The idea of heaviness is behind the glory of God. Israel comes to the mountain because that was God's agenda from the very beginning. In verse 3, Moses knows what to do, and Israel is placed at the foot of the Mountain of Sinai, the place where God first appeared to him. This is God’s fulfilment of his word. The fact that they are at the mountain is due to God and God alone.
At the Mountain, God will enter into covenant relationship with them. The covenant will be explained in terms of the law and ratified. There is solemnity and anticipation as they camp in front of the mountain.
Sinai is not a terminus but a staging point. Now God will give his law to Israel. The law has been given to people who are already in relationship with God. Compare Exodus 20:1ff. The basis of the law is the redemptive work of God. Obedience does not bring the people of God into relationship with him. Rather, the law is given to people who have already believed by God’s grace. Now the people must respond in trust and obedience. So just as we as NT Christians are rescued entirely by the grace of God by our Passover lamb, we express that relationship by keeping commandments. If you love me, says Jesus, obey my commandments.
The core of the book of Exodus is chapters 19-24.
Revelation (19)
Law (20-23)
Grace (24)
God reveals his work for Israel in the past. God has already accomplished rescue for Israel in their coming to the mountain. God has defeated the Egyptians, and Israel is now freed from slavery. God has brought Israel to himself. That is, God has achieved for his people victory over their enemies, deliverance from oppression, and their relationship with God is reconciled and restored.
The promise of verse 5 has already been stated in verse 4 as an accomplished fact. So verse 5 opens the door, so that if the people go through the door, they will possess their possessions. The people will hear God speaking to them from the mountain, and embrace the relationship. The promise on the people’s part is to obey God’s voice. When they obey, all the blessings of the covenant are theirs to enjoy.
In verse 5, God describes his people as ‘my treasured possession’. Compare 1 Chr 29:3, where David, in setting aside all the resources for the temple, says ‘I have a treasure of my own’. The people of God are God’s investment account. They are his personal treasure chest. All they have to do to enjoy this is to trust and obey. Obedience keeps the channels open to God’s covenant mercies.
The experience of the increasing godliness and Christlikeness is the application. We, as we trust and obey, enter into the blessings of being a kingdom of priests and a Hholy nations (1 Peter 2).
The law’s primary content is the means for their increasing godliness. Having been given grace, the response to grace is to live according to God’s instructions. We have the great gift of the Holy Spirit to indwell us, so that we can live a holy life. A holy church makes for a hungry world.
God promises that the people will be a kingdom of priests. They have a mediatorial role, bringing the knowledge of God to humans. The priest mediates God to the world and intercedes for the people. Israel was to be the light bearer, and so is the church.
In Deuteronomy, obedience will attract the nations to YHWH. The tragedy of the OT is that this so rarely happened. They did not fulfil the servant role. Generation after generation failed to be the light to the world. So often churches are inward, splitting. The holiness of the church is the greatest evangelistic tool in every generation.
What does God require of his people (vv. 7-25). He requires cleansing, as a mark of consecration, and obedience, as a mark of holiness.
Holiness means teaching. If we are willing, God will speak to us through his word. If we can get ourselves and others into the Bible, God will be speaking. The divine word brings holiness. The word of God will be found in the ministry of Moses. Israel needs to know that Moses is the channel of revelation. As Stephen says in Acts 7, Moses spoke living words for us. As we look at the New Covenant, we see that God reveals himself by speaking.
God wants two things from the people: cleansing and obedience. They have two days to prepare. The people need to wash their garments. Outwardly, they become the set apart people of God. It was an outward form, but also an essential requirement of God. Also, they must stay away from the mountain. They must learn to obey God. And they must not have sex – this doesn’t mean that sex makes the people of God unclean, but that the most intimate human emotion is disengaged with so that the people can devote themselves entirely to God (compare 1 Cor 7).
There is a preparation for the people meeting God. Thus they need to recognise the unique occasion they are entering. These three requirements are a mini law, preparing their minds to be submissive to God. Thus, God teaches the people how to be obedient. Moses has to repeatedly warn the people not to touch the mountain. This teaches the holiness of God.
Their response is expressed by three phrases: watching without seeing; listening without hearing; and afraid without fearing.
Exodus 20:18-21 18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." 20 Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." 21 The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
The mind must govern the senses (v. 18). The people were all watching the events, and trembled, and backed away from the cordon that is around the mountain. But the people have already seen the pillar of cloud and fire: they have been led by these things. The pillar of fire and cloud means grace and guidance and providence. But now they only see the outward manifestation. The people respond to God’s word with fear. There is something true in it, but something wrong in it. God is setting forth the code of life which will be their freedom. Although the people hear, they do not understand.
Revelation must control the mind (v. 19). Moses tells the people not to fear. There is a wrong sort of fear and a right sort of fear. The wrong sort of fear is the terror struck response of the creation to the creator. The right sort of fear is that people respect, honour and obey God with holy fear. The mind must govern the senses. They need to understand the grace and truth God was giving in the law. Thus revelation must control the mind.
Obedience must be the response to revelation (v. 20). The mark of revelation controlling the mind is that obedience is the response to revelation. God speaks in order that people obey him throughout their lives. See Alec Motyer, BST.
Hebrews 12:18 - 13:1 18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned." 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear." 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." 27 This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of things that are shaken- that is, things that have been made- in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Our mountain is Mt Calvary, where the blood of our Passover lamb was shed for our sin. Ours is the greater privilege. But greater privilege brings in greater responsibility. Let us offer to God acceptable reverence and awe, because our God is still a consuming fire. All the privileges of the NT make the true response of faith and obedience even more imperative.