A Peculiar Treasure

4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites." (Exodus 19:4-6)

These words reveal God’s purposes for the ancient Israelites. Although the whole world belonged to Him, God told the Israelites that they were special to Him, a particular kind of kingdom among kingdoms, where all would be welcome to approach Him freely. In contrast, when God descended upon Mt. Sinai, He instructed Moses to put boundaries up around the mountain so that none would approach it, for they would “surely be put to death.” My Life Application Study Bible says the reason for this was “[b]ecause God’s glory and power were so strong and because God is completely holy…”

What good news it is that because of Christ we can approach God freely without the worry of dying. As believers, we are that “kingdom of priests” and that “holy nation,” not because of anything that we did; indeed, we are no better at obeying than the ancient Israelites proved to be. It is because of what Christ did for us by obeying the will of the Father fully and by keeping His covenant that the conditions God laid out for the ancient Israelites were met.

My King James Version translates the middle part of Exodus 19:5 in this way: “then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people…” Peter referred to Jewish Christians as “a peculiar people.” Bible dictionaries reveal that the Latin word which peculiar is derived from “denotes…a special possession or property.” All too often we think of this word to mean “odd” or “strange”; that may be what non-believers think of Christians. Nevertheless, may it be that we are comforted by our peculiarity in Christ.