If... (Exodus 19)
In chapter 19 the people arrive back where Moses had been commissioned by God. And here, we hear the most important word in the book, perhaps in the Old Testament… “If.”
YHWH has saved Israel. But now, IF they want to be His people, they have to do something. They have to live as He wants them to live. They agree to follow His ways before ever hearing what the specific demands will be, and how could they not? He had saved them from death itself. He had revealed His amazing power and His loving care for them. He had born them away from slavery on eagles wings.
But, as we will find out for the rest of the Old Testament, they are headed down a path of failure. The fact is that humanity doesn’t just need saving from slavery to sin and death, we need saving from ourselves. We cannot hope to live the way God intended us to before we rebelled against Him. We are rebels and in our own power we cannot change our ways.
Not only that, but even before Israel heads down that path of failure, they learn just who it is that they have rebelled against. YHWH, the Creator of the universe, is no gentle, caring grandfather. He is as powerful and terrifying as the signs in Egypt had hinted. Rebellious humanity can never hope to stand in His presence and live. We need more than an “If.”
But for now, here in Exodus, that is where we are at. At the foot of Sinai, waiting to see what the “If” is going to look like…
YHWH has saved Israel. But now, IF they want to be His people, they have to do something. They have to live as He wants them to live. They agree to follow His ways before ever hearing what the specific demands will be, and how could they not? He had saved them from death itself. He had revealed His amazing power and His loving care for them. He had born them away from slavery on eagles wings.
But, as we will find out for the rest of the Old Testament, they are headed down a path of failure. The fact is that humanity doesn’t just need saving from slavery to sin and death, we need saving from ourselves. We cannot hope to live the way God intended us to before we rebelled against Him. We are rebels and in our own power we cannot change our ways.
Not only that, but even before Israel heads down that path of failure, they learn just who it is that they have rebelled against. YHWH, the Creator of the universe, is no gentle, caring grandfather. He is as powerful and terrifying as the signs in Egypt had hinted. Rebellious humanity can never hope to stand in His presence and live. We need more than an “If.”
But for now, here in Exodus, that is where we are at. At the foot of Sinai, waiting to see what the “If” is going to look like…
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