10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day,because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. 13 They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”
14 After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. 15 Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.”
16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke,because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain[b] trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.[c]
20 The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up 21 and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. 22 Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”
23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’”
24 The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them.”
25 So Moses went down to the people and told them. Exodus 19: 10-25
There is some insight here to the character of God and His position in relation to sin. It all appears trite and unnecessary to us, but there is not a part of our person, logic or perception that is not infected by sin, and so we reason from this position that there is no need to be clean. A million voices will say that the mountain is approachable, that a man may stand as good upon his own two feet. This love they would like to focus upon is most certainly extended, but not by an unbalanced, blind or unjust God. Yes, God is love, and His love is infinite as He is, but God is infinitely just in this as well. His opposition to sin is eternal and never changing, and so He warns Moses, tell the people not to force their way up. Like us, Moses seems slow to understand, he feels that these things are already understood. It is not the limits set by men that keep us from approaching God; it is that we are slaves to sin, unclean and cloaked in this we would be marching to our deaths. I should like to remove my opinion from this though, for I have tried to approach the mountain with a back pack and standing on my own feet, telling myself I was clean enough to stand before an infinitely holy God. Yes, God is Just, and that shall never change, but here again we see His love extended in mercy and patience. He is making a way where there was only void, He is not accepting sin, but He is revealing to men the state in which they are in. He is warning of the imminent, and demonstrating what is needed to approach Him. We are sinners, and as proven by ourselves, unable to rectify this condition. God will have no part in sin, and so if He shall have us, then there is no way to justify any, except by the sacrifice of the infinite. So while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. It is by this grace, received through faith, both given as a gift by Him, that we are able to approach the mountain, cleansed by the blood of His sacrifice.
There is some insight here to the character of God and His position in relation to sin. It all appears trite and unnecessary to us, but there is not a part of our person, logic or perception that is not infected by sin, and so we reason from this position that there is no need to be clean. A million voices will say that the mountain is approachable, that a man may stand as good upon his own two feet. This love they would like to focus upon is most certainly extended, but not by an unbalanced, blind or unjust God. Yes, God is love, and His love is infinite as He is, but God is infinitely just in this as well. His opposition to sin is eternal and never changing, and so He warns Moses, tell the people not to force their way up. Like us, Moses seems slow to understand, he feels that these things are already understood. It is not the limits set by men that keep us from approaching God; it is that we are slaves to sin, unclean and cloaked in this we would be marching to our deaths. I should like to remove my opinion from this though, for I have tried to approach the mountain with a back pack and standing on my own feet, telling myself I was clean enough to stand before an infinitely holy God. Yes, God is Just, and that shall never change, but here again we see His love extended in mercy and patience. He is making a way where there was only void, He is not accepting sin, but He is revealing to men the state in which they are in. He is warning of the imminent, and demonstrating what is needed to approach Him. We are sinners, and as proven by ourselves, unable to rectify this condition. God will have no part in sin, and so if He shall have us, then there is no way to justify any, except by the sacrifice of the infinite. So while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. It is by this grace, received through faith, both given as a gift by Him, that we are able to approach the mountain, cleansed by the blood of His sacrifice.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,20where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6:19&20
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