Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
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.”
Exodus 20:18–19
The people’s distance from Sinai was already the plan: Moses and Aaron going up the mountain to hear from God and bring the words back, while the people remained at a safe distance (Ex 19:23–25).
So perhaps we should think this is a rare glimpse of the Israelites wholeheartedly agreeing with God’s means of dealing with them?
Nope. What they’re asking for is not quite aligned with what God was doing.
“Moses, when you speak, it’s not fire and thunder and earthquakes. What you have to say is manageable. We like hearing from you.”
[Except for all the times they didn’t.]
“But God…if he speaks to us, we’ll die. So you go talk to him and then just tell us what he said. We’ll listen to you. We can’t listen to God. His words are terrifying.”
They trembled in fear and kept their distance, from God and his words. They expected the words to be different, safer coming from Moses.
How do we know this fear wasn’t righteous? Moses responds, “Do not fear.”
Wait…I thought fear was the point of the boundary around the mountain and the earth-shaking trumpets and the lightning and all. So why does Moses now tell them not to be afraid?
This fear was unrighteous, because it would keep them from hearing God’s words. They think they’ll be safe if they can just get Moses to be the one who speaks to them. They’re missing the point, so Moses spells it out:
“Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you…”
Wait… “Don’t fear…because God is doing this so you will fear him…”? How does that make sense?
Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.
Exodus 20:20
The point is not to be afraid and turn from hearing the words of God. The point is to be afraid and turn from sinning.
Fear functions as a defensive measure: we are afraid when we identify a threat, and we engage to avoid it.
The Israelites’ fear identified God and his words as the threat. Their solution was to avoid hearing from him.
Righteous fear identifies God’s holiness as the most foreboding threat that sinners face, but the solution is not to avoid God. The solution is to avoid sin.
What does this story have to do with us? The God who revealed himself to Israel in fire and storm on Sinai reveals himself to all nations in flesh and blood on Calvary.
The nature of God has not changed since Sinai. He is still holy, and he still judges sin.
Our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:29
But in Christ, God has provided a way that sinners can be made righteous and so come near to him without being consumed: faith in Jesus, whose self-sacrifice absorbed divine judgment and offers forgiveness for all who trust him.
You have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. . . . But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, . . . and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.
Hebrews 12:18–19, 22, 24
God is to be feared. He is holy and punishes sin. And awareness of his holiness should evoke fear: there is a threat to be avoided. Like the Israelites, though, we often think we can handle the threat by hiding from God, coming up with a solution that will keep us safe.
It will never work. When all is said and done, “our God is a consuming fire.” You don’t hide from fire. It finds you.
The fear of God identifies sin as the thing to avoid and runs to Christ as the refuge. So don’t be afraid and run from the words of God. Be afraid and run from sin, to God, who himself has provided safety.
Yes, God’s wrath on sin is fierce and fearful. And God’s mercy for sinners is abundant in Christ.