shall the Jews suffer in the tribulation period, yet it shall
not be exterminated, as in our case here.

As far as Christendom is concerned. Moses coming down to expose
and judge what is going on in the camp is much like what is
recorded in Rev 2 and 3.
  Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans
    write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true
    witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15  I know thy
    works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert
    cold or hot. 16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and
    neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17
    Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and
    have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched,
    and miserable, and poor, and blind, and NAKED: 18  I counsel
    thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be
    rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and
    [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint
    thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19  As many
    as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and
    repent.

  Just as the Laodicean church was lukewarm, so were the
  Israelites. When Moses chastised them for their great sin, we
  see no remorse. The were having a religious feast, but it was
  so far from God it is hard to imagine. So, to the Laodicean
  church was going through religious worship but Christ was on
  the outside.

Verses 15-16, Some have said that Christ had the law in His heart
and was not carrying the law, but they fail to see that this
points to His 2nd coming when he will have the law in his hands.
When He sets up His Millennial kingdom it will be one of
righteousness.
  Rev 1:16  And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of
    his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance
    [was] as the sun shineth in his strength.
  Re 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with
    it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a
    rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness
    and wrath of Almighty God.

Verses 17-18, Joshua was not up in the mount with Moses, but he
remained part way and was not in the camp with the Israelites.
Joshua did not understand what was going on in the camp, but
Moses knew exactly what was going on, so too, Christ knows
exactly what is going on in the world today, with Israel and with
his churches.

Verse 19, Moses' anger waxed hot, when he SAW what was going on.
  Rev 1:14  His head and [his] hairs [were] white like wool, as
    white as snow; and his EYES [were] as a flame of FIRE;
Why did Moses cast both tables of the law to the ground. Why not
just the one which contained the command to not worship other
gods and to not make any graven images? Why both?
  Jam 2:10  For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend
    in one [point], he is guilty of all.
The law is a unit and that had disobeyed the law and were guilty
of all.

Verse 20, 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].
Compare:
  Mt 21:44  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be
    broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to
    powder.
  Re 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
    which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his
    indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and
    brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the
    presence of the Lamb:
  Deut 9:21  And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and
    burnt it with fire, and STAMPED it, [and] ground [it] very
    small, [even] until it was as small as dust: and I cast the
    dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.
  Re 1:15  And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned
    in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
    (Brass is for judgement, and it is his feet that are brass)
  Re 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with
    it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a
    rod of iron: and he TREADETH the winepress of the fierceness
    and wrath of Almighty God.
    ( treadeth = to trample, crush with the feet )
  Joh 5:22  For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all
    judgment unto the Son:

Verse 21, "And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto
thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?"
  In Rev 2 and 3, Christ address each of the responsible angels
  or messengers of the churches.

Verses 22-23, How sad, there is no sense of sin and guilt. It is
similar to what Adam and Eve said in the garden after they had
sinned. Adam blamed it on Eve and Eve blamed it on the serpent.
Today, that is men's excuse. The leaders say that the people
demand these things, so that is why there is so much apostasy and
worldliness in the churches.

Verse 24, The breaking off of their gold would point to the
breaking off of the glory of God in their lives. Gold points to
the Deity of God and His glory. So that is man's glory, to be in
subjection to his maker.
  Ro 1:21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him]
    not as God neither were thankful; but became vain in their
    imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22
    Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
  And what followed after they did this? After they cast off
  their glory, what happened next. They worshiped the golden
  calf. At what follows in Romans 1:23?
  Ro 1: 23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into
    an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and
    fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24  Wherefore God
    also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their
    own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
    25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped
    and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed
    for ever. Amen.

Verses 25-26, It comes down to "Who is on the Lord's side?"
  I am not sure what exactly was going on here. They may have
  been participating in an orgy. They were naked, and the Lord
  told the church of the Laodiceans that they were naked in a
  spiritual sense. Also we see in our day promiscuity even among
  those who claim to be the Lord's people. Homosexuality is
  prominent and was the result of idolatry as we see in Romans
  chapter 1.

  The Levites represented the overcomers in Rev 2 and 3.
     Re 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
       saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I
       give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of
       the paradise of God.
     Re 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
       saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be
       hurt of the second death.
     Re 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
       saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I
       give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white
       stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man
       knoweth saving he that receiveth [it].
     Re 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto
       the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
     Re 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in
       white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the
       book of life, but I will confess his name before my
       Father, and before his angels.
     Re 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the
       temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will
       write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the
       city of my God, [which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh
       down out of heaven from my God: and [I will write upon
       him] my new name.
     Re 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me
       in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down
       with my Father in his throne.

Verses 27-29, The Levites took up the sword. Against brother,
companion, neighbor and even against son.
  The weapons of our warfare are not carnal as was here.
    2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal,
      but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong
      holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing
      that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and
      bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
      Christ;

  Our sword is the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
    Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
      the Spirit, which is the word of God:
    Heb 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and
      sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the
      dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
      marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
      the heart.
    Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I
      came not to send peace, but a sword. 35  For I am come to
      set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter
      against her mother, and the daughter in law against her
      mother in law. 36  And a man's foes [shall be] they of his
      own household. 37  He that loveth father or mother more
      than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or
      daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

  Sometimes we have to make a stand, even if it means going
  against those of our own household.

Verse 30, Nothing is said of their sorrow or contrition or horror
  of their sin. But God is not mocked, if His chastisement is
  despised he will return in a more acute form.

  Peradventure I will make atonement: In verse 14 it must not be
  forgotten that the Lord repented of the evil He thought to do
  in consuming the people. What is in view here is what Pink
  calls the "governmental consequences" of their sin.

  If we commit some grave sin, though we may be saved and will
  not come into judgement at the great white throne judgement,
  yet we may come into judgement governmentally speaking. Jail or
  the death penalty, etc. David suffered for his sin through his
  entire life, yet he never was judged for that sin as far as his
  entrance into the presence of God is concerned.

Verse 31-32, Moses went as far as he could go. he loved his
people. So, Christ loved his own until the end. Though they
denied him, yet he loved them, and suffered their hell in their
place.
The book here is the book of the living, not the lamb's book of
life. Notice Moses said "thy book" the "book of life."
Compare: Ps 69:28; Isa 4:3.
  It was the divine register of those living on the earth at
  that time.

Verse 33,
  Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a
    man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8  For he that soweth to
    his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that
    soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life
    everlasting.

Verse 34, The were not consumed, yet in due time God would deal
with them.

Verse 35, It was God chastening His backslidden people.