Exodus 33:13: Moses said, Consider too that this nation is Your people.

When Israel breaks covenant by making and worshiping a golden calf, Yahweh is ready to start over. He warns Moses to stand aside, and at the same time promises to make Moses a new Abraham, the father of a new Israel (Exodus 32:10). Israel has no future; but Moses does.

In all that follows, Moses consistently rejects this proposal and reminds Yahweh that, stubborn and stiff-necked as they are, Israel is Yahweh’s people. Don’t let Your anger burn against Your people. Change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. Consider that this nation is Your people.

Moses is a type of Jesus: He is a teacher, a prophet, the one who leads from slavery. But Moses is most Christlike here, speaking face to face with Yahweh in the tent, pleading for Israel’s future. Like Jesus, Moses wants no future for himself at all unless it is a future with the people of God. And Yahweh agrees.

Jesus reveals the will of the Father in just this way. Jesus wants you as His table companion, and He’d rather die than abandon you. No matter what it takes, Jesus and His Father want a future with you, reclining with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, breaking bread in His kingdom.