Moses receiving the Ten Commandments Image may be copyright
God Makes A New Covenant with His People
After leaving Rephidim, the Israelites came to Mount Sinai. And God called to Moses from the mountain top.
“ This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
When the people said they would obey everything God had commanded, God told Moses to tell the people not to try going up to him at the top of the mountain or they would die. Instead, he told them to consecrate themselves, because he would descend from the mountain in a cloud. When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
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.”
God gave Moses two stone tablets on which he had written The Ten Commandments.
God's Covenant Boundaries for Blessings
The Ten Commandments are God's boundaries for being blessed by him. They represent our responsibilties for receiving his rights. A modern restatement of them helps to show they are God's way of ensuring his blessings and our well-being.
A. Our Relationship With God
1 I love you so much that I will give you Myself. I am true reality, the only God you will ever need. In Me alone you will find wholeness.
2 I desire a wonderful thing - a personal relationship between Myself and each of you. You don’t need inferior representations of Me, such as dead wooden idols. You can have Me. Value that.
3 I love you so much I have given you My name. You will be known as "God’s people on the earth". Don’t misuse it by profaning your new name or by not living up to it.
4 I have given you a beautiful world to work in, play in, and enjoy. In your busyness set aside a day to remember where the world came from. Your bodies need rest; your spirits need the reminder.
B. Our Relationships With Other People
5 Honour your father and mother because of who they are - your earthly parents I have given you to love and care for you while you are unable to look after yourself. They are meant to reflect My love for you.
6 Human life is sacred. I gave it, and it has enormous worth. Cling to it. Respect it; it is the image of God. He who ignores this and commits the sacrilege of murder must be punished.
7 The deepest human relationship possible is marriage. I created it to solve the essential loneliness in the heart of every person. To spread what is meant for marriage alone among a variety of people will devalue and destroy that relationship. Save sex and intimacy for its rightful place within marriage.
8 I am entrusting you with property. You can own things, and you should use them. Ownership is a great privilege. For it to work, you must respect everyone else’s right to ownership; stealing violates that right.
9 I am a God of truth. Relationships only succeed when they are governed by truth. A lie destroys contracts, promises, trust. You are worthy of trust. Express it by not lying.
10 I have given you good things to enjoy: oxen, food, furniture, and musical instruments. But people are more important than things. Love people; use things. Do not use people for your love of things.
~ from P Brand & P Yancey FEARFULLY & WONDERFULLY MADE Zondervan