Moses Receives the Commandments

After the Hebrews ran away in fear, Moses raced back to the camp. “Why did you run away while God was speaking?” Moses asked.

"The mountain began to shake and then there was all that thunder and lightning! We were scared to death!” They answered.
“Don’t be afraid.” Said Moses.” God has come in this way to show you His awesome power and might. So let your fear of Him keep you from sinning.”
“OK.” They replied. “But from now on, you talk to God. Tell us what He said. And we will listen.”

Moses went back up the mountain to talk to God. There God gave Moses instructions for building an altar, how to treat workers, punishment for fighting among themselves, protecting their property, working in the fields and that they should have three festivals each year. To celebrate God and how He freed the Hebrews from slavery to the Egyptians. (God loves when we remember what He has done for us.)

Moses went back to the people with all these teachings and regulations.
“We will do everything the Lord said.” The people told Moses.
“Very good.” Moses replied. “Now I have to go back up the mountain. God wants me to bring seventy leaders with me this time.”

Moses took Aaron (his brother), Joshua (his assistant) and sixty-eight other men with him back to the mountain. When they got to the boundary at the base of the mountain, all the men saw the glory of God glowing like blue diamonds on the mountain.
Then God spoke to Moses. “ Come up to the top of the mountain and I will give you two tablets of stone. I have written my commandments on them with my own finger.”

 Moses told the men to wait for him there as he and Joshua went up the mountain. When they got near the top, Moses told Joshua to wait there. When Moses was almost at the top, a large cloud covered the top of the mountain. The glorious presence of God rested there and Moses went into the cloud. Moses waited there for six days and finally God spoke.

God instructed Moses about how He wanted the Hebrews to build a tabernacle. The tabernacle was a sacred house for God to live in as the Hebrews travelled through the desert. God told Moses that He had chosen two artists from all the people to be the main guys that would work on the tabernacle. Their names were Bezalel and Oholiab. ( I’ll just call them Buzz and Ollie and we’ll talk about them later :o) God put His spirit on them so that they would be even more skilled than they already were.  God spoke of many many more things to Moses. He told Moses so many things up on the mountain, that it took forty days! Finally God gave Moses the Ten Commandments which He wrote on the two tablets of stone.
1.   Love God more than anything
2.   Worship only God
3.   Honor God’s name
4.   Honor God by keeping the seventh day holy
5.   Obey your parents
6.   Don’t kill
7.   Keep your wedding day promises
8.   Don’t steal
9.   Don’t lie
10. Don’t be greedy
 Next time we will talk about each of the Ten Commandments.

We learned that God wants three things from us.
                                     To fear Him.
He doesn’t want us to be so scared of Him that all we do is worry if He’ll zap us or something. He wants us to respect His power. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning us wisdom.”(Proverbs 9:10)
                                     To remember what He has done for us.
When we remember what He has done for us, we can’t help but thank Him for all we have and how He has helped us. The greatest thing that God did for all of us was to send Jesus to die for our sins.. At the Last Supper, Jesus said. “Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22 :19)
                                      To obey Him.
God loves us. He didn’t give us a bunch of rules so that we can’t have fun. He wants to protect us.  Why do your parents tell you to look both ways before you cross the street? They don’t want you to get hurt. Imagine if a mom or dad thinks to themselves. “Im not into telling little Joni to look before she crosses the street. I hope she makes it.”  God’s rules give us the best chance to live a great life!

God Speaks to the People. (Exodus19 & 20)

The Hebrews were wandering in the desert for exactly 3 months when they came to a mountain. The mountain was called Mount Sinai. Remember when God spoke to Moses from the burning bus? This is the same mountain. They set up camp near the mountain. Moses went up the mountain to talk to God.
 “Go back down the mountain and tell the people that if they obey me, they will be my treasure.” God told Moses. So Moses went back down the Mountain and told the people what God had said.
 “We will surely do whatever God commands.” Agreed all the people. Moses went back up the mountain to relay the message to God (although God knows and hears everything anyway). Moses is over eighty years old by now, so going up and down the mountain is not so easy for him.

 When Moses reached the place where he met God, God said. “ I want the people to hear me talk to you so that they will respect you more. Go back down and tell the people that in three days I will speak to you. But I want them to hear me. When a loud trumpet blasts, have them come close to the bottom of the mountain, but make a boundary there. Tell them that no one is to cross that boundary or they will die.” So Moses went back down the mountain and told the people what God had said.
 On the third day, the people made sure they had on their best clean clothes. After all, they were going to hear directly from God today! While they were eating breakfast, they were startled by the sound of a loud trumpet blast. They all went to the base of the mountain where Moses had set up a boundary. As the people gathered, Moses went back up the mountain. The top of the mountain was covered in dark smoke. When Moses reached the smoke, God spoke. “Go back down and tell the people not to cross the boundary or they will die.”
 "But I already told them.” Moses said. “They know about the boundary.”

“Go tell them.” God insisted. “And bring your brother Aaron back with you.”

Moses went back down the mountain. I’m sure he was getting very tired of going up and down that mountain. He reminded the people about the boundary and then told Aaron to come with him back up the mountain. About half way up, Moses told Aaron to wait there and Moses went up into the smoke covered mountaintop. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed! The mountain shook! God began to speak! 2 million Hebrews heard God speak that day as he began telling them the ten commandments. Did you know that God spoke the ten commandments before He wrote them on the stone tablets? The Hebrews were very afraid. They began to move back toward their camp. Moses called down to the people not to be afraid, but they kept on going back to camp. Moses remained on the mountain. God continued to speak to Moses.

 God wants us to hear His voice too! He doesn’t call us all to a mountain, but He does speak to us through the Bible. The Bible is full of promises that God makes to us. Through the Bible, God guides us, He tells us how much He loves us,  and what He expects from us. God also speaks to us through people. When we go to church, God speaks through pastors and preachers and teachers. At home, God can speak to us through our loved ones. God loves you though them. God also speaks to us through the Holy Spirit. If you have trusted in Jesus and made Him the king of your life, the Holy Spirit is living in you. The Holy Spirit is God living in you and He helps you do what is right.