“Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of fire as you heard and yet continued to live?....Know this today, and again take it to heart that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. There is no other.” These are the emphatic words Moses speaks to the Israelites, just before entering the promised land. It is not simply a plea to behave; it is a reminder to God’s people of who they are. He has set them apart for his special purpose. He wants them to follow him with whole hearts.
Moses’ piercing rhetorical question is affirmed in Jesus’ sermon on the mount: don’t place your hope where thieves steal and moths destroy. Like all the things of this world, those fading gods will let you down in the end. He tells us to consider what our real treasure is, because that is where our hearts will also be.
And where is that? So often, we pledge our hearts to wealth, anger, lust, and the many other things the self-serving flesh wants. In this condition, none of us should hear the voice of God and live.
But when Jesus speaks, he reminds us who we are. With his death and resurrection, he has bound us together in him as his own people. He has led us out from the bondage of sin and disciplined us on our journey. His fiery Word has burned away the impurities of the sinful heart and made it holy. What once bowed before wood, stone, and flesh now serves as salt and light to the world.
It won’t be long before we enter the land he has promised us, where sin, death, and evil are gone forever. But for now, Jesus himself is the treasure, the rock on which we build.
