(The God Who Teaches His People)
(Nehemiah 9:13-14)
Text:
9:13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: 14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
Some Initial Remarks
2) In week #2 we saw that Jehovah is a God Who Chooses His people.
3) In week #3 we saw that Jehovah is a God Who Sees and Hears His People.
4) Last week we saw that Jehovah is the God Who Leads His people.
This week we come back to our text here in Nehemiah and find that Jehovah is the God who teaches His people. This was true on the Old Testament side of the cross, but is even more profoundly true on the new. So on to our study ~ Jehovah "The God Who Teaches His People".
The Names of our Great God:
The God Who Teaches His People
"Thou camest down also upon
mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments,
and true laws, good statutes and commandments:"
Can you imagine the sight ~ God coming down from heaven upon Mount Sinai.
What the Levites are clearly referring to is the giving of the law on Mount
Sinai. Here God broke through time to meet with Moses on the Mount
and to give him the things he was to teach the nation of Israel.
This was a most horrifying time for the nation. The New Testament
even states that the event was so fearfully dreadful that even Moses said
"I exceedingly fear and quake" (Heb 12:21). No doubt this
was a very fearful time, for the God of creation is coming down from heaven
to teach His people.
Exod 19:16 " And it came to pass on the third
day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick
cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that
all the people that [was] in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses
brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood
at the nether part of the mount. 18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a
smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof
ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and
louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice."
Can you imagine the fear that fell over the camp,
the people were going to meet God. It is in this setting that God
gives His laws, His commands, His statutes. So let's look at our
text for a moment. We find that God came down upon Mount Sinai and
spoke with the people from heaven:
1) He gave them "right judgments".
2) Jehovah gave them "true laws".
3) Jehovah gave them "good statutes".
4) Jehovah gave them "commandments".
5) Further in verse 14 we find that Jehovah
made known unto the nation "His Holy Sabbath".
6) Jehovah "commandedst them precepts".
7) Jehovah commandedst them "statutes".
8) Jehovah commandedst them "laws".
I suppose we could break each one of these up
and talk about them, but I think we might miss the forest while admiring
the trees. God gave them His Word, God gave them right ordinances,
God gave them faithful instruction, God gave them commandments that were
to show them His holiness, but equally show them their need of divine mercy,
to show them their inability to be completely obedient. God taught them
how they were to love their neighbor, and even more importantly how they
were to love their God.
It is amazing when we consider the God of creation,
coming to a people to teach them, to give them His laws, His statutes,
and His judgments But even more amazing is this promise of the new
covenant.
Hebr 8:10 "For this [is] the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord;
I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and
I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11 And
they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother,
saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and
their iniquities will I remember no more."
You see in a way that could never be said of
the nation of Israel, it can be said of the church (spiritual Israel) that
God is their teacher. They do not need a human priest to teach them
of their God, for they are indwelt by the very spirit of God. Each
of this nation, know their God. What a blessed reality, God is our
teacher.
Application
God has given some in the church to be apostles, God has given some
in the church to be prophets, God has given some to be pastors, and some
to be teachers. In fact the Greek indicates it may be teaching pastors.
God does use men to accomplish His work, but we must never forget, God
is the real teacher. Man can makes truth visible, but only God can
make them applicable. Man can expound the scriptures, but in reality
only God can apply them to the heart. Have you ever met someone who
did not understand some truth that was crystal clear to you? May
I remind you, our job is to expound truth, but God is the real teacher,
the same God who taught us must teach them, and He does this in His time,
not ours. May this reality go with us, as we teach others, we are
just sheet lightening, it takes the spirit of God to bring that lightening
down to a heart. This very God is Jehovah our teacher.
