If you are 16 or older, you have probably had your picture taken for your driver’s license.  Now, a lot of people I know are not happy with that picture.  They just don’t feel that the picture does them justice.  As a result of many complaints, in some states they will take two pictures, and you can choose the one you like.  Two pictures of the same person can sometimes be very different. 

Well, the business of taking pictures has changed, now that we have new technology.  Nowadays you can have some fun with pictures, if you know how to do it.  I should warn you that Pastor Jim can be very creative with Photoshop.   In fact, if you go to our own website and run the cursor over our picture, you will find that our faces change.  Jim’s beard suddenly grows longer and I wink.  (I had to stop him from getting any more creative than that.)  But some of his other experiments are kind of fun:   if you go to the story-archive page and click on our son’s engagement picture (taken just a few years ago), you’ll find that our engagement picture (taken some 30 years ago) is merged in with his.  Two couples of different generations– all looking about the same age.  Now that’s fun!

Well, there are some things that you cannot do even with today’s technology.  For example, you can’t take a picture of God.  God, who is spirit, just doesn’t print out in picture form, regardless of the technology.  But let’s just stay with this thought for a moment.  If you could take a picture of God, what do you think God would look like?  Perhaps your picture would resemble Zeus, an ancient, mythical god:  terrifying, and glowering; somewhere up in the clouds, distant and far away.  Or perhaps your snapshot of God would look more like a kindly grandfather–  maybe like Prof. Dumbledore (for you Harry Potter fans)–  with a long, long beard and a twinkle in his eye.  Well, neither one is the image we find in the Bible, so let’s take a look.  Today we get a chance to look behind the photographer’s shoulder as the book of Hebrews gives us two pictures of God:  the first taken at the foot of Mt Sinai, when God gave the law to Moses.  The other picture was taken at Mt Zion, where Jerusalem and the Temple were built.  These 2 pictures make God look quite different.  One is a picture of terrifying power; the other is a picture of peace and security.

Our text for today assumes that we have seen the picture at Mt Sinai.  You may recall these words, “... a mountain... that is burning with fire...darkness, gloom and storm...a trumpet blast” and so on.  That is the picture of Mt Sinai.   Here is a fuller caption of that picture, from Ex 19:

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.  Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.   Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently,  and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder.

It was a terrifying picture.  Today’s text tells us that even Moses trembled with fear.  Why, you may ask, would God appear in such a picture?

You may remember that Moses and the Israelites came to Mt Sinai after having been liberated from slavery in Egypt.  In this experience, the Israelites had encountered a truly powerful God, a God who had delivered them from the Egyptian super army of the day.  This God divided the Red Sea, saving His people while drowning the enemy.  This God was present in a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day, to protect and to guide.  This God was now present on this terrifying mountain, a holy God – unapproachable by sinful humanity on pain of death.  This was a God who took sin and evil seriously, as forces to be reckoned with, because evil is a force that can enslave and kill, as the Israelites knew only too well.  They had suffered real oppression in Egypt because Pharaoh was a cruel king.  God took this evil seriously, and engaged in battle to free His people from it.  God also took their sin seriously– their rebellion against their own, liberating God– because such rebellion sets the forces of evil at work. God hates these forces because they destroy the good He has placed into His creation.  And so, against the background of the terrifying mountain of Sinai, we have our first picture of God: a warrior God who powerfully battles against sin, oppression and rebellion.

In contrast is the second picture of God, taken at Mt Zion.  When you hear the term “Mt Zion,” you are meant to think of Jerusalem, the holy city of peace, where God chose to dwell in the midst of His people; and in contrast to the scene at Sinai, this meant peace and security.  Again, we are given a more complete caption elsewhere, this time in Ps 46.  As I read these familiar verses, notice that while chaos reigns on the outside, inside the city walls– where God dwells–  all is secure:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever‑present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.  There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.  Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; He lifts his voice, the earth melts.   The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

God is still powerful; but in this picture, the dwelling of that same, powerful God in the midst of His people brings peace and security.   And our text reminds us that this is also the picture we have of Heaven, our future home.

Let me give you another picture of God as security and strength.  A story is told of a young boy who took his boat out on a large lake one summer’s afternoon.  Although it was peaceful enough when he went out, a storm arose suddenly, causing wind and waves to swamp the boat.  The boy tried to swim to shore, but it grew dark and he could neither see the shoreline nor fight the waves.  Fortunately, the current carried him to a large rock on which he was able to climb and get out of the water.  There he spent the night, in the midst of the storm and in total darkness, shivering with cold and fear.  The next day, a rescue party found him and he was brought home, safe and sound.  Concerned friends and relatives asked him, “Weren’t you afraid to be out there on the rock all night?”  “I sure was,” the boy replied.  “I was so scared that I shook all night.  But it was all right, because even though I was shaking the rock never shook once.”  God is our refuge and strength, our shelter in the midst of the storm.

Our text offers these two pictures of God:  the powerful God of Sinai who battles evil in all of its forms, and the comforting God of Zion who shields his people from danger.  Which is the right picture?

They are both right– and are still right for us today.  The reality of today’s world is that cruelty, oppression, terrorism, and shootings occur every day, even in our own so-called “civilized” society.  Not only these overt forms of evil, but also the more subtle variety, like accidents and disease– these oppress us too.  We need a warrior God who is powerful, who defends and liberates us against these evils.  But it isn’t only the bad things that are happening “out there,” it is also the rebellion that is happening “in here,” within us.  Rebellion and yes, evil, that result in things like abuse in the home, addictions, family members who are estranged from one another, angry words, selfishness and greed – all of these bad things, sin we might call it, characterize our society – and even ourselves.  “We have seen the enemy,” said Pogo of the old comic strip, “and it is us.”

Sin is quite real, although we don’t much talk about it anymore; we would like to pretend that sin and evil are obsolete, outdated ideas.   But the solution to sin and evil was very real and in fact, quite radical:  it took the Son of God to die a horrible death on the cross in order to deal with it, much as was presented in Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion.  If the solution is real and radical, then the problem is equally real and radical.  It took Jesus to come into our world and die so that you and I can meet the holy God and live.

The two pictures of God which we have seen on Mt Sinai and on Mt Zion merge in yet another picture, a simple one: a picture of a lone man hanging on a rugged cross, on a hill called Golgotha.  The powerful God who deplores sin and evil can be seen there; and the merciful God who desires peace and forgiveness for His people can also be seen there.  One God at the same time– in the one image of the suffering Savior.  On a very particular day of darkness, gloom and storm, blood was spilled, so that God, who is both holy and loving, both terrifying and wonderful, might meet his sinful people and rescue them once again – this time not just from the oppression of a cruel, enemy army, but from all that threatens us, inside and out.  And because of the rescue operation that was accomplished on the cross, you and I can be forgiven of our sin and walk in newness of life, as God’s holy people.  And further, as we read today, we will someday live in an eternal kingdom that cannot be shaken.  That’s powerful.  And that’s security.

You may have already heard these words of Al Rogness, former president of Luther Seminary, but they are worth repeating:  "I must never cease to tremble before God’s judgment.  I must never cease to rest in the overarching mercy of God’s love.  If I lose either, I lose God."

Jesus is the best picture God ever had taken.  Jesus is the one who makes God fully known to us, that our joy may be stronger than our fear; that though we tremble in awe, yet we stand firm in our hope, knowing that God is the rock which will never be shaken; God is the rock of our salvation.  AMEN  

*You can find our website at  http://www.bangsund.co.tz/ (Click on the Munich server for faster loading.)  Peter got engaged to Christi Collins on April 24, 2003.