Exodus 19:16-20 - Experiencing the glory of God

Exodus 19:16-20 - Experiencing the glory of God

The scene at Mount Sinai described in Exodus 19 shows how awesome God truly is. Here the people of Israel had taken three days to prepare themselves. They consecrated and cleansed themselves. They also abstained from any sexual relations as a form of fasting as required of the LORD. Now the scene was set and they were waiting in anticipation for the coming of the LORD. And right on time, God stepped down from the portals of heaven. What a sight the mountain must have been! Verses 16-19 describe it this way: ^“So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.”  

It was a display of God’s terrifying and awesome power. The loud sound of the trumpet with increasing loudness, lightning, thunder, smoke and fire engulfed the whole mountain till it quakes as it attended to God’s presence. It was set to inspire the fear of God. The Israelites were terrified and everyone present was trembling with fear. Who would not when encountered with such an awesome sight? God is pure and awesome. We must never treat Him with contempt. We must always accord God the full dignity. Hence, we should never treat God frivolously. We must always approach Him with reverential fear.

What lessons can we learn from such a scene? The most unforgettable lesson is that our God is truly awesome. There is no way to describe Him without talking about lightning and thunder, smoke and fire and the sound of the trumpet that grew with increasing loudness. The people who stood at the foot of the mountain did not see the majestic God. What they saw was the manifestation of His presence. Every natural element attended to God’s presence conveys something about Him to us. The thunder and earthquake tell of His power. The dark cloud shows us how mysterious our God is. There are aspects of God that defy logical explanation and difficult to comprehend. The fire speaks of God’s pure holiness. The fire of God with its warmth beckons us to draw near. It also beckons us to deal with the sin of our life that God abhors. The sound of the trumpet was intended to tell us how majestic this God truly is. They herald the coming of the King of kings. We can be sure that those who were present that day would never forget that breathtaking scene. They would never forget how they felt in the indescribable presence of the holy and majestic God. Though we may not see the visible manifestation of the glory of God, we do have that awesome privilege of experiencing His glorious presence whenever we draw near to Him in worship. When we are in the presence of God, we want to be so caught up till we forget the trivial of life and be totally consumed by this awesome God. We just want to be lost relishing in His wonders and love!