Yitro - The Holiness of God

Yitro - Ex 18:1-20:23

In this weeks portion, we find the Lord revealing Himself in a much more complete way than we have in the preceding scriptures. In particular, the Holiness of His nature and character. Holiness, when it comes to God, is a term used in scripture to describe His supremacy and transcendence over creation; His 'otherness' and perfection. This covers all aspects of his person, His sovereignty, love, mercy, righteousness and purity. Interestingly, the term Holy appears only once in Genesis in describing the Sabbath, and not again until Exodus 3 when the land around the burning bush, which is where the people of Israel would arrive in this weeks reading. Granted, God's holiness is implicitly revealed throughout the Bible, but the full force of this is not revealed until He appears at the mountain. We see this when God descended in a cloud on the mountain:

In the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. (Ex 19:16-18)

It appears that since the fall, God's presence had been reserved and veiled, speaking to people through voices and in the form of a man (e.g. Gen 32). But now, God has descended in His fullness upon the mountain. On the one hand, the presence of the cloud is a demonstration of His power, yet on the other the cloud is there to veil the fullness of His glory lest His Holiness destroy the people He just rescued from Egypt. And in light of this appearance, or theophany, we see two rightful responses to the Holiness of God.

One is maintaining the separation of the holy from the profane. Although the word does carry negative moral connotations, it simply means that which is not specially set apart for divine purposes. For example, the Sabbath was set apart in creation and its holiness is reinforced in the Ten Commandments, thus the other days of the week are profane. There's nothing wrong with them, they're just not set apart. And so the more holy something is, the more it needs to be separated. Throughout Scripture, the given response to holiness, is to maintain separateness. We see this when the Lord told Moses to 'fence off' the mountain and not allow the people to touch it lest they profane the holy mountain upon which God's Holy presence was to descend. They were also told to prepare themselves by washing their clothes and abstaining from sex for three days because this Holy God wanted to be in the presence of His people. But no doubt it would have also served as a reminder to the people of the holiness of God. So it is almost like how after a nuclear explosion, the concentration of radiation and destruction decreases as you go from 'ground 0.' The mountain here is ground 0, and being near the mountain, the people still needed protection. We see this principle reflected in Exodus 26:33 when God commanded that there be a curtain to separate the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle from the Holy place, which too was separated from the space around it. 

The other is fear and reverence. When one encounters the holiness of God, their sinful reality becomes much more evident. This is like when we get out of the shower and dry ourselves. We might feel dry, but when we encounter cold air, the presence of moisture is exposed and we feel uncomfortable. This fear is not to be a paralysing fear, that makes us run from God, but rather a "desire to avoid God's displeasure and discipline on our lives" (Grudem, 757). For the unbeliever, this is a fear of wrath that moves them to repentance, and for the believer, a desire moved by love to obey and worship.We see this distinction after the Lord finished speaking the Ten Commandments to the people:

Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was (Ex 20:20-21).

The rightness of this response is reflected later in the book of Proverbs: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction (Prov 1:7).

These two responses interact and shape each other. As we will explore in greater detail throughout the portions to come, we will see how the commandments, statutes and laws contained in Scripture are God instructions (Torah) to His people on how they can maintain and reflect the Holiness of God. Although the redemption of Israel had temporal blessings for them and was an act of mercy and justice, the key purpose of God in creating a Holy Nation was for His glory. By reflecting His holiness, they were to be a 'light to the nations' (Deut 4). Despite common opinion, the purpose of the Law was not for a works based salvation. The Tanakh (Old Testament) does not teach: keep the law for salvation, and the opening words of the Ten Commandments, or 'Ten Words' say: “I am YHVH your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." He doesn't say, if you want to be my people, or earn your place in my covenant do this. He declares 'I AM your God', and with an ellipsis states, 'this, therefore, is how you are to honour my holiness...' As we hinted at last week, obedience is the rightful response to redemption.

The representation of God's holiness in this portion of scripture is repeated in the Apostolic scriptures in a number of ways. The cloud on the mountain is not only reflected in the cloud that descended on Jesus with Moses and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration (Matt 17), but also a foreshadowing of the body that would envelop the glory of the Lord in the incarnation (John 1:14), who would ascend another mountain in Galilee and with divine authority, rightly teach and apply the Law (Matt 5:17) to His audience as He had done millennia ago through Moses. And in wisdom (Matt 7:24), love (John 14:28, 1Jn 5:3) and fear (2Cor 7:1) we are to obey His commandments. Moreover, just like Israel was to reflect God's Holiness, so too we as followers of Christ are to do the same. As Peter says: "as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct..." (1Pet 1:15). And we do this, not to earn our salvation, or somehow pay Him back, but in loving gratitude for being redeemed and justified through the blood of Christ. Christ's blood was shed because the holiness of God that made the people around the mountain tremble requires that our sins be punished by death. And by our union with Christ through faith, Christ's death and righteousness is attributed to us, and therefore our holy conduct is an outworking of our new nature and status, and a reflection to the world of the nature of the one who saved us. Moreover, Christ's atonement means we are set free to respond to God's holiness no longer with dread of wrath, but adoration, worship and service.

Reference:

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. IVP: 1994