Chapter 12To Meet The KingIt was about the year 1445 B.C. Dusty from traveling over the desert, the two men, who had only been In the country a day or two, entered the palace of the Pharaoh of all Egypt. Passing through a gateway which towered above their heads to a height of twenty-six feet, they approached the royal precinct and felt themselves dwarfed by its size—for it covered , approximately thirteen acres of ground. The outer wall alone was twenty-one feet thick. But no wave of welcome awaited them at the opening of the gates. The guards saw before them only two of the hated Hebrews. "Which slave labor gang did they run away from?" a guard may have remarked as they walked by. It is a miracle that Moses and Aaron were permitted that day to pass from hall to hall and finally stand before the god—king of this ancient land. And now they stood in the throne room itself: On either side were massive limestone columns that were elaborately carved, painted and gilded with figures of the Pharaoh standing before the other gods. Beyond them, on either side, the stuccoed walls and floors gleamed with brilliantly-painted scenes. Shafts of sunlight, streaming down from narrow clerestory windows higher up, lighted up the gold, glitter and brightly-painted figures. Far away, down the length of the throne room could be seen the throne of the Pharaoh above a raised platform. The throne and everything nearby was made of solid gold. As the two men drew closer, they could see carefully-wrought figures on the side of the platform, showing enemies whom the Pharaoh had captured prior to enslaving or killing them. Amid such majestic grandeur and surrounded by armed guards—and now with the eyes of Pharaoh upon them—who could have found voice to speak at such a moment? But Moses was made of sterner stuff. He came with a message from the God of Heaven. The time had come for the eighty-year old shepherd to deliver what would become a death warrant to thousands in Egypt. Stepping up before the astonished ruler, Amenhoptep II, Moses demanded that he let the people of Israel go. "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Let My people go." Exodus 5: 1. The story that followed is a familiar one. Stubborn resistance to the will of God brought one plague after another, each more devastating than the one before it, until the land was finally desolated and the people of God departed from the country. They had left to meet with the King. Traveling swiftly over the shifting sands of the desert, that vast people, numbering nearly two million, knew that they were not out of danger yet. At any time Pharaoh and his well-trained and equipped army might pursue them to again take them into bondage. High overhead, an immense cloud shaded them from the heat as they traveled. And it also guided them, for it stretched before them, they followed as it led, for so Moses had instructed them to do. But now darkness was nearing as they hurriedly moved in a south-easterly direction—and the hearts of many sank: Before them was an impassable mountain on the south, and to the east lay the Red Sea: ocean water stretching for miles—and beyond it the distant shore of the Sinai Peninsula. This was where the miraculous cloud had brought them. What were they to do now? There was no way they could proceed further without heading toward Egypt. And then screams were heard. "They are coming! They are coming!" Pharaoh and his entire army were rapidly approaching from the rear. And now the cloud seemed to be leaving them also! Slowly it lifted majestically and moved to a point midway between the Israelites and the Egyptians. And as they gazed in astonishment, it drew to a stop—and turned into a boiling pillar of fire before their eyes! Little realizing that the cloud had become a great wall of impenetrable darkness to the Egyptians, the Hebrews watched in amazement as Moses arose from prayer and walked calmly over to the bank of the sea—and raised his rod over the sea—and it split into two parts! A powerful wind hurled water into two immense walls, and just as miraculously, immediately dried up the bed of the sea which only a moment before was many feet thick with mud. Picture it for yourself! Two million men, women and children, with all their cattle and flocks—walking across the channel, now totally dry—amid mountains of living, seething, foaming masses of water, held back moment-by-moment by a miracle of God! People spoke in solemn tones as they made their way across, for they well knew that they had been saved from a fate worse than death—only because they were willing to trust God and obey His every command. And so it will be today—if you and I will trust and obey Him also. The only reliable thing we have is the Word of God. That Bible in your home is the only imperishable thing there. For it contains principles that are eternal. And if those principles are in your heart and life, you will be safe in the care of the God of Moses. The Creator of the universe was leading out a people to serve Him. They were to be His special people—called to learn His will and declare it to all nations on the face of the earth. And so it was that He brought them to the valley of Jebel Musa—the Mountain of Moses—that they might learn the Divine Will and do it, and teach it to all about them in the years ahead-until the whole world could know the truth that amid all the false gods, there IS a True God. And that all the world might know that He has a Moral Law of Ten Commandments—and all men everywhere must, in His strength, obey that Law. Arriving at the mountain (also called Mount Sinai or Horeb), they spread their tents in the valley beneath its massive granite walls, and quietly awaited the next revealing of the will of God for them. They had come to meet with the King over all kings. "On the morning of the third day [after arriving at the Mount], as the eyes of all the people were turned toward the mount, its summit was covered with a thick cloud, which grew more black and dense, sweeping downward until the entire mountain was wrapped in darkness and awful mystery. Then a sound as of a trumpet was heard, summoning the people to meet with God; and Moses led them forth to the base of the mountain. "From the thick darkness flashed vivid lightnings, while peals of thunder echoed and re-echoed among the surrounding heights. 'And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.' 'The glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount' in the sight of the assembled multitude. And 'the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder' ..And now the thunders ceased; the trumpet was no longer heard; the earth was still. There was a period of solemn silence—and then the voice of God was heard. "Speaking out of the thick darkness that enshrouded Him, as He stood upon the mount, surrounded by a retinue of angels, the Lord made known His Law." E.G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 304. On what other occasion, later in the Old Testament, did the God of heaven give such a massive display of power and glory to a group of people? He never did. On what occasion in the New Testament or afterward, down to our own time, has He done so? At no time. And why did he do it then?—Because He wanted all men everywhere to know—either in person or from reading the written record—that the Moral Law of the Ten Commandments should be one of the most important things in their lives. It should lie at the foundation of all their religion. It should guide and direct all their secular duties. The twin truths that we can and must obey God—and that we can and must do it only through the grace of Jesus Christ—lies at the heart of all holy Scripture. "Trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey" is the basis of Christian experience. And it is your pass-port to heaven. For God will take no one to heaven, who on earth was determined to live in sin and disobey His Law. Here is the great Moral Code for mankind. Every part of it is perfect, for it was given to us by our Creator:
On Mount Sinai, the God of heaven spoke the Ten Commandments and then wrote them on rock, as His Moral Law for mankind. Rock is the most enduring thing in the world. And God's Law, written on rock, will endure as long as the boulders of the mighty mountains around us. "His commandments . . stand fast forever." Psalm 111: 7-8. But His Law is not only to be placed on rock. It is also to to be written in our hearts. “I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them." Ezekiel 36: 27. "I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." Jeremiah 31:33. "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people." Hebrews 8: 10. The Seventh-day Sabbath is the sign that He is our Creator and Redeemer: ..Keep the Sabbath. to observe the Sabbath forever. . for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the Seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." Exodus 31:16-17. “Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." Exodus 31:13. "Morever also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." EzekieI20:12. "And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Ezekiel 20:20. Thus we see that the keeping of the Seventh-day Sabbath is a sign that He is our Creator (Ex 31:17), our Redeemer (Ezek 20:12), that we belong to Him (Ezek 20:20) and that He is sanctifying us (Ex 31:13). We cannot know our duty toward our God unless we find it in the Bible. It is not a matter of what others around us do. It is a matter of what is written in the archives. The story of the rosebush will help you understand this.
|
