Exodus 20:18-21 - Near and Far
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
Introduction
Introduction
We have all sinned and failed to keep God’s commandments.
Picture the scene:
“the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking" (18)
Thick darkness
Their arrival at Sinai: Exodus 19:16-19
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. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 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. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.
Hebrews 12:18 describes the experience as “a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest”
Deut 4:11 “And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom.”
How will God’s people respond to the revelation of the Law?
Far Off
Far Off
The people respond by fearing, trembling, and fleeing.
Fear - “They were afraid” (18)
Physical - They trembled (18)
They fled - Hebrews 12:18-19
For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.
Why?
They are sinners who know they can never keep this law.
They knew they deserved His condemnation.
The fear of God’s judgment was too much for them.
They have promised to obey - Ex 19:5-8
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.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 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.
They are filled with fear and shame.
God has appeared in His holiness as a consuming fire, with earthquakes and thunder.
This is the correct response
This may seem like a wrong response but Deut. 5 helps make sense of what is happening here:
“These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’
“And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!
Moses was frightened as well. Hebrews 12:21
Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”
Drawing Near
Drawing Near
They understand their need for a mediator
They could not approach god on the basis of the law.
There is a reason that God commands they build altars in the next few verses.
They needed and requested a mediator.
Any other time God spoke would be mediated through Moses.
Moses serves as that mediator
Exod 20:21 “The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.”
This was God’s purpose - Ex 19:9 “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.”
Moses pleads for the people in Exodus 32:32, even to the point of offering his life.
But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”
Two purposes given in Ex. 20:20 “Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.””
To test their obedience
To fear (reverence) Him so that they would not sin.
Application
Application
We need to fear God
That we may not sin against him.
Ex 20:20 “Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.””
A true reverence (fear) of God restrains sin.
A holy reverence of God
Do not think too lightly of Him (or too rarely of Him).
Christ is our Mediator
Moses as a type of Christ: Deut 18:15-18
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
We need a mediator who can keep God’s law for us.
We need a mediator who can turn away the wrath of God and save us:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Jesus is that Mediator
1 Tim 2:5 “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”
Heb. 8:6 “But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.”
Heb. 9:15 “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.”
Christians do not need to fear God
His wrath and anger. Death in approaching Him.
In Christ, we can approach God boldly.
Eph 3:12 “in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.”
We can draw near to God without fear through a greater mediator.
Freedom in Rom 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Ps 103:10-11 “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;”
His purpose is to test us and instruct us for our good.
1 Pet 1:7 “so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
John Calvin,
They were terrified, then, not that they might be stupified with astonishment, but only that they might be humbled and submit themselves to God. And this is a peculiar privilege, that the majesty of God, before whom heaven and earth tremble, does not destroy but only proves and searches His children
Rejoice that we do not come to Mount Sinai, but to Mount Zion
For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
How will you respond to the presence of God?
Rev. 6:16 “calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,”
Rev 22:4 “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”
The difference is faith (trusting) in the Mediator, Jesus Christ.
Closing Hymn: 306 Jesus, My Great High Priest
Benediction: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”