Freedom is Good News Part 104
/It appears that God wanted us to know how important the 10 commandments were and so He caused them to be written completely in two separate books of the bible. We find them first in the 20th chapter of Exodus. The time line for this is shortly after the Israelites came to Mount Sinai after crossing the Red Sea.
The build up to the event of God speaking these commands, is given to us in chapter 19.
God tells Moses, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the sons of Israel: 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. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
God had great plans for the people of Israel but as we know, they turned from God and broke His covenant. This 19th chapter is a very beautiful story of God calling His people to meet with Him and so hear Him speak all these words. Listen to the description of this meeting: “On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. … Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it … the whole mountain trembled violently and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder.” Yes, the presence of God is an awesome thing!!
God Himself spoke all the words of the 10 commandments in the hearing of the people. Moses wrote down all the words for us to read and learn from but he also re-wrote them in the book of Deuteronomy. We find them, with only a very small variation, in Deuteronomy 5.
Last article, we took a look at the first commandment and considered why it is the most important one. “You shall have no other gods before me.” So we know that God doesn’t want us to worship anything or anyone beside Him. The second commandment follows with God stating that even if you do not have another god, He does not want us worshiping Him by trying to create an image. We just read a part of what it was like when God went to meet with the children of Israel; how could anyone believe that they might capture the might and awe and splendor and glory of the Creator God by making a statue of Him?
Do you think you have a picture in your mind of what God looks like? I must say, get rid of it. Our small minds with their finite capabilities cannot create an image of the God who is life itself, the God who dwells in unapproachable light, the God who is an all-consuming fire. If we create an image of God in our minds we are breaking this second commandment. We find this one in Exodus 20:4-6. Let us worship God as He would have us worship Him. It is not about us and what we want. Rather it is about Him and what He wants!