[Exodus 19] From Chaos to God’s Order. In this chapter, the people break camp in Rephidim (place of rest) and move to Sinai, where God’s order is handed down in the tablets engraved in stone. For us, as believers, this speaks to us deeply concerning the rest of the believer and His order and glory being established in our lives.
[Exo 19:1-25 KJV] 1 In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they [into] the wilderness of Sinai. 2 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come [to] the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. 3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and [how] I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. 5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth [is] mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These [are] the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. 7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. 8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD. 9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. 10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, 11 And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. 12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, [that ye] go [not] up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: 13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether [it be] beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. 14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. 15 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at [your] wives. 16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that [was] in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. 18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. 20 And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses [up] to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. 22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them. 23 And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. 24 And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them. 25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.
In v. 1, we see the Israelites make their way to Sinai, where God will hand the law down by Moses. Of the 42 stations or encampments of their wilderness journeyings, this is the 12th, and 12 denotes God’s government and God’s order. Thus, we see that each encampment’s order and name have special meaning for us as we study them. The number twelve in Hebrew is Yod Beth, which transliterates as “hand – house.” This is God’s order. We are to humble ourselves under the mighty “Yod” or hand of God, thus becoming the house of God’s hand or the house under God’s hand. The children of Israel carried the Ark of the Covenant through the wilderness with a cloud over them by day and a fire over them by night as God’s corporate house in the Old Covenant. In the New Covenant, the community of believers locally and worldwide constitute the body or the house or the temple of God corporately.
For the Israelites, the apex of God’s order was the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments. For the believer, Jesus is the stone that the builder rejected, the elect cornerstone with a very close connection to the 5-fold ministry, which is His house. We also in the New Covenant are the House of God’s Hand, and His hand is constituted in the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher. This is undoubtedly the implied meaning in Eph. 2:20:
[Eph 2:20 KJV] 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner [stone];
We need to get the message of the order of the wilderness journeyings. Rephidim, the previous encampment, means rest. We must come to rest in our relationship with God before we can come under His order (denoted by the Israelites moving from Rephidim to Sinai). If we do not cease from our own labors, we will come to God’s order and pervert it by the works of the flesh. Rephidim was the eleventh station or encampment, and the number eleven speaks of disorder and incompleteness. Yet it is in disorder and incompleteness God requires us to cease from our labors, and (as you may recall concerning what happened at Rephidim, we must stop from our murmurings and complaining as well.) It was at Rephidim that God instructed Moses to strike the Rock, a type of Jesus being smitten for us on the Cross. Thus Rephidim speaks to us of disorder and incompleteness within ourselves because of sin. Still, we are nonetheless compelled to cease from our labors of trying to solve the problem or improve our situation. At Rephidim, we can only accept our sin prone condition and turn to the Rock and see that this is why Jesus was smitten on our behalf – He is the only solution. From this perspective, we can connect Exodus 19 with Romans 7 for this is Paul’s message in that chapter as well:
[Rom 7:14-15, 24-25 KJV] 14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. … 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Thus we see that in Rephidim and what it represents, we are confronted by the exceeding sinfulness of sin and then compelled in rest to face the fact (as the Israelites did at Sinai) that only God can provide the solution. At Sinai Jehovah gives us the Law, at Calvary, He gives us grace through Christ Jesus.
In v. 3, God calls Moses up to the mountain with instructions for the children of Israel.
1. He is to remind them of the great deliverance out of Egypt worked for them by God’s hand.
2. He promises if they keep His covenant, they will be His peculiar treasure on the earth, even a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
2. He promises if they keep His covenant, they will be His peculiar treasure on the earth, even a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
Moses calls the elders together and rehearses all in their hearing. In v. 8, the elders speaking for themselves and their people consent to obey all that the Lord had spoken. Having received this verbal commitment, Moses returns to the mountain to tell God what they said and how they answered.
Because the people consented to God’s words (v. 9), God came in a thick cloud, a more profound presence than He had done previously. This is important – all upgrade of spiritual experience comes as God’s response to our deepening commitment to Him.
The people are instructed to sanctify themselves and to wash their clothes. Clothes represent the affectation we adopt to present ourselves in the society of men. We dress one way when we retire for the evening and another way getting up to go to work.
Clothes speak of our person and personalities, and our habits. It is our responsibility to cleanse our lives in light of the reality of God’s presence. Take a moment to examine yourself. If in the next 30 minutes, you were about to experience the heaviest and most profound sense of God’s presence, you’ve ever known what would you repent of? What would you ask God’s forgiveness for in your life? What would you be willing to identify and forsake of your habits, thoughts, attitudes, judgments, or routine activities? If you search and find none, I submit to you that you are lost and undone and need a savior.
There is also mention of the third day. God chose the third day from hence to do all these things. Why not day one or day two? God doesn’t move on our timetable. 2 Peter 3:8 says a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day. We are currently in the third thousand-year period from the resurrection of Christ. This period also corresponds to the seventh one thousand year period from creation, which is God’s Sabbath season. The timeliness of this teaching could not be more apt. The number three in Hebrew is “gimbal” or “camel,” which speaks of incoming provision. Three is also the number of complete witness, which means God is doing a consummate work, a completing of the work of redemption on the third day that does not occur at any other time.
The day comes, and the mountain burns with fire and the earth shakes, giving a powerful visual experience for the people that Moses brings out of the camp to the base of the mountain to meet with their God (v. 17). The Lord descends in fire upon the mountain already burning with fire, and a trumpet sounds before the people, louder and louder. In v. 21, the Lord conveys through Moses the warning that the people should not approach. In Moses, there was no approach to God, such as Jesus makes it possible for us in the New Covenant. They were forbidden, but you are I are invited to come near by faith in the work of Calvary.
[Heb 10:20 KJV] 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
We then may boldly come where the people in the Old Testament were strictly forbidden (v. 23). Thus as the book of Hebrews asserts, we have a better covenant established on better promises by a better actuary to bring to pass even the working of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf upon the Cross.
