From Sinai to Pentecost — The Ten Commandments and the Grand Occasion You Must Not Miss

The Giving of the Torah — An Event That Shaped All of Human History

There is no event in the history of mankind that has shaped the face of humanity more than the giving of the Torah to Israel on that occasion when Moses went up the mountain and after 40 days came down with the Torah, and especially with the Ten Commandments. The vice president of the Chinese province of Wuhbei — a province of 80,000,000 people, bigger than the territory of France — said during a lunch when I visited Wuhan to teach the Bible in government-supported Christian seminaries: "Because it is the first communist document!" "This is the first place that it is commanded, 'If you don't work you don't eat!'" I was shocked. But then she continued: "If there were no Bible, there would be no Magna Carta, no workers' rights, no social security, and no human rights for anyone." I had to agree with the vice president on this point.

The Ten Commandments are not the first basic code of law in the history of mankind. We have the Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu (c. 2100-2050 B.C.) and the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1760 B.C.). The Ur-Nammu code is dedicated and attributed to the Sumerian and Akkadian gods, Nanna and Otu, and contains laws such as: "If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed. If a man commits a robbery, he will be killed. If a man knocks out the eye of another man, he shall weigh out half a mina of silver. If a man knocks out a tooth of another man, he shall pay two shekels of silver." And so on, law after law, all measured in silver shekels and minas.

The Code of Hammurabi from the 1700's B.C.E. covers slander, trade, slavery, duties of workers, theft, divorce, and the best known — Law #196:

The Ten Commandments — What Makes Them Superior

The Ten Commandments were delivered by God Himself to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai, and announced in public to all the children of Israel (there are here 11 commandments because of the differences between Exodus and Deuteronomy in the order and commentary on the commandments):

I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet (neighbor's house) (neighbor's wife) (neighbor's slaves, animals, anything else).

All three sets of commandments — Ur-Nammu, Hammurabi, and Sinai — have a significant part dealing with morality, but the Mesopotamian laws, prior to Sinai, have no divine sanction or command to accept and recognize the Lord God, or the Oneness of God. The gods of the Mesopotamians and of the Akkadians don't play a major role in the commandments. Second, there is a clear difference in these pagan laws in the social structure — slaves have a different intrinsic value and their lives have a different value from the established elites. Third, everything is measured with payment of money and monetary value. Fourth, the emphasis is on economics and tangible values. The commandments that God gave Israel and the world from Mount Sinai are much shorter and they cover a much broader ground and give no different human value to the slave or freeman. The moral standard, the divine standard, and the social standard are miles higher than these old but very important codes of human laws about 1000 years before Moses received the Torah on Mount Sinai.

Yes, there are in the world so-called "Christian" leaders who undermine the importance of the Torah and of the bulk of the Word of God, and even say that we don't need the Ten Commandments anymore, because we are under God's grace. Yes, we are under God's grace, but there is no greater demonstration of God's grace than in the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai — and throughout the history of the people of Israel. We still need the Ten Commandments! As it says in Isaiah:

Sinai and Pentecost — The Same Event, Twice

The events in the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) as it is recorded in Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 are actually a repetition of what happened on Shavuot (Pentecost) at Mount Sinai. If you do your math right you will see that the children of Israel received the Torah at Mount Sinai on the 50th day after they left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea on dry land! Here is the text of Exodus in Young's Literal Translation:

And here is what happened on that same day of Pentecost on Mount Zion:

This is to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah:

That day of Pentecost was a fulfillment of Mount Sinai and a second giving of the Torah in Jerusalem, this time for all the nations of the world to know and respect, both the Torah and Jerusalem.

The whole nation of 600,000 men between the age of 20-50, their wives and children, their handmaids and servants, the Gentile nations that accompanied them out of Egypt — the Kenites, the Mecherites, the Kahanites — all had the same privilege to hear God audibly, to see the flames of fire, each according to his own language. I would have liked to be there, even if I was a fly on the wall.

I would have also liked to have been in Jerusalem on the day of Shavuot in the year 30 A.D., when Peter and the apostles and a total of 120 disciples of Yeshua in the upper room from Mount Zion experienced a similar experience. A mighty wind, flames of fire, a shaking of the ground, and God spoke through them, and his voice was translated by the Holy Spirit to each man according to his own language. I regret missing these events in Jerusalem and in the Sinai Desert, but I want to make sure that I don't miss the next event of this kind.

The Grand Occasion — Don't Miss It

This next event is described in the book of Revelation:

I just have to be there and take part in that grand occasion, dressed in white and together with all this multitude from all nations, tribes and peoples. Long before I believed in God, while sitting on my mother's lap, my mother told me of the grand old plan that Joseph Stalin had to unite all nations, all colors, and all ethnic groups, under one political system, with equality and justice for all. There was a poster that she showed me, of five races — white, yellow, black, red, and brown — standing muscular and proud, shoulder-to-shoulder, and behind them a big red flag was waving. I loved that idea of unity and equality and justice for all. Joseph Stalin's dream became a nightmare. My mother repented from all that she had done in her youth to make the false utopia of communism a reality in Bulgaria. She did however take the words of the book of Revelation very seriously, and with the same strong faith and even greater dedication, lived and worked to be there in that grand scene of Revelation chapter 7.

In this same chapter 7 of the book of Revelation you have the repeated assurance that all of Israel will be saved and sealed and dressed in white together with the rest of the human race that have believed and lived in order to see the Lamb and sing His praises, the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. Remember, even the Gentiles from all the tribes and nations will be singing the song of Moses — a song of victory of God and His children over the forces of oppression, enslavement, and abuse, the forces of the devil himself. Make sure that you will be there too! I would love to spend eternity with you as my brothers and sisters.

I am looking forward to spending eternity in the presence of Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, and people like Isaiah and Jeremiah. Elijah would be a very interesting man with whom to share five o'clock tea and crumpets. I think that we ought to really take more seriously the Lord's promises of eternal life, and to bank on Yeshua's return and on the New Jerusalem, and on fellowship with the saints. To really accept and believe and trust in these great promises of our Lord is much more strengthening and empowering and encouraging than any earthly prosperity, wealth, or position that this world can offer me or you!