By Ben W. Curtis
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Tracy City
Focal Passage: Exodus 20:1-17
After rescuing His people out of slavery in Egypt through great signs and wonders, God brings the nation of Israel to the mountain of the burning bush, which is now completely encompassed by smoke, thunder, and lightning (Exodus 19:16). Moses has warned that anyone who touches this mountain will die and boundaries have been set up (Exodus 19:21-25). In this climactic moment, God speaks: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Exodus 20:1-2). Having purchased and claimed His people as His own, this is how He wants them to live.
The first group of commands teaches us that God redeems so that His people will honor Him. First, He redeems His people for Himself and away from idols (vv. 3-6). No created image can ever displace or represent God. The unseen God is to be our only source of deliverance. Second, God redeems His people for the glory of His name (v. 7). To use His name as an expression of surprise or frustration, or to live in a way that contradicts His character is to take something that is holy and treat it as common. Third, He redeems so that His people can enjoy rest (vv. 8-10). After 400 years of slavery, think of the emotion Israel must have felt when God told them to rest one day out of seven. There are several positions on how the Sabbath relates to us as believers, and sometimes these are hotly debated. Let’s follow Paul’s advice and allow each person to “be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5-6). Regardless of which position you hold, God expects His people to find rest in His provision.
The second group of commands emphasizes our call to reflect God’s love to one another. First, God expects His redeemed people to honor their parents (Exodus 20:12). He hates the disrespectful attitudes and sins of children toward their parents and counts it as an assault on His own authority (Ephesians 6:1). Second, His redeemed people are not to take things from their neighbors. If the Lord is our God, we will not take another person’s life (Exodus 20:13; Matthew 5:22; James 4:1-2), we will not take another person’s spouse (Exodus 20:14; Matthew 5:28), and we will not take another person’s property (Exodus 20: 15), and we will not take another person’s reputation and possibly their freedom (v. 16). Finally, God redeems His people so that they will be content (v. 17). Like the first commandment, this command is a heart attitude that helps us not to break the previous commandments.
In the New Testament, there is another gathering of trembling believers who experience the fire of God’s presence. This time there are no boundaries as God’s mountain of fire comes to each individual Christian (Acts 2:1-4). This time He writes His law on their hearts instead of tablets of stone (Jeremiah 31:33). The same divine presence which drove the Israelites away in fear gives New Testament believers assurance that we are no longer slaves (Romans 8:15-16). Jesus Christ perfectly obeyed each one of God’s commands, placing His record over ours so that we can come boldly into God’s presence (Hebrews 4:16). “Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).
