Exodus 19:12 (NLT) Mark off a boundary all around the mountain. Warn the people, ‘Be careful! Do not go up on the mountain or even touch its boundaries. Anyone who touches the mountain will certainly be put to death.

After two months of the people of God traveling through the wilderness after having left Egypt, they finally reached Mount Sinai, known as the mountain of God. The Lord spoke to Moses and told Him that He wanted to meet with the people. But before that could happen, God told Moses that he needed to prepare the people by consecrating them over a period of three days and having them all wash their clothes. Then there were the warnings as in the verses above as to not even thinking about going up the mountain or even touching the boundaries around it. This was the Holy and Omnipotent God about to meet with a people that were sinful and preparations had to be made. The Bible says that when the Lord descended on the mountain, thunder roared and lightning flashed and heavy smoke began to rise up to the sky (Exodus 19:16-17). The people trembled in fear!

That is such a stark contrast to how we approach the Lord today. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, dying in our place to atone for our sins and then rising on the third day to defeat death and the grave forever, we can now approach God without being afraid of Him and without any boundaries keeping us at a distance. But just because we have that awesome and life-giving privilege, we must not ever forget who we are serving and remember that He is a Holy God. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, as scripture says to emphasize the magnitude of His holiness (Revelation 4:8). I believe that many people have lost touch with the reality of the awesomeness of God. They have gotten so comfortable that they have become sloppy and irreverent in approaching God Almighty. Many worship teams from churches all over this country worship in a way that brings more glory to themselves than it does to God. Their appearance seems to suggest that they don't know who they are meeting with and it seems that they do not have a holy fear of the Lord. What I mean is that although we have an open way into God's very presence, we should not ever approach Him without knowing who we are approaching. We should approach with fear and trembling, not because we are afraid of Him but because we should have a deep reverence and respect for His power and His holiness and a deep appreciation of what He did to save us.

While we don't have any physical boundaries that we cannot cross to get to God today, we should prepare ourselves by confessing our sins and approaching Him with much love along with much reverence. It's the right way to approach Him. It is how we get in the right frame of mind to worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth, as He requires. Thank God for the torn veil through which we can approach our Lord and our God, but let's never forget how awesome and majestic He is.

Pastor Joey Vazquez