Mediator of the Covenant

These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me. When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me. And you said, "The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey." (Deuteronomy 5:22-27)   Two stone tablets: one copy for the King, one for the people.  A relationship had been made.  These Ten Words of the Covenant are attested twice in the Old Testament—once in Exodus and once here in Deuteronomy.  In Old Testament law, everything must be attested by two witnesses.  This covenant has those two witnesses.  Their testimony is nearly, but not quite identical.  A mark of authenticity.  Many of the other laws and teachings of Moses vary quite substantially in their formulation across these wilderness books, but not the Ten Words.  They are a true witness, a reliable attestation of the covenantal relationship established between God and his people. The significance of these Ten Words is further heightened by the fact that they are given in person.  It is the Lord who proclaimed these Ten Words directly in fire and voice to the assembly of the people.  No other laws or teachings were given this way.  Only the Words of the Covenant.  After this moment at Saini, the covenant relationship ceases to be face-to-face.  The covenant becomes mediated.  Moses becomes the go-between—shuttling between God and the people, the people and God—bringing the words of their dialogue back and forth to one another.  We read that the people requested this arrangement and we also hear a verse or so later that God approves of it.  But, in the pages of these scriptures we also hear echoes of the fact that this is not quite the way it's supposed to be. Back in the Garden, God spoke with Adam & Eve face-to-face after all.  In Exodus 19:6, the Lord says of the Israelites, "you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."  At one point Moses declares in Numbers 11:29: "I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!"  Priests, prophets, kingly image bearers of God—this is what the people were ideally called to be.  But somehow the fear of death had crept between the people and their God, and not even this experience of standing in God's presence and hearing his voice and living could deter it.  "Why should we di?" they ask. And so they ask for a mediator: someone to stand between. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus has become the mediator of a new covenant—one in which we do now have direct access to God.  Not only that, but the Spirit dwells within us and any fears of death have been swallowed up in the resurrection life of Easter.  So there are no barriers to access on God's end.  The only question, is are we willing?  To stand in God's presence?  To hear his voice?  Today is a new day in which this question comes to you.  God is always speaking—will you open your ears and heart to join the dialogue?