In Exo 20 God came down on Mt Sinai to talk to all the people. He wanted to deal
with His people Himself. But, the sight and sound was too much for them and they
backed off in fear and begged Moses to be the one to tell them what God said but
they did not want God to speak to them directly. This surely had to hurt God,
because in effect, it was a rejection of a granted opportunity of fellowship.

).Exo_19:16- 18 tells us that there was thunder and lightnings and a
thick cloud upon the mount and the the people trembled with fear from the sight
and sound before them. Mt. Sinai itself quaked. It's mentioned several places in the
Bible about these events. Imagine standing with your family and friends and
seeing such an awe inspiring sight.

They contradict themselves here. They are double minded. Their flesh fears God,
and wants no contact with Him and they give in to that. So, God called for the 70
elders and Moses to come out from among the people, and come up to Him in the
mountain. They sat at the table of the Lord, (Exo 24:9-11) and they saw Him, His
form, the appearance of His throne, up there on the top of that mountain, and they
ate and drank in His presence, without harm. God called Moses apart, and Moses
told them to wait for His return. Moses was called to come up even higher.
Imagine, the mountain is trembling from the presence of the Almighty under
Moses' feet and every step he takes brings him closer to this cloud at the top where
he can see the devouring fire moving around inside the cloud.

As I read these Scriptures, what I underlined stood out very strongly to me. Moses
went into the cloud knowing there was a consuming fire in there. He was afraid,
but he went in anyway. There were others in the Bible who encountered the fire of
God.

When I read that, I had to ask myself what has to die before I can see the Lord high
and lifted up? The only answer is myself. The desires of my flesh and the carnality
of my mind must be put to death. They can not rule this temple for if they are
allowed to rule, then I will die. (Rom 8:6)

What reverence in the presence of the Lord. Though they stood above the throne of
God they hid their face and their feet. They hovered above Him, and could only
worship Him. If they are so moved and awed by the presence of God, being
seraphim I dare not casually approach God without reverence. They stand, ever
ready to minister to the slightest need or desire of the Lord. The word 'seraphim'
means burning, fiery. They displayed humility and respect in the presence of God.
Oh, I must learn this lesson from these Scriptures. I know the Bible says in Heb
4:16 I can come boldly, but I must never come arrogantly, or proudly, or
presumptuously. Boldly merely means with confidence that I will be heard, and
received.

I know the devil accuses and tries to bring God's people low under guilt and
condemnation. He's like the harsh taskmasters of Egypt with his vicious
accusations that will render you helpless to move forward with God if you listen to
them. This has nothing to do with that. Isaiah was a prophet of God. He was called
by God. He had ministered to the people. But when Isaiah got a vision of the Lord,
in all His glory, he saw that in comparison with the holiness and purity of the
Lord, he was unclean. Was it not Isaiah that said our own righteousness is as
filthy rags before the Lord of hosts? If you look that up, in the Hebrew, it means a
menstruous cloth. Yuck. That's what we cover ourselves with when we trust in our
own works and effort to be righteous or holy by keeping rules and regulation

before Him. And consider the smell. Double yuck. Timothy said God dwells in an unapproachable light. It's been my experience the closer I draw to God, the more easily I am able to see the spots and wrinkles and flaws I have. At times, it has caused despair, while longing for His holiness. The closer you get to the Light of God, the better you see things like He does. Sometimes it's hard to take but He doesn't show us our flaws to cause us to despair, but to show us we can't do it ourselves, we must trust Him to perfect or complete the work in us He started. (Php_1:6

) When Peter got a revelation of Jesus, he fell before Jesus,
saying, 'depart from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man.' When Job got the revelation, he
said in Job 42 'oh, Lord, I've heard about you, thought I knew you, but now I've
seen you for myself, and I abhor myself, and repent in dust in ashes.' Daniel fell
like a dead man. Ezekiel was paralyzed with fear. John fell down like a dead man.
Each time the Lord had to raise them up and tell them not to be afraid. Oh, when
you consider all this, then read Psalms 89:7, you realize that is a command, not an
option. He is to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence
of all them that are about Him.

Mal 3:3 explains what just happened to Isaiah and why. Remember the 120 in the
upper room in Acts 2? The Holy Ghost came on them with tongues of fire. This
seraphim purified Isaiah's mouth, and he was purged. I heard a man of God say
one time, the Holy Ghost came on Jesus like a dove, because He was pure, there
was nothing unclean in Him. He came on the 120 like tongues of fire, because they
needed purifying. He burns up the chaff which is the carnality and flesh that has to
go. What happens when we deliberately expose ourselves to the Word of God with
a hungry heart? When our desire is to know HIM not just about Him? What about
struggles we contend with, and feel like Paul-that which we do we hate and that
which we would do we find not how to do it.

If we fall on His Word, it will cut out that which doesn't belong, it will break up the
hard spots, it will break and tenderize us as we agree with His Word even when it
bears witness against something in us. But there is a devil in this world and he
doesn't want us to get to God. He wants us to defile ourselves so God will have to
reject us. If he can't get us to defile ourselves, he'll try to make us conform to his
worldly image, whether it be worldly on the outside or on the inside-and that's the
most subtle. We can look right on the outside, but be worldly on the inside. If we
are always trying to figure things out, handle it ourselves, turning to flesh instead
of God in trouble or confusion, we will stay confused. We will be a mixture of
religion and confusion and we will not have any power. Just a form of godliness.
We will learn the Scriptures but never come to the knowledge of the Truth.