January 7, 2018 – Moses and Jesus and Us – Covenants and Remembrance

Covenants and Remembrance

Exodus 24:1-8 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, ² but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”

³ When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” ⁴ Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.

He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. ⁶ Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”

⁸ Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Who is to “come up to the Lord” (verse 1)?

How many are to approach the Lord with Moses (verse 2)?

What did the people say when Moses told them “all the Lord’s words and laws” (verse 3)?

When did Moses build the alter and set up the twelve stone pillars (verse 4)?

Who did Moses send to make the fellowship offerings to the Lord (verse 5)?

Where did Moses splash half of the blood (verse 6)?

How did the people respond to Moses reading the Book of the Covenant to them (verse 7)?

Where did Moses sprinkle the other half of the blood (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Luke 22:14-23 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶ For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁷ After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. ¹⁸ For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹ And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁰ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. ²¹ But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. ²² The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!” ²³ They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

When did Jesus and his apostles recline at the table (verse 14)?

How did Jesus feel about eating this Passover with the disciples (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what did Jesus mean by “I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God” (verse 16)?

What did Jesus do after giving thanks with the cup (verse 17)?

When will Jesus “drink again from the fruit of the vine” (verse 18)?

What does Jesus tell the disciples to do “in remembrance of me” (verse 19)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean by “this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (verse 20)?

Whose hand was with Jesus at the table (verse 21)?

Why will the Son of Man go (verse 22)?

What question did the disciples have (verse 23)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what is the connection between Moses sprinkling the blood of young bulls when the people agreed to the covenant in Exodus 24:1-8 and Jesus sharing the cup which is “the new covenant in my blood” in Luke 22:14-22?

Romans 3:9-20 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. ¹⁰ As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
¹¹     there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
¹² All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”
¹³ “Their throats are open graves;
    their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
¹⁴     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶     ruin and misery mark their ways,
¹⁷ and the way of peace they do not know.”
¹⁸     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Where are Jews and Gentiles alike (verse 9)?

Who is righteous (verse 10)?

Who seeks God (verse 11)?

What has everyone become (verse 12)?

What practices deceit (verse 13)?

Where is “cursing and bitterness” (verse 14)?

What are their feet swift to do (verse 15)?

What marks their ways (verse 16)?

What do they not know (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what is the importance of “there is no fear of God before their eyes” (verse 18)?

Who does the law make the whole world accountable to (verse 19)?

How do we become conscious of sin (verse 20)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how does Jesus saying that the Passover He was eating with the disciples in Luke 22:14-22 will find “fulfillment in the kingdom of God” provide hope for all who are condemned by Paul in Romans 3:9-20?

In your opinion, how can the people who told Moses in Exodus 24:1-8 “we will do everything the Lord has said, we will obey” be part of the humanity of whom Paul describes in Romans 3:9-20 as not being righteous or seeking after God?

Hebrews 8:7-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. ⁸ But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
⁹ It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
¹⁰ This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
¹¹ No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
¹² For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”

¹³ By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

What would not have happened if there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant (verse 7)?

Who found fault with the people (verse 8)?

What does that finding of fault lead to (verse 8)?

What did the Lord do when the people did not remain faithful to His covenant (verse 9)?

Where will the Lord write the new covenant (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what has changed that allows the people who were not faithful to become people of whom God says “they will be my people” (verse 10)?

Why will people not say “know the Lord” (verse 11)?

How will the Lord treat “their wickedness” (verse 12)?

What will the Lord do with “their sins” (verse 12)?

What did the Lord do with the first covenant (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does Romans 3:9-20 reveal about the purpose of the covenant that Hebrews 8:7-13 says that God has made obsolete?

In your opinion, what does Jesus in Luke 22:14-23 reveal about how the new covenant will be established that Paul writes about in Hebrews 8:7-13?

In your opinion, what reason does Paul in Hebrews 8:7-13 give to assure that the new covenant of God is more likely to succeed that the failed covenant that God established with the people of Israel in Exodus 24:1-8?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Luke, Romans, and Hebrews teach us to about how the failure of the first and soon to be obsolete covenant between God and this people is important to those who become the people of God through the second covenant?

In your opinion, as the people of God, why is our remembrance of Jesus through taking the bread and wine so important?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)