Wednesday, November 8, 2023

On top of the Mountain

Reading

Exodus 19

Introduction [WATCH VIDEO]

If someone had convinced you on Friday morning that God was going to show up today in awesome power and holiness, how would you have felt about that? How would you have prepared yourself to encounter God? Would you even be here, or would you have stayed away?

Have you ever wondered what your life is all about; what your life as a Christian is all about?

The passage we’ve just read gives some idea what such an encounter could be like and some answers to those questions about life.

Setting the Scene

A couple of months after leaving Egypt, the Israelites have set up camp in front of Mount Sinai. This was where God spoke to Moses from the burning bush and sent him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

Starting at chapter 18, we see the Israelites being transformed into a nation under God. In chapter 19, the people encounter God for themselves, and beginning in chapter 20, God tells his already redeemed people how he expects them to live.

Promises and Purpose

They’ve arrived, and they’ve set up camp. The next thing Moses does is to climb the mountain to meet with God.

On top of the mountain, God gives Moses a message for his people. First of all, God wants to remind them of all he’s done for them so far.

4“You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

And God wants them to know the plans he has for them.

5Now 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, 6you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

There are wonderful promises here.

Do you have a treasured possession? Perhaps something left to you by a favourite aunt or uncle? Maybe your grandad’s war medals or your football trophies? Or, given the number of people here who engage in a particular form of exercise, your electric bike?

How do we treat our treasured possessions? We protect them, handle them carefully, we give them pride of place. We show them off, or maybe hide them away; we think about them, talk about them.

As Jesus said, “… where your treasure is, there shall your heart be also.” (Matt. 6:21) And God says to his people, “you will be my treasured possession.” Out of all the peoples on earth, they’ll be the people closest to his heart and foremost on his mind.

He says, “6you will be for me a kingdom of priests…” A priest stands as an intermediary representing God to the people and the people to God. And God’s plan is for his people to represent God before all the nations on earth, and to be instrumental in bringing the nations close to God.

He says, “… you will be for me … a holy nation.” There’s that word ‘holy’. I think it’s a word we struggle with because we can have all kinds of ideas about what it means. A definition I’ve found helpful is, “Not for ordinary use.”

When I was in the sixth form, my friend who led me to the LORD brought his guitar to school because we were leading school assembly that day. One of the lads picked it up and started singing a folk song that had fairly mild swear words in it. My friend took great offence and told him to stop because his guitar was for worship, not for that kind of music. It was not for ordinary use. For him, it was a holy thing.

The nation of Israel was not to be for ordinary use. Israel was to be set apart – another way of thinking of holiness – for the special purpose of making God and his ways known to the world.

These are wonderful promises, but for all this to happen there were conditions to comply with.

They were no longer to live life just as they saw fit. To show God to the world, they had to live God’s way. He needed their full obedience.

The measure of the obedience required was to be enshrined in the covenant he was about to make with them. They needed to commit to their part in keeping the covenant.

God is very good at keeping covenants. Back in Genesis, God made a covenant with Abraham. He promised to make him into a huge nation, to give him the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession, and that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed.

But Abraham and Sarah had problems with infertility. They were childless, but God gave them a son, Isaac, and the vast number of people now gathered in Sinai, the descendants of Abraham, showed that God had kept the first part of his promise.

The new nation of Israel is about to begin the journey to fulfil the second part of God’s promise to Abraham: possessing the land.

The third part … we’ll come back to that later.

And now God is about to make another covenant with the whole nation. There are promises, and there are terms and conditions. It’s like God says, ‘Here’s the destination I’ve planned for you, but my way is the only road that will get you there.’

So Moses goes back down the mountain and tells the elders all that God has said to him. They like what they hear. Their response is, “8… ‘We will do everything the LORD has said.’

So Moses goes back up the mountain and reports their response to God.

God wants the people to know that it’s not just Moses telling them how to live. They need to know that Moses is doing as God instructs him. He’ll come down to the mountain to make himself known. He’ll come shrouded in a dense cloud. God is so holy they could never look on him and live!
Prepare to meet your Maker

They’re given two days to prepare.

They have to prepare the venue. Wherever God is becomes holy! The mountain must be set apart as holy.

They have to put a boundary around it which they cross on pain of death. They can’t cross the boundary even to deal with trespassers or they’ll be trespassing too! They can only approach the mountain when they hear the sound of a ram’s horn.

They have to prepare themselves. They can’t be casual in coming into the presence of a holy God. Even those who’ve been acting as priests, and think of themselves as having right of access must also consecrate themselves. The traditional Jewish understanding here is that, in the time before the Levitical priesthood, the firstborn in households would have acted as priests.

They all have to be clean before this holy God, so they must wash their clothes and abstain from sexual relations.

They spend two days getting everything ready. How might you have spent the last two days if you knew God would turn up in power today? Our God is still, awesome, powerful and holy. We do well to remember that.

On the third day, God comes down.

I want to read verses 16 to 20 again, from a different translation (NLT) with a more expressive style. What I’m about to read sounds like a volcanic eruption, but Mount Sinai isn’t a volcano and never has been. There’s no natural explanation for what you’re about to hear. This is God!

16On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled.

17Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

18All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.

19As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply.

20The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses climbed the mountain.

Poor Moses! He’s just climbed the mountain again, but God is so concerned for the safety of his people that he tells him to go back down and warn them again to keep away. The manifest presence of God is dangerous for sinful people!

The next chapter begins, “And God spoke all these words:”. But we’ll hear more about that in a couple of weeks time.

The people’s response to what they’ve witnessed is recorded in later chapter 20:

18When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not let God speak to us or we will die.’

20Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.’

Reverence for God is a good thing to hold on to to keep you from sinning.

Now, to cut a long story short, the Israelites didn’t live up to God’s expectations. They didn’t really learn reverence for God to keep them from sinning.

They failed to keep God’s law and followed the ways of the nations around them; they gave themselves up for ordinary use rather than being God’s holy nation.

As for their priestly role, centuries later the prophet Isaiah wrote, “26:18bWe have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.”
A New Covenant

Another covenant was needed and God must visit the earth again. John writes in his gospel,

3:16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world and preached the message, “… The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent, and believe the good news. ” (Mark 1:15b)

The purposes of God always prevail.

Humanly speaking, Jesus was born a descendant of Abraham, and through Jesus, all the nations of the world have been blessed just as God promised Abraham. The church has spread throughout the earth.

The Lord’s sacrificial death and his resurrection have made it possible for anyone and everyone who will repent and trust in Jesus to know God for themselves.

Jesus is still building his Church. It’s true that the institutional ‘church’ has made many mistakes down the ages. But the true church, the Kingdom of God, has grown and grown as people have heard of Jesus, changed their thinking and reverently put their trust in him.

To God’s special people, the people of the Kingdom, Peter writes in his first letter:

9 … you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, (now, where have we heard that before?) that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

People of the kingdom, gathered here in this place: this is what you are! Living this out, actively being God’s people is the best thing we can do as a church.

Remember that, as God’s treasured possession, we’re on display. Our priestly role includes being ambassadors and servants, showing God to the community, drawing others into the kingdom.

God is at work among us and is leading us forward. That should encourage us to forge ahead with the work that God gives us to do.

And together we’ve identified four areas of need we can get involved with to help us practically show the love of God. These were mentioned earlier in our service today

It would be good to get involved with these as much as you’re able, but, over and above all that, let’s be the holy people of God. Peter continues in his letter.

11Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Let’s not be for ordinary use. And remember that having a proper reverence for our holy God will help to keep you from sinning.

The New Testament writer of Hebrews refers back to the events in Exodus to tell us that we’re in a better position than the Israelites were. In chapter 12 he writes:

18You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, …

22But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?

Jesus, the one who speaks to us, is the only hope there is. But he is a sure and certain hope.

Summary

We’re not for ordinary use.

Together with believers throughout the world:
  • we are God’s chosen people,
  • we are a royal priesthood,
  • we are a holy nation, and
  • we have a purpose to fulfill.
Let’s remember to maintain a reverence for God and give him the obedience to is worthy of.

In closing, hear some further words from Hebrews 12:

28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’