Scripture Reading; Exodus 19:4
Explanation: When God formed Israel into a nation, He placed them directly under His rule. God was still ruling over all other nations through His Providence in association with His Universal Kingdom. In other words, God was still guiding the development of all other nations, and He made available to them certain baseline truths regarding Himself and baseline values associated with His rule (see Romans 1:18ff and Acts 17:24-28). Israel, on the other hand, became God's actual dominion here on earth. He ruled more directly and in much more detail regarding their religious life, their political structure, their social and legal structure, and their economic life.
In Exodus 19:4, God introduces His offer to enter into a covenant with Israel to rule directly over them with three reminders of His presence among them: "You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself." God reminds Israel, first of all, that He was present among them to judge His (and their) enemies, the Egyptians. Secondly, He reminds them that He was present among them to care for them with His mercy, forgiveness, love, and provision for their needs. Finally, when God says "I brought you to myself", He reminds Israel of His presence to rule among them.
Later in the Book of Exodus, we discover something about the Name of the Lord in connection with His presence that we could have picked up on in earlier chapters of the Pentateuch. We discover there is a very close association of the Lord's Name with His presence. Nowhere is this stated more clearly than in Exodus 34:5-7: "The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him [Moses] there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation."
Notice in these words a similar emphasis as is found in the Lord's first two reminders of His presence in Exodus 19:4. When the Lord proclaimed His Name, He emphasized His presence to faithfully show mercy, forgiveness, grace and love, while being slow to anger. But the end, He also emphasized His presence to act in judgment toward those who are guilty; in other words, toward those who prove themselves to be His enemies or enemies of His rule.
There are several principles that emerge from God's reminders of His presence and the proclamation of His Name. First, as indicated in yesterday's post, our encounters with the Lord's presence are intended to invite us to live under His rule. When God told Israel "I brought you to myself", His presence was located at Mt. Sinai. There God gave to Israel the Law, which became the explanation and expectations of what it meant to live under His rule. So God connected the manifestation of His presence to show judgment and mercy with the manifestation of His presence to rule. Similarly today, when we encounter the presence of the Lord Jesus in our lives, we are also receiving an invitation from Him to rule in our lives as Lord.
Secondly, when we encounter the Lord's presence, we encounter all of Him. In the moment, we may be on the receiving end of His mercy and grace, but He Himself is still there as the exalted Lord who triumphs over His enemies. For this reason, it is very dangerous to challenge the presence of the Lord, something Pharaoh found out the hard way, as did Ananias and Sapphira also in the early days of the church.
Finally, because there is a close association between the Lord's presence and His Name, we must be very careful how we use His name. Taking His Name in vain obviously includes the practice of swearing, but it can also include other ways of rebelling against His rule. Keep in mind, all of us are weak and we often fail. But when people harden their hearts and actively resist the Lord's influence and demands associated with His presence, they are, in effect, blaspheming His Name. So the principles are: (1) manifestations of the Lord's presence are sacred; therefore, (2) the Name of the Lord is sacred and is not to be blasphemed; and (3) our respect for their sacredness shows itself in how we respond to invitations to live under the Lord's rule.
In time, we will see how these principles factor into Israel's rejection of Jesus and His offer to establish His kingdom among them.
Reflection Questions: How do you personally treat the Lord's Name? What do you believe is the best way to safeguard the sacredness of the Lord's Name as you encounter it being abused or misused by people around you? by the entertainment industry? What evidence is there in your life of your responding to the sacredness of the Lord's Name and presence by living under His rule?
No comments:
Post a Comment