On the Mountain (Exodus 25-31)
Moses is gone, on the mountain with God, for forty days. During that time, he is shown a vision of the heavenly tent of meeting and given detailed instructions for building an earthly copy. These instructions will later be carried out with precision, so that God can dwell among His people. There is a lot to be seen here about worship, God’s holiness, and the role of art and culture in relating to God.
But, what strikes me in this reading is the darkness.
Everything we see in the Old Testament relation between God and His people is just a best-case scenario. The people are sinners and God by rights should destroy them. It is only because of His covenant love that He saves, spares, and leads them. And their worship is a sacrificial system that holds sin at bay as best it can, never perfectly, never enough for them to have the kind of relationship we have with God after the cross.
That is best seen in the tent of meeting. It is a dark, windowless place. There is just one lamp-stand, and beyond that—in the holiest of holy places—no light at all. I never pictured that before this reading. When the priest went in to offer the sacrifice one day of every year, he was operating in pitch blackness.
This is not the relationship with God we envision today. Before the cross—before the veil was torn in two—the fear of the Lord was palpable. Today we think more of the light, the love of God and His message of good news for the whole world, than of our terrible state in front of a holy God without grace. In enjoying the wonderful place we have in Christ today, we run the risk of forgetting who it is we are dealing with. We need to remember the darkness we were in without Christ; a darkness the majority of humanity still experiences. And we need to remember and retain a holy fear of the Creator who—but for the grace we find at the cross—would strike our sinner’s hearts dead in His presence.
Of course, Israel sitting at the foot of the mountain awaiting Moses’ return are very afraid too. But on their side of the cross they fear in all the wrong ways and for all the wrong reasons, as we shall soon see…
But, what strikes me in this reading is the darkness.
Everything we see in the Old Testament relation between God and His people is just a best-case scenario. The people are sinners and God by rights should destroy them. It is only because of His covenant love that He saves, spares, and leads them. And their worship is a sacrificial system that holds sin at bay as best it can, never perfectly, never enough for them to have the kind of relationship we have with God after the cross.
That is best seen in the tent of meeting. It is a dark, windowless place. There is just one lamp-stand, and beyond that—in the holiest of holy places—no light at all. I never pictured that before this reading. When the priest went in to offer the sacrifice one day of every year, he was operating in pitch blackness.
This is not the relationship with God we envision today. Before the cross—before the veil was torn in two—the fear of the Lord was palpable. Today we think more of the light, the love of God and His message of good news for the whole world, than of our terrible state in front of a holy God without grace. In enjoying the wonderful place we have in Christ today, we run the risk of forgetting who it is we are dealing with. We need to remember the darkness we were in without Christ; a darkness the majority of humanity still experiences. And we need to remember and retain a holy fear of the Creator who—but for the grace we find at the cross—would strike our sinner’s hearts dead in His presence.
Of course, Israel sitting at the foot of the mountain awaiting Moses’ return are very afraid too. But on their side of the cross they fear in all the wrong ways and for all the wrong reasons, as we shall soon see…
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