This is one of the most powerful, meaningful and memorable passages in the entire Bible. Take note of who the main character is…who the hero of the story is. This passage is primarily about God…His victory, His commands, His law, His blessing, His covenant, and His glory. It is God who delivers victory. It is God who should be obeyed. It is God who provides the blessing. It is God who makes and seals the covenant. And it is God who is holy and just and merciful and should be worshipped forever. It is God who rescues and redeems us. And it is God whom we should follow and worship, trust and obey.
In the sermon on the Ten Commandments, we finished by saying that the law drives us to Jesus, and Jesus enables us to keep the law. If these laws demonstrate ways in which Israel was to live out the Decalogue, then we are left with that great application again. We can’t keep God’s law. But there is one who lived the life we couldn’t live and died the death we should have died. Jesus obeyed for us, and died in place of law-breakers.
We need power. We need to speak the good news. We need shared ministry. May God help become a healthy community of faith. We like Jethro and Moses and the elders, gather around one table. We also we rally around the cross, or banner, and we enjoy fellowship with one another because of the work of our great mediator, Jesus Christ. And one day we will rule and rein with our Christ. If you are not part of the community of faith, we would love to call you brother or sister. We urge you to consider what God has done to make this possible, through his cross-work.
Like Israel, we too are sojourners, who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, who have crossed over to the other side by grace, and are now on the way to Promised Land. In this faith journey, in our wilderness, God is sanctifying us, and teaching us to trust him, love him and follow him. So the big idea today is that we need to learn some things from Israel’s Wilderness experience, since (once again) their story is our story.
