Preparing To Hear from God. (Exodus 19: 1-23)
Here's my question: what do you do to meet with God, who do you prepare to even just go to church? That's a strange question, you might think. What do you mean, what do you do? Eat breakfast, take a shower, put on clean clothes, grab your Bible. Is that all you do to prepare to meet with the Lord. Is there perhaps there's something else that we ought to do not just on a Sunday but before every time we plan to meet with the Lord? I know of a passage of scripture that, in essence, tells us what do do, at least in example and principle. Today we are looking at Exodus chapter 19. It seems to me it includes what you should do if you're going to prepare to meet with God.
1 In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. 2 For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So, Israel camped there before the mountain. 3 And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 ‘You 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, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; 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 which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” 7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. 8 Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord
(Exodus 19: 1-8)
We're going to look at the whole chapter, but I'm going to begin by saying that if there's any chapter that you really need to understand in the context of a book, it's this one. What is coming next, is one of the most famous chapters in all the Bible, in fact, it might just be one of the top three best known chapters in all of the Bible. It's the Ten Commandments. Moses will go up to the top of Mount Sinai and gets the Ten Commandments, and God speaks to him all kinds of things on the top of the mountain. This is preparation to hearing God speak. So, the question is what did they/he do to prepare?
In the first verse it tells us that they picked up the camp and they went to the mountain. Now, traditionally, it is believed that the Israelites were in the wilderness at Mount Sinai. If you look at a map, you will find a mountain at the southern tip of the wilderness. This mountain is situated in one of the most desolate and remote parts of the world. It's the middle of nowhere, even to this day. To reach this mountain, you have to travel through treacherous roads. From there, you must undertake a several-hour climb to reach the peak. According to the biblical account, the mountain is 7,500 feet high (Correct), with a plain in front of it measuring approximately 2 ½ miles by ½ mile. This plane provided sufficient space for the Israelites, who had recently come out of Egypt, to camp. So, they set up camp at the base of Mount Sinai, where they would stay for the next 11 months and six days.
From Exodus 19:1 to Numbers 10:10, we find that they remain at Mount Sinai throughout the rest of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and the initial ten chapters of Numbers. It is during the time spent there that Moses receives numerous revelations from the Lord. However, in Numbers, they eventually resume their journey, reaching Kadesh Barnea. Unfortunately, they refuse to enter the land and spend the next 40 years wandering in the wilderness. Eventually, they end up on the east side of the Jordan River, where Moses passes away, and Joshua takes over as their leader. The book of Deuteronomy is the one that contains Moses' final messages before their entry into the Promised Land. This period of camping at Mount Sinai plays a significant role in the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch.
Now, let's examine Exodus chapter 19 more closely. In verse 3, we learn that Moses goes up the mountain to meet with God, who calls out to him, saying, "Tell the house of Jacob and the children of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself." Here, it is crucial to note that the Lord emphasizes that Moses should remind the people of what He has done for them. He reminds them of their deliverance from Egypt, the destruction of the Egyptian army, and how He has protected them, likening it to an eagle carrying its young.
The Lord then states, "If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." These are the words that Moses is instructed to relay to the children of Israel.The people respond by saying that they will do all that the Lord has spoken. However, as we will see later, they do not fully follow through on their promise.
In verses 5 and 6, the Lord outlines the blessings that await the Israelites if they obey Him. They will be a special treasure, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. It is worth noting that the concept of the priesthood of believers is often associated with these verses. The idea is that every believer has direct access to God without the need for intermediaries, similar to the role of priests in ancient times.
In verse 7, Moses gathers the elders of the people and shares with them all that God has siad. The response from the people is unanimous, as they declare their commitment to obeying the Lord's commands. Unfortunately, as we will discover later in the biblical account, their commitment wavers.
This passage sets the stage for the giving of the Mosaic covenant, which occurs in the subsequent chapters of Exodus. I believe this illustrates that it is essential to prepare our hearts and minds to receive God's word, just as the Israelites were being prepared to receive the covenant. Imagine if we approached every church service, Bible study or even prayer time with the attitude of wholeheartedly obeying whatever the Lord says to us through His word.
In a similar vein, we can draw parallels to Romans 12:1-2, where Paul exhorts believers to “Present their bodies as living sacrifices and not conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of their minds”. This aligns with the message Moses received from the Lord: to remind the Israelites of what God had done for them and then call them to obedience. These opening events at Mount Sinai shown here hold significant meaning in the biblical narrative. It is a place where the Israelites camped for an extended period, receiving divine revelations and instructions. Whilst their God reminds them of His deliverance, protection, and their special relationship with Him. The people the commit to obeying God's commands, setting the stage for the giving of the Mosaic covenant. So, I want to suggest that these first eight verses are telling us that the way to prepare is to come with an attitude of obedience. An attitude that says that whatever the Lord says, I'm going to do it.'
And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and believe you forever. “So, Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.
(Exodus 19: 9)
This is just a fascinating verse. 'I'm going to come down in a thick cloud so everybody's going to see something, and they're going to hear when I speak to you, that they may believe me.' Did I misread that, will the people believe this time?
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their clothes.'
(Exodus 19: 10)
I read that and thought, 'Oh, you've got to be kidding me, did my mother write this passage. Sunday best and all that. What's this business about washing your clothes? Now, we're going to see as we get deeper into the book of Exodus, especially in the book of Leviticus, everything is symbolic. God gives them one symbolic thing to do after another.
In the New Testament, He only gives us two symbolic things to do, baptism and the Lord's Supper. Those are our two symbols. But in the Old Testament, they did all kinds of things that were symbolic. So, what is the symbolism of washing your clothes? Well, in the context of the Mosaic legislation, washing is purification. So, you come before the Lord, and you symbolically wash your clothes, then symbolically, you're purifying yourself before the Lord.
“And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people”.
(Exodus 19: 11)
Ready for what? Chapter 20, ready to receive instructions from the LORD. How do you get ready? You come with the right attitude. I'll get to how we do that a little later, but the point is, be ready because on very soon Lord will come down upon in the sight of all the people and teach them.
You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain.”
(Exodus 19: 12-13)
This is part of being ready for them, that they had to come to the mountain, but they couldn't come too close. They couldn't touch it and this is simply to emphasize the holiness of God. That if you get too close, you'll die. Apparently, Moses put up some sort of barrier so they couldn't get too close to the mountain.
So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.”
(Exodus 14: 14-15)
What? Where did that come from? This is saying, on the night before the third day, do not have marital relationships. Husbands and wives should abstain from relationships. If we leave one finger in Exodus 19 and turn to 1 Corinthians Chapter 7. 1 Corinthians Chapter 7, and look at verse 5. He says,
'Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.'
So, there appears to be something equivalent to this in the New Testament also. Let me explain what's going on in this chapter. Apparently, the city of Corinth was extremely immoral. There was a mountain, Corinth is in a little valley, and up on the mountain, there was a temple. And they practiced prostitution. They had temple prostitutes, and that was part of their pagan worship. Apparently, there were believers in Corinth who, because of that rampant immorality around them said that you shouldn't get married, and others said that if you are married, you should stop having sexual relationships with your mate.
Paul here is writing this to clarify and correct all of those issues over sex. And what he is saying in verse 5 is, 'Don't deprive one another.' he effectively goes on to say, 'If you're married, your husband's body belongs to you, and your wife's body belongs to the husband.' He says that you should not deprive one another of sex except if you're going to spend some time with the Lord. Isn't that interesting? And he says if there's prayer and fasting, and it's by mutual consent, then only do it for a time. But don't do it for too long because Satan will then try and use that attempt to either drive a wedge between you or try and tempt you to show a lack of self-control and express it outside the married relationship. I just think it’s really interesting that the scripture says on this occassion in Exodus 19 to stay away from your wife the day before the Lord speaks. And in the New Testament it says if you’re going to spend some time with the Lord, in 1 Corinthians 7, it says the same thing.
In the past some Christians even took this to mean you shouldn’t have sex on Saturday night. But that’s not what is being talked about here because, Exodus 19 is a uniquely special occasion, and 1 Corinthians is talking also about a special occasion specifically set aside for prayer and fasting for some special reason, and just like you use a fast to set a different atmosphere in an approach to a special event, the fast must come to end. So, that doesn’t mean that’s the way you prepare for the service on Sunday morning. However, I just thought it was really fascinating that that’s part of the instructions that he gave them in Exodus 19.
Alright, let’s go back to Exodus chapter 19 and let’s pick it up at verse 15 for 16.
15 And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.” 16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thundering’s and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Three days will pass, and the Lord shall come. Have you ever been to a church where the music was too loud? If you haven’t, then you haven’t been to many churches, have you? That’s a very, very common complaint. And I duly that music was very loud, here, so loud is not necessary the problem, the music was loud on this occasion.
“And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount
Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly”.
(Exodus 19: 17-18)
Now, Mount Sinai is completely covered in smoke and the people heard something, they saw something, they felt something. They didn’t see the Lord, but they saw his presence in terms of a cloud and fire. It was a pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire led them out of Egypt to Mount Sinai. So, fire in the Bible is one of those symbols of the presence of God and also the presence of other things, testing refinement. The Lord does all of that by his presence, and that’s the point here.
And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.
(Exodus 19: 19)
I just think where people complain about loud music in church, maybe they should read this passage.
Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish. Also let the priests who come near the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.” You warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.’ ” Then the Lord said to him, “Away! Get down and then come up, you and 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.” So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.
(Exodus 19: 20-25)
Alright, how are we doing? Now, I started out saying, 'How do you prepare on to meet the Lord, on a Sunday morning or any other time you are planning to meet with the Lord?
So, after this passage what do you think you should do.
Wash your clothes?.
Put on your Sunday best?
Let me tell you what I think this passage is really saying, I think it is trying to tell us how to prepare to hear the Lord speak. All of this stuff, these instructions symbolise purification and cleansing. So, come with a clean heart.
Let me conclude by making several observations." Starting in the next chapter 20, we now have, for the first time, the Mosaic Law is given, and it is very detailed. We're going to look at it as we go through the rest of Exodus, and Lord willing, the book of Leviticus. But what you need to know is this: the Mosaic Law did not exist before Exodus chapter 20. What did God tell them to do prior to Exodus chapter 20?
Well, it's rather simple. If you look at the Old Testament, they start out in the Garden of Eden. What was their responsibility in the garden? "You may eat any tree you want except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." That was the totality of their duty and responsibility, yet they still failed. They ate from the tree and got booted out of the garden. That system no longer works. Fascinating. Cain kills Abel. What's the penalty in the Bible for killing somebody? Capital punishment, right? But that doesn't get instituted until Genesis chapter 9. Did you notice that God had not laid down the civil law yet, so God doesn't command that Cain be killed, and the reason is He hadn't established that principle yet.
So, some want to call that early Genesis era the "age of innocence," They don't have the written Word yet.
Then there's Noah, and at the end of that experience, God establishes that if you shed man's blood, your blood should be shed. And Bible teachers call that the beginning of civil government. It's government's responsibility to arbitrate the law So now we've established human government. This is hundreds of years before all this and all they really had was a God said, "I'm giving you a promise. You're going to have a son. You're going to have land, and I'm going to bless the whole world through you."
From Genesis 12 to Exodus 19, the only thing they had to go on was a promise from God. "I'm giving you the land." Some Bible teachers call that the period of promise because this is the period where it says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was accounted for righteousness."
Paul in his letter to the Romans quotes this to prove we're saved by faith. It's also quoted in the book of Hebrews. How we get saved? And is established in Genesis 15 and 16. The method of our salvation never changes but the way God administered it (so to speak) does change. First he just gave us free will and a tree in a garden, but then with free will came further duties and responsibilities. In the garden, they were innocent, and He gave them a tree. After the garden, all they had for a time was conscience. Then He gave them a limited form of human government. Then He gave them promise. But beginning here in chapter 19 and 20, He will give them law. But now we're going to change everything, in terms of the administration of his salvation plan.
Let me just say he will renew and perfect tis promise again under the New Covenant, the new promise will be testified to in the ‘New Testament that we are no longer under the Mosaic Law? Absolutely not, we are now we are under grace.
The Gospel of John says, 'Law came by Moses, but grace came through Jesus.' And how does He establish that in the world? Through the Church, the community of people who have embraced the way God forgives people in this age, by and through the sacrifice of his son Jesus as atonement for our sins today and every day. This is nothing more than God revealing and perfecting his salvation plan for all humanity, across the ages.
God hasn’t changed the plan he just expands the administration of that plan.
A simple illustration is the fact that when you were young your parent used to send you to bed at 7:00 o'clock.' You got a little older, 'Next, you've got to go to bed by 8:00 o'clock.' Then you take it and say, 'Well, you can stay up till 9:00 o'clock, but you've got to go to bed later at 10:00 o'clock.'
As a matter of fact, Paul says in the book of Galatians that the whole Old Testament time, they were children, but now we're adults, and God gives us grace. This is a very significant point of departure in the Bible, and we are starting now the age of the Mosaic law. But that doesn't mean you're saved by law. You're not a member of the family of God because you keep the Mosaic Law. You a member the family of God how? By faith, faith in Jesus Christ. And that was established during the period of the promise before we ever get to the law.
Paul argues in Galatians, 'You think you've got to keep the law to be justified and right before God. I'm telling you the law is ended. And even before the law, we were saved by faith.' That's the argument of Galatians and, to some degree, the book of Romans.
When I was young my parents promised me that if I kept my room clean, I would get a racing bike for Christmas.' So, I kept my room tidy and I got a bike for Christmas. Did he have to keep his room clean to become a member of the family, was my father still my father, clean room or not.
My family was still my family, no matter what. So that's what the Bible is teaching us in the New Testament, since the time of Abraham in fact, is that now, by faith in Jesus Christ I have become a child of God, even to the point he calls me by my name. The minute you trust, you are a member of the family of God. If you obey, you will be blessed, not saved, your saved already, just blessed. Who wants to be blessed by God?
.
want to conclude by saying one more thing. Turn to 1 Corinthians, chapter 11. I started out saying, 'How do you prepare hear from God?'
1 Corinthians, chapter 11, is the passage we all know about on the Lord's Table, communion. But the context into which the passage was written was a situation where the people were eating, gorging themselves, and even getting drunk. And Paul comes at them and says, 'Let me tell you how to prepare for coming to the Lord's Table.' This is in essence, is what he says.
'Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may come together for judgment. And the rest, I will set in order when I come.'
He tells them, 'You're making a mockery out of the Lord's Supper. Stop it.' But there are other things he says in this message, and that's what I want to conclude. Then in verse 31 he says.
'For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.'
(I Cor 11: 31)
If you really want to be ready to meet with the Lord. Then you should judge yourself, examine yourself and come before his with the with the right attitude. Purify yourself, cleanse yourself.
How do you do that?
1 John 1:9,
'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'
In Exodus 19. They washed their clothes, symbolizing we're coming before you with a clean conscious. Therefore, we need to come before the Lord having dealt with any sin and with an attitude of, 'Lord, speak. And, whatever You say, I will do. That is how you prepare to come to church on Sunday morning, that how you should prepare before anytime you plan to meet with the Lord and listen to what he is about to tell you. Willing to listen, willing to obey thereby not only hearing but because we have the right attitude we are able to obey what he is telling us to do.