Moses tried to make atonement...

     ...but he failed.  Read the story in Exodus 32:30. Moses had just been up Mt. Sinai (31:18), where the Lord “gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.” Sad to say, while he was up the mountain, Aaron let the Israelites get out of control and become a laughingstock to their enemies. Aaron’s excuse was silly: “I threw the gold into the fire and out came this calf!”

      Moses’ solution was severe. The Levites rallied to him and went through the camp, “each killing his brother and friend and neighbour.” Three thousand people died that day (presumably those caught in outright and blatant sin).

     The story continues the next day when Moses says, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

     These few verses are a key to all Scripture. Moses thought he might be able to make atonement for the people—he hoped he could get their sin forgiven. He was even (apparently) willing to give up his own salvation for their sake (32:32). It almost looks like Moses’ offer was too pathetic to answer—God ignores most of it. God’s final word on the subject is, “When the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

     The apostle Paul suggested a similar offer in Romans 9:3—“I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel.” In fact, Romans 10:3 shows a continuation of Moses’ problem: “They [the Israelites] did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own.”

     There is only one way that we can have atonement, or have peace with God, or be reconciled to Him. Paul gives us the ultimate answer, in Acts 13:38,39— “Through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.”