Day 35

Exodus 19:16–21:21; Matthew 23:13-39; Psalm 28:1-9; Proverbs 7:1-5

IN EXODUS TODAY, God instructed the children of Israel to consecrate themselves, for He was coming to meet with them. They were encamped at Mount Sinai, and God came in thunder, lightning, and a dense cloud, shaking the mountain. The people were terrified.

“You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!” they shouted at Moses (Exodus 20:19).

“‘Don’t be afraid,’ Moses answered them, ‘for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!’” (Exodus 20:20).

God was about to give customs, rituals, rules, and regulations, showing them what a people set apart were to look like. This would later be known as the law, or the Mosaic law. It will take some time for these instructions to unfold in the Scripture, but as we read, we will witness a complete reshaping of worldview and identity for the Hebrews. We began with the Ten Commandments today.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus was in Jerusalem, and this was no ordinary visit. He would not be leaving alive. Around 1,500 years after Moses, Jesus gave a glimpse of what had become of the Mosaic law, and how God (through Jesus) thought about it:

What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.

As we move into the giving of the law, we should understand the difference between the exact words and the spirit of the law —the circumstances that created the need for the laws in the first place and the underlying concepts that informed how the laws were written. In Jesus’ time, the Mosaic law had lost its spirit and had become a device for control and devotion by rote. As devout as the religious leaders may have been, they had lost the spirit —the underlying reasons for the law, and the way it was to shape, inform, and set apart a holy people who knew God intimately.

Ironically, it would be the Mosaic law that would judge and condemn Jesus to death —a law He had given Moses so long ago at Mount Sinai.

As we go forward and move between Testaments, we will get a unique view of both the law and what became of it. Oddly, we will often find our lives resembling those of the religious Hebrews of Jesus’ time —we’re so busy trying to understand the letter of the law that we forget the spirit. Let’s remember, the rules were not given as a cage. In Exodus, God had just delivered His people from slavery. His intention wasn’t to move them from one form of slavery to another —and that is not His intention with us. God’s objective was to set apart a people as holy, and to set this holy people free. This is what He continues to do in our lives.*

MEDITATION:

Praise the LORD! For he has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.