FRIDAY 19 November 2021 “Sinai Covenant” Exodus 24:4-8

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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

When you hear the word Promises... what comes to your mind?

When you heard the word Vows… what do you think of?
And what about when you hear the word Covenant… how is a Covenant different from promises or vows?

Are you living your life bound by any promises or vows that you’ve made? Do you regret any of them? Is your life locked to any covenants you’ve entered into? Yesterday I left you with Moses and the elders of Israel who had heard Moses’ report on all God had spoken to him up on Mount Sinai, outlining a new way of living IF these people were going to be a people of God, a holy nation. After hearing it, they had responded “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” (Ex. 24:3) The record says “Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.” (Ex. 24:4) and we have that record in Exodus 21,22,23. We may presume the elders then began teaching all these instructions of God to the clan leaders and then it was passed on to all the families.

Moses next did something remarkable, something historic, that would be a revered part of the history of Israel to our present day. The record says: “Moses built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars, representing the twelve tribes of Israel.” I presume these twelve piles of stone formed a line of demarcation around the base of the mountain. God had invited Moses back up the mountain to meet with Him, but God also made it clear the people were not welcome, they were not allowed up the mountain! Does that sound like a harsh proclamation by God? Why would God limit access to Him in that way?

Well, God was only reinforcing the decision the people had made at the conclusion of their “10 Commandments” experience with God. Do you remember? God had spoken those Commandments audibly so the people could all hear the voice of God. He had begun by stating that HE was the God who had rescued them from Egypt and brought them to Himself at this mountain. But the people had backed away, rejecting God’s invitation to relationship, and they had sent Moses up the mountain to meet with God as their representative. (Ex. 20:18-21) In response to their rejection of God’s invitation, God now established a perimeter around the mountain, beyond which the people were not welcome to approach God… only Moses was permitted all the way up the mountain to meet with God. There are lessons here, my friends. It’s a dangerous thing to push God away or reject God’s overtures toward us, isn’t it?

As sacrifices were being offered that morning, the record says “Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. Then Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people.” (Ex. 24:7) I believe this is the first time, since they have escaped from Egyptian slavery, that the people are led in worship of Holy God that involved animal sacrifices. The shedding of blood is a very serious matter isn’t it? The people and God were entering into a significant Covenant relationship here at Mount Sinai! When it says Moses read from the “Book of the Covenant” what do you suppose that Book is? Bible scholars tell us Moses, as led by the Holy Spirit of God, is the human author of the first five books of the Bible. Those books are called “The Pentateuch”, and include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Now, we have no record of exactly WHEN Moses wrote each of those 184 chapters of God’s history which cover the time from God’s creation of the earth all the way to the arrival of the Hebrews at the Jordan river ready to cross into the Promised Land. But I have concluded it’s possible this “Book of the Covenant” included what we know as the book of Genesis, and therefore the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the Covenant God made with them. Do you remember? In our “Walking with Jesus” recently we spent several weeks walking through Genesis.

In God’s Covenant with Abraham, God described the LAND He was promising to His people, and the NATION of God’s people, who would be the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. Genesis 15 is the record of God’s first explanation to Abraham of this Covenant. It was then reaffirmed by the Covenant sign, circumcision, through God’s instructions to Abraham in Genesis 17. This Abrahamic Covenant was reaffirmed by God to Isaac, Abraham’s son, in Genesis 26:2-5 and years later to Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, in Genesis 28:13,14. For these Hebrew slaves at Sinai, it would be important for them to hear Moses read the details of that Abrahamic Covenant and help them understand that this very same God who made that Covenant with Abraham, about 500 years in the past, was the same God who had rescued them and now brought them to this mountain to meet with God. Do you know that this is also the very same God who created you and is holding YOUR life in His hands today my friends?

When God had first encountered Moses at the burning bush, God identified Himself by saying “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob…I have indeed seen the misery of My people…so I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up to a good and spacious land…” (Ex. 3:5-9) Moses would have understood God was verifying that He was the God who made this Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and this ‘good and spacious land’ was the land of Covenant promise God had made with Abraham. God’s reference to the Hebrew slaves as “My people” confirmed that this huge throng of 1 million Hebrew slaves, who had come out of Egypt, were in fact the God promised descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… the people of God.

Additionally, I believe this ‘Book of the Covenant’, from which Moses read that day at Sinai, would have included the record Moses had been keeping of God’s Covenant promises with His people since they had left Egypt and arrived at Mount Sinai, thus Exodus 19-23. We’ve looked at those chapters in these last few days together. So I believe it was very likely Moses climbed a short way up the mountain, gathered the elders and perhaps the tribal leaders, and now read in as loud a voice as he could, these chapters…all of which Moses had written with his own hand. By the way, do you remember Moses had received the finest education available, when as a boy in the Pharaoh’s palace, he had been adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. Had he only been a slave, it’s possible he would not know either how to read or write! Do we see the importance of the providence of God as He accomplishes His purposes in our lives? Can you celebrate how God has worked His great purposes in your life my friend?

After Moses read these Covenant promises from God, which he had recorded in ‘the Book of the Covenant’, the record says “The people responded, ‘We will do everything the LORD has said, we will obey.” (Ex. 24:7) Moses then did something extremely significant. In fact it is one of the most significant moments in all of human history. The record says: “Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, ‘This is the blood of the Covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with these words.” (Ex. 24:8) The blood was that which had been collected from the animal sacrifices. Now Moses could not have sprinkled 1 million people, so I presume Moses sprinkled the blood on their representatives… the elders, clan or tribal leaders and other heads of families. In this sacred moment, God’s declared Covenant with these descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been read; and the people had responded with a Covenant commitment to BE God’s holy people and DO all that God had commanded them as recorded in Exodus 19-23. It was a Covenant of blood, the most sacred aspect of life, for life is in the blood. In this historic moment, the Jewish people, at the mountain of God, entered into a blood Covenant of being the people of God!

Now watch this carefully my friends. About 1400 years later, very near another hill called Golgotha, in an upper room, Jesus was celebrating the Passover meal with His close friends, the Disciples. At one point in the meal, Jesus did a shocking thing… the record Matthew has written says: “Jesus took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them saying, ‘Drink from it all of you. This is My blood of the New Covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins...” (Matt. 26:27,28) They were all Jewish men in that upper room that night. They held as historic and precious the record of what happened with Moses in that Covenant of blood at Sinai in Exodus 24. But now Jesus was saying that His shed blood would form a New Covenant between God and ANY person in the world who would trust Jesus Christ for their salvation from their sin! No more righteousness by observing the Covenant Law, but now righteousness available IN Jesus Christ! You and I, my friends, and anyone else in the world, is eligible to be drawn into a sin-forgiven relationship with Almighty, Holy God through Jesus’ atonement death and resurrection. His shed blood seals this new Covenant between God and anyone who is ransomed from Satan’s sin bondage, by Jesus! And every time we receive Communion we celebrate this new Covenant in Jesus!

Let’s just pause right here and ponder this amazing, wonderful, centerpiece of Christianity! And I ask this one question of you and everyone in our world… are you living in a sin-forgiven, blood-bought, Covenant relationship with Almighty, Holy God, your creator, all because of Jesus Christ our Savior? Are you certain that because of this Covenant relationship, God’s Holy Spirit lives within you and at the moment of your earthly death, you will immediately be transported to heaven to be with Jesus forever? If not, right now God stands ready to accomplish all this and so much more in your life. Just speak with God, acknowledging your sin and your inability to save yourself, and fully trust Jesus to be powerful enough to save you from your sin! Oh my friends, let’s thank Jesus for these great truths with this POWERFUL song:

Today’s Scripture is Exodus 24:4-8.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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