20 - The Ten Commandments

Many religious teachers teach that Christ, by His death, abolished the law.  They represent it as a painful yoke, and say that the gospel frees us from obedience to God's law. 

Both the law and the gospel are mirrors reflecting the true character of God.  Modern theology separates what God has put together

  What do The Bible Writers Say?

1. David: "I will always obey your law, for ever and ever.  I delight in your commands because I love them."  Psalm 119:44,47.

"O how I love Your law!  I meditate on it all day long."  Psalm 119:97.

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yield its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither."  Psalm 1:1-3.

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2. James, who wrote after the death of Christ, calls the ten commandments "the royal law" and "the perfect law of liberty." James 2:8; 1:25, KJV. The law of God, which Satan has called "a yoke of bondage," and "the chains of slavery," will be honored as the law of liberty. 

3. John the Revelator, half a century after the crucifixion, announces a blessing upon them "that do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Revelation 22:14, KJV.

John says "He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar.  But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him." 1 John 2:4, 5.

4. Jesus did not come to change the smallest part of God’s law.   Did Jesus say "When I die on the cross I will destroy the ten commandments, I'll nail them to the cross?"  No! Absolutely Not!

The claim that Christ by His death abolished His Father's law is without foundation. He 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." And it is written: "I delight to do Your will, O my God: yes, Your law is within My heart." Matthew 5; 17, 18; Psalm 40:8.

Jesus, himself, obeyed His Father’s law and expects us to obey God’s law as well. Jesus says "I have kept My Father's commandments." "I do always those things that please Him." John 15:10; 8:29, KJV.  

The Apostle Paul says that God’s law is holy, just, and good. Would God destroy something that is holy, just and good? No, absolutely not!He would not and did not. Romans 7:12, KJV.

"Love is the fulfilling of the law." Romans 13:10, KJV. "Your law is truth"; "all Your commandments are righteousness." Psalm 119:142, 172, NKJV.

 Some people use a quote from Paul in Colossians 2:14 - 17 to try and convince others that the ten commandments were done away with, or "nailed to the cross." The ten commandments were on two tables of stone.  Have you ever tried nailing stone? 

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The Sabbaths that were done away with, at the cross, were the ceremonial Sabbaths like Passover--yearly Sabbaths.  All of these verses refer to the ceremonial law, which was done away with at the cross, and not to the Ten Commandments. Colossians 2:17 tells us that the Sabbaths that were done away with are those that are "a shadow of the things that were to come:--religious festivals that involved eating and drinking.

The first yearly sabbath was the feast of "Passover," which looked back to the Israelites' escape from Egypt and forward to the death of Christ on the cross.  The Israelites were saved from the plague of death that came to the Egyptians.  The Israelites killed a lamb and painted their door frames with the blood of a lamb, which was a foreshadow of the death of Christ.  The apostle Paul said it like this: "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." 1 Corinthians 5:7.  

Christ died on the cross at the very day and moment of the year that the Passover lamb was going to be killed.  At that very moment, Christ died. The earth shook, and the lamb escaped, and the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom by the unseen hands of an angel, showing that the "shadow of things" was done away with, now that the true "lamb of God" --the Messiah died for the sins of all mankind.  In other words, the cross cast its shadow back to the sacrifice of the lamb and the protection that the lamb's blood provided in the first Passover service in Egypt.

No longer did this yearly Sabbath hold the promise of the coming sacrificial Messiah who would shed His blood for the sins of the world. The true "lamb of God" died on the cross. The sacrifice of lambs was central part of the work of the temple. The curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom by the unseen hands of an angel--an angel shouting, as it were, to the world that the work of the earthly temple--the sacrifice of lambs--was now meaningless, since the true lamb of God had shed his blood. 

The Sabbath commandment was part of the great moral law. The moral law is a perpetual and universal law. One law was temporary, written on paper.  The other was   permanent, written on stone.  The temporary law was written by Moses and the permanent law was written by God.

Sin means disobeying God’s Law. "Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness." "Sin is the transgression of the law. (KJV)" God’s law is the only way we have of defining sin. Those who attempt to change God’s law are sinners.The papacy tried to change God’s law.  Scripture identifies the papacy as "that man of sin." "He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God." 1 John 3:4, (KJV); 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4.

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You remember that it was this very issue of self-exaltation that introduced sin, pain, suffering and death into a pain-free, death-free universe.  Lucifer had said, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God."  He was saying that he would exalt his throne above God's throne. "I will sit also upon God's mountain.  I will make myself like the Most High." Isaiah 14:13, 14.

What do The Bible Writers Say? 

PAUL: "Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. "How shall we, who died to sin live any longer in it? By the law is the knowledge of sin." Romans 3:31, RSV; Romans 6:2, NKJV; Romans 3:20, KJV.

JOHN declares: "This is love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not burdensome."  1 John 5:3. NKJV.

DAVID: "O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all day long." Psalm 119:97.

DAVID: "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Psalm 19:7.

Any change in God's perfect law would make it imperfect!   If God's law is "holy, and just, and good," character formed by obedience to that law will also be holy. Romans 7:12.

What did Jesus do?

JESUS said: "I have obeyed My Father's commandments."   John 15:10.

JESUS said: "I always do what pleases him." John 8:29.

JESUSdid not come to change the smallest part of God’s law.  He obeyed the ten commandments. 

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" Matthew 5; 17, 18. "I delight to do Your will, O my God: your law is within My heart." Psalm 40:8. "I have obeyed my Father's commandments."  I always do what pleases him." John 15:10; 8:29.

Holy People Never Claim to be Holy or Sinless.

Sanctification has a spirit of humility. Our eyes need to be opened so we can see our own unworthiness in contrast with the purity and exalted perfection of the Infinite One.

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DANIEL: Known by God as greatly beloved saw his own weakness and sinfulness. "I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel."  I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless." "I stood up trembling." Daniel 9:20; 10:8, 11.

JOB: "I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42:6.

ISAIAH: "Woe to me! I cried. I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips" Isaiah 6:3, 5.

PAUL: "I am less than the least of all God's people." Ephesians 3:8.

JOHN: "When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead."  Revelation 1:17.

Those who have an understanding of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross have no praise for themselves, no proud claim of freedom from sin. Our only hope is in the perfection and love of our crucified and risen Savior.

Sanctification requires effort, humility, acceptance of God’s law, self denial and a divorce from the follies of the world. The sanctification now becoming popular in the religious world carries, with it, a spirit of self-important arrogance and ridicule for the law of God. Its defenders teach that sanctification is an instantaneous work: "Only believe." The receiver is not supposed to have to make any further effort.

Please email the author TODAY! - glen@prophecymadeeasy.com

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