God's Covenant with Moses
Notes
Transcript
while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Here we have the promise before the instructions are even given. If you obey and keep my covenant
You shall be my treasured possession
You shall be a kingdom of priests,
You shall be a holy nation
“But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
I will be an enemy to your enemies
So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
What happened here? They accepted their part of the contract.
Moses then return up the mountain and in verse 9 in chapter 19 says that God will address Moses and speak so that all of them might hear God and so believe all that Moses tells them.
So God descends on the mountain, in fire and smoke.
Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
Now God gives the 10 Commandments
And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.
And the rest of the commandments
Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
Q: Observations?
Chapter 21-23 has more specific ordinances
Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”
Again the people agreed
Again in verse 7
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
Now Moses is on the mountain and remains there with God for 40 days and 40 nights
God gives Moses instructions about the tabernacle and also sends him back with two stone tables that have the 10 Commandments
Almost like a signed contract because the tables were written
And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
As if God himself signed the contracts personally
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
What just happened here?
God then wants to smite all of the people and Moses pleads for God to spare them. He reminds God of the promises that He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Moses return to the camp, sees them partying and dancing with the golden calf and in anger throws the tables and they break. He then melts the calf down, puts it in the water and makes the people drink it.
Because of their disobedience he asks the people who is on God’s side. The Levites step forward and he command them to slay a bunch of the people in the camp and they end up killing 3,000 people that day.
God also sends a plague on the camp.
Q: Remember the consequences of breaking a covenant.
God the reminds Moses of his character
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Because of this God then commands Moses to get 2 new stone tables and God rewrites the commandments on them
And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
1. Israel Will Be God's Prized Possession
In Exodus 19:5 God says, "If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all the peoples; for all the earth is mine." God mentions that all the earth is his to show that when he calls Israel his "own possession," he means more than the general care and authority he has over the world. He will be Israel's God and they will be his possession in a special way. They will have blessings beyond all other nations. They will be God's prized possession—if they keep his covenant.
2. Israel Will Be a Kingdom of Royal Priests
The second promise in Exodus 19:6 is, "and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests." The most striking privilege of the priests was intimate access to God. They drew near on behalf of the people. Their inheritance was not the land but the Lord. This privilege God promises to the whole nation. This privilege is heightened when God calls them a royal priesthood or priests in the services of the King. There is no greater privilege than to have intimate access to the King of the universe.
3. Israel Will Be a Holy Nation
The third promise of the covenant in 19:6 is that Israel will also be a "holy nation." Israel would be holy in two senses: one, she would be set apart and distinguished from all the other peoples; two, she would be granted a moral likeness to God. She would share God's character. "Be holy, for I am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). If Israel keeps covenant with God, she will have the all-satisfying privilege of likeness to God. She will be a holy nation.
4. God Will Defend Israel from All Her Enemies
The fourth covenant promise is found in Exodus 23:22. "But if you hearken attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries." Like the cat who bites into a mouse and discovers it is a dog's paw. Anybody who opposes Israel will have to deal with almighty God—if Israel keeps covenant. This is probably what God means in Exodus 34:10 when he promises, "I will do marvels, such as have not been wrought in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord." In defense of his people God will do marvels to display his glory among the nations.
5. God Will Be Merciful and Gracious and Forgiving
Finally, and as the foundation to everything else, God promises to be merciful and gracious and forgive iniquity and transgression and sin. Exodus 34:6–7 are among the sweetest gospel words in the Bible. The fact that they come from Mt. Sinai and not Mt. Calvary, the fact that they preface the ten commandments (34:28) and not the book of Romans shows that the message of Christ and the message of Moses are one harmonious message of grace. "The Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.'" So the fifth great promise of the Mosaic covenant is that God will treat Israel with mercy and grace and will forgive her sins—if she keeps the covenant.
In summary, then, five divine promises of the Mosaic covenant, which reconfirm the covenant with Abraham, are
that Israel will be God's special possession,Israel will be a kingdom of priests to God,Israel will be a holy nation,God will fight for Israel and overcome all her enemies, andGod will treat Israel with grace and mercy and forgive her sins.
These are the divine promises of the covenant. But they all depend on certain conditions being fulfilled by the people, as Exodus 19:5 says, "If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall . . . " experience all these divine blessings.
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