Exodus Chapter 19 Verses 1 – 9

• What’s interesting is that this is before the giving of the law. Before God lays out the Ten Commandments, the revelation of righteousness and really the revelation of sin in the hearts of men, He says…, “Trust Me.  Hear Me.  Listen to Me.  I’ll take care of the rest.”  “Obey My voice, keep My covenant…”  These were first.  These still are first and these are exactly consistent with what Jesus taught.  Matthew 22:35-40.  “On these two, hang all of the law and the prophets.” 
• Trust God and keep His covenant. That’s really just to say trust God and trust God.   Why?  What was “His covenant?”  Go all the way back…the first time the word “covenant” is used in the Bible is with Noah…eight times God promises Noah that he will be saved, him and his family…and then after the flood, God speaks of covenant again in the rainbow…that never again will the earth be destroyed by flood.  What was Noah’s play in that?  Trusting God…which manifesting in him building the ark…
• Then Abraham…God proclaims a covenant of blessing on Abraham and when it came time to seal it, to make the commitment, God caused a deep sleep to come upon Abraham and God sealed the covenant Himself. His only ask of Abraham in the keeping of the covenant was circumcision…  That him and his decedents would be a people among people, holy, sanctified, called out…interesting how later in the New Covenant Paul transfers this covenant to the heart…(Romans 2)
• But let’s go even further back…before Abraham, before Noah…God made a promise to the first man and the first woman…Genesis Chapter 3, verses 14 - 15…This is called the Protoevangelium…, the original, the first promise of the Messiah…They asked Jesus how do we live for God? John 6:28. In other words, “how do we keep God’s covenant?”  Jesus responded, John 6:29, Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”  It’s still the same…hear His voice…the physical expression of His distinct Person…and trust Him….
• This is the simplicity of the keys of life and death, man…God has never changed…from the perfection of the Garden lost…to the perfection upheld at the cross…to today and where you are at…trust the Lord. Open your heart to Him, seek Him, obey Him.  Follow His lead…that is the very beginning of wisdom in your situation…and really where the light of life begins to finally overwhelm the darkness…if God isn’t using you right now, are you trusting Him?  Faith is a work of the moment.
• By the way, what makes a person believable? Not when they have good advice or are persuasive…but when they speak the same things to you that you hear directly from God!

Exodus Chapter 19 Verses 10 – 13

• Something amazing is about to happen. God is going to appear to the people in miraculous way!  He is about to show up in a big way…but before that, He says, they must be prepared!  If we are prepared by knowing His Word, understanding His character and ways, then I don’t think we’d be looking for God so much in our lives.  He’s there every day…working, appearing, speaking, reaching out to each one of us…but the key is being prepared…
• Now notice this because all of this speaks of Jesus. God sets boundaries and says if you get too close then you won’t survive.  There is separation between the people and the presence of the Lord…and that speaks of Jesus because that was entirely taken away with the blood of the Savior.  Ephesians 2:11-13.
• I want you to understand this, there are two things, and they are probably the same, but I will offer them separately…there are two things that will trip you up and harm you in your nearness to God…Once you are in Christ, you are never not near again. Isn’t that a wonderful and a glorious promise?  Even if you forsake Him, He will never forsake you.  Why?  Because you are so wonderful?    Because that would be evil…unrighteousness…God will never again have a reason to…because every reason was taken away at the cross…
• But even in Jesus you yourself can feel so far away…although you’re not…but why? Two ways…first, leaving your first love.  Jesus said to the church in Ephesus…Revelation 2:4, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”  Leaving the simplicity of the Gospel of grace will cause you to begin to walk in the flesh…at least 1%...making this Christian walk anything more than we are all sinners saved by grace and that grace comprises 100% of our salvation. 
• The second way is related to the first…really its probably the same thing…but that is returning to the law for justification with God. Galatians 5:4 says, “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by the law; you have fallen from grace.”  Losing love as your first, your primary…your boss…and walking in your own righteousness…these two things will pull your heart back towards the world…when in Christ, just because of Christ, there is not one millimeter and never will be again separation from right standing and fellowship with the Father and its all because of Him!
• But here we see a picture of the people having to stay away. A boundary and one man, a mediator permitted to enter into the presence of God…one more thing this shows us and puts on blast is that obedience is far more important than feelings…I know that’s hard for us because we feel so entitled and deserving of service from everyone, everything and even God…but He is God…and therefore obedience is required at all times whether we feel like it or not…

Exodus Chapter 19 Verses 14 – 15

• It’s interesting that God chose the third day to reveal Himself to the people because there is possibly an alignment there with the revelation of the resurrected Savior. Also, God says here, “Do not come near your wives…” This command was peculiar for this event and not repeated otherwise in scripture and perhaps it was God’s desire for the people to demonstrate not only purity but also restraint of physical desires…at any rate, it’s mysterious and we simply don’t know…

Exodus Chapter 19 Verse 16

• Pretty cool here, the trumpet sounding does not appear to be coming from the camp of Israel…

Exodus Chapter 19 Verses 17 – 20

• There is a neat picture here…at the trumpet blast from heaven, the people of God are gathered together to meet with God…and Moses, representing the law, representing righteousness and mediation between God and man, ascends to meet with God. This is all a pointer to the rapture of the church.  1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

Exodus Chapter 19 Verses 21 – 22

• The people were no doubt in awe of the presence of the Lord but there is more required from man towards his God than adoration and awe. Obedience and submission of will is also required.  Absolutely impossible if you are not born again…if the Holy Spirit has not taken residence in your heart then your flesh will not allow you to have a heart to obey and/or submit to anything or anyone except for yourself…in this scene we also see a parallel to the veil in the temple…

Exodus Chapter 19 Verses 23 – 25

• I like that…Moses repeats what God had already said and in that he passes the test himself, expresses his alignment to God’s Word, and is returned to his work. The people saw…there was no mistaking what they heard, what they saw at the foot of the mountain that day…they were permitted to see but not permitted to gaze…the word in the Hebrew could mean, “To force one to show or reveal…”  Enough was provided to them…they had received enough…in the things of God there is a danger in demanding God to show us more or reveal to us more than we ought to know…and that danger is that we lose trust in Him…what He has allowed us to see is enough and He is working a greater work than if everything was simply put out there for you to judge…remember, forcing God’s hand in terms of knowledge was the downfall of the first humans…
• Jesus said in John 20:29, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”