Up to this point, starting in Exodus 19, we have been encountering God in some very significant events: Creation. The Fall. Abraham. The Exodus Event. And now, nestled in the midst of the Exodus comes this very significant moment at Sinai. In many ways, this is the single most central Old Testament passage to understand the nature of God and our relationship to Him.
Three months into their journey, they encamped before the mountain for Sinai. Moses was called to climb the mountain, where the LORD pronounces a covenant—not with a man, but with an entire nation. He says that if they will obey His voice and keep His covenant, then they will be three things: 1) His treasured possession among all peoples, 2) a kingdom of priests to Him, and 3) a holy nation.
In response, the people answered together: "All that the LORD has spoken we will do."
This, again, is the essence of a covenant: God initiates the relationship by offering His favor, and in exchange, the people agree to take Him at His word and keep their part in the relationship. This is the essence of our New Covenant, as well. Jesus on His part offered His blood, and our response is to say, “yes.”
Then the LORD made sure that Israel understood His holiness clearly: He tells Moses to have the people consecrate themselves for two days, and then to wash their garments, not to go near a woman, and be ready to meet with the LORD on the third day. No one was to climb the mountain or even to touch the edge of it, or they were to be put to death by stoning. On the third day there were thunders and lightning and a thick cloud with fire on the mountain, which was shaking, and a very loud, long blast on the shofar, and the consecrated people of the promise approached the mountain with fear and trembling. The sound of the shofar grew louder and louder. At last, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. He called Moses to climb to the top in order to meet Him there.
You might say this is what it means to fear the LORD: We make ourselves as pure as we know how, and still see that God is greater, that He is more powerful, and that He could choose to destroy us in a moment. We experience all that, and then see that, in fact, He chooses and loves us, His people! Amazing love! As the psalmist wrote, “What is man, that you are mindful of him?”
YOUR ENCOUNTER
Think of the courage and strength of this 80-year-old man. He spends the majority of the day climbing up into a thick cloud of smoke, where there is fire and lightning. It’s like the burning bush multiplied. That first time, at the bush, God had told Moses not to come closer. This time He tells him to climb. And when Moses gets to the top—and not before—God tells the man to go back down, in order to warn the people one last time not to try to join him. They will die if they try, for the LORD Himself will destroy them.
Though the storm may rage about me, I climb on
Though the storm is all around me, I climb on
I climb through the smoke and fire,
I climb through the pain and fear,
For the Lord has called me upward.
I climb on.
Notice, by the way, that God uses a cloud and loud music to reveal His nature. It elicits a psychological response of awe and wonder, of fear and trembling. However, though there is a powerful audio/visual display, it was God Himself who provided it. God did not have Moses create artificial fog and turn up the sound system in order to elicit this emotional response from the people. No, He did it Himself. Reminds me of Pentecost, when crowds were drawn by the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and then saw the miracle of tongues of flame and tongues of praise. This, also, was God’s own display of His might and His favor. As worship leaders, we must always be careful not to take God’s glory for ourselves, or to try to mimic in the flesh what He must do in the Spirit.