Moses, God's Voice to Israel Exodus 19:1-9 Three months after leaving Egypt, the Israelites came to Sinai. There Israel camped before the mount. God had told Moses, Ye shall serve God upon this mountain (3:12). This would prove that Moses' call was genuinely from God. Moses went up unto God. No doubt, Moses remembered God's promise, and he went to worship Him and to receive further instructions. The Lord called and gave him a message for Israel. First, God reminded him of His past miracles in bringing them this far. He would make a covenant with them. A covenant has two parts. Their part was to obey Him. His part was to make them a peculiar treasure unto Himself, a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. They were to be different from other people. They were to be His own personal possession as no other people were. They were to be separate from other nations, set apart to God, sanctified to God's purpose. It was symbolic of the church. The church is to come out from sin and darkness and be separate (2 Corinthians 6:17-18), different, set apart to God inwardly in the heart. They are God's own private, personal possession, His peculiar people (1 Peter 2:9). Moses told God's message to the people. They said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. Oh, if they only had! Preparing to Meet God Exodus 19:10-18 There must be strict preparation because so much depended upon their response. The people were to be sanctified, that is, set apart for this one thing—to meet with God. They were to set aside all other activities and interests and give full attention to this. They were to wash their clothes and their bodies. The mountain must also be sanctified, or set apart (verse 23), for from it the Lord would speak. Bounds were to be set about it. Any person or beast who touch it was to be stoned to death. Why so extreme? Because this was a type of man's relationship to God. The deepest of reverence is due Him. This explains, in part, why there are so many dead spiritual lives. They do not feel it important to follow carefully the instructions God sends through His leader, His true pastor. On the third day the Lord would come down ... upon mount Sinai. At the trumpet sound, the people should come up to the mount. God does not want man's hands touching what He does. To do so brings quick and extreme judgement. It is dangerous to go beyond the bounds which God has set to keep man away from His holy mountain. The presence of God was manifested by thunders, lightnings, a thick cloud, the loud trumpet, smoke, fire, and the whole mount quaked greatly. The people trembled. Moses led them to the foot of the mountain. The Lord Speaks Exodus 19:19-25 The loudness of the trumpet led Moses to speak. God answered audibly in plain language he could understand. He called Moses up to send him down again to warn the people against breaking through bounds and have the priests sanctify themselves. It was all-important that they hold supreme reverence toward God and obey His Words. They must do it God's way or else—else they die. While Moses was down with the people, God spoke the Ten Commandments. (Read them in Chapter 20.) The people feared and drew back. They heard the voice of God, and it put the fear of God before their faces, that they sin not (20:18-21). God gave more laws and promises. Moses wrote them all so the people would have them before their eyes at all times. Moses worshiped the Lord with sacrifices. Sacrifice must be given to worship the Lord. In Chapter 24:7-8 Moses read to the people the book of the covenant he had written. This is another vital part of worship. The people promised once again, All that the Lord hath said will we do. Moses sprinkled blood of the sacrifices on the people to bind their promise. This was the blood of the covenant. Then God called Moses into the mount to receive the commandments on tables of stone and to hear instructions for building the temple. Moses was there forty days. The Old and New Covenants Hebrews 10:16 This first covenant was a law written on stone. It was a type of the new covenant Christ would make in which God's laws are written in the hearts and minds of His people. Laws written on stone were hard to keep. Laws written in hearts have no opposition from those hearts. Christ's words are abiding there. The desires, motives, and the very nature are in agreement with God's laws. Israel was to be a kingdom of priests, Israel is a type of the church. The church is a royal priesthood. Israel was to be hol in outward forms and ceremonies. The church is holy in inward purity of heart (Ephesians 5:27). See the parallel between Exodus 19:5-6 and 1 Peter 2:9—the first outwardly, the second inwardly. The Law was only a shadow of good things to come (Hebrews 10:1). JUST A THOUGHT There are many people who think that salvation is like a
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