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Exodus 34:10
“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.”
Restoring the covenant between God and Israel was an essential task once the Israelites had been pardoned for committing idolatry at Sinai (Ex. 32–33). After all, the Lord does not relate to human beings except through covenant, instituting the covenant of works with all people at the beginning of history and thereafter relating to redeemed men and women via the covenant of grace (Gen. 2:15–17; 3:15; Rom. 5:12–21). Until the covenant was restored, the Lord and the Israelites could not be in a proper relationship.
God’s first step in restoring the covenant with Israel was to bring Moses back up on Mount Sinai, where the prophet received a vision of our Lord’s divine character (Ex 34:1–9). Today’s passage features our Maker’s formal announcement that the covenant was being restored. His words in Exodus 34:10 echo much of what He said earlier in Exodus 19:4–6, for the Lord promises a special bond with Israel, the nation through which He will do great things. This reinforces the fact that the covenant relationship between God and the Israelites after the golden calf was substantially the same as the covenant relationship between the Lord and Israel before the people’s transgression of the first and second commandments. What a wonder of grace is this restoration of the covenant with Israel. Matthew Henry comments: “Reconciliation being made, a covenant of friendship is here settled between God and Israel. The traitors are not only pardoned, but preferred and made favorites again.”
Our Creator announced that He would do such great things before Israel that the surrounding nations would see the Lord’s work (Ex. 34:10). We can think of many examples that occurred subsequent to the wilderness wanderings in which God fulfilled the promise in today’s passage. He brought down the walls of Jericho with a trumpet blast and a shout (Josh. 6). He prospered Solomon to such a degree that other nations came to learn from him (1 Kings 10:1–13). He sent Elisha to heal Naaman, a high-ranking officer in Syria (2 Kings 5:1–14). But these great things are subsumed under the chief great thing that He has done in and through the Israelites. God promised to bless people from all nations with salvation through the line of Abraham, and He kept this promise by sending the Lord Jesus Christ to live a perfect life, die for the sins of His people, rise from the dead, and ascend on high to rule and reign over all as the God-man and messianic King (Gen. 12:1–3; Gal. 3; 1 Tim. 3:16).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
We are tempted to consider miracles such as the parting of the Red Sea as the greatest acts of God in history. In reality, the greatest act that the Lord has ever performed through His people is the purchase of salvation by Jesus Christ, the true Israel of God. Let us praise Him this day for His great work of redemption.
FOR FURTHER STUDY
- Isaiah 52:10
- John 1:43–51
- John 14:12–14
- Romans 11:33