The Journey to Sinai

Transcript

GRS 2-21
5/29/2005
The Journey to Sinai
Exodus 17-18
Gil Rugh

We are going to go to Exodus chapter 17 in your Bibles. We are anticipated some of what is in this chapter and now we are going to walk through it. Israel has left Egypt and is on a three month of journey that will culminate at Mount Sinai. Things have been rocky already. This is a new experience and a new adventure for the people of Israel. One writer said this as the Israelites progressed stage by stage toward Mount Sinai they faced one serious problem after other. These were dangers typical of the desert, but new to Israel, long used to the high civilization and culture of Egypt. The reality of God's unmistakable presence among them did not in any way detach them from the normal facts and problems of daily life. But it did give them every reason for faith and hope. But Israel continually stumbled as we have noted slavery in Egypt was hard, but they have exchanged one set of problems for another set of problems. Now they are wandering nomads in a wilderness kind of region. They have left their homes and the security that that brought even in their slavery. The food and the things that they had become accustomed to and now suddenly they are confronted with a lack of water, lack of food and they grumble and that pattern will continue and will result in them spending 40 years in the wilderness region while God destroys all those who are above 20 who were part of the grumbling generation.

Chapter 17 opens up, “Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin according to the commandment of the Lord and encamped at Rephidim and there was no water for the people to drink. Numbers chapter 33 verses 12 to 14 says that there were two encampments before they arrived at Rephidim. So, here we are just getting some of the main points along the way. Purpose here is not to give every detail of what transpired. So, the next major event that is brought to our attention in Exodus is that they have moved on to Rephidim. Now are to note or underline or highlight in your Bible in verse 1 “According to the command of the Lord.” They are not wandering aimlessly, they are not just picking and choosing. Lets go this way or lets go that way, which way do you think we should go. God is giving clear instructions on the journey. So that they can have the confidence that they are in Gods will in the place where God has them. Got to remind you of what we have as God's children today in Romans chapter 8 "Where all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. They are all working for good because God causes all things together to work together for good for those who belong to him. So according to God's purpose they come to Rephidim, but there is no water to drink at Rephidim. Now here is one of those conflicts again, they have travelled according to the command of the Lord and now they have arrived at a place that they don't have the water that you have to have to survive. Two options, to continue to trust the Lord who brought you here and see what he would do to provide or number two complain about the Lords dealings in bringing you here. Israel opts again for the second option verse 2, “Wherefore the people quarreled with Moses and said “Give us water that we may drink." Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me and test the Lord." But the people thirsted there for water and they did grumbled against Moses. They quarreled against the leader that God has given, but all that Moses is doing is following the command of the Lord and taking the people of God where God tells him. Its not Moses fault, he is not to blame and they are grumbling against Moses really is testing the Lord and at the end of verse 2, why do you test the Lord. The end of verse 7, they tested the Lord saying “Is the Lord among us or not," and this is a serious matter. These aren't just not some discontent people they are ready to be rid of Moses

Their complaint in verse 3 is, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst. You brought us out of Egypt its your fault and now here we are, and we are going to die, our children are going to die, our livestocks going to die. We will be nothing but bones in the wilderness in a short period of time. And we learn a lesson from Moses. Where did Moses go. Moses goes to the Lord. He cries unto the Lord. And “What shall I do to this people, now note this, "A little more and they will stone me.” And all you have got enough people here, nothing reinforces you when you are upset more than somebody who agrees with you in what you are upset about and when you get several people that are upset and when they talk to some other people, you know they are going to say this is bothering me too. This is now got into the point that Moses said there is a danger if something is not done, that the children of Israel will stone him. Isn't this amazing, such a short time from Egypt where God has displayed his might and power and sovereignty in such a way that is why I keep reminding you forty years later that when Israel does get to go into Canan, the people of Canaan are still talking about what God did to the Egyptians and God has delivered them. He has supernaturally provided water for them on a previous occasion. He has supernaturally provided meat for them by bringing quails up. He has supernaturally provides manna for them every morning. And he supernaturally leads them every morning by a pillar of fire and a cloud and here they are ready to stone Gods leader because we have arrived to the point here and I can't find any water and why in a world did you bring us from Egypt and you know one thing we had in Egypt, we had lots of water. So, Moses cries to God and the Lord said to Moses, “I don't know what I am going to do, I thought that there was water here." You know there are those who are called open theist today, who doesn't believe God knows the future. I mean I brought you out here, you know there used to be an Oasis here.

Here is another opportunity for His people to trust Him. You know while they have got a large skin of water in their arms and they are enjoying drinking it or they are basking in a Oasis as they did earlier, they don't have to trust the Lord for water, but the Lord has brought them here and now they have an opportunity to trust the Lord, but they blow it. So, Lord said to Moses, pass before the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel. Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. So, I want this to be done on all the presence of the Israel and some of the elders and you take the staff and you have a visible procession here. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb and you shall strike the rock and water will come of it that the people may drink and Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. That’s all. We will get a summary that this place is called Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel because they tested the Lord saying "Is the Lord among us or not." No record of Israel falling on their face praising the living God, repenting of their hard heart. I mean God provides for them abundantly. Interestingly, in the New Testament, this occasion is used to remind us that Christ is the one who was the provision for them in the wilderness. Turn over to first Corinthians chapter 10. First Corinthians chapter 10, talking about the problems of Israel in this chapter in the wilderness and they are an example for us today. Verse 6 tells us, these things happened as examples for us. We are to learn lessons from Israel. You know what He says in verse 3, "All ate the same spiritual food, all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from the spiritual rock which followed them and the rock was Christ. He was the source of that provision for them in the wilderness and from Him came the water that would sustain them and just like the manna from heaven as we saw prefigured Christ who was the bread who would come down from heaven.

So, the water from the rock was the provision of Christ and prefigured that provision of living water, the water that Christ promised to woman at the well in John chapter 4. Turn back to John chapter 6. John 6, when you turn to John 6, you remember the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, Jesus promised her living water, the water that would give would quench her spiritual thirst permanently. In John chapter 6, the passage that relates Christ to the manna in the Old Testament wilderness experience of Israel, Christ being the bread from heaven. Look into John chapter 6, verse 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger. He who believes in me will never thirst. Now you see Christ was that rock and from Him comes the water that quench their thirst just like the manna satisfy their hunger, but that was the picture of the coming provision that God would make for them spiritually and so Christ was the rock that followed them and here He is the one who satisfies their spiritual thirst. While you are in John 6, look at verse 54, "Who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him on the last day. My flesh is true food, my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him." That partaking of Christ to satisfy all the spiritual hunger of the lost soul and that is not as we have already noted in this passage. John of verse 63, we are not talking about physically partaking of Christ as the debate over the communion as happened in past generations and those who believe in transubstantiation where the actual bread undergoes a change and the cup undergoes a change. Verse 63 says it is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are of life. So that picture of the rock being Christ.

Come back to Exodus chapter 17. You know, I read these kind of accounts I tried to put myself in that position as I think back there would I was these people and here I have got my wife and half a dozen kids. They had larger families and general pattern in those days. I may have many kids, then you got all your livestock and you know you don't have a home. You are tensed with everything you have you have to be able to carry from place to place in this rather desolate region. I wonder my focus would have been on the greatness of the God who has delivered us. And, isn't that amazing that here we are in the wilderness and we have to depend on Him and how wonderful it is to have the confidence of heart to know that He would provide whatever is necessary today and tomorrow or I would walk along, people say you know this is a miserable place to be. Don't you wonder why we ever left the Egypt. Well, I have to admit I have had some of those thoughts too. Now you know here we are, we all arrived. Isn’t this wonderful. We just going to all and setting up camp and what do you of Moses. He has brought us out here. He has had set up camp and there is only one thing missing, the both basic necessity to stay in our life, there is no water. He is a great leader isn't he. Look at your poor little kids. What you are going to think as you watch them die of thirst in the coming days and your wife. I wonder if I had to join the grumblers. You know it all make sense, doesn't it? Now, of course by the time I am done putting myself in this, I put myself in better light. I am sure I would have been, but you know I realize how easily my attention even today gets diverted and I have a much fuller, say I will never seen though, but I have got the full account of God's word from Genesis to Revelation. I have got the indwelling spirit, but children of Israel alright.

Verse 7, He called the place Massah and Meribah. Massah is the place where the testing occurred. Meribah, the place where the quarrel occurred and the testing that occurs here is that they are putting God to the test. They are quarrelling with God because of the quarrel of the sons of the Israel and because they tested the Lord saying, "Is the Lord among us or not." You know for Israel no matter what God does for them everyday He has to prove Himself again to them. All that He has done up to today isn't sufficient. Today, we are without water. It is wonderful what He did for me in the past, but this is today you know and the water He provided last week doesn't sustain me today and the miracles He did a month and half go don't take care of me today. So they quarreled with God and they put God to the test, "Is God among us or not." Turn over to Psalm 95, look at verse 6, great Psalm starts out "O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms." I stated at verse 1 because I couldn't start at verse 6, "For the LORD is a great God And a great King above all gods, In whose hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it in His hands, and His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice," note this "Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work" and note the impact this has "For forty years I loathed that generation." Forty years God says, "I loathed that generation and said they are a people who err in their heart and they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest." Portion of the Old Testament that is repeated in the Book of Hebrews is an example and warning to those Hebrew believers of the dangers confronting them. You know what they are said to have in verse 8, "Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah and in the days of Massah in the wilderness. Their putting God to the test was the evidence of a hard heart. Heart that was hardened against God and unwilling to trust Him and the reason God loathed them and destroyed them all in the wilderness.

Back in Deuteronomy chapter 6, we are in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 16, "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test as you tested Him at Massah." And remember when Jesus was confronted by the devil and the devil used scripture to try to get Him to put God to the test and see if God would really preserve Him," and God's response to the Satan's quoted scripture "It is also written you shall not put the Lord your God to the test." So, lessons we are to learn. Writer to the Hebrews draws those clearly to our attention. Come back to Exodus 17, lack of food and lack of water is only one of the problems that Israel has in this wilderness region. There are enemies that don't take kindly to this mass of several million people turning up in the area that is theirs and furthermore they look at them as ripe for the picking. So, in chapter 17, beginning with verse 8 and through the rest of the chapter, we have the account of Amalek. The people of Amalek fighting against Israel here, then Israel defeating Amalek. Amalekites are relatives of Israel. Remember Esau and Jacob, the brothers. Well the Amalekites are descendents of Esau. The Israelites are the descendents of Jacob. Now the Amalekites are the descendents of a grandson of Esau and that’s found in genesis chapter 36, verse 12. So, they are not only attacking those that they are related to, but they are also doing it in an extremely callus and hard hearted way that shows a complete lack of reverence for God and respect for the people of God and thus respect for the God of Israel.

Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 25. We are just told in Exodus that the Amalekites came out to fight against Israel, but in Deuteronomy chapter 25, verse 17 "Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt." Now, note this what He was doing how the Amalekites were attacking Israel. "How he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God." So, you see this is especially mean and disheartening. The people that were worn out with the travel and they had to walk. They had all the stuff to carry, the elderly, the weak, those who were sick, those kind of people they straggle behind and when the Israel got to where they are going to camp everybody catch up, I mean we got procession here that extends for miles and miles with this amount of people and the Amalekites were just started to attack the weak and the struggling and so on and in all of this they so showed no fear of God. They would have heard what God did to the Egyptians to deliver Israel, I mean they had heard all way up in Canaan, but the Amalekites don't fear God. Therefore, verse 19, while you are in Deuteronomy 25, "It shall come about when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget." Amalek is appointed to destruction and he has demonstrated he is worthy of that in his actions here.

So, come back to Exodus 17."Then Amalek came out and fought against Israel at Riphidim." So, now this is going to come a full-fledged battle. Moses said to Joshua "Choose men for us and go out, and fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand." Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur; Hur being son of Caleb who will be one of the faithful men along with Joshua when it comes to spy out the land, went up to the top of the hill. So it came about when Moses held up his hand holding the staff of God, Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed, but Moses gets tired of hold his hands up. So, they took a stone and put it under, they propped his arms up on the stone and then Aaron sits on one side and Hur sits on the other and they support the hands as they rest on the stone and thus his hands were steady until the sun sets. So, Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. The picture here that this victory is given by God. These are the people of God and God fights for His people and there is this visible display for all to see that the victory is not because of the power of Israel, because as soon as the Moses hands are dropped the Israel begins to lose the battle, but it is the supernatural victory given to Israel by the sovereign God. Verse 14, then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven and this is # of interest because of what God prophesized regarding Amalek, but it is also of interest because this is the first mention of writing down the scripture and keeping an official record here and so here we see how God was directing already at this time that God has instructed Moses to commit these things to writing. Later in Numbers chapter 33 verse 2, Moses will be instructed to write down a record of the journeys of Israel and so Moses does and he will also be instructed to write down what gave him in the law in Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse 24 and much of that then comes to be part of what Moses has collected in the books of Moses, the first five books of our Bible

Verse Moses built an altar and named it The Lord is My Banner; and he said, "The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation," and one year later as Israel battles at Kadesh-Barnea with Canaanites forces, Amalek joins the Canaanites forces and brings about a defeat of Israel and the Amalekites will remain a permanent enemy of Israel for sometime. Number of passages are referred to that. We won't take time to look through them, but a record consulate the Amalekites being a problem harassing Israel and so on. So, sometimes you read quickly the older commentators who spiritualize the Old Testament, they will use Amalek and the Amalekites as a representation of the flesh that the believer battles with constantly that’s not real good exegesis, but example of where some of this thinking comes from. No doubt believers do battle with the flesh and there is an ongoing conflict, but the Amalekites were a little physical people and we need to be careful about taking that major step when the Bible doesn't do that and know some of what we have seen the New Testament does take it under the inspiration of the Spirit of God and give to us with a correct interpretation and application that Amalek is a people that will plague Israel and they will suffer destruction under Hezekiah. When Hezekiah is king of Israel in first chronicles chapter 4, verse 43, we were told that he completes the destruction of the Amalekites and so at that point they passed from the scene. Alright, we have problems with food, we have problems with drink, water for these people. We have problems with enemies attacking, but that’s not all the problems Moses has. Someone has to administer these millions of people and you can assume and in comes out in chapter 18, that how easily they complained. They didn't necessarily get along real well with each other either. I mean they were so quick to grumble and complain about Moses, what do you think some of the problems came with when they set up camp and then we say look you set up camp in my area, look I think of what you have used belong to us. All these things have to be decided.

Now chapter 18, brings Moses father-in-law into the picture. It is going to be a family reunion in the first twelve verses and Jethro going to give some wise counsel to Moses that he will implement and will be the governing pattern for Israel in its subsequent future. You know that very little told us about Moses physical family in the account as prominent as Moses is, as significant as he is, if he wondered where his wife Zipporah is and his two sons and all of these. We haven't seen them since chapter four and there was a real issue over circumcision of Moses son and then Zipporah and the two sons drop out of the picture and you know what happened. They were sent to live with their folks. So, they are not even with Moses until chapter 18. So, they were there in chapter four, verse 24 to 26 and now they reappeared here. Now, Jethro the priest of Midian, Moses father-in-law heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Can you imagine here, he is giving all of this as a report. Moses father-in-law Jethro took Moses wife Zipporah after he had sent her away and her two sons. Now we don't know when Moses sent her away, that’s why I said perhaps back in connection with the events when the conflict had occurred in chapter four. We don't know. We are just told that Moses sent her away with their two children and evidently sent her back to live with her folks. Now, we are told about his sons Gershom in verse 3 and Eliezer in verse 4. Then Jethro verse 5, Moses father-in-law came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped at the mount of God and he sent word to Moses, I your father-in-law Jethro am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her. Then Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and he bowed down and kissed him. Isn't interesting the way puts it. You might think that he went out to meet his father-in-law and he kissed Zipporah. The Bible doesn't say what he did with Zipporah, his wife. You know here she is standing here, and Moses runs over and kisses Jethro. I wonder with did that to family relationship. You know it is interesting that the bible doesn't say. You know so here Moses has been separated for these months from his wife and his sons. They are not brought out to medium and I assume they had a good reunion, but Bible doesn’t go into that. What I say the bible want to give an example of Moses loves for his family and explaining to them how hard it has been to him being separated from them, but this was God’s business and he had choice and none of that.

We are told in verse 7, went out to meet his father-in-law he bowed down and kissed him and they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. So, he hasn’t seen his wife and children for months, but when we sees his father-in-law he gives him a hug and he kissed, puts his arms around and they ask how each other are doing and they go in and sit down in the tent to talk about things. There is a focus in Moses life what really matters is not Moses family and what matters in Moses life is the work he is doing for the Lord. Now, his plays a part in that, obviously his wife is going to be a part of what’s going on, but the Bible is not concerned to develop that line of thinking and that’s is not what the focal point is. Well, we have ministries today that are tied with focus on the family, that’s is not where the Bible focus is. There is something that supersedes those physical and family relationships and that’s how the relationship with God and our service for Him and that does not mean we don’t function biblically with our families. So, here Moses and his father-in-law, why does he to his father-in-law, because Jethro’s counsil here becomes key for God is going to do with Israel. God is going to use the council of Moses father-in-law to set up a governing structure for the nation Israel. Now will guide how Israel will be governed for years to come. So, that’s why we are concerned with Jethro here. Verse 8, Moses tells his father-in-law all that God had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that had befallen them on the journey and how the Lord had delivered them. Imagine what a time this was for Moses to explain all that had happened in Egypt and all that happened so far in their journeys and how God had taken care of them. Jethro rejoiced overall the goodness of which the Lord had done to Israel in delivering from the hand of Egyptians. So, Jethro said blessed be the Lord who delivered from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now, I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods, indeed it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people. Then Jethro, Moses father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses father-in-law before God.

Jethro acts as a priest here. We don’t know when Jethro becomes a believer. Remember when Moses met Jethro after he fled from Egypt, he was a priest in Midian. We don’t anything about Jethro’s spiritual life. With a glimpse like this and here he does declare his faith in the living God and the law has not yet been set up with its organized priesthood for Israel and so Jethro evidently functions here as a family priest and as a priest operating on behalf of Moses, Aaron and the people much as Job did for his family in the Book of Job before the official priesthood for the nation Israel is established and so sacrifices were offered and so on. Now that brings us to verse 13 where Jethro gets an opportunity to observe how Moses is functioning with his huge mass of people. The next day, verse 13, Moses sat to judge the people and the people stood about Moses from morning to until evening and Moses father-in-law saw all that he was doing for his people and said “What is this thing you are doing for people, why do you sit alone as judge, all the people come and stand around you from morning till evening.” Can you imagine the burden is on Moses. He got several million people and all the disputes that go on among these people, they bring them to Moses. So, from early morning to late at night Moses is there with people constantly waiting to see him for him to give a verdict on r\problems they are facing or disagreements. Moses thought I do this because the people come to me to inquire of God. Verse 16, when they have a dispute, they comes to me, I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of God and His laws. So, Moses is God's representative here. He tells them the proper way to resolve that difficulty. One judge for somewhere between 2 or 4 or 6 million people, I mean I wonder it was morning till night and in the midst of all of that he had all the other things he had deal with the grumbling and the complaining and the battles with the enemies like the Amalekites.

Moses father-in-law in verse 17, says to him “The thing you are doing is not good, you will surely wear out both yourself and these people that are with you. The task is too heavy for you, you can’t do it alone. Listen to me I will give you counsel and God be with you, you be the people’s representative before God and you bring the disputes to God, then teach them the statures of the Lord and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do and furthermore you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, who hate dishonest gain, you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. Let them judge the people at all times, let it be that every major dispute that they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge, so it will be easier for you and they will bear the burden with you.” In other words, you have just like the court system like we have, Moses will be the Supreme court, only those things which were irresolvable and need a major decision when Moses issues them they become precedence and then you can go down to local disputes and move up to a larger and larger and the nation will be organized according to such a pattern. It is a good counsel and Moses takes the counsel and will implement it. Verse 24, Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he has said, Moses chose able men out of Israel, made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. They judged the people at all times, the difficult dispute they will bring to Moses and every minor dispute, they themselves will judge. Then Moses bade his father-in-law farewell and he went his way in to his own land. Moses father-in-law returns back to Midian. Now, the implementation of this does not formally take place evidently until after the Mosaic Law is given, in Deuteronomy chapter 1, verses 9 to 15. The formal implementation of this plan may began to be developed here, but Deuteronomy chapter 1 tells us that it is formally implemented and carried out in connection with the giving of the law and there it does given to Moses in some detail the laws that will govern the life of this people and their walk with God.

Chapter 19, brings you to what is the third major division of the Book of Exodus. The first twelve chapters dwelt with Israel in Egypt in God bringing them out of Egypt, then from chapters thirteen to eighteen dealt with the three-month trip from Egypt to Mount Sinai. Now chapters 19 through chapter 40, will deal with Israel at Mount Sinai. We will have the giving of the Law and that will really encompass only the rest of the book of exodus, but all the Book of Leviticus and the first 10 chapters of the book of Numbers all going to taken up with the Law of the God who is going to give for His people. Israel is going spent about one year at Mount Sinai, a long time to camp here. Now, they are in the wilderness in verse 1 of Sinai, and it doesn’t mean we are in a desert here, wilderness an unpopulated area, but evidently somewhat suitable for the pasturing of their flocks and so on, but it is not a populous area by any means. They come to the Mountain that is so central in God's plan, verse 3, Moses went up to God and the Lord called to Him from mountain saying and that’s the beginning of the giving of the Mosaic Law and that will carry us into numbers chapter 10, when God is going to give in such detail of all the Law which is broken down by the Jews into 613 individual laws and commands given to the nation Israel, instructions in all aspects of life as God's people and they will include matters relating to religion and matters relating to the government of the land and so on, their moral conduct as God's people and all of that included in the land and will all be mixed together because the Law is a unit, one Law and if you broke one part of the Law, you broke the whole law. So, God begins by calling Moses up to the mountain, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians how I bore you on Eagle’s wings and brought you to myself, a picture of bearing someone on Eagle’s wings is the picture of that care He used in Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 10 and 11 on God's care for Israel and the picture of the majestic eagle caring for its young. I brought you to myself at the end of verse 4. That was God's purpose in bringing them out of Egypt. He bringing them to be His people. So, note the purpose of this covenant, “Now then if you will indeed obey my voice, keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the 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 sons of Israel “You will be my own possession, a treasured possession that which belongs to me in a unique and special way, which I will care for and provide for.” Israel is a unique possession, you will be my own possession, my treasured possession among all the people for the all the earth is mine, but I chosen you to be special to me, you will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Look at this emphasis in Deuteronomy. Jump over to Deuteronomy, the fifth book of Moses. Deuteronomy chapter 7, God repeats this to Israel several times. Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 6, “For you are a Holy people to the Lord you God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” Chapter 14, verse 2, “For you are a holy people to the Lord you God. The Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” Chapter 26, verse 18, “The Lord has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession as He promised you and that you should keep all His commandments that he will set you high above all nations which He has made for praise, fame and honor that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord you God as He has spoken. What a position Israel has been given by the sovereign God. You say well that’s not fair, why I say I made it all, it all belongs to me. Remember he is the potter, we are the clay and He has chosen Israel for this unique and honored position, not fair. Well no nation deserved it and Israel did not, we don’t have time to look at the passages to talk about that fact. It is not that Israel deserved this, but God has done it mercy and grace. He called them to Himself. Amos chapter 3 verse 2 says “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” There is the special use of the word to know to place the Law of my favor on. It is the only nation. The only nation that ever has been chosen by God for Himself. God has specially blessed in many ways the United States of America. The United States of America is not a God's chosen nation. There will never be another nation that will compete with the nation Israel and all of God's promises of that nation will yet be fulfilled according to the plan and purpose of God.

Back in Exodus 19, He says “You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. As a kingdom priests they enjoy a special and unique privileged access to God just as what He called them to be a people of whatever relationship with Him that would have access to Him and the full realization of this will come in the kingdom that He will establish where Israel will be the people and that are recognized as God's people. The temple at Jerusalem will be the center of world worship and Jews will be seen as the people of God, Isaiah 61, Zachariah chapter 8, Zachariah chapter 14, and many other chapters deal with that. He says here “You will be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and these are for the sons of Israel. I want you to go to the Book of Peter in the New Testament. First Peter chapter 1, there is some misunderstanding I think that causes confusion. In first Peter, chapter 2, we will start there and backup. God says in verse 9, through Peter, but you are chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Now people sometimes take that passage and say, see the church has replaced Israel because those Old Testament passages that we looked at, He was addressing Israel. Now Peter writes to church and says you are a chosen race. There is a problem here, the church is not a race. Israel was a race, one nationality, all descendents physically of Abraham to Isaac and Jacob. Church is comprised of all kinds of races, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. The church is called a nation here a holy nation. Well, I think we go back to who is Peter writing to. Go back to chapter one, “Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadosia, Asia and Bithynia, who are chosen. Remember letter start out and they identify who is the writer and to who is writing to. So one be careful we don’t get confused in the letter by failing to take note of to who is he writing to. We will spend some time on our study of Corinthian letter to who Paul is writing to. He is writing to the church of God the one being #. Here Peter the apostle of Jesus Christ is writing literally to the elect sojourners of the dispersion. We break it up into English here to tried to make it flow a little better, to those who reside as aliens that is literally the sojourners of the dispersion. You know what the dispersion is and was as Peter wrote it, and is still a term meaning today, dispersion refers to Jews dispersed out of the land. Peter is writing to Jewish believers chosen of God. They are the elect. Our English Bible in my translation puts who are chosen at the end of verse one. In the Greek text it starts out “To the elect sojourners of the dispersion and sometimes the translators rearrange the word order to help it flow better in English, but it is to the elect sojourners of the dispersion.

I am writing to those who are Jews who have been chosen of God, thus believers, who are scattered out of Palestine in regions like Pontus, Galatia, Cappadosia, Asia, and Bythinia. So keep that in mind when you read in chapter 2 and there he says to them in verse 9, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God because he is writing to the Jews who are believers and just like Paul made clear that he become a believer in Jesus Christ and was remembered and of the church of Jesus Christ that did not mean he ceased to be a Jew. He was part of the believing remnant of Israel. So he could write in the great section of Romans nine, ten and eleven. There is to this day in Israel a remnant according to God's electing grace. So, Paul served two roles as a believing Jew, he was a member of the church, but he was also a part of believing remnant of Israel and thus the line is kept alive even spiritually and he does fall in part of the believing race, the holy nation. So what he says here has direct reference to those he is writing to believing Jews. The church is not a chosen race, they are made up all kind of races and we lose racial identity in Christ in that sense, but as a Jew that racial identity is of great significance. Now come to verse 10 while you are in Peter, this is as far as we will get. We will stop in the middle of Exodus 19, verse 10, “But you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy and they say see that has to be gentiles. Remember in Ephesians, in chapter 2, Paul wrote that you were strangers and Alienated from covenant and so on. So, verse 10 has to refer to the church because you are referring to the gentiles, they were not the people of God, but now they have become the people of God. No, you note in your Bible that verse 10 is in capital letters indicating it is a quote from the Old Testament. Go back to the Book of Hosea.

Hosea chapter 1. Hosea was a prophet. He had a difficult life. He was instructed of God to go marry a wife of harlotry, they have children together and all of his married relationship is used as a sign to Israel, Israel’s unfaithfulness to God, the names of the children. We ought to come down for time. They had a daughter, they named her Lo-Ruhamah, the one who did not receive compassion. Down in verse 9, after she weans Lo-Ruhamah and she had a son and they name him Lo-Ammi. Lo-Ammi means not my people. What did God say through Hosea to the people of Israel. The Lord said name him Lo-Ammi for you are not my people and I am not your God and in the place where it is said to them you are not my people and it was said to them you are the sons of the living God. So, you see because of their sin God says I am disowning you, but not ending my promises to you. You are not my people. You are not my people and I am not god your God. But, don’t misunderstand that doesn’t mean that your relationship between God and Israel is over because He says yet the number of the sons of Israel which are like the sand of sea which cannot be measured or numbered and where it is said to them you are not my people, He said to them you are the sons of the living God. Look at chapter 2 of Hosea, verse 23, “I will sow her myself in the land, I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion.” Remember the name of the first child Lo-Ruhamah, the one who did not receive compassion being a picture of how God was going to deal with Israel. He was going to withhold His compassion. “I will have the compassion on the one whom had not obtained compassion. I will say to those people who are not my people, you are my people and they will say you are my God.” Israel will go through the time of judgment. They are in that time judgment now. There will come a time when they will be restored.

So, when you are reading Peter don’t misunderstand verse 10 of first Peter 2, it got to be gentiles because they are the ones who are not the people of God. We have to go back and read the context to the quote. Quote was referring to Israel and Peter explained to the believing Jews as they have been chosen of God. They are carrying on the promises given. They are the remnant according to God's electing grace and a continuing testimony that God will fulfill His promises to Israel and that doesn’t mean much of what is said in Peter is for the church, obviously it is, but we have got to be careful and that we understand that some of it is directed to a particular people and would be specifically applicable to the Jews that it is written to and not to us and that’s it. Now it is also true in millennium. We will serve together as a kingdom of priests because in Christ we are made priests of God also and have that intimate access, but that is not going to make us Israel because we are to carry on. We have salvation of God, people before Abraham, before the nation Israel came into existence experienced God's salvation, Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied about the second coming of Christ as Jude records it, but he wasn’t a Jew, but he was part of the people had God has got salvation too for now lets keep these distinctions. Alright, great promises given the nation Israel, promises that will experience their realization in the millennium because of the Israel’s sinful rebellion against God, they could not experience the full provision of those at that time. God's promises settled and sure and gracious and depend upon His character. We talk about the conditional and unconditional nature of this covenant in our next study together.

Lets pray together. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness. Thank for who you are. Thank you for the truth of your word. Thank you for calling Israel to yourself. What a marvelous act of mercy and grace. Lord we have been recipients of that same saving grace every bit of undeserving and unworthy. Lord may the lessons that you have set down in Israel’s history and life make their proper impact upon us today that we might learn from them, that we might be indeed be a people who are holy to the Lord and faithful to you. Thank you for the promises that are yet to be fulfilled and their surety because you are the unchanging God. Pray for the days of the week ahead of us, we will be a testimony for you in all that we do. We pray in Christ’s Name. Amen.