God brought Israel out of Egypt so they could be free to worship him and enjoy his fellowship.

But to be in that kind of relationship, they would need to become the kind of people who could enjoy a holy God.

Thanks for linking up with today in the Word.

It's the daily devotional from Moody Bible Institute.

Hope this first week of the new Year is off to a good start for you.

I'm John Gager.

You know God took the initiative to prepare his people.

Step one Teach Israel what holiness looks like.

After the Exodus, God met the nation at Mount Sinai and gave them instructions on how they should live.

We first encountered these teachings in the Book of Exodus.

The purpose of these rules was to prepare Israel to be the kind of people who would enjoy fellowship with God.

These instructions reflect his character.

If the people want to be with him, they must understand what he is like and change appropriately.

They needed to become more like him.

And God didn't leave them to guess or figure it out on their own.

No.

Instead, he clearly told them how to behave in the Ten Commandments and the many other instructions we find in Exodus.

He taught Israel to value what he valued.

He expected them to change the way they thought and acted.

Today, in the word we read in Exodus 19 verse eight, the people responded, together we will do everything the Lord has said.

It's important to realize that he was not imposing rules for his sake.

Rather, he was showing them his character for their sake so they could have fellowship with him.

Not surprisingly, they agreed to do it.

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