Moses climbed the rugged mountain to meet with God.  On the mountain, he received the 10 Commandments and other laws as they are recorded in the Pentateuch. The high watermark of the law was the simple command to love God with all our might and our neighbour as ourselves.  This is still the essence of Gods law and illustrates the goal of our spiritual growth as the people of God. In fact, the first five books of the Bible or the Pentateuch, from Genesis to Deuteronomy, are an illustration of the processes of growth, that God takes us when we follow Him. Genesis is the beginning and explains how God called men from Noah to Abraham. It is about Election; God calling His people, the first privilege we experience, being called by the father to Jesus. Exodus illustrates deliverance and coming out of Egypt. God’s people are brought out of the old into a new beginning. It illustrates how we are redeemed by the blood of the Passover lamb. Leviticus informs the redeemed slaves, how to live with a holy God, as they approached His sanctuary: Sanctification is about we gain a new way of thinking about God, along with a changed lifestyle. Numbers deals with how God trained his people from a mob or rabble into the army of God through discipline and learning to follow the cloud of His presence. Finally, Deuteronomy repeats to the second generation all the requirements they were to obey after the old generation had died off. Their obedience would bring the blessing and victory as they entered into their inheritance. These truths formed the basis for the teaching of the early church doctrine about how we are called, regeneration, justified and sanctified to be made ready to enter fully in our inheritance, who is Christ.

Friend, to come to the full stature of Jesus Christ means to be a wholehearted disciple but mostly means to be fully loving of people and God; even in that order. John said we can’t say we love God till we love your brother and sister. 1 John 4.21