I Spoke to You from Heaven [Exodus 20]
1Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3"You shall have no other gods before Me. 4"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5"You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
18All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. 19Then they said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die." 20Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin." 21So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was. 22Then the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven."
Do you remember where we left the story yesterday? God had sent Moses back down the mountain to warn the people that the mountain was holy and not to touch it. When we pick up the story today it begins, "Then God spoke all these words, saying, 'I am the LORD your God...'" Frankly, I was startled when I read those words. All these years I thought that God gave the ten commandments to Moses when he was up on the mountain and then Moses came down and read them to the people for the first time. But here it says quite clearly that God spoke these words from heaven to the people.
It was then that the people decided God was too much. All the thunder and lightning and smoke and trumpets left them trembling and running away from the God who was wanting to commune with them. They asked Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die." They knew they needed a mediator between this holy God and their selves. God gave them Moses, a man who had been among them, who they were comfortable with because he was human. In the New Testament we learn that Moses was a foreshadow of Christ and that Moses was a faithful servant to the One that appointed him to be over God's household. (Heb. 3:5) Once again we see how the events in the Old Testament were pointing to Christ.
Father, we praise You that You have always been a God who wanted to be among Your people. You want to speak to us directly so You provided a way for that to happen through Your Son Jesus. Thank You, Jesus, for being a faithful servant. You are worthy of more glory than Moses. You are a faithful Son over us, God's household.
Verna McCrillis, 5/11/2010