“God’s Covenant of Grace Is Our Only Hope”
(Exodus 24:3-11 – Pentecost 10 – July 28, 2024)
Exodus 24:3-11 – 3So Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the LORD has said we will do.” 4And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. 6And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.” 8And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.” 9Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. 11But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.
Dear Redeemed of God, who have been saved by His grace, through faith in Christ:
One of the key words in our text is “covenant.” A covenant is a pledge or agreement between two parties to fulfill certain obligations. In Old Testament times, covenants were often accompanied by signs, sacrifices, and a solemn oath that sealed the relationship between two parties. This oath included promises of blessing for keeping the covenant, as well as the threat of curses if one side should break it.
Two kinds of covenants are important to our text. One is a conditional agreement given by a superior party. A king may agree to help people as long as they serve him. God made such a conditional covenant with Israel when He gave laws for their nation. He promised blessings for faithfulness, but warned that if they turned from Him to serve false gods, they would be cursed and exiled from the land He was giving them (Deuteronomy 28).
Another kind of covenant is the unconditional promise God took upon Himself to give, agreeing to treat unworthy sinners by His grace and mercy. God had promised Abraham that his descendants would possess the land of Canaan. And God fulfilled that promise as part of His plan of salvation, despite the many ways Israel showed themselves unfaithful. Even after they broke God’s covenant of law by serving false gods, He still held out His “new covenant,” promising in Jeremiah 31:34: “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” This is God’s covenant of grace, centered in Christ and the salvation He came to win for sinners.
As we consider these two kinds of covenants, we see that “God’s Covenant of Grace Is Our Only Hope”: For 1) We have not obeyed God’s covenant of law; nonetheless, 2) We have been saved by God’s covenant of grace in Christ.
1) We have not obeyed God’s covenant of law
The events of our text took place at Mount Sinai. God had saved Israel from slavery in Egypt. He had brought them to this mountain to give His covenant of law. It was a conditional covenant, promising blessings if they obeyed, but curses if not. Moses has been on Sinai for some time, hearing God speak the laws of His covenant. Now it says: “Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words which the LORD has said we will do.’ And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD” (vs. 3-4).
So they vowed to do their part to fulfill all the conditions of God’s covenant of law. But we know from their history that it would not be so. Again and again, they would break God’s commandments. They would turn to the false gods of nations around them. Instead of blessings, they would bring curses on themselves and be exiled as a nation.
At times, haven’t we also made vows to be faithful to God, to live according to His commandments? Yet our despite best intentions, we must confess that we have sinned. Whenever we put anyone or anything before God, we break His First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Whenever we use God’s name thoughtlessly or irreverently, or fail to confess His name before men, we break His Second Commandment: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” Whenever we put other things before God’s Word, and do not hear and apply it in our lives, we break the spirit of His Third Commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
We could run through the all Commandments and confess our failures in every one. Think of how it affects our relationships with other people:
- We have broken the Fourth Commandment – whenever we have failed to honor and obey our parents, or anyone else God has put in authority over us.
- We have broken the Fifth Commandment – even if we have not committed an act of murder, whenever we have held grudges and hated others in our heart.
- We have broken the Sixth Commandment – even if we have not committed adultery or other another act of sex outside of marriage, whenever we have lusted in our heart.
- We have broken the Seventh Commandment – even if we have not stolen our neighbor’s money or goods, whenever we have taken what was his by laziness at work, wasting his possessions, cheating him out of what was.
- We have broken the Eighth Commandment – whenever we have given false witness, or spoken evil of another, instead of protecting his reputation as best we could.
- We have broken the Ninth and Tenth Commandments – whenever we have coveted, sinfully desiring what was not ours, envying what others had.
At times, we have resolved to be more obedient to God’s laws. Like the Israelites, we have vowed: “All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient” (vs. 7). But despite our best intentions, we still fall short. Like the apostle Paul we are left saying: “The good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice…. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Therefore, we must say with Paul: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:19-25)
2) We have been saved by God’s covenant of grace
Yes, we give thanks to God we have been saved by His covenant of grace in Christ, the Savior of sinners.
The Old Testament sacrifices pointed to that covenant of grace. Our text describes such a sacrifice at the foot of Mount Sinai. Under Moses’ command, young men “offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words’” (vs. 5-8).
A second time, the people vowed obedience. But God already knew they would not be faithful. He knew the only way they could be saved from sin was by the blood of His covenant. The blood sprinkled on the altar indicated that sinners were not fit to come into God’s holy presence. The blood of sacrifice for sin must go before them. The other half of the blood sprinkled on the people signified that they were cleansed of sin.
Think of all the blood that ran on Jewish altars through the centuries, to signify forgiveness of sins! As Hebrews 9:22 says: “According to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Sins against the covenant of the law required sacrifice – life for life. Sin made the people deserving of death. So God said in Leviticus 17:11: “The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”
Our breaking of God’s commandments also made us deserving of death, eternal death. Yet, we are not required to come before God with bowls of animal blood to sprinkle on His altar and on ourselves. Why? Because under God’s covenant of grace He has already cleansed us of all sin by His own blood sacrifice. By His sacrifice, He has saved us once and for all from death (Hebrews 9:12).
God sent His perfect Son in our flesh and blood to make this sacrifice. Jesus lived under the law to fulfill it for us. In every way that we have disobeyed God’s Commandments, Jesus obeyed them. He was faithful to the whole covenant of law for us. So God declares the whole law, all His Commandments, fulfilled in our lives by Christ.
Then Jesus gave His life on the cross, to pay for our sins. Hebrews 9:12-15 tells us He entered the Most Holy Place before God, not with the blood of animals, but with His own blood. It says: “For this reason, He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
All the blood of animals sacrificed on Jewish altars could not pay for sins; it all pointed to the perfect sacrifice of the Savior God would send. It is by faith in this Savior, and the sprinkling by His blood, that sinners can approach God in the peace of His forgiveness.
Our text pictures this, as it says: “Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank” (vs. 9-11). Sinners should not be able to see the holy God and live (Exodus 33:20). But here, by His covenant of grace, anticipating Christ’s blood cleansing, they did. They ate and drank in the presence of God in peace and fellowship!
The same is true today. We live in God’s presence in the peace of His forgiveness. God has baptized us and sprinkled the cleansing blood of His Son on us. We fellowship with Him, we commune with Him. We partake of the sacrificed Lamb of God through His Word and Sacraments. Jesus says: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56). In His Supper, Jesus says: “Take, eat; this is My body…. Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:26-28).
One day, our fellowship with God will be face to face, thanks to His covenant of grace. Jesus says we will eat and drink at His table in His heavenly kingdom (Luke 22:30). We will see Him as He is, and fellowship with Him in perfect holiness (1 John 3:2).
Even now, as those who have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, we are empowered to live holy lives to Him. As we live in God’s Covenant of grace, sharing all the blessings of His kingdom, we are moved to live for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.
Glory be to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.