Idol Factory

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Afew of our pastors and interns took a trip to Boston recently to explore the idea of sending a church planting team to New England. The need for churches in the Northeast is great. One Christian leader there calls the area north of Boston “the desert.” Some estimate that it is currently 1-percent evangelical at best.

As our friends described their culture to us, they pointed out that people actually worship in the Northeast. Some people worship the Red Sox. Others, in the world of academia and research, are slaves to ambition. In Salem, Massachusetts, they statistically have more witches than Christians. The Northeast is really no different from anywhere else in192 the world. Left to ourselves, we will worship something other than the living God. To paraphrase Calvin, “The human heart is an idol factory.” Because of this universal problem, we need to understand this subject. Os Guiness and John Seel comment on the how important this topic is: “Idolatry is the most discussed problem in the Bible.... There can be no believing communities without an unswerving eye to the detection and destruction of idols” (No God but God, 23).

What is idolatry? Idolatry is putting something or someone in the place of God. Idols are counterfeit gods. Anything you seek to give you what only Christ can give you (joy, security, peace, meaning, significance, identity, and salvation) becomes an idol. Many do not believe idolatry is a problem because they only associate idolatry with shrines, temples, and carved images. But heart idolatry exists everywhere. Common idols include money, sex, a romantic relationship, peer approval, competence and skill, secure and comfortable circumstances, beauty, brains, and success and ambition.

Israel’s worship of the golden calf idol appears in this passage. Perhaps you think, “I do not struggle with worshiping a cow; I like to eat them too much, but I am not tempted to worship them.” Maybe so, but remember that this story has everything to do with you because it is not ultimately about a calf. It centers on the human heart. The martyr Stephen proclaimed that God’s people “in their hearts turned back to Egypt. They told Aaron: ‘Make us gods who will go before us’” (Acts 7:39-40; emphasis added).

While Moses was on the mountain getting instructions for the tabernacle for the proper worship of the living God, the people were back at the camp making a calf for the worship of a false god. Even though the people had gotten out of Egypt, Egypt remained in the people. Moses was absent for about 40 days, and Aaron, his older brother, assumed leadership. The people told Aaron how they wanted to worship, and Aaron demonstrated what a leader without conviction looks like. He gave these sinful people exactly what they wanted.

This is a story of “another fall.” We were in “Eden,” receiving instructions about the tabernacle, but now we are looking at a huge plunge into sin. Remember what Paul said about this in 1 Corinthians 10:6-8 and 11-14:

Paul said that we must not desire evil. We must not become idolaters. After mentioning other Old Testament examples, he said that one of the reasons we have this story is to learn from their example. It teaches us important truths. Paul said that we too must be careful not to fall. We will be tempted, but we must flee from idolatry. In Corinth, they were tempted with the local pagan gods, and in Exodus, the people were tempted with the local Egyptian gods. In each culture, the gods may look different but the principle is the same: we must avoid the idols of our hearts. Consider four challenges from chapter 32 regarding idolatry.

Be Careful Not to Fall

Exodus 32:1-9

Why did Israel fall into idolatry? For the same reasons we fall.

We Fall When We Disobey the Word of God (32:1a)

The people called for Aaron to make them gods. The Israelites were supposed to know the Ten Commandments. They knew the first commandment, which said to have no other gods, and they knew the second, which was not to make any images. But they disobeyed God’s clear commands. Israel previously said, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded” (Exod 24:3). Yet we see them rejecting God’s word.

Notice how sin works. We do not want to be told what to do. This is as old as the garden. We still battle with “garden thoughts,” like “Did God really say?” (Gen 3:1), and “You will not die” (Gen 3:4). We do not want to be under authority.

They claimed to be worshiping “the Lord,” and they proceeded to give offerings (Exod 32:5), yet they made an image to do so. While “Elohim” (“God” in v. 4) is plural, it can refer to “god” in the singular. Perhaps they thought they were worshiping the real God, but they were194 worshiping in a way that clearly violated what God had said. Their hearts craved Egypt, with its false but tangible gods, as evidenced by this godless practice.

This scene shows us the importance of knowing God for who He truly is, not how we imagine Him to be. Worship is built on a right perception of God revealed through Scripture. Tozer said, “The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him” (Knowledge, 3).

We Fall When We Fail to Trust the Purposes of God (32:1b)

The people said they did not know what happened to Moses. But they knew where he was! They simply did not trust his involvement with God’s purposes, which included His instruction and guidance in His timing. Notice the reason for their idol making. They grew frustrated with Moses’ extended absence. Instead of trusting in God’s purposes, they moved on. Failure to trust God is sin, and it leads to countless other sins. Israel wanted to get on with their journey. God, however, had not told them the itinerary; He only promised to go with them. But the impatient Israelites failed to trust God. Did they have any reason to doubt Him? Of course not—think of all the miracles and His provision up to this point!

The same is true for us. God has not given us a script. He says, “I will be with you. Trust me. Trust in my timing. My purposes are good and best.” When you try to do things your way, in your time, you fall into sin. Perhaps you find yourself in a wilderness and you want out of it. If so, trust in God’s goodness and wait for Him.

We Fall When We Forget the Grace of God (32:2)

The people were instructed to remove the rings that reminded them of God’s grace. Notice how they got the gold to make the idol: it came from their plundering of Egypt. Why did they get it? God gave it to them (32:20-22). The gold came from God’s victory. It pictured His grace and His faithfulness. Israel minimized His grace. What God gave to them, they gave to an idol, instead of using God’s gifts for His glory. Read Psalm 106:19-21:

We Fall When We Fail to Use Our Gifts to the Glory of God (32:3-4)

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We should enjoy God’s gifts, be thankful for His gifts, and use His gifts to build the kingdom, not for idolatrous devotion. Think about not just the gold but the skill and time it took to make this idol. Instead of using this skill, this time, and this gold to honor God, they used it for idolatry. It leads us to a question: Are you using God’s gifts—your time, talent, and treasure—for His glory?

Many today want “salvation without dedication.” God delivered Israel from Egypt, but now they fail to live for His glory. Many people want to be forgiven and go to heaven, but they want to hold on to the idols of the world. But God is not mocked.

In verse 4 they said to each other, “Israel, this is your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” This is similar to the later worship of a golden cow instigated by Jeroboam I in 1 Kings 12:28. They forgot who saved them. We must be careful not to forget. Do not stop thanking God for His grace and living for His glory.

We Fall When We Distort the Worship of God (32:5-6)

This whole scene was a picture of distorted worship. They were doing everything their way instead of God’s way. Consider how twisted their worship was from the way God prescribed it:

• They took the initiative, instead of God.
• Offerings were demanded not offered freely.
• They did not prepare themselves for worship.
• There was no guarding of the presence of God.
• The invisible God was exchanged for a visible image.
• The personal, living God was exchanged for a lifeless, dumb idol.

They did what was popular instead of doing what was right with regard to worship. And Aaron listened to them—perhaps out of fear (a real possibility) or a desire for acceptance. He displayed terrible spiritual leadership.

Today there is a whole church culture that reflects this story. We want to do away with what Scripture says about worship and do it our way. As a result, the attenders are mere consumers of worship, and they are led by Aaron-like individuals who pander to the people. By contrast, God’s way of worship puts the gospel on display. God-centered, gospel-saturated196 worship shows sinners how they can be forgiven and worship the Holy One. That is what the tabernacle displayed—the gospel.

We must remember that worship is about glorifying God, not gratifying self. The golden calf is what people wanted. The calf could not talk. The calf was not feared. The calf could be manipulated for one’s own desires. People do not want a holy God who speaks and confronts them. Be careful: you can do things “in the name” of the Lord but still not worship the Lord. Be careful: you can have some orthodox acts of worship (they had a feast and made offerings) but worship unacceptably.

We Fall When We Exchange the Glory of God (32:8)

The Lord said they chose to worship a created thing instead of worshiping Him, their Creator and Redeemer (v. 8; cf. Ps 106:19-20). Paul described this awful exchange:

Any created thing can be an object of idolatry. Usually, the better something is, the more likely people will idolize it. People live in bondage to sexual sin, in part, because the human body is an amazing creation. But people take a good thing, turn it into a god thing, and end up in a life of total bondage and corruption. You will worship something. Will it be creation or Creator?

Two results of idol worship stand out in this story. First, consider the moral corruption that resulted. Wrong worship leads to a corrupt life (vv. 6-7; cf. Rom 1:18-32). The word “corruptly” appears in verse 7. In verse 6 “the people sat down to eat and drink, then got up to play.” Some point out that this description has sexual overtones. It should not surprise us. When you worship the wrong god, you are capable of all types of sin. Later, when Joshua heard loud sounds as they came off the mountain, he said, “There is a sound of war” (32:17), and Moses told him that he was mistaken. In verse 19 we read of “dancing.” Dancing itself is not a sin, but the sounds and the dancing may indicate wild, dishonorable activity. In Romans 1 Paul said that God had given over197 those who worship creation instead of Creator to their “degrading passions” (v. 26).

Therefore, sin problems are worship problems. Your pornography addiction is a worship problem; your anger problem is a worship problem; your love of money is a worship problem. The idol of money (“the god of mammon”) got exposed vividly with the recent collapse of the economy. “Some hung themselves, shot themselves behind the wheel of their expensive sport cars, slit their wrists, leapt from their office buildings” (Keller, Counterfeit Gods, ix-x). Why? Their god was taken from them. The psalmist wrote, “The sorrows of those who take another god for themselves will multiply” (16:4). Sorrows multiply when you chase other gods. This only leads to self-destruction. Love creation, use creation, steward creation, but worship the Creator, the triune God.

The second result of idolatry illustrated here is imitation. We become like what we worship (vv. 7-10). This point, illustrated in Exodus 32:7-10, was also made in Psalm 115:4-8:

Israel illustrated this truth in a number of ways. They became spiritually lifeless like the idol. They became corrupt and nasty like cattle. Psalm 106 said they exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass (v. 20). The psalmist noted the disgusting digestive process of cattle. This may be why the story in Exodus included Moses grinding up the bull and serving it to them. He might have put it into the water supply so that it could get digested and become unusable filth. Notice also that Israel became “stiff-necked” and stubborn like unruly cattle (Exod 32:9). They had gotten “out of control” like cattle (32:25). They had to be led like cattle (32:34). Hosea 4:16 said, “Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn cow.”

198Some propose that Satan actually entered the cow, and people were dancing as a result of their imitation of Satan, their cheerleader. In other words, Satan became the ultimate owner and builder of the calf (Beale, Worship, 152-53). I think Satan definitely got involved in this whole thing. Scripture refers to satanic influence in relation to idolatry in several passages. “They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known, new gods that had just arrived, which your fathers did not fear” (Deut 32:17). Likewise, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:19-20, “What am I saying then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to participate with demons!”

What should we do to avoid falling? Worship God! As you behold the glory of God in the face of Christ, you become like Christ (2 Cor 3:18). This is how we are transformed. You resemble what you revere (Beale, Worship, 16).

See the Power of Intercession

Exodus 32:10-14

The psalmist wrote in Psalm 106:23, “So He said He would have destroyed them—if Moses His chosen one had not stood before Him in the breach to turn His wrath away from destroying them.” Here we learn about intercession, that is, praying for others. In Exodus 32:10 God said, “Now leave Me alone, so that My anger can burn against them and I can destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” God pushed Moses toward intercession. God could have destroyed the people in a second; instead He was making a “rhetorical demand.” He challenged Moses to get involved, basically saying, “Here is what I will do unless you intervene” (Stuart, Exodus, 670). God declared His holy anger in other passages of Scripture as a way of inviting intervention (Gen 18:20-25; cf. Isa 59:15-16). In Amos 7:1-6, God showed Amos what He might do to Israel, but Amos interceded, and God relented.

The prophet Jonah announced God’s threat to destroy Nineveh in “40 days,” but Jonah knew this was actually an invitation for the Ninevites to repent. They did repent, and God did not destroy them. A similar thing happened here in Exodus. When verse 14 says, “the Lord relented,” it does not mean God changed His mind. God was inviting Moses to pray, and Moses did, then God turned away His wrath. God was 199not changing His plans; Moses carried out God’s plans. In the end, God did in fact send a plague, but it was less of a punishment compared to what was first mentioned (32:34-35).

What do we learn about prayer from this example? We learn that as sinners we need a mediator. We have the ultimate One in Jesus. He turned away the wrath of God from us through His intervention (John 3:16). But as followers of Jesus, we must also plead to God for others through Jesus, and to do so, I suggest that we learn three lessons from Moses.

We Should Appeal to God’s Character and Faithfulness in Prayer

Notice how Moses appealed to the following:

• God’s power—Why would You nullify Your power? (v. 11)
• God’s past investment and public reputation—Why would You want the enemy to delight in seeing Your people crushed? (v. 12)
• God’s covenant faithfulness—Why would You go back on Your promises? (v. 13)

Praying according to God’s faithfulness is expressed again in Numbers 14:13-19. Let me encourage you to appeal to the character of God in prayer.

We Must Seek the Will of God, Not Our Own Selfish Desires in Prayer

Moses did not ask for personal glory here. God said that He would start all over with Moses: “I will make you into a great nation” (v. 10). This was flattering and tempting, but Moses cared more about the people who were in the process of fulfilling God’s purposes of becoming a great nation. We too should pray in line with God’s will; that is, making disciples of all nations, not desiring our own fame. This prayer points us to Jesus, who would be the ultimate offspring of this people. It is His glory that we should seek.

We Must Believe that God Answers Prayer!

This account in Exodus 32 is one of the best examples of how God responds to prayer. Those who have a high view of God’s sovereignty often struggle with prayer. But remember, God is not a math equation.200 He is not some abstraction. God is personal. He responds to prayer! I love what Spurgeon said:

In God’s Word we are over and over again commanded to pray. God’s institutions are not folly. Can I believe that the infinitely wise God has ordained for me an exercise that is ineffective and is no more than child’s play? Does He tell me to pray, and yet does prayer have no more of a result than if I whistled to the wind or sang to a grove of trees? If there is no answer to prayer, prayer is a monstrous absurdity, and God is the author of it, which is blasphemy. (Power, 9)

When you pray like Moses, you are not whistling to the wind. Believe that God hears the cries of His people. Is He pushing you to intervene through intercession? Draw near to God, through Jesus, and appeal to God, believing that He answers prayer.

Repent of Sin; Do Not Shift Blame or Minimize Sin

Exodus 32:15-29

Notice the process here. First, Moses confronted the people. Second, Aaron shifted the blame and minimized sin, instead of repenting. Third, some joined Moses, turning from idolatry.

Confrontation (32:15-20)

Moses confronted them by doing two things: breaking the commandments and destroying their idol. Moses descended the mountain with the two tablets. They were inscribed on the front and back with the law of God. The text says God wrote it Himself. Here is a picture of the fact that the law came from God. It revealed His holy character.

Then Joshua joined him. He had gone halfway up the mountain and waited for Moses. He then commented on the sound, as mentioned earlier.

Next we see Moses’ reaction. He had heard of what Israel was doing at the foot of the mountain, but now when he saw it, he was filled with anger. As a result, he threw the tablets down and broke them. Then he ground up the idol and made Israel drink it. I do not think Moses was acting sinfully here, since he was never rebuked for his anger (as he was later in Num 20:1-13). Instead, I think he illustrated the point that Israel broke God’s law (cf. Zech 11:10).

201Think about this: these tablets were the most valuable possession on earth! If a letter written by Abraham Lincoln can fetch $300, 000, think what an inscription written by God is worth! When Moses broke the tablets, it symbolized the severity of sin. James said, “For whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of breaking it all” (Jas 2:10). The Israelites had broken their covenant with God. That is serious. The Word confronts us.

Notice also that it was at the foot of the mountain (32:19). This was the official gathering place for worship, the place of meeting with God (19:12, 17) as well as the location of the only proper worship altar (24:4). Moses confronted their sin publicly here, announcing the breach of the covenant in the place where the covenant should have been most honored.

Next Moses completely destroyed the calf (32:20). What a picture! Idols are not to be managed; they are to be destroyed. Moses probably put it in their water supply so they would drink it and digest it—passing it as waste, making it permanently ruined.

Shifting Blame and Minimizing Sin (32:21-24)

The next person Moses confronted was his big brother, Aaron, demanding, “What did these people do to you that you have led them into such a grave sin?” (v. 21). Moses correctly called this a “grave sin.” Aaron, as the spiritual leader, rightly was singled out for allowing this to happen (see v. 35). But instead of repenting of sin, Aaron did what Adam (the first garden priest) did in the garden: he shifted blame. He put the blame on the people for their evil and tried to make it sound like Moses had the problem (v. 22; cf. 1 Sam 15:20-24). He essentially said, “Don’t be so upset, little brother; you know how these people are. They are bent on evil.” In other words, “Why are you getting so mad?”

We have seen our own versions of this approach. Instead of confessing sin, people prefer to make excuses for their sin. Sometimes there is truth to these excuses. In this case, Aaron was right: the people were evil. But that was not the issue. What they did was irrelevant in this discussion; Aaron chose to give into the temptation. You cannot control your situation and your circumstances all the time, but through Christ, you must not yield to temptation.

Aaron then said the people made him do it (v. 23). Once again, Aaron refused to admit his sin. He refused to acknowledge that he had yielded to temptation. He said, “They said to me ...” as if he had no202 choice in the situation. The proper way to respond when confronted with sin is not by saying “Everyone was doing it!” or “She made me do it!” You may indeed be in a tempting situation, but you must respond appropriately, and when you sin, you need to repent.

His final excuse was the most pathetic. He blamed the fire (v. 24)! Aaron said that when they threw the gold in the fire, a calf came out! Aaron tried to cover up his sin with the spin game. He lied, made up things. Whether you admit your sin or not, you remain accountable for it. We need to own it and repent of it, like David, who said,

We read in Proverbs, “The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy” (28:13). The choice is yours: conceal or confess.

Who Is on the Lord’s Side? (32:25-29)

In verses 25-29 God made it clear to Moses that those committed to idolatry must be cut off. As a result, 3, 000 men fell.

I can imagine a modern person’s reaction to this scene. They would struggle to justify this action. That is because you must understand the reason behind it, namely, leaving idolaters in the land would threaten the preservation of truth and the salvation of future generations. If idolatry continued to exist, many would never have the opportunity to obtain eternal life through Jesus. Jews and Gentiles would both be eternally affected by the continuation of Israel’s idolatry. We must also point out that we must not imitate Moses’ actions. In the new covenant, we are not given permission to kill as a means of preserving orthodoxy.

Additionally, there seems to be here an opportunity for repentance before the judgment is carried out. In verse 26 Moses said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” Who chooses the Lord? The Levites do. Stuart said, “Since Aaron was a Levite and had led the move toward idolatry, it can hardly be doubted that other Levites had also succumbed to its attractions. But now, everyone was being given a chance to repent and re-establish loyalty to Yahweh’s covenant” (Exodus, 681). This is how we are to respond when we are confronted with sin. The Levites turned from idolatry and chose the Lord.

203In verses 27-29 we read of the Levites carrying out God’s demand for judgment. They were told to show no partiality (v. 27). It appears that the Levites carefully and systematically saw who was returning to Yahweh. Those found in idolatry were put to death. Three thousand men died (about 0.05% of the male population, cf. 12:37).

Because the Levites had to “consider the cost” in carrying out this severe act (cf. Matt 10:37-38), they were told, “Today you have been dedicated to the Lord” (v. 29). God said He was setting them aside for special service and that they were recipients of His blessing. So here we see the severity of sin; the reality of judgment; and the need to repent of sin, not to shift blame or minimize sin.

See Our Need for a Substitute

Exodus 32:30-35

Moses went back up Mount Sinai to intercede again for the people (vv. 30-31). He said, “perhaps I will be able to atone for your sin” (v. 30), which is “a concept that could also be translated literally as ‘get your sins covered/forgiven’” (Stuart, Exodus, 684). The killing of the 3, 000 was only the beginning of the process of restoring God’s favor and blessing. The judgment of the 3, 000 only corrected those who refused to return to God. It was a limited judgment. What about those still alive—those who had broken the covenant? Their hope was in the mediator who climbed the mountain to make atonement.

Moses appealed to God. He did not minimize their sin. He said it was a “grave sin” (v. 31). He sought forgiveness for their sin (v. 32a). Then he said something amazing: “But if not, please erase me from the book You have written” (v. 32b). Moses offered to lose his own life for the sake of Israel (cf. Rom 9:1-3). Moses understood the nature of salvation: when people sin, they need a substitute.

As mentioned with the priests, sin could be forgiven through a representative, with sacrifices. But here is a new approach! The representative offers Himself as the sacrifice! God responded with judgment and mercy. The judgment came with the immediate answer (v. 33); the mercy came when God agreed to continue with this stiff-necked people (v. 34; 33:1-17). God said, “I will erase whoever has sinned against Me from My book” (v. 33). This is a statement of God’s practice of judgment.

Eternal life is not automatically granted to a person who tries to enter it without the forgiveness of sins. Stuart says, “Verse 33 is, then,204 one of the Bible’s stronger statements about the absolute necessity for the forgiveness of sins, and therefore, for a savior. It can be regarded as messianic even if not overtly so” (Exodus, 685).

In verse 34 God told Moses to continue on the journey. Their idolatry did not result in total destruction. The punishment spoken of here might have referred to future punishment not the plague in the next verse (see Stuart, Exodus). The plague was a small-scale warning, a sample of God’s wrath (v. 35). We are not told how many people died—even if any did. This plague might have only made them sick.

From this, it is clear that we need a savior. The story seems to build up to this climactic finish, in which the mediator will give His life for the life of the people, but it did not work that way. Why not? Moses could not die for the people because he himself was a sinner. Ryken says, “God is willing to let someone die for someone else’s sin, but the only sacrifice he can accept is a perfect sacrifice, unstained by sin. So Moses could not do it. He came close—perhaps closer than any man had ever come—but he still couldn’t make atonement for sin” (Exodus, 1015). This whole chapter points us to one great reality: we need a perfect substitute. And we have One!

We have One who would come from this very people. He would ascend to the cross and bear the punishment that we idolaters deserve. He took the punishment in our place, in order for our sins to be covered. Jesus would say, “Take my life, that they may live.” “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Because of Christ, our names can be written in the book of life (Phil 4:3; Luke 10:20).

Conclusion

Let me pull it all together. To my non-Christian friend: You need to see Jesus Christ as your substitute who died in your place for your idolatry so that you could be reconciled to God. Turn from your idols to the living God (1 Thess 1:9-10). Apart from Jesus, we just live in Romans 1—satisfying our lusts and exchanging God for created things. Left to ourselves we are idolaters. You need a new life that is made possible through Jesus. To my Christian friends: You need to see your idols for what they are. They are dumb idols. Properly assess created things. Enjoy and be thankful for and steward created things, but only worship and serve and trust the Creator God (Rom 1:21-25). Put your lusts to death daily (Col 3:5). How? Set your mind on things above (Col 3:1-2). Consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God. Remember that you are new (Col 3:4)! 205Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly (Col 3:16). See all of life as an opportunity to worship Christ. Believe that Christ is the best master, the most intimate companion, and the most superior source of satisfaction.

Reflect and Discuss

1. What or whom do your secular friends worship? Are any of those things a temptation for you?
2. Why do people prefer to worship things and people rather than God? What are the stated and unstated demands of each? What does each promise and deliver? What are the eternal rewards of each?
3. How does human pride interfere with obedience to God? Why do we resist worshiping God in the manner He prescribed?
4. What talents has God given you? How could those talents be used wrongly for idolatrous adulation? How could they be used rightly in godly worship?
5. Along with praise and thanksgiving, confession, and prayer for your own needs, what percentage of your prayer time is spent in intercession for others?
6. How would you explain to an adult Sunday school class the way human prayer seems to change the plans of the sovereign God?
7. Have you recently heard requests and prayers that are ultimately selfish? Could those same requests be stated in a way that seeks the will of God and His glory?
8. What is the error in the statement, “Prayer is primarily for the benefit of the one praying”? That is, “The main result of prayer is that the one who prayed feels better afterward about the situation.”
9. Give a real or typical example of a child shifting blame. Compare a child’s blame shifting with adults’ attempts to avoid admitting guilt.
10. Why was Moses insufficient as a substitute to take the punishment for Israel’s sins? How would you explain to a child that Jesus Christ was sufficient?