Commandments
Please also see: ‘The Sabbath.’
Seek the Truth with all your heart.
GOD directed that the stone tablets on which HE wrote the Ten Commandments be placed inside the Ark of the Covenant; the very representation of HIS throne in heaven, in the Holy of Holies. No other law or instruction was ever placed inside the Ark of the Covenant. The Ten Commandments are not merely ‘moral law,’ as some misguided scholars teach; they are the direct hand written ‘spiritual law’ of the Creator of heaven and earth.
The first four are about expressing love for GOD; the following six are about love for people.
The Ten Commandments were a totally separate spiritual law given by the hand of GOD; they are separate from, and above, the statutes, judgements, and ordinances, which were ceremonial laws and shadows of prophecies which have now been fulfilled. There are seven Feasts which some continue to celebrate; namely: ‘Passover’ in April, ‘Unleavened Bread’ in April, ‘Pentecost’ in May, ‘Feast of Trumpets’ in September, ‘Day of Atonement’ in September, ‘Feast of Tabernacles’ in October, ‘Last Great Day’ in October.
Exodus 20:2-17
1 “I am the LORD your GOD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before ME.”
2 “You shall not make for yourself 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 nor 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 fourth generations of those who hate ME, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.”
3 “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.”
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your GOD. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
5 “Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your GOD is giving you.”
6 “You shall not murder.”
7 “You shall not commit adultery.”
8 “You shall not steal.”
9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.”
10 “You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbour's.”
Exodus 20:22-23 ‘Then the LORD said to Moses, ”Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: Do not make any gods to be alongside ME; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.”
Exodus 34:27-29 ‘Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets of stone the words of the covenant – the Ten Commandments. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.’
Deuteronomy 5:22 ‘These are the commandments the LORD proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and He added nothing more. Then He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.’
Psalm 111:7-8 ‘The works of His hands are faithful and just; all His precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness.’
Proverbs 19:16 ‘Whoever keeps commandments keeps their life, but whoever shows contempt for their ways will die.’
Keeping GOD’s Commandments.
A Holy Spirit filled ‘spiritually born again’ person relates to the Ten Commandments as having expanded meaning and value. So now that person does not do wrong things, they do not even think wrong things, or ponder sin in any way. If they begin to do so, they immediately arrest their thoughts and divert them to GOD-ly thoughts.
The Ten Commandments are also known as The Decalogue and could be described in the following manner:
Who to worship.
How to worship.
Approach to worship.
Time to rest - meditate - worship.
Respect for family.
Protect & respect life.
Protect & respect purity.
Protect & respect property.
Protect & respect integrity & dignity.
Protect and respect contentment.
The Ten Commandments are our guide, and when one is spiritually born again, they take on expanded meaning and value.
Jesus said that He did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it, which He has done by adding the spiritual meaning to the physical meaning. So we now have both facets of the completed dimension of the Ten Commandment law.
The Pharisees, who were trouble making counsellors, added an additional 613 unnecessary burdensome laws. Jesus rebuked them for this.
Matthew 23:33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”
Isaiah 40:8 ‘The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our GOD stands forever.’
Matthew 5:17-20 ‘Jesus said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Many people think that to ‘fulfill’ means to nullify the future meaning, or to bring it to an end. It does not mean ‘to discontinue or replace the requirement or significance of the subject.’ People seem to use their own reasoning to justify discarding the requirement to respect the fourth commandment. The seventh day should be respected in principle and practice. It is the seventh day, so it is clearly defined, and there is only one seventh day of the week.
The dictionary meaning of ‘fulfill’ is to ‘develop fully,’ ‘bring happiness and satisfaction,’ ‘to succeed in developing abilities, or qualities to their fullest degree,’ ‘to do something as promised or intended,’ ‘to satisfy hopes or expectations,’ ‘to give added or full meaning, or significance.’
GOD, with His own finger, wrote the Ten Commandments in stone, because His principles of law are permanent and unchanging. None of the Ten Commandments have passed away, become obsolete, or been replaced.
Jesus said that even the least of the commandments must be obeyed for one to be considered great in GOD’s eyes. Jesus is obviously referring to the Ten Commandments because He qualifies them by referring to several of them as examples, to indicate which complete set of commandments He was referring to.
Jesus was not talking about the ‘ceremonial’ or ‘ritual’ laws of Moses, contrary to theological arguments and convoluted reasoning of so many opinions and Bible commentaries. He was talking about His true followers obeying the great spiritual law of GOD, the Ten Commandments. This was the law --- and the only law --- that GOD spoke with His own voice from the top of Mount Sinai. And He did NOT intend it to be temporary, it was to be permanent in its fulfilled version.
The Ten Commandments are often referred to as ‘the law,’ singular, because it is one law, which has ten elements. It is not ten separate laws. With any of its elements missing, it would be an incomplete law. That is why it is said in Matthew, as above, if you break one you have broken them all -- the lot.
This instruction has never been changed or revoked. The massive error that is made in saying that the fourth one has changed and no longer applies in its original form, is a gross misunderstanding and misinterpretation.
Matthew 19:16-17 ‘A man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus replied “Why do you ask Me about what is good? There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” “Which ones?” The man inquired. Jesus replied, “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honour you father and mother, and love your neighbour as yourself.” Once again Jesus used these few commandments as examples to indicate which full set of commandments He was referring to.
The greatest commandment:
Matthew 22:34-40 ‘Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your GOD with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
James 2:10 ‘Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.’
The handwriting of ordinances (The Law of Moses) was nailed to the cross, NOT the Ten Commandment Law of GOD. All of the ceremonial ordinances, including the special annual sabbaths which were annual feasts and ceremonies, NOT to be confused with the weekly seventh day Sabbath. They were merely Old Testament shadows of events to come, to prepare people for Christ’s arrival, meaning they were symbols - types - pointing forward to His ministry which was the substance. This was their purpose; once Jesus was here they no longer had a purpose. Christ is the New Covenant, and He shed His blood for it.
Jesus came to fulfil the Law of GOD meaning to add significance to GOD’s Ten Commandments. Matthew 12:8 Jesus said “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” The Sabbath confirms without question that Sabbath keeping still stands. He is the LORD who rested on the seventh day and declared it a perpetual Sabbath, never to be changed or replaced. Ref. Isaiah 66:22-23. Colossians 2:14 & 16-17 refers to shadows of things to come which were nailed to the cross; and refers to a Sabbath Day, not the Sabbath Day. The fourth commandment was NOT referring to it as a shadow of things to come. It was no such thing. The seventh day Sabbath is mentioned 59 times in the New Testament. Please do not destroy number four of the ten. Keeping the Sabbath is acknowledging GOD as the Creator, and is also worshipping HIM.
Christ was the end – the aim – the goal – the fulfilment -- of the Law of Moses; the Old Covenant that expressed GOD’s commitment to save humanity.
Please position yourself to be a beneficiary of the incredible things GOD has in store for those who love HIM.
Philippians 4:13 ‘I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.’
Only according to GOD’s will.
Colossians 2:13-15 ‘When you were dead in your sins and in the un-circumcision of your flesh, GOD made you alive with Christ. HE forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; HE has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, HE made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.’
This is referring to the law of Moses which was hand-written as a witness for the people. The Ten Commandments were written in stone.
Philippians 4:8You +1'd this publicly. Undo ‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.’
Psalm 27:4 ‘One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek Him in His temple.’
Psalm 40:8 ‘I desire to do Your Will, O my GOD; Your law is within my heart.’
John 14:15-16, 18, 20-21, 23-24. “If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and HE will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever --- the Spirit of Truth. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. On that day you will realize that I am in My FATHER, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commands and obeys them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My FATHER, and I too will be loved by My FATHER, and I too will love them and show Myself to them. Anyone who loves Me will obey My teaching. My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make Our home with him. Whoever does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These words you hear are not My own, they belong to the FATHER who sent Me.”
2 Corinthians 3:2-11 ‘You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living GOD, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Such confidence we have through Christ before GOD. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from GOD. HE (GOD) has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious.? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness. For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts.’
Hebrews 12:2 ‘Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of GOD.’
2 Peter 1:5-7 ‘For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness, and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self control, and to self control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love.’
Thank GOD for HIS instructions and guidance.