Exodus 19
McGeeCHAPTER 19THEME: Moses delivers God’s message; Israel prepares for a visitation from GodChapters 19 through 24 deal with the Law. The children of Israel have arrived at Mount Sinai, and here they agree to accept the Law. In fact, what they do is exchange grace for law.
Exodus 19:1
The children of Israel have arrived at Mount Sinai, the place where the Law is going to be given. God is going to deal graciously with His people. He is going to give them the opportunity of deciding whether they want to go on with God leading themthe way He has for the period of time since they left Egypt until they arrived at the mountor whether they would rather accept and receive the Law.
Exodus 19:3
MOSES DELIVERS GOD’S MESSAGEThat’s traveling by grace!
Exodus 19:5
The children of Israel traveled from Egypt to Mount Sinai by the grace of God. Then God asks them if they want to receive the Law and commandments, and they foolishly agree to accept it instead of saying that they enjoyed the trip on eagles’ wings from Egypt to Mount Sinai. God reminded them of what He had done to the Egyptians and how He had borne the children of Israel on eagles’ wings. Perhaps a few words should be said about the eagle. The eagle is a bird of prey, which Job_9:26 corroborates by saying, “They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.” The Lord Jesus Christ Himself said, “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together” (Mat_24:28). Yet the eagle is used as a symbol of God and deity in Scripture. In the Book of Ezekiel deity is represented by the face of an eagle. In the fourth chapter of the Book of Revelation deity is pictured by a flying eagle.
The eagle is admired for its wings and its ability to soar to the heights. In other words, the eagle is the jet plane of the bird family, and the wings of the eagle are definitely a symbol of deity. God said to Israel in Exo_19:4, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.” That, friends, is God’s marvelous, infinite, wonderful grace. By grace God brought Israel out of Egypt and to Mount Sinai. God had found them helpless and hopeless in the slavery of Egypt, and He delivered them. He redeemed them by blood.
The same night the death angel passed over, the children of Israel marched out of Egypt. They came to the Red Sea where Pharaoh could have slaughtered them like animals, but God intervened. And God brought them across the Red Sea by power. You see, He is bearing them on eagles’ wings. On the way from Egypt to Mount Sinai, Israel had seven experiences which correspond to our Christian experiences. God gave Israel manna when they were hungry and water when they were thirsty. God sweetened the bitter waters of Marah. God delivered them from Amalek. All the way God bore Israel on eagles’ wings, and that is the way He bears us today. He leads us by His grace, and we walk by faith. Now at Mount Sinai God reminds Israel how He has led and cared for them. Then He gives them a choicegrace or law. God asks them if they will keep the commandments if He gives them to Israel. They are going to exchange grace for law. A great many people do that today. This is unfortunate because we live in a day when God saves by grace. God does not save by law. What a contrast there is between law and grace. Law demandsgrace gives. Law says “do"grace says “believe.” Law exactsgrace bestows. Law says “work"grace says “rest.” Law threatens, pronouncing a cursegrace entreats, pronouncing a blessing. Law says “Do, and thou shalt live"grace says, “Live, and thou shalt do.” Law condemns the best mangrace saves the worst man. The Law reveals the character of Godit also reveals the weakness of man. In Rom_3:19 Paul says, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” God never gave the Law as a means of salvation. No one was ever saved by keeping the Law. You can’t mention a single one. Moses was a murderer; he also lost his temper and disobeyed God. Why then was the Law given? There was a definite reason which is stated in Gal_3:19"Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made….” The law was given to reveal that we are sinners. It was given temporarily until the Seed would come. The seed spoken of in this verse is the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul goes on to say in Gal_3:24 that, “…the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” The “schoolmaster” is not a school teacher, but a slave in the home of a Roman patrician that took care of the child. He clothed, washed, dressed him, blew his nose when needed, and paddled him when necessary. When the child was old enough to attend school, the schoolmaster took him. The word for schoolmaster is paidagoµgos, meaning a “child conductor,” one who takes a little child by the hand and leads him to the school. The Law is our schoolmaster, our paidagoµgos. It takes us by the hand, like a little child, and leads us to the Cross and says, “My little one, you need a Savior. You are a sinner and you need to be saved.”
Exodus 19:6
God originally intended for Israel to be a kingdom of priests. All of the tribes were to be priests. Because of their failure to enter the land at Kadesh-barnea and because they made and worshiped a golden calf while Moses was on the mountain receiving God’s law, only one tribe was chosen to be a priestly tribe. God’s ultimate goal in the Millennium, however, is to make the entire nation a kingdom of priests. This will happen long after the church is removed from this earth and is in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Jerusalem.
Exodus 19:7
Listen to these peoplewhat confidence they had!
Exodus 19:8
The giving of the Law to the nation Israel at Mount Sinai was the beginning of the dispensation of Law. This dispensation extends from Mount Sinai to the Cross of Calvary, from the Exodus to the Cross. It is the revelation to a people, living under ideal conditions, that they cannot keep the Law. Israel said, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.” They said, “Bring it on; we’ll keep it” before they even knew what it was! Then they demonstrated for fifteen hundred years that they could not keep the Law. This is the attitude of a great many people todaythey think the natural man can please God.
The natural man cannot keep the Law and he fails terribly in the attempt. The Law was given to control the old nature but it cannot, because the old nature is a revolutionary which cannot be controlled. Paul sums it up in Rom_8:6-7 like this, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” You and I have an old nature. It is at enmity with God. It can never be obedient to God and can never please Him. Have you made that discovery in your own life? Have you found that you are a failure at meeting God’s standards? Thank God that He has made another arrangement! There is nothing that makes a greater hypocrite out of a person than for him to say, “I keep the Law!” No one can measure up to God’s standards. Look at Israel. God is going to give them the Law and they say, “Bring it on, we are ready to keep it.” What a display of self-confidence and arrogance. Yet there are multitudes of men and women today that claim they keep the Law even after God clearly demonstrated that no one can be saved by the Lawbecause no one can keep the Law. It was tried out under ideal conditions by the nation Israel.
Exodus 19:9
ISRAEL PREPARES FOR A VISITATION BY GODThere are some people who think that the giving of the Law was a beautiful event. Years ago a very cultured and refined southern lady said to me, “Mr. McGee, don’t you think the giving of the Law was a beautiful, lovely thing?” I think I shocked her when I replied, “I do not see anything beautiful in it. It was a frightful and terrifying thing!”
Exodus 19:10
What a tremendous scene, but listen to what followed:
Exodus 19:12
Does this sound like a beautiful scene? The children of Israel were told not to get near the mount and not to touch it or they would die. That, friends, is not beautiful; it is dreadful!
Exodus 19:13
This is not a circus parade going by, but this is the giving of God’s Law. It was a terrifying experience and the people trembled because it was frightening.
Exodus 19:17
Some of the Israelites think they might see something spectacular, but they will not see anything. They will only hear a voice and it is still true to this day that “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (Joh_1:18).
Exodus 19:22
Israel’s pledge to keep the Law was a mistake they never would have made had they known more about themselves and how weak they were. There is a great contrast between that dispensation of law and our dispensation of grace.