Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain.
– Exodus 24:17
What a scene. When you read Exodus 24 or Exodus 19, both chapters just depict God in a similar way as a devouring consuming fire on Mount Sinai. You can only imagine watching that scene as one of the Israelites in the book of Exodus, seeing this mountain with this consuming fire on it depicting the presence and the glory of God in such a way that you have to stand way back. Nobody but Moses can go near. And then you just keep reading through the Bible and you realize, whoa, Jesus is this devouring fire, the presence of God in the flesh. And then you realize once he dies on the cross for our sin and rises from the dead and ascends to heaven, he sends his Holy Spirit in Acts 2 and what is resting on the people in Acts 2? Tongues of fire.
Exodus 24:17 reminds us of the Spirit living within us.
And you start to realize in the big picture story of the Bible, how different we are from the people in Exodus 24. We don’t have to stand back away from the presence of the holy glory of God. We have access to enter. You and I, through the blood of Jesus, have communion with this God. We can draw near to God, and come close to him. So close to him that, make the connection, his Spirit actually dwells inside of us. The Holy Spirit of God is dwelling in us. Our bodies are a temple of his Holy Spirit.
When we gather together as the church… 1 Corinthians 3 says, “We are the temple.” We are the place where this God dwells in our midst. The same God they had to stand back from in Exodus. We get welcomed into his presence and our bodies even house his presence. This is amazing.
So I just want to encourage you today to live in the full light of this reality. Let’s just pray accordingly. And I want to be really intentional, just to think about who we’re talking to right now. Oh God, holy, holy, holy. God in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, three in one. Holy, there is none like you and we worship you. We stand in awe of you. God, we pray that you would help us to fear you rightly, to revere you wholeheartedly, to never lose a sense of wonder and awe before you.
Exodus 24:17 reminds us to resist complacency in our communion with God.
God, we praise you for the personal intimacy with you that you have made possible for us through Jesus. At the same time, we pray that we would never take that personal intimacy for granted, that it would be personal but not casual. God, please keep us from complacent, monotonous, apathetic, or mindless praying. Lord, help us to pray with awe and wonder in light of the fact that we are welcomed into your presence.
God, we praise you for communion with you. We praise you for your Spirit with us in us, and we pray that you would help us to live today and light of your holy fire inside of us, your holy presence, your Holy Spirit in us today. God, please make us holy. Help us to resist sin. Help us to walk and step with your Spirit according to your Word in all that we do, bear the fruit of your Spirit, your Holy Spirit, your holy fire inside of us today, through us today, by the power of your holy fire, your Holy Spirit in us.
Prayer for the Hbrogpa Amdo People
We pray that you would help us to be witnesses today, to tell somebody else, other people about who you are and your love for them. God, we pray you help us to be what you’ve called us to be, witnesses to the ends of the Earth. Lord, we pray for the Hbrogpa Amdo people, all 743,000 Buddhist men, women, and children among this Amdo Tibetan people group.
God, please help us by your Holy Spirit in us to be witnesses to the ends of the Earth, until all the peoples, including the Hbrogpa Amdo people, are reached with the good news of your grace, through the power of your Holy Spirit. Oh God, help us, we pray to live in light of the amazing, glorious, breathtaking reality you have made possible for us through Jesus in a way that’s far greater than they ever could have imagined in Exodus 24. Help us to live in this reality today. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
