Moses relayed the Lord's instructions to the Israelites and they agreed to abide by them. At that point the Bible said in yesterday's study, "Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said." Next Moses conducts a ceremony to seal the covenant between the Lord and the people.
"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." (Exodus 24:4b) One of my commentaries states that this display represents all the parties to the covenant, with the altar symbolizing the Lord and the pillars symbolizing the twelve tribes. I think that's a beautiful and accurate way to describe this scene.
"Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord." (Exodus 24:5) Both the old covenant and the new covenants were confirmed with blood. Sacrifices were made acknowledging man's sinfulness and God's holiness---acknowledging man's need for redemption. The first covenant was confirmed with animal blood, with animals standing in for human beings. The second covenant was confirmed by Christ's blood, with Jesus standing in for human beings. But this solemn occasion is commemorated by sacrifices. Burnt offerings (atonement sacrifices) are made in which the offerings are wholly given up to the Lord. Fellowship offerings are also made, and these involve offering the blood to the Lord and then being allowed to hold a feast in which the meat is eaten by the assembled people.
"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.'" (Exodus 24:6-7) They had already verbally accepted the covenant, and afterwards Moses wrote down the words of the Lord in a scroll. Now he reads the Lord's words back to them from the scroll at this ceremony where they solemnly agree to abide by everything written in it.
"Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, 'This is the blood of the covenant the Lord has made with you in accordance with these words.'" (Exodus 24:8) The Apostle Paul, believed to be the author of the book of Hebrews, speaks of the confirmation of the old covenant. "When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all of the people. He said, 'This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.'...In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." (Hebrews 9:19-20,22)
The penalty for sin is death. Violating the law of a holy God is such a grievous crime that death is required as payment. But the Lord allowed "stand ins" because He didn't want to wipe man from the face of the earth, so in the Old Testament we find animals being substituted for human beings. In the Old Testament we find Moses acting as the mediator between man and God. But in the New Testament, on the night before the crucifixion, we find the Lord Jesus using the wine in the cup as a symbol for the blood He's about to shed for mankind. We find the Lord Jesus declaring Himself the mediator of the new covenant, saying, "This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matthew 26:28) Do you see the similarity between what Christ says in Matthew's gospel and what Moses says in Exodus 24:8? Moses sprinkled the blood of animals (the Old Testament stand ins) to confirm the old covenant. But Christ shed His own blood to confirm the new and everlasting covenant. As the Apostle Paul says, "For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance---now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant." (Hebrews 9:15) Man could not keep his end of the bargain under the first covenant. Therefore, sacrifices had to be made year after year after year to atone for sin. But Christ came to make a new covenant with man, and now sacrifices aren't necessary, for His sacrifice was good once and for all. "The covenant of which He is mediator is superior to the old one." (Hebrews 8:6a)
We are living in the age of grace. We aren't reminded every day by the scroll Moses read that we are sinners who fail to perfectly keep the laws written within it. We don't have to bring sacrifices and offerings to the Lord year after year in acknowledgment of our guilt. When we read our Bibles, we are reminded instead that Christ perfectly kept the law and that Christ shed His perfect blood for us to make up for our inability to keep the words of the old covenant. He made the only sacrifice that ever needs to be made from now on. We are living under the new covenant, the one of which Christ is mediator, and this covenant is "established on better promises". (Hebrews 8:6b)
The new covenant is one in which Christ has done all the work. To accept it we don't have to say as the Israelites did in our passage today: "Everything the Lord has said we will do." We can't do everything the Lord has said, and neither could the Israelites. When presented with the new covenant our response is only to be, "I accept." Naturally as we learn about Christ and grow in our relationship with Him our conduct will conform more and more to what He would have it to be, but the new covenant is established on "better promises" because it depends on Christ's performance, not ours. He did all the work to be able to offer us eternal salvation. He does all the work to keep us saved. He does all the work of conforming us into His image and teaching us to, as the saying goes, "do what Jesus would do".
I am thankful to be living under the new covenant and not the old covenant, aren't you? I can open my Bible and read about what Christ did for me. I can read about everything He's doing for me right now and everything He's going to do for me in the future. Instead of feeling beaten down by reading the laws I'm incapable of perfectly keeping, I can rejoice in knowing the One who perfectly kept them all. Instead of tossing and turning at night worrying about the fate of my eternal soul, I can go peacefully to sleep knowing Christ has redeemed me with the blood of the new covenant. My sleep can be sweet knowing that no matter what comes at me in this life, my eternity with Christ is secure. Nothing can take this glorious future away from me!
No comments:
Post a Comment