God’s Conditional Promise to Make a Peculiar Treasure to Himself

Exodus 19:3-6 (KJV)

The beauty of making a promise is keeping it, yet anyone of us may make a promise and never fulfill it. But don’t you just love it because God is a promise-keeper? He promised Israel He’d make them a peculiar treasure to Himself; the promise was conditional.

 “ ³And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; ⁴ Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself ” (Exodus 19:3-4).

Moses went up to the mountain, and the Lord instructed him to tell Israel they saw what He did to the Egyptians. They had seen God triumph in the confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh when Moses returned to Egypt. Pharaoh was a type of devil. In Moses’ first encounter with Pharaoh, Pharaoh asked “Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?” God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and sent ten different plagues on the land of Egypt. Pharaoh did let the children of Israel go. They saw how God bore them on eagles’ wings; this was figurative of God bringing His own from Egypt to Sinai, illustrating how God as a loving parent saves and protects His children just as an eagle cares for its young.  He wanted them to remember how He brought them to Himself. This foreshadows Christ’s death on the cross, bringing mankind back in a right relationship with Him. 

“ ⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; ⁶ and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel” (ESV).

In these two verses the Lord called Israel: “a treasured possession,” “a kingdom of priests,” and “a holy nation.” These titles were dependent upon two conditions for the nation of Israel and are so for us, the church, today – obedience to God and keeping His covenant. Then there are divine blessings which such a nation would experience: “for all the earth is mine;” the nation of Israel would belong especially to the Lord, representing Him in the earth and being set apart unto Him for His purposes. Is God’s promise relevant today? Yes, it is; He is a promise-keeper. He, and He alone is unique and sovereign and must be recognized as our only True and Living God. His peculiar treasure is to have no other gods before Him. He is jealous and all-powerful; no so-called god of man’s can stand against Him. We are God’s spiritual kingdom, “His treasured possession.” Let us represent.