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The Tablets

Words of Faith Final

The Tablets
Words of Faith 3-6-2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2023
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Exodus 31
[18] When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

Commentators call this a "transitional" verse. We are certainly getting ready for what happens in the next chapter. It isn't pretty. But there is more here.
We don't want to miss this fantastic moment in which the summary of God's law was inscribed by the finger of God on two tablets of stone. It is an image that is hard to even imagine. We may have all kinds of questions. What does God's finger look like? What type of stone? Was it soft? Was it fragile? Were they heavy, demanding for an older man to carry? (This may be the origin of the phrase "old guy strength.")
We get all kinds of images from this verse. We talk about something very permanent and firm being "written in stone." The utterance of God that we call The Law-- the 10 Commandments-- was now engraved on two Tablets of Testimony. These ten utterances of God were also impressed in the minds and hearts of the Jewish people.
These two tablets, or ones like them (as we shall see in the next chapter), will reside inside the "Ark of the Testimony." This Law would be at the tabernacle's central and most holy place. Upon the covering above this Testimony of the Law, the Blood of the Lamb would be sprinkled as a covering for sins. This all foreshadows the joining of what we call Law and Grace.
It is this Testimony of the law that defines our relationship with God. The Law also defines for us the way and time in which we have departed from the blessing of God. This establishes the need that we have as broken sinners-- the problem that Jesus came to resolve once and for all through his death and resurrection.
Jesus was once asked, "What is the greatest Commandment?" Many Jewish people would have immediately expected to hear that the law of the Sabbath was the highest. Others would assume the command to have no other gods. We might immediately think of the command against murder or adultery. But Jesus gave an interesting answer. He chose from a different part of the five books of the Law.
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:37-40).
There is such depth in the truth of this answer. In the journey of God's people, great disasters seem to occur when we lose sight of these two. We will undoubtedly see it in the next chapter. In fact, all of the Law and the Prophets are drawn from these two commands.
These tablets of stone carried significant weight. The Prophet Jeremiah wrote: "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people" (Jeremiah 31:33).
Jesus said: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matthew 5:17).

Lord God, help me to keep in focus the great value of your Law, not as a way of salvation, but as a mirror of revelation. Help me see how you desire to transform me into a New Creation. Help me to walk in your ways as you write Your precept upon my heart. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2023 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.