Exodus 20: 18-21: “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.”
The Ten Commandments were the most sacred inner core of Israel’s relationship with the Lord. This relationship was based on the fact that there is only one God, Who is absolutely holy and pure. The Israelis needed to have a deep and abiding respect for the Lord God. This deep and abiding respect is known as the “fear of the Lord”. The fear of the Lord is not the kind of terror that leaves a person helpless and hopeless, it is a respect that understands that the Lord has absolute authority and the power of life and death over all the world. The people saw that the Lord descended on the mountain with a fearful display of power and authority and they were filled with the fear of the Lord. The stood as far away from the mountain as they could under the circumstances and asked Moses to approach the Lord on their behalf. They knew that they would die if they refused to treat the Lord with the proper amount of respect. The Lord lives in thick darkness to protect any sinner who may accidentally see His glory and die if things were otherwise. The secret to living a life in the Lord’s service is to be filled with a holy respect and a deep fear of the Lord.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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