MILLIONS ARE DIRECT WITNESSES TO GOD

MILLIONS ARE DIRECT WITNESSES TO GOD

Hugh Fogelman

National Revelation – what is it? It is when God publicly communicates to an entire nation simultaneously. Over 3,300 years ago, the entire people of Israel heard God speak at Mount Sinai, experiencing a national revelation. God did not just appear to Moses in a private rendezvous, instead He appeared to everyone, some three million people. The whole nation of Israel, Hebrews and non-Hebrews, was encamped at the base of Mt. Sinai for a period of less than a year, which was by far the most significant period in the history of mankind. God told the Israelites to listen to Moses and they heard exclaiming “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do.” (Exodus 19:9) To Moses God said “the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever.” (Exodus 19:9) Moses had Divine authority.

During that time, on three occasions Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on the mountain, talking to and learning from God. God did not spend all that time just writing the Ten Commandments. He taught Moses His statues, ordinances and judgments (Exodus 20:18, 24:12). According to the Midrashim (Zohar Chadash, Terumah: Tanchuma 28 and 36), each of the forty days Moses was on the mountain was divided into two study sessions:

During the DAYTIME, God would teach Moses Torah Sh’b’ksav. (Written Torah)

At NIGHT, God would teach Moses Torah Sh'b'al Peh (Oral Torah).

God taught Moses how He wanted His people to live as specified in the oral and written Torah. Torah contains not only the Ten Commandments, but also 603 other statues, judgments and the ordinances. Moses then instructed the Israelites on God’s Laws. (Exodus 21) Thus, began Israel’s religious and civil institutions, which are still followed over 3,300 years later.

God told Moses that on the third day He was going to speak to the whole nation (Exodus 20:19). This would be a "National Revelation" directly from God, opposed to other religions’ claims of individual/private revelation. This event was spiritual, special, and spectacular, “the entire people saw the thunder.” (Exodus 20:15) If this did not happen, the Nation of Israel could not, nor would not, have told their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren of this experience, who in turn, told their children what their parents and grandparents saw and heard.

God instructs his children to always remember this event, “only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen…teach them [what they saw] to your children and your children’s children about the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb [Mt. Sinai]…and the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form, you only heard a voice (Deuteronomy 4:9-12)

Don’t forget the importance of this National Revelation that was witnessed by about three million people who saw and heard God’s presence. This was God’s disclosure to man of Himself and His will. God knew that man would be tempted by false gods and warns that He would be testing us; “For the Lord your God is testing you to see whether you really love the Lord, your God with all your heart and sole.” (Deuteronomy 13:4) This is so important that an entire chapter of Torah is devoted forewarning the Israelites of false prophets (Deuteronomy 13). God warns the people if someone entices you to “worship the gods of others – which you did not know, you nor your fathers”, you should kill him (Deuteronomy 13:7-11).

In other words, if your father did not know or hear of this other god, then turn your back on that false prophet. The reason, because your father was told by his father and his father was told by his father who heard the "real" true God. “You [your fathers] are the ones who have been shown, so that you will know that God is the Supreme Being, and there is none besides him”. (Deuteronomy 4:35) Very simple!

In direct opposition stands the Christian New Testament. The Christians so-called revelations from God are only experienced by one person at a time and privately. For example:

Paul on his way to Damascus,

Constantine while on a bridge losing a big battle,

Jesus in his Transfiguration, and

The Mormon Joseph Smith, in a wooded grove

Each one of these people claimed that they talked to God, but there were no witnesses! No reliable witnesses! How easy to claim something that cannot be proven!!

There is an old Chassidic story of a Rabbi who died without leaving any instructions as to which one of his two surviving sons he wanted to replace him as rabbi of his synagogue. This caused a big dispute in the congregation. One group wanted the oldest son while another group felt the younger was more suited. One day, one of the two sons called together the elders of the congregation telling them, "Last night in my sleep, my father appeared to me in a dream and told me that he wanted me to call together the elders of the congregation in his name and tell them that it is his wish that you appoint me as his successor." One of the elders stood up and said, "You know, if you father wanted you to be his successor, he should have come to us in our dreams, not yours".

You should now realize that if God wanted Mohammed to be his prophet, He would have gone to the people publicly and said, "Mohammed is to be My prophet." God would not privately instruct Mohammed to go to the people and say “God told me I am to be your prophet.” This applies to all religions. Paul told his listeners that Jesus spoke to him. John wrote Revelations because of a dream he had, saying an angel told him what to say. Mary said an angel informed her she was pregnant and Joseph was told by an angel not to worry, that his wife was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. Why should a reasonable person believe someone that tells them God or angels talked to them without witnesses to their stories? Strange, Christians are told that all they need is faith to believe, not to think logically.

Yes, standing in stark contrast is the National Revelation of God to Israel, witnessed by millions.

And they told their children, and their children told their children, etc. If that did not happened, someone in a future generation would have said this was all a lie and soon there would have been doubts. And there are no doubts!

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