A Holy God, A Holy People

Without the voice of God, we’re a confused and hopelessly lost people. Winston Miller preaches a chapel message entitled “A Holy God, A Holy People” on Exodus 19 at RTS Orlando.

So let’s go to the Word of God and see what happened on that day and what it means for us today. We’ll be reading a whole chapter so we’ll move quickly through it. Exodus 19:

On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephedim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 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. 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.”

When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man he shall not live.’ When the trumpets sound a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountains 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. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to look and many of them perish. Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord breaks out against them.” And Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.” And the Lord said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up the Lord, lest he break out against them.” So Moses went down to the people and told them.

Let’s pray. Lord we’re grateful, this is the day you’ve made. We rejoice. We’re glad in it. And as we look on the day that you descended on the Mount of Sinai, speak, dear Lord, to us and help us to recognize who we are and whose we are and so live. In Jesus’s name we pray, amen.

You and I did not come into this world with a strong sense of identity or an understanding of how we got here. Over time and through relationships we formed that identity. As children we grow to know and understand our parents and caregivers and what it’s meant to be a member of the household and of the greater society. And now, as parents, many of us hope that our children will develop and grow to represent us as well, to understand us and to understand themselves in light of who they were created to be.

God’s desire for his children, Israel, surpasses even that. God’s children, the children of God, are a nation that has grown and developed under Egyptian influence for over 400 years. They’re a people that really don’t know their God. So God delivers his children out of slavery and brings them into the wilderness to train them to know him, to know his purposes and to know his plans, and for his children to understand his character and to develop into who he created and called them to be. God would expose them to his holiness. He would impress upon them their status as his chosen people, and he would give them his house rules. He would begin to reshape their identity. And as a result, their lives would change.

As believers in Christ, we too need to be reminded of our identity. We’re the chosen people of God, in Christ adopted into his family. We are the children of God. And as his children we’re being sanctified by his Spirit to live holy lives before him. So because God has graciously chosen us as his people and revealed his holiness to us through the gospel, let’s learn to walk in a manner that’s worthy of our calling and from our God. From this text, we can learn three things: the identity and mission of God’s people, the holiness of God’s people, and the holiness of God.

The Identity and Mission of God’s People

First, let’s look at the identity and mission of God’s people. At the beginning of the third month, the Israelites reached the wilderness of Sinai after leaving Rephidim, and they set up camp at the base of the mountain. And verse 3 says again that Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.’” Before God tells them to do anything he brags a little bit about what he’s already done for them.

Sometimes we have a misconception about our God, as if his grace and his mercy toward us is contingent upon our doing good works first. As if God doesn’t move toward us unless we’re first good enough to move the hand of God. But even in what is about to be a terrifying display of God’s holiness and his power, God first reminds his children how he plagued the Egyptians on their behalf, how he drowned them in the Red Sea, and how he bore them on eagles’ wings. He metaphorically took them out of the nest, put them on his powerful wings, and brought them to himself in order to consummate his covenant with them.

A misunderstanding of our God-given identity hinders the mission of God.Why did he do this? Because they were already his chosen people. He’s not about to make them a people with a covenant. They are already his. Earlier in Exodus 3, he tells Moses that he’s going to send him to pharaoh to bring “my people,” the children of Israel, out of Egypt. In Exodus 4 the Lord refers to Israel as “my firstborn son.” So it’s not their obedience to stipulations that are about to be given in the covenant that’s going to earn their place as the children of God. Rather, if they will obey the voice of the Lord and keep his covenant, they’ll be able to walk in the blessings of the covenant instead of its curses as faithful children of God.

Psalm 24 states, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” But not everybody can claim to be the treasured possession of God as God describes his children in verse 5 of our text. Talk about an identity. In addition to being God’s treasured possession, God says in verse 6 that walking in obedience to the covenant will mean fulfilling their mission as a royal kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Because of the intimate knowledge of their exposure to the holiness of God and receiving his law, Israel is chosen to be a light to the nations and as priest they’re standing between God and man to bring man closer to God and to bring God’s truth and favor and justice and discipline and holiness to all of humanity.

Now, we know from the rest of Scripture that Israel did not always live out this identity and mission very well. Most of the people camped at the base of the mountain would not live out their calling and would perish in the wilderness instead of reaching that promised land. As a church we must also understand our identity as children of God. And from that identity, we live out the mission of God because a misunderstanding of our God-given identity hinders the mission of God.

Without the voice of God and the Word of God, we’re a confused and hopelessly lost people.In Ralph Ellison’s award-winning novel, Invisible Man, the protagonist struggles to understand his identity. He goes through some bizarre circumstances in which he’s forced to play roles that are inauthentic for him and that limit his complexity as an individual. He comes to believe that in order to be an authentic human being, he mustn’t look to anything outside of himself to define him. He finally proclaims: “When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.”

And isn’t that the way we’re prone to think? We resist definition by anyone or anything else, including the Word of God. Some of us are tempted to believe that only I have the right to decide what’s true, what to believe, and how to live. But the truth is, whenever we look to ourselves instead of to God to establish our identity, our purpose, and our function, disastrous results await. Without the voice of God and the Word of God, we’re a confused and hopelessly lost people. Peter recalls this moment in Exodus when he addresses the church as the elect exiles, and he tells them in 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.” And what is our purpose? “That you might proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” We have identity and mission which keeps us from confusion so long as we’re trusting in Christ alone for our salvation.

So Moses relays this wonderful covenant message regarding their identity and mission to the people of God through their elders and how God’s people respond in verses 7–9 is based on what they have heard regarding their identity. They’ve not yet been exposed to the fire, to the thunder, and to the lightning. Yet in verse 8, they tell Moses, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” Oh that we, as the people of God, would be so moved by the graciousness of God that it motivates all of our actions to obey and to please him. First John 3 tells us, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” And it goes on to say that no one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he is born of God.

Unfortunately, we will see in the history of Israel that they’re not faithful to this promise that they would obey everything that God has asked them to do. In fact, they quickly grow impatient with Moses when he went up to talk with God. Then in Exodus 32, they compelled Aaron to build a golden calf for them to worship as the God that brought them out of Egypt. Their ability to obey just one rule, much less to keep all of the rules and the statutes that were on the way, showed the need for something outside of themselves that would bring them into covenant keeping and right relationship with God.

We’re no different. We need the one who fulfilled all of the law without relaxing not even the least of the commandments, and only Jesus Christ has done this. Matthew 5:17, Jesus said that he did not come to abolish the law but that he came to fulfill all the law on our behalf and to accept our penalty for keeping none of the law. So our response to him, like the children of Israel, should be: All that the Lord has said we will do.” The difference is we can only do so if we are in Christ, if our faith is in him and him alone for our justification before God. His obedience is credited to us and we are saved.

The Holiness of God’s People

So we see that God has described the identity and mission of his chosen people, and they’ve responded. Moses has brought the response of God’s people back to him. So let’s next consider the expectation for the holiness of God’s people. In verses 10–15 and 21–26, God tells Moses that the people have today and tomorrow to consecrate themselves because he will appear on the top of the mountain on the third day. They are to consecrate themselves, wash their clothes, and set limits around the mountain so that no person or animal should die.

When God appeared on the mountain, he reissued the warning against coming toward the mountain. Moses reminded God that he’s repeating himself. So why did God reissue this warning? Because there’s really no way for man to truly understand the danger he is in in the presence of God. The presence of sin is eliminated in the holiness of God. So it is in his mercy that he warns and re-warns Moses and the people. The word that describes the clothes that needed washing indicates that they’re garments received from the Egyptians. So it’s any semblance of the world that needs to be cleansed before they can appear before God. Even relationships had to be interrupted for a time so that the people could prepare for the impending appearance of the Lord.

How do our plans reflect the fact that we are children of God, and we don’t choose our own path and decide our own fate?God was very detailed in his instructions of how the people were to appear before him. Our God is such an awesome God, with no other gods beside him, that he gives detailed instructions about how he is to be approached in worship. He demanded worship where all other idols were cast aside and all distractions should be ignored. Yet he’s also a merciful God that when he makes us his children, he places his Spirit within us to comfort and to strengthen us, to constantly point us to him, to help us to submit every detail of our lives to him, and to empower us to worship him as he desires.

We must ask ourselves: how do our plans reflect the fact that we are children of God, and we don’t choose our own path and decide our own fate? How do the actions of our days reflect the fact that there is a lifestyle that the God we serve expects, even demands for those who are his children? His demands are never grievous because he gives us the power to obey. He gives us his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to not only empower us, but to conform us into his Son’s image through sanctification. We get to joyfully experience transformation that changes not only our identity but our eternal destination through obedience to the Word of God. And that’s why the apostle Paul describes the people of God as being in the world but not of the world. The curse of sin and the influence of the world and and the devil may taint us, but they do not define us. We’re defined by our relationship to the God on the mountain.

The Holiness of God

So finally, what did these people who have been given an identity and a mission, who have responded to God, and who have been made holy by the Word of God see on the mountain on that third day? What they experienced was the holiness of God. Allow me to just read again verses 16–20:

On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountains 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. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

God’s appearing in this way impressed upon the people his holiness, his otherness so that they may develop a healthy fear of him and also to trust in him. You say, “Fear and trust?” Yes. And that’s why God gave them his assurances; he showed them his providential care. He protected them and he rescued them. He fed them with manna from heaven and water from a rock so that they would trust this God even while they fear him. Yet in the next chapter of Exodus, chapter 20, we find more details of the people’s reaction. In verse 18 and 19, it says, “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.’”

R. C. Sproul has said that there is an aversion built into the heart of man against anything holy because in the presence of the holy, we become completely aware of our sinfulness. So we resist approaching what is holy. But I want you to listen to the hope in Hebrews 12 as the author is contrasting the experience of the children of Israel in the wilderness with the experience of the children of God in the New Testament church. Listen to what it says. Hebrews 12:18:

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire in 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.

God was unapproachable here in Mount Sinai. His holiness required a line of demarcation, which only those who had been summoned could cross. But if you’re here today and for any reason you’re afraid to approach God, I want you to know that because of Jesus Christ, you are able to come boldly to the throne of grace. Jesus is a mediator of the new covenant, and he lived the perfect life, the holy life that we could not live. He sacrificed his life to satisfy the perfection that a holy God requires in order for us to approach him. He met the demands, every detail. And if we place our trust in Jesus alone and receive our identity from him, we can turn our back on the false identity that the world has given us. And with confidence, we can draw near to the God that created us, and we will receive mercy and find grace to help when we need it.

We not only enjoy the benefits of being children of God now because the children of God live eternally with God. That’s why in 1 John 3, it says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

Let’s pray. Our Father and our God, by the power of your Holy Spirit, would you continue to point us to your Son again and again as we live lives that you have empowered us to live that will glorify and honor you, our holy and our righteous, merciful, faithful, and saving God. In Jesus’s name, amen.