Called To "A PLACE IN HIM"

The sad and unfortunate truth of the Book of Exodus is that the motley group of people God brought to Mount Sinai was not the group of people that He took across the river Jordan into the promised land. Something happened at the mountain God called them and made them a nation for the first time in their history He called them to a place—a place of blessing and a place of change— where they didn't want to go. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that this -place" was merely some physical spot on the map, because these people were already traipsing across the wilderness. Their blessing didn't consist of some rocky real estate someplace. although the promised land was part of the package deal. God called them to a promised place in Him. He called them to a place of covenant, a place of intimacy with their Creator that was not offered to any other people on the planet at that time. That's the secret of the secret place. We think that the idea of a "kingdom of priests" is an exclusively New Testament or Christian idea, but it was also God's original plan for Israel!

And the lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people. and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes.
And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai
... when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount (Exodus 19: 10-1 1.13b).

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Although the first generation of Israelites gathered around the mountain would ultimately believe the fearful spies and shrink away
the promised land in fear, the real cause of their failure is found right there at the foot of Mount Sinai. God intended for all the Israelites to come close to Him on the mountain, but they were uncomfortable.

And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightning. and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

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And Moses said unto the people, Fear not:for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was (Exodus 20:18-21).

They saw the lightning and heard the thunder, and they shrank back in fear. They ran from His presence instead of pursuing Him as Moses did. They were unhappy with the style of leadership that God had chosen. (He couldn't lay down His identity as the Almighty God just to please man then, and He won't do it today either.) So the end result of their flight from holy intimacy that day was that they died before they or their children ever entered the promised land. They preferred distant respect over intimate relationship.

It wasn't God's original plan for the first generation of Israelites to die in the wilderness. He wanted to take the same group of people whom He brought out of the land of bondage into the land of promise. He wanted to give His new nation of former slaves their very own land and inheritance, but they wouldn't have it because of fear and unbelief. meir doom was sealed when they looked across the Jordan at the promised land and shrank back, but it really began when they shrank back from God's presence in the cloud on Mount Sinai. It was there that they ran from God and demanded that Moses stand between them. (The Church has been suffering from the same problem ever since.) We often prefer that a man stand between us and God. We have a hell-inspired, fleshly fear of holy intimacy with God. The roots of this fear reach all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve hid in shameful fear while God longed for sweet fellowship.