Exodus 19

God gave Israel the Law. That Law set them apart from all the nations of the world. This giving of the Law was done in a specific place and time. It was an event that needs to be experienced by every reader, and not merely presented to future generations as words detached from the fact of facing the fear of God in person.

The event of the giving of The Law took place just a few months after Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt. The people camped before the mountain, but Moses, the Mediator of the Covenant, went up to God, and God called out to him.

The Lord reminded Moses of what he had seen with his own eyes, what God did to the Egyptians, and the Lord's tender care for His own people, how He carried them “on eagles' wings.” God brought them, not only out of Egypt, but to Himself. This needed to be spoken again in the hearing of the people. And with this reminder, the Lord's representative needed to insist that the children of Israel obey the Lord's voice and keep His covenant. If they would do this, God promised that they would be His “treasured possession among all peoples.” The Lord insisted that they understand Him to be the God of all the earth, not just the God of The Promised Land. It was in His power and authority to do whatever He pleased. If He chose Israel above all other peoples, no one could accuse Him of wrongdoing. If He wanted them to be a kingdom of priests to Himself, no one had the right to object. He is God. This was what Moses needed to tell the people.

Moses set all of the Lord's words before the elders, and the people responded with a commitment. “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”

When Moses brought back this word to the Lord, God told Moses that the people would hear Him speak to Moses from out of the glory cloud. The purpose of this great spectacle of eye and ear was to give a witness to the people, a witness of the Word and the appointed messenger, a witness that could not be easily forgotten, a witness that would help them to believe and obey both Word and messenger.

God told Moses to go to the people and to prepare them to see this great revelation by consecrating themselves. They needed to be set apart as holy by washing for two days so that they would be ready for the third day. On the third day, the Lord would come. What could all of this mean? If they were perfectly clean, more than just ceremonially washed, clean in heart and mind as well as in body, then the third day might be a wonderful vindication, a resurrection. But what would the third day mean for those who were still sinners before a holy God?

Sinners would have to be warned not to come near to the Lord, lest they be put to death. This is what God instructed. The people should not even touch the edge of the mountain. If someone touched the mountain, they needed to be stoned or shot, and then no one else could touch their dead bodies.

This experience of sound and sight, this witnessing of Word and power, would begin with the sounding of a trumpet. It would be a Day of the Lord, a moment of final judgment right before their eyes.

When the third day came, it was an experience that was beyond what the people could have anticipated; thunder, lightening, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. What will it be like when God comes in judgment on the last day? What will it be like when the birth pains of earthquakes, wars, and plagues reach their fullness, and the trumpet of God sounds? What will it be like to face the fear of God on the final Day of the Lord?

When God came so long ago in the wilderness of Sinai, the people were terrified. “All the people in the camp trembled.” Moses led them out of the camp to meet God. They stood at the foot of the mountain. How would you fare in that experience? Can you stand before Almighty God?

The Lord descended on the mountain in fire. The burning bush was so tame compared to this. Sinai was a burning mountain of God, thick with a cloud of divine judgment with smoke rising up to heaven. The mountain trembled, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Moses spoke and God thundered back with His voice, calling up the mediator of the covenant. Moses did go up, and the Lord issued another warning that the people not come up, lest they perish. Only Aaron was allowed up with Moses, not the priests, and not the people.

If you had two days to cleanse yourself until God called you to witness His Word and to see His holy Messenger, would you be clean enough to appear before the One who knows all things? Would two days be enough time to clean up your life? How would you fare on the third day?

The Jesus who was perfectly clean became an unclean thing for us in order to be our atoning sacrifice. He was unclean only because He took all our filth upon Himself. This Jesus finished His atoning work on the cross, and after sanctifying the grave for us, on the third day, He rose from the dead. When He went up to the mountain of God as the Resurrection Man, it was not Mount Sinai. He defeated that mountain of Law for us on the cross. Jesus ascended the heavenly Mount Zion on a cloud of divine glory, and our names were on His hands.

Now we, in worship, through Him, come not to a frightening mountain that cannot be touched, lest we perish. We are streaming up the holy mountain of God to heaven in Jesus Christ. In Him we have more than peace. We are singing and dancing with joy unspeakable and full of glory before the Lord of Hosts, who rose from the dead on the third day. When He returns we will see Him as He is. He is our Redeemer. He is the Lover of our souls.