Scripture: Deuteronomy 27 (especially verses 1-8)
Moses has just finished a long recitation of God's Law. In it, God's character was revealed along with the expectations He had for His people Israel. As the declamation concluded, the relationship between the nation and its God was 'made official' as each declared the reality that Israel belonged to God (as we saw in the last post).
But that's not quite the last step for Israel before going ahead and starting this covenant relationship. It's great that they raised their voices as one and said, "You are our God!" But here in chapter 27, Moses instructs them to follow it up with an important step: write it down.
In the ancient Near East, that was actually a harder commandment to obey than it would be for you or me. If I wanted to commemorate, immortalize, or enshrine what God has done and said to me, I have at my fingertips paper, pens, a journal, Facebook, a blog, YouTube, etc. In Moses' time, though, the command to "write it down" meant building an altar and etching the Law onto stones.
But that is even better, isn't it? This commemoration will not just be an action, but an event: Moses describes what they should do as "eating... and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God." It sounds like a time they wouldn't soon forget... which is sort of the point.
And this is essentially why Christians get baptized. We already have the Bible in writing, so we don't need to write down God's words to us. Jesus already sacrificed Himself once for all, so we don't need to build an altar. But we do need to get together with our new spiritual family and "write down" what happened with a celebration we won't forget.
I think this idea is relevant far beyond our baptism, too. We greatly benefit from regularly celebrating with others what God has done and is doing in our lives. What has He spoken into your life that you need to "write down"?
