Judge Roy Moore was in the news most recently as a candidate for the U. S. Senate from Alabama. He lost to his Democratic opponent this past November, but long before that Senate race, Judge Moore became famous for his refusal to remove a plaque of the Ten Commandments from his courtroom wall. He ultimately lost his judgeship based on that little refusal, and he’s been in and out of trouble with the legal system since. That fact notwithstanding, Judge Moore was willing to lose his seat on the bench rather than take the Ten Commandments down from the wall. What drives people to take such actions? What drives many in our culture to file lawsuits to have the Ten Commandments returned to schools? What makes the Ten Commandments so important to us?
As we continue our “Covenant” series, we turn to the Ten Commandments. I chose that passage of scripture to talk about the Mosaic Covenant, not because the Ten Commandments are the Mosaic Covenant, but because they lay at the heart of the covenant God made with Moses and the Hebrew people, and because they are the most familiar to us. Everyone knows the Ten Commandments. No, not really. Everyone knows about the Ten Commandments, even if we can’t recite them.
The Mosaic covenant, or the Covenant of the Law as it’s been called, is not a “new” covenant that God is instituting with the nation of Israel. Rather, it is an expansion of the existing covenant God made with Abraham. It is part of the broader covenant of grace and this covenant doesn’t supersede any other covenant. The Mosaic covenant builds upon each previous covenant, offering a further revelation of the nature and character of the God who calls His people.
We think of “the Law,” and we think “the Ten Commandments,” but we can’t read the Ten Commandments in a vacuum. Actually, they’re simply the first words God speaks as He renews the covenant. We have to read them in the context of Exodus 19 – 24. It’s actually in Exodus 19: 4 – 6 that God calls out to Moses and says…
‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. 6 And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.”
God tells Moses to go down and get the people ready. Takes three days to “clean ‘em up” so God can speak to them. The Ten Commandments are spoken to the entire nation. When they heard the first ten commandments, they were so afraid they cut God off. They told Moses, “Tell Him to stop! If God wants to talk to us, tell Him to do it through you.” It actually takes Moses seven trips up and down Mount Sinai to get the whole law. That which Moses received is recorded in its totality in Exodus and also in Leviticus. In all, there were 613 laws that constituted the covenant with the people through Moses. That’s a lot of laws!
So, why this covenant of Law? Why was it necessary for God to further reveal Himself in this way? First, let me share that each of God’s covenants were revealed at a time of crisis or change. With Noah and creation, it was the change that occurred after the flood. With Abraham, it was after he left Ur of the Chaldeans, and here, with the nation, it was after their deliverance from Egypt.
So, here’s another crisis moment in the life of the nation of Israel. For two months they’ve wandered around the wilderness before reaching the edge of Mount Sinai. God is ready to make them into a nation, a holy nation, a separate nation. The commands that God offered there on the mountain dealt with relationships—the nation’s with God, and their relationship with each other. The first was the most significant—the vertical relationship between the nation and God.
• I’m the Lord your God.
• Have no other God’s before me.
• Don’t make any images of me.
• Remember the Sabbath.
Remember, the nations surrounding Israel in the wilderness, and the Egyptian culture from which they were delivered, were haunted by the unpredictability of their many gods. What would appease one god would likely upset another, and the people had no idea what would anger or appease them. Because God gave the Law, Israel would know exactly what God expected in their relationship with Him. The Law established a basis for trust and security in their relationship with God.
That basis of trust not only related to their dealings with God, but also on the horizontal plane—their relationships with each other. The people’s respect for God could and would be reflected in how they handled their relationships with each other.
• Honor your father and mother…
• Don’t murder…
• Don’t commit adultery…
• Don’t lie…
• Don’t covet…
Practice these principles and you will have peace and harmony among your people, and you will live good and fulfilled lives.
God made covenant with the people to establish the boundaries of the nation. Let me show you how. As the scene unfolds, the nation has arrived at the base of Mount Sinai. They settled in a place called the Wilderness of Sinai that was 2 ½ miles long and ½ mile wide. In Exodus 19, God literally set the boundaries around the camp and then around the base of the mountain. The covenant God made with Abraham had to do with the promise of land. The land promised was bounded by the Euphrates River and the Mediterranean Sea, by the mountains of Lebanon and the Dead Sea. They were at the edge of that land, ready to possess it, and here, as God readied to present Himself to the people, He laid out the boundaries around the mountain. As God set the physical boundaries of the promised land, so God set the moral boundaries of His character and of the moral boundaries He erected for the protection of His chosen people.
So, what does all that mean for us? There are a few lessons I want us to learn. First, the Ten Commandments, and all the Law that follows them, serve to remind us that all creation is bound to a power and authority that is beyond ourselves. We are not God, and we can never be God. The moral grounding for any people must ultimately come from beyond itself, else its morality will always be changing. When that happens, then we will be God ourselves, and that is the ultimate rebellion against God.
Second, all covenants are rooted in God’s grace. God had already delivered the nation from the bondage of Egypt. They were saved! Their salvation was not dependent upon their obedience to the covenant. Their blessing was, but their salvation was not. Salvation is always rooted in God’s grace and God’s faithfulness, not on the ability of humanity to be obedient.
Third, the covenant with Moses is neither the full nor final covenant of God with God’s people. That would come in the “new” covenant God would make through Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul helps us understand the purpose of the Law in light of the cross of Jesus Christ.
10 But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” 11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” 12 This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.” 13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. (Galatians 3: 10 – 13 NLT)
As believers and followers of Christ, we are no longer subject to the law. That’s incredibly hard for us to grasp. But, I remind us, Christ didn’t come to abolish the Law, he came to fulfill it (Matthew 5: 17), and I also remind us that Paul said the whole law if summed up in one command: Love your neighbor as yourself (Galatians 5: 14). Yes, we have a law…the law of love.
