COME AS A CHILD LESSON 139 GETTING PREPARED TO MEET GOD

GETTING PREPARED TO MEET GOD

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

God said to Moses; “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.  Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow.  Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.  Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it.  Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death.  They are to be stoned or shot with arrows.  Not a hand is to be laid on them.  No person or animal shall be permitted to live.  Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

That last part sounds really serious!  In those days no man went near God unless they were summoned.  They took great precautions not to be unholy in the presence of God when they did. They were not living in the period of grace that Jesus has provided for us today.  There were only certain times when God made coming into His presence possible.  This time is signified by the long blast of a ram’s horn. 

This passage reminds me of how you can’t have the seasons of God out of order.  They follow a pattern.  You must be prepared in the way you approach God for each season, even in a time of grace and mercy, there are certain things to remember.  You must recognize and keep God’s appointed times. 

The long blast of the ram’s horn is more symbolic of the fall holy days instead of the day of Pentecost in which the people were living in our story.  God must have been proclaiming that all they did in this present season (Pentecost), was to be done in order that they might be ready when the ram’s horn sounded later (Rosh Hashanah/Feast of Trumpets.)  The Feast of Pentecost always comes before The Feast of Trumpets. One day we will all hear that long blast of the shofar (the ram’s horn) and we will be summoned to approach the throne of God.  In that Great Last Day; will you be ready?

When I think of the first part of God’s summons delivered to Moses for the people, I am reminded of the words of an old, old hymn, called "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus."  

God tells Moses that the people should wash their clothes and be ready on the third day.  I remember the words of the old hymn being: “What can wash away my sins?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus!”  It was a time of washing; of coming clean.

This time of the people preparing to approach God at the foot of the holy mountain is symbolic of a time that Jesus would come (in the third day of humanity) and cover the people in His blood, washing away their sins and making them acceptable in the eyes of God.  That way; when the ram’s horn blows on the Great Last Day, all who were once unholy sinners will be welcomed to approach because they will be covered with the blood of Jesus.  This will heal their sins and make them clean.  God has provided for His people in every way.

So Moses goes to the people and tells them to wash their clothes and to prepare to meet God on the third day.  They are to remain holy during this time (as holy as humans untouched by God can become) and they were to be paying attention.  Moses instructed them to abstain from sexual relations during this time. 

The people did as Moses instructed.  They cleaned themselves up and put their minds on God.  They waited and anticipated what was to come.  On the third day there was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud came and covered the mountain.  Then suddenly out of nowhere came a very loud trumpet blast!  The whole camp trembled!  Can you imagine how they were feeling?  They knew they were about to face God!  We all will know this feeling soon. 

Moses very carefully lead the people out of the camp to meet God at the foot of the mountain.  They saw Mount Sinai covered in smoke and they knew God had descended in fire on the mountain.  Smoke billowed up from the mountain like the smoke from a furnace and the whole mountain shook!  All this time the sound of the ram’s horn was growing louder and louder; then Moses spoke and God answered him!

The LORD spoke from the top of the mountain and He called Moses to come up.  So Moses went up to the top of the mountain and this is what God said to him:  “ Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the LORD and many of them perish.  Even the priest who approach the LORD must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them. “

And Moses answered God saying; “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai because you yourself warned us to put limits around the Mountain and set it apart as holy.”

 And God told Moses to go down and bring Aaron up with him, but the people and the priest should not force their way through to come up to the LORD  or he would break out against them.

So Moses went back down, told this to the people and took Aaron back up with him. 

At last God was ready to speak to the people and they were all listening.  With Moses and Aaron standing closer to God as witnesses; God uttered the words that have been carried down to the people of God throughout history. 

Next week we will hear what God had to say.  It is much too important to squeeze into the end of this lesson! 

As I mentioned before; keeping track of times and days begins to reveal things that often seem to be hiding in the scriptures.  The Word does not come out openly and bluntly admit that the law was given by God to the People of Israel on The Day of Pentecost; but a close count of the days mentioned in the passage we are studying in Exodus 19 gives us all the needed information to figure this out!  

God first spoke to the people that He loved to begin to teach them exactly how He wanted them to live on The Day of Pentecost.  It was an already established agricultural holiday with the people.  It was already a time to be bringing their first fruits of the wheat harvest before God; but now God was going to broaden their view of what this day was all about.  He was going to explain to them how to live holy before Him as they offered up their offerings of Thanksgiving.  Life wasn’t just about making holy offerings and sacrifices; it was also about living holy every day. After 400 years of slavery and bondage, the people needed a refresher course and they were about to be taught this course directly from God.  

A holy pattern of observance had been set with the forty five days after leaving Egypt, with one day spent on the mountain listening to God, one day returning the people’s answer to God, and three days of preparation, making the whole time fifty days from the first Passover (the time they left Egypt) to the giving of the law on the Feast of Pentecost.  

Even today we know that Pentecost always occurs on the fiftieth day after Passover.  The people of God left Egypt on Passover and arrived at Sinai on Pentecost.  During that fifty day period of time, God taught them many things in both of these places. 

God is still teaching us!  We simply need to take the time, follow the instructions and patterns that He has so carefully laid out and presented over and over in the scriptures; in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.  What happened to the People of Israel was a pattern to teach us the way to live before God.  Soon we will hear the rest of the laws that God gave us in order to show us the best ways to live before Him. 

We are just like those Israelites.  We, even now, are being prepared to meet God.  We are to be washing our garments and getting ready.  Jesus is returning for His Bride and to set up The Kingdom of God for eternity. 

Are you ready? 

Are you washing your garments in the blood of the Lamb? 

Are you clean and ready to meet God?

Will you be allowed to go up to the Holy Mountain of God? 

Now is the time to get prepared.