Three months after leaving Egypt, the Israelites arrive at Sinai. The mountain where Moses saw the burning bush. The mountain God named as the place where He would be worshipped. They have come full circle from the burning bush where God called one man, to the thundering mountain where He speaks to a nation.
Three months after leaving Egypt, the Israelites arrive at Sinai. The mountain where Moses saw the burning bush. The mountain God named as the place where He would be worshipped. They have come full circle from the burning bush where God called one man, to the thundering mountain where He speaks to a nation.
God tells Moses to bring this message to the people: you yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. A kingdom of priests. A holy nation.
Before the commandments come the carrying. Before the law comes the rescue. God does not say: obey and I will love you. He says: I already carried you here. I already chose you. Now here is how to live in light of that. Grace precedes law. It always has.
The mountain begins to smoke. Thunder. Lightning. A thick cloud. A trumpet blast so loud the people tremble. Mount Sinai was covered in smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire. The whole mountain shook violently. And God spoke.
— The people asked Moses to speak to them instead. They were afraid that if God spoke directly they would die. And God honoured the request. He did not force proximity. He has always respected the distance people need while gently working to close it.
The Ten Commandments come in Exodus 20. But before we rush through them as a list, notice the first word of the first commandment: I. Not a rule. A person. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. The commandments are grounded in relationship. In history. In what God has already done. He is not issuing abstract moral principles. He is telling a people who He is and therefore how they should live.
The Ten Commandments are not ten ways to earn God’s favour. They are ten ways to honour a God who has already shown it. The commandments describe the shape of a life that has been rescued. They are the response to grace, not the road to it.
Raising altars of prayer, worship and the Word across the nations.
