Thursday, October
12, 2017
Then Moses carefully wrote down all the Lord’s
instructions. Early the next morning
Moses got up and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He also set up twelve pillars, one for each of
the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he
sent some of the young Israelite men to present burnt offerings and to
sacrifice bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. Moses drained half the blood from these
animals into basins. The other half he
splattered against the altar. Then he
took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people. Again they all responded, “We will do
everything the Lord has commanded. We will obey.”
Then Moses took the blood from the basins and splattered it over the
people, declaring, “Look, this blood confirms the covenant the Lord has
made with you in giving you these instructions.”
Exodus 24:4-8(NLT)
In fact, according
to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood.
For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
Hebrews 9:22(NLT)
Moses set
up a sacrificial altar with twelve stones representing the twelve tribes of
Israel. The meaning couldn’t be
clearer. God had led the fledgling
nation of former slaves to the point of crunch time. It was time to make a decision about what
direction their future would take.
The altar
was a place significant of forgiveness and new life. If there was going to be an agreement, a
choosing to obey God, it was going to be signed in the most fitting way…with
the sacrifice of blood. After multiple
readings of the Book of the Covenant,
God’s instructions on what their agreement would mean, the people said with
one voice that they would do it all; they would obey!
The altar (representing
God’s very presence with them) had been splattered with half the blood of a
sacrificed animal, and when the people voluntarily agreed to enter this
covenant, they too were splattered, virtually covered with the blood.
Why this
bloody ceremony? The writer of the
letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament made it clear – sin is a life and
death thing; forgiveness requires blood.
Later, when
Jesus would die on the cross, He was called the Lamb of God.
Jesus was our blood sacrifice, and it is His blood which covered the
altar of a cross on Golgotha’s hill. When
we accept this great, grace-filled gift, the blood is also sprinkled over us as
surely as it covered the Nation of Israel that day at the foot of the mountain. That blood is God’s forgiveness washing over
our sins; those sins are forever placed under
the blood!
This is
such a solemn thought. The ceremony is solemn. The meaning is unmistakable; our sins,
transgressions, rebellion, stubbornness, greed, lust, envy…even murder is
forgiven and pardoned by this sacrifice when we present ourselves just as the
people did at the foot of the mountain that day.
How did
they present themselves? It was an act
of confession. In effect, by
participating in the sacrifice (they being sprinkled with actual blood, we in
baptism) were promising fidelity to worship, serve and love only God. We promise to turn our backs on sin and the
rebelliousness which comes so naturally to us.
How great
is this covenant? Well, consider that
the rest of the Bible (all 64 books) recounts how Israel, and later the church,
didn’t follow through with keeping their promises. All of them sinned; today all of us still sin. The greatness of the covenant of God is that
it surpasses the guilt of our past, present and future. However well-intentioned and fervent our
promises to obey, we often fail at keeping our promises. But, forgiveness is a forever thing with God,
and we are the beneficiaries of His incredible love. He confirmed the covenant with Israel in blood
knowing they would stray and rebel. Jesus
reaffirmed the New Covenant for us knowing we are no more faithful than
Israel. That is the mystery of this gift
of God we call amazing grace!
For You Today
The next
time you come to the Lord’s Table to celebrate His gift, picture in your mind the
twelve stones surrounding the altar, and remember that, like Israel, you are a witness
of Jesus’ loving act of blood forgiveness.
After the ceremony live like a witness.
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