Lesson 10: "Repentance and Forgiveness" | Dustin Pestlin

Hello friends. Let's begin with an amazing fact. Mount Sinai sits in the Sinai Peninsula and rises to nearly 7,500 ft above sea level. In ancient times, the smoke and fire that crowned its peak would have been visible for many miles. When the children of Israel encamped at its base, they could see the consuming

presence of God burning at the summit by day and by night. Moses had climbed into that thick darkness many days earlier. To the people on the plain, it seemed certain their leader was dead either from starvation or from the fire on the mountain. The mixed multitude grew restless. They had recently bound themselves to God in

solemn covenants, but they wanted something they could see, something they could touch. So, they crowded Aaron's tent and demanded a god of gold. What follows in Exodus 32 is one of the saddest stories in scripture. Yet, what comes after in Exodus 33 and 34 is one of the most beautiful. The same God

whose holy fire blazed on the mountain passed before Moses and proclaimed his own name. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. That is the heart of repentance and forgiveness. We have all sinned. The fire on Sinai is real, but the mercy

that meets us at the foot of that mountain is greater still. Through the cross of Jesus Christ, forgiveness is always available for the confessing repentant sinner. The Son of God took our place under the consuming fire so that we could be clothed in his righteousness. Every page of scripture from Sinai onward is the