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What does the Law have to do with Christmas?
Everything!
Last week we did a survey of Exodus 1-14. In that section of Exodus we saw the great theme of scripture that God wants a people to be His special possession. His desire is that we would be his people, and that He would be our God.
I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
God wants his people to know Him and to Fear Him.
As we saw last week, the fear of the Lord has a range of meaning. At one end, is the terror of falling into the hands of a holy, righteous, all-powerful, just God who will punish rebellion and sin against him. Then, along the range we come to awe that this God would love us, showing mercy and grace to redeem and purify us. Then, that leads to love and obedience as we say like Isaiah, “Here am I, send me.”
Moses was not a man of faith at first, nor did he properly fear the Lord. But over time, as the Lord worked with him, he grew to trust and fear the Lord.
As we saw at the end of the passage, many of the Egyptians feared the Lord, leaving with the Israelites. And, the Israelites feared the Lord.
And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
Today, as we continue in Exodus, this theme of God wanting a people to be his own that fear him, and for them to have him as their God is continued.
For though the Israelites did fear the Lord, as we are going to see, they were quick to forget… Just like me.
Have you ever been in a situation where you were truly afraid, and then after it passed, you seemed to quickly forget? Sometimes, we are quick to forget things that should not be forgotten. That is true of the Israelites. So, the Lord designed lessons for the Israelites to learn as they journeyed from Egypt.
In Exodus 15 we begin with a great celebration as the people are being led in song by Moses’ sister, Miriam. They were celebrating the Lord and the great power he displayed in overcoming the Egyptian army. Then, we see that the Lord led them away from the sea and into the desert.
Just three days later after the Lord showed his might and power in the plagues he brought on Egypt to secure their release, after he displayed his great power and had them cross the sea on dry land, and then brought the waters back to wipe out the Egyptians, the Israelites find themselves at a spring where they could not drink the water.
Immediately, the people began to cry out to the great God who had shown his power over the waters… Well, actually no...
So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
But Moses did cry out to the Lord, and the Lord showed Moses what to do in order to make the water fit to drink.
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test.
He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
God is beginning to test the Israelites. A test is used to help them learn that they need to fear the Lord, and they need to rely on him for healing. Just like they need water everyday, they need the Lord to heal them because they are so quick to forget him, and rebel against him. They need his spiritual healing.
Then, in chapter 16, we find out that we are about 30 days from the time they left Egypt. Remember, that while they were in Egypt, God started their calendar. It was on the 14th day of the 1st month that they began celebrating Passover. Now, in chapter 16, we are on the 15th day of the second month, or just 30 days from the day they marched out of Egypt. What happened 30 day later?
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
In 30 days we have moved from rejoicing in the Lord and his great might to grumbling and complaining. They forgot the lesson of Marah, that the Lord can heal them and provide for them if they turn to him. They have reverted to walking in the flesh: getting angry and grumbling, instead of walking humbly with their God and turning to him.
What is God going to do?
Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.
On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
The Lord said to Moses,
“I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”
Again, the Lord is patient and works with his people, testing them to see if they will do what he says.
This continued throughout their journey.
Then, we once again get to a place where they need water. What will they do? Cry out to the Lord? No.
So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”
Then, the Lord shows his power in enabling them to defeat the Amalekites, and that brings us to Exodus 19, when they come to Sinai. The rest of Exodus is spent at Mt. Sinai, and there the Lord tests his people.
They are not 45 days since they came out of Egypt. the 1st day of the 3rd month. This is what God says,
Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,
you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
Hear their response:
The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.
1st time
God is coming in 3 days. Get ready. Do not approach the mountain.
On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.
Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.
As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
Then God speaks directly to the people
And God spoke all these words:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
People’s response:
When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance
and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”
The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
Moses approaches God, and gets an expansion of the law.
Begins and ends with not worshipping other Gods.
When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.”
2nd
Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.
Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord.
Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar.
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”
3rd
written
pillars
Moses went up before the Lord to get the rest of the covenant.
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.
They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people.
Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord.
And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,
maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.
“Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
Setting up the Tabernacle
Establishing the Sacrificial system
“Say to the Israelites: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands—
What is the point of the Law?
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
The Law shows us our Sin and the way of Righteousness: Redemption through Jesus Christ.
The Law shows us our Sin and the way of Righteousness: Redemption through Jesus Christ.