“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. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 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, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.” — Exodus 19:16-19 (NIV84)
When the eternal touches the temporal something spectacular always happens. Imagine for a moment what this experience must have been like to the Israelites. Moses got to see the Lord inhabit a bush. The Israelites and Moses now got to see the Lord inhabit an entire mountain. As He did so, creation immediately responded. The earth began to tremble. Lightning continuously flashed across the sky and clouds rolled with thunder. The fire that once set a bush ablaze without consuming it now set the entire mountaintop ablaze. Smoke billowed up from the mountain as though it was being completely consumed, but all of this was creation reacting to the touch of its Creator. From the first day of creation recorded in Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation we see the amazing things that take place when the Eternal touches the temporal. I think of angels breaking through the skies at Jesus’ birth. I think of the sun darkening for 3 hours during His crucifixion. I think of the earth quaking at His death and also at His resurrection.
We ought to be awestruck when things like this happen to us. The children of Israel trembled in fear. This is a good kind of fear. This is a holy, reverent fear. This is the kind of fear that Solomon said each of us should pursue with all that we are and have. He said, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10). Do we fear and tremble when the eternal touches the temporal in our lives? What’s that you say? You haven’t experienced anything as amazing as what the Israelites experienced? You haven’t experienced the eternal touching the temporal? Yes, you have!
You experienced the touch of the eternal the day you were born. God created the spark of life that resides in you. His touch began your life, and His touch will finish it as well. You also experience the eternal touching the temporal when the Holy Spirit makes you born again and changes your heart of stone into a heart of flesh. You experience the same touch every time you crack your Bible open and breathe in His Word from the black and red printed pages. Others of you have experienced His healing touch or the miraculous healing of someone else. My point is that each one of us has a reason to be in continuous awe of what God has done, and continues to do, in our lives.
Peace!
Pastor Tom
www.firmlyrooted.church
