The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/exodus/20.htm

Did we have the Commandments before Moses and Mt. Sinai? If not, how did Cain know to hide from God after he killed Abel? Cain knew he wasn’t supposed to murder, and that’s why when God asked him, “Where is Abel?”, Cain tried to hide his ill deed by answered, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Yes, we had the Commandments before Moses. Either God had already spoke to Adam and Eve and the Bible just doesn’t say, or we were born with the Commandments and moral laws within our hearts.

But because we are sinners, God has to reiterate those Commandments numerous times and in many different ways.

And now God speaks directly to the people from Mt. Sinai. They do not see God, but a cloud has settled at the top of the mount and there is lightning and thunder, trumpets sounding, and smoke coming from the mountain. Why smoke? Is it because the Glory of God is so bright, the vegetation is burning on the mount?

And God gives the Commandments. We’ll not review them now because we will be going over them in more detail later, but God himself speaks the Commandments to the people.

And the people were afraid. Just the sound of God’s voice was so righteous that it put fear into the hearts of the sinners. And the people asked Moses to speak to them, because they were afraid that if they listened directly to the voice of God, they would die.

20And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”

Why would Moses first say, “Do not fear”, but turn around in the same breath and say “His fear may be before you.” Is it possible that the children of Israel were speaking of “fear” as in they were afraid, but Moses was speaking of “fear” as in the “awe” of God? What is we reworded this, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, and this His awe may be before you so that you may not sin.” To me, that sounds much better, and also meets some of the meanings of the Hebrew words.

What do we learn from this? First, we learn that God loves us, very much. The Commandments had been verbally shared before, or else Cain would not have known it was wrong to murder his brother. So everyone from Adam and Eve to Moses had been taught the Commandments, but yet were not following them. God could have sat back on His throne and said, “They were warned, but they have hard hearts. I’ll just let them end up dying from their sins.” But he didn’t. God came to earth to try to save them because of Hi love for them.

If you had a child, let’s say on drugs, would you sit back and say, “I warned them about the danger of drugs, but they’re not listening. Some day they’ll overdose, or perhaps have a fatal car crash while their high. But that was their choice.” Or would you be constantly reminding them of the hazards of their actions, just like God was reminding us of our actions of turning away from Him and suffering death because of sin? God loves us. WE are His children, and He will always love us.

“”If you have seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.” Did Jesus just come for a visit, just to look around at how good old Earth was doing? Did Jesus come to go to Church on the Sabbath? Did Jesus come because the fish from the Sea of Galilee tasted better than the fish in Heaven? Or did Jesus come to save us because we were sinners with hard hearts?

If we’ve seen Jesus and He is the same as the Father, wouldn’t God be acting the same as Jesus when speaking to the children of Israel? “There is a verse about falling short of the Glory of God. I believe that means that if we fall short, we will not be able to withstand the Glory of God, by sight or by sound.

God is not a tyrannical, angry God just waiting to punish and kill us, God is love.