MOUNTAIN TOP MESSAGES:

Lessons from Atop Mount Sinai

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.   After a short, 3-month walk in the wilderness, Israel reached the foot of Mount Sinai (Exo. 19:1-2).

 

B.   The stage was set for one of several mountain top experiences found in the pages of God’s Word.

 

C.   The title of this lesson is:  “Mountain Top Messages:  from Atop Mt. Sinai.” 

1.    There are hundreds of messages we could derive from the 12+ months Israel spent at this mountain. 

a.    Messages about God

b.    Messages about the leaders of God’s people.

c.    Messages about God’s law.

d.    Messages about the people of God.

2.    In this lesson, we will focus solely upon God.  The subtitle of this lesson could be:  “The God of Mount Sinai.”  Here are ten things we learn about God.

 

I.             GOD IS REAL (Exo. 19:17)

 

And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

 

A.   The Bible says that Israel met with God.

 

B.   Once they were in the presence of God, God spoke to them from the mount (Exo. 20:1).

 

And God spake all these words, saying.

 

C.   The members of the tribes of Israel would boldy affirm that there is a real, living God who exists in the heavenly realms. 

1.    They heard His voice at Sinai.

2.    Too, they had witnessed His might and power over the nation of Egypt.

 

II.           GOD IS POWERFUL AND MAJESTIC

 

A.   When God come to Israel, He did not come as a whisper in the night.

 

B.   Exodus 19:16

 

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.

 

C.   In Exodus 19:18, we learn that Sinai was “altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in a fire.”  Too, we read:  “…and the whole mount quaked greatly.”

 

D.   Israel’s reaction to these divine manifestations is found in Exodus 20:18.

 

…and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

 

E.   God wanted Israel to get a sense of His majesty (Exo. 20:20).

 

And Moses said unto the people, Fear not:  for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may before your faces, that ye sin not.

 

III.         GOD WANTS A RELATIONSHIP WITH MAN

 

A.   God created man in the beginning so He could have a relationship with man.

 

B.   That relationship had been harmed by the entrance of sin into the world.

 

C.   God could have executed the penalty of the law upon man (Ezek. 18:20), but He did not.

 

D.   Instead, he sought to reconcile man to Himself. 

 

E.   His intent was revealed to Abraham in the form of three major promises (Gen. 12:1-3).

 

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee:  and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing:  and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:  and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

 

1.    The stop at Sinai was during the march the land of promise.

2.    God gave Israel His law in order to make of them a great nation.

3.    From this nation, the Messiah would be born and would bless all families of the earth. 

 

IV.         GOD COMMUNICATES WITH MAN

 

A.   The Bible does not teach the doctrine of deism, that is, that God created the world, then withdrew Himself from his creation.

 

B.   God is involved with man.  Part of His involvement is the communication of His will to humanity.

 

C.   God communicated with Israel in two ways at Sinai.

1.    First, He spoke directly to them. 

2.    Second, He spoke to them through a mediator, the man Moses.

a.    Exodus 20:19

 

And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear:  but let not God speak with us.

 

b.    Deuteronomy 4:44

 

And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel.

 

c.    John 1:17a

 

For the law was given by Moses…

V.           GOD IS A GOD OF COVENANT

 

A.   When God brings men into a relationship with Him, He does so by means of a covenant.

1.    A covenant is an agreement between two parties.

2.    Each party has provisions in the covenant that are supposed to kept.

a.    The provisions for man involve commands to be obeyed.

b.    The provisions for God involve promises that are to be kept.

 

B.   Exodus 19:5-6a

 

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people:  for the earth is mine:  and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation…

 

C.   In Ephesians 2:14, Paul refers to the Law of Moses as “the middle wall of partition between us.”

1.    It was a wall that separated the Jewish people from all other nations on the earth.

2.    Remember, God intended to bring the Messiah into the world.  He wanted a pure and holy nation to be responsible for this Messiah.

 

VI.         GOD IS A GOD OF PATTERNS

 

A.   When God gave the Law to Moses,

1.    He included the temple and all of its furnishings therein.

2.    He also set forth laws regarding the priesthood.

3.    Too, there were regulations given that involved the sacrifices to be offered unto God.

 

B.   Twice in Exodus 25, God tells Moses to make all things “after the pattern.”

1.    Exodus 25:9

 

According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

 

2.    Exodus 25:40

 

And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount.

 

C.   God has always instructed man as to how He desired for things to be done.  Once He sets forth the pattern, He expects man to follow that pattern.

 

VII.       GOD IS ALWAYS AWARE OF MAN’S AFFAIRS

 

A.   When Moses was on the mountain, God informed him of problems that were happening in the camp of Israel at the foot of Sinai (Exo. 32:7).

 

And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.

 

B.   In the next verse, we learn that God knew exactly what they had done and what they had said (Exo. 32:8).

1.    “They have made them a molten calf.”

2.    “…and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”

 

C.   God is both omnipresent and omniscient.  He sees all and He knows all that is occurring. 

 

D.   LESSON:  Man never sneaks around on God.

 

VIII.     GOD IS A GOD OF WRATH

 

A.   The sinful actions of the nation of Israel brought forth another trait of God, His wrath.

 

B.   Exodus 32:9-10

 

And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:  now therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them:  and I will make of thee a great nation.

 

1.    God’s anger is not a sinful anger.

2.    It is a righteous anger that strikes out against sin and rebellion.

3.    God is the only true God.  When God’s people invent to themselves other gods, God becomes jealous, and rightfully so. 

4.    This jealousy provokes His wrath.  His wrath can be very strong and destructive.

 

IX.         GOD GIVES HEED TO INTERCESSION

 

A.   When Moses knew of the anger of the Lord, he immediately made intercession for his people (Exo. 32:11a).

 

And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said…

 

B.   Moses’ intercession set forth two arguments.

1.    “Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say…” (Exo. 32:12).

2.    “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self…” (Exo. 32:13).

 

C.   “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto the people” (Exo. 32:14).

1.    The word “repented” simply means God changed His mind.

2.    God listened to Moses, and He withdrew the sentence of death upon the nation.

 

X.           GOD’S RADIANCE IS TRANSFORMING

 

A.   When Moses descended from the mount the second time with the tables of stone, he was different when the Israelites saw him.

 

B.   The Bible tells us that “the skin of his face shone” (Exo. 34:29, 30, 35).

1.    The Israelites were “afraid to come nigh him” (Exo. 34:30).

2.    When he spoke to the people, he put a veil over his face (Exo. 34:33).

 

C.   God’s radiance is something we cannot comprehend.

1.    He shines with glory and splendor.

2.    The Bible tells us that “God is light.”

3.    In the heavenly realm, there is no need of the sun, neither of the moon “for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev. 21:23).

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.   These are just ten things that are revealed to us.

 

B.   There are others that could be listed with a more time and more study.

 

C.   In the Christian dispensation:

1.    God is completely invisible to His people.

2.    God speaks only through His divine revelation.

3.    God manifests His power to man, but not in the same way He did back then.

 

D.   Therefore, it is imperative that we constantly study about the person and the work of the God we serve.  We must hold fast to Him by faith and not by sight at this time.

1.    God is still real, that is, living and active in the world.

2.    He is just as powerful and majestic as He has always been.

3.    He still desires a relationship with all men.

4.    He communicates His desire for a relationship today through His inspired Word.

5.    God forms this relationship today through a covenant, the New Covenant, the New Testament of Jesus Christ.

6.    God still sets forth patterns which the church is to follow to be pleasing to God.

7.    God continues to watch the affairs of each one of our lives.

8.    Sin and iniquity still trigger God’s wrath.

9.    Man, however, still has power with God through the act of prayer and intercession.

10. One day, the faithful of God will stand in the transforming radiance of God’s glory.