Being Mutually Responsible
|
Key Verse: “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 hath said will we do.” Selected Scripture: |
ISRAEL HAD LEFT EGYPT and traveled three months to Mount Sinai when Moses went up into the mount and God called to him saying, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”—Exod. 19:4-6
In our Key Verse, the people answered by saying, ‘All the words which the Lord hath said will we do.’ Perhaps, if the nation of Israel had considered all that God was telling them, they might have said, “We will try to keep your ways to the best of our ability.” When God speaks, we must listen and consider before blindly saying we would keep his words. Being mutually responsible is very important with God. He will fulfill his part and it will be our responsibility to fulfill our part.
We especially note God’s words to Israel, ‘Obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people.’ The Apostle Peter says, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.” (I Pet. 2:9) Peter’s words ‘a peculiar people’ should read, “a purchased people,” or “a people for a purpose.” The prophet Malachi gives the thought of treasure as “jewels” when speaking of God’s chosen people, “They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.”—Mal. 3:17
Moses wrote down God’s words, built an altar for sacrifice, offered oxen for a peace offering, then took half the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. The building of altars, for sacrifice and the offering of blood, was a very important feature in the religious life of the Israelites. We are told, “The life … is in the blood” (Lev. 17:11), and blood ratified the covenant that God was making with the nation of Israel. Moses then took the book of the covenant and read it in the audience of the people. The people answered Moses by saying all that the Lord has said ‘will we do’ and be obedient. There was no way that the people could have then realized that they could never keep God’s perfect law, yet they readily bound themselves to every word of it. Only a perfect man could keep the perfect law of God, and that man was Christ, for “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”—Rom. 10:4
As we strive to follow in the footsteps of God and Christ, we all need to be responsible in our receiving of God’s words. We must consider our vows that we have made with him. “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.”—Eccles. 5:4,5