What sticks out most to the reader from this text is the giving of the Ten Commandments in chapter 20. Ever since they were given at Sinai, the Ten Commandments remain our understanding of God’s moral code. The Commandments themselves though were part of an even larger component of God’s relation with Israel, namely, what is called the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant represents God’s relations to Israel in the Old Testament. The New Covenant, while prophesied in the Old Testament, was inaugurated and established by Christ in the New Testament. The two covenants are similar in that they both represent how God is relating to his people and both are enacted by God. However, they also present a radically different relation of God with his people!
In Exodus 19:5 the Lord says, “Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine.” Take careful note of the condition attached to this covenant: if you will obey! As the rest of the Old Testament proves, they could not obey! And as our own lives can testify, we cannot obey on our own either! Now listen to the words of the New Covenant in Ezekiel 11:19-20 as the Lord says, “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them...that they may walk in my statues...and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”
The radical difference being that one could be God’s treasured possession, if he obeyed under the Old Covenant. Under the New Covenant, because one is God’s treasured possession, he grants him a new heart and a new spirit so that he will obey! God does the work we as sinners could never do. The New Covenant, then, is a covenant of grace!
I had a wild idea. My family would say, "uh oh." You certainly don't have to post THIS comment, Bro. Wil! "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Ex. 20:3) and the plagues started the idea.
ReplyDeleteThe plagues God sent on Egypt were very specific for their gods, who were powerless to stop the disasters or protect their worshippers. Apis and Isis, god and goddess of the Nile could not stop their waters from turning to blood. Other plagues had a "more of" nature: "You worship frogs and flies? Have LOTS of them!"
What are our American gods? Money,material things and technology, the earth, looking and feeling good, "time for myself". . . what else??
What if God judged us by plagues specific to our gods?
Money: Suppose God flooded our country with money? Suddenly everyone had plenty and the economy went crazy--$100 for a gallon of milk?
Material things + technology: Have you seen the movie WALL-E? The earth completely covered by junk, discarded "toys" and techno-gadgits, no space left free from the clutter of STUFF?
The Earth: What if suddenly all plant life was incredibly fertile, trees were sprouting and growing rapidly everywhere even through concrete and asphalt, animals were reproducing in great quantities, and people started to grow roots out of the soles of their feet for love of "Mother Earth"?
Looking and feeling young: What if everyone was suddenly sge 12 or 13, at the most awkward and uncomfortable puberty ages--everyone, all at once, and STUCK there??!
Time for myself: Suppose that no one could sleep, ever. Twenty-four hour days of wakefulness, until people died of exhaustion!
"You shall have no other gods before Me" is God's MERCY and LOVE, as are all of His commands.