Exodus 19:12  And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:
13  There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.
14  And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.
15  And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.
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.
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.
18  And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
19  And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
20  And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

God is a holy God. He is separate from sinners. God wants man to fellowship with Him. In order for us to do that, we need to know Him and live for Him. In our text, the people were not in a right relationship with the LORD. There needed to be a separation between the holy God and sinful man.
God cares about man. He wants man to know Him and enjoy His blessings. However as we see here, there is a right way to approach Him. In the Old Testament Jesus was prophesied, but He had not come as a man. He had not laid down His life for the sheep. The Old Testament sacrifices could not take away sin. They could only atone for sin. They were a covering for sin. Even in that, they could not cover for the sins of those who did not put their faith in God.
In our text, the children of Israel were quite ignorant of God’s ways. God has always given man the important facts he needs in order to know God’s peace. The important fact is to trust in God. God revealed His greatness to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. He would give more detail in our text.
God’s commands to Moses here were very specific. He did not want to see anyone suffer due to unbelief. Thus He was careful to instruct Moses in detail on the next step.
In verse 14 we read that Moses went down to speak to the people and to sanctify them. The Hebrew word translated as “sanctify” has the general meaning of “being set apart”. Its specific meaning in the Bible is to be set apart unto holiness and unto God. Again we see that the people washed their clothes. This was symbolic of the cleansing that needed to take place in their hearts. As we will observe, the majority of the people only had an outward cleansing, but their hearts were never cleansed.
In verse 15 we see that they had three days to prepare themselves and their possessions. There was not to be any intimacy between married couples during this time either. They were to prepare themselves for a special event.
In verse 16 we see that God kept His Word and His schedule. In this case He announced His presence with thunders and lightnings. Today when we hear thunder and see lightening, we should be reminded of the power and authority of the Lord, but in our text this had a special meaning. We see as well that there was a thick cloud upon this mount as well as the voice of the trumpet. This trumpet sound was exceeding loud. The people were deeply impacted by God’s works here. This was important.
Coming into the presence of the LORD should never be in a frivolous manner. People today talk of ‘the big guy upstairs’ or other irreverent descriptions. God is holy. We need to reverence Him.
In verse 17 we read that Moses brought the people out to meet God. The people needed to meet this holy and powerful God. They needed to consider Who He is. They had murmured against Him and against Moses. They needed to understand the wickedness of that evil attitude.
In verse 18 we read that mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke. God can use anything in His creation and He can alter it for His purposes. This mount was not just an ordinary mount now. He took control of that mount and the fire was a picture of His holiness and His purity. We read that the mount quaked. We have a description given like some of the volcanos that have erupted, although this was not a volcano. There was no lava spewing out of this mount. There was no lava running down the sides of the mount to burn and kill everything in its path. This was simply God revealing Himself in a powerful manner.
Unlike the pagans who want to worship before a volcano, this was not what God wants. He wants man to worship Him, not creation.
In verse 19 we read that the voice of the trumpet became louder and louder. This was a unique situation that neither Moses nor the people had ever experienced. This was an opportunity for all those people to stand in awe of this true and holy God.
Moses had the unique privilege of speaking to God through this noise and through the smoke and the fire. Moses had been prepared by God for this occasion. God was pleased with Moses’ attitude and He answered him by a voice.
In verse 20 we read that God came down upon mount Sinai and He called Moses to come up to the top of this mount. We are not called to recreate this event. We cannot do that. Moses was given some unique experiences that were just for him. The people could witness these events, but they could not enter into them directly as Moses did. Moses was God’s chosen man to be His voice to the people.
Moses had great responsibility, but he could only fulfil his responsibilities as he was submissive to the will of God. We have already noted the first encounter we are given between God and Moses. Moses was told to take off his shoes in the presence of the LORD. The LORD appeared that time as an eternal fire that burned in that bush, but the bush was not consumed. The LORD got Moses’ attention. He had some things to say to Moses then. Moses was not very submissive to the LORD at that time. He was quite foolish in that he argued with the LORD. This true and holy LORD allowed Moses to argue with Him, but He also showed him that he could not continue to fight against the true God.
Moses was being prepared so that in our text, he was not arguing with the LORD. He was no doubt in awe of the LORD but he had been teachable and he was prepared to go up to the LORD even though the mount quaked and the sound of the trumpet was quite loud. This was the LORD’s doing and it was marvellous.
The LORD was not calling on any person to blow a trumpet here. He was in control and He used different things to reveal His holiness and His greatness to Moses and the people.
Today the same holy God wants us to know Him. God used visuals in our text to reveal Himself to man. Today we have the completed Word of God. We do not need visuals today. We have the Truth and we need to walk by faith just as Moses needed to. As we look at God’s Word we can see the same greatness as Moses and the children of Israel saw. We see it by faith and we need to know the same holy God that was presenting Himself to the nation of Israel in our text. It is a blessing to know Him and reverence Him.
Pastor Bartel