They Came to the Desert of Sinai: The Reason for It All

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  Exodus 19:1–8 On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord. CONSIDER THIS We come to a major new chapter in the story of God and the story of us. Welcome to Mount Sinai. If we are narrating the storyline of Scripture (so far) at a high level, we might frame it like this: Creation. Fall. Flood. Babel. Abraham. Isaac. Jacob. Joseph. Egypt. Moses. Plagues. Passover. Red Sea. Sinai. While every one of those words denotes an entire world in and of itself, all of them together tell the grand story of God. Our great aspiration must be to know the story inside out and upside down; not so we can be Bible experts, but because this is our story. In order for us to live out our chapter of the story, we must know the story that has come before. Our memory determines our imagination. The people of God remember their way into the future. Mount Sinai is shorthand for the Ten Commandments, which is shorthand for the giving of the Law to Moses for the people of God. Few events are more pivotal in the history of the world than this one. Though a lot has happened since leaving Egypt, we are only three months into the journey when we come to this mountain of monumental magnitude. Now we come to the reason for it all. God decreed this word to the Israelites and Moses declared it to them: “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.” There has been drama and trauma, hardship and difficulties, and, through it all, provision and protection. All of this can be neatly captioned under the extraordinarily messy category of deliverance. Now we come to the point of it all. God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, into the wilderness, and onward to the promised land for a relationship with himself—for their good, for others' gain, and for his glory. Let's run the replay in slow motion: I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself, Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Remember, this is God speaking to his people—even to us. Let's slow it down to frame by frame. I c-a-r-r-i-e-d you on eagles' wings. and brought you to myself. Did you see it? That's Plan A. Finally, we are back to Plan A.  I BROUGHT YOU TO MYSELF (all caps for emphasis).  He didn't bring us out for what we could do for him. He brought us out for himself. This is about God. And because this is about God, this is about a fierce, jealous, overwhelming, protective, providing, all-consuming kind of love.  He simply asks us to listen (obey) him and keep the covenant. And then he tells us what will happen as a result of this: “Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” God’s plan is to make himself known to the rest of the world through the way he loves and lives in relationship with this particular and peculiar group of people. This was the plan all along and it will be the plan going forward; a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. If we fast-forward to the closing sections of the Scriptures, we see virtually this same language again spoken about the church: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). In order for us to become the fullness of his presence in the world, he will transform our sin-sick broken nature to become like his love-filled holy nature. This is the point of Mount Sinai. This is why the Law is revealed. And the gateway into this gifted life is simple loving obedience: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant . . .”And look what we said: The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” Of course we will do everything the Lord has said. Why? Because I carried you on eagles wings and brought you to myself.  It makes you want to know what he will say to us on Mt. Sinai doesn't it? Stay tuned!  THE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE Lord Jesus, you are my Deliverer. You brought us to yourself. Yes, you brought me to yourself. I want to let that soak in. You carried me on eagles' wings and you brought me to yourself. Lord Jesus, you paid a debt you did not owe because I owed a debt I could not pay. You rescued me from darkness, delivered me from death, and brought me out of chaos and into your new creation. And all of this so you could bring me to yourself. I want to receive deliverance now from everything that keeps me from you, and into the kind of obedience and covenant-keeping that is the promised land of a relationship with you.  It will be for my good, for others' gain, and for your glory.  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be. World without end, amen! Amen!