Chaplain’s Corner – God’s Covenant with Moses (and You)

“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”’ (Exodus 19:3-6).

Let us review the covenants we have learned about so far:

1. God’s Covenant with Adam – a conditional, or works-based, covenant. Adam broke the covenant and introduced sin into the world.
2. God’s Covenant with Noah – God’s unconditional, or grace-based, covenant with Noah and his descendants (in other words: all of us) whereby he dealt with corruption caused by sin and promised never to destroy the earth by flood again.
3. God’s Covenant with Abraham – Last week we focused on God’s gracious covenant with Abraham and his descendants (in other words: all of us) that we would be His people, and that we would have eternal life in His Promised Land.

Then in the book of Exodus, we learn about God’s covenant with Moses and the people of Israel. This covenant, called the “Mosaic Law” is an extensive system of regulations–both moral, ceremonial, and civil–and sacrifices recorded in primarily in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. These regulations were designed to set his people apart, to consecrate them as a holy nation.

Some assume that it is a works-based rather than grace- based covenant because some believe that people were saved by keeping the law. And in truth, the Mosaic Law does hold out the promise of eternal life to all who keep it perfectly (fully). However, notice that God rescued the Hebrews from Egypt prior to the giving of the Mosaic Law. Their salvation did not depend on anything but the grace of God because God had already saved them from Pharoah.

God never intended the Mosaic law to be a means of salvation for sinners. In fact, the Mosaic law reveals to us our inability to keep the law, and so it points us to Jesus who perfectly kept the Mosaic covenant in our behalf. The giving of the Mosaic Law was accompanied by an extensive system of sacrifices, also pointing to Jesus who is our perfect sacrifice, providing the atonement for our failure to keep the law. “Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:25-26).

This is one in a series on the Promises of God which started on January 4, 2023. In subsequent Chaplain’s Corners, we will continue to look at these promises and with them, the nature of our awesome God.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18).

In Christ,

Judy