Exodus 19:1-20:3
Why are you here?
Why do you come to church?
Because this is what you always do? Because you’re trying to impress God? Because your Dad told you to? Because you must? Because without God’s Word you will die? Because you are desperate to be with the Lord and his people? Because you fear the Lord, and want to avoid his anger?
Why are you here?
Today’s passage is about being ready to face the Lord. Are you prepared? Who is this LORD that Israel is about to meet? Unapproachable. Dangerous. Terrifying. Holy.
The first thing we learn from this passage is that
The Lord will destroy you because you are unclean
The Lord will destroy you unless you have a representative
The Lord will destroy you unless your representative is Jesus – so listen to Him!
1. The Lord will destroy you because you are unclean
Today the rescued people of God, chosen by Him, kept safe by Him, fed by Him, lead by Him, watched over and protected by Him - finally are gathered to hear from Him at His holy mountain. And yet they cannot approach Him. 12 Mark off a boundary all around the mountain. Warn the people, ‘Be careful! Do not go up on the mountain or even touch its boundaries. Anyone who touches the mountain will certainly be put to death.
21 Then the Lord told Moses, “Go back down and warn the people not to break through the boundaries to see the Lord, or they will die. 22 Even the priests who regularly come near to the Lord must purify themselves so that the Lord does not break out and destroy them.”
Why would the Lord warn his own people that he will destroy them? What’s up with that?
Well, as I mentioned at the start, God is a HOLY God. Holy. What does that actually mean? We talk about the Holy God, Holy Bible that kind of thing – but what does it mean? So I looked it up. And “holy” basically means who God is. It is his nature, his selfhood. These are some of the descriptions of holiness: power, glory, transcendence, uniqueness, exclusiveness, pureness, dangerousness. He is other. He is pure. He is power. He is perfectly good. But that goodness is not a kind of “oh, how nice” goodness – it is goodness like a blade of sharpened steel, goodness like a blazing fire – goodness that will cut through and burn up anything that is not equally good.
And that makes him unapproachable. But God’s holiness is also expressed in his saving work and being with his people. So how can unholy people (that is people who are not-God) meet with the Holy God. Can not-God and God meet?
Well, yes, but only because God has made it possible, and (and this is important) only in the way that he has made it possible. There is only one way to God – His Way. Any other approach will end up with you dead, destroyed by his holiness.
As all of you know, we’ve just got a dog. And she’s great. Dogs are great. They’re such cool animals. Because a dog exists to please its master. That’s what they live for. A dog’s role, a dog’s job description is to serve and obey his master.
But a dog who doesn’t do that, a dog who is disobedient and running wild – a wild dog – is a problem dog, a bad dog, we say. He’s not doing what he should be doing. Instead of a faithful companion the dog becomes a menace, a nuisance, even dangerous to those around him. A bad dog is bad for those around him – and bad for the dog himself. He is not happy, but angry. He is alone, isolated, friendless, snapping at the world around him. Living in fear, anger – ready to attack to defend what little he has.
We were created to please God. He is our master and we were made to please him, to serve him and to love serving him. It’s in our nature. But like wild dogs we have gone astray. Bad dog. Stop pretending to be God (Ex17) and let God be God.
As Christians, we should know better. In everything we are to please God – all of life belongs to him. And yet so often we are like bad dogs, disobedient dogs – running away from our master when he calls, eating rotten fruit or cat poo even when our master is saying no (true story). Weeing on the floor inside (true story). We march around demanding our rights, demanding that he, our master, does what WE want him to do.
Dear friends, I am not God. You are not God. Like Israel we march around demanding water and food and comfort – our rights – instead of trusting him to provide what we need. Dear brothers, we have no rights. We belong to Christ – twice! He made us and he bought us back. We are his. My life is his. Your life is his.
Are you still trying to approach God on your own? Sneak around the back of Mt Sinai. Hide under Moses’ coat as he goes up. Pretend to be a bush. Poof! That’s the end of you. We know what God does to bushes! (Burns them!)
You cannot approach God. You cannot manipulate God. You cannot demand of God. Who do you think you are? Who does your life belong to?
It’s worth us stopping and asking the question: when did I last give my career over to God? Or my marriage (or future marriage)? What if God calls me to give up my career? Or calls me to be single? The key is: it’s not your career. It’s not your future. It’s His. We belong to him.
Have I given up my family? For some of you this is a reality of following Jesus – rejection by your family.
We talk about choice, rights, disappointment with God. This is supremely arrogant. We were created to serve him. That is our job.
And so as the people gather before this unapproachable God, they are gathered to hear from him how they are to live as his people. The next chapters of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and on to Deuteronomy are filled with God’s Law – God’s commands to say “this is how you will live your life”. Because our lives are not ours – they are his. And that’s a good thing because he is a good master and gives us good gifts and looks after us, like we look after Eowyn, our dog, and feed her and keep her warm and give her lots of love and affection. And in return she obeys us. Most of the time.
You see, I am her Master. She is my Dog. God is our Master. We are his people. We are not the same. He is Other. He is Holy. Do not touch the mountain, for you will surely die.
16 On 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. 17 Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 All 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.
The Lord will destroy us because we are unclean, like disobedient dogs.
But that’s not the whole story, is it.
2. The Lord will destroy you unless you have a representative
19 As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply. 20 The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses climbed the mountain.
How is it possible for unholy people, sinful people, to get into contact with a holy God? We need a representative. We need someone to bring us the word of God. And we need someone to clean us – make us ready to meet with God.
10 Then the Lord told Moses, “Go down and prepare the people for my arrival. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing. 11 Be sure they are ready on the third day, for on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch.
Moses could go to meet with God. Why? Because God chose him to be the representative. Remember way back in chapter 4, at the Burning Bush? God says to Moses “Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”
Moses’ job was to be the mouthpiece of God. Not to add anything to it, but to simply repeat the words of God. What he heard his Heavenly Father say, he would say.
And Moses’ words, which were really God’s words, could make the people ready to meet with God.
14 So Moses went down to the people. He consecrated them for worship, and they washed their clothes. 15 He told them, “Get ready for the third day, and until then abstain from having sexual intercourse.”
Why sex? I don’t know. Perhaps, like fasting, to control your bodily desires simply to honour God? But they were washed, they were cleaned – and only then were they ready to hear the voice of God. 20:1 Then God gave the people all these instructions: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. 3 “You must not have any other god but me.
Moses prepared the people to meet with God, and then they met with God.
What we’re doing today is not so different. We are God’s people, gathered together to hear God’s word. This, in Exodus 19 and 20, is the first church. The word “church” (ekklesia) simply means meeting or assembly or gathering. That’s what church is: the gathering of God’s people to hear God’s word. A gathering of Christians without God’s word is not a church. A Christian by himself reading the Word is not a church. But coming together, gathering together, to hear the word of God –that is a church.
This morning we are gathered together to hear God’s word. We are a church. But we did not wash our clothes or abstain from sex to come here this morning. Because we have been made clean not by Moses – but by the one who is greater than Moses: Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. As we saw last week He does not just bring the word of God – he IS the word of God. To know him is to know God. HE is the wisdom of God. He is the perfect representative of God to man – to see Jesus is to see God. And he is the perfect representative of man to God. And he can make us ready to meet God – cleanse us – so that we can be called the people of God.
He can make the unholy, holy.
3. The Lord will destroy you unless your representative is Jesus – so listen to Him!
9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will come to you in a thick cloud, Moses, so the people themselves can hear me when I speak with you. Then they will always trust you.” Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
Why did God do this? I mean the people already knew Moses spoke for God – after all they’d just had ten plagues when Moses said “God says this will happen!” and it happened. They had the Red Sea, when Moses raised his arms and the sea parted. They fought the Amalekites and Moses raised his arms and they won. It was quite clear that Moses brought God’s word. Duh! So why this extra thing now? Why a cloud on a mountaintop and a voice from Heaven that proves that Moses speaks for God so that the people will always trust him?
Well, those of you who know the gospels will know why! We did Mark last year in this church – and in Mark chapter Mk 9:2–8 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. 4 Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus. 5 Peter exclaimed, “Rabbi, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say, for they were all terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him.”
God does this with Moses so that when he does this with Jesus, his Son, we know that HERE is the true representative of man to God. Here is our Moses, the perfect Moses, the greater Moses. (And if you noticed also the true Elijah, the greater Elijah, the perfect Prophet). Jesus is the one whom Moses foreshadowed. Moses was the image – Jesus is the reality.
And just like the Israelites with Moses, the way we need to respond is to LISTEN and then obey what is being said.
With Moses we need stay back from the mountain or we will die. We need to trust Moses to go and be our representative. We need to wash our clothes and abstain from sex for three days to get ourselves ready, trusting God’s word that that will make us acceptable to him.
Some may question “why would that make them acceptable – washing clothes doesn’t deal with sin”. No, it doesn’t. It’s a symbol. It’s saying to God we need you to wash us, we trust that by obeying you in the symbol, in the ritual, you will do the reality. It’s like communion – we just eat a bit of bread and drink some juice. That can’t save us. But we trust the reality behind the symbol, behind the ritual, that God will forgive our sins because of the body and blood of Jesus. We are saying to God we need you to wash us by the blood, we need you to rescue us, forgive us. It is a symbol or ritual of our need for God. It is an act of humility. The symbol cannot save. But the reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection CAN save.
Heb 12:18 You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai.... 21 Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.” 22 No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering... 24 You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.
So...25 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!
The Lord will destroy us unless our representative is Jesus – so listen to Him!
I started this morning by asking why you were here. Why have you come? Because if we are coming trusting in anything other than JESUS as our representative, we will be destroyed.
Why? Because we are not perfectly good. We are not holy. Particularly in our culture, raised on the idea of the grace of God, this idea that God will reject us is very culturally inappropriate. But who are we dealing with. Fluffy little God, the grandfather in the sky? The God of the Bible is HOLY. He who dewells in unapproachable light. He is vast and majestic. His voice thunders. The ground shakes. When Christ returns he will not return as the Suffering Servant, but as the King, huge and awesome, body like flaming fire, and a sharp two-edged sword coming out of his mouth. He will return to judge the living and the dead, and if you are not ready you will be destroyed,. Are you ready? Are you ready to face the Living God?
You know, when we talk about sin, we often think about the news stories. And they are a big evidence for that we, as the human race, have sinned against God. But we can often be fooled by the news into a false sense of security – well, I’m not as bad as them, I’m not a sinner like them. And the unspoken idea sneaks in that I’m better, surely God wouldn’t reject ME. I’m... holy. But are you? Am I?
Do I live every day consumed by the glory of God? Do I pursue holiness? Do I seek every day to know God better? Does my life belong to Him – or me? Do I think of MY future, MY reputation, MY career, MY money, MY time.
Well, I know myself. I know many of you. And I know that we don’t live for Christ every minute of every day. Too often we sin. Too often we don’t share the gospel. Too often we are not interested in even going to church or Bible study. We do it if there’s nothing better to do. Nothing better than meeting with God? Spending time with our Lord and Saviour? Yup, that’s how sinful we are. That’s why in the confession we confess as sinful the good things that we haven’t done as well as the bad things we have done.
Like Israel, we are all different people, with different pasts, some good, some bad – but ALL of us are on the outside, barred from God’s holy mountain. God’s holy fire has come down upon the mountain – but we cannot get close. We cannot see God. We are outside.
We need someone to go to God for us. We need a representative. We need someone to clean us, to make us ready to meet with the Living God. Praise God that our representative is Jesus.
Let us use this time now to confess our sins before the Lord. We’re going to have time now to kneel or stand before God in humble confession, and ask him to forgive us for being disobedient dogs. For running away from what he has called us to do. For keeping our career or our money or our friends or our family or our reputation out of his hands. Let us confess our sins to him, and ask him to be Lord of ALL of our life.
And then let us celebrate together the great joy of our perfect representative. The One who went through death and back again to buy us back, to win for us the right to go up on to the mountain, to meet with the Living God like Moses did, and to hear his voice, to know HIM. Our Lord and Master. Our Life.
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