In Exodus the Ten Commandments are called the tablets of the testimony (32:15). The Ten Commandments were not merely a law given by God to test the people of Israel, but were the testimony of God Himself. The Ten Commandments testify of God in two ways. First, they testify that God is the unique God (20:2-3). Besides Him there is no God. Only He Himself is the God who created the heavens and the earth. Second, they testify of the nature of God. God is a God of holiness and a God of justice and righteousness. He is a holy God and a righteous God. Therefore, His people have to conduct themselves in a way which corresponds to the nature of God. These are the two primary matters which are testified by the Ten Commandments. Exodus 32 records that before the Ten Commandments had been brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses, the entire company of the children of Israel made a golden calf under the leadership of Aaron (vv. 1-6). They worshipped the golden calf, and in doing so they broke the first aspect of the testimony of the law, that is, that God is the unique God.
The children of Israel had been called out by God to bear His testimony to all creation—especially to the angels, to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies—to testify that God is the very unique God, and that God is a God of holiness and righteousness. However, these people broke God’s testament and put it aside. Exodus 32:6 says, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” They even danced before the calf (v. 19). In this way they also broke the second aspect of the law, that is, that God is a God of holiness and righteousness. What they did was contrary to and could never correspond with God’s holiness and righteousness. On the one hand, they made the idol, and on the other hand, they defiled themselves. They sinned by making and worshipping a graven image (Exo. 20:4) and by conducting themselves in a way that was contrary to God’s nature. Thus, in the eyes of the Lord and in the eyes of Moses as well, they broke the whole testimony. Moses considered that there was no need to keep the two tablets of the testimony. It was not merely Moses who broke the tablets at the foot of the mountain (32:19); it was the people of Israel who had broken the testimony already. The Lord’s testimony had been thrown away and broken. What Moses did was to let the people of Israel know that they had absolutely broken the Lord’s testimony. They had broken the entire law.
All these things concerning the children of Israel were written as examples to us (1 Cor. 10:6) and are therefore types which we must apply. The Lord has called the believers out of the world to be a testimony to Him (1 Pet. 2:9). We are a testimony that the Lord has given us Christ as our good land to be everything to us (Col. 2:6-7). In the New Testament times the church must be the testimony of the Lord, bearing His testimony to the entire universe, especially to the principalities and powers in the heavens. On the one hand, we testify that the Lord is the unique God, and on the other hand, we testify of the nature of the Lord. Therefore, we must be heavenly, spiritual, holy, and righteous because the nature of the Lord is heavenly, spiritual, holy, and righteous. We must keep ourselves in a condition which corresponds with the Lord’s nature.
However, not very long after the apostles’ time, the church, like the children of Israel, broke the entire testimony of the Lord. The Christians erected a “golden calf” in bringing many idolatrous things into the church. They likewise became loose by doing things that were against the nature of the Lord. Today’s celebration of Christmas is an example of the name of Christ being used for the purpose of idolatry and human pleasure. Taking the name of Christ, many people attend dancing parties on Christmas Eve. The entire testimony of the Lord has been broken today.
After the golden calf was destroyed, Moses called those who would be faithful to the Lord to stand with the Lord and take up the sword to slay those who worshipped the idols and became loose (Exo. 32:25-29). The Levites were the overcomers who stood with Moses for the Lord’s testimony to express that they did not go along with the idol worshippers. They were separated from the people to testify that the Lord was the supreme One, the one God, and that He was holy and righteous. They could not tolerate the idol worship and the looseness, so they purified themselves, and by doing so they gained the priesthood. On the one hand, God was for Israel. He was faithful to them and would not altogether forsake them. On the other hand, however, He could not give up His testimony. God’s intention was to have the whole nation of Israel as His priests (19:6), but by breaking God’s testimony they lost the priesthood. The Levites, however, received the priesthood by being faithful to the Lord’s testimony.