Sermon Notes: Exodus 19:16-25 – God Reveals His Holy Glory
Listen to Genesis 3:8.
Genesis 3:8 (ESV) 8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Most of your translations have a footnote on the word “cool” from the phrase “cool of the day”.
“Cool”, as the ESV translates the Hebrew word, implies a time, “when”, Adam and Eve heard the sound of the LORD in the garden.
It doesn’t make much sense to “hear the sound” of LORD in the cool of the day unless there was some reason they heard him other than the time of day it cooled off. Hearing and time of day do not coincide. Make sense?
Their hearing him does not match up with “cool” speaking to a time of his coming to meet with them.
It doesn’t make much sense to go and hide either if it was just the footfall of the Lord in his walking they heard. We usually explain that their hiding is because of their guilty conscience. I’ve made that argument.
That might be a stretch.
NOTE: I can’t speak to the reasons translation committees choose certain words to be translated as they are, and I don’t want you to distrust the amazing process they work very hard at to get us good and accurate modern translations. I just want you to pay attention to their footnotes and make necessary connections. Translating authorial intent is a challenge.
A more literal translation implies “how” the LORD was walking in the garden, not necessarily “when” the LORD was walking in the garden.
The word translated as “cool” in the ESV is the word “ruah”. “Ruah” is translated in most of its occurrences as “wind” or “spirit”.
The CSB translates the phrase “time of the evening breeze”.
The phrase Moses wrote in Hebrew we translate as “cool of the day” can be translated more literally, and I would argue more accurately, as “wind occurring during the day” implying a storm.
I believe Moses wants us to see Exodus 19:9 and 16-25 as like what happened in Genesis 3:8, since he wrote them both. This similarity is not an accident.
Genesis 3:8 happens after Adam and Eve believe in the Serpent Dragon and introduce death into the Lord’s good creation.
What happens next? Being gracious and kind, the Lord shields them from death by shielding them from himself in a great wind.
He comes to them, but not like he did before. He comes in gracious and holy anger; thus, they hide themselves. He kindly shows them his holy glory in a most unkind way that causes them to hide.
As Adam and Eve respond by hiding, Israel responds in trembling because there is nowhere to hide.
The wind or storm on the mountain garden of Eden tells us something of the Lord’s holy, righteous, and angry response to sin while graciously shielding Adam and Eve from being vaporized by the full specter of his presence they once enjoyed because he intends to cover their sin with innocent animals, and ultimately at the cross.
The storm on Sinai does the same thing. Only here the Lord displays his holy glory after he has saved them through the Passover that would point them to the ultimate Passover in the cross.
In both instances, we understand that God is holy, and the only way to be rescued from his holiness is by his saving activity, and we are supposed to have the same response as Adam, Eve, Moses, and the people of Israel. Awe. Fear. A desire to do my best to hide from the storm.
That is not wrong even on this side of the cross.
As the writer of Hebrews reminded us:
Hebrews 12:29 (ESV) 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Read Exodus 19:16-25.
As we’ve said, Exodus 19:16-25 is likely a taste of what Adam and Eve experienced on the Garden Mountain when the Lord graciously shielded them from death, displayed his holy wrath at sin, and prepared to sacrifice the innocent to cover the guilty party’s shame.
The Lord descends on Mount Sinai in a storm, and this storm is wild.
The writer of Hebrews comments on Exodus 19 in Hebrews 12:21:
Hebrews 12:21 (ESV) 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”
The awesome, yet veiled presence of the Lord, is so intimidating that even Moses, who has met with and knows the Lord, is trembling.
See if you can imagine this setting.
On the morning of day 3, the Lord descends on Mount Sinai in a massive storm of thick clouds with thunder and lightning. If you’ve ever seen a massive thunderstorm roll up on the plains, imagine that descending onto a desert mountain.
Moses is leading Israel, probably by tribe, to the base of the mountain. They are approaching something that they would normally escape from inside of their tents. They are in that place of turmoil when everything in your body says to run, but you are compelled to go forward.
Moses is likely having the tribes gather on one side of the mountain so that he can communicate with the whole nation as he mediates between them and God as well as mitigate the danger of some rogue person wandering past the boundaries the Lord set.
As Israel arrives at the Mountain engulfed in the storm of God’s presence, the mountain becomes wrapped in smoke because everything is now on fire. Verse 18 says, “…because the LORD had descended on it in fire.”
In addition to this wild scene, there is an earthquake. Everything is shaking, and to make it more intense, the trumpet blast is getting louder and louder.
This sight is so intense that everyone in the camp is shaking with fear.
It’s overwhelming to take in, and that is sort of the point.
The Lord’s holiness is so intense, that he overwhelms mankind in their fallen state, and only because he has shielded them from his full glory, they are afraid, not dead.
What do we need to observe about the Lord’s holy nature from Exodus 19:16-25?
- God reveals his holy glory on the mountain. 19:16-20
Exodus 15:11 (ESV) 11 “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
God reveals his holiness displayed in his glory.
The Scriptures make clear that the God of the Bible is completely holy, that is he is unique and there are none like him, and it is necessary for him to reveal himself because men are not seeking him out in their state of rebellion.
Part of God’s holiness is shown in this gracious powerful revelation of his glory so that he can be known truly while graciously shielding the objects of his mercy from his full glory because a full display of that holy glory would kill them.
Listen to the Lord’s response to Moses when Moses asked to see the Lord’s glory.
Exodus 33:18-23 (ESV) 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
God reveals in his holy glory that there is nothing common about him and his people’s encounter with him.
There is nothing common that is to be taken for granted in what God is doing on Sinai for his people.
The tendency of mankind in sin is to make God too common, too much like everything else. This is one of the reasons the Lord will command them not to make an image of him because anything they make will just make him appear common, and that robs him of his holy glory.
We tend to do this in how we speak of God or how we fail to show honor and deference to him.
The Lord is the sovereign and unique Creator who sits alone as the eternal Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are none before him, and there will be none who equal him, and there will be none who follow him up.
People may speak of God as “the man upstairs”, or they may shrug off his commands because we see him as a kindly old grandfather, or we approach him as though he were like other “gods” and thus we dishonor him (See Jesus in Matthew 6 telling us to not pray to him like unbelievers pray to their “gods”).
In Exodus 19, the Lord leaves none of these demeaning ideas as viable. The God of the Bible is not common.
Yhwh is holy!
God reveals his holiness when his people tremble with appropriate fear at his holy glory.
As we already saw the writer of Hebrews commentary on Exodus 19:9 tells us they trembled with fear at the sight of God’s holy glory because it was so terrifying.
Why?
God’s holiness reveals our sinfulness, and the result is that we innately know we can’t survive, so we respond with an appropriate fear.
Isaiah, a faithful prophet of the Lord gives us a glimpse into this in the 6th chapter of his prophecy: Isaiah 6:5 (ESV) 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Seeing the eternal Son of God in his exalted position causes even Isaiah to pronounce his doom.
It is entirely appropriate for us to tremble with or experience a deep sense of holy fear when we experience the presence of the Lord. God’s revelation of himself does that.
- God reveals his holy glory by having a conversation with Moses. V. 19-20
The “gods” of the nations are not interested in having a conversation with their slaves. What they want is servitude, so they use and abuse humans for their own ends. They use the fear/power dynamic to take advantage of subjugated image-bearers.
This is not how the God of the Bible, the Creator, operates. Listen to Isaiah the prophet’s words about him:
Isaiah 64:4-5 (ESV) 4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. 5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways.
God acts for his people. God meets with his people. That’s awesome!
“Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.” Exodus 19:19
The Lord has been having conversation with Moses and leading his people. The Lord delights in saving and sanctifying those who come to him in faith.
The Lord delights in Moses.
Exodus 33:11 (ESV) 11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.
The good news makes it possible that not only can Moses be a friend of God, we can, through faith in this same Jesus become sons and daughters of God.
Deuteronomy 5:4 tells us the Lord spoke to the people in this encounter at Mount Sinai also. The Lord is talking to his people. Wow!
This is huge!
Deuteronomy 5:22 translates the same word Exodus 19:19 translates as “thunder” as “voice”.
This is important for our understanding. The Lord didn’t just talk “thunder” to the people in some unintelligle sound. Moses’ is telling us that out of the thunder the Lord was speaking to Moses and to the people.
God shows us his holy glory by speaking to his people, and he speaks to us so that we can understand.
God gives us language, he speaks in words, and he has seen fit that his words and his will be written down so that we have access to this truth: We can know him and know what he thinks about things.
That is, among many wonders, something the Scriptures do for us. They teach us who God is and what he demands of us.
The Bible (literally “the books”) shows us God’s holy glory in him speaking to us in every book. 39 Old Testament books. 27 New Testament books. 1 Divine author. Many scribes. One metanarrative. The most hyperlinked book ever written.
Because God speaks and his words have been written down, we have access to all we need for being equipped as the people of God.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
God shows us his holy glory in speaking to us, and in doing so forges reconciled relationships with his redeemed people.
The Lord delights in his people, and we get to be known by God while we get to know God.
Communication between two people is evidence of a relationship, and a relationship is evidence of love, sacrifice, and commitment.
For the Lord to communicate with his people, and for his people to be able to communicate back sets the Lord apart from the “gods” of Egypt and Canaan who use fear and power to abuse people not sacrificially love them.
God loves his people, and because he loves them, he communicates with them, and this is because he has established a real relationship with his people by atoning for their sin and bringing them to himself.
- God reveals his holy glory by being gracious to make sure Moses and the people don’t transgress the boundaries he set for their safety. V. 21-24
The Lord warns Moses three times about the people and priests violating his boundaries for their own sake, and as we will see soon enough, this gracious warning is necessary as Israel will show themselves stubborn about obeying the Lord.
(NOTE: We don’t know who these priests are as the Levitical role of ministers and the Aaronic band of priests has not yet been established, but there were some serving in a priestly role. It is likely a development coming from Moses’ organization from Jethro’s advice and help.)
We see the Lord’s holy glory in his effort to protect his people through warning them persistently.
This is the love of God put on display by persistent reminders.
God’s persistent and gracious warnings annoy Moses. We know it annoys Moses because Moses, after the second reminder, tells the Lord that they know because he told them already.
Exodus 19:23 (ESV) 23 And Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’”
You can feel the annoyance in Moses’ response.
How does the Lord respond to Moses’ telling him “Yeah, yeah, we know, we know”?
The Lord reminds them the third time to not break through the boundaries. He knows they are a bunch of knuckleheads.
NOTE: Parents, when you say it for the “umpteenth” time and they get annoyed, just know you are being like God and the kids are being like Israel. It is what it is!
God’s desire to protect his people is an attribute of his holiness, and it is a gracious and loving action to annoy them because he is protecting them.
Application
God reveals his holy glory for Israel in ways we’ve mentioned here, and they are completely overwhelmed. And rightly so.
Listen to how John Calvin spoke about such encounters people had with God: “Hence that dread and amazement with which as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God…Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.” – John Calvin, Institutes, Chapter 1
In other words, when people encounter the Lord, they are struck, overwhelmed, convicted, and feel their mortality. Why? They can’t help but feel the contrast between what is infected with sin and what is holy.
It’s important to note here that these are the Lord’s people. They have come under the Passover. Yet, they are still struck with awe and fear in God’s presence.
Sometimes, I’m hesitant about the west’s casual, flippant, and too comfortable attitudes that inform our gatherings.
Our gatherings, where we say we meet with God corporately, don’t produce what is produced in the Scriptures when people encounter God.
I’m not convinced that our private times are producing what the Scriptures tell us happens when people know the Lord personally, either.
Everything feels just a bit too casual to have come under the influence of the One who entered his mountain garden in a wind, who descended on Sinai in a storm and fire, and who rose from the grave in complete victory.
We can’t play the Old Testament against the New Testament either. The New Testament shows us that people respond similarly when they encounter God.
Mark 4:35-41 recounts for us Jesus in the boat with his disciples. His followers. People who have left everything to follow him. They believe Jesus to be Messiah, Yhwh.
There is a storm, they are sinking, Jesus is sleeping.
Of course, the disciples are annoyed that Jesus is sleeping, so they interpret his rest as a lack of concern for their welfare. Moses is annoyed because the Lord won’t shut up. The disciples are annoyed because Jesus is sleeping and saying nothing.
Jesus’ words ring true here: Luke 7:31-32 (ESV) 31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’
So, the annoyed disciples cry out, “Do you not care that we are perishing?”
Jesus wakes up, rebukes the storm, and there was calm.
Jesus rightly interprets their annoyance with him as the fear it is. “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
Notice the disciple’s response: “…they were filled with great fear…”
The disciples are in the boat with the One who revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush, who passed over Egypt executing judgment on the unbelieving and giving mercy to those who displayed the obedience of faith, who brought them through the Red Sea, and the One who descended on Sinai making Moses and the people tremble with fear.
So, when they see this God, the God, control the elements of creation, they didn’t crawl up in his lap and snuggle. They were struck with great fear.
Where is this response from us in our protestant evangelical circles?
No doubt we are invited to come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy, grace, and help in a time of need.
No doubt we have been reconciled to the Father by the Son and given the Holy Spirit, and thus we are sons and daughters of God.
Yet, the accounts in Scripture of those who encounter the Lod don’t presume anything. Their created substance does something totally normal when they encounter their redeeming Creator.
Even John, the disciple Jesus loved, wrote: Revelation 1:17-18 (ESV) 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Notice that after John falls down as dead at the sight of Jesus, Jesus tells him he can relax his fear because John’s response was an appropriate fear of God.
It’s important to notice John’s innate response to seeing the Lord, and then Jesus communicating back to John that he can let go of his fear.
That’s the order. No presumption. The redeemed response when seeing holy glory is appropriate fear, and then receiving back the invitation to relax. It’s NOT relax and take it for granted.
Relaxing with no fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom may indicate we have manufactured an emotive response in an atmosphere that is effectively missing the holy fear of God. It’s not that he’s not omnipresent. It might be that he is not letting us experience his holy glory because we’ve grown too casual about him and less concerned with his purposes.
We say we want “revival”, but somehow, I don’t think we mean Sinai or the boat.
So, our application is going to be some questions.
- Do you have a place in your thinking and practice for the holy glory of God that is more like a storm than an earthly paradise?
- Are you aware of the holy and glorious presence of God by the Holy Spirit? I mean, that presence of God by the Spirit that won’t let Ananias and Saphira lie to God and man?
- How do you know you are encountering the Lord?
- Do you spend enough time with God to know he’s communicating with you, and when he does you feel the weight of glory?
- How should we respond to Jesus’ holy glory?