February 25
“In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you,” Exodus 20:24.
When you think of Exodus chapter 20, immediately you think of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are recorded as God gave them to Moses to be spoken to all the people of Israel. The thundering, the fire and the smoke on Mt. Sinai, the sounding of the trumpet which grew louder and louder, and the quaking of the mountain filled the people with fear. They asked Moses to speak to them instead of God speaking to them directly.
The Ten Commandments contain the Moral Law for all generations unto the end of time. The Ten Commandments call for perfect obedience on the part of all people. We need not meditate long upon the Commandments and their meaning and we will see how miserably we fail to keep the Commandments as God requires. Quickly we will conclude that we will not get to heaven by keeping the Commandments. The apostle Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Romans, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin,” Romans 3:20. And, “Sin is lawlessness,” 1 John 3:4.
Having given the Ten Commandments to the people, the Lord said to Moses, “In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you.” God’s name is not restricted to buildings, but it is recorded in Holy Scripture, which contains both the Law and the Gospel. The Law brings us to a knowledge of our sins and convicts us of our sinfulness.
To be blessed, we turn to the Good News in the Gospel, which tells us how much God loves us. He loved us so much that He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, into the world to be our Savior. Jesus fulfilled the Commandments in our place. He took our sins upon Himself and shed His blood on Calvary’s cross to wash our sins away. Through His suffering and death, He paid the price to redeem us. He died! However, on the third day He rose from the grave and conquered death and the devil for us. Believe and trust in Jesus as God’s Son and your Savior, and you receive heaven’s blessing – the forgiveness of all your sins and victory over death and the devil! What a blessing! It is yours by faith in Jesus. The blessing is yours by God’s grace. Whenever we gather in God’s house, where His Word is proclaimed in all its truth, He comes to us to bless us.
Once He came in blessing, All our ills redressing,
Came in likeness lowly, Son of God most holy,
Bore the cross to save us, Hope and freedom gave us.
Still He comes within us, Still His voice would win us,
From the sins that hurt us, Would to Truth convert us,
From our foolish errors, Ere He comes in terrors.
He who thus endureth, Bright reward secureth;
Come, then, O Lord Jesus, From our sins release us.
Let us here confess Thee, Till in heav’n we bless Thee. Amen.