Thunder from Sinai
Today many concepts about God abound, most of them individually conceived in our own minds according to our own liking. When people stop worshipping the true God, they do not stop worshipping; it is just that they change the object of their worship. Thus, we live in a day of many gods; people are free to believe in whatever god they wish and many are taking full advantage of their freedom. No one, it seems, has the presence of mind to ask: is your belief true? Does the god you worship actually correspond to the God that exists? Moses, who spent 40 days on the top of Mount Sinai, would say that if your belief does not affect the way you live, you have believed in the wrong god! If there is no need to tremble in the presence of your god, then you can be sure that you are standing before an idol of your own making.
"Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace..." (Exodus 19:18). There, on the top of this quaking mountain, the Lord gave the Ten Commandments. He let it be known that He is a God whose standards are based on His own nature, a God who demands strict obedience, a God who must have a proper sacrifice in order to be appeased.
What did Moses and Aaron learn about God in this terrifying and humiliating experience?
God's Holiness was Revealed
Holiness means otherness. It means that God goes beyond all that we are able to imagine. God insisted that everyone step back from the mountain. Indeed, if an animal or man touched Sinai, they were not to be retrieved, but from a distance shot through with an arrow or stoned (Exodus 19:12, 13).
This physical distance symbolized the moral and spiritual distance between man and God. God was saying, "Stay back or be killed!" Mankind is decidedly unholy.
Later in Israel's history, two priests named Nadab and Abihu went into the tabernacle and were instantly struck down because they offered "strange fire" unto the Lord (Leviticus 10:1, 2). Apparently they didn't think that their violation was serious. Sure, they didn't follow procedures, but everyone has his own rules and serves God in his own way.
Uzzah, you might recall, was also struck down by God when he touched the ark of God while trying to prevent it from toppling to the ground during its return to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:6, 7). This wooden chest, which symbolized the presence of God, had been put on a new cart pulled by oxen rather than being carried as God had proscribed: on poles, through rings, carried by priests (Exodus 25:10-15). It was not to be touched by the hands of sinful man. God had proscribed the necessary procedure, but Uzzah, believed his good intentions sufficient to break the rules. He believed the soil of the earth to be more offensive than his sinful hands. He found out differently.
Did God overreact? No. When He gives clear commands He expects them to be followed-followed without discussion, without explanation. And God has not mellowed over time. He is the same yesterday and today, yes, and forever. The old liberal notion, that the God of the Old Testament is angry, whereas the God of the New Testament is loving, finds no support in Scripture. Many passages in the New Testament, particularly in the book of Revelation, contain terrifying pictures of the Almighty judging the earth.
We can approach Him without fear only because Christ has come; His blood provides the means by which we are able to come into His presence. His standards have not been lowered, His attitude toward sin remains unchanged. The author of Hebrews points out that there are two mountains, Sinai and Calvary. At Sinai the law was given, declaring us to be sinners. At Calvary, Someone took our place that we might be freed from the demands of the law. That does not mean that we become lawbreakers; it simply means that Christ meets our requirements for us. Now, already having accepted His grace, we keep the law as best we can with God's strength and power.
But along with these greater privileges come greater responsibilities. "See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven" (Hebrews 12:25). God's patience is often misinterpreted as God's leniency. The God of Sinai is the God of Calvary.
Imagine the audacity of those who presume to come into God's presence without a mediator, without a prescribed sacrifice and without blood. This Modern Age claims that anyone can approach God in his or her own way. "God can be found in all the different religions of the world" we are told. I don't imagine such insults were uttered by the people when Sinai shook and lightning and thunder came from heaven.
Our age is one of rampant idolatry. God is refashioned to fit our attitudes and expectations. Thus, some people think that God can be contacted through angels; others think that He can be accessed through mediums or meditation. But apart from the right sacrifice, everyone who approaches the Almighty will be turned away, no matter how sincere they might be.
At Sinai God's holiness was on display.
God's Expectations were Revealed
Now that God had the attention of His people, He revealed the Ten Commandments. These moral laws reflect God's own character. As we shall see, He began with, "You shall not have other gods before Me." What follows is the behavior He prescribes for His people, Israel.
There is a story about a boy who broke an antique vase his father asked him not to touch. There was little remorse on the boy's face as it lay shattered on the floor. The reason for his indifference is that he thought it was worth but a few dollars. When it was explained to him, that it was worth $25,000, the enormity of his disobedience became clear.
As long as we don't see ourselves as "commandment breakers", we think that our offense against God is not very great. We compare ourselves to others, thinking that we are at least as good as they or not as bad as still others. Sure, we have our weaknesses; we have our faults. We might even have our "sins", but these can be quite easily overlooked.
But when we truly see God for the truly Awesome and Holy God that He is, everything changes; every rationalization, every comparison fades into oblivion. Suddenly we are overwhelmed with the realization that we have flaunted His laws and spurned His holiness. We are brought low with the prophet Isaiah who cried out, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5).
A businessman called his pastor and was sobbing so violently that the pastor thought for certain that tragedy had befallen the family. As the pastor stood in the man's office, he was slumped over his desk, crying to God for mercy. When the man regained his composure, he said, "God has just shown me my heart and it was as if I were looking into the pit of hell."
What had this man done that was so wicked? He had adjusted some expense accounts in his favor, a small infraction done routinely by businessmen. But in the presence of God, even small sins become great ones. The size of our God determines the size of our sins.
According to one survey, only 13% of Americans believe in all ten of the Ten Commandments. Perhaps as many as 50% believe in five of the ten, and his right to pick and choose those to which he would be held accountable. Ted Koppel says that most people think God said, "Here are the Ten Suggestions." Clearly, we are witnessing a catastrophic moral breakdown, and the results are all around us.
We must return to Sinai. Here we shall see that the Ten Commandments are not optional; we have no right to decide which of God's laws we will keep and which we will disregard. In the presence of God, discussions about right and wrong come to an end. In His presence, all that we can do is to agree completely with our Creator. Then, and only then, will we flee to Christ for refuge; we will seek Him to save us, because we will know how lost we really are.
This booklet is offered with the hope that we will return to God's laws so that we will better understand how truly bad off we are. We must understand the law before can understand grace. We must know we are lost before we are saved; and God quickens us so that we might know that we've been dead before we are made alive.
Let us listen to what God has to say!
Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer
Today many concepts about God abound, most of them individually conceived in our own minds according to our own liking. When people stop worshipping the true God, they do not stop worshipping; it is just that they change the object of their worship. Thus, we live in a day of many gods; people are free to believe in whatever god they wish and many are taking full advantage of their freedom. No one, it seems, has the presence of mind to ask: is your belief true? Does the god you worship actually correspond to the God that exists? Moses, who spent 40 days on the top of Mount Sinai, would say that if your belief does not affect the way you live, you have believed in the wrong god! If there is no need to tremble in the presence of your god, then you can be sure that you are standing before an idol of your own making.
"Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace..." (Exodus 19:18). There, on the top of this quaking mountain, the Lord gave the Ten Commandments. He let it be known that He is a God whose standards are based on His own nature, a God who demands strict obedience, a God who must have a proper sacrifice in order to be appeased.
What did Moses and Aaron learn about God in this terrifying and humiliating experience?
God's Holiness was Revealed
Holiness means otherness. It means that God goes beyond all that we are able to imagine. God insisted that everyone step back from the mountain. Indeed, if an animal or man touched Sinai, they were not to be retrieved, but from a distance shot through with an arrow or stoned (Exodus 19:12, 13).
This physical distance symbolized the moral and spiritual distance between man and God. God was saying, "Stay back or be killed!" Mankind is decidedly unholy.
Later in Israel's history, two priests named Nadab and Abihu went into the tabernacle and were instantly struck down because they offered "strange fire" unto the Lord (Leviticus 10:1, 2). Apparently they didn't think that their violation was serious. Sure, they didn't follow procedures, but everyone has his own rules and serves God in his own way.
Uzzah, you might recall, was also struck down by God when he touched the ark of God while trying to prevent it from toppling to the ground during its return to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:6, 7). This wooden chest, which symbolized the presence of God, had been put on a new cart pulled by oxen rather than being carried as God had proscribed: on poles, through rings, carried by priests (Exodus 25:10-15). It was not to be touched by the hands of sinful man. God had proscribed the necessary procedure, but Uzzah, believed his good intentions sufficient to break the rules. He believed the soil of the earth to be more offensive than his sinful hands. He found out differently.
Did God overreact? No. When He gives clear commands He expects them to be followed-followed without discussion, without explanation. And God has not mellowed over time. He is the same yesterday and today, yes, and forever. The old liberal notion, that the God of the Old Testament is angry, whereas the God of the New Testament is loving, finds no support in Scripture. Many passages in the New Testament, particularly in the book of Revelation, contain terrifying pictures of the Almighty judging the earth.
We can approach Him without fear only because Christ has come; His blood provides the means by which we are able to come into His presence. His standards have not been lowered, His attitude toward sin remains unchanged. The author of Hebrews points out that there are two mountains, Sinai and Calvary. At Sinai the law was given, declaring us to be sinners. At Calvary, Someone took our place that we might be freed from the demands of the law. That does not mean that we become lawbreakers; it simply means that Christ meets our requirements for us. Now, already having accepted His grace, we keep the law as best we can with God's strength and power.
But along with these greater privileges come greater responsibilities. "See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven" (Hebrews 12:25). God's patience is often misinterpreted as God's leniency. The God of Sinai is the God of Calvary.
Imagine the audacity of those who presume to come into God's presence without a mediator, without a prescribed sacrifice and without blood. This Modern Age claims that anyone can approach God in his or her own way. "God can be found in all the different religions of the world" we are told. I don't imagine such insults were uttered by the people when Sinai shook and lightning and thunder came from heaven.
Our age is one of rampant idolatry. God is refashioned to fit our attitudes and expectations. Thus, some people think that God can be contacted through angels; others think that He can be accessed through mediums or meditation. But apart from the right sacrifice, everyone who approaches the Almighty will be turned away, no matter how sincere they might be.
At Sinai God's holiness was on display.
God's Expectations were Revealed
Now that God had the attention of His people, He revealed the Ten Commandments. These moral laws reflect God's own character. As we shall see, He began with, "You shall not have other gods before Me." What follows is the behavior He prescribes for His people, Israel.
There is a story about a boy who broke an antique vase his father asked him not to touch. There was little remorse on the boy's face as it lay shattered on the floor. The reason for his indifference is that he thought it was worth but a few dollars. When it was explained to him, that it was worth $25,000, the enormity of his disobedience became clear.
As long as we don't see ourselves as "commandment breakers", we think that our offense against God is not very great. We compare ourselves to others, thinking that we are at least as good as they or not as bad as still others. Sure, we have our weaknesses; we have our faults. We might even have our "sins", but these can be quite easily overlooked.
But when we truly see God for the truly Awesome and Holy God that He is, everything changes; every rationalization, every comparison fades into oblivion. Suddenly we are overwhelmed with the realization that we have flaunted His laws and spurned His holiness. We are brought low with the prophet Isaiah who cried out, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5).
A businessman called his pastor and was sobbing so violently that the pastor thought for certain that tragedy had befallen the family. As the pastor stood in the man's office, he was slumped over his desk, crying to God for mercy. When the man regained his composure, he said, "God has just shown me my heart and it was as if I were looking into the pit of hell."
What had this man done that was so wicked? He had adjusted some expense accounts in his favor, a small infraction done routinely by businessmen. But in the presence of God, even small sins become great ones. The size of our God determines the size of our sins.
According to one survey, only 13% of Americans believe in all ten of the Ten Commandments. Perhaps as many as 50% believe in five of the ten, and his right to pick and choose those to which he would be held accountable. Ted Koppel says that most people think God said, "Here are the Ten Suggestions." Clearly, we are witnessing a catastrophic moral breakdown, and the results are all around us.
We must return to Sinai. Here we shall see that the Ten Commandments are not optional; we have no right to decide which of God's laws we will keep and which we will disregard. In the presence of God, discussions about right and wrong come to an end. In His presence, all that we can do is to agree completely with our Creator. Then, and only then, will we flee to Christ for refuge; we will seek Him to save us, because we will know how lost we really are.
This booklet is offered with the hope that we will return to God's laws so that we will better understand how truly bad off we are. We must understand the law before can understand grace. We must know we are lost before we are saved; and God quickens us so that we might know that we've been dead before we are made alive.
Let us listen to what God has to say!
Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer
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