Glorious Sinai.

"Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!" 2 Corinthians 3:7-11

Some of our readers are likely to be rather puzzled, if not actually surprised, by such a title as the above. Those accustomed to weigh words may regard the adjective as a strange or even incongruous one. "Forbidding Sinai," "terrifying Sinai," yes--but scarcely "glorious"! If such is the reader's concept of Sinai, then it is certainly a most inadequate one, if not erroneous.

That the solemn transactions of that mount were indeed awe-inspiring--yes, repellent to the natural man--is readily admitted; yet that is by no means all that they were. There was another side to them, a blessed and praise-inducing one, which also needs to be taken into consideration. Referring to the covenant and economy which was there established, the Holy Spirit declares that it "was glorious" (2 Corinthians 3:7)--yes, "glory" in the abstract (verse 9), and "was made glorious" (verse 10).

True, He likewise tells us in the same passage that it was a "ministry that condemnation and death" unto the guilty--yet that in no wise altered its blessed character. True also that "glory" pales before another covenant and economy which exceeded it in glory (verses 9 and 10); nevertheless itwas--in itself and in its attendants--exceedingly splendid and impressive.

At Sinai, there was given a glorious manifestation of the majesty of Jehovah. At Sinai, there was given a glorious revelation of the divine will and moral perfections. At Sinai, there was a glorious inauguration of a most excellent economy--all of which contained a glorious typification of things to come. As another has well said, "No event in our world has been more magnificent in its circumstances of external majesty and splendor--than the giving of the Law on mount Sinai." Such a statement is fully warranted by the language of Holy Writ. Take a single specimen from the Psalms: "The earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel" (Psalm 68:8).

When Jehovah descended to deliver the Law, He bowed the heavens, shook the earth, and made Sinai quake to its very foundations. Even more magnificent are the strains used by the prophet: "God's brilliant splendor fills the heavens, and the earth is filled with his praise. His coming is as brilliant as the sunrise. Rays of light flash from his hands, where his awesome power is hidden!" (Hab 3:3-4). One of the greatest and grandest displays of the divine majesty, was given by the Lord at Sinai, and it is often referred to in the Sacred Volume. Far too many restrict their thoughts to Exodus chapter twenty when asked to contemplate Sinai. Not only is it impossible for us to make a right approach unto or obtain a due perspective of the Decalogue without first keeping before us all that is contained in Exodus 19--but for a true understanding of both, it is also essential to bear closely in mind the contents of the seven preceding chapters. It was no isolated event which occurred there, wholly separate--but rather one that was intimately related to foregoing ones.

Yet one influential writer began his remarks on Exodus 19 and 20 by affirming, "A new dispensation is inaugurated in those chapters"; and he has been blindly followed by many, including the Scofield Bible. Far more accurate would it be to say that a new dispensation or order of things commenced at Exodus 12, for it is from the Passover night that the national history of Israel is to be dated! Previously, they had no corporate existence, being merely a disorganized company of slaves. But on that notable night, long to be remembered, everything was changed for them. Then for the first time, they were designated the "assembly of the congregation of Israel" (Exo 12:6). That it was the Passover which marked not only the beginning of the national existence of Israel--but of the Mosaic era also, is unequivocally demonstrated by the fact that their calendar was thenchanged by divine orders (Exo 12:2).

That new dispensation was commenced by the establishment of a new relationship between Jehovah and His people: they then became Hisredeemed--"bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:20), by the blood of a lamb "without blemish" (Exo 12:5-7, 13, 22). And redemption, my reader, is so far from annulling God's claims upon us as creatures, that it imposes an additional obligation to serve Him; and it supplies a further and most powerful motive for our recognition of God's claims upon us and an earnest endeavor to meet the same. "Remember that you were once slaves in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you! That is why I am giving you this command!" (Deu 15:15). Precisely the same is the teaching of the New Testament: "That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies [the world, the flesh, and the devil] might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life" (Luke 1:74-75). "Our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous for good works" (Ti 2:13-14).

Redemption effects a change of masters. Israel was delivered from the tyranny of Pharaoh and the bondage of Egypt--in order that they might be free to delight themselves in their God, and to worship and obey Him. That was plainly announced unto Moses at the first appearing of the Lord unto him: "When you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain" (Exo 3:12--see verses 1 and 2). All that transpired between Exodus 3 and 19 was but preparatory and means unto that grand end. Previously, they had seen God's judgments upon Egypt, beheld His mighty power at the Red Sea, witnessed His guiding hand in the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, experienced His mercy in providing food from heaven and water out of the rock--and now they were to receive a manifestation of His exalted sovereignty and a revelation of His ineffable holiness. "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant--then you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me" (Exo 19:4-5).

Having brought them into a relationship so blessed, they must now be instructed how to walk worthily of the same. Not only has the Decalogue been insufficiently pondered in the light of its historical setting--but the whole transaction of Sinai has been far too often divorced from much that preceded it. In order to apprehend the outworking of the divine plan, it ever requires to be kept in mind that it proceeds along the principle of progressive development. Unless that fact be heeded, we shall not arrive at a correct understanding of either His plan as a whole, or of its characteristic features and special arrangements which have distinguished its manifestations at any one period, as compared with another.

What took place on the mount undoubtedly marked a definite stage and advance in the gradual unfolding of the divine purpose, as well as signalized a memorable epoch in the history of His chosen people; nevertheless, it was as intimately related to what preceded, as to all that followed. It was by no means an isolated action--but a progressive one. The redemption from Egypt was itself the fulfillment of a promise which Jehovah had made with Abraham; and that redemption had for its direct object the establishing with Israel of that covenant which God had made with their fathers.

An unmistakable linking up of the Mosaic economy with what had gone before appears in the symbol in which Jehovah was revealed to Moses, when he received from Him his call and commission. That symbol most definitely pointed back to the "smoking furnace" and "burning lamp" which passed in vision before the eyes of Abraham when he was informed of the future sufferings of his posterity in a land which was not theirs (Gen 15:13, 17). That "furnace" was now again made visible to Moses (Exo 3:2), yet the little thornbush--emblem of the covenant people, the tree of God's planting--stood uninjured in the midst of the flame, because the covenant God Himself was there. Any doubt as to the correctness of that interpretation should be removed by what is said in the immediate context, for there we are told, "And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them" (Exo 2:24-25)--that is the covenant (Psalm 74:20).

What we have just pointed out opens more intelligently what follows, for when Moses demurred at the mission entrusted to him and asked, What shall I say unto Israel when I tell them, "The God of your fathers has sent me unto you," and they shall inquire, "What is his name?"--God answered him, "Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses: Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob--has sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations" (Exo 3:13-15). That glorious "name" is linked equally to the past and the future. He who affirmed Himself to be the incomprehensible "I AM THAT I AM" (Exo 3:14)--as a description of His distinctive name of Jehovah--did so for the express purpose of enabling Israel to recognize Him as the God of their fathers, as the One who had in the past solemnly covenanted with them, and who now, in the immediate future, was going to make good unto their children what He had promised them.

As Jehovah, the great I AM--explained in the "He who is, and who was, and who is to come" (Rev 1:4, and compare 4:8 and 16:5 for variations)--He would show unto His people that He is the God who changes not (Mal 3:6). Having made an everlasting covenant with the patriarchs, He continued to abide in the relationship which it established, for He could no more fail to fulfill its engagements than He could cease to be.

If the symbol of the burning bush was fitted to turn the thoughts of Moses unto Genesis 15, still more appropriate was the divine revelation given unto him there: not only unto the urgencies of Israel's case in their Egyptian bondage--but as a sure pledge of their coming deliverance--ratified by the significance of His peculiar covenant name.

His people were thereby assured that however conditions had changed for the worse--a temporal darkness veiling their fair prospects--nevertheless, the God of their fathers remained without variableness or shadow of turning, being the immutable God of the present and the future, as well as of the past. It was both a pledge of a grander manifestation of His faithfulness and love, and an intimation that they might expect a yet fuller revelation of His character. With such encouragement was Moses sent forth to execute in the name of God and commission given to him. It was then in pursuance of His covenant with Abraham, that God delivered his descendants from the tyranny of Pharaoh; and it is that which supplies the key to all the subsequent dealings of the Lord with his descendants. As Moses told them plainly at a later date, "The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Deu 7:7-8). It was in fulfillment of that same oath, that He opened a way through the Red Sea, and that He continued to show Himself strong in their behalf.

That nothing whatever occurred at Sinai which in any way annulled or even modified the covenant with Israel's progenitors, is evidenced by the fact that whenever any serious crime was committed by the nation, those who interceded for them sought forgiveness on the ground of the promisesmade to Abraham: see Exodus 32:13; Deuteronomy 9:27-29; 2 Kings 13:23. The glorious transactions of Sinai are prefaced by this statement: "In thethird month after the Israelites left Egypt--on the 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" (Exo 19:1-2). Like all the time-marks of Scripture, this one requires to be carefully noted, for it intimates to us the significance of what follows.

Three is ever the number of manifestation: as God Himself is made known to us in His three Persons, and hence, too, it is the number of resurrection (Christ rising on the third day, etc.), for it is then that life is seen emerging from death. Jehovah was now to give unto His people a further and fuller disclosure of Himself: of His majesty, His holiness, and His will concerning them; and most appropriately was that given upon the mount--the place of eminence and vision. It was a testification of His goodness unto them--as much so as were the awe-inspiring phenomena at Pentecost. As Moses subsequently reminded them, "Behold, the Lord our God has showed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire" (Deu 5:24). "And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself" (Exo 19:3-4).

First, mark the double appellation here given unto the Hebrews: the former to humble them by a reminder of their lowly origin; the latter to evoke praise for the dignity and blessing which God had conferred upon them. But there was a deeper significance thereto, and something we need to closely observe: that double appellation supplies more than a hint of the two-foldness of what follows. As the "seed" of Abraham included both an earthly and a heavenly one, and was therefore symbolized by a dual figure--"the stars of the heaven" and "the sand which is upon the sea shore" (Gen 22:17); and as the promises made to him received both a "letter" or literal--and a "spirit" or mystical fulfilment--the one in his natural descendants, and the other in his spiritual children (Gal 3:7, 29!); so the transactions of Sinai require to be viewed in their bearing upon bothnational Israel and the "Israel of God" (Gal 6:16).

What has just been pointed out is very far from being something which we desire to "read into" (Exo 20): it is demanded by the clear teaching of the New Testament. The fact that we are told, "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7) obliges us to view Israel's deliverance from Egypt as a type of the Church's redemption from the dominion of sin and Satan; while their miraculous passage through the Red Sea obviously foreshadowed the Church being brought onto resurrection ground. Equally clear is it that the furnishing of them with the manna was a foreshadowing of Christ, "the true bread from heaven" (John 6:32) as the food of His people. The bringing forth of water from the smitten rock was manifestly a figure of the Holy Spirit being given to Christ's people--the mystical meaning of that incident being expressly defined for us in the "spiritual drink" and "that spiritual Rock" of 1 Corinthians 10:4.

What anointed eyes then can fail to see in Jehovah's statement regarding the national Israel, "I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself" (Exo 19:4) a declaration of His amazing grace in Christ unto the spiritual Israel, who "suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he mightbring us to God " (1 Peter 3:18).

Next, they were reminded of what the Lord had done for them: "You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians" (Exo 19:4), righting and avenging you from their cruel oppression and persecution, accepting the challenge of the haughty Pharaoh (Exo 5:2), and humbling that mighty monarch into the dust! And how I "bear you on eagles' wings"--a figure of the gracious tenderness which Jehovah had shown them (Deu 32:11-12): protecting them from His judgment-plagues upon Egypt, sheltering them from the angel of death, and interposing His pillar of cloud and fire between them and their pursuers.

"And brought you unto myself": not only into a state of liberty and honor--but into covenant and communion with the living God, that they might delight themselves in Him and serve Him. "You have seen" all this, He reminds them, appealing to their own observations and experience. They knew it was entirely of the Lord's doing, and must be marvelous in their eyes. As Matthew Henry (1662-1714) pointed out, "It was not they who reached toward God--but it was He who brought them to Himself." With what design we are about to consider: certainly not to impose upon them a harsh and tyrannical regime--but to give them further proofs of His loving-kindness.

"Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant--then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak unto the children of Israel" (Exo 19:5-6). Weigh attentively that "therefore," for it is a conclusion drawn from what is said in the previous verse, and shows that God was addressing His redeemed people as already standing in such a relation of nearness to Himself as secured for them an interest in His faithfulness and love. He appeals to the proofs which He had already given of this, as amply sufficient to remove all doubt from their minds, and to warrant them expecting whatever else might be needed to promote His glory and complete their happiness.

"Now therefore--if you will obey my voice": it was not because they had been obedient--that God had done such great things for them and unto them; but since He had done great things for them--that they might now be sensible of their privilege and duty in henceforth rendering submission to Him, and by obeying, fulfill the high destiny to which He had called them.

There was nothing in the above declaration which in any way conflicted with the Lord's dealings with Abraham himself. After He had, in sovereign grace, effectually called him, and averred, "I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward" (Gen 15:1), He appeared unto him again and said, "I am the Almighty God--walk before me, and be perfect" (Gen 17:1)--a word which was comprehensive of full subjection to Himself and of righteous behavior on the patriarch's part. Whatever there was new in form in that which was given at Sinai, there was nothing new in principle from what had been revealed long before--God has ever maintained His claims upon and required the fruits of holiness from the objects of His grace, and has dealt with them accordingly--ordering His providences in consonance with their conduct.

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