Deuteronomy 4:11 says, And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. Moses said as they came near the mountain, that it burned with fire in the midst of heaven, but was covered with clouds and thick darkness below. The sin of this world often obscures the glory of God, but He is always shining above. Verse twelve adds, And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. Moses said that God spoke to them out of the midst of the fire, but though they heard Him, they did not see Him. That is true for us today also. We can hear God, but we will not see Him until we are at home in heaven. Verse thirteen continues, And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. Moses said that God declared to them His covenant and gave them the Ten Commandments written in stone, and commanded them to follow them. Today, we are to have His commandments written in our hearts instead of in stone, but we are still expected to follow them. Verse fourteen states, And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. Moses said God gave him the responsibility of teaching God's statutes and judgments to them, so that they could follow them when they possessed the Promised Land. We need to teach the world about God's statutes and judgments today, so we will follow them as we possess the land that we claim in this world. Verse fifteen adds, Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Moses warned the people of Israel to take heed of themselves, since they really hadn't physically seen God. Though we likewise have not physically seen God, we need to take heed that we never fail to believe in the reality of God. Verse sixteen declares, Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, Verse seventeen adds, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, Verse eighteen continues, The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: Moses said that since the people of Israel had not physically seen God, they needed to make sure that they didn't make any idols to represent Him. Today, this is still true. Verse nineteen says, And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. Moses also warned them about worshipping the sun, moon or stars, which are all a part of God's creation. Too many people today believe that their life is determined by the alignment of the stars and planets when they were born and everyday since, and sometimes Christians buy into this. Verse twenty adds, But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. Moses reminded the people of Israel that God had delivered them out of slavery in Egypt, just as He has delivered us out of the slavery of sin today if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.
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