Covenant Walking

5 min read

13 “ ‘But if anyone who is ceremonially clean and not on a journey fails to celebrate the Passover, they must be cut off from their people for not presenting the LORD’s offering at the appointed time. They will bear the consequences of their sin.

14 “ ‘A foreigner residing among you is also to celebrate the LORD’s Passover in accordance with its rules and regulations. You must have the same regulations for both the foreigner and the native-born.’ ”

Numbers 9:13-14

We see here God’s grace at work. If people were unable to celebrate the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, they were to celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the point of designating a particular time is so that the community could celebrate it together, for the same purpose, in unity.

And the point of the Passover, at least in large part, is to remember God’s deliverance of His people out of the land of slavery—in other words, to remember God’s covenant faithfulness, mercy, grace, and love. And the point of remembering is so that the people of God would walk in covenant fellowship with Him.

But what about the foreigners? Why would they need to celebrate the Passover? God did not deliver them out of the land of slavery, as He did with Israel.

In a way, though, God did. And God does. Through God’s covenant people, God desires to deliver all people out of our bondage to sin and to draw all people into the blessings of His kingdom family. God has stated that desire in His covenant with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), with Noah (Genesis 9:1, 7), with Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:28), and with us (Matthew 28:19-20).

If Christians today were still bound to the Mosaic Law, none of us would ever be “ceremonial clean.” We would be constantly “defiled” by the world we live in. Strictly speaking, though, we are still bound to the Mosaic Law, but Jesus Christ has completely fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law. And so, we too have fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law when we are in Christ through faith.

Through faith in Christ, then, there is now never any reason that would prevent us from celebrating and remembering our delivery out of our slavery to sin, for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) . In Christ, we can walk in covenant fellowship with God every day and receive the blessings of God’s covenant promises every day.

Father, Your promises never fail. Your love never fails. And the blood of Jesus has never failed me yet, nor will it ever. Forgive me when I take Your covenant grace for granted and do not walk in covenant fellowship with You. Thank You for never letting me go and never giving up on me. But may Your Spirit lead me to walk in lock-step with You into Your covenant blessings and covenant promises. In Jesus’s name. Amen.