ONE-YEAR JOURNEY OF THE BIBLE
Day 24 - Exodus 17-19 (The HOLINESS of God)
“Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the Lord said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish. Also let the priests who come near the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them." But Moses said to the Lord, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, 'Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.' " Then the Lord said to him, "Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest He break out against them." So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.” (Exodus 19:20-25)
The Bible says about God: “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness.” (Habakkuk 1:13) The very nature of God’s holiness is the reason behind all of the strict rules and regulations that He gave to the Israelites in the Old Testament. In my own limited and simple understanding, I kinda compare it to pure water or sterile surgical equipment that must be free from even the minutest contaminant otherwise it becomes polluted or unsterile and no longer pure.
It is no wonder why God, in our text, goes to great length to instruct Moses concerning the people that they must not come up on Mount Sinai because of their sins and because they have not been consecrated by God as Moses was. As an aside, my wife and I noted as in today’s reading how Moses had the gall to tell God, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, 'Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.' " I almost laughed when I read God’s response to Moses, “Away!” I feel somewhat vindicted whenever someone in my family answers me back when they think I am placing an over-emphasis on a point I think is very important. Now I can tell them I am just being biblical :).
Back to God’s holiness; the consequence in the Old Testament of a person who touches a consecrated object such as Mount Sinai or the Ark of the Covenant is death. Many times in the Bible we read that “no one can see God and live” although because of God’s mercy, He has allowed excpetions to that principle as in the case of Jacob, Gideon, and others whom He has called for His purpose.
The holiness of God is the very reason that He chose to take on a human form in the person of His Son Jesus in order to pave the way for all people to approach Him permanently without dying. You see, Jesus died on the cross in order to pay for our sins in order that anyone who believes (trust Him for salvation)in Him will have be cleansed completely of their sins and be sanctified (made holy, made a saint) so that they are now able to approach God permanently through the merit of Christ’s sacrifice and holiness that is imputed (transferred) in behalf of the believer. Have you been made yet by the blood of Christ?
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