Let's Visit Mount Sinai

Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. 

Psalm 119:18

Whee! Climbing nearly 4,000 steps is exhausting. We are following The Path of Moses that leads to the peak of Mt. Sinai, called The Mountain of God. Of course, Moses didn’t have these modern steps when he went up to get instructions from God. He was over eighty years old and had been traveling in the wilderness for three months after leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Don’t you know he was out of breath!

There is so much mystery surrounding Mt. Sinai that it is easy to forget that it is still a mountain and requires about three hours to climb. It is a barren peak lost among the Martian landscape of the Sinai desert. It is neither the highest nor most dramatic mountain. Yet it is famous because it was there that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.

Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire (Exodus 19:18). Moses and Aaron went up on the mountain and there God gave them the Ten Commandments. Here is a shortened version from Exodus 20:3-17.

                  You shall have no other gods before me.

                  You shall not make for yourself an image of God.

                  You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

                  Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

                  Honor your father and your mother.

                  You shall not murder.

                  You shall not steal.

                  You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

                  You shall not covet.

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning” (Exodus 20:20).

We are no longer under that law. Jesus Christ fulfilled the law when He died on the cross as the ultimate and last sacrifice. The law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified through faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian (Galatians 3:24,25).

Christ’s death on the cross paid the price for our sins. So, does that mean that the Ten Commandments no longer apply? Absolutely not! They are our yardstick for behavior. When you become a Christian, you do not cease to sin. However, a true follower of Christ attempts to follow God’s laws.

The Ten Commandments seem lost in today’s feel good world. It would be wise for us to look at them and remember that they trump any laws given by man. Political correctness may not be in tune with God’s correctness. God’s laws never change.

Dear Father, Help us remember Mount Siani and the awesome event where You gave the world Your good and perfect law.

Janice Yandell