“For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?” (Deuteronomy 5:26).

This is the first time this wonderful description of God is used in the Bible. He is the living God! He is not the far-off god of the deist or theistic evolutionist, nor is He the impersonal force of the pantheist, but He is the God who lives and cares.

It is noteworthy that God is called “the living God” exactly 15 times in the Old Testament and 15 in the New. The two central occurrences—the last occurrence in the Old Testament and the first in the New—both speak of those who are “sons of the living God.” In the first case, it is concerning those among God’s chosen people who will receive His life as they turn to Christ when He comes again: “It shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God” (Hosea 1:10). In the second, it is Peter’s testimony concerning Christ Himself: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

The first occurrence of this great title, as recorded in our text for the day, refers to “the voice of the living God” speaking to His servants out of the awful fires on the holy mountain. The last occurrence, in Revelation 7:2, speaks of “the seal of the living God,” protecting His servants through the awful persecutions of the great tribulation. “The LORD is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting king: at His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation” (Jeremiah 10:10). For the unbeliever, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31); but for the Christian, it is a wonder and a comfort, when “we trust in the living God” (I Timothy 4:10) as our Savior and Lord. HMM