Year 7, Day 68: Exodus 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Exodus 19 is the beginning of God’s calling to the people.  Up until now, God merely promised to make them His people.  Now we get to see the process begin.  This is the moment that God uses to bring a people into a full relationship with Him – the likes of which have never been seen before.

Naturally, do you hear that God’s intention is that all the people would be His priests?  Exodus 19:6 makes it quite clear.  The Hebrew people are to be His priests within a holy nation.  God wants all of His people to be His priests.

Naturally, this feels quite normal to the typical Christian.  We are all His priests.  Christ came so that we could all be His priests.  Christ came so that we could all be in direct relationship with Him.  But this isn’t really a New Testament idea.  This is a very old Old Testament idea.  God’s call for the priesthood of all believers predates the Mosaic Law!

Next, we hear about God giving restrictions to Moses regarding the behavior of the people.  I have two thoughts on this.  First of all, what God is afraid of is human nature.  God knows that when He appears to Moses, everyone will want to see and experience.  Everyone will want to push and shove until they are in the front and witnessing all the action.  God knows that they won’t be patient and wait for God to reveal His plan according to His timing.  God knows us.  Therefore, God sets limits.  He tells Moses that the people need to stay away from the mountain.  God will not allow their self-centered need to dominate the initiation of His priesthood.

Second, notice that there is challenge in the calling of the people.  They need to consecrate themselves.  They aren’t “good enough as they are.”  Well, let me moderate that a little.  They are “good enough as they are” for God to initiate relationship with them.  But God doesn’t want them to stay the way they are.  God wants them to change.  He wants them to consecrate themselves.  He wants them to rise up to a higher standard and a higher calling.

People, religious leaders especially, abuse the idea that we are “good enough the way we are.”  Yes, God is willing to initiate relationship with us as we are.  We don’t need to be perfect before God will be in relationship with us.  However, God doesn’t want us to stay the same.  He doesn’t want us to accept ourselves as we are.  He wants us to change.  He wants us to rise above our human nature.  We should never accept the message that so many proclaim that we are “good enough the way we are.”  God calls us to be His priesthood to the nations, not to be a priesthood like the nations.

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