“‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the 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 sons of Israel.’”
God had made a covenant (a
binding agreement and in this case a promise) to Abraham. In Genesis 12:1-3 and again 17:4, Abraham was
promised he would be a father of many nations.
That promise was reconfirmed with Isaac (Genesis 17:21) and later with
Jacob (Genesis 28:13). This is summed up
nicely in Exodus 2:24 (as well as Leviticus 26:42) where all three are
mentioned in relation to the covenant.
At
no time was the covenant that God made with Abraham totally free of any
responsibility on his part. In Genesis
12:1, he had to do two things. First,
leave his country (which he did) and second, leave his relatives (which he did
not do thoroughly as he took his nephew Lot and his family with him). I see the Genesis 12 passage as the point
where God tells Abraham about what He wants to do with him.
Then
in Genesis 17, God talks to Abraham about “establishing His covenant” with Him
(Genesis 17:2). Once again here we have
a twofold responsibility associated with it.
In verse 1 of that chapter we read: “Walk before Me, and be
blameless.” Verse 2, as well as verses 4
– 6, relate what God would do – i.e. establish His original covenant. Later on in verse 21, we read that actually
the covenant was not “implemented” yet, but would be with Isaac. God was very precise about that. And later Jacob was to be a descendent
through which this covenant of growth and land ownership was to be delivered.
But
here in Exodus 19:56, God wants to go beyond the terms of His covenant with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For the
original covenant, even though the three of them had not always met God’s
requirements of them (especially the ‘walk before Me and be blameless’ ones),
He, being a Father who loves His children, was still going to deliver His part.
But
now God talks of His desire to take them to the next step or level of
relationship with Him. He talks about
making them “a special treasure” to Him.
God wanted the Israelites to have a unique role in His plan for mankind,
as well as to be a population of people who would be of special value and
concern to God. That is so hard for many
Christians today to accept. But if we do
not, we either reject the words of Scripture or we are joining those who would
question God’s right to decide whatever He wants, even if it seems unfair or
unjust to the rest of us. I am not
prepared to take that option. God is God
and He can do whatever He wants without the interference of an international tribunal
on Human Rights, let alone my feelings about things. I think the sooner each of us except that
kind of thinking, the easier it becomes for us to gain a greater understanding
of Who God is and how we should relate to Him.
Much
later in the New Testament, in Romans 10:12, the apostle Paul clearly unites us
non-Jews (Greeks/Gentiles) with the Jews and says, “the same Lord is Lord of
all, abounding in riches for
all who call on Him.” We have
become, but notice, not at the exclusion of the Israelites, God’s special
treasure, having called on His Son Jesus Christ to save us.
Returning to our text in
Exodus 19:5-6, we note that there is a big “if” here. There was no big “if” in the case of the
original covenant with Abraham. And it
is not as if this “if” is to be ignored or quickly passed over, for the text
emphasizes its criticality to the deal, with the phrase, “if you will indeed”. They had to do this to become and remain His
“own possession among all the peoples”.
That is, if they did “obey (His) voice” and “keep (His) covenant or
laws”, they could remain as a very special people and be treated differently
from “among all the peoples” of the earth.
That was what this promise was all about.
The
implications of this are significant. First, through the original covenant, God
was going to make Israel a means whereby all the families of the earth would be
blessed (Genesis 12:3). Through Israel
came Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World.
That is not at question here.
Second, through this promise here in Exodus, the Jewish people had an
opportunity to become and remain the “special treasure” of God. Third, if they failed to “indeed” obey His
voice and keep His covenant/laws, then it would be open season for others to
join them in being God’s treasured special possessions among all the nations. (Note: We are not talking here about who else
could have been saved for that had already been decided by God and shared with
us in Genesis 12:3 as mentioned above.)
And that is precisely what happened – Israel was not able to keep their
side of the deal. And that takes us full
circle to Romans 10:12 cited above, wherein Gentiles who become God’s children
are also His treasured possessions.
The
following question than arises: How will God deal with His original special
treasure, the people of Israel in the final analysis? There is no clear answer to that question
from either the passage here in Exodus, or the Romans 10 passage. However, other portions of Scripture may well
provide some answers. As a minimum, we
know that all Jews have the same access to salvation as everyone else – God’s
mercy (Romans 11:32). But one is best to
study Romans 11:25-32 very thoroughly.
Much has been written about that portion of Scripture. My own personal belief at this point, from
this Romans passage, is that God will save Israel through Jesus Christ in a
miraculous opening of their eyes in the last days, so that His mercy can indeed
be exercised on their call for salvation.
How and exactly when and how many, I am satisfied to leave entirely to
Him.
Returning
to our current Exodus passage, God goes on to tell the Children of Israel that
He wants them to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. It is interesting
that what God wanted for the Children of Israel, He later also granted to
us. As David Guzik puts it, “God
intended for Israel to be a kingdom of priests, where every believer could come
before God themselves, and everyone could represent God to the nations.” And in the New Testament, Peter (in I Peter
2:9) reminds us that we too are a royal priesthood that serves God as both
kings and priests, as Jesus made us to be (Revelation 1:6). In that same verse (I Peter 2:9) we
(Christ-followers) are reminded that we are a “Holy Nation” especially chosen
to proclaim His praises – set apart, thinking and doing differently than others
in the world.
As
I observe my life and the lives of those around me, one of my greatest
disappointments is that so many of us, myself among them, fail so miserly in
just that. While we are set apart
because of our position in Christ, we fail to carry out our responsibility to
think and act differently than others.
One only has to look at what we enjoy and value – our music and other
entertainment, our pastimes, our desire to have our way, and so on.
Finally, our short passage of two verses ends with God
telling Moses, “Speak these
things to Israel.” Much later in the
history of the world, God uses Peter and Paul and others to “speak these
things” to us. Are we listening?
_____________________________________________________________________
[Are you
looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken
is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]
Thanks for dropping
by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all
sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on
the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with
your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting. And while you’re here, why not check out some
more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column. Ken.
________________________________________________________________________
It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment.