Although
the Bible was written over the course of more than a thousand years by
different human authors, in another sense it forms a single work by a single
Author, because each of those humans was inspired by the Holy Spirit. As such,
we find a plethora of instances where themes emerging in one book are mirrored
in another book written hundreds or over a thousand years later, and the more
time we spend reading the Bible, the more quickly we recognize such
reflections.
As I was
reading in Exodus a few weeks ago, I came across a verse I had read many times
before, but this was the first time I saw the echoes of another book from
another time. The verse is in the passage where Moses and the Israelites are at
Mount Sinai. In Exodus 19, God tells Moses to instruct the people to prepare
themselves for the day when God will come down and speak to them from the
mountain. He repeatedly warns them not to get close to the mountain or touch
it. Because of the sheer power and purity of the holiness of God and the
contrasting unholiness of the people, if they came near, they would die.
In Exodus
20:18-21 (ESV), we read, “Now when all the people saw the thunder and the
flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the
people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, ‘You
speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.’
Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the
fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.’ The people stood far off,
while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.”
Does that
last sentence make you think of any other part of Scripture? As soon as I read
it this particular time, I immediately thought of Ephesians 2. In his letter to
the Ephesians, Paul is reminding the Gentile believers of the state of their
souls before coming to Christ. He reminds them that they were dead in sin but
have been made alive because of God’s great love and mercy (see Eph. 2:1-5). He
goes on to explain that when they were apart from Christ, they were “having no
hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). Now, listen to verse 13: “But
now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the
blood of Christ.” Do you hear
the echo of Exodus?
At Mount
Sinai, “the people stood far off” and only Moses, functioning as the God-appointed
mediator between God and the people, was able to draw near. This historical
event serves as an illustration for us, showing us the predicament we find
ourselves in when in our fallen natural state. (Note the absence of a comma
between “fallen” and “natural,” signifying that “fallen” describes “natural”
and not “state”—i.e., our natural state has become fallen; the natural state of
mankind was not flawed in the Beginning, and it is to our natural state that
God is restoring us in Christ.)
In language
evocative of Exodus 20, Paul reminds the Ephesian believers (and us) that
although we used to be far off, to be the ones who could not dare approach God
without meeting death, we can now be close to God because Someone has made it
possible for us to draw near and has Himself drawn us near. By shedding His own
blood in a sacrifice sufficient to atone for all our sins, Jesus opened the
path to the mountain, so to speak. Through faith in Him, we may now approach
God and His throne of grace with confidence instead of fear (see Hebrews 4:16).
We now “have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph. 2:18).
So instead
of needing Moses or any other created man to mediate between us and God, we now
have the eternal God-man as our perfect mediator and can commune with God
directly. “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those
who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has
occurred [his own] that redeems them from the transgressions [sins] committed
under the first covenant” (Hebrews 9:15; see also 1 Timothy 2:5 and
Hebrews 12:24). And instead of God having to speak to us through someone else,
He speaks to us directly through His Holy Spirit. This is the gift offered to
us, if we choose to accept it.[i]
And what a priceless gift it is!
The Supreme
Being, the Triune God, the Creator and Sustainer of each of our lives and of
the entire universe was not content to keep us far off. In his great love, He
desired to provide a remedy for our folly. He desired to remove the barrier we
had erected by our own rebellion, immovable for anyone but Himself. He could
have left us to our deserved fate of eternal distance from Him. But instead, He
did not (and does not) “wish that any should perish, but that all should reach
repentance” (2 Pet. 3:19), so He opened the way, and He draws us near. Oh the
comfort, joy, peace, and rest that come from being near to the One who loves us
most.
[i] In another echo of Exodus 19-20, the writer of Hebrews reminds us that we would do well to accept the gift offered and the One offering it instead of rejecting Him: “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they [the Israelites] did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time [at Mt. Sinai] his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:25-29; see Exodus 19:18).
Thanks for sharing!❤️
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