Read Exodus 20

New Years often bring new resolutions, or plans for changes in our lives. Even though 2020 was comparatively blessed for us in New Zealand compared to most parts of the world, many of us were still happy to see the back of it, and hope especially for something better in 2021; both in terms of the pandemic or personal circumstances and trials we endured.

But whether we are facing a new year in these “unprecedented times,” or a new year in “precedented times”, it is still important to look back before moving forward. By looking back, I mean looking back at God’s goodness and mercy over more than the previous twelve months, but our whole lives and through time. When we look back and see God’s goodness, it helps us move forward and puts resolutions and plans in perspective.

Before we move forward through the remainder of the Ten Commandments and the Book of Exodus, we should look back and see what God did for the Israelites. After all, the Ten Commandments begin with God reminding them that he is “the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:2). 

The God who is setting the terms of their relationship is the God who freed them from slavery. The Israelites were not resolving to meet a standard in order to gain admission to God’s presence, but were already in a privileged position of relationship. The Ten Commandments were not the standard of admission, but revelation to help the Israelites show heartfelt thanks to God for the grace they had received.

God sent Jacob and his sons to Egypt as shelter from a famine, and there they grew into a mighty nation. But the Egyptians forgot their debt owed to God and his servant Joseph who saved them, and enslaved the Israelites whose numbers they had come to fear (Exodus 1).

The Israelites cried out to God for help, and in time God raised up an Israelite named Moses who would reluctantly agree to act as God’s spokesman, and ultimately lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 2-4).

What followed next was God demonstrating his sovereignty over all things, and his supremacy over the so-called gods of Egypt. Plagues swept over the land of Egypt, even as hard-hearted Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go. Finally, after one last terrible blow against the firstborn of every Egyptian, the Israelites were set free with the riches of Egypt plundered from their captors (Exodus 5-12).

The deliverance of Israel was not yet complete. God led the Israelites to the shores of the Red Sea, where Pharaoh had pursued them with his army, realising the economic effects of a large portion of the workforce disappearing. There, God led the Israelites through the sea, and finally defeated Pharaoh and his army by drowning them under the waves when they tried to follow (Exodus 14-15).

Then, as if that were not enough, God provided the Israelites with leadership, with directions, with water, and with food to eat in the barren desert terrain (Exodus 16-18). He taught them how to come into his special presence, as they were about to meet with God especially at the foot of Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). Finally, he graciously revealed his holiness and majesty to them in the Ten Commandments, reminding them of their sinfulness and their need for not just a physical redeemer, but a spiritual redeemer as well (Exodus 20).

It is in the context of this great redeeming act which God provided the Ten Commandments to Israel. He had already saved them and claimed them as his. How they moved forward in relationship with him was dependent on their heart response: would they see their sin, trust in God, and move forward seeking to obey God’s commands, or would they move away from him?

We are in a similar position as we look back. God’s story of redemption does not end at Sinai, but continues through hundreds of years, until the arrival of Christ, our redeemer. Through Christ’s sacrifice as our passover, we are redeemed from slavery to sin and the inevitable death that follows. In Christ we are released from the burden of our sin and our inability to keep God’s Holy Law, to relationship with him.

So if our resolutions for this year involve some greater desire or hope to serve God and do his will (a great resolution!), looking back reminds us that we do not do so to try and earn enough credits in God’s books to merit heaven. Instead, God has already merited it for us in Jesus, and freely given it to us despite our unworthiness.

Whatever this year brings, and whatever we manage to achieve in our personal lives or our service to God, it is not to earn God’s favour that we act, but because God has given us his favour.

Looking back, we see God has saved and blessed us richly in Christ. So we can move forward, serving God in thanks and hoping for better things.

Read Exodus 20:12

Summary

We live in an individualistic society, where laws and culture suggest that the individual and their desire is the fundamental unit. But if history tells us anything, it is that societies that last are those built on the family unit – mother, father, and children. When families flourish, societies flourish.

The Fifth Commandment serves as a bridge between the first four commandments, which deal with obligations to God, and the last five commandments, which deal with obligations to each other. The Fifth Commandment instructs us to honour parents, and indeed as a broader principle to all authority relationships. The commandment comes with a promise which encourages us to show respect, knowing that we will experience blessing from God.

Our Passage Explained

The first aspect to note of the Fifth Commandment is that it requires the honour of parents. The word used and translated as honour means to give weight or weigh heavily on. This commandment forbids treating “lightly” your parents; instead giving them the due respect they deserve as long as they are alive.

The way in which honour and respect is paid will depend on the family life-cycle. For young children, this commandment requires obedience to the reasonable demands and authority of parents. 

For young adults, the dynamic changes as parents (should) progressively relinquish control. Instead the relationship involves respecting boundaries set while under their roof, respectful talk of one’s parents, and listening to their advice. For adults, respect involves loving and appreciating them, and ensuring that as parents enter more vulnerable life stages they are cared for.

This respect is due to both mother and father. In different societies and ages, and even within families, one of these figures typically takes unbiblical precedence. While the Bible is caricatured as a manual for patriarchy, this passage clearly points out that mothers are equally important authority figures to fathers, not more or less. Both figures are important to the well-being of families, and society.

As with various commandments, the principle extends beyond those directly stated. Parents are the first and primary authority figure that children relate to; others like the state and the church come later. But learning respect for parents helps with broader respect for wider authority. Where this is neglected, or the duty is abused, the consequences often seep broadly into a society and lead to its hurt.

The Fifth Commandment is so important that it comes with a promise of blessing. The Israelites were instructed to honour their parents “that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you” (v.12). The continued blessing of God, expressed as a type of his great redemptive love by the gift of the Promised Land, was tied to how they treated their parents.

This should not be interpreted as a blanket promise that all people who respect their parents will live long, financially prosperous lives. Rather, what is expressed is experiencing the fullness of God’s blessing, which is why Paul can quote this verse and apply it to New Testament believers in Ephesus (Eph. 6:2-3).

If God is so willing to bless those who respect their parents, it is no surprise that he also takes a dark view of those who do not. Thus we see in Scripture examples of God condemning those who rebel against parental authority (Lev. 20:9, Deut. 21:18-21, Prov. 30:11-14). Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who attempted to sidestep their God-given societal responsibility to provide for vulnerable, aged parents by “devoting” their wealth to God (Matthew 15:3-9).

Our Passage Applied

As with any commandment where obligations of respect and honour are established, there is the sad reality that both parties fail. Ultimately, respect is due to parents despite the fact that they fail to act in ways which do not exasperate their children (Eph. 6:4). Some parents manipulate or abuse their children, or hurt or affect their relationships with others (such as the other parent).

This commandment does not require children to put up with abuse, but to “respect the office” as we can. Like David (and to a lesser extent, Jonathan), we may need to distance ourselves physically and emotionally from parents who harm, but we should still seek to respect parents who hurt and harm (1 Sam. 19-31).

But just as parents fail their children, so too children fail their parents. We are all guilty of failing to respect our parents, whether through inattention, rebellion, or words. As children, we did not obey our parents as we ought; as adults, we may sometimes struggle and get frustrated by helping bear the burdens that old age brings our parents. 

Unlike us, Christ was a completely dutiful son, both to his earthly parents and to his Heavenly Father. Even as he suffered on the Cross for our sins, Jesus ensured that his mother, Mary, was taken care of (John 19:26-7). His devotion to his family was only exceeded by his devotion to God.

Christ fulfilled the Fifth Commandment on our behalf. Where we failed to give due respect, Jesus succeeded. Through Jesus’ obedience, we enjoy the fullness of God’s blessings.

Read Exodus 20:8-11

Summary

I need a rest. For most of this year it feels like life on every front has been full of pressure, uncertainties, deadlines, and demands. Were it not for each Sunday, when I place aside the demands of work and chores (I cannot place aside the demands of my kids!) and focus on worshiping God, I would have collapsed in a heap. Sound familiar to many of you?

In the Fourth Commandment, the importance of rest and worship is highlighted. God positively reminds us to set aside work and to rest – instead focusing our time on the worship of God. We do so both because it reflects God’s creative pattern, but also because it reflects God’s redemption, when we finally enter into God’s eternal rest.

Our Passage Explained

The Fourth Commandment begins with the instruction to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (v.8). The Israelites were to remember that God had instituted a day of rest, and a pattern of work and rest in their life. They already had some understanding of this through the teaching of Genesis (whether spoken or by now written), and in the pattern of God’s provision of manna.

The day of rest was not theirs alone though, but was set apart for God. They were commanded to keep it holy, not just for rest and relaxation but for divine service and worship. Thus, while all of their life was a time for worship, the Sabbath was a special particular day where they gathered together to worship God.

The Sabbath command importantly does not lower the importance of daily work; it just recognises its ordinariness. “Six days you shall labour, and do all your work” (v.9) indicates that there is not a higher calling of perpetual rest while minions do the drudge work, but the ordinary pattern of life includes six days in which we labour at our various duties.

On the other hand, “the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God” (v.10). It does not belong to us (though it was made for us, not us for the Sabbath – Mark 2:27) but to God. But it does release us from the work of every other day of the week, so we can rest and worship God.

This release extended not just to the heads of the household (the husband and wife), but to children, servants, animals, and even foreigners who were living amongst the religious community (v.10). Everyone, from the household head to the lowliest servant or the pack mule, was released from the obligation to work. 

Non-citizens who came from other lands to live with the people under their protection and rule were also obliged to respect the God-given pattern of life; but also to benefit from it too. The Israelites could not transfer the burden of work onto non-believers (or religious seekers) while they went to services and rested from their labours.

The Israelites were to follow this pattern not just because God commanded it, but because it reflected God’s creative pattern. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh (v.11; cf. Genesis 1-2). It is the basic pattern of Creation. God intended for Israel to follow his pattern, and to experience the blessing that comes with enjoying the Sabbath which God blessed and made holy in his creative act (v.11).

The other reason for the Sabbath rest was it pointed forward to the greater rest found in Jesus. God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt, and gave them rest in him. God would soon send his promised, anointed Messiah to save all those who trusted God from their sins and to bring them into the eternal rest (Hebrews 4, Matthew 11:28).

The death and resurrection of Christ is the reason why for us, the Sabbath has moved from Saturday to Sunday (the first day of seven, aka the “eighth day”). We set aside the Lord’s day (Rev 1:10) for the public worship of God (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 16:2). By doing this, we signal we are entering by faith, in a partial but one day complete manner, the eternal rest of God.

Our Passage Applied

Like the other commandments before, the Fourth Commandment, though in a different time and context, still applies to us today. It reminds us of the importance of resting from our labours and trusting in God to provide. It reminds us of the importance of worshiping God, every day yes by our thoughts and acts but especially publicly one day in seven.

Rather than focusing on the negative of what it stops us doing, we should focus on the positive. The Sabbath was made for us, not us for the Sabbath. God gives us the Sabbath so we can set aside daily worries (as much as possible) and cast our burdens upon Christ.

We should worry less about exhaustive lists of inappropriate acts, and focus on the principle; resting from our daily grind of work and consumerism to rest in God and find delight and enjoyment in him and what he has given us.

Read Exodus 20:7

Summary

Many years ago I was dining with some university acquaintances when one of them uttered a blasphemous phrase in my hearing. Remembering that I was a Christian and perhaps with a vague knowledge of the third commandment, he apologised to me for his words. While I appreciated his respect (at that point) for my faith, it was to God that he truly owed an apology. 

While we tend to think the Third Commandment forbids using God’s names as an expletive, the commandment covers more than that. It reminds us God is holy, and we must always treat him that way in all our acts. We must not misuse God’s name for false worship, speaking blasphemy, or treating God like our cosmic servant. And that respect must extend to all those whom God has made.

Our Passage Explained

The Third Commandment requires that “you shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” (v.7). Taking God’s name in vain is literally to lift up God’s name to emptiness or falsehood, rather than to the holy standard that is true of everything about God.

Taking God’s name in vain is not a costless exercise but has real, eternal consequences. God warns that if we treat his holy name with disrespect, we cannot expect to escape some form of divine punishment.

The most common way we think of violating this commandment is through using God’s name as an expletive or in an empty way. God’s name is not a curse word, or a swear word. To treat God’s name as something profane is to empty it of its holiness. 

Likewise, there might be times to cry out to God, such as when we cry out in prayer for help to God as we witness something terrible. But finding a new favourite brand of ice cream is not truly an “OMG” moment, and empties God’s name of its holiness.

We must also avoid using God’s name in false worship. False worship is quite broad, but includes any sort of superstition, claiming that God approves of a false teaching (when Scripture clearly states he does not), or using God’s name to approve of worship of which he does not approve.

Thus we must be careful to conform our worship to God’s Word, and to centre our worship on God and our Lord Jesus Christ. We must not use God’s name or twist his words to suggest that God approves of the latest societal sin, or in connection with deceptive practices under the guise of ministry which part people from their money.

We also cannot treat God like he is our cosmic servant. The Second Commandment forbids the making of images of God, which in the context of Israel at Sinai made God like the deities of the pagan nations around. Those images made the deity in a sense local, and thus controllable.

A name in Scripture, and in the days of Moses, was intimately associated with that person’s character and being. Pagan nations invoked the names of their deities like a special password which unlocked new features – rain, victory in war, or something else desired.

The Third Commandment forbids this type of thinking. God is holy and eternal, transcending all things. Knowing God’s name does not allow us to use it emptily, as if we can ring a bell and demand God comes to grant us our wishes. Instead, we ought to pray to God seeking his will, and that if our prayers align with his will, trust he will grant them.

Our Passage Applied

Our conduct towards other people must also treat them with respect as a consequence of the Third Commandment. Everyone is made in God’s image (Gen. 1:26-7). When we treat them with disrespect, we are suggesting that someone beautifully crafted as resembling God’s very nature is of little worth. 

When we spread rumours, slander, gossip, and other things which do not treat people with respect, we are treating Image Bearers as not worthy of honour and respect. The Apostle James reminds us that when we do that, we are effectively treating the Lord Jesus with the same disrespect (James 3:1-12).

That goes beyond disrespect to people, but to breaking vows and promises we have made to others. Breaking a vow or a promise not only affects the way we are perceived by others, but suggests that the value of the person whose trust we have breached is less than ours. 

Even more so, when we do so with God as a witness to our vow. When we make that worse by adding in God’s name, we defame God before the world by identifying our character with his.

When we read of how easily we fail to acknowledge God’s holiness in speech and act, we can only acknowledge our sinfulness. Thankfully, Christ never took God’s name in vain, but always honoured God in his speech and his deeds. In Christ, God holds us guiltless because Jesus took the punishment for our guilt in taking God’s name in vain.

Read Exodus 20:4-6

Summary

What does God look like? It’s a question many children ask their parents. Perhaps we mentally think of God as an old man in a white sheet, like the painting on the roof of the Sistine Chapel. But should we think of God in this way?

While the First Commandment requires the exclusive worship of God, the Second Commandment requires us to worship God without creaturely representations of him. The consequences of doing so (or not) will reflect in how we teach our children about God, and have effects on the relationship of God to our descendants. Instead, we should worship and know God in the way in which he has revealed himself to us.

Our Passage Explained

v4

The Second Commandment begins with a command forbidding the making of images. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (v.4).

It is certainly true that this commandment forbids making physical idols of fake gods to worship, but the First Commandment has already forbidden the worship of anyone or anything except God. The main thrust of the Second Commandment is forbidding the making of images which supposedly represent God for worship.

The nations surrounding Israel made idols of wood, stone, or precious metals which represented their deities. Thus, the local deity might be represented by a bull or an eagle. Since there is a physical representation of the deity, there is a sense in which the deity is localised, and thus accessible and potentially controllable by people (eg, see Judges 18 where an idol is “liberated” by the Danites).

God is not local, and certainly cannot be controlled. He is not to be worshiped as we desire, but instead in the way he commands, and worshiped as he has revealed himself. God is spirit, and those who worship him must do so in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). God is Creator, and cannot (and must not) be confused with his Creation, whether as a person or a lion or a fish.

There is only one legitimate image of God in all Creation – human beings who are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26). Jesus, as the foremost expression of humanity and the very image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) is the greatest legitimate expression of what God is like. Not in our physical characteristics, but in our mental, emotional, and spiritual capacity. To reduce God to a human statue misrepresents God.

v5-6

The seriousness of keeping this command is clear in the statement which God makes. “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God” (v.5). God takes the worship of statues or physical representations of him very seriously: they arouse jealousy.

While we tend to think of jealousy as a negative attribute (confusing it with envy), jealousy is good when it is expressed as a desire for what you are entitled to. God, as Creator, is entitled to worship solely of himself as he is, not as we imagine him, or shared with anything else. Anything other than the relationship God establishes threatens its integrity.

The integrity of the relationship is so important that for those who make false idols, God will punish “the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me” (v.5).

False images lead to false and sinful understanding of God and the relationship with him, violating the covenant relationship (“hate”). This is then taught to children and grandchildren. Sin leads to judgement, which comes on the descendants of the first idolators who led their children astray.

For the many “thousands” who love God and keep his commandments, God will instead show “steadfast love” (v.6). God promises to fulfill his covenant promises and blessings to those who worship God as he is, not something else. This blessing flows to the children who learn of and trust in God as he really is.

Our Passage Applied

The commandment for us remains just the same. We must worship God as he has revealed himself and as he has required: in Christ, through his Word and the sacraments, received by faith, in spirit and in truth.

We must avoid any representation of God, whether physical or in our heads, as if God is a part of Creation, or that makes him like an animal or created being.

We must also take care to teach our children how to worship God in the way he desires, and not lead them astray through false ideas about God. How we worship God (or not) is what our children see and learn. If we want our children to love and worship God, we must start in the home.

God is not the subject of our imagination, to represent through some image from creation. We do not need statues or paintings to represent God; he has revealed himself to us through the Bible and in Jesus Christ.

Read Exodus 20:1-21

Summary

We live in a world of choices, and religion is just one of many “products” on offer. You can even bundle your religions together, mixing some aspects of one religion with parts of another, to have your own custom belief system. In the ancient world, this idea was just as common.

But Christianity does not allow this “Pick ‘n Mix” approach to worship of God. The First Commandment, pronounced by God from Mount Sinai, reminds us that God requires exclusive worship of him. To refuse to worship him is sin. To worship God amongst others is sin. Our allegiance and our worship belongs to God alone – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Our Passage Explained

Immediately after reminding the Israelites that he was the God who had rescued them from slavery in Egypt, God announced his First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (v.3).

Firstly, this commandment forbids idolatry. While we think of idolatry as primarily the worship of images of wood and stone (and this is true), those physical images are just physical representations of an inner false desire. More broadly, idolatry is the worship of any god who is not the true and living God.

Idols are much broader than just (literal) religious figures, they are anything which takes the place of God as the highest priority in our life. Many of the ancient world’s idols were actually a physical representation of a sinful desire, such as fertility gods which were often connected with sexual immorality. 

Paul identifies idolatry and immorality as being linked (Romans 1:18-32). Any sort of immoral act is an act of idolatry, a worship of something like money, sex, power, or control instead of God.

Forbidding idolatry forbade the Israelites from worshiping any other god. They were not to worship the gods of Egypt, decisively beaten by God. They were not to worship the gods of Canaan, where they were about to settle.

The First Commandment also forbids atheism. The very fact that God discloses his existence and demands exclusive worship and allegiance means that denying God’s existence and Creator’s rights is a sin, and violates this commandment.

The Israelites were not to live atheistic lives, ignoring or denying God’s existence. He was their God, their Divine King. They owed him worship and allegiance by right as Creator, and as their Covenant King.

Thirdly, the worship of God is without restriction in duration or extent. God is not a localised deity responsible for the maintenance of part of the Middle East, but the Creator of all things. Heaven is his throne, and the earth his footstool (Isaiah 66:1). There is nowhere we can flee from God’s presence (Psalm 139:7-12). God transcends Creation, it cannot contain him (1 Kings 8:27).

The Israelites were not to worship God in the land he was to give them, then to worship other deities in other lands when they travelled there for trade or pleasure. They were not to worship God for some matters, and another pagan god for other matters (or for insurance).

Fourth, this commandment is not just a corporate commandment, referring only to the people of Israel as a whole. The commandment is given to “you” in the second person singular. That means that each and every person was individually responsible to obey the commandment. It is not the general response of God’s people required, but the collective obedience of every individual, without exception, of God’s command to worship him alone.

Our Passage Applied

Just as was the case with Israel, we too must worship only God alone. We cannot mix the worship of God with other religions; a bit of Buddhism on Monday, some Atheism on Tuesday, and a dash of Christianity on Sunday. God demands, and is owed as our Creator, our complete and undivided worship.

We cannot worship God in one area of our lives, or one location, and then worship another deity in another part of our lives. God is present everywhere, and so every place and every space is “before [God]”. God is entitled to, and may demand, exclusive worship over every area of every person’s life, in every location, in every time. To do anything else is treason against God.

Neither can or should we try and live our life in a “practical atheistic” way, acknowledging God with our lips but denying him with our attitude, our actions, and our lifestyle.

Instead, positively speaking, the First Commandment directs us to acknowledge God as our Maker and Sustainer. To each individually honour and acknowledge him as God over every part of our lives, offering him praise and worship for his very nature.

We should do this because he is our Creator, but also because God is our Redeemer. God, in Christ, reconciled us to him while we were sinners. God himself showed mercy to us, delivering us from slavery to sin.

Only God is “the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God” and to him we owe “honour and glory forever and ever” (1 Timothy 1:17). He alone is worthy of honour and praise, obedience and submission.

Read Exodus 20:1-21

Summary

Just about every adult in our country has probably heard of the Ten Commandments. Many probably cannot tell you what they are, but they probably describe them as a bunch of rules to obey. This may even be the case for many professing Christians, who view them as a bunch of rules the Jews had to obey, but irrelevant now Jesus is here.

The Ten Commandments are laws, yes, but they are so much more. They reveal the standard of morality God requires, and they reveal how a people freed from bondage can live a life which pleases God. 

While we cannot pass up the opportunity to look at each commandment, we must also remember the context of the Ten Commandments, the principles the commandments teach us about living with God and each other, and how the Israelites received them.

Our Passage Explained

v1

In Moses’ time, nations related to each other by treaties known as covenants, which followed a set formula. God, the Great King of the Israelites, is establishing a covenant relationship with Israel, and the Ten Commandments follow this familiar structure. 

The Commandments are the “principles” on which the rest of the Law builds (eg, later in Exodus and in Deuteronomy). They also come directly from God, because it is God who speaks these principles to Israel (v.1).

The Ten Commandments sound negative, but they are expressed in the context of a positive situation. They prohibit conduct that would affect a loving relationship with God. This is clear from the preamble which God provides.

v2-11

God reminds them of who he is. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (v.2). The God they are covenanting with is the Creator of all things, who covenanted with their ancestors, and who freed them from slavery in Egypt. 

God not only graciously made them, he graciously saved them. Therefore, his commandments help Israel avoid spoiling the “good thing” they have going! And as the Great King who rescued them and placed them in such a positive place, let alone their Maker and Sustainer, God is perfectly entitled to set the terms of the relationship!

The commandments which follow broadly fall into two categories. The first category, the first four commandments, cover the relationship between them and God. They ban idolatry and require the strict worship of only God (v.3). They ban images of God; because God must reveal himself and be worshiped as he is, instead of being imagined and pictured as if he is part of Creation (vv.4-6).

Nor may Israel misuse God’s name for false worship, speaking blasphemy, or treating God like some cosmic servant who acts on demand (v.7). Instead, they must revere God, and worship him as he requires. This includes patterning their lives after God, and setting aside the Sabbath for rest and worship of God like God did at Creation (vv.8-11).

v12-21

The second category of commandments cover how they should treat others. Children should honour their parents (v.12), as families are the bedrock of a healthily functioning society. Nor should they commit murder, adultery, steal, or make untrue statements about others (vv.13-16). Finally, they must respect the possessions of others (v.17), instead being content with what God chose to give them.

The announcement of the Ten Commandments, along with the terrifying thunder and fire that accompanied God’s presence, left the Israelites in fear (v.18). They retreated from Mount Sinai, begging Moses to mediate for them (v.19). Moses, before going up to God, told the Israelites that God’s terrifying presence was to give them such a taste of his power and glory that they would not sin (vv.20-21).

Our Passage Applied

As we reflect on this passage, we must recognise first of all that these are God’s very words spoken. They are not abstract principles from a legal textbook, but the expression of God’s moral will. Since they reveal God’s moral standard, they have continued relevance to us all, even though revealed at a particular time and place.

The Commandments reveal our sin to us, because we cannot come into God’s presence and not see our sin. They show us how we fail to love God, and to love each other. But the Commandments also help drive us to Christ. Jesus uniquely met the standard God requires, and suffered the punishment for our sins, to free us from bondage to sin.

We should also recognise that the Ten Commandments are given in the context of privilege. The Israelites were redeemed from bondage to serve God, and blessed with relationship with him. Likewise, as we approach the Commandments, they not only reveal God’s standards but do so in a context of great blessing, having received forgiveness for our sins through Jesus Christ.

The Ten Commandments for us are not a spoilsport list of no-nos, but God’s revelation to help us live thankful lives. When we see the Law by Christ fulfilled, and hear his pardoning voice, it changes us from slaves to God’s children, and duty into choice.

Image: Moses Breaking The Tablets Of The Law (1659) By Rembrandt (1606-1699)

Read Exodus 19:9-25

Summary

When I was younger I had the opportunity to attend Government House to receive my Boys’ Brigade Queen’s Badge from the Governor-General. Because the Governor-General is the Queen’s representative in New Zealand, everybody who attended had to dress nicely, observe protocols (standing, showing respect for the office, etc), and behave appropriately!

God, the Israelites’ divine King, was coming to visit his people at Sinai. They needed to prepare themselves for his arrival, getting spiritually ready for that special day when God would descend and speak through Moses to them. While God appeared to Israel in the cloud, he has come to us in the person of Jesus, so we too can approach God, spiritually ready.

Our Passage Explained

V9-11

After the Israelites committed themselves to entering into a covenant relationship with God, where he would be their covenant king, Moses went to report this to God (v.8). But before he could do so, God told him he would authenticate Moses’ role as God’s appointed leader by appearing in “a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever” (v.9).

In response to the people’s commitment, God instructs them to prepare for his arrival. They are to “consecrate them[selves] today and tomorrow, and … wash their garments and be ready for the third day” when he would appear (vv.10-11). They were to make themselves ready for God’s appearance. The outward washing of garments was symbolic of an inner cleansing, as they prepared spiritually.

v12-16

Moses was also to ensure the right protocols and behaviour. The Israelites were not to touch the mountain which would become holy through God’s presence, either by accident or a disrespectful desire for a closer meeting, which would lead to their death (vv.12-13). God is holy and cannot be approached sinfully or irreverently.

After these instructions are given to Moses, he relays them to the Israelites who ready themselves physically and spiritually for God’s arrival (v.14). They also abstained from intimate relations (v.15), as this made them ritually unclean to participate in the special occasion (Lev. 15 contains these rules as an ongoing part of their religious worship).

On the third day, God appeared to the Israelites in “cloud and majesty and awe” (as we sing in my favourite Christmas Carol; O Come, O Come, Emmanuel). God’s awesome holiness and majesty is declared as his presence was accompanied by “thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast” that left the people visibly shaking (v.16).

v17-25

Moses led the people to the edge of the mountain to meet God (v.17). Meanwhile, Creation itself struggles to react to its Creator’s presence, as God descends on it in fire (representing his purity and power) and smoke billows everywhere and noises grow louder (vv.18-19), before God finally rests on the top of the mountain to which he calls up Moses (v.20).

God tells Moses to remind Israel not to approach him, because in his holiness and their sinfulness there is a barrier of unapproachable holiness and majesty (v.21). Even those who had offered sacrifices to God must prepare themselves properly for entering God’s presence (v.22).

Despite Moses’ insistence that his earlier warnings were enough, God knows better and insists that Moses again descend the mountain and warn the people (vv.23-4). God’s holiness and majesty is important, and so too is respecting his commands and behaving reverently towards him. Moses obeyed God’s command (v.25), reminding the Israelites of how they should behave.

Our Passage Applied

When God descended to Sinai, the people saw him in majesty and awe. It taught them, as it teaches us, that God is holy, immortal, and dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16). Nobody can see God, and even Creation struggles to express his wonder and purity to us.

Because of God’s wonder and glory, our approach to worship of him must be respectful and reverent, and as he commands. God is holy and a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29), and we must worship him with respect.

But unlike the Israelites who trembled at the foot of the mountain, we can boldly come into God’s presence to worship and praise him because God descended again to dwell with his people, not in “cloud and majesty and awe” but as a tender baby boy, Jesus Christ (John 1:14). 

Jesus’ life and atoning death on the Cross cleanses us from all sin and impurity, as we receive him by faith. Clothed in Christ’s righteousness, we can enter God’s presence to praise and commune with him. God’s Holy Spirit continues to spiritually cleanse our lives, making us what he has declared us, in Christ, to be – holy.

Therefore, we approach Mount Zion, the heavenly city, to worship God and enjoy his presence (Heb. 12:22-28). We approach a mountain which does not shake like Mount Sinai, and will not be shaken when God returns in majesty and awe at the Last Day. We are made spiritually ready, prepared for entering the presence of our Divine King.

Read Exodus 19:1-8

Summary

God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt, and led them out into the wilderness. There, he fed and protected them, leading them on the way. But for what reason? And would God at some point leave them to their own devices, or did he have a plan and a purpose for them? Does he have a plan and a purpose for us?

In this passage, God’s people arrive at Mount Sinai, where God will arrive in all his divine glory. There, the God who chose them and rescued them from slavery in Egypt will enter into a covenant (or treaty) with them, establishing his reign over them as their Great King.

Our Passage Explained

v1-3

Firstly, this passage records God’s People entering the place of God’s special presence. God exists everywhere (he “transcends” Creation), and God has been with the Israelites on the road from Egypt. But Sinai is a special place of God’s presence, where he will particularly make himself known to the locals.

So we read that on the third new moon after they left Egypt, “on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai” (v.1). Their time of moving through the wilderness areas after leaving Egypt ended, and they settled in a camp at the foot of Mount Sinai (v.2). 

When Moses first set foot on Sinai, God promised that Moses “shall serve God on this mountain” (3:12), and so Moses fulfilled this promise as he “went up to God” while Israel encamped before Sinai (vv.2-3).

In God’s presence, Moses hears God proclaim the Israelites as his people, and his intention to reign as their Great King. Moses is told to relay God’s message, bringing the terms of a Great King to the subjects he has rescued (v.3).

v4-5

God’s treaty starts with a preamble which establishes the relationship between them and him. “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (v.4).

God reminds the Israelites of his rescue of them from Egypt, after single-handedly defeating Pharaoh and his armies. He also reminds them of his tender care for them in the wilderness, providing them with direction, with protection, with water, manna to eat, and the initial instructions of holy living.

All God’s deliverance, protection, and provision is to bring them to himself. They were redeemed with purpose, to a purpose. God has a purpose for their existence which far exceeds that of brickmakers to Pharaoh.

v6-8

That purpose is to be God’s people, his possession. God will set the terms of the relationship, a series of laws which reflect God’s character and the standard to which we are all held to account. It is what the Israelites were redeemed for, a covenant relationship with God. Enjoyment of the blessings relies on their obedience to his commands (v.5), but it comes because God has redeemed them already!

If the Israelites hear God’s voice and obey his reign, they will enjoy God’s covenant blessings. The first is that “you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine” (v.5). Of all the nations living, big and small, God chose the Israelites as the vessel of divine blessing on all the earth. They are treasured, like a child’s favourite soft toy or a person’s priceless possession.

Secondly, they “shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (v.6). As the vessel of divine blessing, Israel will preserve the true religion of God and the sacrificial system which points forward to their greatest contribution: providing the Messiah, Jesus. They will remain distinct from the pagan nations around, so that the pagans themselves will turn to God in faith.

Moses takes these words to the people. The elders of Israel, on all their behalf, commit to being God’s people under God’s reign, there in God’s presence (vv.7-8). The details will come later, but the redeemed people are now to take up a new role.

Our Passage Applied

Sadly, as the rest of Scripture teaches us, the Israelites did not live up to the standard set. But despite that, God still kept a remnant who remained faithful, and in due time Christ came to redeem us from our sins.

From that remnant, God is now building his Kingdom on earth, represented by the Church. God brings people from all nations and sets them apart, to be his kingdom of priests and a holy nation, distinct worshipers of God amongst the unbelieving world (1 Peter 2:9). 

We are God’s possession, chosen by him to serve him and call others to worship God too, because we have been redeemed by God. We do not serve to earn our salvation, we serve because we have received salvation.

The Church today is God’s people, enjoying God’s presence (through the Holy Spirit), under God’s reign. Like Israel, we have been redeemed into a covenant relationship, a possession for a special purpose. One day we will know even more fully the joy of being God’s People, in God’s Presence, under God’s Reign.

Image: View of Mount Sinai by Edward Lear (1812-1888)