Moses, Israel and The Sinai Covenant

A Holy Introduction at the Great Meeting Place:

It has been weeks. Anticipation of what might be and the excitement of what is; the celebration of a past behind them the Israelites were about to meet the one of whom was the giver of the covenant promise to Abraham. The words of Joseph were reverberating through their minds “when you leave this land take my bones with you”. It was all coming together. What questions were they asking? What feelings were taking place? What thoughts were going through their minds?

Moses the Prophet and Intermediary

God has acted with great power and works unimaginable miracles on behalf of the Israelite people. Leading the people out of the land of Egypt by smoke in day and fire at night. Now they are here, at the place. God is going to reveal himself to all of them. How awesome (in the truest most terrifying sense of the word) is this going to be?

What does an experience of God look and sound like?

The arrival of God is “powerful, disruptive, and cataclysmic as God arrives into the community”- Walter Brueggemann

At the base of Sinai the people are to be prepped before witnessing God’s glory.

Moses had to remove his sandals and he veiled his face at the burning bush. One does not just waltz up to the Almighty.

Entry into worship is a holy endeavor and a high risk task in which serious preparation must be made. This event is the culmination of the Chant to Pharaoh “Let my people go that they may worship me”

The Israelites complete purification rituals outlined by Yahweh. Wash clothes and spiritual preparation of abstinence.

God came down on the third day: God revealed and condescended himself to the people on mt. Sinai’s summit.

No person or animal was to touch even the base of the mountain or else they would die.

Sanctification.

Only Moses ascended the mountain. There is movement in both ascending and descending the mountain on several occasions by Moses. Thus witnessed that God is the Ultimate authority and Moses the Penultimate.

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 19

19:20 Moses went up Initially, God only allows Moses to ascend. He will later allow the priests and Aaron to ascend as well (to lesser degrees; Exod 19:22, 24).

Only after the people agreed to God Exodus 19:8 “The people all answered as one: “Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.” Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.”

The Covenant of God is the boundary of righteousness.

God acted on behalf of the people as a testimony to his faithfulness and authority over the greatest nation of their day. God’s demonstration is the invitation not a forced oppression. God desires the Israelites to freely choose fidelity to Him and in that they will bring light to all the nations.

Ex. 19:4-6 “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 obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”

"In the shadow of death may we not look back to the past, but seek in utter darkness the dawn of God." - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.

Meeting God: Seeing God, Hearing God, Living with God.

Through living into the new relationship with God, a boundary is created that protects the people in righteousness. It is not a cage but a fortress.

A New Community is Created

In the light of this relationship God creates a unique community in the world. A community defined not by its power or authority, but by its righteousness.

Israel is to be an intersection of wordly power and holy purpose.

The emphasis that Moses’s authority is trustworthy and enduring.

The Covenant is living in the and by the righteous requirement of God

The Mountain is no ordinary place. It is a dangerous environment of which converges the holy and the ordinary and in the fallout transformation occurs. - Ref: Walter Brueggemann.

Mt. Top experiences are not futile, simple, or shallow. Here on the mountain God is experienced, a covenant made, an authority given, and a destiny proclaimed.

The rawness of our deficiency is exposed in the presence of the Almighty God.

The reception of the Ten Commandments

Christ is the intersection of the Holy and the mundane

God condescended to this world not in a display of power but of humility and invitation. Jesus stepped out of heaven, emptying himself of all that he was to be born that the world may meet God, not at a mountain that could not be touched but in the hands and feet of Jesus who stooped down to lift up, heal, and restore. the God human tabernacled with us. As God would reside with the ancient Israelites in the wilderness.

Bonhoeffer: When confronted with Christ one must either kill Christ or be crucified with Christ.

We can’t experience the risen Jesus and remain the same.

It is not a trivial act in which we can water down what takes place. Christ calls to us and when we answer we are called to die so that in Christ and with Christ we will live.

In the experience of salvation God’s grace transforms us. God communicates to us through his word. God reveals himself to us in the means of grace and thin places of our faith practice.

Where do we meet God today?

God doesn’t speak to me? God doesn’t appear to me? Why can’t I feel God’s power like the people described in the Bible?

Meeting God in the profession of faith...

Convinced of our sin and a dire need for His salvation work.

Justified by faith in Jesus Christ we are sanctified and continuing in sanctification.

When we walk knowing God has worked, is working, and will work on our behalf, the Holy Spirit reveals these great works everyday.

1 John 2:4–5 NRSV

Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him:

Hebrews 3:15 NRSV

As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

God is just as active and working in the world today as he was in antiquity. Let us prepare our hearts and ready our spirits. Let us take seriously the awesome presence and power of God in each of our lives. Let us live lives of obedience and cling to his righteous commands. Let us never tire of doing the good work God has laid out for us. In Christ Jesus, the Lord has shown us the ultimate example. To live, serve, and lead like Jesus in every facet of our being. Let the Holy Spirit transform you as you listen for God’s voice in your life.