Greeting Members and Friends
It time once again for our weekly Sunday School preview so thanks for joining me and welcome back. “Called into Covenant With God” is the October unit focus. This Sunday’s lesson entitled “God’s Covenant with the Returned Exiles” is about a renewed commitment to an existing covenant.
After their deliverance for Egypt, God made His covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai. After the death of Joshua who followed Moses as their leader and led them into the Promised Land, the children of Israel began to depart from the covenant their fathers made with God. They did better at times than others, but the overall trend was toward disobedience. Finally, as punishment for their continual disobedience, God allowed other nations to destroy Jerusalem and carry the children of Israel into captivity.
After 70 years in exile, the first of the children of Israel were allowed to return to their homeland. But they did not return as free people but as servants or subjects of the Persian empire. Their first great project after their return was to rebuild the temple. This project could have been completed in 6 years, but ended up taking 23 years. When the third wave of exiles returned led by Nehemiah, they finally rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem. Today’s lesson takes place right after the completion of the wall. The whole nation of Israel gathered together as they did at Mt. Sinai but this time in Jerusalem to hear the reading of the Law of Moses and the covenant their fathers made with the Lord.
Over a period of several days they listened to the Law for part of the day and confessed their sin the other part of the day. They took full responsibility for their sins and those of their fathers and acknowledged that God was fair and just in His treatment of them. They also acknowledged that God was merciful and true and brought them back to the land He gave to their fathers as an inheritance. At the end of this period of hearing the Law and confessing their sin and the sins of their fathers, they all signed a covenant agreeing to keep and obey the Law of Moses and keep the covenant God made with their fathers.
So, this lesson is about second chances and the mercy of God to do what should have been done right the first time. There is a limit to what God will tolerate. He gave Israel many opportunities to repent and keep His covenant before they were exiled. In this lesson, the children of Israel acknowledged this fact and vowed not to repeat the mistakes of the fathers. To get a greater understanding of this lesson read the daily SS readings found in your SS book and on our website and mobile app. Well, that’s all for this week’s preview. Be sure to join us in Sunday School this week for a fuller discussion of this lesson and the general topic of God’s call into covenant. So, until then
Grace and peace
Pastor Jordan
