God's people are at God's mountain to begin a new relationship with him.
4 ‘You have seen what I did to the
Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to
myself. 5 Now if you will obey me and
keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the
peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.
6 And you will be my kingdom of
priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of
Israel.”
8 And all the people responded
together, “We will do everything the LORD has commanded.” So Moses brought the
people’s answer back to the LORD.
So far the theme of Exodus has been the salvation of God's people, the first eighteen chapters shows us how God redeemed his people from the kingdom of darkness, and now it is time for his redeemed people to learn how to live for him.
God wants to transform his people from a bunch of beaten down former slaves into a Godly nation that will appreciate his blessings enough to worship him and show his goodness to the rest of the world.
Instead of the forced obedience at the hands of their harsh taskmasters in Egypt they needed to learn how to please their redeemer voluntarily. At Mount Sinai, God will make a new covenant that will replace the covenant made to Abraham.
You have seen and you know (Exodus 19:4)
God has done some amazing things to fulfill the promises that he made and to show his people that he loves them.
They know that the promises made hundreds of years ago to Abraham came true. They know that he just released them from bondage and wiped out their enemy when they crossed the sea on dry ground and they know that God has provided for their physical needs out in the wilderness when there wasn't any natural resources.
God brought them to the place where he predicted, before they left Egypt, that they would come to worship him. (Exodus 3:12) God was true to his word every step of the way despite the attitude of his people.
If you will obey me (Exodus 19:5)
They have an amazing future ahead of them if they get it right, God's people will be here at the mountain for the next eleven months learning about him and how to please him, but with all of this close contact with God they will still struggle to trust and obey.
God's people will act like they are not, they will rebel against all that they have learned about him and behave just like the rest of the world, even with the huge miracles that God performed on their behalf.
You will be my special treasure (Exodus 19:5)
God reminds his people of how special they are, the whole earth belongs to him and he could have chosen anything, any place or anybody to be his most prized treasure. But you don't get to be God's people without having a relationship with him and you can't have a relationship with him if you are not pleasing to him.
As God promised Abraham, they have been blessed to be a blessing, their experience with God will be the main revelation of God to the world at that time. If they live by God's rules they will be a holy nation of priest that will be a testimony to the nations of God's goodness and his desire to redeem the entire world just as he redeemed Israel.
We will do everything the LORD has commanded
God's people agree to his covenant, they are officially God's children, as a nation anyway but individually they would each have to put it into practice daily, this is a personal decision they all had to decide for themselves.
We usually look at God's law as a burden but it is celebrated in the Bible, obeying God's law was seen as a source of delight and a blessing, (Psalm 19 and 119) the people enthusiastically committed to obey without complaining. But Moses knew that as good as it seemed at the moment they would fail to keep the the law just like all of us. (Deuteronomy 28:47-48, 31:29)
Moses was the mediator between God and his people, a mediator with many flaws, but thankfully Moses was a type for the perfect mediator that will came.
1 Peter 2:5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.1 Peter 2:9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
The ultimate redeemer and mediator has brought us into a place of great privilege, we are called to be holy priest that display God's goodness, but too many of us are living as disobedient children.
We can be so far short of God's standards that the world has a warped view of God and how to spend eternity with him. If God is truly good then it should be easy to show it so that others will agree upon his goodness and want to get in on what you have. We must remember that we have not been blessed so that we can hide the blessings.
God's blessings to me are to be used to glorify him and to bless the world around me. I need to live to please him so that the world can see how satisfying life is when it is lived according to God's rules. My life should be as a priest that shows God to the world and lets them know how to live with him for eternity.
