Exodus 19

Exodus 19:1

IX. THE GIVING OF THE LAW (Chaps. 1924) A. Preparation for Revelation (Chap. 19)19:1-9 The children of Israel have now arrived at Mount Sinai. The rest of the book of Exodus, the entire book of Leviticus, and the first nine chapters of Numbers record events that took place here. From Adam until this time, there had been no direct law of God. The Lord’s dealings with His people had been predominantly in grace. Now He offered them a conditional covenant of law: If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; . . . you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. If they would obey, He would bless. Not realizing their own sinfulness and helplessness, the people readily agreed. D. L. Moody comments: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” Bold and self-confident language. The golden calf, the broken tablets, the neglected ordinances, the stoned messengers, the rejected and crucified Christ, are overwhelming evidences of man’s dishonored vows. THE DISPENSATIONSThere is a very major break here in the history of God’s dealings with mankind, especially with His chosen nation Israel. The change in the Divine ordering of human affairs here and elsewhere indicates a change in dispensations or administrations. Augustine once said, “Distinguish the ages and the Scriptures harmonize.” God has divided human history into ages: “. . . by whom also he made the ages” (Heb_1:2 RV, marg.). These ages may be long or short. What distinguishes them is not their length but the way God deals with mankind in them. While God Himself never changes, His methods do. He works in different ways at different times. We call the way God administers His affairs with man during a particular era a dispensation. Technically, a dispensation does not mean an age but rather an administration, a stewardship, an order, or an economy (our word “economy” comes from oikonomia, the NT Greek word for “dispensation” or “administration”). But it is difficult to think of a dispensation without thinking of time. For example, the history of the United States government has been divided into administrations.

We speak of the Kennedy administration or the Bush administration. We mean, of course, the way the government was operated while those presidents were in office. The important point is the policies that were followed, but we necessarily link those policies with a particular period of time. Therefore, we think of a dispensation as the way God deals with people during any period of history. God’s dispensational dealings may be compared to the way a home is run. When there are only a husband and wife in the home, a certain program is followed. But when there are young children, an entirely new set of policies is introduced. As the children mature, the affairs of the home are handled differently again. We see this same pattern in God’s dealings with the human race (Gal_4:1-5). For example, when Cain killed his brother Abel, God set a mark on him, so that anyone finding him would not kill him (Gen_4:15). Yet after the Flood God instituted capital punishment, decreeing that “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed” (Gen_9:6). The difference is due to the change in dispensations. Another example is Psa_137:8-9, where the writer calls down severe judgment on Babylon: “O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, happy the one who repays you as you have served us! Happy the one who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock!” Still later the Lord taught His people: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Mat_5:44). It seems clear that language suitable for the psalmist living under law would no longer be suitable for a Christian living under grace. In Leviticus 11 certain foods were designated as unclean. But in Mar_7:19 b Jesus declared all foods to be clean. In Ezr_10:3 the Jews were told to put away their foreign wives and children. In the NT, believers are instructed not to put them away (1Co_7:12-16). Under the law only the high priest could enter the presence of God (Heb_9:7). Under grace all believers have access into the Most Holy place (Heb_10:19-22). These changes clearly show that there has been a change of dispensations. Not all Christians are agreed on the number of dispensations or the names that should be given to them. In fact, not all Christians accept dispensations at all. But we can demonstrate the existence of dispensations as follows. First of all, there are at least two dispensationslaw and grace: “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (Joh_1:17). The fact that our Bibles are divided into Old and New Testaments indicates that a change of administrations occurred. Further proof is given by the fact that believers in this age are not required to offer animal sacrifices. This too shows that God has introduced a new order. Hardly any Christians fail to see this major break between the Testaments. But if we agree that there are two dispensations, we are forced to believe that there are three, because the Dispensation of Law was not introduced until here in Exodus 19, hundreds of years after Creation. So there must have been at least one dispensation before the law (see Rom_5:14). That makes three. And then we should be able to agree on a fourth dispensation, because the Scriptures speak of “the age to come” (Heb_6:5). This is the time when the Lord Jesus Christ will return to reign over the earth, otherwise known as the Millennium. Paul also distinguishes between the present age and an age to come. First he speaks of a dispensation that was committed to him in connection with the truth of the gospel and the church (1Co_9:17; Eph_3:2; Col_1:25). That is the present age. But then he also points forward to a future age when (Eph_1:10) he refers to “the dispensation of the fullness of times.” It is apparent from his description of it that it has not yet arrived. So we know that we are not living in the final age of the world’s history. Dr. C. I. Scofield lists seven dispensations, as follows:

1. Innocence (Gen_1:28). From Adam’s creation up to his fall.
2. Conscience or Moral Responsibility (Gen_3:7). From the fall to the end of the Flood.
3. Human Government (Gen_8:15). From the end of the Flood to the call of Abraham.
4. Promise (Gen_12:1). From the call of Abraham to the giving of the Law.
5. Law (Exo_19:1). From the giving of the Law to the Day of Pentecost.
6. Church (Act_2:1). From the Day of Pentecost to the Rapture.
7. Kingdom (Rev_20:4). The thousand-year reign of Christ. While it is not important to agree on the exact details, it is very helpful to see that there are different dispensations. The distinction between law and grace is especially important. Otherwise we will take portions of Scripture that apply to other ages and refer them to ourselves. While all Scriptures are profitable for us (2Ti_3:16), not all were written directly to us. Passages dealing with other ages have applications for us, but their primary interpretation is for the age for which they were written. We have already noted the dietary restrictions of Leviticus 11. While this prohibition is not binding on Christians today (Mar_7:18-19), the underlying principle remains that we should avoid moral and spiritual uncleanness. God promised the people of Israel that if they obeyed Him, He would make them materially prosperous (Deu_28:1-6). The emphasis then was on material blessings in earthly places. But this is not true today. God does not promise that He will reward our obedience with financial prosperity. Instead, the blessings of this dispensation are spiritual blessings in the heavenly places (Eph_1:3). While there are differences among the various ages, there is one thing that never changes, and that is the gospel. Salvation always has been, is now, and always will be by faith in the Lord. And the basis of salvation for every age is the finished work of Christ on the cross. People in the OT were saved by believing whatever revelation the Lord gave them. Abraham, for example, was saved by believing God when He said that the patriarch’s seed would be as numerous as the stars (Gen_15:5-6). Abraham probably did not know much, if anything, about what would take place at Calvary centuries later. But the Lord knew. And when Abraham believed God, He put to Abraham’s account all the value of the future work of Christ at Calvary. As someone has said, the OT saints were saved “on credit.” That is, they were saved on the basis of the price that the Lord Jesus would pay many years later (that is the meaning of Rom_3:25). We are saved on the basis of the work which Christ accomplished over 1900 years ago. But in both cases salvation is by faith in the Lord. We must guard against any idea that people in the Dispensation of Law were saved by keeping the law or even by offering animal sacrifices. The law can only condemn; it cannot save (Rom_3:20). And the blood of bulls and goats cannot put away a single sin (Heb_10:4). No, God’s way of salvation is by faith and faith alone! (See Rom_5:1.) Another good point to remember is this: When we speak of the present Church Age as the Age of Grace, we don’t imply that God wasn’t gracious in past dispensations. We simply mean that God is now testing man under grace rather than under law. It is also important to realize that the ages do not close with split-second precision. Often there is an overlapping or a transition period. We see this in Acts, for instance. It took time for the new church to throw off some of the trappings of the previous dispensation. And it’s possible that there will be a period of time between the Rapture and the Tribulation during which the Man of Sin will be manifested and the temple will be built in Jerusalem. One final word. Like all good things, the study of dispensations can be abused. There are some Christians who carry dispensationalism to such an extreme that they accept only Paul’s Prison Epistles as applicable for the church today! As a result they don’t accept baptism or the Lord’s supper, since these are not found in the Prison Epistles. They also teach that Peter’s gospel message was not the same as Paul’s. (See Gal_1:8-9 for a refutation of this.) These people are sometimes called ultradispensationalists or Bullingerites (after a teacher named E. W. Bullinger). Their extreme view of dispensations should be rejected.

19:10-20 The people were told to prepare for a revelation from God by washing their clothes and refraining from sexual intercourse. This was designed to teach them the necessity for purity in the presence of God. Mount Sinai was a forbidding place. Neither mankind nor animals were to touch it on penalty of death. A transgressor was not to be followed onto the mount but was to be shot through with an arrow or stoned from a distance. Only Moses and Aaron were allowed to ascend (v. 24), and then only when the ram’s horn sounded. The mount was covered with a thick cloud; there were thunderings and lightnings, fire and smoke; the whole mountain quaked greatly. All this spoke of the terrors of meeting God, especially on the basis of lawkeeping. 19:21-25 The LORD repeated His warning to Moses that the people should not touch the mount. Moses at first thought it unnecessary to remind the people but later obeyed. The priests in verses 22 and 24 were probably the firstborn sons.