Daily Devotional
Blood, Mountain, Resurrection
At Sinai, the people do not wander into God’s presence as they please. There is blood on the altar, the book of the covenant is read aloud, and the people bind themselves to obedience before Moses ascends into the cloud. As Origen says, “Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but the rest shall not come near.” The holiness of God is not a small thing. Nearness requires covenant, sacrifice, and reverence.
In the resurrection account, that same holy God has acted again, not in shadow but in truth. The women come bearing spices for a corpse and instead receive the news that the crucified one lives. Yet the disciples do not quickly believe. Tatian records their shame plainly: “they did not believe them… and these sayings were before their eyes as the sayings of madness.” So Scripture rebukes both presumption and unbelief: presumption that treats God lightly, and unbelief that refuses His mighty work.
But the risen Lord does not leave His apostles in doubt; He sends them. The covenant sealed with blood at the mountain now opens into the preaching of repentance to the nations through the blood of Christ. Therefore do not say you belong to the covenant if you will not hear the words of the Lord and do them. Come with reverence; remain with steadfastness. Fast, pray, confess your sins, keep your tongue from falsehood, and show mercy to the needy. The Lord who rose from the tomb reigns now, and those who are His must walk as people under oath, bearing faithful witness in a disbelieving world.
“Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but the rest shall not come near.”
— Origen, Against Celsus
“Mark 16:11 And they, when they heard them say that he was alive and had appeared unto them, 38 did not believe them: Luke 24:11a and these sayings were before their eyes as the sayings of madness.”
— Tatian, The Diatessaron
For Reflection & Discussion
What command of Christ have you heard but delayed obeying, and what will you do today to keep it without excuse?
How will you practice reverence this week through a concrete rule of prayer, fasting, or confession rather than approaching holy things carelessly?
Whom will you serve or admonish in the name of the risen Lord this week, by almsgiving, visiting the sick, or speaking truthful witness?
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