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Prepare to Meet your God!

If there was ever a meeting of the greatest importance, this was it. 

If there was ever a place to meet that was absolutely crucial to the meeting, this was it.  

If there were ever introductions that could make or break the meeting, this was it.

The meeting was initiated by God:  And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.  (Ex 19:10-11)

The place of the meeting had some defined boundaries:  And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.  (Ex 19:12)

When the meeting was about to take place, Moses gathered the people to go to meet their God:  Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their place at the foot of the mountain.  (Ex 19:16-17) 

And God introduced Himself to His people through Moses:  God spoke all these words: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.” (Ex 20:1-2)

God not only introduced Himself to His people as their God but he also included, in the introduction, what He had done for them.  He had changed their lives for the better, even more than they could ever know.

Also, as part of the whole meeting process, God communicated His expectations of His people.  Those expectations are known as the Ten Commandments.  Contrary to how they might be viewed then, and even now, the Ten Commandments were not just a set of rules to follow. In obeying them, it would set God’s people apart from all the nations of the world.

More so, in obeying them, it would indicate God would be engaging them in a relationship with Himself, something that no other nation had:  Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?  And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?  (Deut 4:6-8)

Today, meeting God is still the meeting of all meetings.  However, the place of the meeting has changed from the foot of the mountain to the foot of the cross. 

God’s introduction to us is not necessarily accomplished by someone taking us to a mountain to meet God, it is through His Son who came down to us:  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”).  For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  (John 1:14-17)

And the indicator of a relationship with God is no longer defined by obedience to the law, but by being in His Son and covered by the His blood:  “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”  (Eph 2:13) 

  

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