Meeting God at the Mountain (Part 1) | Exodus 19

Exodus tells the story of a God who isn't distant, but moves toward His people in power and mercy. God reveals Himself as I Am, leading Israel out of slavery and into the life-changing reality of His presence. We've got a lot of mountain left to hike this morning.

It's been a fantastic journey so far of worship, and it's not over yet. So let's keep walking, shall we? All of our campuses here, Lamoni, are gathering there in Guttenberg and Carlisle, and Lord willing, though there's no one there right now, soon, sometime this fall, our next campus at the Chapel campus, just about 12 blocks away or so. Let's all get under the weight of the Word, shall we, this morning? Hearts open, Bibles open, series guide ready.

The Lord is among us. His presence is here, so I'm just thankful for this gathering. One of the most painful parts of dementia, Alzheimer's, is when you discover that closeness and proximity is not the same thing as closeness and identity.

In fact, could you say two words with me? Proximity. Identity. You're going to hear those words about 435 times this morning.

And those two words probably are understood well by anyone who's had a very close relative walk through the stages and the, can I use the word, misery? Some of the pain of dementia and Alzheimer's is it slowly just takes someone away from you, not in their proximity. You can be standing right next to them and yet feel like, where is the person that raised me? Taught me to ride a bike, gave me wisdom for life, showed me how to make things work. It's very painful for as many of you, I know, to watch your parents disappear in identity and yet be right next to you in proximity.

Believe it or not, that human reality helps us understand something about Exodus 19. You turn there, Exodus chapter 19, let me explain to you what I mean. When we talk about God's presence, often we focus on proximity and I don't think that's wrong.

We use phrases or we ask questions like, is God near me? Do I sense God's presence? Is he with us? And again, those are important questions. They are about proximity. They're not wrong or evil.

But I think Exodus 19 teaches us something that's an even more important aspect of God's presence. It asks a more important question. Who is the God who is near us? Who is the one whose presence is manifest and we're sensing? And we're going to see in our passage today that the issue at Sinai, the mountain of God, was not merely that God had come down on the mountain.

In all heavy frankness, the real issue was what kind of God has come down on the mountain? This is a heavy text today. That is the question that Exodus 19 confronts us with. And this confrontation is before God ever speaks a word of the Ten Commandments.

The answer to that question, what kind of God has come down on the mountain, is this, the God who is holy, the God who is a covenant God, a redeeming God, a consuming fire God. I want us to see this this morning, this chapter that gives us deeper insight into the presence of God and takes us further than just a proximity language. It will give us identity language to God's presence.

In fact, that truth is really the backbone of our presence principle. You'll see this emerge and surface all morning long through this text. Here it is.

I'm going to ask you to read this with me. Before you write it down, before you take a picture of it, will you read this with me? Our presence principle for this entire chapter together. God's presence is not only about his proximity, but more importantly, his identity.

This is what deeply shapes our activity. Now let's read it and watch this truth weave its way through all 25 verses of our text this morning, Exodus 19. This text, I believe is best seen in three sections, verses 1 to 6, 7 to 15, and then 16 through 25.

I'll read them in sections, talk about them with you and kind of break the word of God out in front of us as we understand this truth. And you'll see it emerge and surface. And I'm praying that it will weigh on us appropriately.

I will tell you this. I don't think anyone here will leave unconvicted. We can argue about the degree of our conviction, but no one here from this platform to that chair will leave unconvicted today.

God's presence, his identity, who he is, is just too weighty. Let's begin the first section, shall we? Exodus chapter 19. I'll begin in verse 1. The Bible says this, in the third month from the very day the Israelites left the land of Egypt, they came to the Sinai wilderness.

They traveled from Rephidim, came to the Sinai wilderness and camped in the wilderness. Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Underline those two words.

This is the fulfillment of Exodus chapter 3, verse 12. This place is where Moses met God at the burning bush. And if you read Exodus 3 and come to verse 12, he says, I will bring my people to this mountain.

We're in Exodus 19 and what has God done? Fulfilled every word he spoke. He has brought his people to the very place where Moses first met God individually. This is the mountain referenced.

Verse 3. Moses went up the mountain to God and the Lord called to him from the mountain. This is what you must say to the house of Jacob and explain to the Israelites. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself.

A very key verse. Underline it, circle it. Now, if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.

These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites. These first six verses, just make note of this in your series, God, would you? Number one, God's presence reveals his redemptive identity. This is the first message that's communicated on the mountain.

That God is a God of redemptive, gracious activity. You see, this is three months into their journey. Israel has arrived now at the mountain where God promised he'd bring them and they're at best, can we use these words? Somewhat disorganized.

They're not sure how to carry out the commands. They have a forgetful posture. Usually they don't remember things well.

They're inconsistent. And all those words are probably nice descriptions of just three months. And yet the first thing that God says to his people at the place that he promised to bring them is not a command.

It's a reminder. Remember last week, Pastor Brett talked to us about the necessity of remembrance and spiritual memories. Here God is reminding them.

Do you see it in verse four? You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, he says, how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. I love this fatherly paternal language, don't you? It's very caring and very endearing. And notice that the destination here was not just somewhere else other than Egypt.

The destination here is not necessarily the promised land. It's not even necessarily freedom. It's not a concept.

The destination is personal. He says, I brought you to myself. He is the destination.

And so we learned quickly that the goal of their deliverance, of their redemption, of God's activity in breaking them free from bondage was not just a different location. It was arrival to someone. Himself.

Now notice that in this same first section, God gives three identity forming names. Out of his identity, out of his activity, out of his character, he gives them three names. My possession, my kingdom of priests, and my holy nation.

He promises after bringing them to himself and carrying them on his wings, so to speak. This is what they would be. This is a beautiful moment of grace.

They didn't earn these titles. These are really relational status signs given by God's grace. It is all his action.

It is all his work. They are his people. Notice the word my in that first phrase.

The next phrase refers to their use by God to be instruments of grace to the world. And then lastly, they are his set-apart people, the holy nation. All of this is because of God's grace.

And amazingly, Peter uses these very same relational status symbols, I'll call them, to talk about God's people now, both Jew and Gentile. First Peter chapter 2 verse 9. Peter would say, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Yes, it was to the dispersed Jews, but they were within Gentile cultures where Gentiles had come to Christ, the church.

And so God's people now are called what God's people then were called. It's a beautiful moment showing the expanded family of God under the authority and with the identity of Christ. And here we see that his identity is that of a gracious, redeeming God who brings us to himself, who carries us and gives us his names.

Now this order matters. And let me just mention to you briefly. It matters because notice that it's God that acts first.

It's God that does the heavy lifting. It's God that does the carrying, right? So church, hear this, tuck this deep inside your heart. His identity always precedes our activity.

Grace always goes before grit. We sometimes, and I believe it's unintentional, but we sometimes instinctively flip it. We perform hoping to be accepted.

We obey hoping to be loved. We do hoping to be called something. But Exodus 19 really preaches a better gospel.

Amen. A different gospel. That is God who has carried us and born us and delivered us and bought us and purchased us and redeemed us out of his grace.

And he has lavished on us all of these status names, all of these relational titles, not because of anything we've earned, but all because of what God has given. So church, hear this, live to express that, not to earn that. And so you can already see in these first six verses, our presence principle kind of just bubbling up, can't you? That God's presence is not just about his proximity.

It is more about his identity. And in these first six verses, his identity is one of gracious redemption. God is a redemptive God.

Look at section two with me, begins in verse seven. I'll read, you follow along with me. After Moses came back, he summoned the elders of the people.

You can mention chapter 18 for that, how all that occurred. And he said before them, all these words, the Lord had commanded him. And then all the people responded together.

We will do all that the Lord has spoken. And so Moses brought the people words back to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, I'm going to come to you in a dense cloud so that the people will hear when I speak with you and will always believe you.

He's bringing a visual authenticating sign to the verbal aspect. Moses reported the people's words to the Lord and the Lord told Moses, go to the people and say the next word with me, would you? Consecrate them today and tomorrow. Circle that word, put a star by it, underline it.

Here's more about consecration. At Sinai, three months after their deliverance from Egypt, they must wash their clothes. Be prepared by the third day for on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

What a statement. No wonder they're to consecrate themselves. I mean, don't miss the weight of that.

Verse 12 continues to expand now what consecration was. Put boundaries for the people all around the mountain and say, be careful that you don't go up on the mountain or touch its base. Anyone who touches the mountain must be put to death.

No hand may touch him. Instead, he'll be stoned or shot with arrows and not live, whether animal or human. When the ram's horn sounds a long blast, they may go up the mountain.

And so then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and he, what? Say it with me. Consecrated them, meaning he implemented all of the actions just mentioned. They washed their clothes and he said to the people, be prepared by the third day and do not have sexual relations with women.

Now I'll explain more about that phrase on the Extra Point podcast, why it's one of the only ones mentioned in this whole consecration section. For our purposes this morning, just make this second note in your series guide on some paper there in front of you. God's presence requires a consecrated response.

So we saw his presence initially illustrated in the first six verses through God's words and his activity. And their response now must be a consecrated one because, let's be frank, as you read this second section, wouldn't you say with me that the tone shifts a bit? I mean, the first section, it's fatherly, it's endearing. He's carrying them on eagle's wings.

He's bringing them to himself. It draws you in, but now suddenly something's putting you back a bit. He said, hey, stand back, be on guard.

I'm coming down. This is not a light or casual moment. And so the tone is shifting a bit.

I think this is why the word that thematically dominates this second section is the word consecrate, mentioned twice. It means to set apart. It means to prepare and to get ready, to dedicate.

And in this moment, this is what they were called to do, to prepare, to get ready to meet God on the mountain. You'll notice that two primary consecration guardrails are put in place, purity and boundaries. If you read through the verses about consecration here, it does seem like they could be categorized with actions of purity and then actions that have boundaries.

That's interesting to me. Why would God establish a consecration around, you know, these two elements? And it's simply because, yes, God is gracious and redemptive, but God is holy. Say the word with me, holy.

Often we try to define holiness. It's difficult. It's a primary descriptor of God, however.

So it would behoove us to try to understand this word to some degree. And the best word that's helped me over the years is this word. Holiness is in its raw essence, God's otherliness.

We can use other words and that's not wrong. But sometimes there are words that we can get our hands around and they almost seem too casual. I like this word because it defines and describes God in his rawest form.

God is not like you. God is not like me. We are made in his image, but he's categorically different.

He's not a greater version of you. He's not a Marvel or a DC comic person. God is otherly.

In the words of the Bible, God is holy. When we say that, what we're saying is that God is different in more than just a moral way. Now, God is truly that for sure.

That's part of the equation. But God is different in a fundamental way. In other words, he's different in kind.

Timothy would say this, the book of Timothy, Paul would say this, that God dwells in unapproachable light. So you can't approach God. You can't get to God.

On your own, as you are, you can't get there. Purity and boundaries are necessary or the result happens that's mentioned in Exodus 19, death. I mean, it is not an underestimation to say this, that these are breathtaking words.

If you minimize God, if you don't understand God and his holiness or his essential otherliness, that he's not you and you try to approach him on your terms or as if he is just a better version of you, that's the end of you. This is what the text lays before us. And this is where I think contemporary American Christianity stumbles sometimes where churches often are afraid to be God's people and sometimes are more apt to be cultural than biblical.

We soften who God is. We're afraid to say God is holy. He's otherly.

He's set apart from us in that sense. Like he's categorically different in kind. I think sometimes American cultural Christianity speaks of God in ways that are warm and casual and friendly.

And I don't think that's always wrong. I think there are moments and times in which that can deliver the appropriate intention. After all, God did draw close.

He, in the person of Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, became man. He became like us. He was close.

So there are times and words in which we describe holy God becoming holy, W-H-O-L-L-Y, man. But somewhere in that whole mix, my pretty strong opinion is we've lost the trembling scene in Exodus 19. We've lost the mountain type of shuddering when we realize who God is.

You see, too many of us no longer live with the fear of God as the source of our life. And that is what the Bible says, that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. I think sometimes we've even taken the phrase, the fear of God, and tried to make it palpable, swallowable.

Oh, I can get my hands around that. Actually, it probably means a lot of what we think it means. There is a time and an element and a place and an aspect in which you should be rightly afraid of God who is categorically not like you, who's otherly, who's holy.

As I pondered this, even last week while I was away, and I worked through all of your names in prayer, which is a weekly habit for me. There were names that I can't quite explain what I was feeling. I'll just simply say to you that I had a sense of fear and scare for some of you.

I was prompted in that moment to make sure I shared this with you, that an all pastoral vulnerability and candor, I am fearful for some of you when I pray for you. This chapter and this display of God's person and presence is staggering. It should set us back a bit.

And yet sometimes I watch some of you. We converse and we talk and you seem to communicate and live as if God isn't really that otherly, as if he isn't really that holy. And without any arrogance and every bit of humility that the Spirit can give me, I want to say to some of you, I am pastorally and spiritually scared for some of you.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Some of you have become remarkably comfortable with your sin, sins that once bothered your soul and your conscience. It caused you to stop in your steps, but now it's like normal behavior.

And you are oddly at home in a culture that mocks God's design, celebrates impurity, trivializes marriage, glorifies violence, ridicules truth, and you don't feel any tension in your soul in this culture. Some of you speak to your spouse, your kids, or about your spouse with a sarcasm and a harshness that you would never use on a co-worker. And then you sing songs in here as if everything's fine at home.

Some of you have cultivated private habits online that if your family or your spouse knew, it would devastate them. And you work harder at keeping the truth away from them than dealing with the truth. Some of you have not opened your Bible in months.

You think it's odd that we press on you to read the scriptures. You haven't shown up to a night of prayer or a worship night ever. You can't imagine adjusting your schedule to meet with God's people to pray.

And it never bothers you. You think it's odd that we call for your commitment. Some of you are more emotionally affected by the outcome of a game, the movement of a stock, or the latest political controversy, or a social media post, than you are by the condition of your soul before a holy God who is categorically unlike you.

Perhaps the most concerning is that it's true in our church and other churches that some people just know how to play the game. They're never awed by God. There's never a sense of emotion in the right way.

You just sing and you listen, you serve, you give, and you go on your way. It's just another thing you do. You find all the good in that and the reason to say that's normal.

And yet if you look at your life, God is just another one of your hobbies. It gives you another pool of people to sell your product to. It gives you another group of friends.

It keeps your moral status in the community at the right level. It's a total manipulation of God. And nothing about that bothers you.

You seem unmoved that you could treat a holy God in that fashion. To you, I say again, with pastoral humility, but great fear. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.

You see the greatest threat to your spiritual life right now, assuming you have one, is you're not aware of the incredible danger you're in. But you're in a very dangerous place. You're in the place of familiarity.

And so you've become casual with God. Do I think that every meeting with God must be like this meeting on the mountain with trembling and shuddering? I don't think that. But do I think that some of your times with God ought to end in that? I do.

And none of your moments with God have ever ended with you on your knees, shuddering, fearful, and trembling in front of God, who is holy and mighty and otherly. May God have mercy on your soul. And may He awaken you and stir you and shake you.

May He awaken and stir our church. May He stir and shake our country and our community. But He is not just a superhero of Christians.

He is not just a better human. God is holy and otherly and set apart. And we should shake in His presence.

That's why I'm afraid for some of you that you can stand at the foot of Sinai and feel nothing. That's a very dangerous place to be. That's why I think Exodus 19, at least in my life this week, it has been a gift of mercy.

It is a scripture from God to remind us who He is. And that when He is near us, let's remember who is near and with us. Holy God.

One who is otherly. And let's not make Him common or manageable in every right way. God is not safe.

He is holy, holy, holy. Lord God almighty. All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea.

Holy, holy, holy. Merciful and mighty. God in three persons, blessed trinity.

You can see the core elements of our presence principle, okay? Again, surfacing. That God's presence is not just about His proximity, but it's about His what? Identity. And here, His identity is holy.

Let's read our third section and see how it climaxes. Verse 16, on the third day, when the morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound. So that all the people in the camp, say with me, church, shuddered.

And then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. And they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire.

It's smoke went up like the soak of a furnace and the whole mountain shook violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai at the top of the mountain.

The Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain and he went up. The Lord directed Moses, go down and warn the people not to break through to see the Lord. Otherwise, many of them will die.

Even the priests who come near the Lord must consecrate themselves or the Lord will break out in anger against them. So Moses responds to the Lord, the people cannot come up Mount Sinai since you warned us. You can put a boundary around the mountain and consecrate it, you said.

The Lord replied to him, you go down and come back with Aaron. The Lord said, I will bring you back with Aaron, but the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the Lord or he will break out in anger against them. So Moses went down to the people and told them.

Jot down this third observation, God's presence reminds us we need a mediator. God's presence reminds us we need a mediator because he's redemptive and holy and we can't approach him on our own terms. Sometimes we need a mediator and in this case it was Moses for Israel, which I think is almost in this very sobering chapter, I find it humorous how many treks he makes up and down the mountain.

I don't know how large it was, how big it was, but I'll say this, it was probably big enough to take some time and Moses is up and down. He's this moving mediator for Israel, isn't he? But this is not an odd conclusion to come to. We've seen that God is redemptive, that God is holy, and because He's both of these, Israel needs mediation.

They're the opposite. They're not redemptive, they're not holy, so what gives here? This is why this text is so powerful because even after all the preparation, which they seem to do, God still says to them, stay back. The boundary still stands and that's because though they consecrated themselves, they still weren't holy enough without a mediator.

Sinful people cannot just casually approach a holy God without a mediator. Boundaries and purity on our part just keeps us at the right distance. What actually brings us close to God? A mediator, and this is what the chapter shows us.

In fact, Moses goes up and down the mountain repeatedly three times. Verses 3 and 7 show the first one, 8 and 14 show the second one, 20 and 25 show the third one. He is there to go between.

So church, hear this, God is present, He's very near, but He must be approached with a mediator. In other words, access is possible, but it's not permitted unless you've got a go-between. Now I want to bring the tone down a bit because mediation can sometimes sound like a word that divides.

In fact, you usually use it when you're trying to figure out how to keep two parties somewhat sane, right? Like we're going to try to find some middle ground or compromise. So you mediate, and you don't think about that word being a unifying word typically, and yet in this case, this word's a beautiful word about God. Now let me just kind of talk you through this because mediation can seem kind of like a ten dollar word.

It's not a word that describes God's character. I don't think it's wrong to say God is a mediatorial God. That's not wrong, but mediation or a mediator is not necessarily a word about His character.

It describes a situation. Are you with me? It describes a need. It's indication something needs to happen.

So in that sense, we're describing something about God, but not necessarily a character trait. But yet it's a good thing about God. It's saying this, that because God is holy and redemptive, a mediator is necessary.

But because one's necessary, and we can provide it, God has given us the mediator. In fact, here's the beautiful truth. God is the mediator.

He has given Himself to make sure we have access. This is why mediation from a theological point of view, from a scriptural point of view, is beautiful. In this case, early on, the old covenant, the mediator was Moses.

The Moses that we see here went up and down the mountain for the people to God. But this is also quite haunting because Moses is temporary, and our need for a mediator is permanent. So what are we going to do? In fact, this whole dilemma, access to God, how does mankind gain it? It's the problem since Genesis and the first sin.

Now let's be honest. Moses climbed the mountain here. He mediated access, but only temporarily.

Then it was Aaron who mediated access only temporarily. Then it was, of course, the high priest, generation after generation, entered the Holy of Holies, mediated access to God, but only temporarily, then Christ. Our high priest forever, once and for all, and He did what no human, and maybe I should say only human, high priest could ever do.

He granted us permanent access into the presence of God. And see, what Moses could only do was to go back and forth between the people and God. Jesus took us all the way up the mountain into God's presence.

He is our ultimate mediator. No wonder Hebrews says this, chapter 7, verse 25, Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them. Right now, if you belong to God, if you've put your faith in Jesus Christ and you've trusted Him alone as death and resurrection, Jesus Christ is mediating for you in front of God.

In front of holy, righteous, powerful, redeeming, otherly God, Jesus is standing in for you through His blood and His finished sacrifice. And He's letting God know every single second, this one belongs to you because of me. He's mediating for you.

Now, Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us. What a wonderful truth to behold. You see, God provides access to Himself through Himself.

This is what Jesus has done for us. He's the greater Moses who did not just ascend the mountain. He brought us up the mountain with Him into God's presence.

So can't you see it again? This presence principle about identity being more potent and important than proximity, that God's presence is not just about His proximity. It is more importantly about His identity. And when you mix all these sections together, what you find is this is really what shaped Israel's activity.

When they realized who it was that was coming down the mountain and what He was like and what He required, then the 10 commandments, which is the next chapter, it makes a lot of sense. Often we run to Exodus 20, Travis will preach there next week. He'll lay out for us the 10 commandments.

But before a single word of the Decalogue was ever given, God said, here's who is giving you the 10 commandments. Here's who I am. And so His identity really precedes the commandments.

Who He is is why He does what He does. And we're simply saying that when God's presence is manifestly sensed and known, don't get called up just in proximity. Remember, who is this God who is now manifestly present? Who is this God who is with us? It is the God who is graciously redemptive, completely otherly and holy, and fully powerful enough to grant you access through Himself to Himself.

That's the God who was with us. That's the God who not only shaped their identity and activity, but shapes ours. That's why we say, here's the presence principle.

Say it with me one more time, would you? God's presence is not only about His proximity, but more importantly, His identity. And that identity shapes our activity. So how is your identity being shaped? Let me put it to you a little more plainly.

How are your meetings on the mountain? Casual? Familiar? Normal? Or could you say there are moments of trembling, and it changes who I am. Because I think Exodus 19 sets for us a template of how we should encounter God. And in all honesty, maybe not every time, but for sure, some of the time.

We find this pattern continuing through the Ark of Scripture, by the way. We find similar postures and attitudes in Revelation, but we find an odd one in Mark. Mark chapter 5, when a woman who had an issue with blood and a disease for 12 years knew this, if I could just get to Jesus and touch the very bottom part of that robe, I could be healed.

I don't know what illuminated her mind to that necessarily. I don't know how that occurred or why she thought that, but she knew that proximity mattered to some degree. But can I say to you, she knew identity mattered more, because she wasn't looking for anybody's him, was she? And let's be honest, there were disciples in the mix there, because it was a disciple who said, hey, this woman's trying to, you know, get close.

And she wasn't trying to touch the hem of their garment. She knew it was a specific one. And she said, if I can get to him and touch his hem, I'll be made whole.

And she did. And the moment she did, Jesus knew she did. The Bible says that when that happened, he called her forward.

And the Bible uses this exact phrase, Mark chapter five, says she came to him in, watch this now, you'll love this, in fear and trembling. So is that the response of every encounter? Is that how every meeting on the mountain should be? Pastorally, humbly, honestly, probably not. But should it be some of them? And for sure, should it be the first one? Yes.

Mark says she came fearful and trembling and she bowed down to him. That's Exodus 19 in Mark five. So let me ask you again, how are your meetings with God on the mountain? My sense is here, all of us need to evaluate how we approach God and through whom we approach God.

And if you have never bowed the needy King Jesus. So that you can approach your holy creator this morning. Do not wait another second.

Because it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Bow in submission to your creator who sent his son Jesus to die in your place and to be raised from the dead so that you could be spared eternal death and raised to eternal life. Run to Jesus.

When you run to Jesus, you will be reconciled to God, the holy God, that if you try to approach on your own is a deadly experience. But through Jesus, it is a life giving and you will find that's the God who was born you on his wings and brought you to himself and that presence, that moment will be far greater than just that a proximity issue. You will realize the identity of the one who is near you makes all the difference.