The Terrifying and Beckoning God (Exodus 19) Tim Keller
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EDITED BY “I SAW THE LORD SITTING UPON A THRONE, HIGH AND LIFTED UP.” - ISAIAH 6:1 ere Is Our God KATHLEEN B. NIELSON Scripture records a number of instances in which God visibly revealed & D. A. CARSON himself to his people, offering a glimpse of his stunning beauty and overwhelming glory. These awe-inspiring manifestations of God’s presence—known as “theophanies”—give us wonderful insights into his character, will, and salvation. In this collection of biblical expositions, eight prominent Bible teachers explore key passages in which God displayed himself in a spectacular revelation: TIM KELLER - On the Mountain (Exodus 19) PAIGE BROWN - In the Temple (1 Kings 8) JOHN PIPER - In the Throne Room (Isaiah 6) CARRIE SANDOM - From a Miry Swamp (Psalm 40) NANCY LEIGH DEMOSS - On Another Mountain (Matthew 17:1–15) JENNY SALT - In the Third Heaven (2 Corinthians 12) KATHLEEN NIELSON - Through the Open Door (Revelation 4–5) D. A. CARSON - Home at Last (Revelation 21–22) From the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai to Christ’s glorious transfigura- tion, the passages examined in this book challenge us to look afresh at our God—that we might truly know, love, and serve him. NIELSON & CARSON KATHLEEN B. NIELSON (PhD, Vanderbilt University) serves as the director of women’s initiatives for the Gospel Coalition. She is a popular conference speaker and the author of numerous books, including Ruth and Esther: A 12-Week Study. GOD’S REVELATION OF HIMSELF IN SCRIPTURE D. A. CARSON (PhD, Cambridge University) is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where he has taught since 1978. He also serves as president of the Gospel Coalition, CONTRIBUTIONS BY: and has written or edited nearly 60 books, including Scandalous, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor, and The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God. TIM KELLER NANCY LEIGH DEMOSS BIBLICAL STUDIES PAIGE BROWN JENNY SALT ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-3967-1 ISBN-10: 1-4335-3967-5 JOHN PIPER KATHLEEN B. NIELSON 5 1 6 9 9 CARRIE SANDOM D. A. CARSON 9 7 8 1 4 3 3 5 3 9 6 7 1 $16.99 U.S. Here Is Our God: God’s Revelation of Himself in Scripture Copyright © 2014 by The Gospel Coalition Published by Crossway 1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Cover design: Crystal Courtney First printing 2014 Printed in the United States of America Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible The( Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. 2011 Text Edition. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked kjv are from theKing James Version of the Bible. Scripture quotations marked nasb are fromThe New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked niv are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture references marked rsv are fromThe Revised Standard Version. Copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the authors. Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-3967-1 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-3970-1 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-3968-8 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-3969-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Here is our God : God’s revelation of Himself in scripture / Kathleen B. Nielson and D. A. Carson, editors. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4335-3967-1 1. God—Biblical teaching. 2. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Nielson, Kathleen Buswell, editor of compilation. BS544.H45 2014 231.7'4—dc23 2013048894 Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. VP 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Here Is Our God.539671.i02.indd 4 4/15/14 9:20 AM Contents Preface 7 Kathleen Nielson and D. A. Carson 1 On the Mountain 11 The Terrifying and Beckoning God (Exodus 19) Tim Keller 2 In the Temple 33 The Glorious and Forgiving God (1 Kings 8) Paige Brown 3 In the Throne Room 63 The God of Holiness and Hope (Isaiah 6) John Piper 4 From a Miry Swamp 75 The God Who Comes and Delivers (Psalm 40) Carrie Sandom 5 On Another Mountain 97 The God Who Points to His Son (Matthew 17:1–15) Nancy Leigh DeMoss 6 In the Third Heaven 125 The God Who Can’t Be Talked About (2 Corinthians 12) Jenny Salt Here Is Our God.539671.i02.indd 5 4/15/14 9:20 AM 7 Through the Open Door 147 The Transcendent and Redeeming God (Revelation 4–5) Kathleen Nielson 8 Home at Last 173 The Spectacular God at the Center (Revelation 21–22) D. A. Carson Contributors 209 General Index 212 Scripture Index 217 Here Is Our God.539671.i02.indd 6 4/15/14 9:20 AM 1 On the Mountain THE TERRIFYING AND BECKONING GOD Exodus 19 TIM KELLER Since I was the first plenary speaker, I should say something about the gathering itself. We gathered to connect women who hear and do Bible exposition. TGC did not bring women together to talk and think about women but to talk and think about God. Every culture of the world by God’s common grace has its peculiar glories and tends to be attentive to and aware of things in Scripture that at least some of the other cultures don’t see. They bring their various exegetical riches and theo- logical understanding of the infallible Word of God to the whole church, and that enriches the whole church. That must also be true of both genders. For women to come together to hear and do Bible exposition certainly enriches all of those gathered, and it will enrich the whole church. Here Is Our God.539671.i02.indd 11 4/15/14 9:20 AM 12 TIM KELLER We’re considering together the theme “Here Is Our God,” looking into passages where God reveals himself in spectacu- lar ways to his people. Exodus 19 is a great place to start. It’s an important chapter, so important that several key New Testa- ment texts refer directly to it (e.g., Hebrews 12 and 1 Peter 2). In Exodus 19, Moses and Israel come to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. Chapter 19 does not contain the Ten Commandments, but it sets them up. The passage divides into three basic sections: 1) The History and Order of Grace (19:1–8) 2) The Terrifying and Beckoning God (19:9–19) 3) The Going Down of Moses (19:20–25) 1) THE HISTORY AND ORDER OF GRACE (EX. 19:1–8) The History of Grace The first couple of verses tell us something about the history of grace. Alec Motyer makes a good observation concerning these first two verses.1 You wouldn’t think of this unless you were a biblical scholar who keeps a map in his head as he is reading. He says that God and Moses basically told the Israel- ites, “Trust us. We’re going to take you to the Promised Land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to Palestine.” And the children of Israel trusted them. But Sinai is farther away from the Promised Land than Egypt. Sinai is actually south. So God led them almost in the opposite direction from where he said he was going to lead them. They were supposed to go 1 J. Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus: The Days of Our Pilgrimage, The Bible Speaks Today (Down- ers Grove: InterVarsity, 2005), 190–92. This is a tremendous book. You couldn’t do any better at understanding the book of Exodus, which is a long and very complicated book. Here Is Our God.539671.i02.indd 12 4/15/14 9:20 AM On the Mountain 13 to a land flowing with milk and honey, yet God took them to a desert, a mountainous desert (v. 2). The land was far worse than Egypt. And that’s where God met them. It is often so: you give your life to Jesus and say, “I’m put- ting everything into your hands. I’m trusting you with my whole life.” And then you watch things go downhill from there. Weeks later, months later, a couple of years later, you ask, “What happened? I gave myself to him. I trusted him. And everything is getting worse and worse.” If you admit it, you are farther away from the things you had hoped God would give you. You think, “I gave God everything. Surely he’d give me this and this and this. You know, if he wants to.” God seems to be taking you in an opposite direction. So often the history of grace in our lives follows this pattern: God seems to be taking us away from where he said he is going to take us. My two favorite penultimate examples of this pattern both happened at Dothan. Example 1.