Dear Family,
Today is Friday, June 14, 2024. It is Day 48 and Day 6 of Week 7 in our Count to Pentecost.
As the 50th day following the Wavesheaf approached, God gave Moses explicit instructions that Mount Sinai was not to be touched because “the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.” On pain of death, God forbade animals, the ancient Israelites, and the elders of Israel to even touch the border of the mount.
Exodus 19:9, 11-13 (9) And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD; (11) And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. (12) And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying; Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: (13) There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.
Moses gave the people God‛s instructions and His warning.
Exodus 19:16-24 (16) And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. (17) And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. (18) And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. (19) And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. (20) And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. (21) And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. (22) And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them. (23) And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. (24) And the LORD said unto him; Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest He break forth upon them.
On the 50th day, the “I AM THAT I AM” (YHVH) made His presence known upon the mount in a very dramatic display with, fire, smoke, thunder, lightning, trumpet sounds, thick clouds, and the quaking of the earth. Observers, including Moses, were fearful and quaked at the experience (Hebrew 12:21).
Brethren, as we are in the last days of our preparation for Pentecost this year, let us realize that what occurred at Mt. Sinai over three thousand years ago is a small thing compared to the spiritual reality of what we can experience at the everlasting mount Sion, heavenly Jerusalem, where God has invited us.
Hebrews 12:18-29 (18) For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, (19) And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (20) (For they could not endure that which was commanded; And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: (21) And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) (22) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, (23) To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (24) And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (25) See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: (26) Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying; Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. (27) And this word; Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (28) Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: (29) For our God is a consuming fire.
Indeed, we are living near the end of 6000 years of mankind‛s existence and are on the precipice of a whole new way of relating to our faithful God, both Father and Son. Let us be sure we approach God with the thanksgiving, praise, reverence, humility, and proper kind of “fear” our Omnipotent God expects from us.
Ben Faulkner, Pastor
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