From Pyramids to Promises - Sermon notes from Exodus

At the foot of the mountain

How can a holy God be with unholy people?

How can we survive when faced with the living God, this is the main problem that the Bible presents to us. We are sinful and God is holy and we will have to meet him face to face one day.

Exodus is a book full of action, a journey that's leading the Israelites to the promised land but they pause. At Mount Sinai they stop for 11 months and these months are the foundation for what's to come.

1. Rescued

19:3-4 They're at the bottom of Sinai for 11 months and the first thing that God says to Moses is to remind them of how far He's gotten them. They need to remember the slavery they were rescued from and the hand that did it.

God saves first and then shapes the people. We're justified and delivered from our sin before being sanctified and made more like Jesus in our new life. The saving comes first - there is no clearing our act up before we come to God, as coming to God will make us clear up our act.

Isaiah 40:31 "but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." God is talking about this magnificent rescue, the Israelites didn't stumble out of Egypt all tired and exhausted but soaring out triumphantly like an eagle. God's rescue is in spectacular fashion.

2. Treasure

V5-6 Israel is God's treasured possession, though so loved by God, this treasure has many issues on its own - much like us. It's not holy. The actual role of a priest was for the Levi family but all of Israel was to do the job of praying for the nations. If the Israelites are to faithfully represent God to the people they should know what God is like, holy.

"For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground." - Leviticus‬ ‭11‬:‭44‬

3. Banished

God wants a relationship with his people but he's also dangerously holy. Exodus 19 is a sobering reminder that we cannot take God lightly, he's not weak, just a hobby or side project for weekends. Uzzah touched the ark when he shouldn't have and he was struck dead, God really means it when he says not to touch the mountain.

And here's the problem, God can't live side by side with unholy sinful people like us. In the garden of Eden there used to be a side by side harmony until the fall and the entrance of sin. Today our problem is still the same as the Israelites, if we come too close, we will be struck dead.

What we need is a mediator who can go between us and God because on our own we will never succeed.

4. Represented

There's a constant back and forth of Moses going up and down the mountain - 7 times, as he represents the people to God. He's the link. If Moses did not appear in this chapter, all we'd read would be God shaking the mountain and the people trembling in fear as He sits atop and they lie below. This is the same way all the way through the Old Testament, there needs to be someone, some middle man, to connect and bring the people closer to God.

Throughout the Bible there's many mediators but they all weren't very good, though they might have done well they were all sinners and needed to constantly go back and forth. We need a mediator who doesn't need to go up and down, someone who can represent God, the people and doesn't have to get rid of their own sin. A mediator who's never been banished and is allowed within God's holy presence. Jesus is truly the treasure, perfectly pleasing to the Father.

Hebrews 7:23-27 "The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself."

The division between God and humanity was broken when Jesus died on the cross because he dealt with our sin once and for all. Because Jesus did what Moses couldn't do in taking our sin away, now a holy God can dwell with his people.

We no longer come to Sinai with a mountain dividing us but into Gods presence where we're his treasured possession, all through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

14/5/23 Evening