Covenant Law & a Man on a Mountain
COVENANT LAW & A MAN ON A MOUNTAIN
Throughout 2020 we will be reading through the Bible together using the 2020 Reading Plan, which is broken up into 16 sections, each of which follows the narrative thread of the Bible by incorporating both Old Testament and New Testament passages. In conjunction with the reading plan we will post blog articles for each of the 16 sections in hopes that they will help to shed light on what you are reading. As always, our prayer is that this is deeply beneficial to your soul and your personal walk with Jesus.
Blessings,
Gavin
CHARLTON HESTON
I reveal my age and my recency bias when I admit I’ve never seen 1956’s The Ten Commandments. I’ve seen glimpses on network television every year right around Easter, but I’ve never sat down and watched it in its entirety. Many other depictions of the events in Exodus have been released since; the most recent theatrical form was the disappointing Exodus: Gods and Kings in 2014. Other versions include The Prince of Egypt and The Bible miniseries that premiered on the History Channel in 2013. All of these are entertaining enough, but if I’m honest, they feel incomplete.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
The biblical account takes place in the book of Exodus with the popular events that most are familiar with taking place in chapters 1-20. What’s most incomplete about the theatrical versions of the story is their inability to effectively communicate God’s intent. That feels like a bold statement to make, but I believe it to be correct.
Traditionally, the Ten Commandments and the laws and stipulations that follow them have been understood as a way to please God. Do the Ten Commandments and God will proud of you and invite you to sing songs with him in heaven for a very long time. When we view the Ten Commandments this way it becomes nothing more than the Christian or Jewish version of Buddhism’s “Eightfold Path” or Isalm’s “Five Pillars” – just another set rules and actions to perform to make our expression of God happy. With a more careful reading of the Commandments, or God’s law in its entirety, you will reach a much different conclusion. The following list isn’t exhaustive, but I want to make clear some of what God’s law teaches us that common understanding seems to miss:
1. God’s Holiness The clearest thing that God’s law communicates to us is his holiness. The opening scene in Exodus 19 screams of it. God descends on Mount Sinai to speak with one person, and one person alone: Moses. Anyone else caught touching the mountain would die. As God’s presence descends “thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud” (v. 16) cover the mountain, which was also “wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire” (v. 18). As if that weren’t frightening enough “the whole mountain trembled greatly” and a trumpet sounded “louder and louder” as God spoke to Moses “in thunder.” Israel stood back and watched a mountain shaking that was covered in fire in the middle of a thunderstorm while God spoke audibly through thunder. I am terrified of lightning, even within the safety of my own home. Fear doesn’t even begin to describe what would be going on in my mind witnessing a scene like this firsthand.
Here’s the point: this visual demonstration of terror displays God’s holiness in a way that abstract words can’t possibly communicate as poignantly. God is revealing himself to be entirely separate from his creation. His moral perfection is like nothing else that exists and therefore the imperfection of the Israelite people was magnified to its fullest extent. The direct result of being faced with the holiness of God is an immediate awareness of your own sinfulness and imperfection
2. Our Sinfulness I remember being a young kid and feeling like I was a pretty good basketball player. By the time I was 7 or 8 none of my peers (that I knew of) were as good as me. It developed what I now know to be a false confidence. One day my dad finally convinced me to go and play with the “big guys” – older teenagers and adults – in a pickup game. I was immediately aware of my weaknesses. I couldn’t dribble or shoot with my left hand; I wasn’t quick enough to give myself room for an accurate shot; I wasn’t strong enough to rebound, prevent guys from getting by me, or to drive to the basket myself. While the guys I was playing weren’t perfect, they were a whole lot better than me and that revelation brought my inadequacies right out into the light. Maybe you’ve been there before. Maybe you’ve been in the company of someone who is exceptional at their craft, and in their presence you recognize just how much you are not on the same level as they are.
That’s what the Israelites experienced. And that’s what they were intended to experience. Romans 10:4 tells us “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Jesus Christ, who shows up in the flesh in the New Testament does two things with the law according to this verse. First, by dying on the cross in our place he puts an end to our need and desire to please God by working to obey him. If God’s holiness is such that it brings fire and shakes mountains, then it’s clear that I am not righteous enough to fulfill the perfection he requires. Secondly, Christ is also the “end of the law” in the sense that he is the ultimate purpose of the law. We can draw several conclusions from that, but the most prominent of those conclusions is that the law in its entirety points us to Christ.
The recognition of our sinfulness draws us to the feet of the only One who can save us: Jesus Christ.
3. God’s Grace A seemingly odd conclusion in the midst of thunder, lightning, and an extensive list of rules and punishment for disobedience is the fact that God’s law actually communicates his grace. One of the clearest evidences of this is Exodus 25-40. If I had to take a guess as to why Hollywood’s depiction of Exodus never goes beyond chapter 20, it’s because what follows is a long, laborious account of Moses’ instructions from God on how to build a tabernacle along with a detailed description beginning in chapter 35 of the construction of it. While it doesn’t make for exciting movies and television the fact remains that the tabernacle encompasses almost half of the entire book.
Why so much space? What does this tell us about God? The tabernacle existed as a way for Israel to atone for their sins. Animal sacrifices, rituals, and festivals were all centered around the tabernacle as a way for Israel to acknowledge their sinfulness and offer a sacrifice as a way to satisfy God’s wrath – the wrath required by his moral perfection and holiness. But I want you to think about that for a minute... a holy God; a guilty nation, and a way to be forgiven.
That’s incredible.
CONCLUSION
The nature of grace is to offer a blessing when it isn’t deserved. That’s exactly what the tabernacle tells us about God, and that’s exactly what’s missing in our modern, incomplete, retelling of the Exodus. As you read through the passages this month – passages throughout the Pentateuch and passages related to them in the New Testament – read it with that lens. This is a holy God revealing himself to you through his Word so that you might recognize your sinfulness and have confidence that if you turn to him you will receive grace. Because that is exactly who he is: The holy God, full of grace.
HELPFUL RESOURCES
Tim Keller sermon – “On the Mountain: The Terrifying and Beckoning God”
New Springs sermon – “Dwelling”
Matt Chandler sermons – “The Way into His Presence” and “Drawn In”
April 27, 2020