In Deuteronomy 5, Moses recounts the giving of the Ten Commandments. God had summoned Israel up to Mt. Sinai to meet with Him to hear the whole law by His own voice. When He descended with thunder and fire, holy terror gripped the people. They begged Moses to go meet with God as their mediator. They’d been invited––as a kingdom of priests––to the foot of Sinai, but the glory of God struck such awe in them that they dared proceed no further up the mount. They saw that their brightest works of holiness were but opaque shadows.
The people weren’t chastised by the Lord, but rather commended. The lesson was learned: they needed a mediator. So Moses met with the Lord face to face on behalf of all Israel.
Yet still, the Lord revealed in this episode His desire to commune with all His people. All of this was preparatory for the ascent of God’s people up another hill.
The hill of Zion, which we ascend each Lord’s day, isn’t less in glory, it is more glorious in every way. While we still need a mediator, the difference is that the Mediator of the New Covenant brings us in Himself. We come because Jesus brings us with Him. For we are in Him.
At this table we commune with God face to face, atop the Holy Hill of Heavenly Jerusalem. Not one of us is holy enough to ascend by our own merit. Nor is a single one of us too far gone so as to be left at the base of the hill. If you are in Christ then He brings you––every last one of you, from the least to the greatest––to commune with God Almighty here at this table, here in this bread and wine.
So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…
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