Sunday, June 10, 2007

Keeping the Feast with Young and Old

In our passage this morning, we noticed that Yahweh insisted that both young and old should go to the feast of Yahweh (Ex. 10:9), and Pharaoh understood easily that this meant the “little ones” (10:24). The covenant family of God is made up of young and old, male and female, and this means that all of them must go to the feast of Yahweh. And Paul says in 1 Cor. 10 that what was true of Israel is true of the Christian Church. All of them were baptized in the sea (not just the adults) and all of them ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink (not just the healthy adults), and the drink came from the Rock that followed them. That rock was Christ. Therefore this is the pattern throughout Scripture: God deals us through the covenant, and this means that he wants all of us, young and old, male and female. And he invites us to the feast, to the spiritual food and drink which is Christ. Therefore, first we invite you to be baptized, take upon yourself and your children the sign of the covenant, the promise of the gospel and then you are invited to this table, to the feast, you, your sons and daughters, your grandsons and all your little ones as well as your grandfathers and grandmothers. Whether young or old, whether male or female: for we must hold the feast to the Lord. This is none other than the overwhelming mercy and grace of God; we don’t deserve it. We’ve done nothing to make ourselves worthy. And that’s the point. The gospel is grace. It’s not about how old you are; its about the goodness of God, the gift of God. It’s all about Jesus. Put down your unbelief, your worry, your fear. And come, worship the Lord.

No comments: