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Mt. Sinai ???

We know the story of the bush Moses saw that was on fire but didn't burn, but do you know that that happened at least twice ... where something looked like it was on fire, but it was not - in the presence of Moses?

Swing over here and set for a spell, and I'll tell you a little about it.

Read it in Deuteronomy 5

23 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

24 And ye said, Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he lives.

(This is referring to Moses living after talking with God.)

25 Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die.

(This is referring to the Israelites thinking they would die if they remained to talk with God.)

26 For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

(Again, this is referring to the Israelites thinking they would die if they remained to talk with God.)

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So this is the deal.

Moses saw the burning bush in the desert. When the children of Israel saw the fire on the mountain, they were afraid, but Moses told them to not be afraid because God was proving them (testing them). They failed the test obviously. They believed that if they stayed there and talked with God that they would die by fire because they thought the fire was real when it wasn't biological fire. It was fire they saw spiritually, which is the same fire that was present at Pentecost, which was the same fire that John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize believers in.

I state "talk with God" because that was God's intention, but they sent Moses to talk with God instead. The context is in the next few verses down in the chapter.

You can make the connection point in the New Testament - the context. Jesus is the seed who conversed back and forth with the Father freely. That is God's desire for all of us who believe - to talk back and forth with him freely.

Check out the context as Paul stated it in Galatians 3:19 below.

19 Wherefore then serves the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

"It was added because of transgressions, ..."   

Source: Oxford English Dictionary

   

From Merriam Webster's online, the etymology (origins) of "transgress" are in this: "to step beyond or across".

Basically, God told the people at Mt. Sinai to come to the mountain and to stay so he could talk with them, but they decided they weren't having anything to do with God's way of talking to them, so they bolted from where he had told them to stay put. Thus, the law entered because the people "stepped beyond or across" from where God told them to be. They did not want to hear God and said "No. Not gonna happen." Entered in the Law, which had plenty of words for them to hear and to do.

Read about it in Deuteronomy 5

28 And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken.

(God basically said, "I heard them loud and clear. They don't want to talk with me.")

29 O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

(This is where God laments and wishes the people had talked with them so that "it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!")

After that, God told Moses to tell the people to go to their homes but for Moses to stay so he could give him the Law to give to them, but, remember, the giving of the Law was not God's first choice as he could have given that without Mt. Sinai in the first place.

No. What happened at Mt. Sinai was super special! Never, in the history of mankind, had God called an entire race together to talk with them in public - never - and they said, "No". They sent Moses instead. I am sure they did not expect for Moses to come back with the Law. I am sure that was a shock!

To give you an idea of that shock, when Ezra read the Law to the Israelites, after Nehemiah completed rebuilding the temple and the wall, they wept and mourned.

Here, read it below:

Nehemiah 8:9

And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.

There is definitely a penalty for walking away from God's voice.

I could go on about this some more, but my post here is just to get you to think about the fire that Moses honored but the children of Israel feared and ran away from, which running away from it brought the Law upon them. What a consequence, right?