Exodus 20:19-20 - "And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not."

The people feared for their for their physical safety before the God who had appeared with “the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking” (v. 18). Most people today would have the same fear in similar circumstances. Those described were people whom God had chosen to deliver. Today God’s chosen people are those who have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus, and have been added to the church which Christ built (I Peter 2:9; Rev. 17:14). Moses said, “fear not, (but) fear.” Don’t be afraid for the flesh, but revere God and His every word. If the admonition of Moses holds today, Christians must hear the words of God until reverence for Him guards us against sinning. Do you read the Bible every day? Does it guide your thoughts, words, and behavior? If not, you have declined the only power that can guard you against sinning or bring you forgiveness when you do sin.

Exodus 26:30 - “And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.”

Moses had been 40 days in the top of Mt. Sinai hearing the law of God for Israel, and the detailed instructions for building the tabernacle (Exodus 24:18). Before the tabernacle was constructed, with all its furnishings and instruments, and the special clothing for the priests, God told Moses at least five times to be sure that he built according to pattern that had been shown to him in the mountain (Exodus 24:4; 25:9,40; 26:30; 27:8). 1,500 years later, in the epistle written to the Hebrew Christians, the Holy Spirit moved the writer to remind the church of this unbroken principle. He wrote of the priests in that tabernacle were serving “as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount” (Hebrews 8:5). Then he described how Jesus has given us something immeasurably greater than they had in the tabernacle. His point is a lesson, an admonition and a warning to every soul today who would seek God: build according to the specific instructions of Jesus for His church, or God will not accept it. Personally and through his apostles Jesus gave specific instructions for the organization, worship, and work of the church, and for the daily conduct of every soul in it. Are you building according to the pattern?

Exodus 31:13 - "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you."

See also verse 16. That this was a new instruction to the people of Israel is overlooked by many readers of the Bible. It is commonly taught that the sabbath was from creation, and to last forever. It was not. The sabbath was part of the law given only to Israel (Deut. 5:1-3). Israel knew this when they prayed to God after the restoration from captivity (Nehemiah 9:13-14). The sabbath was “made known” at the time God spoke upon Mt. Sinai. Genesis (including chapter 2 verse 3) was written during the ensuing 40 years to those who had been at Sinai on that occasion. In Genesis God explained why He “blessed the seventh day.” Genesis was not written as the events occurred. Its details were revealed to Moses many centuries later. It was written as the background to the forming nation, and as the background to our understanding all that exists. The sabbath law applies to no one today. The “sabbath” that remains is for “the people of God” (Heb. 4:9), and is in the future (verses 1, 10, 11). That is Heaven (Rev. 14:13). Nobody “changed the sabbath to Sunday.” The first day of the week is not a day of “rest from their labours.” The sabbath law given to Israel is fulfilled in the Christians’ entrance into Heaven. Labor to enter in.