A Deal with Moses

The Covenant with Moses (Exodus 19)

Grace is the undeserved love and salvation that God gives. We can never earn God's grace; it is given by God because He loves His people.

Exodus chapter 19 provides the dramatic introduction to the covenant God made with the children of Israel. In this chapter, God speaks directly with Moses and prepares to speak directly with the people (which he does beginning in chapter 20).

Exodus 19 takes place three months after the Israelites have departed Egypt. God calls Moses to Mount Sinai and informs Moses of a message Moses is to give to the people.

"You yourselves have seen … how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself," God says (19:4, all verses cited are from Exodus, NIV). "Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." (19:5-6)

What have the Israelite people done to deserve this? Already they had begun to be less than thankful for the action the Lord had taken in rescuing them from Egypt. They had "grumbled" (15:24), cried out that they would have been better off dead (16:3), refused to follow instructions (16:28) and tested the Lord (17:2). Were these actions that warranted being called to be God's special people? Hardly.

Still, God loved the people of Israel. He loved them so much that He told Moses that all the people should be called together, so that they could hear the new covenant that God would make with them: "If you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations, you will be my treasured possession." (19:5)

Clearly, it was only by the grace - the undeserved love of God - that God called the people to him.

Despite their fallings, their grumblings and their foibles, God loved His people in the time of Moses. God made a covenant with them that He would call the people to Him.

What is a covenant?

Most homeowners have heard of the term covenant. It is a special provision that is written into the deed of a piece of property. It cannot be easily revoked. It may specify that a building cannot be built on a particular part of the property. A covenant is a promise. The problem with promises is that they can sometimes be broken - when they are made between two people. A promise from God, a covenant, will never be broken - at least not by God.

After God makes His covenant with Moses and the people in Exodus 19, one of several such covenants He made in the Old Testament, the people continued to sin and to turn away. In each case, however, though the people may have neglected their part of the covenant, God continued to love the people. He gave them more love than they could ever possibly deserve.

In Jeremiah 31:31-34, God promises of a time when He will make a new covenant with the people. The beginning of the book of Jeremiah tells of a time when Israel had again turned away from God. They were not living up to their end of the covenant. Still, God loved the people. He loved them in Moses time, in Jeremiah's time - in fact, He still loves the people.

In 1 Corinthians 11:25, and elsewhere, we are told the Good News, of the new covenant that was promised through the prophet Jeremiah: that through the blood of Jesus Christ, God has indeed made a new covenant:

"God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Christ represents the ultimate covenant - and the ultimate act of grace -- between God and His people.

God's promise to Moses in Exodus 19 clearly showed the grace of God and His love for the people. We celebrate now the grace of God that through this new covenant of grace, in Christ there is salvation.