“4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 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, 7 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 the fourth generation…10 And he said, ‘Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.”
- Exodus 34:4-10
What is the first thing that happens when you tell a child not to do something?
You can see their wheels turning, wondering if they can get away with it, or what will happen if they disobey. Things that had absolutely no interest just moments before are now a matter of life and death. They must have what you told them they could not! Not much changes as we get older.
As the Lord led His people out of the bondage of slavery into the Promised Land, He wanted them to be a peculiar people. He desired their relationship with Him to impact every area of life and reflect His holiness. As God handed down the ten commandments and the rest of the law to Moses, He was under no impression they would be able to follow it perfectly. In fact, as Moses descended the mountain to give the people God’s law, he found them worshiping a false god of their own creation. Disgusted, Moses threw the book at them, breaking the tablets God had created. As Moses climbed the mountain a second time, he interceded on behalf of the people. God chose to be faithful in establishing a covenant with His people even though they had forsaken Him.
The Law was never meant to help us reach perfection, but to show us we could never be perfect. God wanted us to know we would always fall short of His standard of holiness. He wanted us to see our need for a perfect Savior. Jesus kept the entire Law perfectly, then applied it to your account. As you hang your ornament today, remember, because of Jesus, God has chosen to keep His eternal covenant of love, even when you break it.