Building Up the Culture of the Family of God: The Birth of a Holy Nation
The promise of the Savior Jesus Christ, which God gave to Adam and Eve, and then to Abraham and his descendants, was embedded within his newly constituted nation of Israel in the book of Exodus. There at Mount Sinai, before the giving of the law in Exodus 20, before the making of the covenant by blood in Exodus 24, before the tabernacle was built, the terms of the covenant were stated succinctly (Exodus 19:3-6)
The LORD called to Moses out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all people, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.
God began the terms of the covenant by stating the basis and right upon which he made his claim upon the people of Israel. He worked judgment on the Egyptians and their gods. He freed his people from slavery. He saved them through water, baptizing them into Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Corinthians 10:2). It was a mighty deliverance, like eagles catching their newly fledged eaglets in the air, saving them, and teaching them to fly.
He brought his Israel to himself. This truth is repeated in various ways throughout the Old Testament and fulfilled for us in the New. I will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am with you. You shall call his name Immanuel, God-with-us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
In performing these mighty deeds and making these promises, God also imposed his law upon his people. They should hear—that is, obey—his voice. The Third Commandment established this term of God’s covenant, that they should hear God’s Word, and in hearing, obey it. God’s Word is the voice of God. It speaks his mind, his will, his promises and intentions, his commandments and judgments. To hear the voice of God is to hear God himself. By hearing and obeying his Word they would also be keeping the terms of the covenant that God had imposed upon his people.
Then came the description of Israel’s status and place with God as his people. They were his treasured possession. They belonged to him. They were so very precious to him. They were “a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9). They were peculiar, unique among all the people of the earth. They were peculiar because they alone, as God’s own people, were constituted by his grace and mercy in Christ Jesus to be his own people. They were set apart to belong to him alone.
He called them “a kingdom of priests.” God was their King and they were his kingdom—not a land or realm upon the earth, but a people! They were his land, his realm, his church, his household, his kingdom. And in this household and kingdom, every member, every citizen, was a priest. That is, everyone in this kingdom had access to the King through sacrificial blood. All could seek favor, forgiveness, grace, and mercy, and could receive it according to his covenant and promise. All could go to him to intercede for others, seek help in need, give thanks and praise. They were a kingdom of priests. God would arrange to meet with his people through the establishment of the tabernacle, sacrifices, and priesthood of Aaron. He would hear their prayers. He would bless them. He would govern them as their King by the Word of Moses and the prophets.
And they were “a holy nation.” God himself constituted them as a nation, with constitution, morality and laws, rulers, rites for worship, and a culture which was set apart from all the nations around them. For they were holy and were to be holy. “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” God himself would daily cleanse them from all the defilements and pollution of their sin. God would impart his own holiness, his glory, his perfection and beauty, to them.
We have gotten ahead of the story with these reflections. We will return to these words and promises in future articles. But as we contemplate God’s establishment of a holy culture among his holy kingdom of priests in Exodus, we cannot fail to see that what God worked as a pattern and shadow of the good things to come has been fulfilled in our midst in the person of our Savior Jesus and his kingdom of holy priests, the church. “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9–10).