“Look, mommy, there’s church!”  The toddler shouted this proclamation while sitting in his parent’s grocery cart at the store.  He had just spotted my husband, his pastor and good buddy from across the aisles.  Randy represented “church” to him so that was his first word for him. Most often, Randy was the first person he would see each Sunday at church his parents.  It made perfect sense to the toddler to call him church.

This couple began coming to our church because of our friendship as teachers in the public schools where we taught together.  We knew them before they were married.  In fact, I introduced them to each other with thoughts that they would be good for each other.  It wasn’t long until they agreed.  Later, Randy would perform their marriage ceremony! 

Later we would share in the joy of welcoming their first child, a son.  We, along with the rest of the church, became a significant part of this toddler’s journey since his birth.  Randy dedicated the baby in arms in front of the congregation while the parents declared publicly their dedication to raising their son to love and believe in Jesus and follow God’s ways of living.  Child dedications are holy and pleasing to the Lord.  These events in the church are significantly meaningful to the congregation as we set apart special days dedicated to God seeking God’s blessings over us.  God never disappoints!  Set apart days, holy and pleasing to God.  Holy, set apart days of celebration for all God has done encourages all who believe and want to pay tribute to our Provider, Healer, Protector, Savior and Lord of our lives. 

God is the Designer of holy, set apart days for His created and hold a special purpose in our lives of believing and following Him.  Holy days are for our good and God’s glory!

Exodus 19

At Mount Sinai

On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. ² After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.

³ Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, ⁶ you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

⁷ So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. ⁸ The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

¹⁰ And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes ¹¹ 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. ¹² Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. ¹³ They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

¹⁴ After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. ¹⁵ Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.”

¹⁶ On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. ¹⁷ Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. ¹⁹ As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.

²⁰ The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up ²¹ and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. ²² Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”

²³ Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’”

²⁴ The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them.”

²⁵ So Moses went down to the people and told them.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“Be ready for the third day”—

God is coming down from His throne in heaven to speak so all will be able to hear Him.  Moses is to tell the people to get ready by washing off the daily dust of the desert, stopping their daily tasks, as ways to get ready to hear what He has to say.  God will appear to them on the third day.

I am reminded how Jesus, centuries later, would prepare his disciples for the “third day” when He would defeat death in resurrection power and come back alive, scars and all!  Jesus, who is “God in the flesh” who came down and is also called Emmanuel, “God with us” explains how He will save us:

“Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” –Jesus, Luke 18:31-33

This is way we celebrate Christmas—the holy birth of Jesus, “God with us”, God who came down in the flesh to live among us!  This is also why we set apart and celebrate Resurrection Sunday (Easter)—the Third Day rising from death to life that assures our Hope of resurrection by believing in Jesus who paid for our sins in full!  A life who gives us Life forever!  The bodily resurrection is central to the gospel message. “… and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” affirms the bodily resurrection, not a “spiritual” resurrection (1 Cor 15:4). The bodily resurrection gives hope beyond this life.

Praise to God for Our Living Hope! 

Peter really is the one who was called “church”!  Simon, a disciple of Jesus who learned the power of forgiveness first hand, many times through humbled repentance, and was renamed by Jesus to be Peter “the rock upon whom My church  would be built” explains—

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9

Believers! Get ready and stay ready for the return of Jesus!  He is coming back, you know!  All these holy set apart days lead to the return of Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords!  We cannot forget that Jesus is with God as God proclaims who He is to Moses, Aaron and to all the “sons and daughters of Jacob”—the lineage from whom Jesus Christ will be born. 

God is amazing!  His thoughts will always be higher than our thoughts!  His Plan to save us was put in place at the beginning of time when He created mankind “in His own image.”  Even though this might be hard to wrap our minds around; we can still cling to the Hope, by faith, given to us by God’s Plan as our firm foundation for Life eternal.

How do we get ready to meet God today? 

What is our simple response to being set apart for God? 

Paul explains the first steps to the church:

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2, MSG

Lord,

I am yours. I give my life, all of it, to you as an offering again today.  Only you can make me holy.  Only you can cleanse my heart completely.  Only you can change and renew my mind.  Only you can help me transform by behaviors for my good and your glory.  Only you can refresh my soul with your new mercies each morning.  Only you can fill me with your joy and peace, not like the world’s happiness which is fickle and temporary, but with pure joy of your salvation at work continuously with me!  Yes, it’s all about you in me and me in you—attached for Life!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

“The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.”