Week 29: Day 4

Intro: Great to see you again for another Orbit. Let’s take a look at the passage for today.

Bible: Today we’re in Exodus 19 – looking at verses 10-12, 16 and 18-19

And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Make 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.

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.

Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.

Thoughts: Today’s reading sounds a little frightening! There are mountains, dark clouds, thick smoke, lightning and thunder and the threat of being put to death if the people of Israel crossed a boundary line! Sounds like something out of a dark thriller or horror movie! What are we supposed to make of a God like this? It was just yesterday that we spoke about God’s love, and today he seems quite angry and scary!

But this is where we need to think about the fulness of who God is: he is love and he is holy. What does it mean to be holy? Holiness means that God is sacred, he’s set apart, he’s different and distinct from us as human beings. His holiness means that he is the ultimate judge of what is good and evil, and sometimes his judgements – as we see in the book of Exodus and many parts of the Old Testament – is firm and, to our modern tastes, seemingly even harsh. Don’t worry! You and I are not the first to have these thoughts or questions about the character of God.

A priest called Marcion of Sinope, from the second century, was also baffled and alarmed that God in the Old Testament seemed so different to Jesus in the New Testament. Marcion went as far as creating his own version of the bible where the Old Testament God was essentially removed. And because of this Marcion was banned from the orthodox church and labelled a heretic, that’s someone who goes against accepted beliefs.

But God’s holiness, his being one who we should reverence and not play games with, is not separate from his love. Just like a parent who wouldn’t sit by and listen to the complaints of their children being bullied at school but rather take action on behalf of the vulnerable, God’s holy and loving character means that he executes judgement. Love acts; indifference shrugs its shoulders. And sometimes his judgement seems so harsh because maybe we think we’re not such bad people after all. However, we thank God that even though we see him showing himself to the people of Israel through thunder and lightning, he has revealed himself most expressly in Jesus. And Jesus has taken on the ultimate judgement of God for our sins.