Who Is the God who Spoke the Ten Commandments?

Who Is the God who Spoke the Ten Commandments?

Second after Trinity

Collect of the Day: O LORD, who never failest to help and govern those whom thou dost bring up in thy steadfast fear and love; Keep us, we beseech thee, under the protection of thy good providence, and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

First in Series on the Ten Commandments

Homily Text:  And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of  the house of bondage (Exodus 20:1,2).

In the 1970s and 80s the stock brokerage firm, E.F. Hutton, had a series of clever television commercials. Two people would be talking in a social setting, such as a party or restaurant. One would tell the other what his stock broker advised, and ask, “What does your broker say?” The other would respond, “Well, my stock broker is E.F. Hutton, and E.F. Hutton says…”. The room would go entirely quiet, and people would lean in to hear what the person would say. Then an announcer with an authoritative voice would say, “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.”

There is a much more important question than what for us to ask: “Who spoke the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai?”

1. God Appears

About seven weeks after they left Egypt the children of Israel arrived at Mt. Sinai. The Lord told Moses to consecrate the people in preparation for the Lord speaking to them on the third day. God told Moses to warn the people that no one should attempt to go onto the mountain upon pain of death.  

On the third day, there was thunder, lighting, and a thick cloud of smoke covering the mountain. There was also a very loud trumpet blast. That was enough to make the people in the camp tremble. Then Moses led them out of the camp to the foot of the mountain.

As the Lord descended to the mountain, he revealed himself by fire and smoke. The whole mountain shook. The sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. It was the kind of experience that makes your hair stand on end. And then the Lord began to speak: “And God spoke all these words…” What follows is the Ten Commandments. Our Prayer Book tells us to read them in the liturgy at least once each month.

God spoke no more than the Ten Commandments themselves, because the people were so shaken by hearing God speak that they asked that in the future he speak to them through Moses. The fire, smoke, quaking of the mountain, and God himself thundering forth the Ten Commandments was more than they could take. They were experiencing was the fear of God.     

The writer of Hebrews describes their experience that day as seeing a…

…blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.  For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear” (Hebrews 12:18-21).

In the first weeks of my seminary days I experienced something called Senior Preaching. On Fridays a senior went into the pulpit and preached a sermon before the student body and faculty. Sermon completed, he then sat on the front pew. Three or more faculty members would take his sermon apart. They were unsparing, even brutal, in their criticism. It created feelings of fear and dread, because I knew that in 2 years it would be my turn.

It made your knees shake to have your sermon critiqued in front of your fellow students and all the faculty. But that was nothing compared to what the Israelites experienced that day God spoke from Mt. Sinai. This was God himself speaking accompanied by signs in nature of his holiness, power, and majesty. He is not a God to be taken lightly. The fact that these Commandments are the only words God spoke directly to his people underscores how important these words are.

Today people have a very benign idea of God. God is a father who wants no more than to see his children happy. Or, a friend who wants only to be there for you. Or a life coach who just wants to help you achieve whatever you want out of life. But God is an infinitely great, holy, and majestic God before whom in our hearts we bow in reverence and awe.

This is the God who speaks – whose very words – are the Ten Commandments. It used to be that when E.F Hutton spoke, people listened. How much more, when God speaks, should we, his people, listen. 

2. The Lord Speaks

It’s good for a speaker to introduce himself. It helps us to identify with him, understand who he is, and why we should listen. What did the Lord tell the Israelites about himself?

·        “I am the LORD.” The word translated “LORD” in our Bibles is the most personal and intimate name for God. When God tells people this name, he is speaking as the God who has a relationship, or covenant, with his people – a God his people can know and count on.

When the LORD appeared to Moses in the burning bush to call him as the leader of the Israelites and send him to deliver them from bondage, Moses asked:

“If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”  God said to Moses, “I  WHO I AM .” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM  has sent me to you.’”  God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:13-15).

God’s name is “I AM” – the self-existent, unchanging, sovereign, faithful God who made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be their God and bless them. He is still the same God and always will be. He has not forgotten his promises to their forefathers, but now renews his covenant commitment to this generation.

This same LORD, the great I AM, has come among us in the person of Jesus Christ. In him we see the holiness, glory, power and majesty of God, more fully revealed than what Israel experienced at Sinai. As St. John wrote: “We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” And St. Paul tells us that it is not just those who saw him in the flesh who see in him the glory of God, “ For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:4).

·        “I am the Lord your God.” There, were many gods in the ancient world even as there are today. The land of Egypt had many gods and goddesses. Two of the most prominent were Re, the sun god, and Isis, the fertility goddess. They were going to Canaan where they would be constantly tempted to worship the male Baals and his female Ashserahs. The Israelites might ask, “Who is our God?” The answer the Lord gives is, “I, the LORD, am your God, and the truth is that there is only one true and living God, and I am he.”

When the Lord says, “I am the Lord your God,” he uses the singular “you.” I am the God of all of you, and I am the God of each of you.” It is important for us as a church to know that we are a community in covenant with God through Jesus Christ. And it is essential for each of us to know that he is our own God, whom we personally trust. With Thomas we fall to our knees before the risen Christ and say, “My Lord and my God .”

·        “I am the Lord your God who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” He is not only their God, but their Savior and Redeemer. By great miracles of judgment on Egypt and salvation for Israel, he had set them free after 400 years of slavery, led them out of Egypt, delivered them at the Red Sea, and would lead them to the land promised to Abraham. The God who gives the Ten Commandments gives them to a people he has saved so that they can know his will and follow him as their God.

In Christ God has redeemed us from Satan, sin, death, condemnation, and hell. Our sins are forgiven, our hearts are renewed, the Holy Spirit lives within us. God, our Redeemer, speaks these same Ten Commandments to us: “I am the LORD, your God, who has sent my Son Jesus Christ to redeem you. Now, as my redeemed people, express your gratitude and love by obeying my commandments.

At this Table we confess our failures to keep God’s Law and ask and receive his pardon, and we renew our commitment to walk in the way of his commandments and do his will.

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