God Calls Us to His Holy Presence

Exodus 19:10: "And the LORD said to Moses, 'Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, 'Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. He shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on him. Whether man or animal, he shall not be permitted to live.' Only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.'"

The Israelites under the leadership of Moses (and ultimately the power of God) had been delivered from the oppressive bondage of slavery to the Egyptians. They had seen the mighty works of God in the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and the provision of manna and quail for food. Now after three months of travelling in the desert, God directed his covenant people to the mountain called Sinai, to teach them a very important spiritual truth about Himself and His relationship with these descendants of Abraham.


In the directive that God gave to Moses, the Lord communicated to His people that He is transcendent in His holiness; that is, the Lord is the Supreme Sovereign One who reigns over His creation. No one has the right to enter God's presence, for God is not comparable to man. The Lord is highly exalted in majesty above His creation. Furthermore, every person in the Israeli camp had rebelled against the holiness of God by his sinful behavior. Sin is a separator of humanity with the Divine One, for sin is cosmic treason against the rightful reign of the One True God . . . sin is utterly abhorrent to His Majesty.

God stipulated to Moses that anyone who approached the mountain where He determined to present Himself to His people would be subject to immediate death. So egregious would be the sin of the one who arrogantly believed he could walk up the mountain and face God, that God decreed that the Israelites were not to touch the violator; instead, God gave the command that any person or animal that touched the mountain was to be executed from a distance by stones or arrows. God clearly wanted His people to know that He was not conjoined with His creation and thus a trivial deity not worthy of veneration. God communicated to His people that He was distinct (holy) and therefore worthy of their respect, obedience, and worship.


Still, God determined to provide His people an offering of fellowship, but only under certain Divinely determined stipulations. The people were called to purify themselves ceremonially and spiritually for three days, in anticipation of God's invitation for His people to approach the mountain where His glory would be. It was on the morning of the third day that the leaders blasted the ram's horn so that the people could approach the mountain. And it was a rather demonstrative event, with God showering the sky with blasts of thunder and lightning. As God's glory descended upon the mountain, covered by a thick cloud of smoke (to protect the lives of the people who would see it [see Exodus 33:20]), the mountain quaked in response to His advent, in a display of fire . . . with trumpets blasting ever louder to His approach.

Moses was first summoned to the mountain, and when he ascended to the top, God instructed him to tell the people that they still were not to "force their way through to see the LORD" otherwise they would perish. Instead, God called Aaron, the high priest, to the summit in an act of intercession for the people before the Lord. It was then that God would dictate His law to His people as well as the building plans for the tabernacle, where atonement would be given for the sins of the people.

We can find wonderful imagery of God's offering of grace in this historical account. We know from the NT that Christ was resurrected on the third day. He is the horn of Jessie (see Luke 1:69) whose blast of salvation would be made available to all who would approach Him with a spirit of awe, repentance, and submission. It was God's death (i.e. the shed blood of the perfect sacrifice) and resurrection on the cross that paid the penalty for our sins and thus permitted us access to the Lord in His Holiness. Only God could bridge the gap that existed between us and Him. And as the high priest was summoned onto the mountain to act as an intercessor for the people, so too we find that Jesus Christ is our permanent High Priest that offers grace to those who would respond to Him as Lord and Savior (see Hebrews 7:24-25). To be sure, God is "majestic in holiness (and) awesome in glory" (Exodus 15:11); He is distinct from His creation and worthy of our praise and worship. Still, God offers us the blessing of fellowship with Him through the only sufficient sacrifice for our sins . . . Himself.



Interestingly, we find in the subsequent chapter (Exodus 20) that God gives the 10 commandments. Paul tells us in Romans 3:19-20 that the purpose of the law was to silence every mouth who would believe that he could merit God's favor through his own efforts. The purpose of the law was to make man conscious of sin and drive him to a place of utter dependence upon God's mercy and grace. We are unable to climb the holy mountain through our own attainments; rather, we are utterly dependent upon the sacrifice of Christ to give us the hope of reconciliation with the Lord.

Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our our Intercessor and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.