And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish. (Exodus 19:21 ESV)
Safe
The One True Living God is not sweet, kindly, nicey-nice, or pleasant.
We moderns have come to think of Him like that. But His presence, described in Scripture, is always terrifying, intimidating, and awful.
Because of what people are like. God’s wrath against sin is absolute, documented, and the right reaction for Him to have.
The Israelites, gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai, had begun to be complacent about His presence. They had watched the thunder and lightning at the distant peak, and they had survived. They had not seen any signs of God’s wrath in quite awhile. And Moses had spoken about God as if he knew Him.
But God knew how dangerous He was to them. God knew their sin separated, angered, and damned. And so God instructed Moses to warn them to stay back.
In C.S. Lewis’s terms, God is not a tame lion.
But yet…
Because of Jesus, we can approach that God. Because of our Jesus, God’s wrath is placed elsewhere. Because of our Jesus, we have been made safe.
God sees us through the lens of Christ’s perfection.
And we see God through the lens of Christ’s love.
We are safe because of Jesus, when we pray. We are safe, because of Jesus, when we read His Word. We are safe, because of Jesus, when we approach Him in worship. We are safe, because of Jesus, even when we deserve wrath.
We would not be safe, but in Jesus, we are. So come to Him!