I Had No Idea!

Exodus 19:16-19

There are some times in life where you just have to experience it to get it. Would you agree with me? I mean, we can see it in regards to earthly things pretty easily, I think. Six, eight years ago, I can’t remember exactly, my family and I had the chance to travel out and see Yellowstone National Park. Jonathan was vickering in Billings, Montana. It was near the end of his vicar year. It was a good excuse for us to go west. We’d never gone west. And so we got a chance to see Yellowstone. Now, I’ve seen pictures of Yellowstone before and seen it on TV and stuff like that. But man, you just have to get there. And it’s seeing it, you just go, “Wow.” Another very simple example. I’m a big NBA fan, big NFL fan, big baseball fan. I like sports. So I watch a lot of sports on TV. I’d seen LeBron James play many, many times. But when I saw him in person, I had no idea. Just amazing. The Israelites had seen the glory of God in a whole lot of ways. They had seen the 10 plagues. They had seen the pillar of cloud, the pillar of fire. They had walked through the Red Sea. But do you think perhaps the Mount Sinai event led them to say, “Wow, we had no idea.” I’m guessing maybe so. Because oh my, how God poured out his glory that day. Thunder, lightning, smoke billowing like from some sort of blast furnace. Trumpet blast, and it’s growing louder and louder. Wow. Do you and I underestimate the glory and majesty of God? I can’t speak for any of you because I can’t read your heads. I can’t read your hearts. But I can sure speak for myself, and I’ll say very bluntly, brothers and sisters, I don’t think I have any clue how glorious our God is. Well, I can read about it here in the Bible, and I can try to picture it and things like that for sure. But I’ve never experienced it for myself. And neither have you. What if you and I had been there at Mount Sinai that day? How would we have reacted? I’m guessing, I don’t know this, but I’m guessing we would have been just as terrified as the Israelites were. Why? Because this show of God’s power would have revealed to us, oh so clearly, how weak we are, how mortal we are, how small we are, how sinful we are. And that fire of God would have reminded us that we deserve to be burned up by God, not in fire that would put an end to us, but in a fire that would last forever and ever and ever, the fires of hell. Do you and I underestimate that power of God? Do you and I underestimate that glory of God, that holiness of God? As I said a moment ago, I know I do. You too? Do we underestimate how horrible our sinful condition is? I know I do. You too? Mount Sinai is scary. But then God opens his mouth. And what does God say? I am the Lord your God. Did you catch that pronoun? Your? God’s connecting himself to those people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Who is God reminding them of? That he was a saving God, a God who loved them dearly, who wanted what was best for them. And he also wanted to lay the groundwork to say the words that are coming next, which are the 10 commandments. We only included the first commandment in the text. But the words that are coming next, which are the 10 commandments, we only included the first commandment in the text. But the words that are coming next, it’s worth it for you to follow them. To have no other gods, to not misuse my name, to remember the Sabbath day, to honor your father and mother, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Because who do those words come from? They come from the God who loves you. They come from the God who brought you out from the land of slavery. Oh, but once again, who’s speaking? Yeah, it’s the God of power and might with the thunder and lightning and the smoke, and the trumpet growing louder and louder. And so there is a warning here big time for the people. Refuse to listen to these words. And you’ll have to face me as a God of judgment and justice and power and might. And of course, barely a month later, what happens? Yeah, barely a month later, the Israelites are still there at the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses has gone up to talk with God. God’s gonna give them the 10 commandments on stone tablets written by the hand of God himself. Can you imagine? And what are the Israelites doing at the bottom of Mount Sinai? They’re worshiping a golden calf. Blatantly breaking commandment number one. While their God of glory was right there, the implication is that his glory was still visible on the top of the mountain. And they’re in straight-out rebellion against God. And what does God choose to do? In amazing grace, God continues to claim those people as his people. In amazing grace, God continues to make sure that the promise of the Savior goes on. In amazing grace, God continues to send profit after profit after profit to those people, to do his best to call them to himself. And when the time had fully come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under law. And that son came to earth, not with another reveal of glory. We’ll talk about that next week, too, by the way. But as a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a feed trough. That’s what a manger literally is, it’s a feed trough. But away in a feed trough, no crib for a bed. Just doesn’t quite have the same feel to it as away in a manger. Why does God come as a baby? Perhaps it’s because God does not want you and me to be terrified of him. Instead, he wants you and me to love him. I don’t know of anybody who’s terrified of babies in the same way that I realize there’s some guys who are kind of terrified of babies, I get it. But I don’t know of any of them who are terrified of babies in the same way as we would have been terrified at the base of Mount Sinai. Babies don’t terrify us. Babies are weak and helpless and lovable. And we can scoop them into our arms. And so, how does God appear? Not with Mount Sinai glory, but as a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger because he wants you and me to know that he is a God of love. He is a God of grace. And again, I ask the question. Do we have any idea how great the love of God for us really is? I wonder if we do. But we see it when we contrast Mount Sinai with Bethlehem’s manger. And I don’t know what will exactly happen when that best day of our life comes. The best day of our life is the day we leave this world. That’s not the worst day of our life. That is the best day of our life because that’s the day we’re gonna meet Jesus face to face. Will we get to see God’s glory completely? I don’t know. But I am pretty confident in saying we’ll be able to see a whole lot more of it than we would have been able to here because there we won’t be sinful, whereas here we are. And will we appreciate the love of God all the more? Oh, I’m thinking we will. In fact, I’m thinking that when we get there, it’s gonna be one of those, you have to see it to really get it moments. And I think you and I are going to say, wow, I had no idea. May God hasten that day. Amen? And amen.