The People Consecrated

Exodus 19:10-25

After the LORD gave them military victory over Amalek, Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro visits Moses. Seeing that Moses was overtasked with the people’s need for a judge, he suggests that they appoint wise men to act as judges so that they could take most of the burden away from Moses. They would handle the routine/simple cases, while Moses handled only the hard cases.

Three months after leaving Egypt, they arrive at Sinai. Moses goes up the mountain to meet with God. The LORD instructs Moses to remind the people of the powerful things He did to the Egyptians, and if the people are willing to obey His voice and keep His covenant, He will be their God. The people agree and Moses informs God of their decision.

God required the people to be consecrated before He would come to them. Consecration is the process of setting apart someone or something for sacred purposes. For two days they were to wash their clothes and stay away from sexual relations. On the third day, the LORD will come down to the people. They were not to touch the mountain itself and if anyone did, they would die. So, the people consecrated themselves in preparation for the LORD’s arrival on the third day.

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, and the top of the mountain was covered in a thick cloud. There was a loud trumpet sound, and the people trembled. The people stood at the foot of the mountain. The Lord came down to the top of the mountain and the mountain was covered in smoke and the whole mountain shook violently. Then as people watched and listened, Moses would speak to God and God would answer.

We are told that the purpose for God’s visit was not to meet and speak with the people. God does not speak to the people – He speaks only with Moses. So, what was this all about? In verse 9, God gives us the reason for this assembly – “in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and so trust you ever after.”

God reminds the people of His power through the earthquake, smoke and thunder. Then He has a conversation with Moses in front of the people so that they can see that there is a special relationship between Moses and God, and so when Moses tells them that “this is what God says,” the people will believe that that is the case.

For the rest of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and until the tenth chapter of Numbers, the people will stay at Sinai. They will learn what Got requires of them. One of them is the tabernacle, kind of a mobile temple which will remind the Israelites that God is with them. The ark of the covenant would be placed inside, covered with a shroud. Once they settle into the promised land then the temple will be built in Jerusalem and will replace the tabernacle. The most sacred place inside would be called the “holy of holies” and none would be allowed to enter except a high priest and only once per year.

In this narrative, all of Mt. Sinai is treated as if it were the holy of holies, with no one allowed to touch it without God’s invitation. The punishment for touching the mountain is death. However, it is not the case that anyone (or any animal) that touches the mountain will automatically die – They are to be executed from a distance – By either stoning or shot by arrows. So, we see the continuing mode that when God deals with people, instead of doing all by Himself, God relies on people to do their part.

Intimacy with God was not readily available to the Israelites. The gospel according to Matthew tells us that at the moment of Christ’s death, the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies was torn in two from top to bottom. Many interpret this as meaning that the barrier to intimacy with God has been taken away and now is available to anyone who accepts Jesus Christ as his/her Lord and Savior.

Consecration was part of the preparation needed to get ready to meet God, and it was taken seriously by the Israelites, since God took it seriously. We no longer have to consecrate ourselves for two days before meeting God, thanks to the work Christ did for us on the cross. We can be consecrated simply by accepting Christ as our savior. Baptism is an important ritual for believers because it signifies that we are willing to be consecrated – To be set apart to do the works for which God created us.

“Sunday best” means to dress up in the most formal clothing that we own – To look our best. Its origin comes from the practice of putting on our best clothes to go to church on Sundays. Some of us older folks probably remember our parents dressing up and telling us to put good clothes on to go to church. The understanding was to prepare ourselves to go worship God – Sort of like a consecration. This started to change in the 1970s and now, most churches prefer a more casual and relaxed approach. We emphasize more the accessibility of God and “you can come as you are” philosophy.

Is there anything we should do in preparation to come worship God? There probably is at least one thing. The Bible teaches us that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and ask Him to forgive our sins, He will.  Not only will He forgive all our sins, but He will also give us salvation, which means eternal life. But this does not mean that we stop sinning. In fact, John tells us in his first letter that we are lying if we say we have not sinned, and writes that if we confess our sins, the Lord will forgive us.

In some of the more formal churches, confession of sins was part of the order of service every Sunday. Even if it is not part of the church service, it probably is good practice for each of us to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness before we sit down to worship God. If we look back on the past week, we probably can think of times that we did something that was not pleasing to God or did not do something He would have wanted us to do. If nothing comes to mind, we might pray that the Holy Spirit will make apparent what we did or did not do, or simply pray that we would be forgiven for sins of which we may not be aware.

Thanks to what Jesus did on the cross, we do not have to go through elaborate rituals to meet with God. Nor do we have to approach Him with fear and trembling. However, it is good not to forget that the God we worship is the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe. But it is also important for us to be reminded that this great God also loves us enough to send His son to die on the cross for us. And because of that, we now have ready access to the holy God of Israel.

(The above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano during worship on August 11, 2024.)