If you’ve been with us for a while, you may know that I was looking at the Book of Exodus and the lessons which we learned from the event of the Jews coming out of Egypt. And, in Corinthians Paul tells us that these things which happened are examples to us who have come to faith in Jesus the Messiah.
As we look at the pattern of events which took place with the Exodus, we can see that there are many things which apply to us, which connect to the New Covenant and to Yeshua Jesus as the Messiah.
Last time I spoke on this I was looking at the Ten Commandments. I want to move on now to Exodus chapter 24. So, if you have your Bibles we’re going to read Exodus chapter 24.
Let’s just have a word of prayer as we come to the Word of God. Lord, we would like to you thank you for your Word; we thank you that it is truth and pray that you bless the reading and the preaching of your Word and guide us into all truth. We pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Yeshua Jesus the Messiah, amen.
This chapter is actually pivotal in our understanding of the Hebrew scriptures of the Tanakh, the Old Testament. It shows how God sealed the covenant with Israel through the Torah (the Law) and how this was going to be the means by which He would communicate and relate to His people in the time between Moses and the Messiah.
When the Messiah Yeshua would come in, He would bring in the New Covenant but, up until this time, God would communicate through the Covenant with Moses.
We see that this is a covenant sealed with blood, a covenant which God makes which is of great significance in our understanding of the Hebrew scriptures and indeed, of the whole of the Bible.
There are a number of significant parallels between what happens here and what happens in the giving of the New Covenant, particularly in the day of Pentecost.
Interestingly, these two events (Old and New Covenants) took place at the same time in the Hebrew calendar, on the day of Pentecost, the feast which the Jewish people hold called Shavuot which is the equivalent of Pentecost.
Now I want to make a few points on this subject if I can get through them all.
As part of our study into Exodus 24, we’ve looked at:
I’m going on to the next point.
Israel is required to give assent to the Covenant, t give a sent to the words of Moses. God requires them to enter into the Covenant by giving verbal ascent to it:
All that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient.
Exodus 24.7
It’s important that they say those words. By saying those words they’re accepting what God has given to them and God records them being said. Even if they failed later, the fact that they’ve said those words means they are accepting the Covenant and therefore God is recording that in Heaven and recording it in the Word so that we know that they accepted and agreed to the terms of the Covenant.
When you come to the New Testament, you find that exactly the same thing happens. In fact, it happens on the day of Pentecost, which is actually the equivalent to the giving of the Torah.
In the New Testament, the giving of the New Covenant is found in Acts chapter 2. Peter explains the Gospel to the people. He tells them who Jesus is, what He’s done for us in His death and resurrection, how He’s been crucified, raised up from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the Father from where He sends the Holy Spirit.
And He’s now our mediator, to bring us to God, to bring us remission for our sins that have separated us from God because we’ve not kept God’s Law.
And, at the end of Peter’s talk on Pentecost, it says in chapter 2 verse 36:
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Acts 2.36-37
Good question!
I wish more people would say to me: what shall we do about Jesus? But they asked the question there: what shall we do? And Peter said:
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
Acts 2.38-39
They had to make a response.
You see that they had to repent and believe, be baptized on confession of their faith. So, they’re being baptized. They were acknowledging that they believed that Jesus died for their sins and rose from the dead and therefore they would receive the Holy Spirit to a new life.
There had to be a response and that response is important. It’s important that each one of us, individually, makes a response to Jesus Christ.
You can come along to church and you can hear the message and you can think ‘it’s nice, there are nice people there, and I like the fellowship, and it’s quite interesting’. Or, maybe you don’t think it’s interesting but, either way, you can come along and never make a personal response, never say ‘What shall I do?’, never personally repent and believe.
If you want to be saved you must make that personal response. You can’t be saved by your parents. If you’re born in a Christian family and you think that that makes you a Christian, it doesn’t! You have to personally make a response and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Every one of us has to come to that point of recognition that we need a Saviour and that Jesus is the Saviour.
As Moses was reading the Book of the Law requiring the Israelites to make an act of commitment, and as they say: All the Lord has said we will do and be obedient, so
we too, as we hear message of the Gospel, must come to the point where we say ‘Yes, I’ll go that way, I will believe on the Lord Jesus, I’ll be baptized in the name of Jesus, I’ll go on with Jesus and I will commit my life to Him, follow Him.‘
If we fail as they failed, we can still come back to God and ask Him to forgive us, fill us anew with His Spirit and go on with Him. None of us can lose our salvation I believe, but we can lose our fellowship with God if we get out of His will. Even then, we can always come back to Him by repentance and faith in Jesus the Messiah.