Did today’s reading challenge your image of what God is like?
In our modern world we tend to be very informal. Titles are largely replaced by people’s given
names. We dress casually. We speak in very familiar terms. But in our reading today there is a high
level of formality – even separation - between the people and God.
God is revealed as glorious and powerful. He warned the people to not even touch the
mountain on pain of death. They could
not come too near. They were to
consecrate themselves – set themselves apart by cleansing themselves and washing
their clothes. When God came to them, He
descended on the mountain in fire. Thick
smoke and heat waves – as from a blazing hot forge or furnace – rose up
obscuring their vision. When God spoke,
His voice was as thunder.
This is not the most inviting scenario.
Normally when we think
of God we tend to focus on images of a Good Shepherd or a loving Father. We think of Jesus’ words, “Come to me, and
you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28)
We think of the message of the angels at Jesus’ birth, “Do not be afraid.
I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been
born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This
will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a
manger." (Luk 2:10-12 NIV) God had
come to his people in this little infant.
How do we
reconcile these seemingly different pictures of God? Is He bi-polar? One pole being the angry holy separated God,
and the other being the gentle loving connected God. Did He change His mind about how to deal with
people?
No. Hebrews 13:8 says that Jesus is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. And in
Malachi 3:6 God says, “I the Lord do not change. So you . . . are not destroyed.”
So what’s the
deal?
The key to
understanding this is recognizing who is doing the coming and going.
We cannot come to
God. He is inapproachable. His holiness and justice cannot (will not)
tolerate sin and disobedience. There is
no way for us to work ourselves into His presence. We cannot climb that mountain. We cannot cleanse ourselves
sufficiently. We cannot.
Yet, in His love,
God chose to come to us. He chose to
wrap Himself in humanity; to become incarnate.
Jesus takes hold of us and brings us to God: as it says in 1 Peter 3:18,
“Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring
you to God.” It is only through Jesus,
the God-Man, that we can come to God, because He first came to us.
God is both just and justifier. He holds one hand up to say, “Stop, come no
closer!” while giving Jesus to be our Way to Him. He is holy and merciful. He is the one we worship, not because we
decided He was worthy, but because He comes to the unworthy.
Father,
help me know Your holiness and Your forgiveness, and show them in my life. Amen.
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