Exodus
19:9 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo,
I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with
thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto
the LORD. 10 And the LORD said unto
Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them
wash their clothes, 11 And be ready
against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight
of all the people upon mount Sinai. 12
And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed
to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it:
whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: 13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he
shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall
not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.
14 And Moses went down from the mount
unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.
15 And he said unto the people, Be ready
against the third day: come not at your wives.
Jehovah
God is going to display some of His majesty in how He appears to the people so
as to impress them to whom they are promising obedience. He is going to come
down on Mount Sinai in His appearance from the thick cloud.
2Chronicles
6:1 Then said Solomon, The LORD hath
said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
Psalm
18:11 He made darkness his secret place;
his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
No
one was to touch the mount of God as Paul reminds us later when he compares the
mount of God to the New Jerusalem.
Hebrews
12:20 (For they could not endure that
which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be
stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses
said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) 22
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the
firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect, 24a
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant…
A trumpet blast
plays an important role at the end of history.
1Corinthians
15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
The
third day is also very significant
throughout the Bible representing to us the resurrection of Christ after three
days.
Luke
24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is
written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the
third day:
This
resurrection is a theme mentioned in several places in prophetic verses in the
Old Testament. Here in Exodus it has to do with God calling the people to come
near to Him.
Hosea
6:2 After two days will he revive us: in
the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
They
are to prepare themselves for this appointment with God. Here, it is
interesting that Moses added that they were to deny the pleasure of physical union with their
wives in that preparation. Here is something that was a gift to man and woman
from God from the very beginning. Part of their preparation was to deny
themselves that very blessing bestowed uniquely on man and wife.
Genesis
2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one
flesh.
Christians
are not told to do this except under one very special circumstance. In fact,
they are warned against it. While Paul extolls the virtue of being celibate
like he apparently was (although he seems to suggest that he would be willing
to have a wife in 1Corinthians 9:5) he gives this admonition as part of his
opinion.
1Corinthians
7:4 The wife hath not power of her own
body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own
body, but the wife. 5 Defraud ye not one
the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to
fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your
incontinency.
So,
denying your spouse sexual relations is considered as defrauding them, except
for a specific purpose for both parties during a specific time by mutual
consent.
Moses
is acting as the mediator between the people and God. Christians have God
Himself in the form of the Word, capital W, of God, the second part of the
three parts of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him only, as the mediator
between us and God the Father.
1Timothy
2:5 For there is one God, and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Hebrews
9:15 ¶ And for this cause he is the
mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of
the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called
might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
As
the mediator between God and mankind, only God Himself could be the
propitiation for sin, only God Himself could pay the ransom to Himself for our
souls, and only God Himself could raise His own body from the grave for our
justification and the promise of eternal life. You are as helpless to do these
things as these Hebrews were helpless in the wilderness.
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