“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 19:5-6)
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This covenant was Conditional
This covenant was conditional on the Israelites keeping up their end of the agreement. ‘If… then’, was a common wording of a conditional covenant between unequal parties. This is similar to the wording of God’s covenant with Abraham. We must remember, God is not our equal.
The wording is similar to Psalm 24 and leads us to ask the
question;
“what is mankind that you are mindful of them”
(Psalms 8:4)
God sets the terms of the relationship. Moses was required to add obedience to his faith. In the same way we must add action to our faith.
…“Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” (Acts 2:38)
And as James wrote;
“But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.” (James 2:18)
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This covenant was a Continuation
This was a continuation of the covenant that God made with Abraham some 600 years previously.
“Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.” (Genesis 17:9)
Today the same is true of our covenant relationship with God. Ours is a continuation of the Mosaic covenant.
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They were a Chosen covenant people
God had chosen the Israelites out of all the nations of the earth to be his ‘treasured possession’. Our own relationship with God mirrors this.
“while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to
purify for himself a people that are his very own,
eager to do what is good.”
(Titus 2:13-14)
They were called to be a kingdom of priests, and were to be channels of God’s grace to the nations.
This is the same role we have now been given.
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of
darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
We are not saved simply for our own sake, but we are saved at great price in order that we can in turn be used by God to introduce others to Christ.
Service Details
Theme:
Reading:
Preacher: Robin Brenchley
Led by: Bev Sills
