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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Saturday, 18 January 2025:
Exodus 19:1-3 — On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain….
God led the Israelites through three months of trials where they would have to rely on Him and learn of his mighty provision and protection before they would be read to encamp for a year in the wilderness of Sinai, the next phased of their development as a people by God which will be covered by 57 chapters of the Bible. Moses knew to lead the people here because he had been here before – this is where Moses met God at the burning bush. As Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.” (Matthew 10:24; Luke 6:40) You can’t teach others what you don’t know, and you can’t introduce people so someone you don’t really know. Jesus gave us the Great Commission — “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) Said differently, Go to people who want to follow Christ, immerse them, saturate (baptize) them, in Christ, and don’t just teach them that they ought to obey Christ, teach them “how” to obey Christ. You can only teach them from what you have learned personally through experience, and it will take a long time to teach them, maybe through 40 years of hard living. Discipleship is about character change, which takes a lifetime. Good churches will seek to spread the Gospel across the globe and then disciple new believers, but we should remember Jesus’ warning – “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” (Matthew 23:15) If we aren’t seeking to truly be just like Jesus through the power of the Spirit we have already received through our salvation, if we aren’t growing in Romans 8:29, and 1 John 5:3, we shouldn’t be discipling anyone. Of course we will never follow Jesus perfectly, but learning to grow in God’s grace, degree by degree until Christ returns is part of the teaching.
Exodus 19:4-6, 8 – “‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Seeing is not believing. The Israelites saw God work in incredibly miraculous ways to rescue them, and when God miraculously rescued them, they were quick to proclaim their allegiance to God. But in between the miracles and when things got hard, they quickly turned from God, which was revealed in their disobedience to Him. Not only that, as we will see in our future readings, they also turned from God when things were going well. In their comfort they grew complacent, prideful, and arrogant. In their discomfort, they grew fearful and self-absorbed. As Proverbs say, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:8, 9)
God called the Israelites to be a “kingdom of priests” to the world, a holy nation of God among the nations of men, but despite God’s love and faithfulness, they continually proved themselves unfaithful, as we will continue to read.
- 1 Corinthians 10:11-12 -- Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (see also Romans 15:4)
We should pay very close attention to how this Old Testament “kingdom of priests” responded to God’s grace as the New Testament says of us, “You yourselves [are] to be a holy priesthood…. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:5, 9) We are saved by grace, but our response to grace must be loving, faithful obedience, empowered by the Holy Spirit; we are without excuse if we continue in sin. We are called to be a “holy” nation. Let no one deceive on this point.
- Hebrews 3:15-19 — As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
- 1 Corinthians 10:1-11 — For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
- Hebrews 12:18-25 — For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.
“I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” Eagles wings represent God’s mighty power and protection. We often seek and pray for God’s power and protection, but for what purpose? Often Christians pray not only for help getting through life but also for God’s direction in life. Here God explains God’s purpose for your life and the reason why He is taking you through your experiences, some amazing and some very challenging – to bring you to Him, to bring you into a close relationship with Him and to make you like Him as His beloved child. Jesus is what Jesus prays God will do for you in John 17, and this is the point of Romans 8:28-29. If you are wondering what God wants you to do with your life, what His purpose is for you, it is to grow to be just like Him through the experiences and relationships God gives you, good or bad. Too often we are like the Israelites who want God to change our situations rather than our hearts because what we are after is God’s blessings rather than God Himself. Understand, if you find yourself grumbling over your situation, whatever it may be, you don’t really want what God wants for you (since He has ordained your situation for His purposes for you and those around you). If you seek His will in your current situation, if you seek a heart that truly desires to glorify Him right where you are through loving, joyful, peaceful, grateful obedience, you will find a fulfillment which far exceeds what you could have possibly received by getting what you thought you wanted. Remember where God is leading you. You don’t become like Christ without taking up your cross daily.
Exodus 19:5 – “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine.”
God’s blessings to the Israelites were conditional. God demands obedience.
Exodus 19:8 – All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
The people were sincere but prideful, lacking a true appreciation for their own sinfulness and how much they depended upon God’s mercy and grace in order to grow into the people God intended for all humanity to be – His image bearers. Remember, Peter had the same sincere but prideful self-confidence when he proclaimed he would never deny Jesus, though Jesus knew Peter better than Peter did. (Matthew 26; Luke 22) Despite their lack of self-awareness, the Israelites and Peter shared the critical quality of at least wanting to obey, wanting to want what God wants. They just couldn’t see yet the truth of themselves, which God would expose in them through circumstances intended to reveal to them the ungodliness they sought to hide even from themselves. God puts us through the refiner’s fire of life challenges for that purpose. We all have to be humbled before we can grow. Pride is the place where real learning and growth ceases. Key to walking in grace is not accepting your limitations as merely inevitable while passively waiting to God fix you, it is bolding pursing increasingly Christlike character through failures with gratitude that God forgives your failures so you can grow past them. When you sin, repent, receive God’s forgiveness thankfully, and then, with all your might seek to sin no more. And when you sin, don’t just put it behind you like many would suggest; rather, seek to understand the heart behind that sin, why you don’t desire God’s desires in that area of your life, and pray not only for forgiveness but for God’s own heart, that you will truly want what God wants, rather than still wanting to want what God wants.
The people were sincere but prideful rather than humble, in denial about their own limitations and need for God’s continual mercy and grace in order to grow.
Exodus 19:11 – “Be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come….”
Do you see the parallel with Jesus’ resurrection?
Exodus 19:22 – Let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves.
Approach the Lord with holiness and purity.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 18 January 2025: Be thankful you have been saved by grace; now, pursue love, holiness, purity, and obedience. Consecrate (devote and purify) yourself.
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 