Sermon June 20, 1999 A Treasured Possession based on Exodus 19:2-8
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Especially: 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.
A sixth grade student was asked on a history examination to write something about Moses and the Exodus. Here is the answer given:
Moses led the Hebrew slaves to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. He died before he ever reached Canada.
We can find some laughs in the student's near-misses on the correct information, though we could all learn more about the history of Israel. We should see the history of the descendants of Abraham as our history, for we are the spiritual descendants of the same Abraham. Even more importantly, however, is that the history of Israel is the history of God's actions and grace among His people.
Perhaps we ought to begin by reviewing the progress of the Exodus. In Chapter 12 of the book of Exodus, Moses escorts the Israelites out of Egypt after the Pharaoh is brought to submission by God's Ten Plagues. Pharaoh's army pursues them and the Red Sea is parted in Chapter 14 for the Israelites but drowns the Egyptians. God had delivered His people through the water. The Lord continues to provide bountiful blessings for His people as they move on into the desert. He gives sweet water from the bitter water and from the rock, as well as the daily blessing of manna and quail, except for Saturday. They were also delivered by the Lord in a battle with the Amalekites. They camp in a place called Rephidim, which means "resting place." where Moses consults with his father-in-law in Chapter 18. Now we reach the text, where they are ready to leave Rephidim, after having been away from Egypt for three months. They will soon receive the Ten Commandments in Chapter 20 which follows our text.
Now that we know the setting for our text, what does it tell us? "After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain." So, the people of Israel leave their resting place and travel to the foot of Mount Sinai. Now, being in front of the mountain, the Lord was ready to talk to Moses. "Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain..." Now God had some important things to say. Of course, you would have to agree that whenever God is going to speak to you it is important. "The LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel..." God had a message for Moses to deliver to the people. Moses was to serve as God's messenger or prophet. This is the message Moses was to deliver: "'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.'" God reviews the past and gives His desires for the future with this message.
God again lets Moses know what he is to do with this message when He concludes: "These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites." Moses does do this. "So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak." Finally our text reports how the people respond to this message. "The people all responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has said.""
The events in our text turn out to be important in the history of the exodus from Egypt. God has already done tremendous things for His people. Now He brings them to a special place to speak to them. Mt. Sinai is special because God makes it special by choosing to reveal Himself there.
Mount Sinai is also where the Lord revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush. This event, reported in Exodus 3, where the Lord speaks to Moses and sends him on his mission to save the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt. Moses brings the people back to Sinai, which the Lord told him to do. Exodus 3:12 says, "And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." Now, in our text as the people move to the foot of the same Mount Sinai, Moses completes the circle.
Once the people move to the foot of Sinai in our text, it is also an important move because they do not move again for about a year. From Exodus 19 all the way through the events of Numbers 10 the Israelites are camped at Mount Sinai.
As you ponder this important moment in the history of Israel, I would ask you to look at the text for yourself in three different ways. First, see the Law as sharp. Next, see the grace of the past. Finally, see the promises of the future.
First, we see the Law as sharp. The words of Law in our text strike us very strongly: "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession." God lays before the people His request for the way they are to behave and then He promises a blessing. It does begin with the request, the law. The original Hebrew of our text actually says "if you truly hear me" instead of "obey me fully," but this still carries a strong message to us. How do we do?
Do we obey God fully? This is a tall order. When God speaks to us with His commands and requirements, do we truly hear Him? Are our ears instead filled with the noise of many other things in our life besides God? How rare it is today that someone will be willing to "be still" and know that God is Lord and listen to His Word.
If we carefully examine ourselves, we come up with much to be sad about for we have not kept our Lord's commands. We have not listened to Him. We have not kept the covenant.
The people of Israel are no different from us. They would immediately pledge whole-heartedly to follow God: "The people all responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has said."" Then, only a short time later, while Moses was up on Mount Sinai, they would begin worshiping the golden calf. They continued failing to keep the covenant. They, as well as we, deserve God's anger and wrath. We deserve to be punished for our sins. Thus, we see the Law as sharp. It strikes us, cuts us, making us painfully aware of our failures.
Now, look at the text again, this time looking for the grace of the past. As God spoke to Moses the look to the past comes first. First God reviews what He had done for the people, then He asks them to respond to it. God says to Moses: "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself."
First we see God's grace in defeating the enemies of His people. The Egyptians were powerful and had oppressed the Israelites for years, refusing to release them. God tortured them with the Ten Plagues and Pharaoh gave in and let them go, though he later changed his mind. God brought the persecution of the Egyptians to a halt by finally drowning them in the Red Sea, after the parted Sea closed back in on them.
God's grace is also demonstrated in His actions to support and lift up His people. They were carried on eagles' wings. This phrase is figurative for the strong and loving care of God. An eagle cares for their young, and flies under them when they leave the nest, protecting them from falling. God's grace was shown to the Israelites by giving them food and water in the desert, leading them with a cloud and many other details which were not mentioned but were surely taken care of by the Lord.
The grace of God in the past we should also see in that the Lord brought the people to Himself. God always draws us in, we don't come on our own. Here He brought the people to Himself so that He might speak to them through Moses and share His Word and His will with them. "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel."
We too can look to God's grace of the past. In the past, He sent Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sins. He died on the cross and rose again to set us free from the punishment we deserved. This grace God demonstrated in the past is so important that we need to constantly remind ourselves of it. Our Divine Services remind us in the words we speak and sing. The Lord's Supper reminds us. Indeed, God's Word reminds us of His grace shown to us in the past and so we are to make frequent use of God's Word. We see through these means of grace how our Lord has lifted us upon eagle's wings and brought us to Himself in our savior Jesus Christ.
Lastly, we look at our text to see the promises of the future. The Lord's message delivered through Moses was: "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."
God specifically promised the people of Israel that they would be special possession to Him. The Lord is certainly the Lord of the whole earth and every nation is His, but He promised here to make the nation of Israel a special one. They would be a example before the other nations of just how wonderful the Lord is. They would be a demonstration or prototype of how God's people are treated by God.
The Lord also promises to make Israel a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This is a wonderful commitment He makes to them. They will be a kingdom of priests, that is they will each be priests, able to approach God directly and interact with Him, without having to go through a middleman. They will also be a holy nation, one set apart, consecrated and made special and they will be different from the ordinary, everyday, plain nations. We hear this promise echoed elsewhere in the Scriptures, such as NKJ Deuteronomy 7:6 "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth."
This promise of God comes with a condition, however. He said, "If you truly hear me and keep my covenant." That Law statement is tough for sinners to meet. The people of Israel in the Old Testament did not meet up to that standard. They failed miserably. Since that was the case, the Lord did not bless them to the fullest extent.
We too, would find it hard to meet the condition. It is only through Christ that we are able to truly hear the Lord and keep His covenant. It is through the forgiveness we have in Christ that our failures in this regard are forgiven and erased. Even more so, we exchange our sinful nature for Christ's righteousness. We are counted as keeping the covenant because Christ kept it for us. So, then through Christ, the conditions are met and we are the recipients of God's wonderful promise. What could not be delivered fully to the Old Testament Israel is fully delivered to us, the New Testament Israel, the true believers in Christ. The promise will be made complete when Christ returns and we are raised to eternal life. Then we will meet God face-to-face, be a holy people, without sin, and live before God into eternity.
We see in our text an important moment in Israel's history, which is important for us also. We see the Law as sharp, showing us our failures. Next, we see the grace of the past as God has blessed His people and us also, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, in the text we see the promises of the future, that show us we are God's treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Our Lord shows us His grace in the past and places promises of future grace upon us who deserve none of it. It all comes to us freely, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.