When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear

Good morning! Here is today’s word of blessings for you.

Exodus 20: 18-21

18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” 20 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.” 21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

Today’s title is “The Thunder, Lightening and the Trumpet Sound”

God gave us the ten commandments. The sight and sound of the time that God gave us the ten commandments are truly so remarkable. I believe that such rare unforgettable manifestations of God clearly had a divine purpose. It clearly shows the enormity of the moment that God gave the ten commandments to the people of Israel in redemptive history as well as in the history of mankind. The people of Israel were truly standing as a representative of all mankind. So we better not overlook such a rare view of God. By God’s grace, the Bible gives us a very graphic description of the moment.
“On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in the fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. (Exodus 19:16-19) The bible certainly shows this rare appearance of God in a highly detailed manner. With the breathtaking sight and sound of lightning, thunder, smoke, and fire and a very loud trumpet sound, we can almost feel that we are standing there together with the Israelites. God in a way invited us all to stand there at the foot of the Mountain Sinai. We see the response of the Israelites as a dramatic display of God’s power and authority. 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.” Certainly, we understand what the Israelites felt at the awesome display of God’s power and glory. We might have felt the same way if we were there. But we see the completely opposite response of the people to the very similar display of the Lord. “ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1st Thessalonians 4: 16-17). Oh, what a similarity! And what a contrast! We were standing at a distance from God with fear at the awesome display of God’s power and glory. But we will come alive from the dead and will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. I believe that this was what God had in mind when He first come to the Mountain Sinai. Finally, we see it is fulfilled in the Son as all of God’s ten commandments were. Amen!