ESOCS Devotional 10 May 2026 – God’s Covenant Laws, Tempered With Grace
MEMORY VERSE: “And he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the audience of the people: and they said, all that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.” Exodus 24:7 KJV
TEXT: EXODUS 24:1-14
ow He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.”
3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”
9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. 11 But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”
13 So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.”
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A covenant is a formal, solemn agreement or contract, often involving promises or commitments, and sometimes with religious significance. It is a binding promise with far-reaching implications. Of concern to us in this write-up is God’s covenant with humans, which God initiates and upholds. Suffice it here to state that, unlike most covenants with fellow humans, God’s covenant law is always tempered with grace and mercy.
God made a covenant with Adam in Eden, in which the condition was obedience, the promise of life, and the penalty was death. Yet, when Adam and Eve sinned, God did not abandon them. God covenanted with Noah before the flood, and with all nature after the flood (Genesis 9:6-18). He entered into a special covenant with Abraham which was confirmed with the rite of circumcision (Genesis 17). He repeated the Abrahamic covenant promises to Isaac and Jacob. Our covenant-keeping God still pledges his love and faithfulness to us, and calls us to believe in Him, walk in obedience and to make Him our personal Lord through Jesus Christ.
At Mount Sinai, God entered into a covenant relationship will all Israel. The Law became the heart of this covenant, which, unfortunately the people could not keep. In spite of their failure, God’s grace remained central. They moulded and worshipped the calf. God threatened to destroy them. But through Moses’s intercession, God forgave them in His compassion, grace and love. It follows therefore that, if we enter into a covenant relationship with God by believing in Jesus Christ, we too will experience the grace of forgiveness (John 3:16, 1:12).
Reflections
- Our God is a covenant-keeping God. If we trust and obey Him, we shall be saved.
Prayer
- Lord Jesus, give me the grace to trust and obey.
Further Reading: Lamentations 3:11-17; Hebrews 9:6; Hebrews 8:1-6
ESOCS Devotional 9 May 2026
