What is normally called the Old Covenant – is a continuation of the wonderful relationship God had with his faithful Abraham. The very large promises God made to Abraham in the covenant setting have reached the time when God was ready to make good on them. Not all of them. Some of the promises would wait millennia to be fully realised. But for now, the time has come for Abraham’s descendants – to receive the promised land.
“You gave the people of Israel this land that you had promised their ancestors long before—a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Jeremiah 32:22 NLT
There is a snippet of conversation between God and Moses, which wonderfully describes the moment when God decided to act. Here it is:
“There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.” When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied. “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.””
Exodus 3:2-10 NLT
After numerous plagues, pestilences, punishments, signs and wonders, and in the end the slaying of the firstborn sons of the Egyptians – finally the stubborn Pharaoh relented and let the people go.
“They set out from the city of Rameses in early spring—on the fifteenth day of the first month—on the morning after the first Passover celebration. The people of Israel left defiantly, in full view of all the Egyptians. Meanwhile, the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn sons, whom the Lord had killed the night before. The Lord had defeated the gods of Egypt that night with great acts of judgment!”
Numbers 33:3-4 NLT
But it didn’t take long for the pharaoh to change his mind. He collected his horses and his war chariots and chased after the Israelites intending to return them back to slavery. He caught up with them at the Red Sea, and it took only one look down at the Israel’s camp to produce a smile of triumph on his face. But he already forgot the God, the great and mighty and Awesome God of Israel – who all but destroyed Egypt by His powerful right arm – just days and weeks ago.
“But the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, as the water stood up like a wall on both sides. That is how the Lord rescued Israel from the hand of the Egyptians that day. And the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the seashore. When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”
Exodus 14:29-31 NLT
God had big plans for Israel. He called them: My people. It was for the sake of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was for the sake of the great and precious promises, for the sake of His covenantal loyalty – that God was kind and helpful and gracious to them. He wanted to bless them. To Save them. But He knew their stubborn rebellious hearts. Even so, He decided to give them every chance to see His loving kindness and His loyalty, His good intentions for their prosperity. And it is because of this unmerited generosity and His loyal love, that few – the precious few, whom God considers as His priceless, invaluable jewels – will be Saved.
There were always few. In every generation there were few. Few who understood. Few who trusted God. Who loved Him and obeyed Him and lived by following His ways.