Deuteronomy 5:22-33 These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly in the mount out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness… The Ten Commandments were a direct communication from God to Israel. But it was too much for their sinful, terrified souls to stand, and so Moses is entreated to stand between God and them, and be the medium of communication between them. The Lord approved of the arrangement, and installed Moses into the office (cf. Exodus 20:18-21). This suggests - I. THE CRY FOR A MEDIATOR AROSE OUT OF THE FEARS OF MEN. The surpassing glory of God makes such a terrific impression on the hearts of sinners that they cry instinctively for mediation. It is a need of mankind when aroused to a true sense of the majesty and purity of God. Those who question the necessity of mediation are really wanting in the due sense of God's exceeding majesty and glory. II. THE OFFICE OF A MEDIATOR NECESSITATED MUCH PERSONAL SELF-DENIAL. It was doubtless a great honor conferred on Moses; but it was also a great burden. Thus he declared his own fears in the circumstances. "I exceedingly fear and quake" was his testimony about the experience on the mount. Besides, the forty days' seclusion and fast and all the attendant anxieties and troubles showed that it was most assuredly no sinecure. And these trials of Moses only faintly typify the severe strain and trial borne by Christ, the one Mediator between God and man. III. THE MEDIATION WAS LAW-GIVING. Moses was to convey "the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments" of God unto the people. It was didactic - its purpose was the conveyance of truth. It was a prophetic office, consequently, which Moses in this instance received. The priestly was made over to Aaron, on the principle of a "division of labor." And so Christ is the great mediating Prophet. He came forth from the secret place of God to convey to us what God is. He came down from heaven. He testified about heavenly things (John 3:11-13). And in the perfection of mediation, he embodied the truth, and was able to say, "I am the truth" (John 14:6). Jesus was a living Law. V. OBEDIENCE SHOULD RESULT FROM THE MEDIATION. The whole Law was a "commandment with promise." This is shown in ver. 33. The children of Israel were to conduct themselves obediently as the children of God, and they would realize in all its breadth the promise of the fifth commandment. The Law was a Law of well-being (ver. 29). Obedience was the condition of continued prosperity in the land. And the same arrangements continue. Obedience to God's Law still secures the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. Not, of course, that the saints are always prosperous in this world; were this the case, saintship would be a very mercenary business. But other things being equal, the tendency of obedience is to present as well as future well-being. God makes no promise, but threatening, to the disobedient. - R.M.E. Parallel Verses KJV: These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. |
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