Renewing in God’s Covenant – Abiding Principles from the Ceremonial Laws: Giving (4)

Renewing in God’s Covenant

Abiding Principles from the Ceremonial Laws: Giving (4)

By giving of their possessions as sacrifices to the Lord, Israel was regularly renewed in the promises of God’s Covenant.

Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. Leviticus 9:22, 23

The purpose of God’s Covenant with Israel was to glorify God through a people redeemed to make His glory known to the world. The glory of God is the presence of God, and where the presence of the Lord is the favor of the Lord is as well. In Israel’s case the glory of the Lord was a continuous presence. God’s glory reassured them of their status as His chosen people and pointed them toward the greater blessings of the Covenant which were to be enjoyed in the land of promise.

The sacrifices and offerings of Israel, because they encouraged the people to examine their hearts and enabled them to renew focus on the Lord, also brought them into the presence of God and His glory, so that they were renewed in His Covenant. Going forth from God’s presence with His blessing, the people carried, as it were, a measure of the glory of God with them back into the community, as Moses had when he came down from the mountain. While their faces did not glow, those who had encountered God in His glory would have experienced renewal in His favor such that they would be better able to love their neighbors as the Law requires.

God’s glory is a real experience, a transforming experience; they who meet with God in His glory are transformed in ways indicating a deeper immersion in the grace and Covenant of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:12-18). Thus, people coming to bring their offerings and sacrifices, if their hearts were right, and if they were able to refocus on the Lord and His glory and presence, such people might expect to be renewed in the favor of God and His Covenant, and strengthened to live more faithfully for Him.

For a fuller study of the pattern of worship revealed in Scripture, order the book, The Highest Thing, by T. M. Moore, from our online store. These studies and brief essays will help you to see how the pattern of sound worship, which began in the Law of God, comes to complete expression in the rest of Scripture. Pastors, we’re getting ready to start the next season of The Pastors’ Fellowship. Write to me today at tmmoore@ailbe.org for information about how you join in these online discussions. Our theme for the coming series is “The Worldview of God’s Law.” There is no charge for participation, but you must reserve a place for these monthly gatherings. Subscribe to Crosfigell, the devotional newsletter of The Fellowship of Ailbe.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.