Exodus part 2 The LORD said to Moses

Exodus, part 2

• “The LORD said to Moses, ‘I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will believe you from now on…Go to the people and tell them to spend today and tomorrow purifying themselves for worship. They must wash their clothes and be ready the day after tomorrow. On that day I will come down on Mount Sinai, where all the people can see me. Mark a boundary around the mountain that the people must not cross, and tell them not to go up the mountain or even get near it. If any of you set foot on it, you are to be put to death; you must either be stoned or shot with arrows, without anyone touching you. This applies to both people and animals; they must be put to death. But when the trumpet is blown, then the people are to go up to the mountain. ’ Then Moses came down the mountain and told the people to get ready for worship. So they washed their clothes, and Moses told them, ‘Be ready by the day after tomorrow and don't have sexual intercourse in the meantime. ’”

• “On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud appeared on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled with fear. Moses led them out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD had come down on it in fire. The smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and all the people trembled violently. The sound of the trumpet became louder and louder. Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder. The LORD came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. ”

• “So Moses climbed the mountain. Then the LORD told Moses, ‘Go back down and warn the people not to break through the boundaries to see the LORD, or they will die. Even the priests who regularly come near to the LORD must purify themselves so that the LORD does not break out and destroy them. ’ ‘But LORD, ’ Moses protested, ‘the people cannot come up to Mount Sinai. You already warned us. You told me, 'Mark off a boundary all around the mountain to set it apart as holy. ' But the LORD said, ‘Go down and bring Aaron back up with you. In the meantime, do not let the priests or the people break through to approach the LORD, or He will break out and destroy them. ’ So Moses went down to the people and told them what the LORD had said. ” (Exodus 19: 9 -25)

q“The LORD said to Moses, ‘I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will believe you from now on. ’”

• “When the people heard the thunder and the trumpet blast and saw the lightning and the smoking mountain, they trembled with fear and stood a long way off. They said to Moses, ‘If you speak to us, we will listen; but we are afraid that if God speaks to us, we will die. ’ Moses replied, ‘Don’t be afraid; God has only come to test you and make you keep on obeying him, so that you will not sin. ’” (Exodus 20: 18 -20)

• “As wax melts in front of the fire, so do the wicked perish in his presence. But the righteous are glad and rejoice in his presence; they are happy and shout for joy. ” (Psalms 68: 2 – GN)

• “When the whole mountain was on fire and you heard the voice from the darkness, your leaders and the chiefs of your tribes came to me and said, ‘The LORD our God showed us his greatness and his glory when we heard him speak from the fire! Today we have seen that it is possible for people to continue to live, even though God has spoken to them. But why should we risk death again? That terrible fire will destroy us. We are sure to die if we hear the LORD our God speak again. Has any human being ever lived after hearing the living God speak from a fire? Go back, Moses, and listen to everything that the LORD our God says. Then return and tell us what he said to you. We will listen and obey. ’”

• “When the LORD heard this, he said to me, ‘I have heard what these people said, and they are right. If only they would always feel this way! If only they would always honor me and obey all my commands, so that everything would go well with them and their descendants forever. Go and tell them to return to their tents. But you, Moses, stay here with me, and I will give you all my laws and commands. Teach them to the people, so that they will obey them in the land that I am giving them. ’” (Deuteronomy 5: 23 -31)

• “There on the mountain the Lord spoke to you face-to-face from the fire. I stood between you and the Lord at that time to tell you what he said, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain” (Deuteronomy 5: 4, 5) • “I stood as an intermediary between you and the LORD. ” (NLT) • “I was the mediator and stood between the Lord and you at that time” (Douay-Rheims Bible).

Intercession v. Did someone need to intercede between Moses and God? • “He sees me face to face, and everything I say to him is perfectly clear. ” (Numbers 12: 8 – CEV) • “The LORD would speak with Moses face-toface, just as someone speaks with a friend. ” (Exodus 33: 11 – GN)

Intercession – “Forgive then, Father! They don’t know what they are doing. ” (Luke 23: 34 – GN) – “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”; “The Father and I are one”; “He reflects the brightness of God’s glory and is the exact likeness of God’s own being” (John 14: 26; John 10: 30; Hebrews 1: 3).

Intercession v“That is why he is always able to save those who come to God through him. He can do this because he always lives and intercedes for them. ” (Hebrews 7: 25 – GOD’S Word) v“At the same time the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we don’t know how to pray for what we need. But the Spirit intercedes along with our groans that cannot be expressed in words. ” (Romans 8: 26 – GOD’S Word) v“I am writing this to you, my children, so that you will not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have someone who pleads with the Father on our behalf—Jesus Christ, the righteous one” (1 John 2: 1)

– “In view of all this, what can we say? If God is for us, who can be against us? Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son—will he not also freely give us all things? Who will accuse God’s chosen people? God himself declares them not guilty! Who, then, will condemn them? Not Christ Jesus, who died, or rather, who was raised to life and is at the right side of God, pleading with him for us!” (Romans 8: 31 -34 GN) – “For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below---there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord. ” (Romans 8: 38, 39 – GN)

• “I have told you these things in parables (veiled language, allegories, dark sayings); the hour is now coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but I shall tell you about the Father in plain words and openly (without reserve). ” (John 16: 25 - Amplified) • “I have used examples to illustrate these things. The time is coming when I won’t use examples to speak to you. Rather, I will speak to you about the Father in plain words. ” (GODS WORD) • “I’ve used figures of speech in telling you these things. Soon I’ll drop the figures and tell you about the Father in plain language. ” (The Message)

• “I have been speaking to you in parables - but the time is coming to give up parables and tell you plainly about the Father. When that time comes, you will make your requests to him in my own name, for I need make no promise to plead to the Father for you… • for the Father himself loves you…” (John 16: 2530, JB Phillips). • “…and I do not promise to intercede with the Father for you, for the Father loves you himself…” (Goodspeed)

• “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace…” (Hebrews 4: 16, NLT).

The 10 Commandments • “Worship no god but me. • Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the LORD your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation. But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws. • Do not use my name for evil purposes, for I, the LORD your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name. • Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. You have six days in which to do your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work---neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country. In six days I, the LORD, made the earth, the sky, the seas, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the LORD, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy.

The 10 Commandments • Respect your father and your mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you. • Do not commit murder. • Do not commit adultery. • Do not steal. • Do not accuse anyone falsely. • Do not desire another man’s house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns. ” (Exodus 20: 3 -17 - GN)

Ø“We know that the Law is good if it is used as it should be used. It must be remembered, of course, that laws are made, not for good people, but for lawbreakers and criminals, for the godless and sinful, for those who are not religious or spiritual, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the immoral, for sexual perverts, for kidnappers, for those who lie and give false testimony or who do anything else contrary to sound doctrine. ” (1 Timothy 1: 8 -10 - GN)

• “What, then, was the purpose of the Law? It was added in order to show what wrongdoing is…” (Galatians 3: 19 - GN). • “The law was added because we needed it when we were such rebels. Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith (trust) to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law…. ” (Galatians 3: 23 -26, The Message).

• “I did this, because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, profaned the Sabbath, and worshiped the same idols their ancestors had served. Then I gave them laws that are not good and commands that do not bring life” (Ezekiel 20: 24, 25 – GN)

• “Whoever hits his father or his mother is to be put to death…whoever curses his father or his mother is to be put to death” (Exodus 21: 15, 17 – GN) • “Put to death any woman who practices magic. Put to death anyone who has sexual relations with an animal. Condemn to death anyone who offers sacrifices to any god except me, the LORD” (Exodus 22: 18 -20 – GN) • “Do not have sexual intercourse with any of your relatives. Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother. You must not disgrace your own mother…No man or woman is to have sexual relations with an animal; that perversion makes you ritually unclean” (Leviticus 18: 7, 23 - GN) • Leviticus 15

• “Do not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother’s milk” (Exodus 23: 19 – GN) • “Weave the tunic of fine linen. Make the turban of fine linen. The sash will be the work of an embroiderer. Make tunics, sashes, and hats for Aaron’s sons to express glory and beauty. Dress your brother Aaron and his sons in them. Anoint, ordain, and consecrate them to serve me as priests. Make linen underwear to cover their nakedness from waist to thigh. (Exodus 28: 39 -42 – The Message) • “If you use stones to make my Altar, don’t use dressed stones. If you use a chisel on the stones you’ll profane the Altar. Don’t use steps to climb to my Altar because that will expose your nakedness. ” (Exodus 20: 25, 26 – The Message)

• “Jesus answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ’ This is the greatest and the most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself. ’” (Matthew 22: 37 -39 – GN) – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6: 5). “Do not mistreat foreigners who are living in your land. Treat them as you would an Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves” (Leviticus 19: 3, 4). – “If you happen to see your enemy’s cow or donkey running loose, take it back to him. If his donkey has fallen under its load, help him get the donkey to its feet again; don’t just walk off” (Exodus 23: 4, 5). – “If you lend money to any of my people who are poor, do not act like a moneylender and require him to pay interest” (Exodus 22: 25 – GN)

• “Don’t pass on malicious gossip. Don’t link up with a wicked person and give corrupt testimony. Don’t go along with the crowd in doing evil and don’t fudge your testimony in a case just to please the crowd. And just because someone is poor, don’t show favoritism in a dispute. ” (Exodus 23: 1 -3 – The Message) • “Do not mistreat a foreigner; you know how it feels to be a foreigner, because you were foreigners in Egypt” (Exodus 23: 9 – GN)

• “Be under obligation to no one---the only obligation you have is to love one another. Whoever does this has obeyed the Law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not desire what belongs to someone else’---all these, and any others besides, are summed up in the one command, ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself. ’ If you love others, you will never do them wrong; to love, then, is to obey the whole Law. ” (Romans 13: 8 -10 – GN)

• “And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples. ” (John 13: 34, 35 – GN)

LOVE GOD AND MAN 10 Commandments Many Commands given for a specific time

• “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Hurry and go back down, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have sinned and rejected me. They have already left the way that I commanded them to follow; they have made a bull-calf out of melted gold and have worshiped it and offered sacrifices to it. They are saying that this is their god, who led them out of Egypt. I know how stubborn these people are. Now, don’t try to stop me. I am angry with them, and I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you and your descendants into a great nation’” (Exodus 32: 7 -10).

• “The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people, a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests” (Exodus 19: 5, 6).

• “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Hurry and go back down, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have sinned and rejected me. They have already left the way that I commanded them to follow; they have made a bull-calf out of melted gold and have worshiped it and offered sacrifices to it. They are saying that this is their god, who led them out of Egypt. I know how stubborn these people are. Now, don't try to stop me. I am angry with them, and I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you and your descendants into a great nation’” (Exodus 32: 7 -10 – GN).

• “But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God and said, ‘Lord, why should you be so angry with your people, whom you rescued from Egypt with great might and power? Why should the Egyptians be able to say that you led your people out of Egypt, planning to kill them in the mountains and destroy them completely? Stop being angry; change your mind and do not bring this disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Remember the solemn promise you made to them to give them as many descendants as there are stars in the sky and to give their descendants all that land you promised would be their possession forever. ’ So the Lord changed his mind and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened” (Exodus 32: 11 -14 – GN).

v“Please forgive their sin; but if you won’t, then remove my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people” (Exodus 32: 32 – GN)