Renewing the Covenant
Reading: Exodus 24:1-11
“All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
As human beings, we are always full of good intentions. We really expect to keep our promises. Yet time and time again we fall short. This is the sad story of human beings attempting to live on their own strength.
The Old Testament describes several occasions where the Israelites sealed or renewed their covenant with God. This one came shortly after the giving of the Law. God invited the leaders of Israel to a banquet, a sort of communion service, for which an animal was sacrificed. Here is a prefiguring of the Lord’s Supper.
It was God who initiated the Covenant, and who continues to nourish it. The Ten Commandments defined Israel’s obligations to the Covenant, and the people promised to obey them. Their immediate intentions were good, though over the years they lost the euphoria of this experience, and failed to keep the covenant. The same thing happens to us. The enthusiasm of a moving religious experience only lasts so long. Then we drift into indifference, forgetting all that God has done for us.
Blood was an important part of covenant-making. The blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the people and on the altar. Blood is also part of the new covenant.
For Reflection: Do I need to renew my covenant with God?
A Prayer Seed:
Be known to us in breaking bread, but do not then depart;
Savior, abide with us, and spread Thy table in our heart.
There sup with us in love divine; Thy body and Thy blood,
That living bread, that heavenly wine, be our immortal food.
James Montgomery, 1825
