We now have just over four days until the end of the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) which culminates on the fiftieth day of “counting the omer,” the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost is the day upon which God descended upon Mount Sinai and gave the Law to Israel. Yet, much revelation appears in Exodus 19 just before God pronounced that law.

Here Moses represents a type of God’s overcomer and, I believe, this prophetic pattern is about to be fulfilled with respect to the first group of overcomers to come into their inheritance. These represent the firstfruits of God’s seed on earth. Various prophets have recently been given glimpses of what is about to occur. Moses gives us another view. So, let’s first read all of Exodus 19.

On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. ² They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped beforethe mountain, ³ while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ⁴  You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;⁶ and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

⁷ So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. ⁸  All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.”

When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, ¹⁰ the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments ¹¹ and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. ¹² And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. ¹³ No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot;^[a] whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” ¹⁴ So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. ¹⁵ And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

¹⁶ On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.¹⁷ Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lordhad descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. ¹⁹ And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. ²⁰ The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

²¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish. ²² Also let the priests who come near to the Lordconsecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.” ²³ And Moses said to theLord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’” ²⁴ And the Lord said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them.” ²⁵ So Moses went down to the people and told them. (Exodus 19 ESV)

First, notice the time. This event occurred at the beginning of the third month, the month of Sivan. Today is the first day of Sivan. This year Pentecost occurs on the sixth day of Sivan. On the first day of Sivan God began to give Moses instructions concerning what he was about to do. A day or two (or three) later God told Moses to consecrate the people “today and tomorrow” so that they would be ready to hear God on “the third day.” The third day marked the first “Pentecost” and it prophetically speaks of the third day after Christ’s physical life on earth according to Hosea 6:2, “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.”

God ordered Moses to consecrate the people, that is, to separate them for service unto God. God specifically commanded the people to “wash their garments” and to “not go near a woman.” Washed garments represent the white garments of sinless purity, the fine linen the Bride wears in Revelation 19:7-8 and which Jesus commands the church to purchase from him Revelation 3:18. To “not go near a woman” means to come out of Mystery Babylon by coming out of the harlotry of religious confusion taught by every worldly church. See Revelation 18:4.

But even then, even after cleansing ourselves from all unrighteousness (by faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and by repenting of our sins) and after coming out of Babylon (by refusing to partake of religious hypocrisy and harlotry), God warns us through Moses NOT TO TOUCH THE MOUNTAIN LEST WE DIE!

The LORD is about to divide the sheep from the goats, the faithful believers from the unfaithful ones, but let us not presume to make that division ourselves. At this time let us cleanse ourselves from all defilements of the flesh by washing with the water of God’s word and applying it to ourselves. Let us come out of the last vestige of Babylon which hinders our walk. Let us refuse to touch a woman. Let us remember that we can not perfect by the flesh what God began in the Spirit. Only he can make us ready and we can only come into agreement with what he desires for us and say, “Amen.  Let it be so unto us.”