Title: God of the Covenant/Exodus 19
The God of Israel is the God of the Exodus (salvation) and the God of the covenant. God not only saved the people of Israel from Egypt, but He is a personal God who spoke with them and made a covenant with them. He recognized them as partners of the covenant.
1 Moses, the mediator of the covenant (3-25)
God used Moses as a mediator when he made a covenant with Israel. Moses went up to Mount Sinai (or Mount Horeb) three months after the Exodus to communicate with God and deliver the words God had commanded to the Israelites. Later, Moses would go to God on behalf of Israel and offer intercessory prayers. Moses was a mediator who carried out the work of prophets and priests, and was a type of Jesus Christ. “Moses went up before God (3). “Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before him all the words the LORD had commanded him” (7). “Moses reported to the Lord in the words of the people” (8). “The Lord said to Moses” (9). “Moses spoke, and God answered him with a voice” (19). “The Lord called Moses, and Moses went up, and the Lord said to Moses” (20:21). “The Lord said to him, Go… Moses went down to the people and told them” (24:25). What we need is to be an intercessor and to live as an intercessor.
2. The God of the Covenant (4-6)
1) The basis of the covenant: God's love carried on the wings of eagles (4). Eagles love their young, dropping them from their nests to practice flying. When the young vulture is in danger of falling to the ground, the mother vulture flies away rapidly and carries the young with its large wings. God also trains his people in love and makes them grow.
2) Conditions of the covenant: obedience to God's word and keeping it (5) What the covenant God requires of his people is obedience to hear and keep the word of God. “Better obedience than sacrifice, and hearing better than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).
3) The outcome of the covenant: the blessing of becoming “my property”, “the kingdom of priests” and “a holy people” (5,6). To be God's property is the most precious thing. Becoming a kingdom of priests is the most precious thing to lead the world to God for salvation. Being a holy people is the most blessed thing in the world. The blessing of the Sinai covenant continued in the New Testament (1 Peter 2:9).
4) The covenant of Mount Sinai led to the covenant of the cross and was completed. (1) God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son (2) whoever believes in him (or whoever believes in him) (3) will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
3. The covenant people (8-25)
When the people of Israel, the subjects of the covenant, received the covenant through Moses, 1) they replied, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded” (8). It was an overly confident response, but nonetheless it was the right response. When we hear the word of God, we must be determined to hear it, believe it, and do it all. Of course, praying for God's helping grace and mercy. 2) They also sanctified their bodies by washing their clothes according to God's command. The characteristic of the life of the covenant people is holiness.