"God's Gift of the Law, pt.2 (Exodus 22:16-23:33)" | 6/4/23
Exodus 22:16-23:33 | 6/4/23 | Will DuVal
One evening here recently my daughter Ellery asked if she could stay up late and watch a movie. I said, “No, Sweetie, you got a big day tomorrow; it’s bedtime.” So she asked, “Dad, can I ask you a question? Why do parents get to make all the rules?”
I said, “Because God LOVES you SO much, that He gave you ME - as a GIFT - to protect you from yourself!”
We don’t naturally think of RULES as a GIFT, do we? When was the last time you saw a speed limit sign while you were driving, and you paused to thank GOD for His GIFT of government to pass laws, and police officers to enforce them? We were at the Chesterfield pool the other day and this little boy had climbed the steps to go down the slide, but then he got scared and froze up and started crying, so his mom went up to rescue him. But the lifeguard blew his whistle and reprimanded her, because “only KIDS are allowed on the splash pad.” That mom didn’t respond by praising God for the GIFT of this lifeguard and his “rules”.
Too often that’s how we think about GOD’S Law. Last week we began our study of “the Book of the Covenant”, this set of 95 laws recorded in Exodus chs20-23, that help interpret and apply the 10 Commandments to daily life. Because we no longer LIVE under the “old covenant”, this “Mosaic covenant” - as the apostle Paul says in the NEW Testament “we are no longer UNDER the law, but under GRACE” (Rom 6:14) - sometimes we tend to denigrate and dismiss the Law, and we fail to recognize it for the GIFT that it was, for such a LONG, important stretch of redemptive history - 1,500 years, between Moses and Jesus! And as we began to work our way THROUGH the first half of these 95 laws last week, we outlined ALL the various GIFTS God was giving His people, through His Law here; as a quick reminder:
1) God gave them the gift of RELATIONSHIP (20:22-26). This is what the Law in essence does: it shows us how to stay in good relationship with our good and HOLY God.
2) God’s Law offers us the gift of PROTECTION (21:1-11). Just as I make and enforce rules to protect MY kids from themselves, God does the same for us, his children… while ALSO protecting us from one another!
3) God’s Law also grants us the gift of JUSTICE (21:12-32). As EVERY parent knows, we are BORN with a desire for things to be FAIR (at least as long as “fairness” works out in OUR favor!). God’s Law promotes justice.
And as part of that, 4) The Law encourages RESTITUTION (21:33 - 22:15). Repayment for wrongs committed.
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These are all good GIFTS God offers us through His Law. And this morning, we will add TEN (10) MORE gifts to them, as we consider another 47 laws, in just 49 verses here. But we want to more than just “CONSIDER” them; perhaps you’re familiar with the “CIA” method of Bible study: FIRST we “consider” (“What does this verse SAY?”). But next we INTERPRET it (“What does this verse MEAN?”). And finally, we want to APPLY the text (“What does this verse mean… FOR ME? How does it call me, compel me, to respond?”) So we’re gonna try and do all THREE of those, with EACH of these 47 laws, in just 40 or so minutes now… Let’s go!
#5 - the FIFTH gift God gives us in His Law here is the gift of PURITY (22:16-20; 5 laws). Let’s consider vv16-20 of ch22:
“If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife. 17 If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins.
18 “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.
19 “Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death.
20 “Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the LORD alone, shall be devoted to destruction.
Now, how do we INTERPRET vv16 & 17? Well, some who want to disparage the Bible suggest that “seducing a virgin” is just a euphemism for RAPE, and God’s answer is to force the girl to MARRY her rapist. But that CAN’T be right, because Deuteronomy 22 (vv25-27) clearly lists rape as a capital offense in Israel. No, this law concerns premarital sex, with the upshot being: “If you’re going to PLAY ‘husband and wife’, you better be ready to BECOME husband and wife”; “You’ve got to PAY to PLAY,” young man; NO ONE gets “free milk” in Israel; you better be ready to “buy the cow”.
UNLESS her father didn’t approve, in which case the seducer STILL had to “pay the bride-price”.
So, let’s APPLY this law, in our OWN day now: if the average cost of an engagement ring today is between 6-7,000 dollars (theknot.com), can you imagine if a young man was required to PAY that, to a young girl, for robbing her of her virginity? What a DETERRENT that might be, of premarital sex? Our society tells young people to treat their virginity like a scarlet letter, like something to get RID of, as quickly as possible. But God VALUES sexual purity, GREATLY.
He also values RELIGIOUS purity; vv18,19, &20 outlaw sorcery, bestiality and idolatry, respectively. They’re all CAPITAL offenses. They were ALSO - not coincidentally - all common practices associated with pagan, and specifically CANAANITE religion; the land which God to which He was LEADING His people.
Interpretation? God is ANTI-syncretism. “Syncretism” is the blending of opposing worldviews.
Application today? There’s no such thing as an “open and affirming church”. It doesn’t exist; cuz it’s a contradiction of terms; it’s an attempt to BLEND a biblical worldview - church - with a progressive worldview - “affirming”, of what the Bible clearly calls “SIN”. Here’s another one: there’s no such thing as “Christian nationalism”. Once again, you’re taking one worldview - Christianity: a sworn allegiance to JESUS FIRST - and attempting to blend it with a divergent worldview - nationalism: allegiance to COUNTRY first. Jesus said you can’t have it both ways; “You can’t serve / WORSHIP both God and… Mammon” (Mt 6:24), MONEY, that’s another popular synthesis today.
NO, God says, “I am a JEALOUS God, and I ALONE deserve your worship. My glory I will not SHARE with another” (Isa 42:8). And God’s law helps set boundaries to ensure that our worship REMAINS “pure,” undivided.
#6 - Through His Law, God offers us the Gift of MERCY (22:21-27; 4 laws).
Vv21-27 now:
21 “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
25 “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. 26 If ever you take your neighbor's cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, 27 for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
The interpretation here is pretty straightforward: God is merciful, “compassionate”, and he calls His PEOPLE to “go and do likewise.” I like the way one commentator put it: “Don’t take advantage of the DIS-advantaged” (David Guzik, “Exodus Conversations”), specifically, God says, of the sojourner, the widow, the orphan, or the poor.
What’s the APPLICATION for us today? Listen, we can debate the politics surrounding issues like immigration, social security, the foster care system, welfare… and it is certainly true that America is NOT ancient Israel, where these laws were meant to be enforced on a national level, and even it we were, Christ fulfilled the OT anyway. And yet God’s Law DOES still give us glimpse into His HEART - here, His heart of MERCY for those in need. So whatever your politics, Christians will be pro-immigrant, pro-widow, pro-orphan, pro-poor, because we know our GOD is.
Practically, for us at West Hills, it means we will not be content to merely, passively write checks to Oasis International, our newest missional partner serving refugee populations here in St. Louis; we will develop personal relationships with those refugees families who we can serve with the love of Christ.
It means we won’t sit back and pat ourselves on the back for sharing our building with One Heart Family Ministries; we will roll up our sleeves and personally foster kids… adopt kids… who desperately need a loving home.
It means as a community, we will SURROUND Sandi Smith, and Jan Dierberg, and April Gaither, and Barbara Underwood, and ALL of our “widows” here at West Hills, and overwhelm them with love and support.
It means Terry Weaver’s Mercy Ministry team should have run out by now of those “care packs” they assembled and handed out a couple weeks ago - with toiletries and a Wal-Mart card and a gospel track - as a means of empowering us as a church to be READY to lend a helping hand when we encounter someone in need; I hope they’ve already had to order MORE, because as a church, we are so quick to look for others’ physical needs that we can help meet, as an opened door for meeting their SPIRITUAL needs as well.
Psalm 68:5 calls God a “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows”; Are WE, church? Are we?
#7 - God’s Law gives us the Gift of REVERENCE (22:28-31; 5 laws)
Vv28-31 now:
28 “You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.
29 “You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. 30 You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.
31 “You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
God’s word calls us to REVERE Him. REVERENCE is defined as “deep respect tinged with awe.” It’s the opposite of “reviling” (v28). It means to HONOR God as holy, to give Him His DUE. And what is He due? EVERYTHING! “The FULLNESS of our harvest”, of our family, of our wealth (what livestock represented for them), of OURSELVES, v31: “YOU shall be consecrated to me”, God says. Here’s how Paul puts it in the NT: we revere God by “present[ing] our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1). Or as PETER put it: “as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”” (1 Pet 1:15-16).
But our reverence for God has implications for how we relate to OTHERS as well; specifically, v28b calls on us to revere those whom God has put it authority over us as well; “rulers”. Because once again, as PAUL puts it: “whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed… for he is God's servant for your good… Pay to all what is owed to them… respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” (Rom 13:2-7) Reverence.
Application today? We revere God by “offering” from OUR “harvests and presses”, by giving back just a portion of what He has so richly blessed US with. Jesus affirmed the TITHE in Matthew 23:23, the 10% offering, so that seems like a good default, although admittedly, as the early church liked to say: Because Christ FULFILLED the Law, “we are no longer under the tithe… we can [now] give MORE!” (Guzik, “Exodus Conversations”).
It certainly means we dedicate our CHILDREN unto the Lord, v29; we recognize that God GAVE them to US, so we in turn offer them BACK to Him. We resolve to RAISE them to know and love and serve HIM, first and foremost. And we offer OURSELVES: “Take my LIFE and let it be / consecrated, Lord to Thee”.
And OUT OF our reverence for the Lord, we ALSO honor those in authority over us. Those in government. We PRAY for “kings and all who are in high positions” 1 Timothy 2:2 says; “HONOR the emperor”, 1 Peter 2:17 says; it’s one of the easiest ways for us Christians to stick out as counter-cultural today, when most folks worship one politician, while demonizing his opposition. Not us; we refuse to “curse” our “rulers”.
We honor our BOSSES, at work. Wives, honor your husbands. The church honors ITS leaders, its ELDERS; I hope you’re staying for the meeting at lunch today. In all these ways and more, we revere God, and those He has placed in authority over us.
#8 - In the Law, God gives us the Gift of INTEGRITY (23:1-9; 11 laws)
Ch23 now; vv1-9:
23:1 “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. 2 You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, 3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.
4 “If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.
6 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. 7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. 8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.
9 “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
We receive commentary on Commandment #9 now - “Thou shalt not bear false witness” - is unpacked here. It doesn’t matter if your ENEMY is on trial, v1, and this is your chance to exact revenge; you don’t LIE. The truth isn’t DEMOCRATIC, v2; it’s not a majority vote, or a popularity contest. In fact, God is against partiality, EVEN when it favors the POOR, v3; we’ve already seen God’s HEART, His MERCY toward the downtrodden, but it is NEVER at the expense of JUSTICE - what is RIGHT and FAIR.
Sometimes in an effort to atone for past injustices, our society today tips the scales of justice so far in the OPPOSITE direction, we show “partiality” to formerly “oppressed” groups. Intersectionality posits that everyone is a just product of their social identity markers - gender, race, sexuality, religion, etc - you’re either in the dominant group, or a minority group, and we must show partiality to the “oppressed” in order to achieve justice. But God says “don’t show partiality to ANYONE”; not the rich (v6) OR the poor (v3). Treat everyone the SAME, fairly. KINDLY.
Even your ENEMY, v4. I think I’ve mentioned FRED before - our neighbor across the street and two houses over who won’t talk to us. We can be out on a walk and go right by his house while he’s out in the yard and he will literally turn his back and IGNORE us - pretend like he doesn’t hear us say “Good morning” - but he chats it up with all the other neighbors; no idea why, maybe he heard I was a pastor and he just hates Christians. If I was driving home and saw Fred’s car broken down at the front of the neighborhood - his “donkey… lying down under its burden” - I might be tempted to roll down my window and yell “Serves you RIGHT!” as I sped past him. But God calls us to “rescue” even our ENEMIES when they’re in trouble. Jesus went even further; He said “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44).
V8: “you shall take no bribe” → Justice isn’t for sale.
And then God repeats AGAIN this call to care for the “sojourner”, in v9.
Application? Christians must be people of the highest INTEGRITY.
We don’t LIE. Not to be LIKED. Not to get AHEAD. Not even to help out the hurting; mercy must never come at the expense of TRUTH.
We treat people FAIRLY and KINDLY, especially the outcast (“sojourner”) but even our ENEMIES - this is what MAKES us distinctly Christian! Jesus said: If you’re only nice to folks who are nice to YOU, there’s nothing special about that - EVERYONE does that! If you want to be like Jesus, you learn to you love even those who are crucifying you.
#9 - The Law offers us the gift of REST (23:10-12; 4 laws)
Vv10-12:
10 “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.
12 “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.
God offers rest here to the POOR, to SLAVES, to ANIMALS, even to the LAND ITSELF, v11. What are the applications for us?
Well, certainly Christian employers ought to give their workers a day off each week. What’s your “ox”, your “donkey” - is it your LAPTOP? Your smart phone? For many of us, those are our instruments of productivity throughout the week. What if you shut them down for an entire day a week, gave your phone the day off too? You and your devices might BOTH be the better for it; may be “refreshed”!
I think God’s concern even for the land itself here, as well as for the animals, has clear implications for our “creation care” mandate, dating all the way back to Genesis ch1. Commentator Philip Ryken notes (753): “Many conservative Christians are suspicious of environmentalism… Nevertheless, caring for creation is one of the ways we glorify God… Sadly, today many farms are run more like factories. We squeeze everything we can out of our fields and then pump them with fertilizer to make them stay fruitful. We confine animals and feed them to the point of obesity. This was not God’s plan.” God’s plan was that His people would care for, nurture, His creation.
What might it look like for US to let the poor “glean from the edges of OUR fields” today (v11; cf Lev 23:22)? Maybe it means “rounding up” for the Ronald McDonald House. Maybe it means paying for that person’s groceries in front of you in line when she’s struggling to make the coupons add up. V11 says “what [the poor] leave your beasts… may eat”; maybe it means treating your dog to your table scraps. The point is to be MERCIFUL, and GENEROUS, and to “REFRESH”, by affording others REST.
#10 - God’s Law gives us the Gift of DEVOTION (23:13-19; 9 laws)
vv13-19:
13 “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.
14 “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you (back in ch12), you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed. 16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field.
You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. 17 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD.
18 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.
19 “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.
“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
A seemingly RANDOM compilation of laws here, but they’re all linked by this idea of DEVOTION.
*If you’re DEVOTED to me, God says, v13, you will OBEY me, and worship me EXCLUSIVELY.
*You will CELEBRATE me, vv14-17, at these appointed festivals every year, and SACRIFICE to me.
*And when you DO, v18, don’t taint it with SIN; remember: that’s what “leaven” symbolized. Moreover, if you’re TRULY devoted to me, God says, you won’t withhold the very “BEST of your firstfruits” from me; don’t let the “fat” remain til morning. The fat was the best, juiciest cut of meat; God’s just saying, “Don’t RATION OUT your devotion; No, worship me extravagantly.” Like the woman who anointed Jesus for burial with the expensive perfume (Jn 12:1-8) - worth almost a year’s salary! - such was her whole-hearted DEVOTION to the Lord.
But what about v19b - “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk” - that seems misplaced in this section, doesn’t it? Well, some commentators suggest this was yet another common practice of the Canaanites, so God is once again calling Israel to purity in worship, devotion to Him alone. But I think it’s MORE than that; think about it: what does MILK represent? It’s a mother’s source of LIFE for her baby, right? God says, “You don’t take that source of life and turn it into a means of DEATH instead”. I don’t doubt that God meant this law LITERALLY, for the Israelites; I just wonder if there’s a deeper spiritual meaning to it as well, for us.
God is the source of OUR lives. He sustains us, day by day, like a mother does her nursing baby. And one of the ways He does that, as we’ve seen extensively now, is through His LAW. In fact, the NEW Testament - Hebrews 5, 1 Corinthians 3 - contrasts the “MEAT” of the Christian faith with the “MILK” of spiritual immaturity. Now, perhaps I’m stretching the metaphor too far here, but is it possible that God’s warning here against “boiling a young goat in its mother’s milk” is a veiled allusion to KILLING someone with the LAW?! The Law was GOOD… for a TIME. But eventually you outgrow milk; and you need MEAT. We needed the Law for a time; but NOW we have CHRIST. So Paul REBUKES the Galatians Christians for going back to the LAW again; the “circumcision party” were convincing Christians they had to follow the Law in order to truly be saved - they were BOILING people in the Law’s milk.
But a lot of churches still do that today; they’ve just replaced the 613 laws of the OLD Testament with their OWN updated laws: attend church, get baptized, give financially, serve faithfully, read your Bible - it’s a LAW-based “Christian” meritocracy, that has forgotten all about CHRIST and his FREE offer of salvation by GRACE through FAITH to all who simply BELIEVE!
Don’t get boiled in the milk, friends. Yes, God is worthy of our devotion. But the good news of the gospel is that even when we FAILED to show God the devotion He deserves, He sent Jesus to live the life we should have but didn’t, in order to FULFILL the Law for us, and then die the death that we deserved on the cross in order to give US the eternal LIFE that only JESUS deserved. This is the gospel; turn from sin, trust in Jesus - His finished work on the cross for you - and you will be saved.
Lastly, #s 11, 12, 13, AND 14 (we’re gonna rapid fire here at the end) - Through the Law, God offers us the Gifts of GUIDANCE, ACCOUNTABILITY, HELP & BLESSING (23:20-33; 9 laws):
First, the Gift of GUIDANCE:
v20: “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.”
Who is this “ANGEL”, or “MESSENGER” (same word in Hebrew)? Well, as Ryken (767) points out: “He was so closely associated with God as to be IDENTIFIED with him. This is confirmed by the angel’s power to forgive or not forgive sin (v21)... But Scripture also says, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7)... [The angel ALSO] bore God’s very name, v21 says. [But] God’s name is always MORE than a name. It indicates his special presence and refers to his divine being (see commandment #3!)... That is why the angel can command complete obedience and trust: his presence is the equivalent of the presence of YHWH himself.” In addition, “The word used in v21 for ‘rebellion’ is generally used elsewhere in the OT for opposition to GOD.” In short, “this messenger was MORE than an angel”; this is the preincarnate CHRIST showing up right here in the middle of Exodus! “Long before he was born in Bethlehem, Christ was with his people on their way to salvation” (767).
He was GUIDING them, and GUARDING them, v20 says.
He was sent by God to hold them ACCOUNTABLE (Twelfth Gift):
To call them to OBEDIENCE, and to HOLD them to it; he has the authority to pardon or NOT pardon Israel’s sin.
#13 - Christ offers them the Gift of HELP; v22:
“But if you [DO] carefully obey his voice and do all that I say (notice again, the interchangeability of God’s words and action with the “angel’s” here; they are the same… yet distinct. Kinda like the TRINITY! In John 5:19 Jesus said “whatever the Father does, the Son also does”; so if you OBEY him…), then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, 24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.”
God promises to HELP THEM take the Promised Land back… IF they will serve HIM alone.
Finally, #14 - He promises them the Gift of BLESSING:
v25: You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. 26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you [Now God might have meant that literally, but it could also be figurative; Ryken (770) notes “It might be a reference to Egypt, because the Pharaohs used the hornet as one of their royal symbols. Possibly God would send Pharaoh’s army to attack Canaan shortly before the Israelites arrived… preparing the way for his victory.” – That WOULD be like God, wouldn’t it, to use the very nation who ENSLAVED Israel to help achieve their ultimate VICTORY! To use the very cross that Satan thought was gonna secure HIS victory over GOD to instead defeat Sin and Hell and Death FOREVER through Christ’s crucifixion!
The hornets…], which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
That’s what these pagan peoples represented: like so much ELSE we’ve looked at in Exodus - Moses foreshadows CHRIST, Pharaoh symbolizes SATAN, bondage in Egypt represents our slavery to SIN - so too, once we get… YEARS from now!… to the books of JOSHUA and JUDGES, we’ll see that the Canaanites and Hittites and ALL the “-ites” also represent SIN. And so God’s marching orders here are to completely ERADICATE any TRACE of sin from your midst; don’t make any compromises with your sin; put it to DEATH completely. If you leave any sin left LINGERING in your heart, it will come back to bite you (“it will surely be a SNARE to you”). But if we consecrate ourselves, devote ourselves WHOLLY to the Lord, and keep His holy Law, He promises to BLESS us. And to SANCTIFY us; to MAKE us holy - “little by little”, v30. We’d prefer to be done with sin ALTOGETHER, wouldn’t we? Salvation, sanctification, glorification - all at ONCE; freed from the penalty, power AND presence of sin, completely. But God, in His wisdom, ordains that we should be saved INSTANTLY - “how precious did His grace appear / the hour I first believed” - saved instantly… sanctified gradually, progressively, over time, “little by little”... and glorified EVENTUALLY - one day we will be freed from sin completely, when God brings us home where there will be NO more tears, NO more sickness, no more DEATH, because there’ll be no more SIN in HEAVEN. But UNTIL then, God allows us to continue to wrestle with sin, He drives it out “little by little”, in order to keep us HUMBLY RELIANT on Him; His strength, in our weakness.
And if you get tired of waiting - “I want to be done with sin NOW!”; GOOD! We SHOULD get sick and tired of our sin! - just keep in mind that the territory God promised Israel here in v31 - the ENTIRETY of the Promised Land - they wouldn’t occupy until the reign of SOLOMON, 500 years after God’s promise to Moses here. So at least we don’t have to wait THAT long, to enter our even BETTER homeland: Heaven; what - 80? 90 years? Worth the wait. :)
CONCLUSION: But here’s the kicker: you’ll never GET there by following the Law. The NT says that ALL of this - Exodus… the entire OT… - “these things took place as examples for us” (1 Cor 10:6). And what are we supposed to LEARN from Israel’s example here?
That we will NEVER be saved by the Law!
Cuz guess what: Israel never ENJOYED half the blessings God outlines here: there was never a time in Israel’s history when all sickness was eradicated, miscarriage and infertility were cured, as a matter of fact, some scholars argue Israel NEVER possessed the entirety of the land God offered them here; WHY? Because they never managed to get all the “-ites” out, all the SIN; it was a constant “SNARE”. Moreover, because they could never obey God’s law perfectly.
And neither can we, friends. If you are trusting in YOUR obedience, YOUR ability to keep God’s law, you are in trouble. The Law offers us many gifts; but the one it CAN’T offer us is SALVATION. For that, we need God’s BETTER gift: we need JESUS.
Only Jesus can restore us to TRUE purity, by removing ALL our sin.
Only Jesus offers us the FULLNESS of God’s mercy, in his sacrificial death in our place.
Because only Jesus offered GOD the reverence that we owe Him but refused to SHOW him; only Jesus lived the life of INTEGRITY that we should have but failed to, fulfilling the Law’s righteous demands FOR us.
Therefore only Jesus can offer us true REST from all our religious striving.
Only Jesus is worthy of ALL our devotion.
Because only Jesus guides us, guards us, helps us, even when it means holding us accountable to a life of OBEDIENCE to Him, but only Jesus offers us BLESSING to the uttermost, not BECAUSE of our obedience and faithfulness to Him, but IN SPITE OF our dis-obedience, and solely because of HIS faithfulness to US.
Friends: Jesus is God’s BETTER gift to you. Will you RECEIVE Him, and the gift of GRACE - salvation - that He offers you this morning?