The Meeting on the Mountain, Part 1

If you have your Bible, turn with me to Exodus chapter 19. Exodus chapter 19. We're going to talk today about what it means to meet with God. And how is it we are to actually meet the living God of the universe? This chapter becomes very pivotal for us as we understand what it means to draw near to God. The Bible says if we draw near to God, he will draw near to us.

So, how does that actually take place? And what is it that we are supposed to be doing when we come to meet our God? You see, so often our approach to meeting God is very flippant. Very rarely do we go to meet God with great intensity, great passion, and great desire. And yet, that's exactly what the Bible says we are to be doing.

Remember Psalm 63? O God, thou art my God. I shall seek thee earnestly. My soul thirsts for thee, my flesh yearns for thee, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have beheld thee in the sanctuary, to see thy power and thy glory, because thy loving kind is better than life. My lips will praise thee. So I will bless thee as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in thy name. He came for one purpose, and that was to bless the name of God. He did not come to the sanctuary to be blessed.

So, you know, you are prepared to worship God when you are coming to bless Him and not receive a blessing. Now, you will receive a blessing if you come to bless your God. But we need to know what it means to meet with God on a corporate basis. And Exodus 19 tells us that. Let's look at it together.

In the third month, after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came to the wilderness of Sina.

When they set out from Raphidim they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness, and there Israel camped in front of the mountain. And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel, You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians. and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to my. Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the 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 sons of Israel. So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, All that the LORD has spoken, we will do. And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD. And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I shall come to you in a thick cloud, in order that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe in you forever.

Then Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. The Lord also said to Moses, Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, and let them 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 bounds for the people all around, saying, Beware that you do not go up on the mountain, or touch the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through. Whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the ram's horn sounds 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. He said to the people, Be ready, for the third day, do not go near a woman.

So it came about on the third day when it was morning. that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke. Because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder.

And 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. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD, to gaze, and many of them perish. And also let the priests who come near to the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them. And Moses said to the LORD, The people cannot come up to Mount Sin. For thou didst warn us, saying, Set bounds about the mountain and consecrate it.

Then the LORD said to him, Go down and come up again, you and Aaron with you. but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break forth upon them. So Moses went down to the people and told them. We're going to look first of all at the mountain of God.

The mountain of God. Two things I want you to notice. The first is the scene, and the second is the significance of this scene.

The mountain. Of God. You must remember where they are. Go back, if you would, to Exodus chapter three. Moses is writing in retrospect. When he writes Exodus chapter 3, it becomes the mountain of God because that is the place where God Himself descends and God begins to speak to Moses through the burning bush. Now over in verse number 12 of chapter 3 it says this, and he said, Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God where?

At this mountain. The scene is very significant. Why? Because God made a promise to Moses over a year ago, according to the timetable of the book of Exodus. That you are to go and bring the people back to this mountain because this is where they will worship me. So you can imagine what's going through the mind of Moses as they finally come upon this great mountain.

There in the Sinai Peninsula, Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai. Moses is remembering the promise of God. When God makes a promise, He keeps it. That's the scene. What is the significance of this scene? The significance is this: The mountain of God is where God or Moses received his call. And where God Himself revealed His character. That's the significance of this place. And now, what's going to happen at the Mountain of God? Is God going to continue to reveal his character through the giving of the Ten Commandments?

The Ten Commandments Reveal to us the character of God more so than any other ten words in the Bible. And we'll see that in days to come. That's the mountain of God. The second thing I want you to see is the meeting with God.

Moses has a meeting with God. He makes his way up the mountain. In the very first thing that takes place in verse number 3, Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons 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. The first thing I want you to see is the reminder that Moses receives in order that he might remind the people of God exactly what God did.

He says, you go down and you tell them what I did. Don't let them ever forget that I delivered them from Egypt. I defeated their enemies and I brought them to myself. I brought them to me. They are mine. And you see, in order for us to meet with God, we need to understand what God Himself has done. God says, you tell them that not only did I bless them through the deliverance, But I bore them on eagle's wings, and I brought them to myself.

Those who learn to depend upon God Have the strength of God. Those who don't wait upon Him, those who don't depend upon Him, have no strength from God. So if you're lacking strength, it's not because God doesn't want to give it to you, it's because you are unwilling to depend upon Him. To receive the strength you need when you are growing weary and tired, God wants to give it to you. And God says, You remind them that I bore them on eagle's wings.

Now, this is significant to the Jewish mind. Because it speaks of God's strength and power in delivering his people. Now, turn with me to Revelation chapter 12 for a moment.

Revelation chapter 12. As you know, Revel chapter 12 is the history of the world from the very beginning to the very end, all in one chapter. It talks about the birth of Israel, the birth of the Messiah. Satan's fall and his design to destroy Israel and the Messiah. It's interesting to note that it says in verse number 13: And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman. The woman, by the way, is Israel, who gave birth to the male child, who, of course, is the Messiah.

And the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, to Israel. in order that she might f into the wilderness to her place where she was nourished for a time and times and a half a time from the presence of the serpent. The same analogy is used. Now, you'll read some commentators and say, well, you know, this is talking about an airplane that Israel is going to get on an airplane and they're going to fly to the wilderness. Folks, that's ridiculous. That's not talking about an airplane. It's a reference to Exodus chapter 19, where God says, This is how I delivered you.

This is how I protected you. I bore you on eagle's wings. I flew you to the mountain of God. I flew you into my presence and protected you all the way here. John, in his vision of the end times, sees the exact same God doing the exact same thing with the exact group of people. Not the exact names, but the nation itself, that is, Israel. And by the way, he flies them to the wilderness. And by the way, the wilderness in the Old Testament always refers to Edom and Moab. Always. So, when you know that when we talked about earlier in our service about when Jesus Christ returns to Bozra, which is where?

In Edom. Now you know that. That when the Lord returns, he returns the place where Israel is, where Israel is being nourished for three and a half years. By God Himself in a supernatural kind of way. He brought them there supernaturally, He'll nourish them supernaturally, and He will return in a supernatural way to protect His people because that's the way God is. And God says, You remind them of what I did.

You want to be prepared to meet your God? You can't forget what God has done. You can't. You can't be walking in here on Sunday morning having forgotten your redemption. Can't be walking in here on Sunday morning forgetting about what God has done to deliver you from the pits of hell. Can't do that because it will hinder your worship. And then he says, not only do I want you to remind them, but I want you to tell them about their reward. Says, Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples of all the earth.

For all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. You tell them, This is their reward, they will obtain worth. Because they are mine. They're worthy. Because they're mine. And not only are they mine, but they are a kingdom of priests. They're going to worship me. And not only are they going to worship me, they're going to be a witness for me because now they will become a holy nation, a separate nation, a distinct nation. And God says this is their reward for obedience.

And the Lord has said the exact same thing to you and me. In fact, he says over in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse number 9. Tell me what these sounds like Exodus chapter 19. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the praises or the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his. Marvelous light. Now that I've redeemed you, you have worth. And now that you have worth, you need to worship me. And when you worship me, you will be effective witnesses.

For me, a holy nation. And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6: Do you not know that your body is a temple?

Of the Holy Spirit, that you are not your own, that you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. God redeemed us at Calvary, and now we are to worship Him. In the beauty of his holiness, and we are to be his witnesses as a holy nation, as the distinct nation, different than anyone else, because we are the people of God. The third thing I want you to notice about this meeting with God with Moses on the mountain is the response of the people.

Look what it says. So Moses, verse 7, came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words which the Lord had commanded them. And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord has spoken. We will do. I love that. All that the Lord has spoken, we will do. That's their response. Now, if you go over to Deuteronomy chapter 5, you realize that God says that this was a good response.

This was the right response. Unfortunately, what they said didn't match what they did. We have a lot of people who are insincere in their ministry today because they make a commitment but don't stick with that commitment. Their marriages suffer because they made a commitment. They said some things, but they don't stick with that commitment. Their mission for God is thwarted because the sincerity of their lives does not match. What they have spoken. Well, at least this is the point number three: the manifestation of God.

And this is where we'll spend the rest of our time this morning and our next time together. The manifestation of God. God's going to manifest Himself in a very significant way. He wants them to be able to see His majesty. He wants the people of Israel to see Him in a very significant light. And so he's going to manifest himself to them. But before he does, there needs to be a preparation. They need to be ready to meet him. And the reason we have a hard time in our walk with the Lord, or we have a hard time seeing God when we come to worship God, is because we have not prepared to worship.

God. And Exodus 19 talks to us about what it means to be ready to receive from God that clear vision of Him. But you've got to be prepared. So God says to Moses, this is what you need to tell the people.

First of all, there needs to be a cleansing. The Lord said to Moses: Go to the people, consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments. It says over in verse number 14, So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people and they washed their garments. In order for us to be able to see God, there must be a cleansing. Now, this is important because listen carefully. A lot of people go to church. And never see God because they've never been washed from their sins.

They think they have been, but they haven't. Before you can clearly see Christ, there must be a cleansing of the sin against Christ. And God tells Moses, you tell the people to wash their garments. Now, what they were doing symbolically was what was taking place on the inner part of their man. You see, the cleansing of garments. The Bible speaks in Isaiah 64 and Zach 3 about soiled garments. Soiled garments represent sinful acts. Clean garments represent holy acts. That's important. Because you see, you never get to heaven unless you have clean garments.

Let me read to you Revel chapter 22. Verse number 14. The last blessing in the book of Revelation. There's seven of them, by the way. Seven blessings in the book of Revel, seven Beatitudes. The last one is verse number 14 in Revelation 22. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. The only way you get into heaven is if you have clean robes. But how are you going to do that? How do you get white garments? Well, the marvel thing about the book of Revelation is that it always defines the uncertain in the book.

So go back to Revel chapter 7. Revelation chapter 7. Verse number 9. After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count in every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes. Now, where did they get the white robes? How did they get those on? And palm branches were in their hands, and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures.

And they fell on their faces before the throne and worship God, saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying to me, These who are clothed in white robes. Who are they? And from where have they come? And I said to him, My Lord, you know. And he said to me, These are the ones who came or come out of the great tribulation. And they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

For this reason they are before the throne of God. And they serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, neither shall the sun beat down on them. nor any heat, for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life, and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes. How does one obtain white robes? They've got to be washed. And what are they washed in?

They are washed in the blood of the Lamb. Hebrews 9, verse number 14 says that the blood of Christ cleanses us from sin. 1 John 1, 7 says that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. What is happening in Exodus 19 is symbolic of what needs to take place in order for man to see God. He must be cleansed. From a sin. And the only way that happens is because of the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. And on top of that, not only is A man able to see God because he's been cleansed by the blood of God, but there must be that continual confession of sin or it mars his vision of God.

If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Bible says in Titus 3.

5 that we are born again not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by the washing of regeneration. And by the renewing of the Spirit of God. And if we're ever going to meet our God, we must be prepared to meet our God, and we must have our garments washed in the blood of the Lamb. But you know what? Many people are confused about that. They have forgotten about it. And they're not ready to meet their God because they have not been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. I wonder if you have this morning.

I wonder if you've been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. Are you having trouble seeing God when you come to worship? You've got to ask yourself two things. One, am I truly converted? Do I know the Lord? And number two, if I know the Lord, have I confessed my sins?

Have I been washed in the word of the Lord? Is my life clean before the Lord? These people needed to be prepared in order to meet their God. Because he wanted them to see him. You know, God wants you to see him. You say, well, how can I see God? No man can see God and live. Matthew 5:8 says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall what? They shall see God. The pure in heart see God. Those who have been cleansed from their sins see God. They get the vision of God. They begin to grasp God. They begin to understand how God manifests Himself on a daily basis.

When they go to worship Him, they want to see Him. You see, that's why we go and come to worship. What did the psalmist say over in Psalm 27, verse number 4? One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in his temple. I know that one day I'm going to dwell in the house of God forever. Because when I go to heaven, that's the way it's going to be. But I want to go to the house of God.

Why? That I might behold the beauty of God. See, there's something that happens when the church gathers together, unlike what happens any other time throughout the week. And there is a special visible manifestation of God through the spoken wor. God. Psalm said, I want to behold the presence of my God. Remember what it says over in Psalm 122, verse number 1? I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord. Why? Psalm 22, verse number 3. God inhabits the praises of his people. You see, the whole reason God delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage.

Was so they would gather together and they would worship Him. And when they worshipped Him, they would see Him in all of His beauty, in all of His glory. You see, that's what God wants with us: He redeems us so that we will worship Him in the beauty of His holiness. And praise Him for who He is. The church is not about instruction. If you want that, go to seminary. The church is not about fellowship. If you want that, go to somebody's house. The church is about worship, it's about seeing God. Because God wants to manifest Himself in the lives of all who gather together.

And that's why we're here. So that when we open the Word of God, we see only God. We see only Jesus. We see no one else. Because that's the most important thing in our lives. Psalm said, One thing I desire, one thing I will seek. What's the one thing you desire? What's the one thing you seek? God told Moses. You remind the people of what I did for them. You remind them how I brought them to this place. Because if they're going to worship me, they got to be reminded of what I did for them. And if they're going to worship me, they have got to prepare themselves spiritually.

They've got to consecrate themselves, they need to cleanse themselves. The question is: Are we ready to meet our God? Are we ready to meet Him every time we gather together? That responsibility is on you. Before you come, enter that moment. You walk through those doors and sit in this place, you are ready to bless your God. Didn't come to get blessed. You came to bless your God. And in blessing Him, you will always be blessed. Always. Because God promises that. Because you will see God as you've never seen Him before.

And when you see Him, you'll strive to be like Him and long for the day where He returns. And actually, you'll see Him face to face, up close and personal. The day we all long for. But in the meantime, we gather together on a day like today in order that we might meet our God and magnify His great name. Let's pray.