FBC Daily Devotional – March 10, 2021

A good Wednesday to you. Here we are already in the middle of another week, into the second week of March, and I hope your day is getting off to a good start, assuming that you're seeing this in the morning.

If you're seeing at the end of the day, blessings on you. I hope your day was good, as you're preparing to wind down for the day and eventually get some rest for the night.

But I hope you've read today in Exodus chapters 19 -21, what's going on as God gives the moral law, the

Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. But before he does that, when you read the

Bible, especially the narrative sections, you know, the sections that give the story of something, the history of something, of telling a story, do you ever put yourself in the story?

You know, put yourself there. You remember that old, old television show?

I definitely know I'm dating myself, and I think it even predates me. I just remember hearing about it and seeing some old episodes.

You were there, and it was a TV show that was about this particular day in history, and it takes you back to that day and shows you what it was like to be living in that particular event, episode in history.

Well, I encourage us when we read the Bible in these narrative sections like we're reading in Exodus 19, to put ourselves there.

Put yourself at the foot of Mount Sinai. When you read this, on the morning of the third day, there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast.

Can you hear that? Can you feel the trembling earth from the thunder? You see the lightning flashing in all of its fury and all of its glory, and this was such a significant earth -trembling event that we go on to read that all the people in the camp trembled.

I can imagine. I would have, and I'm sure you would have as well. Well, Moses brings the people out of the camp and brings them up to the foot of the mountain of Mount Sinai, and then the mountain itself, we read in verse 18, was wrapped up in a smoke.

It was wrapped up in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. Could you imagine this whole mountain is aflame, but it's not being consumed?

We've seen some pretty incredible forest fires and wildfires that have raged out of control.

This was a very controlled burn. All this fire is being located in one place, the top of this mountain, and this thick smoke and so on and so forth.

Again, the whole mountain trembled greatly, and there was this trumpet sound, and it says the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder.

Moses spoke, and then God spoke to him, to Moses, in that thunder. The Lord came down to Mount Sinai.

What an event. Wow, put yourself in the shoes or sandals of one of those

Israelites standing at the foot of Mount Sinai. But then the Lord said this.

So that tells you a lot, doesn't it? I mean, all of that in itself tells you something about God and his approachability, if you will.

But then it goes on to say, the Lord told Moses, go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the

Lord, to look and many of them perish. Don't let the people go beyond the base of the mountain and come up here and see what you're going to see.

Don't let the people do it. What God is communicating to him to pass on to them is, they cannot approach me.

They are not in a position to be able to approach me. This is communicating the unapproachability of God.

Later on, when God gives the sacrificial system and all the rest of this, he makes it very clear that he's not approachable to anybody.

You can't just go into the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the

Covenant is, lest you perish. God is communicating that he's unapproachable.

But then, if you're a follower of Jesus, your mind would probably go to the book of Hebrews and chapter 4, where the last verse in the chapter says, let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Isn't that a fascinating difference? That here, the Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai were told,

God is unapproachable, you can't come up into the presence of God. And in Hebrews 4, 16, you are told, as a believer in Christ, you come boldly, come with confidence into the very presence of God, into the throne of grace.

Come with confidence. Wow, what made the difference? How is it that you and I can approach

God, and they couldn't? Look a couple verses prior to that in Hebrews 4, and we find out.

The writer of Hebrews says, since we have a great high priest who is passed into the heavens,

Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Then he says, let us, therefore, come with confidence to the throne of grace.

Let's draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. What's the difference between us and them, between the

New Testament Christian who can come with confidence to the throne of grace, and the Old Testament Hebrew at the base of Mount Sinai who was prohibited from crossing the boundary line of the base of the mountain?

What's the difference? Christ. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus, our great high priest, has made the unapproachable

God approachable on the basis of his sacrifice, his sinless sacrifice.

You, as a follower of Christ, can approach the very throne of grace.

You can approach God personally, directly. What a wonderful promise.

What a contrast this is. I hope that's an encouragement to you today.

I hope it's an encouragement to you to draw near. Let's do that.

Let's do that very thing. Let's come to the throne of grace. Our Father and our

God, we all come before your throne today with a variety of needs, but one thing we all need is grace.

We appeal to you on the basis of the work of Jesus, his sinless perfection, his sinless sacrifice, as our great high priest, we appeal to you for that grace to help in our time of need.

Oh, Father, thank you. Thank you for breaking down the barriers that we can approach you with confidence.

We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Well, have a good rest of your

Wednesday, and hope you get over the hump of the week, and things go well for you the remainder of the day.