If I were to ask my little readers whose picture we have before us today, most of them would perhaps answer, It is a picture of Moses. Notice the people at the foot of the mountain standing off and not daring to touch it, for it would be death to them if they came too near; and see the smoke that envelops the one who is coming down the mountain side with a great stone table in his hand, while the forked lightning plays above him! All this speaks of what we read in God’s word about Moses. Yes, this is a picture of Moses; but where has he been? Let me tell you a little of the dreadful place to which he had been called. The Lord had come down in fire on the top of Mount Sinai and the whole mountain shook greatly and there were thunders and lightnings and a thick smoke upon it; the smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace making blackness and thick darkness. The people who had come out of their tents trembled at the fearful sights and sounds. Even Moses, strong man that he was, was exceedingly frightened and began to quake with fear.
He had talked with God at the burning bush; he had seen God’s wonderful power in Egypt in sending rain and hail and sickness and death upon Pharaoh and his people, because they hardened their hearts against Him; he had seen the waters of the Red Sea roll apart and form great walls on either side, leaving a dry pathway right through the deep for the hundreds of thousands of Israel to pass over. All this, and more, Moses had witnessed, but never before had he seen such a sight as this shaking, burning mountain, and as he looked upon it he shook with fear.
The children of Israel stood off and looked up to the top of the mount and they saw “the glory of the Lord,” and it was like devouring fire. And God, who wished to talk with Moses, called him up to this spot where there was such a wonderful display of His glory. Do you think Moses could go to such a fearful spot? Yes, he heeded God’s call and went through the midst of the cloud, and smoke, and thunders, and lightnings, right up to the top of the mount. And there he communed with God, and remained forty days and forty nights. Then God gave him two tables of stone on which the commandments for the children of Israel were written, by “the finger of God.”
Our picture shows us Moses on his way down the mountain side with the tables in his hand, as he was nearing the people. He came down unhurt; and not only that, his face was shining, reflecting, I doubt not, something of the glory.
Let us learn from this, my dear young readers, that we need never fear to go if God is calling, no matter how terrible the way may seem. And another and most important thing I would like to point out to you; that is, God is no longer enveloped in thick darkness where it is death to approach. Jesus has opened the way into God’s presence by dying on the cross for us; He has stood between God and us, and by taking the stripes for the sins of all who believe on Him, He has removed all that hinders approach to God.
When you look at this picture, then think of how God has opened the way for you to come to Him through the work of Jesus for you. It is not now the burning mount with its darkness and terrors, which none could approach; No! through Jesus, our Mediator, there is now for us fulness of access into God’s presence. We can come to a throne of grace, “and obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
ML 11/04/1900