The Law of God

VIEW:578 DATA:2020-03-20

The law was not spoken at that time solely for the benefit of the Hebrews. God honored them by making them the keepers and keepers of His law, but it should be considered as a sacred deposit for the whole world. The Decalogue's precepts are adapted to the whole of humanity, and were given for the instruction and government of all. Ten brief, comprehensive, and authoritative precepts encompass man's duties to God and his fellow men; and all based on the great fundamental principle of love. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your understanding, and with your neighbor as yourself." Luc. 10:27; Deut. 6: 4 and 5; Lev. 19:18. In the Ten Commandments these principles are presented in detail,

"You will have no other gods before Me." Success. 20: 3.

Jehovah, the eternal Being, existing by Himself, uncreated, being the originator and maintainer of all things, is the only one who has the right to supreme reverence and worship. Man is forbidden to give any other object the first place in his affections or service. Whatever we caress that tends to diminish our love for God, or is incompatible with the worship of Him due, we make a god of it.
"You shall not make a sculpture image for yourself, nor any resemblance to what is above in the heavens, nor below on Earth, nor in the waters below Earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them."

The second commandment forbids the worship of the true God through images or similarities. Many Gentile nations claimed that their images were merely figures or symbols for which they worshiped the Godhead; but God declared that such a cult is sin. The attempt to represent the Eternal by means of material objects, would lower man's conception of God. The mind, diverted from Jehovah's infinite perfection, would be drawn to the creature rather than to the Creator. And, by lowering his conceptions about God, man would likewise be degraded.

"I, the Lord your God, am a zealous God." God's intimate and sacred relationship with His people is represented in the form of marriage. Idolatry being spiritual adultery, it is God's displeasure against it properly called jealousy.

"I visit the evil of parents in their children, even the third and fourth generation of those who bore Me." it is inevitable that children will suffer the consequences of their parents' wrongdoing, but they are not punished for their guilt unless they participate in their sins. However, it is generally the case that children walk in their parents' footsteps. By inheritance and example, children become partakers of their father's sin. Bad tendencies, perverted appetites and low morals, as well as physical illnesses and degeneration, are transmitted as a legacy from father to son, until the third and fourth generation. This terrible truth should have a solemn force to restrain men from pursuing sinful conduct.

"I show mercy to thousands who love Me and keep My commandments." Forbidding the worship of false gods, the second commandment involves the order to worship the true God. And to those who are faithful in His service, mercy is promised, not merely to the third and fourth generation, as the wrath against those who hate Him is threatened, but to thousands of generations.

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold anyone who takes His name in vain innocent." Success. 20: 7.
This commandment not only forbids false common oaths and oaths, but prohibits us from using the name of God lightly or carelessly, without paying attention to its terrible significance. By the hasty mention of God in common conversation, by appeals to Him made on trivial matters, and by the frequent and thoughtless repetition of His name, we dishonor Him. "Holy and awesome is His name." Ps. 111: 9. Everyone must meditate on His majesty, purity and holiness, so that the heart may be impressed by an intuition of His exalted character; and His holy name is to be spoken with reverence and solemnity.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you will work, and you will do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God; you will not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor yours. daughter, neither your servant, nor your handmaid, nor your animal, nor your foreigner who is inside your doors, because in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything in them, and on the seventh day he rested, therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and kept it holy. " Success. 20: 8-11.

The Sabbath is not presented as a new institution, but as having been established at creation. It must be remembered and observed as the memory of the Creator's work. Pointing to God as the One who made the heavens and the earth, distinguishes the true God from all false gods. All who keep the seventh day make it clear by this act that they are worshipers of Jehovah. So the Sabbath is man's sign of submission to God as long as there is someone on earth to serve Him. The fourth commandment is the only one out of all ten that contains both the name and the title of the Lawgiver. it is the only one that shows by the authority of whom the law is given. Thus it contains the seal of God, affixed to His law, as proof of its authenticity and validity.
God has given men six days to work on, and requires that their work be done in the six days intended for that. Necessary and merciful acts are permitted on the Sabbath; patients and sufferers at all times must be treated; but unnecessary work must be strictly avoided. "If you turn your foot away from the Sabbath, and do your will on My holy day, and if you call the delightful Sabbath, the holy day of the Lord, worthy of honor, and honor it by not following your ways, nor intending to do the your own will. ... "Isa. 58:13. Nor is the prohibition in this. "Don't even speak your own words," says the prophet. Those who discuss business matters on the Sabbath or make plans are considered by God to be engaged in the business transaction itself. To keep the Sabbath holy, we must not even allow our spirits to engage in worldly things. And the commandment includes everyone inside our doors. Those who live in the house must, during the sacred hours, put aside their worldly occupations. Everyone should unite to honor God through voluntary worship on His holy day.

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged on the earth that the Lord your God gives you." Success. 20:12.

Parents are entitled to love and respect to a degree that no other person is owed. God Himself, who placed responsibility on them for the souls entrusted to their care, ordered that during the first years of life parents should be in God's place in relation to their children. And he who rejects the lawful authority of his parents, rejects the authority of God. The fifth commandment requires that children not only pay respect, submission and obedience to their parents, but also provide them with love and tenderness, relieve their care, watch over their name, and help and comfort them in old age. It also commands respect for ministers and rulers, and for all others to whom God has delegated authority.

This, says the apostle, "is the first commandment with promise". Efés. 6: 2. For Israel, hoping to soon enter Canaan, it was a pledge, to the obedient, of a long life in that good land; but it has a broader meaning, including all Israel of God and promising eternal life on earth, when it is free from the curse of sin.

"You will not kill." Success. 20:13.

All acts of injustice that tend to shorten life; the spirit of hatred and vengeance, or the indulgence of any passion that leads to offensive acts on others, or even makes us wish him ill (for "anyone who hates his brother is a murderer"); a selfish neglect of caring for the needy and suffering; all self-indulgence or unnecessary deprivation, or excessive work with the tendency to harm health - all these things are, to a greater or lesser extent, a violation of the sixth commandment.

"You will not commit adultery." Success. 20:14.

This commandment prohibits not only acts of impurity, but sensual thoughts and desires, or any practice with a tendency to excite them. Purity is required not only in outer life, but in the secret intentions and emotions of the heart. Christ, who taught the duties imposed by the law of God, in its great scope, declared that evil thought or looking as truly sin as the wrongdoing is.
"You will not steal." Success. 20:15.

Both public and private sins are included in this prohibition. The eighth commandment condemns the theft of men and the slave trade, and prohibits war of conquest. It condemns theft and theft. It demands strict integrity in the smallest details of life's businesses. It prohibits deception in commerce, and requires the payment of debts and fair wages. He declares that any attempt to gain an advantage through the ignorance, weakness or unhappiness of others, is recorded as fraud in the books of Heaven.

"You will not say false testimony against your neighbor." Success. 20:16.

This includes any speech that is false about any subject, any attempt or intention to deceive our neighbor. The intention to deceive is what constitutes falsehood. By a glance of the eyes, a movement of the hand, an expression of the face, falsehood can be said as effectively as by words. Any intentional exaggeration, any suggestion or innuendo calculated to give an erroneous or disproportionate impression, even the statement of facts made in such a way as to deceive, is false. This precept prohibits any effort to damage the reputation of our neighbor, by defamation or bad suspicions, by slander or intrigue. Even the intentional suppression of the truth, by which harm to others may result, is a violation of the ninth commandment.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything of your neighbor." Success. 20:17.

The tenth commandment strikes at the very root of all sins, forbidding the selfish desire, from which the sinful act is born. He who, in obedience to the law of God, abstains from indulging even with a sinful desire for what belongs to another, will not be guilty of an evil act towards his fellowmen.

1. Exo 20: 1 Then God spoke all these words, saying:
Exo 20: 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Exo 20: 3 You will have no other gods before me.
Exo 20: 4 You shall not make for yourself a sculpted image, nor any figure of what is above in heaven, or below on earth, or in waters under the earth.
Exo 20: 5 You shall not bow down before them, nor serve them; because I, the Lord your God, am a zealous God, who visit the iniquity of parents in their children until the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.
Exo 20: 6 and I use mercy with thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Exo 20: 7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold anyone who takes his name in vain innocent.
Exo 20: 8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20: 9 Six days you will work, and you will do all your work;
Exo 20:10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. On that day you will not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your servant, nor your animal, nor the foreigner that is inside your doors.
Exo 20:11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Exo 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Exo 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.
Exo 20:14 You shall not commit adultery.
Exo 20:15 You will not steal.
Exo 20:16 You will not say false testimony against your neighbor.
Exo 20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything of your neighbor.