Six Days of Silence

[0:00] Last week, we began this chapter witnessing a monumental ceremony where God was enjoined to His people Israel through the blood of the covenant.

[0:11] ! That covenant was sealed and the sprinkling of blood upon the altar, upon the book, according to Hebrews 9, and upon the people as well sealed that covenant.

[0:21] We studied that the blood was acquired, the blood was applied, and the blood was accepted. And more important to you and I, we saw likewise with what we just read in 24, we found that that same formula, if you want to call it that, acquired, applied, accepted, the Lord Jesus Christ shed His blood for a New Testament.

[0:43] Something far better than what was happening in Exodus 24. And because of that, you and I can be enjoined to a holy God and can receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

[0:57] Eternal life. Not just get by day by day, but we can forever be forgiven and have the life of Jesus Christ given to us and His righteousness imputed to us and forever be accepted by a holy God based upon the merit of His Son.

[1:14] So, the story continues and there's more interesting events that occur as Moses ascends further up the mount as he was commanded. And so, let's start in verse 9.

[1:27] And I want to remind you about this portion. Verse 9 through 11. Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under His feet, as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone.

[1:39] And as it were, the body of heaven in His clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel, He laid not His hand. Also, they saw God, and did eat and drink. I want to remind you that what happened here was from a distance.

[1:52] Would you look back at verse number 1. He said to Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship ye afar off.

[2:04] What took place in verses 9 through 11 was afar off. But He calls Moses to come near. And that's what we're going to start with today, is Moses further ascending the mount.

[2:16] And so, let's begin in verse number 12 and read to the end of chapter 24 together. The Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there.

[2:27] And I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written, that thou mayest teach them. And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua. And Moses went up into the mount of God.

[2:40] And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them. And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.

[2:54] And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.

[3:10] And Moses went up into the mount, or into the midst of the cloud, and got him up into the mount. And Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

[3:21] Now, I want to point something. I think it's worthy of pointing something out that really we won't discuss any into the message. That the glory of the Lord is mentioned in two different ways in this passage.

[3:33] For Moses that's close, in verse 15, he went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. It was a cloud. The glory of the Lord, in verse 16, abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it.

[3:49] It's just a cloud. Moses, in verse 18, went into the midst of the cloud. And so the glory of the Lord, to Moses, is identified and seen as a thick cloud. However, from a distance, in verse 17, the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel.

[4:11] So, there's two different angles, and two different viewpoints based upon their angle. The one that's close, the one that's up into the glory of the Lord is not intimidated.

[4:24] It's the cloud. It's comforting almost. But from a distance, it's a little different view. And I think that's true of the Lord, of God, that from a distance, the Lord God can seem intimidating and big and fearful.

[4:40] And that's rightly so, because God is holy. And God is just, and He's righteous, and He condemns all sin. He doesn't accept sin into His holy presence.

[4:52] He hates it. But, when you're able to draw nigh to that holy God, and when you can come up into that presence, He's not so fearful.

[5:04] And He's still holy. But, when you've been able to draw nigh through the Lord Jesus Christ, you can see God in a different way. You don't have to fear the anger, and the billows, and the fire of His torment.

[5:17] But, when you can have fellowship with Him, you can see Him much, much differently. I think that's so true. But, we're going to move into something completely off that topic. In verse number 12, the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there.

[5:36] So, in verse 15, Moses went up into the mount. And something in verse 16 has got to stand out to you and I. The glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it.

[5:49] Notice that. Six days. And the seventh day, He called unto Moses, out of the midst of the cloud. So, the Bible informs us there were six days where Moses was up there on the mount, in the cloud.

[6:10] And on the seventh, God spoke. The scripture is silent about those six days. It gives us nothing at all.

[6:23] And I find it peculiar and intriguing to me, to know that Moses waited for the word of God for six days up there on the mount.

[6:35] God made Moses wait for six days. Do you find that odd? Did you miss that when we read through there? Did it even catch your attention that for six days, he had nothing?

[6:50] No voice? No instruction? No movement? Just waiting. Just waiting on God. Do you find that odd?

[7:01] I find it odd. Does it arouse intrigue to wonder why God? Would you call Him up to the mount? Would you call Him to come further up to you and just make Him wait there for six days?

[7:18] And what did Moses do for six full days? The scripture is silent. Around the corner, from verse, chapter 25, 26, 27, 8, 9, 30, 31, around the corner is much revelation.

[7:38] On day seven. And that is going to be followed by much activity. And Moses is going to descend the mount right back into exercising his authority and his leadership.

[7:53] But in the mount, it all just comes to a stop. And it's quiet. And there's no presence of the people with all their complaining or with all their needs.

[8:06] There's no direction to give. There's no judging to do. There's no teaching to do. There's no reproofing or exhorting. It's quiet.

[8:18] There's no wife to please. There's no children to correct. There's no work to do. There's no bills to pay. No scores to settle. Nothing.

[8:31] For six full days, nothing. Nothing. And all of those things and all of that busyness and activity awaits Moses for him to descend the mount.

[8:42] Down below, the world is ongoing. The cares of this life are continually, continually going. They're even crying for his return. But up in the mount, none of that can be heard.

[8:54] And it's from here, I'm going to take some liberty this morning and imagine with you what I believe was very much likely a reality for Moses during these six days.

[9:10] Waiting on God. It's not in the text. The scripture is silent. But one thing I know about Moses is that he's human. I've already seen that studying this book.

[9:23] He's got a record. And so do you and I. And so I'm not going to paint Moses neither to be horrible, nor am I going to paint him to be holy.

[9:36] Just human. And I think you'll be able to relate. Just human. For six days. Waiting. And so I want to preach to you this morning about six days of silence.

[9:53] And like I said, kind of read in between the lines a little bit. And I don't, you judge me. I'm fine, I'm an open book. You judge. If you think I'm saying anything out of line, then you just cut it off in your own mind.

[10:07] Don't believe it. But if what I say seems to be pretty accurate and relatable to the human experience, then receive it.

[10:18] And let's see if there aren't some lessons that we can't learn from six days of silence. But let's pray before we do anything else. Lord God, please reveal something to us from this text and from this reality in the life of Moses.

[10:34] And God, we're just speculating in a sense, but would you please make, allow me to only say truth. And things that were in his mind or did happen.

[10:47] Or things that you were expecting of him. And help us to see something that we can take home today and learn from and impart into us. And instill in our lives.

[10:59] And just take this time and use it to help. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. God said in verse 12, Come up to me into the mount.

[11:10] And the next three words, And be there. Little did Moses know what and be there meant from God.

[11:20] God knew what they meant. Moses just said, Yep, that's my instructions. Go up to the mount. Be there. I'll present myself before the Lord. I'm coming, God.

[11:30] Just like you said. And so up the mountain, Moses went. I don't doubt that Moses expected to hear the voice of God when he approached to the top of the mount.

[11:43] I don't doubt that he expected to hear the voice of God. I don't doubt that he expected the voice of God to acknowledge his arrival. Or maybe to commend him on his part for this newly formed covenant and how he sprinkled the blood and did it exactly as he was told.

[11:56] And to approve of his obedience. And to approve of his obedience. How he immediately ascended the mount at the call of God. Maybe God would reacquaint himself with him.

[12:06] Maybe God would welcome him. Maybe God would further command him as to what it is he called him up to the mount for. And yet when Moses arrived, you know it.

[12:18] There was nothing. There was no voice. And there was no command. And there was no welcome. It was just dead quiet from God. He's approaching the cloud.

[12:28] God is here. I'm up here. Nothing. The glory of the Lord is in the atmosphere.

[12:40] And surely God knows that Moses has arrived. Imagine if I come to you after the service and say, Hey, I want to talk to you about something in my office.

[12:53] And it's really important to me and to this church. And I want to talk to you about it. Would you go have a seat and wait? And so you're like, Oh, man.

[13:04] Pastor wants to talk to me about it. I'm the guy. Something big's coming. And you go in there and you find a seat. And five minutes go by.

[13:14] And, well, he's busy. People are talking to him. Ten minutes go by. You start to hear cars go. You start to hear another car leave. Goodbye. Goodbye. Surely he'll be here any minute. He's waiting for the last person to leave.

[13:27] And then we're going to get down to business. And you sit. And I never come in. And you look out the window and you don't see any cars except mine and yours. Where is he?

[13:37] He's here. I know he's here. Should I go look for him? Did something happen? What would you do? How long would you sit in my office if I asked you to sit there and wait for me because I'm going to come and talk?

[13:51] I know. I know you're not sitting there six days. I bet you're not sitting there much more than six minutes until you're like, does he not know that I have things to be doing this afternoon?

[14:05] I have a family. I have a family. I can't just sit here. It doesn't take long for that stuff to come up. Moses is human. And God's not speaking to him.

[14:21] The longer he waits, I imagine his curiosity could quickly turn into annoyance. Just like it would for me.

[14:34] Just like it would for you. How long do you wait at the doctor's office before getting ticked off? That they scheduled you for 45 minutes ago and still haven't called your name. Slowly time passes, Moses waits.

[14:49] And to Moses' surprise, night begins to fall on the top of the mountain. He can't believe it. It's getting dark and God hasn't spoken to me.

[15:02] So Moses waited. Perhaps God's going to speak to me by night. That's how he spoke to Abram back in Genesis 15. He told him to look up and count the stars.

[15:14] Tell the stars if thou canst. And so I think he's going to speak to me at night like he did with Abram. And he made a covenant with Abram. So Moses waited.

[15:25] And I can see Moses falling in and out of sleep as night passed, assuring himself that God would stir him any moment. And there was nothing.

[15:38] Moses wakes up to the early morning of a new day. And thinks, perhaps in the cool of the day, as God spoke and would walk with Adam and Eve in the garden, then that's when God will address me.

[15:53] The thought has to satisfy Moses. It wasn't at night at all. I was confused. It's going to be this morning. And those calm and quiet morning moments turned into anxious hours.

[16:08] As there's nothing from God. Those hours slowly, beyond all understanding, swallowed up an entire day of waiting.

[16:20] inexplainably, inexplainably, inexplainably to Moses, a day had fully passed from dawn till sunset.

[16:33] And God still hasn't addressed me. He hasn't commanded me. And yet here I sit. He has to be thinking, what is going on?

[16:46] Would you not be thinking? What am I waiting for? Why am I here? What is going on here? Another dawn appeared.

[16:59] And Moses waited. His demeanor has got to be shifting from curiosity to uncertainty. But no matter how he felt or no matter what he thought, there's just quiet.

[17:13] Did God say to come to this place? Is that what he told me? Is this the location? Maybe I should wander around a bit. Maybe I should go find God.

[17:24] Maybe I should see if I can locate exactly where he's expecting me to show up. How can this be the spot if he's not speaking to me?

[17:36] How can I be where he wants me if he's not telling me anything? And what confounds Moses is that the presence of God is evident in this place.

[17:48] The glory of God is surrounding him in the cloud. So why isn't he speaking to me? I know his voice. I have heard his voice. He's spoken to me before.

[18:01] Why is he silent now? Why can't I hear God now? Have I done something wrong? Moses is human.

[18:15] Is it me? What did I do wrong that God is not speaking to me? Why is God silent? Have I let God down in some way?

[18:29] That he refuses to address me? Is he punishing me somehow? God, what have I done? And nothing. Don't think that Moses sat there muted and dead silent for six full days.

[18:46] He's human. He's speaking. He's questioning. He doesn't understand. Three days became four days.

[18:59] And then five days. It's not going faster. It's wearing on him.

[19:10] It's burdening him. Something is very wrong because God should have spoken by now. Moses mentally retraced his steps.

[19:22] Moses rehearsed those instructions that God gave him over and over in his head. I bet he painfully regretted every wrong thing he's ever said and done.

[19:33] Even thinking from the last time we spoke. What have I thought? What have I said? What have I done? Why won't he speak? I think Moses calls out to God for clarification, for assurance.

[19:49] God, is this the place? Just am I in the right place even? And there's nothing. Why won't he answer? Three days of silence, four days, five days of silence.

[20:05] Should I have brought a sacrifice? Oh, I came up the hill without a sacrifice. All of the sacrificing we did down there.

[20:16] And then I presumed that I could just come up into the glory of God without a sacrifice. I better sacrifice to God. That makes sense.

[20:28] Is that it, God? Do you need a sacrifice? I'll offer you a sacrifice. I'll go back down and get one. I'll get ten. Nothing. Because Moses has no way.

[20:40] Moses has no means of drawing God out of his hiding. His prayers, his cries, his questions, his pleas, they cannot stir God.

[20:55] They cannot invoke a response. They just, it's like they just fall out on complete dead, quiet, nothing. No movement.

[21:09] No voice. God's not looking for sacrifices from Moses. God's not looking for confessions from Moses.

[21:22] God's not waiting for some commitment or some rededication from the man. He's not even waiting to hear from Moses. No, God's not looking for anything from Moses.

[21:40] Because God, as always, is not in a hurry. And it's obvious that he just simply wanted Moses to wait for six days.

[21:55] God wanted Moses to wait for six days. The Bible says that God inhabits eternity. It's safe to say that God wasn't silent for six days because he needed some more time.

[22:13] He had to get his thoughts together. Or that he needed to get these tablets of stone finished. It's not because God needed six days.

[22:23] It seems, therefore, evident that God felt that Moses needed six days to sit in silence.

[22:35] that is in the text. But why? We're all pondering why. You weren't thinking about it until I pointed it out.

[22:48] But now you want to know why. I want to know why. And the answer I have is I don't know why.

[22:58] I have no idea why God called Moses and just let him sit for six full days. I could speculate.

[23:09] We could speculate. But that's all. God didn't give Moses the answer. He didn't give us the answer. But then again, he's God.

[23:23] He doesn't have to give us his reasoning. He's God. And so now here along the way, we're going to draw out a very, very valuable and important truth.

[23:40] Just because we don't understand why, and just because God doesn't explain why, doesn't mean that God doesn't have a why.

[23:53] why. It's just not telling you. It's just not telling me. It's just not telling Moses. Apparently then, it's not for us to know why.

[24:07] And here's the valuable truth. We need to accept that. We need to accept that he knows why. He has a why. But he's not going to tell us.

[24:18] He doesn't have to explain himself in order for him to be right. And God doesn't have to settle our hearts in order for him to be doing right.

[24:35] Six days of silence. It reminds us that God acts on his own time and in his own way. And it's not really for us to question why.

[24:52] Six days of silence and there's no answer given. I want to ask you a question. If Moses would have sacrificed to God, if he would have sacrificed a blood offering to God, a burnt offering, a peace offering, would that have prompted God to speak to him sooner?

[25:21] If Moses would have sacrificed a thousand offerings to God, would that have invoked God's voice at his presence? The answer is no.

[25:36] But why? Because sacrifice wasn't needed. Sacrifice wasn't the issue. There was no issue.

[25:49] But God won't speak. And here's another truth. That doesn't mean there's a problem. Moses feels like it's a problem.

[26:02] God doesn't feel like there's a problem at all with what's going on here. This is all fine with me. And herein is a secondary, a valuable truth.

[26:14] What might seem like a problem to Moses, to God, through his eyes, through his will, this is not a problem at all.

[26:28] There's nothing wrong with what's going on here from God's perspective. The only problem problem is one that's imagined by the human, by Moses.

[26:41] God gave him clear instructions in verse 12, clear instructions, simple instructions to follow, and nothing more. Come up under the mountain and be there.

[26:53] So any uncertainty in the mind of Moses, any confusion, any frustration over this ordeal is on the part of Moses.

[27:13] It's being brought on upon his own feelings, his own impatience, his own expectations for what's going to happen, his own fears or assumptions.

[27:32] There's not a problem in this story at all. It just feels like one. The tension is on the part of Moses, not from heaven.

[27:44] I truly believe that six days of silence for this man was a time of frustration. because why? Because Moses didn't know what was going on.

[28:00] Not knowing can feel like torment. Not understanding can be torturous to your mind and to your heart.

[28:13] And I understand this from personal experience. it can be trying to one day hear the voice of God and to know what God wants and to obey him and then have time pass and expect more.

[28:35] Expect another revelation or instruction or moving in my heart only to hear nothing. Those first words they were so clear.

[28:47] I knew exactly what I was supposed to do and I did it. And now I'm waiting for more instructions for what's next. But it feels like all I'm doing is sitting here.

[29:02] Why can't I get God to tell me what's next? I spent time with my face on a floor with tears pouring out my heart to God please give me some direction please answer me please help me this can't go on much longer I think you see I know you see I know you know but what are you gonna do what should I do nothing no voice no stirring no moving no answers but I want my questions answered and I have concerns in my heart and in my life and I want you God to just speak to me just at least clarify at least call me and he doesn't speak six silent days waiting can seem so hard when in reality it's not really hard at all there's really no problem here the problem as I'm pointing out is that we can be impatient the problem is we don't know what's going on what God's hand is doing and we don't see his timing and he expects us to trust him and man do we have a hard time doing that so God remains silent he doesn't need to speak he's right on time everything is going according to his plan and purpose just because we're out of whack just because we don't see it doesn't mean there's a problem can be our impatience sometimes it's our own expectations assumptions it's our own assumptions that brings upon us the frustration we feel we thought when we got to the top

[31:11] God was going to be there and start talking we expected something to happen by day two by day three at the latest come on and now we're frustrated not because God said something wrong not because God's doing something wrong it's because we expected something else and somehow somewhere we come to expect things from God that he never said he would do or even suggested that was his will come up and be there and as long as you're there Moses you're where you're supposed to be doing what you're supposed to be doing but we expect it to look a little bit differently we expect to be doing something more to be hearing something by now and as I noted earlier it's not possible to get God to answer through sacrifice through begging through making promises the only thing we can do is wait is wait for God to break the silence six days of silence it probably felt like a lot longer than that to Moses there's a few lessons to be learned from this

[32:37] I pointed out a few thoughts already I'll remind you God may not inform us of why he does what he does and we need to accept that he doesn't need to settle our hearts and calm our minds he's God he's always been God before you ever existed he's been God he doesn't owe us anything secondly what constitutes a problem to us is likely not a problem to God at all just because it hurts in here just because it's confusing up here doesn't mean that he's hurting doesn't mean that he's confused and if we could see it through his eyes there's a song that's in that hymnal it says farther along we'll know all about it farther along we'll understand why cheer up my brother live in the sunshine we'll understand it all by and by we'll get it all but for now if it feels like a problem it may not be a problem at all to God and then thirdly sitting in silence is for our benefit it's definitely not for

[34:04] God's he doesn't need a time out he's never been hurried and he never will be so we sit and we wait I want to conclude with a few thoughts to you this morning and we're finished with the story and with the conjecture of the man Moses and his human reaction but I want to give you four thoughts of what to do while you wait or maybe what not to do is probably the better idea here because while God's silent and you're waiting and the temptation would be to be impatient or be frustrated or to begin crying and promising and start figuring out a way to get God to move sacrifice please and do more do more God's only expecting you to be there and the first thing I want to say is while you wait don't allow impatience to demand an action that God never commanded men have done this for centuries they don't know what to do they don't get an answer from God so they go find something to do they get ahead of God as we say don't allow impatience to demand an action

[35:32] God has never commanded secondly don't allow self imposed expectations to replace the command of God meaning assumptions can rule in your head and can distort what's reality but you don't decide how it's supposed to go no you're not God remember he'll do the deciding he'll do the working so don't allow your expectations or assumptions to replace when God said be there thirdly don't borrow from the instructions of others imagining that it's for you too because desperate people make mistakes and they find justification to do what they said they felt they had to do and they'll even say well I feel God telling me to do this don't borrow from the instructions of others be careful if you feel desperate don't go looking for

[36:48] God's words elsewhere when he already told you to be there and finally whatever you do if you're Moses and you're sitting and you're waiting and God is silent don't leave the place God told you to be there stay until God breaks the silence you may not understand why we'll understand it all by and by or the day's coming when the time's right and his word will come through and you won't miss it when the Lord speaks oh my you won't miss the Lord speaking to you six days of silence can feel like an eternity and it can feel like torture but all of that's going on up here and in here we need to learn to wait on God to wait for him to break the silence so I hope that's something in there to help you if anything to just prepare you because

[38:10] God doesn't operate in urgency when you want him to and you're not going to be able to expect that and you may have some whys and you'll just have to accept that he may not explain anything to you on this side so let's just let God be true and let him be God and be humble obedient unassuming servants of our great God Father would you please allow this experience in Moses his life to strengthen our hearts and to prepare us for the moments when you're silent help us father to to be obedient to be patient to be content to just do what we know is right Lord I pray if there's anybody here that's impatient or that's got some assumptions or expectations for this

[39:17] Christian life and for this side of eternity Lord calm their minds and their hearts with this message this morning help us to keep our eyes and our ears completely tuned in to your voice and to gain comfort from the instructions that you've already given us in the word of God Lord thank you for the word of God thank you for a holy holy book let us never doubt it let us never question it and Lord fill us with hope that when we see you we'll understand it all fill us with that assurance that we can go on today living for you no matter what if you remain silent we know for sure we're going to hear a trumpet one day because you said that in the book until then

[40:29] God help us to be strong and faithful always abounding in the work of the Lord we pray this in Jesus name Amen Amen where is that yeah so in the blue hymnal in the very back is like a taped on page see if you can flip through a few until you find it it's it's somewhere it's not in this one yeah there we go okay so if you find the the 500s it'll be just beyond that somewhere in there there it is 540 I have no idea where it's at in yours but if you can keep flipping around you'll see one that says 540 farther along and so let's stand together we're gonna sing this before we're dismissed a couple of you found it all right we're gonna