Grace Before

“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

-Exodus 20:1

“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

-Deuteronomy 5:6

Each of these verses precedes the two places in the Old Testament that contain the Ten Commandments. These Ten Commandments are the summation of the Law. All of the Law that Israel was called to obey is contained in these commands, the rest of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, is an expounding of these commands. Both times before God spells out the demands of his covenant with his people, he says, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” In other words, he is saying, “I redeemed you!” I took you out of slavery. I defeated the Egyptians on your behalf. I heard your cry and I acted. I did something that you did not deserve. I shined my grace on you.

There is a common misconception that the Old Testament is the Testament of Law devoid of grace. Too often, we miss those verses at the beginning of the Ten Commandments. We skip straight to the commands and miss the grace. God is asking his people to obey his commands, to covenant with him upon the basis of his gracious action. He is not telling them to obey without an inclination of how he will act toward them. He has shown his loving kindness to them by redeeming them from slavery in Egypt. God acted first. He redeemed them. Then, he says if you want to live a life of blessing follow my commands. This is important for two reasons. One, it keeps us in harmony with God so that we are close to him. Two, God’s plan for life keeps us in harmony with others and ourselves. Following God’s commands brings us back into harmony with the relationships sin destroyed. We follow his commands and obey him, not because he is a harsh taskmaster, but because God first gave us his grace. He says to us, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of sin, out of the land of slavery.” “I have redeemed you!” May we follow our God of grace and live out his commands in response to his great loving kindness to us!