Our Awesome God
The scene in Exodus 19 is one that Universal Studios cannot hope to capture. They could try to duplicate the noise of thunder and the flash of lightning and the cloud and the smoke and the blaring trumpets and the fire. They may even be able to make a mountain tremble. But that would not be enough. No one could show us what two million people saw that day on Mt. Sinai. Because the Lord had come down; he had descended from heaven in fire and smoke on the mountain. Everything about the scene was designed by God to put His glory on display. Philip Ryken wrote, “The dark cloud was a sign of his mystery, showing that there are aspects of his being that we cannot penetrate. The fire was a sign of God’s holiness, his bright and burning purity. Fire both attracts and repels… The trumpet signified his sovereignty…the coming of a king…The people who saw (this scene) could never forget that they had been in the presence of the living God in all his holiness and majesty.”
We know that God is invisible, so they could not see Him. No one took out a sketch book and drew a picture and said, “This is what God looks like.” No, they trembled at what they saw. I think we need a lot less trembling in the presence of celebrities and rock stars and presidents and kings, and a lot more trembling in the presence of Almighty God. There’s a fascination in people sometimes to devour anything they can find on a particular athlete or team or actor or politician, and it can become an obsession. I would think there were people in the crowd that day at Mt. Sinai who had distractions as well, things that were interesting that consumed their thoughts. That was about to change for many of them. At least it should have.
The people in the camp trembled because on the third day, God came down. It reminded me that on the third day, God came down and raised Jesus from the dead. On the third day, death was conquered for all who know Jesus Christ as savior and Lord. This scene at Mt. Sinai points us to that day in Jerusalem. Not only that, the resurrection of Jesus points us to that great Day still to come, when our Lord will descend from the heavens. Jesus will come down as our King, and all will see His glory and all will fall at His feet.
Moses brought the people closer on that third day. And they recognized their own sin, their own unworthiness, their own uncleanness. He brought them out of the camp to meet God. That’s our job as followers of Jesus. To bring people out of their camp, out of their fears, out of their confusion and anger and bitterness to meet God. And when we are talking with someone about Christ, or are planning to talk to someone about Christ, our prayer should be that they would see we are just practicing our Gospel presentation. Unless people see themselves as sinful, they will not see themselves as needing a savior.
As Hebrews 12 tells us, God led His people from Mt. Sinai to Mt. Zion. He has taken us from the law that shows us our sin to the cross where our sins are forgiven. But there is still a warning to be heeded! See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. Listen and rejoice and give thanks for the kingdom of our awesome God you have entered, a kingdom that cannot be shaken.