Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: As we saw in the previous verses, God did not simply impose His covenant on the Jews; they had the power to exercise their free will and opt out of it, but they formally accepted the covenant, each of them. It was a contract. Moses acts like an ambassador in a peace negotiation, climbing back up the mountain to give their answer to God. In their journey, the Israelites have seen distant manifestations of Yahweh, for He Himself marked their route as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, in the direction they were to go. But only Moses has heard His voice. Now, however, at this momentous occasion, God is going to manifest Himself and speak to the people directly. But He does not want to be confused with the idols that had served as “gods” during the Israelites formative years, for their temptation to revert to the confusion of their upbringing must have been strong. They cannot touch Him, cuddle Him, paint Him, or put Him on a pedestal to look at while they pray. This is a hard thing for them (or anyone) to learn. But one must infer that God wanted the Israelites to witness His reality directly. For one thing, it stopped any accusation that Moses was a fraud — that he is simply going up the mountain and making stuff up — or even that he was insane. God is going to show Himself and speak directly to the people, but only once. For He is seeking, not to become a corporeal king, but an object of faith. Hebrew high priest burning incense at the altar One of the great divisions in Christianity is raised by the events in Exodus 19: the belief in mystical communion with God through the intermediation of a priest, versus the belief in direct communication. At one extreme, Catholic and Orthodox churches believe that a priest is ordained by God and holds a special place, the ability to perform sacramental rituals. At the opposite end of the spectrum are the pure Protestant churches, which reject the concept of sacrament completely. As a moderate example, most Baptists hold spectacular baptisms by total immersion, but they do not believe that the Holy Spirit is conferred by the ritual; rather, it is a demonstration to the world that the person has accepted Christ and has been blessed by the Holy Spirit. And there are “liturgical” Protestant churches (such as Anglicans and Lutherans) that fall somewhere in-between. ecuminicism Christian friendship There is much to be said, both practically and Biblically, for both points of view. Daily Prayer very strongly believes that both are completely correct! Judaism would undergo the same differentiation; by the time of Christ, there was a great struggle in Judaism between the Sadducees, the very priest-oriented and more ritualistic sect, and the Pharisees, the sect that emphasized law and teaching, personal prayer, and a priesthood of all faithful Jews. But in Exodus, we see both. By and large, God only speaks to the people through a prophet and priest: Moses and Aaron. And yet, here He is, preparing to speak directly to every Jew camped at the foot of Mount Sinai. One thing is not at all in question: The frequent enmity between liturgical and evangelical worshipers is itself anti-Christian. To hate someone, who has sincerely confessed Christ as his Lord and Savior, is to hate Christ. (E.g., 1 John 4:20)