Day 36: Exodus 19-21

Welcome to five -minute Bible your daily guide for your daily reading today's February the 5th and we'll be looking at Exodus 19 through 21

Now today's reading brings us to the mountain of God Exodus 19 through 21 marks a decisive shift in the story from redemption accomplished in the land of Egypt to revelation given at Sinai and God brings his redeemed people to this mountain not to negotiate

Further about what salvation is but to reveal who he is

And how his redeemed people are meant to live in his holy and royal Presence from this day forward and what follows is not law

Replacing grace, but a grace that is giving birth to obedience Exodus 19 records

Israel arriving at Mount Sinai and God descending in fire and thunder and smoke and trembling earth

Boundaries are set warnings are given and the message is unmistakable the God who saves is holy and Powerful and utterly unlike the gods of Egypt and yet this terrifying

God speaks tenderly to Israel Declaring that she will be his treasured possession a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

They are redeemed not for Independence for but belonging to him which is their purpose

Now Exodus 20 delivers the Ten Commandments which are not some kind of abstract moral ideals or a new pathway to Salvation they are covenant words spoken by God a

God who's already rescued his people Which means that the law begins with grace

God says I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt He says that before he even issues them a command

Which means that obedience is framed as a response to God's love not a prerequisite to it

Then Exodus 21 begins applying God's law to everyday life justice restitution protection of life

Responsibility and accountability all of these are topics that are addressed and what

God is doing is showing them that Holiness doesn't end at the altar it governs their homes

It governs their workplaces their conflicts their courts their nation Redemption is going to reshape every aspect of ordinary life

Now as you read today, I want you to ask the following question. Why does God give his law after the salvation event?

Instead of before it and Exodus 29 answers this question clearly Obedience flows from out of our belonging to God law follows grace not the other way around We do not obey in order to be loved by God But because we are loved by God now

We can learn how to obey and that is the pattern both here and all throughout the scriptures now the key tension in this

Chapter is that law is a gift. It's not a ladder that you use to climb your way up to God God doesn't give you the law so that you can climb your way up to him

He gives the law so that those who are already bought and paid for by him will learn to fear him and live in His holiness and the details of the law reveal his care for justice and dignity and order and human flourishing

The law is a good thing that is meant to bring his people into life and even more life

And this shows up all the time in our daily life and our families and and in our work We often treat

God's command as though they're threats to our freedom or joy But yet Exodus 19 through 21 insists that these laws are acts of mercy from God God's law is there to restrain evil to protect the vulnerable to clarify responsibility to form a people who reflect his character in the world and to bless his people with Abundant life not to crush his people

It's there to train them and bless them and all of this explicitly points to the glorious Jesus Christ, you see it sign

I God reveals himself in fire a distance away from the people in a warning and yet in Christ God reveals himself in the flesh and he comes near and he invites

His people close without a threat of death The law exposes sin and defines what righteousness is preparing the way for the only one who could ever fully fulfill it

Where Israel trembles at the mountain Christ invites sinners to draw near to his mountain and bow down to worship him where the law?

condemns disobedience Christ obeys so fully that he alone can bear the curse of our disobedience

Upon his own head Jesus does not abolish the law he embodies it He completes it and he redeems it so that those of us who could never keep it now in him are no longer condemned because now

We're redeemed by his Unimaginable amazing grace as you read exodus 19 through 21.

I want you to listen carefully to the voice of God Echoing from the mountain. God has saved his people and now he's speaking to them and tomorrow

We're gonna see how quickly their fear turns into failure and why? mediation between man and God becomes so Necessary when holiness intersects with our human weakness, but until then read your

Bible carefully Devotionally and joyfully and may the Lord use his word to sanctify you completely and we will continue our journey tomorrow