Nehemiah 9:13
Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:
At Mount Sinai God came down, spoke to Israel from heaven, and gave as a guiding gift judgments, laws, statutes and commandments that were right and true and good. The One who came down and spoke was Christ Himself, acting for ancient Israel as Redeemer and Protector and wonder-working God. He was enshrouded in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, divided the sea, led Israel in the way, gave bread from heaven, brought water from the rock, and sustained them forty years so that they lacked nothing.
The gift was the moral law of the ten commandments proclaimed from Sinai and made known by the hand of Moses, including the making known of the holy Sabbath and the command, thou shalt not covet. It is distinct from the ceremonial system of symbols pointing to Christ, His sacrifice and His priesthood, which was to cease when type met antitype at Christ's death. Its description as holy and just and good shows it can be no other than the decalogue.
That law is forever settled in heaven and immutable as God's throne, maintaining its claims upon mankind in all ages. Christ's death to atone for transgression of that law proves its obligation was not lessened or abolished. God's requirements stand as plain commands for which the people were responsible to obey, yet against which rebellious wills contend.
Israel refused to obey, dealing proudly and hardening their necks, rebelling and casting His law behind their backs. Their turning from Him separated them from Him, so He permitted them to come under the control of heathen nations. The accompanying miracles did not save them without willing obedience to His will, and the same rebellious spirit appeared when He came in person to their children.
The later reading of the law in Ezra's time was met with acknowledgment of sin and of the justice of God's punishment, with deep repentance and return to God of the kind John's preaching was expected to bring about. The people pledged themselves to keep the law in a written and signed covenant that made their obligation a lasting reminder and a safeguard against temptation, including a pledge not to intermarry with the people of the land. The verse begins a history of gracious leading and provision, of multiplication and conquest, of deliverance by appointed rescuers, and of long forbearance despite disobedience, rebellion, pride and failure to keep the law.
That history parallels the history of Seventh-day Adventists, to whom more than to any other people God has manifested great and glorious truths and whom He has led in simplicity in paths of truth and righteousness with most precious evidences of favor. Those evidences have not been appreciated nor answered with the glory due His name, yet He has not forsaken them altogether. All heaven is enlisted in their favor and all the resources of heaven wait their demand to carry the medical missionary work and the ministry of the Word blended in one to all parts of the world. Had His will been done, the glory of the final message would have been seen and the last trumpet would have called the righteous dead to the mansions Christ has gone to prepare.