DAY 28

GOD WAITING

Exodus 19 & 20 and Matthew 18:21-35

Think about an idea: God waits on us.

Exodus 19-20 is a powerful moment. It is the moment that God has been looking forward to throughout the back-and-forth with Pharaoh. “Let my people go that they might come and be with me and worship me” was the mantra we heard uttered over and over. God has been waiting a long time for this day. It took about three months to get there if you count from the Exodus. I am not sure if we should count from that point, or further back: to Jacob, or Isaac, of Abraham, or Noah…or Adam.

The people will spend a year at this mountain. Here they will receive three things: a renewed Covenant, a Moral Law, and Atoning Sacrifices.

We get two of the three today: the Renewed Covenant in 19:5-7 where He calls these grumblers his chosen people, and that they will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation! We also receive the Ten Commandments in chapter 20. In the coming chapters and books of the Bible all of this will be unpacked more, for now though just pause and realize the specialness of this event.

A word, maybe even a game, about the Ten Commandments and what they mean. All those “thou shall not’s”. People don’t often like to be told what not to do. Author Josh McDowell in his book Right from Wrong describes that each commandment is a “precept” (which is another word for law). That before each precept (which is written as a negative – thou shall not) there is a positive principle. And that upstream of each principle is a personal trait of God.

Let’s try it: Thou shall not lie. What is the positive principle? Truth, truth is good. God is truth we read in the Bible. Another, Thou shall not kill. The positive principle is life. God is life. Are you getting the idea? Try it with the others.

The point is each Commandment, if lived into, means we are living into the image of God, in whose image we are made! God invites and instructs us to live into the fullest image of humanness through the Ten Commandments. God invites us into Covenant: you will be my people and I will be your God, the God who made you. He then gives us a simple list of how to live into that image. He also gives us a way to deal with the all too frequent situation of when we don’t – atonement (that will come a bit later although we read today about how to build an altar).

Matthew 18:21-35: ten thousand talents = millions of dollars, more than he could ever repay. One hundred denarii = approximately 100 days’ wages (Roman soldier received one denarii a day). Without those facts you probably already got the point. One had been forgiven much and one was asked to forgive a little. If we follow the “Josh McDowell” method we could say “one who had received much was asked to share a little.”

So here we are today reading about all the Israelites have received, can we make the shift to all we have received? We will read about how Jesus is our New Covenant, Jesus has fulfilled the Law, and Jesus has made Atonement for the entire world. We will read about how the Israelites fail to live into this call in the coming days, weeks, and months. We know their story well because it is ours. Today however let’s turn to the positive – we have been given much. And God has been waiting to give it to us. God has waited and waited in the same way God waited for this mountaintop moment with Moses. He has waited for us to give us all that He has – Himself.