The Book that shaped our Faith
Exodus 19
‘Our Awesome God’
Their journey took 3 months. What a lot had happened. Moses goes to Egypt, the plagues, Pharaoh lets the people go, the Red Sea is divided and Israel sees that God by His anticipatory providence meets their needs in ways that are at once sufficient and reassuring - manna, quails and water.
From Egypt to the mountain took 3 months. They have arrived. This fulfils what God said to Moses in 3:12 - that they would worship God on this mountain. What a faithful God is our God.
This was Mount Sinai as we soon discover. This is where they will remain for the rest of the book of Exodus. Here in this lonely place they will receive the Law, build the tabernacle and meet with the living God.
When they arrive at the place notice what Moses does - he went up to God. He went up because God is high and lofty. The mountains speak of His supreme majesty and transcendence. God is up there - in holiness, majesty and power. We have made God small and one of ourselves. Now it is true that God is immanent but He is also transcendent - He is near to us but He is infinitely higher than us. Moses goes up to meet with God. Ps 36:6 says that ‘His righteousness is like the mighty mountains’. God did not live in the mountains of course but He did reveal Himself there. The Greeks thought that their gods lived on Mount Olympus but our God cannot be contained in any place no matter how grand or glorious. The heaven of heavens cannot contain Him as Solomon said in his great prayer at the dedication of the Temple.
Make it a regular way of life that you go up the mountain every day. Stop in the rush of modern city and family life to meet with God. If we do then our perseceptive in life will change - we will have a peace about us - we will be more understanding of faults in others - we will be more equipped to serve Christ in the Church and world - and we will be attractive in life style to all the people we meet. That is a personal challenge to us all. People wander off from God and invariably it begins when they stop having a daily meeting with Him. Go up to God every day! We will not be of much use to Him if we don’t! Moses went up to God.
When Moses went up to God he heard God speaking. God spoke to His people through Moses the prophet. God speaks to us. The church is always under His direction. We are not left to grope around looking for the way forward or for a blue print for the church. He has given it - by law and prophets and as Hebrews 1:1 says through His Son!
Why does God double up how He describes His people in verse 3b? He calls them the ‘House of Jacob’ and the ‘people of Israel’. Remember no word is redundant in the Scriptures. This takes us back to Gen 46:8 and to Ex 1:1. ‘House of Jacob’ is what they were in Egypt and the ‘people of Israel’ is what they were when Moses brought them from Egypt. This is a solemn moment so He uses both titles as He comes to restate the Covenant. God had made this family of Jacob the people of Israel. God has made you- Christian one of His children. Imagine that - sinner - lost and without hope - is by God’s grace in His Son made one of His children and then He gives us His Spirit.
See what He says.
1. On Eagles’ wings:
God speaks in a formal way -, using proper titles as He affirms their relationship to him in the Covenant.
This is not a history lesson about a people in the Middle Easy years ago - this is how God deals with His Church - these are our spiritual ancestors and this is how He deals with us.
He reminds them of what He has done. This is what He did to save His people. Then He reveals His deepest desires of their ultimate destiny. The words that God spoke here speak of the past, the present and the future as you see. ‘See what I did to the Egyptians … Eagles’ Wings’ summarizes what God does in Salvation - He brings out / He lifts up and he draws us close.
First: He brings them out: What He did to the Egyptians. Their gods were proven to be nothing. Their army was drowned in the sea. He brought His people from slavery. In short He totally routed the powers that held His people. God liberates in the most profound way when He saves.
Second: He lifted His people on eagles’ wings. This is richly symbolic. The eagle is a bird of prey with searching eyes and hooked beak and great speed. It is also a bird of rescue. In Tolkien’s fantasy - “The Hobbit” he writes about heroes being rescued by eagles. In a difficult situation the eagles come and lift the hero to safety. When all seemed lost one of the heroes “gave a great cry. He had seen a sight that made his heart leap, dark shapes small yet majestic against the distant glow, “The eagles, the eagle, the eagles are coming”. God rescues people through His salvation.
The eagles’ wings also depict God’s nurture and tender care. The image of the eagle is also in Deut.32:9-11. Eagles are for their young. Eaglets are as many as 100 days in the nest. Then the eagle stirs the nest and the young ones fall out. However the eagle does not abandon her young - she swoops down after them as they fall and lifts them on its wings to safety. God’s people rescued from Egypt - are not abandoned. He feeds them and provides water and defeats their enemies. God is committed to His people.
Now He has brought them to the mountain. Here He talks to them and given His Law. “You yourselves have seen what I have done.” Ex 19:4
That is precisely how God treats His people today. He delivers and saves them - provides for them - protects them - when we fall He catches us - and all the while He is drawing us to Himself more and more. What have we seen? We have seen Jesus - born, living, dying and being raised, ascended and reigning! As He said to Israel He can say to us “You have seen what I have done!” He has brought us to Himself.
2. The Covenant restated:
See what the Covenant is: 19:5
Obey my voice and keep my covenant
You shall be
All the earth is mine
We are saved to obey. The essence of our relationship with God is His faithfulness and our obedience. There is no way out of this obligation. James speaks of hearing and doing in James 1 - so did our Saviour of course in Matthew 7. Obedience is a mark of our love for our Redeemer. It is not slavish but it is gratitude. He did so much fro us therefore we do His will. In Ch 20 He gives the 10 Commandments and the rest of the book expands upon them as the history unfolds.
He redeemed them and then He gave the Law. In love we obey His Word. If we were called to obey in order top be saved we could never have been saved. Salvation was never and is never by works - it is all by grace and faith.
Obey - do we? At best our obedience is partial. However - Jesus obeyed fully. He is righteous and that righteousness H gives to His people. That is how we can be saved. We have kept the covenant in Christ. We are called to everyday practical holiness. Are we up for that - obeying God’s Word? Loving our enemies - looking to the needs of others before our own - being a sacrifice for Him. This is radical discipleship and it is the only sort taught in the Bible.
3. Precious possession and priests:
This is rich as I close.
God views His people as His precious possession. No higher title is possible. The word used in Hebrew indicates royal property. Valuable reserves of silver and gold - The world my despise us but to God we are His precious possession. That gives one worth - my identity is not in who and what I am but in God. Duet 7 testifies to this. Let me read Dt 7:6ff - NIV
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
Peter picks it up in 1 Pet 2 - “you are a people belonging to God”. Precious and a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. We are called to holiness - 1 Peter 2:9-12ff
9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
It’s the Priesthood of all Believers. We are called to serve God by living holy lives. What makes the Christian distinctive is his personal holiness. The way we live is part of God’s plan for saving the world.
So away with feelings on inferiority. Away with the thought that you do not matter. You as a Christian are on the central stage of world history for God is at work in and through you. That may be at home, in the church in society wherever.
You are God’s precious possession - protected by the eagle - you are His!
What a tragedy if you left tonight without knowing Him like that!