Exodus 32:33–34

Moses himself also fails in the atonement that he proposes. This is impossible, even to a devotion almost unequalled among mere men. But "none can by any means redeem his brother, nor give unto God a ransom for him" (Psalm 49:7). So Moses makes his eager demand: "And now, if You will forgive their sin; and if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written." God can only reply, "Whoever sins against Me, I will blot out of My book."

Moses, however favoured by God, needed a sacrifice to be offered for himself, for he was a sinner like all other men. The mediator of the old covenant could not make atonement.

But the Lord has His own ways: when the whole community has failed, He can still deal with each person in the middle of it according to His own righteous judgment. "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot out of My book." At the same time He plainly announces that in due time He will punish the sin of the whole community on the community: "nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them."

But the Lord said to him, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book." This is the principle of the law. Under that law God cannot clear the guilty or let the wicked go unpunished. Everything hangs now upon mediation. But Moses, though taking the place of intercessor, was not perfect in the knowledge of grace. He could only say to the people, "perhaps I shall make an atonement." He could not put away sin.

A register of people's names as living. One book (also called simply God's book) may hold those who only have a name to live. Their names may therefore be blotted out: Exodus 32:32-33; Psalm 69:28; Revelation 3:5. Another is a book of the saved. No name is ever erased from it: Philippians 4:3; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 20:12, 15. A third (called simply "the book") contains the names of the remnant of Israel: Daniel 12:1.

God did indeed bear with Israel in patience. But He still adds, "In the day when I visit, I will visit their sins upon them." It was not forgiveness as we know it now. He forgave them by not cutting them off... The Lord shows present mercy and forgiveness, but at the same time puts every one of the people on his own responsibility. "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book."

Having perfectly settled the whole question of sin, He went up, but not with a "perhaps" on His lips. He has gone up to the right hand of God, and carried with Him the witness of the atonement He has made. So God no longer says, as He did then, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out." Because Christ has gone up, having blotted out the sins of sinners, He says, "I will remember their sins and iniquities no more" (Hebrews 10:17).

Grace makes righteousness rest on the obedience of another, and so now it is not the sinner who is blotted out, but his sins, however vile they are. If I say I have sinned, and perhaps He will blot me out of His book, I am standing on law. But the moment I understand that Christ is my righteousness, the whole ground changes.

At the close of this chapter Jehovah asserts His rights in moral government: "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book… Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them." This is God in government, not God in the gospel. Here He speaks of blotting out the sinner; in the gospel He is seen blotting out sin. A wide difference!

He reveals His mercy in government, as "forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." This is sometimes called the gospel, which it is not at all. God did indeed bear with Israel in patience. But still He adds, "In the day when I visit, I will visit their sins upon them." It was not forgiveness as we know it now. He forgave them in not cutting them off, and putting Moses and his seed in their place, as He had threatened.

Up to now He had been among them, and His presence had been with them by night and by day. Now He says, "I will send my Angel." He withdraws… Grace is one thing, and government quite another. You see both principles in God's ways with Israel. He brought them out of Egypt in pure sovereign grace. They put themselves under law, and under that God's government must come in. If you and I do wrong, the wheels of government will roll on although God forgives us.

The land was to be theirs. They had not earned it under the law. It was theirs because of the unconditional covenant God gave to Abraham at the start. God would still act for them, driving out the nations before them and bringing them in. But the Angel would do it.

The Lord has His own ways. When the whole nation has failed, He can still deal with people inside it according to His own righteous judgment. "Whoever has sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book." At the same time He announces plainly that the whole nation would in time be punished together for its sin. These are principles of God of deep and solemn importance.

So Moses' mediation worked for forgiveness as regards government. It put them under a government whose principles we shall see later. But it was useless for any atonement. Such an atonement would have shielded them from the final effect of their sin — its effect on their eternal relationship with God — and taken them out from under the judgment of the law.

He came down, not to learn the condition of the people, but with perfect knowledge of what that condition was… and having done all, He went back to heaven. He did not go with a "perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin." He went to lay upon the throne of the Majesty on high the lasting memorials of an atonement already accomplished.

He recalled His threat when Moses pleaded His promises, and sent His angel to guide them, but declared, "Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made." But their falling in the wilderness had nothing to do with the saving of their souls. Moses and Aaron died in the wilderness too, and we know they were saints of the Lord.