God's Ten Commandments
Are they in force and effect today?
This question is too often avoided intentionally. When God ushered in the New Covenant did He or did He not terminate and make void the TEN COMMANDMENTS? You may have read or heard the question answered both ways - that is, YES they are no longer valid or effective; or NO, God did not void the Ten Commandments. We know it cannot be both ways. Therefore, let's examine scripture to learn which is correct.
Who would you say benefits most if we choose to believe them of no effect? As a whole, the ten commandments disclose the character of God. Anyone who follows each commandment and understands its full meaning and application, will better serve God's purposes in the Earth. On the other hand, if we know Satan's intent is to "...kill, steal, and destroy.." (John 10:10), his purposes would be better served if we believe them of no continuing effect. Therefore, Satan would be best served by more people not having (or using) the Ten Commandments to measure our morals and examine our behavior.
If we take the TEN COMMANDMENTS out of the process of determining right and wrong, we end up with a criminal law that is based on selfish ambition. The arbiter of our conduct would have little with which to decide that any given conduct was wrong enough to issue punishment for it when committed. Social conduct has evolved, to a large extent, on humanists terms of self preference. How far would a person feel more comfortable going with personal gratification as the most important consideration if there were no longer a measuring device to decide genuine authoritative right and wrong? Can you say that our Civil Rights Laws would have been prepared and past? That alone would be enough consideration for me to desire having the TEN COMMANDMENTS taught in our school system and openly displayed in all public buildings.
Let's consider God's answer to the question. Looking back to Exodus 20:2 (ESV), which reads, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of slavery. God began with His identity "I am..." and then a statement of His accomplishment. The act of bringing the children of Israel out of the Egyptian Bondage was prophesied to Abraham some 400 years before (Genesis 15:13). The next verse, 3, in Exodus begins God's proclaiming the Ten Commandments. All the people of Israel heard the voice of God (Exodus 20:18-19). But, the people seeing the smoke (evidence of God's presence) and hearing His voice were afraid. They demanded that Moses meet with God and then tell them what God wanted them to do so that they would not die (Exodus 20:19).
The Ten Commandments remained in effect when in 1776 our forefathers met to draft the Declaration of Independence. We know this to be true because the minutes of the meetings contain references to the Bible and specifically to the Ten Commandments as the guide to their great undertaking. Our Forefathers knew the importance of invoking God's grace and presence to assist them in coming up with a document that would satisfy Him and give our Nation its best opportunity to succeed. No one has challenged the fact that America is the most successful Democracy ever known. Regardless of whether you think Abraham Lincoln was or was not a Christian, you cannot deny the Biblical influence in the actions he took to preserve our Union. "In God We Trust" is much more than a motto - it is the very principle on which our Nation was formed. Therefore, placing the TEN COMMANDMENTS in prominence within our Federal Governments public buildings was the manifest gesture of our Forefathers faith and actions.
When Jesus was teaching the multitude (we call it the Sermon on The Mount), he was asked what about the Ten Commandments. Jesus said, "Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." (Matthew 5:17-18 ESV). That is clear enough for me, how about for you? God's law has not died, been replaced, or modified since its giving. Therefore, the TEN COMMANDMENTS remain in force and unchanged.
I have heard it said that the New Covenant replaced the Ten Commandments. The New Covenant was announced in Jeremiah 31:31-34 (ESV) as follows: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares 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. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." That is plain enough. Rather than depend on prophets to teach the people what God wants them to know, God has written it on our hearts and minds. No wonder we get cranky when we attempt to deny God's identity or otherwise violate the very law that God has permanently established within us.
Jesus ushered in the new covenant and became its High Priest. In Hebrews 8:6-10,12,13 (ESV), God says to us, "But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since is is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: 'Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern fo them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord" I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people...For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sin no more....In speaking of a new covenant, he made the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." (repeating much of Jeremiah 31:31-34).
OK. So what did vanish and go away? Hebrews 10:5-7, "Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said: 'Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.' " It seems to me that God no longer wanted the scapegoat and sin offerings, burnt offerings that were required once each year. That is what went away and vanished. This became like the largest exclamation point in 70 AD when the Romans burnt the Temple of God in Jerusalem to the ground. There has never been another place designated by God as His house. Therefore there is no place where sacrifices and offerings can be given. To me that is God saying look to my Son; We are finished with the old tradition of sacrifices and offerings. My Son died on the cross once for all and no other offering will be made. Trust in Christ Jesus for He is the only official bearer of our Father's grace and truth.
Romans 6:14, says, "For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace." No longer does sin have dominion over each of us who have been buried with Christ into His death and raised from the grave to walk a new life. (Romans 6:3-4). The basis of this truth was lived in the life of Christ Jesus. We find solace in knowing that as long as we remain in Christ there is no condemnation for us at the final judgment (Romans 8:1-8).
Take a fresh examination of the Ten Commandments. Can you find one that could be broken without causing trouble in your marital relationship? Or, any relationship of substance? Learn and live the Ten Commandments - for they will motivate you to new heights of achievement you have never experienced.
AT BEST THIS IS A QUICK OVERVIEW..........comments are welcomed.
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