Chapter
One
(they are A Guide To Successful
Living)
“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was
with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God
created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him”
(John 1:1-3 New Living Translation).
Jesus said to those who professed to know God in His day
that they knew neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. Knowing one without
the other is bad enough, not to know either is worse. To know the power of God
but not know the Scriptures would be like living on a volcano without the
knowledge of what to do when it blows. Whereas, to know the Scriptures but not
the power of God is like having architectural plans for a house but no materials
with which to build—not to mention the skills required of a builder.
Many claim they know the Scriptures, yet observations of
their lives indicate they do not have the skills to interpret them. This is
because interpreting the Scriptures is an applied science and not a theory—like
many scoffers would have us believe.
Often, there are different views that create problems for
people. At one discussion group I attended, two diametrically opposed views
were expressed that created a volatile situation. One person believed that it
is negligent and irresponsible stewardship not to insure one’s house and
belongings against loss from fire, theft or acts of God. The other person
claimed that to take out insurance was to demonstrate a lack of faith in God.
The two individuals had different worldviews, even though they both claimed to
be Christians who justified their position from Scripture.
Another person I know severely injured his shoulder.
Instead of having an x-ray to discover the extent of the injury, this person
claimed he was going to believe God to heal him. The last time I saw him, six
months later, his shoulder appeared to have gotten worse and his agony more
excruciating. Surely, in this person’s case, a better option would have been to
find out exactly what was the problem with his shoulder and then express his
faith in God to show him how he would be healed.
Knowledge and faith go together; we cannot have faith
without knowledge. The more sound our knowledge, the more effective our faith.
When Moses was up on Mt Sinai getting instructions fromGod, the people below became impatient and built a golden calf to worship.
Moses came down and broke the tablets upon which God had written the Ten
Commandments and ordered the sons of Levi to slay people. About three thousand
people were slain that day, because people chose to rebel against God (Exodus
32:7-28).
On the day of Pentecost, three thousand souls were baptized
into the name of the Jesus Christ[i] for forgiveness of
sins in order to receive the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 2:37-41).
One preacher I heard, comparing the two aforementioned passages
of Scripture, claimed this demonstrated that the old covenant of the Law could
not bring life. Only the new covenant of the Holy Spirit could bring life and
the power to heal—evidently, this preacher had overlooked the promise of
healing that was made at Marah (Exodus 15:26)
before the Law
was given to the Israelites.
The truth is the three thousand people who were killed by
the sons of Levi had not yet received the Law and perished through a lack of
knowledge. The Law did not bring death, since death reigned before the Law was
introduced. What the Law does is provide
people with the knowledge of the
salvation of God.
Knowledge is an important element in understanding how we
can apply our faith. Incorrect interpretation of events and a lack of applied
knowledge results in merely a theoretical faith in God, which is ignorance.
Ignorance is not what faith is about. Faith is not wishful thinking. Faith is
not blind devotion. Faith comes from applied knowledge; the result of the
understanding that comes from experiencing the principles of salvation found in
the Word of Life, the Word of God.
When the Word became flesh, no one had seen God with his or
her physical eyes. To quote that very literal English translation, The
Emphasized Bible: “No one, hath seen, God, at any time: An Only Begotten God,
The One existing within the bosom of the Father, He, hath interpreted him”
(John 1:18). Jesus effectively interpreted how to live a righteous life in
accordance with the Ten Commandments by loving the Father and His neighbor as
Himself. Jesus’ interpretation of the Scriptures was not a theoretical display
of knowledge; rather it was a demonstration of the power of a Godly life. We
can say from a modern perspective, Jesus demonstrated that applied science is living the truth of the Scriptures.
In the book of Romans, chapter two, verse twenty, we learn
that the Law has the “embodiment of knowledge and truth” (ESV). Since the Law
of God embodies knowledge and truth, and Jesus demonstrated the powerful
benefits of living in accordance with the Law, by not transgressing the Ten
Commandments once, surely this would be good enough reason for us to desire to
know them. What other guide to successful living exists? The
promise of Psalm One is all who meditate on the Law will prosper in what they do.
These Ten Commandments are so essential, for had Jesus not kept them, He would not have been able to bequeath in His last will and testament, life to every human being at His death (Hebrews 9:15-17). However, this life is
conditional in that it is only available to whosoever is willing to
accept the truth and grow in the knowledge of our Savior, Lord Jesus
Christ (John 3:16; 2 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 3:18; John 8:31-32). If we are to
partake of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) and yet do not understand the just
requirements of the Law, we are like people seeking to harness the power of a
volcano without the required knowledge. This is something the people of Thera,
living on what is now known as the Greek Island of Santorini, once tried to do, before it destroyed their civilization. In other words, without the very words
written by the Finger of God, there is no hope for true success in life. We are beaten before we start. Fortunately,
we can thank God that this need not be the case.
The Ten Commandments were once taught in schools everywhere within Western Countries, but these days they are considered irrelevant, no longer
fashionable, antiquated, and even superseded—but, by what? As we will discover,
without the Ten Commandments, there is no hope for anyone. These
are the only words God
ever wrote with His
Own Finger.
[ii]
The
Apostle John
The Gospel of John states, “the law came through Moses, but
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Because of this
statement, many Christians like to think that the Ten Commandments have no
bearing on anybody today. Unfortunately, wrong interpretations of Scripture are
one of the main reasons why so many Christians fail to live up to what they
have been called, and fail to keep the blessings they have been promised.
Throwing out the Ten Commandments along with the ceremonial law (which
consisted of the blood sacrifices of bulls, goats, lambs and doves and grain
offerings) has resulted in
Christians not acknowledging the requirements of God’s law for life.
These guidelines for successful living are clearly outlined within the
Bible—besides, anyone who thinks the Law did not come through the Word of God
Himself, obviously has missed the truth about who Jesus really is. Jesus is the Son of God; the
pre-existent Word of God made flesh.
The
Apostle Paul
Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, was not opposed to the
law. People wrongly accuse him of being antinomian (rejecting the moral law of
God). The truth is Paul was very much in favor of upholding the Law. He
understood that the Law came through the pre-existent WORD OF GOD, the Mediator
between the Father and Moses (cf. Gal. 3:19-20; Ex. 34:5; Pr. 30:4). In fact,
Paul sees the law being fulfilled when people do what the law requires. As Paul
states:
For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You
shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet and any other
commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling
of the law (Romans 13:9-10).
Jesus talks about how he came to fulfill the law, and Paul
says the just requirement of the law was fulfilled in Jesus. This was
completed when Jesus gave his life so that human beings could have access to
eternal life. Jesus was able to do this because he never sinned once; that is,
Jesus did not fall short of keeping all the Ten Commandments. However, if we do
not know them, then we cannot understand what Jesus has done for us, let alone
know when we have transgressed them.
World
Recognition
The Ten Commandments are recognized the world over as being
the rules by which people should live. Yet most people only pay lip service to
these rules. What is surprising, though, is those who claim to know the Ten
Commandments often have a very shallow understanding of what they mean. In
fact, I have not met one person who has been able to quote the unexpurgated
version of the Ten Commandments. I can only put this down to the fact that
meditating on the Law of God as expressed in the first Psalm is not high on
people’s list of priorities. Nevertheless, I have met one or two who can cite
an abbreviated version, but not the unabridged version of the Ten Commandments.
The Abbreviated Version
You might think, “What is wrong with the abbreviated
version?” At face value, there does not appear to be much wrong with it;
except, like the Reader’s Digest version of the Bible, it is very
condensed when it comes to critical truths that pertain to understanding the keys to successful living. The abbreviated version goes:
1) You shall not have other god’s before me.
2) You shall not make for yourselves any
graven images.
3) You shall not use God’s name in vain.
4) You shall remember the Sabbath.
5) You shall honor your mother and father.
6) You shall not kill.
7) You shall not commit adultery.
8) You shall not steal.
9) You shall not tell lies.
10) You shall not covet.
There are some
variations to this. Commandment no. 4 is often recited as “You shall remember
the Sabbath as a day of rest”, or “You shall remember the Sabbath, to keep it
holy”. Commandment no. 5 is sometimes: “You shall honor your parents” or “You
shall honor your Father and Mother”. Commandment no. 6 is sometimes, You shall
not murder.” Commandment no. 9 is sometimes, “You shall not bear false witness.”
These might seem like minor points, but they do have different connotations. In this exploration of the Ten Commandments, and what they really mean for us today; we will discover their significance, how they can benefit us and what are the ramifications We will also see how they can
be distorted, misunderstood, dismissed, and overlooked.
The full version of
the Ten Commandments has been taken from the English Standard Version of the
Bible. Here is Exodus chapter 20, where the Ten Commandments are first
mentioned in the Bible. We shall consider the whole chapter to provide a little
context and throw some light on the awesomeness of the occasion when these
great truths were first presented to the people of Israel.
The Complete Version
The First Commandment
And God spoke all
these words, saying,
“I am the LORD your
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no
other gods before me. (Ex. 20:1-3).
The Second Commandment
“You shall not make
for yourselves a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am
a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the
third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast
love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments (Ex. 20:4-6).
The Third Commandment
“You shall not take
the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless
who takes his name in vain (Ex. 20:7).
The Fourth Commandment
“Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do
any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female
servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in
six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and
rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made
it holy (Ex. 20:8-11).
The Fifth Commandment
“Honor your father
and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God
is giving you. (Ex. 20:12).
The Sixth Commandment
“You shall not
murder (Ex. 20:13).
The Seventh Commandment
“You shall not
commit adultery (Ex. 20:14).
The Eighth Commandment
“You shall not steal
(Ex. 20:15).
The Ninth Commandment
“You shall not bear
false witness against your neighbor (Ex. 20:16).
The Tenth Commandment
“You shall not covet
your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male
servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is
your neighbor’s” (Ex. 20:17).
The Israelite Response
“Now when all the
people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the
trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they
stood far off and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest
we die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to test you,
that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.’ The people stood
far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. And the
LORD said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: You have seen for yourselves that I have
talked with you from heaven. You shall not make gods of silver to be with
me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. An altar of earth you shall
make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings,
your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be
remembered, I will come to you and bless you. If you make me an altar of stone,
you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you
profane it. And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness
be not exposed on it”‘ (Ex. 20:18-26).
The Only Time God Addresses A Nation
The Ten Commandments
were given directly from God to the people of Israel. This is the only time in
the Bible where God has spoken directly to a group of people of this magnitude.
Actually, this is the only time in recorded history that a whole nation has
been addressed by God Himself (Deuteronomy 4:32-36). As you can see the people’s
response was to be fearful of God rather than drawn towards Him with hearts of
awe and adoration. Admittedly, the lightning and thunder might have had
something to do with their fearfulness. The historic event probably could be
compared to being too close to an awesome display of the raw power of a
volcanic eruption during a thunderstorm crackling with lightning bolts. Therefore
it is no wonder the Israelites hearts hardened—molten lava sets like concrete.
Maybe the occasion would have been different if God appeared to them as a man,
only we cannot be sure of this, because when God did appear in human form as
Jesus of Nazareth, the harden-hearted men at the time saw fit to crucify Him.
Fortunately, Jesus really was God and death had no hold over Him. Jesus rose
from the dead proving Himself to be truly the Son of God (Romans 1:4).
The Rod is the Staff and the Staff is the Rod
The importance of the
Ten Commandments, as has already been stated, is highlighted by the fact that
God himself addressed the nation of Israel. God has only done this once in
recorded history and, when He did, He gave humanity a guide to life by giving
us the Ten Commandments. Not only this, as you will find, these Ten
Commandments (or “Words” as the Bible calls them) encapsulate and explain the
truth of our existence. The Ten Commandments are a staff to help us through
life or, because we ignore them, they can be a rod on our back that inflicts
pain. Psalm 23 alludes to this:
Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still
waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death,
I will fear no evil, for
you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my
enemies;
you anoint my head with
oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of
my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
The Message Bible
This is a beautiful
psalm and many people find comfort from these words. It is probably the most
well known psalm. A paraphrased version that is proving popular is the Message
Bible,
[iii]
which states:
God, my shepherd! I don’t
need a thing.
You have bedded me down
in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools
to drink from.
True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me
in the right direction.
Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook makes me feel secure.
You serve me a
six-course dinner right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping
head; my cup brims with blessing.
Your beauty and love
chase after me every day of my life.
I’m back home in the
house of God for the rest of my life.
There is a poetic
element in the Message Bible that can capture our breath, so to speak, in a
different way than what is in the other versions. Verse four of this psalm is
what we are interested in though. In most translations of the Bible, the Scripture
reads as the ESV (which is a literal translation) along the lines as follows:
“Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are
with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
In the Message
translation, the reading conveys different thoughts and evokes different images
within our minds. However, we have to admit it is comforting to know that if we
meet the Angel of Death, the Devil himself, and simply raise our rod—that is,
quote a commandment—he will flee! We can be just as Jesus was in the
wilderness; when He was tempted; when He was tested—when He passed the triple
test with flying colors!
The Analogy of the Shepherd’s Crook
A “trusty shepherd’s
crook” looks different to what we normally perceive as a rod. A rod might be a
fishing rod, or some narrow pole used to prod or hit animals to get them to
move, or a slender metal bar that might be used for manufacturing or
construction purposes; whereas a shepherd’s crook is often drawn or seen with a
hook on the end. It looks like a very tall walking stick—the kind we would
expect only a giant among men would use.
Shepherds, however,
use their crook for two main purposes. One is to assist them in walking up
hills and prodding their sheep and, the other, to fend off dangerous animals or
defend themselves from attackers—and shadows in the night. A shepherd without
his crook (or staff) will start to feel insecure because of his inability to
protect himself and his flock—especially if he is in the valley of death.
God’s Law Gives Us Boundaries
The Ten Commandments
are like the shepherd’s crook. They provide us with moral protection, and a
means by which we can live our lives with other people and know the boundaries
of social interaction.
There is much talk
today about boundaries when it comes to raising children. Teaching children
boundaries, so they can feel secure in their environment and know what is
expected of them is recognized as one of the most important legacies parents
can leave their children. Without a moral and legal framework, children grow up
living recklessly and have no regard for anyone—and, often, no regard for
themselves.
The Golden Calf
Like a father who
cares for his children, God spoke to the people of Israel and gave them some
guidance.
At the time, God was probably speaking disapprovingly of His children because they had built a golden calf to worship. We would expect the same of a mother and father who want to give their teenage children a treat, but when they return home, the children have been doing something that is out of order. Instead of speaking of the treat, the parents immediately speak disapprovingly of the situation at hand and provide some guidance as to how the children should conduct themselves in future by telling them—in no uncertain terms—what is expected of them. However, the parent’s voice will not be one that is soothing to the little souls; instead, it will reflect disapproval and come across as angry.
Admittedly, a parent has a right to be annoyed and
indignant about disobedient children. God, likewise, was evidently indignant
about the fact the Israelites, whom He had just miraculously rescued from the
Egyptians, only days earlier, were now forsaking Him out of unbelief.—God’s
anger, of course, is not to be confused with what is known as the “wrath of God”,
where punishment is dealt out to the wicked for wrongdoing (Romans 5:9).
Many people confuse
an expression of disapproval for what they have done as hatred of themselves,
rather than being the disapproval of an action that was performed. In the case
of the Israelites, God disapproved of the fact they were building a calf to be
their god. —Wouldn’t we disapprove of our children making a sculpture and
saying they are not going to listen to us, but whatever they think the
sculpture is saying? We would probably evict them from the house!
The reaction of the people towards God was just like all children react when they learn that what they did met with disapproval. The children will begin to feel that they do not want to talk to the adults and as individuals will usually say something like, “I don’t want to hear you anymore.” This is how the Israelites reacted. They cried out, “We don’t want God talking to us anymore!”
The Israelites now
felt they wanted someone else to mediate between God and themselves. This is
what happens when people do not want to relate honestly to another person. They
would rather hide or disappear than face the truth of their actions—or change
the attitude of their hearts.
Abusing Faith in the Garden of Eden
When we go back to
the Garden of Eden, we see the same reaction in Adam and Eve when they had
eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Instead of displaying a
confident open attitude towards God, they tried to hide rather than honestly
confess what they had done. Adam and Eve felt a sense of shame. They felt
distressed by the knowledge they had broken faith with God and, when they knew
they had to confess, they became conscious of the internalized pain from abusing
the faith—the confidence and the trust—placed in them by God. This is what
happens with children when they have let their parents down; when they know
they have done wrong, they feel distressed. This is what happened to the
Israelites when they had demonstrated their distrust of God by erecting a
statue of a golden calf to become their god. God had delivered them from their
enemies and performed miracles on their behalf, yet they did not exercise faith
towards their Savior, Lord God Almighty.
Admittedly, there is
a big difference between the way God revealed Himself to the nation of Israel
and the way He revealed Himself to Adam and Eve. God appears to have confronted
Adam and Eve in a more gentle manner than that in which He spoke to the
Israelites at Mt Sinai. God did not speak to Adam and Eve out of clouds with
deep rumblings of thunder that would have felt like an earthquake rattling
every cell in their bodies. Besides the power of God’s voice, the Israelites
had to contend with lightning bolts that electrified the atmospheric molecules
in the wilderness—so much so, that they probably felt the hairs on their head
were numbered. Under these circumstances, it is understandable that the
Israelites felt more than shame—they would have been terrified!
The Testing of the Israelites
God was testing the
Israelites. Moses said that there was nothing to fear. God was simply letting
the Israelites know that He alone was Almighty and was capable of performing what
He said He would do. Yet the Israelites were not prepared to take God at His
word, even though He had demonstrated miracles, such as parting the Red Sea
when it looked like all was doomed. God knew this would happen; but just as
Pharaoh was put to the test, the Israelites were to be put to the test. On the
other hand, the Israelites would be putting God to the test also. We see this
testing when Pharaoh put God to the test ten times, and gave up on the last
test and let the Israelites go. The Israelites, likewise, were to put God to
the test ten times (Numbers 14:22) during their time in the wilderness—and,
oddly enough, God gave them Ten Commandments by which to live. Now this has
to
be more than coincidence.
These commandments
were not tangible things that could be touched like a golden calf; they were
principles of behavior. Five of these commandments were to relate to God. Five
were to relate to humans only. Some expositors will disagree with this and say
that six of the commandments relate to humans only and four relate to God.
However, it is worth noting that five of the commandments have the word “God”
included in them, and five do not. What this signifies is the first five
commandments reveal to us how we are to honor God and show our love for Him,
and the other five are how we ought to honor and love each other.
The Moral Distinction
Morality is the
conduct that distinguishes humans from beasts. Moral behavior requires us to
think about what we do. Morality then means that there is responsibility and
accountability involved in the very actions we perform. Morality, however, can
mean different things to different people. For some people it is immoral to
kill an animal, but not immoral to kill a human to save an animal. Yet the
simple concept of morality is a matter of reciprocity—that is, doing to others
what we would have them do unto us. Ironically, wild beasts of the field would
not give a second thought about killing a human—they just never do. Animals are
merely irrational creatures of instinct, which means that if one confronts us,
and we are not spooked by it, it will be spooked by us—as is the case more
often than not—and the less our need to run.
The animal instinctively acts from its own fear and flees! (Believe it
or not! Some people still find it hard to understand that a lone mouse is more
afraid of them than what they are of the mouse.)
Thinking is the
distinguishing feature between humans and animals, and having an inner
recognition of what is right and wrong is only evident in humans. Animals have
been trained to imitate actions; only, there is no evidence that they can
actually think or are motivated by morality. Limited displays of intelligence are not the same as having the ability to think and understand
right from wrong.
A dog is supposedly
man’s best friend. A dog will be loyal to its owner. However, no dog has
demonstrated the ability to think for itself. Dogs have been trained to perform
many tasks. The reality is dogs are trained to perform tasks that are an
extension of what they would do naturally. Some dogs are thought to be better
suited at rounding up sheep (sheepdogs), while other dogs are more inclined to
be better suited at finding fox dens (fox terriers). Yet all dogs need to be
trained if they are to be good at what they do. Guard dogs are trained to
attack trespassers and guide dogs are trained to lead blind people safely.
However, no dog has been trained to talk or write. No dog has shown concrete
evidence of actual thinking. Like all animals, dogs can be trained to do what
comes natural for them to such high degrees of excellence that it resembles
a form of limited intelligence. The same applies to the great apes. These
will appear to outsmart a dog, not because they can think, but because they
have more capabilities. However, a two-year-old human being can evidently
demonstrate more intelligence than a highly trained chimpanzee.
Emotive behavior that appears to suggest animals are conscious beings capable of thinking is more about reactions that come from trained responses, or environmentally conditioned responses.
There is no evidence that emotive behavior in animals is the result of an
ability to form concepts of moral behavior; neither is there any evidence that
emotive behavior in animals comes from exercising the power of the will and
choosing to respond to selected criteria in a demonstration of moral will
power.
Humans, however,
demonstrate irrational behavior when their buttons are pushed. When people have
their buttons pushed, the response is an emotive reaction programmed from
conditioning as a child. Psychologists are aware of this and sales
psychologists teach sales staff to utilize human emotive behavior to secure
sales. To counteract this, many governments have introduced cooling-off laws,
so people can have time to think about what they have purchased, rather than
have them being manipulated according to their conditioned responses, just like
animals, each time a salesperson pushes their emotive buttons.
The Ten Commandments
are not about emotive responses to environmental stimuli. The Ten Commandments
are about having principles by which we can live our lives in a civilized way
without infringing the rights of other people. To understand what these
principles mean requires intelligence that goes beyond an emotive response, or
an environmentally conditioned response, or artificially trained behavior.
True intelligence goes beyond the capacity to demonstrate
instinctive reactions to stimuli that gives the appearance of acquired
knowledge. Animals demonstrate what appears to be knowledge, when they act on
sense stimuli or perform trained behavior. They give the impression that they
are acquiring knowledge rather than functioning from instinctively developed or
conditioned habits. True intelligence requires the ability to choose between
right and wrong; that is, the power to exercise choice (otherwise known as
volition) based on the capacity to reason, which results from knowledge, not
emotion, nor instinctively conditioned responses. True intelligence
is a demonstration of the capacity to think and communicate with words.
Physical and Moral Breakdown is Inevitable
Humankind is
supposedly experiencing evolutionary progress. Yet, socially, the problems that
exist today would suggest that human behavior is getting worse; not better, and
people are becoming less principled rather than more principled.
Actually, the Ten Commandments, which God Himself declared to a nation that had been miraculously delivered out of slavery, do provide evidence that humans are not evolving into more intelligent, more perceptive, and more knowledgeable beings. Indeed, humans have been failing to live up to the requirements of the principles of life as outlined in the Ten Commandments for the last three thousand, five hundred years. The promise that comes with the Ten Commandments is this: if they are not broken, death has no hold over us. In other words, anyone of us who fulfills the requirements of Ten Commandments (or has them fulfilled within his or her being—Romans 8:4) will live forever.[iv]
The reason why we can
live forever, if we keep all the Ten Commandments, is we will be in communion
with God; for we will not have broken faith with God, and we will be as Adam
and Eve were in the Garden of Eden before they sinned. To be in communion with
God means that we have true life in the eternal realm that transcends time and
death. The eternal realm is not governed by time; because time is
measured only when there is a difference like day and night that recurs.
Outside of this, there is no such thing as time, simply because it cannot be
measured. Only finite things can be measured. Death makes time measurable
because it introduces a finite element, which we know as the temporal. Death
comes from breaking only one of the Ten Commandments. Anyone who does not break
any of the Ten Commandments will live forever. Unfortunately, life on Earth has become temporary, instead of eternal, because death reigns. Eternity like infinity cannot be measured, because both states of existence have no end, but our lives on Earth will come to an end.
[v] Eternity
like infinity cannot be measured, because both states of existence have no end,
but our lives on Earth will come to an end.
Only Jesus Fulfilled the Law’s Requirements
Fortunately, for us, Jesus did meet the requirements of the
Law and, by fulfilling those requirements, He has bequeathed to us His
righteous life.
We do not have to meet the requirements of the law on our own merit.
This is something of which we
are incapable. The Bible is quite clear that all have fallen short of keeping
the Ten Commandments, and because of this, we are out of fellowship with God.
However, not all has been lost. God in His divine wisdom and grace has given each one the
opportunity to receive unmerited favor in His eyes through the gift that has
been bequeathed to us as a consequence of Jesus’ death. When Jesus died, He
left an inheritance to all who want it. This inheritance is the right to
eternal life because Jesus kept all the commandments.
Now, according to the will and testament of
Jesus Christ, because of His death on the cross, it is possible for us all
to partake of the gift that has been left to us. If we take up
Jesus’ offer of eternal life, would it then be right for us to spurn this offer
and abuse the grace that has been extended to us? The answer to this is a
resounding, "No!”
Our Heavenly Advocate
The door that once
was closed to us has now been opened, so we can have a relationship with the
Creator God. Where, then, is the merit in spurning God’s grace by deliberately
breaking the very commandments that offer life? The relationship we now have
with God means we still need to uphold the Ten Commandments. Jesus was very
clear about this. He said that those who relaxed the least of the commandments
would be recognized least in the kingdom of Heaven, and if our righteousness
did not exceed that of the hypocrites, we would not enter the kingdom of Heaven
(Matthew 5:19-20).
Fortunately, though, if we miss the mark and fail to uphold the Law, we now have an advocate with the Father who intercedes on our behalf.
In the event that we do stumble, we can pick ourselves up and get back on
track.
It sounds rosy to
claim that the law cannot judge Christians, because the law is of no avail.
Only, there is a problem with this hypothesis. One Holy Spirit inspired New
Testament writer says that
if we do sin, we are
still in need of an advocate
to represent us. From this, we can assume that it is possible for us to be
judged and thrown into prison. A place Jesus said we will never get out of
until we pay every penny (Luke 12:56-59), which is an everlasting problem if we
have no way of paying the debt and have rejected the only offer of our
punishment being cancelled.
If there is no law, then it cannot be broken, and
there is no need for an advocate to
act on our behalf. If there is a law, which can be broken, and we break it, it
is to our advantage to have an advocate to defend us.
To quote the Apostle
John:
“My little children,
I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John
2:1).
God in His divine
grace has given each one of us the opportunity to receive unmerited favor. This
God has done through the gift that has been bequeathed to us through Jesus’
death. However, when the accuser
[vi] attempts to prosecute us for failing to live up to
expectations, God has gone even further than we would expect by allowing Jesus to
be an advocate on our behalf.—How good is God!
A Word from the Book of Proverbs
God wants to bless us
and give life to us with all its riches. People might tell us different, but we
need not believe them. Just read what the book of Proverbs chapter twenty-two,
verse four, says:
“The reward for humility and fear of the LORD
is riches and honor and life.”
In the New
International Version
[vii] Proverbs chapter eight, verse eighteen, speaking about
true wisdom says:
“Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and
prosperity.”
Proverbs chapter
twenty-four, verse four, says:
“By knowledge the
rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”
As for the law, and
having knowledge of the Ten Commandments and understanding what they mean for us;
we cannot afford to listen to those who say they are done away with.
In Hosea chapter
four, verse six, the Bible tells us without knowledge the people perish:
“My people are
destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I
reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
God never leaves us
without hope and always seems to have a plan worked out to help us because of
our failings, as we find in Jeremiah chapter thirty-one, verse thirty-three:
“But this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the
Lord: I will put my law within them,
and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be
my people.” Only, we need to know what that law is exactly if we are to abide
by it, and in the event we break the Law, we need to know how we broke the Law
in order to repent.
The True Jew
The Bible says a true
Jew is a son of Abraham, and this has nothing to do with physical birth, rather
it is a
matter of faith. Being adopted into the family of God is the same as
being adopted into the family of Abraham. The Apostle Paul in Romans, chapter
four, is very clear about who are the sons of Abraham:
“That is why it
depends on faith, in order that the
promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to
the adherent of the law but also to
the
one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all” (Romans
4:16).
Even those who adhered to the Mosaic Covenant and called themselves Jewish were not true Jews unless they had a spiritual awakening that enabled God to circumcise their hearts, regardless of any claim to physical descent (Romans 2:28-29).
Believe or Not To Believe
We will find that the
Ten Commandments have more to offer us today than what most people think.
Basically, Jesus even went as far to say that if we do not believe what
Moses wrote, we would not believe
Him, even if He were raised from the dead (John 5:46-47; Luke 16:31).
It is always tempting to throw the baby out with the bath water, and many
people do, by incorrectly saying that the Old Testament and the Ten
Commandments have been done away with. This is because many like to believe there is no longer accountability for sin and the New Testament and the commandments to love God and our neighbors as ourselves have superseded the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments.
What many people fail
to realize is the greatest commandment, which they call the first of the two
new commandments, is actually found in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy
chapter six, verses four and five:
“Hear, O Israel: The
Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
A Not So New Commandment
In the Gospel of
John, we learn that Jesus spoke of a new commandment (John 13:34). This
commandment, to love one another, may have been a new commandment to the
disciples, because they were unfamiliar with its existence in the Mosaic
writings, or it may have been a new commandment because the scribes and
Pharisees and Sadducees were not teaching it; but it was definitely an old commandment (1 John 2:7).
You shall love your neighbor as yourself is known as the second commandment of the New Testament.
This commandment is actually a not-so-new commandment, because it is found also
in the Old Testament, just like the First Commandment. In the Old Testament, there is a negative
connotation associated with this commandment that speaks of not hating anyone
in your heart. It is found in the book of Leviticus, chapter nineteen:
“You shall not hate
your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor,
lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a
grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (Lev.
19:17-18).
The Love Chapter
Many people take the
view that the Old Testament is about the negativity of God. The Ten
Commandments supposedly demonstrate this when they begin with “you shall not”.
The New Testament, on the other hand, is supposedly about the positive view of
God. The New Testament is about what we can do rather than what we cannot do.
Yet when we read the famous chapter on love (which is often read at weddings),
we find that it speaks negatively so we can understand love or—more
importantly—how we should express love. In the English Standard Version Bible,
we find these words:
“…love does not envy or boast;
it is not arrogant or rude;
it does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrongdoing…” (1 Cor.
13:4b-6a).
We have to admit that
using the negative word “not” is not exactly being positive. What is surprising
is that since this is talking about loving one another, there are five negative
(not) expressions where we could write, “You shall not.” This somehow puts a
damper on our enthusiasm for crowing about how positive the New Testament is
compared to the Old Testament. However, in order to understand something, we
need to see both sides of the equation—positive and negative. We have to admit
this seems to be more than a coincidence that the Holy Spirit inspired the
writer to put five negative expressions into the love chapter. Here are the
five “you shall not” expressions about love, as some would say, expressed from
an Old Testament view on the subject:
You shall not be
envious or boastful
You shall not be
arrogant or rude
You shall not insist
on your own way
You shall not be
irritable or resentful
You shall not rejoice
at wrongdoing.
For some people, the
above might seem quite convincing that this correlates to the five “you shall
nots” found in the last five of the Ten Commandments. For those who are a
little more studious or discerning, we have to acknowledge that there are eight
“you shall not” commandments as expressed in the abbreviated versions of the
Decalogue—the exceptions being Remember
the Sabbath and Honor your father
and mother. However, in the chapter about love, if we separate envious from boastful, and arrogant from
rude, and irritable from resentful,
we have eight separate dispositions expressed in the negative to describe love,
as per the following:
You shall not be [1]
envious.
You shall not be [2]
boastful
You shall not be [3]
arrogant.
You shall not be [4]
rude.
You shall not [5] insist
on your own way.
You shall not be [6]
irritable.
You shall not be [7]
resentful.
You shall not [8]
rejoice at wrongdoing.
Effects of Error
When we start to see
the Finger of God in the writing of the Scriptures, we are beginning to learn
what it means to have the spirit of the fear of the Lord upon us. Actually, our
delight should be in the fear of the Lord, just as it was prophesied of Jesus:
“There shall come
forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear
fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the
fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD…” (Isaiah
11:1-3a).
The idea that the New
Testament is about what we can do, and the Old Testament is about what we
cannot do, is false—absolutely!
All too often,
something that has caused people pain leads them into another error when
partially rectified. Martin Luther, the famous Reformer, is known also for
rejecting the book of James as containing false teaching because it speaks
about our faith being justified by works, and does not say we are justified in
God’s sight by faith alone. This is most likely because of his painful
experience within the Roman Catholic Church and its teachings on salvation by
works. Luther evidently had difficulty understanding how a person’s faith was
completed by action, and there is a difference between doers of faith and
hearers who only profess faith with their lips.
Another example is when a person grows up
being taught he has to confess his sins to a priest. The priest then has him
performing unnecessary penance for sins to free him of his guilt. Only, this
does not free him of his guilt, as the guilt remains. The person then learns
that we need to confess our sins to God to be set free from our guilt, and the
price for sin was paid once for all by Jesus on the Cross of Calvary. The person confesses to God and accepts that
Jesus paid the price for sin on the Cross—then, for the first time in his life,
he experiences freedom from guilt. On this basis, the person will reject the
idea of confessing his sin to another Christian, because he believes that he
needs to confess his sin to God alone. Yet the Bible states we are to confess
our sins (or failings) to each other.
“Therefore confess
your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The
prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16 NIV).
When people
experience the effects of wrong teaching and point their finger at something that
has caused them pain, they often fall into a
different error when they draw false conclusions that hinder them from seeing
the fullness of a truth. It is true that we only need to confess our sins to
God for salvation and do not need to perform any penance. However, if we truly want God’s full blessing and
complete healing in our lives while here on Earth, we need to confess our sins to one another, as well—which is
vastly different to confessing our sins to a priest and then being given
penance to gain favor from God.
When we look at the world around us, we see the
obvious. We do not see the principles that enable the world to function. We are
oblivious to much of what is happening. However, if we desire to understand the
world in which we live, we need to look more closely at what is happening. This
usually requires looking at things in a little more detail than just observing
that on a sunny day, in the blue sky, there is a dark cloud on the horizon.
Likewise, when we understand the Ten Commandments, we gain the advantage over
the Devil, because they are a guide to a successful life—and because of Jesus’
success, we now have an inheritance.
In the following chapters, we will look at what
each one of the Ten Commandments mean for us today,
without the Mosaic rituals,
and
uncover the hidden truths within
the Ten Words from God. What will surprise you is the extent of knowledge that
is embodied in the only words written by the Finger of God.For many people miss the following truth that is found in the Psalms:
“I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad” (Psalm 119:96).
The Amplified Bible provides additional clarity and states:
“I have seen that everything [human] has its limits and end [no matter how extensive, noble, and excellent]; but Your commandment is exceedingly broad and extends without limits [into eternity].”
Indeed Heaven and Earth will pass away, but not one dot or one iota of the Law shall pass away until all is accomplished (Matthew 5:18).
Some individuals who grasp the implications of what is written within these pages, after having read them, actually question why they had not acquired the body of knowledge contained within this book after ten years of formal study. What is the reason for their lack of knowledge? What we learn from God has to become applied knowledge.
The depth of truth contained within the only words written by the Finger of God covers numerous disciplines. Yet these words are the milk of the word that are essential for us Christians to understand, if we are to truly walk in the victory of the Melchezidek priesthood that Jesus has made available for all who believe (1 John 2:3-6; Hebrews 5:9-14; 1 Peter 2:2-9).
NEXT CHAPTER: CLICK ON OLDER POSTS BELOW
[i] The apostles always
baptized people into the name of Lord Jesus Chrst and did not use the formula
“Father, Son and Holy Spirit” and because of this, some people think Mathew
28:19 was changed from “baptize in my name” to “ baptize in the name of the
three titles of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
[ii] Daniel 5:5-6:30
records Belshazzar observing the fingers of a man’s hand writing on the wall of
his palace. Daniel tells the king that this is a message from God telling him
that he has been judged. Belshazzar then dies. Some say that this is the finger
of God writing on the wall. If this is the case, then this would be the only
other time God has written anything with His finger. Other’s say that God is
not a man, so that was not the finger of God writing on the wall.
[iii] Scripture taken from The
Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by
permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
[iv] Theologically, this
sounds like Pelagianism, but there is one difference—having a promise is not
exactly the same as actually fulfilling the requirements to obtain the promise.
Besides, Pelagius taught we did not really need Jesus as our Savior—but even
John The Baptist needed to be saved through Jesus’ atonement, and he was
surrounded by the Holy Spirit from birth.
[v] Physical death reigns
because Adam’s blood became affected by sin. This has become a hereditary
genetic flaw passed down through every male spermatozoon.
[vi] Satan is still in
Heaven accusing the brethren—Rev. 12:10— but will be thrown out when the Day of
Atonement is fulfilled on the Christian calendar. So far, we have had the
Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits and Pentecost. Still to come are Day
of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles.
[vii] New International Version, copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by
Biblica. Used with permission.
