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Exodus 19:1-25

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 19. On September 22, 1967, Dr. Raymond Edmond was preaching at the chapel gathering at Wheaton College. He had been the president of the college for 25 years and the students loved to hear him preach. That morning, he was going to preach what would become a very famous sermon titled In the Presence of the King. As a college president, he’d had the opportunity to visit various dignitaries and even some kings. In fact, he had recently returned from Ethiopia, having visited Haile Selassie – the last Solomonic monarch to rule the country. And he began his sermon talking about his experience in the presence of this earthly king, and he transitioned into talking about meeting the King of kings – that is the Lord God Almighty. Listen to what he said in that sermon (true story):

I speak primarily of another king. This chapel is the house of the great King. Chapel at Wheaton is designed to be a meeting on your part with the King of kings and the Lord of lords, Himself. To that end, chapel is designed for the purpose of worship, not a lecture. Come in, sit down, wait in silence before the Lord. In so doing, you will prepare your own hearts to hear the Lord. Your heart will learn to cultivate what the scripture says, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Over the years, I have learned the immense value of that deep inner silence as David – the earthly king – sat in God’s presence to hear from Him…

And with those as his last words, Dr. Edmond suffered a fatal heart attack and fell over dead in the pulpit. He had just spoken about standing in the presence of King Selassie, and then suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, he was literally in the presence of the King of kings. And when we come to Exodus 19, we come to something very much like that. From the time that the Israelites left Egypt they had witnessed the hand of God and the miracles of God, and they thought they had been in the presence of God. But it’s here, at Mount Sinai, that God will literally descend upon the mountain in the presence of the people and call Moses and Aaron up to deliver to them His law.

1 On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, 3 while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.”

When Moses told the words of the people to the LORD, 10 the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments 11 and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. 13 No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” 14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. 15 And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

16 On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. 20 The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

21 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to look and many of them perish. 22 Also let the priests who come near to the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them.” 23 And Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’” 24 And the LORD said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest he break out against them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.

“Our Father and our God, we do honor You and bless You for the privilege we have, this day, to be Your children and to hear Your Word proclaimed. I ask, now, that You grant me clarity of mind, concision of speech, and conviction of heart, that I may tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth for Your glory and our good. It’s in Jesus’ name that I pray, amen.”

There are only two things that I want to share with you this morning, and these two things are in constant tension in the Scripture. And, what’s more, we experience this tension in our own lives – especially in our spiritual lives. The Bible tells us that God is holy, but the Bible also tells us that God is love. There’s the tension. And for most of us, we tend to fall more on one side than the other. We either tend to emphasize the holiness of God, or we to tend to relate more to the love of God. But, in reality, both of these aspects of God’s character and God’s nature are held in balance within the pages of Scripture. And I have to tell myself (regularly) to hold these two aspects of God in a proper balance.

Now, the first of these that we see is the love and the tenderness of God.

The Love of God

You would think that God would’ve led them out of Egypt and directly into the land flowing with milk and honey. But He doesn’t. He takes them out of Egypt and in three months He brings them to the foot of Mount Sinai, and look at the end of verse 3, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.” There is it; the tenderness and the love of God. I did all of this in order to bring you to Myself.

God’s purpose was not just to get them into the Promised Land; the purpose of God in bringing them out of Egypt was to bring them to Himself. God didn’t just save us to get us out of hell; although many of us decided to follow Jesus for that purpose. The reason that God saved you and me was to bring us to Himself. Avoiding an eternity in hell is an awesome byproduct of our salvation, but what God wants most is a personal relationship with us.

Think about it; the relationship that was originally established by God with Adam and Eve in the Garden is recorded in the Bible as being “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Those are God’s words, not ours. Eden was heaven on earth. It was perfect. It was what God intended from the beginning – a perfect world, a perfect creation, a perfect relationship. Yet, all of that was marred when Adam and Eve disobeyed. When they sinned, the relationship was broken. The consequence was eternal separation, but the thing that God wants most of all is that original relationship. Shoot, even the language that we use to describe our situation – separation – implies a relationship.

Listen to what Peter writes, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). That’s the tenderness of God. That’s the love of God. He desires to be in relationship with us so much that His patience is often mistaken as slowness. God says to Moses, “Go tell the people that I brought you to Myself.”

We also see the love of God expressed in the covenant that He’s getting ready to establish with them in verse 5. Look at verse 5, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’” God didn’t establish the Law with them first and then tell them if they kept the Law then He would love them. That’s not how things went down. God delivered them. God redeemed them. God rescued them. God saved them and loved them and brought them to Himself, THEN He established His covenant.

That’s exactly what Paul says in the New Testament when it comes to grace and works. We often set grace against works against one another, or we put Paul against James, as if they’re fighting one another. That’s not the case. Paul and James aren’t saying opposite things, but rather complimenting one another’s position. When it comes to grace and the Law, the issue is that we get it in the right order.

Listen to Ephesians 2, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast…” This is where we often stop, but that’s not the end of Paul’s thought. That’s not the end of the argument. He continues, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1-10). In other words, we don’t keep the Law in order to be saved, to be loved. We are loved, we are saved, and thus we obey and seek to keep the standards of that covenant.

Sir Jonathan Sacks put it this way, speaking at a general session of the Lambeth Conference, “A contract is a transaction. A covenant is a relationship. Or to put it slightly differently: a contract is about interests. A covenant is about identity. It is about you and me coming together to form an ‘us.’ That is why contracts benefit, but covenants transform.”

The love of God delivered and redeemed and rescued the people of Israel from Egyptian bondage, in order that they might be brought to Him, and then set apart by Him as a “treasured possession,” a “kingdom of priests,” and a “holy nation.” That’s the first aspect of God’s character that we see here – His love for us – which leads us to the second aspect of God’s character and that’s His holiness.

The Holiness of God

Remember that tension that I mentioned earlier; here it is. We just noticed how God brought the people out of Egypt to be with Himself, but now He’s going to set limits and boundaries around the mountain saying, “Keep your distance.” So, He brings the people near, but He keeps them at a distance. By the way, this kind of upside-down backward tension exists in Jesus’ teaching too: “the last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16). See, it sounds like an oxymoron, “I’ve brought you here to be near me, but you keep your distance.” But that’s not the only odd thing about God’s holiness. Listen, He’s going to show them His presence, He’s going to reveal Himself to them, but He’s going to do it by wrapping Himself in clouds and smoke. So, you consider all of this and you begin to wonder what’s going on and it’s this other aspect of His character – it’s the holiness of God.

The word “holy” (qodesh, in Hebrew) is used 57 times in the book of Exodus and the first time that we encounter it is in Exodus 3 where God speaks to Moses from the burning bush and says, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” The last place that we encounter it is in Exodus 39 when Moses was instructed to make holy garments for Aaron to function as the priest. It’s a word that means “sacred” or “apartness.”

And, here, in this last section of Exodus 19 we see God giving instruction on how to enter His holy and sacred presence. In Psalm 69:18, David writes, “Draw near to my soul, redeem me.” That’s the picture here. James, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, would put it this way “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” And so, the LORD give Moses these instructions beginning in verse 10, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.”

Listen to what David writes in Psalm 24:3, “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.” So, we’re to cleanse our hands and our hearts. That means we’re to confess the things we’ve done (that’s the hands part) and the things we’ve thought or felt (that’s the heart), as we come into the presence of God.

And notice that this is a 3-day process. Certainly, we recognize the significance of the number three. All throughout the Bible three is a number that indicates holiness and purity and righteousness:

• Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
• The three patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
• We think about the repeated word “holy, holy, holy” in the vision of Isaiah 6,
• Or God calling Samuel three times,
• Or Jesus restoring Peter three times with the command to “feed my sheep,” and of course,
• The most prominent is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on the third day.

Part of the reason for this being a 3-day process was the shear amount of time and water that would be required to cleanse tens-of-thousands of people and garments. You simply couldn’t do it all at one time – at least not without a miracle from heaven. But, there’s also a practical application – a close focus upon God requires both time and prayer, and an attitude of special attention to God, as well as a denial of things that focus on the self so that we can focus on God.

That’s why so many of us struggle to have a time of daily devotion, because we have to put forth the effort to separate ourselves from the distractions and temptations of the moment. In short, we have to consecrate ourselves in order to enter into the presence of the King. Now, I know, there are some of you that are thinking, “But pastor, I can pray to God and worship God any time I want and in any place that I want. I don’t have to take 3 days to get ready.” And this’s true. We pray in our cars on the way to an appointment. We stop and pray over our meals at a restaurant. We pray with friends and family members over the phone when they’ve just gotten some bad news. We don’t stop and say, “Give me three days and meet me back here on the corner of Main and Washington, then I can pray with you.”

Likewise, we can worship in our homes when we’re washing the dishes and singing a song of praise to the Lord. We can worship as we take a nice peaceful walk in the park and give glory to God for His creation. We can worship in simple silence, as we close our eyes and fix our hearts on Him. Again, we don’t have to say, “Well, I’d love to worship You God, but it’s gonna take three days to get in the right frame of mind.”

But with this three days’ notice, the people could expect a special revelation of God. Sure, they had seen God regularly in the pillar of cloud and fire that went ahead of them during their wilderness travel thus far, but these instructions suggest there would be something especially awesome about God’s visible appearance in the sight of all the people. Think about making plans for a birthday or an anniversary or a holiday gathering, or any other special occasion. There’s anticipation. There’s special preparation. There may be special clothes purchased. There’s a sense of eagerness, and God is trying to encourage this same sense of awe and wonder as the people prepare to come into His presence for worship.

There’s another paradox here in the book of Exodus and that’s the word “exodus.” We get it from the Greek prefix ex “out of” and the word hodos “road” or “way.” Literally, exodus means the road out. But the book of Exodus isn’t just about the people of Israel leaving or “exiting” Egypt, it’s also about their entrance into the worship of God. You exit out of there in order to enter into here. They exit out of Egypt in order to enter into worship at Sinai. We’ve temporarily exited out of the world to enter into this sanctuary to do what? Hopefully not to just be entertained… Hopefully not to consume another sermon… Hopefully not to be tickled to death by something funny… Hopefully, we’ve come here to gather as the people of God to worship God.

And just like the Israelites, our view of a holy God is obscured. Paul said that “[w]e see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). But there’s coming a day when – with unveiled eyes – we will worship God in the fullness of His glory.

I don’t know if you’re familiar with the story of William Montague Dyke. His father, Sir William Dyke, was part of the British aristocracy. He had been a member of Parliament and was now a member of the House of Lords – a very influential man. His son, William Montague Dyke, suffered a tragic accident at the age of 10 and lost his sight. He grew up blind and finished school and wanted to attend university. He went to university and passed with the highest marks, and while he was there, he met a girl and fell in love. She was part of the aristocracy as well. Her father was an admiral in the British navy. He fell in love with her, and she fell in love with him.

Her father was not real sure how this was going to work out. He tried to discourage her from marrying a man that couldn’t provide for her or a growing family. Plus, he couldn’t see her and appreciate her. There would always be something missing. But she said, “He has my heart. I love him. I want to marry him.”

So, to do everything he could, William Montague Dyke decided to have experimental surgery. They had recently discovered an eye surgery that might help to restore his sight. He gets the surgery and they wrap his eyes up so that he couldn’t see any light, and told him he would have to remain that way for six weeks. At the end of the six weeks, they would remove the bandages but if he couldn’t see anything, then the surgery was a failure and there would be nothing else they could do. William had the surgery and his eyes were wrapped up for six weeks, but just before they were scheduled to take the bandages off, he said he wanted to keep them on a little longer.

See, William’s wedding was just around the corner and he wanted to walk down the aisle with the bandages on, and when his bride reached the altar, he wanted the surgeon to remove his bandages so that the first thing he saw was the face of the woman he loved. So, on his wedding day, Sir William Dyke stood on one side of his son and the surgeon stood on the other. When they had pledged their vows together, the surgeon slowly began to unwrap the bandages. And when the bandages were removed, he slowly opened his eyes and could see a little thin line of light. He continued to open his eyes – the vibrant colors of the stained glass flooding the darkness – until there before him was his bride.

The congregation of witnesses held their breath as they waited to find out if William could see the woman standing before him. As he stood face-to-face with his bride, William’s words echoed throughout the cathedral, “You’re more beautiful than I ever imagined!”

The Apostle Paul said, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9, NLT). There’s coming a day when the veil of cloud and smoke and fire and mystery will be removed, and for those of us who – by faith – have trusted in Jesus Christ will behold the Lord’s face in all His holiness and glory.  Until then, may we recover a renewed sense of the love of God and the holiness of God.