Exodus Chapter 20 Verses 18-21 

:18 “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20 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. 21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.”   

“And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.”   When the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and heard the noise of the trumpet, and saw the mountain smoking, there were greatly afraid of God and of his judgment of sin.  Likewise, when we have a heart-felt conviction of sin and realize that we have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that we are worthy of everlasting punishment in the lake of fire, it causes fear to arise in our hearts as well.  We have an illustration of this in the New Testament when the two men came to the temple to pray: Luke 18:10-14 “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”   

The publican, who felt himself to be a sinner and felt the conviction of sin “stood afar off” and “would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven.”  He could only cry out “God be merciful to me a sinner.” 

“And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”  The people felt that if God should speak to them that it would be in judgment and that they would 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.”  A people who do not fear God will not keep the commandments of God.  According to the books of Psalms and Proverbs:

    1.  Ps. 111:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.”

    2.  Prov. 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

    3.  Prov. 8:13 “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.”

    4.  Prov. 9:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” 

“And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.”  This was as God had commanded Moses, that Moses would come up unto him in the thick darkness, but the people would not.   

Verses 22-26

:22 “And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. 25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. 26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.” 

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.”  The fact that the children of Israel had seen that God talked to Moses from heaven was to solidify their confidence in what Moses was telling the children of Israel that it was coming from God and not from man.  Man can devise all kinds of thoughts and sometimes men can dream dreams and think there is significance to their dreams and that other men should follow them because of their dreams or because of their superior intellect.  However, dreams and the intellect of men pail in comparison to what the God of the universe, who created all things, has to say.   

“Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.”  There is only one image found in the scripture that accurately depicts our God.  The works of men’s hands cannot accurately depict our God.  The only image acceptable to God is what the scriptures say about Jesus Christ:                        

    1.  2 Cor. 4:4 “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

    2.  Col. 1:15 “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

    3.  Heb. 1:3 “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” 

Even so, man in his depravity has continuously tried to depict God after images made by men of wood, hay, gold, silver, etc.: Rom 1:23 “And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” 

“An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.”  An altar serves as both a place of worship and a place of sacrifice.  These two things are not exclusive of one another.  Today, we worship God based on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as he gave himself to suffer and die for us to redeem us from our sins.   

The significance of the sacrifices of burnt offerings and peace offerings is further explain to us in the book of Leviticus.  I would advise the reader to go study those things in the book of Leviticus. 

“In all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.”  The Lord designated a place for public worship for the children of Israel.  A little later in the book of Exodus, the tabernacle will become the designated place for public worship of the children of Israel.  Later, the temple located at Jerusalem, will be the designated place for the children of Israel to publicly worship.  Moreover, the Lord promised a blessing of both coming unto them and in blessing them.   

“And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.”  An important lesson here is that man’s works (a hewn stone on which man had lifted up his tool) is not to be worshipped or become a part of the worship of God.  God’s work in redemption of his people is altogether of the Lord and man did nothing to bring it about.  Therefore, man has no reason to glory in what man has done, but all praise, honor, and glory is to be given to God.   

“Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.”  Today, we see men trying to present salvation from sin as a step by step process, whereby if men follow the prescribed steps he will be saved.  They are going up by steps to the altar of God and their nakedness (sin) is discovered in this process.  Thus, the Lord told the children of Israel that they were not to go up by steps unto the Lord’s altar and that their nakedness not be discovered thereon.