Seventh Key
The Ten Commandments: (Exodus 20:3-17)
Are they limited only to the children of Israel? Are Christians under the same obligation as the children of Israel to keep the Ten Commandments as given unto Moses on Mount Sinai? Or did Jesus Christ repeal them on the cross through his death?
These and many other questions reveal why there are various beliefs concerning the Law of God. There are some who believe they were given to Israel only and therefore Christians are not obliged to keep them.
Others believe by adoption, they have been brought into the commonwealth of Israel and therefore are to keep them as do the children of Israel.
But what does God say about it? The scripture says let God be true and every man a liar:
God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. Romans 3:4.
God does not say one thing to one group and contradict the same with another group. He is not the author of confusion:
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. 1 Corinthians 14:33
It is worth mentioning that the Ten Commandments are the ONLY part of the scripture that God wrote Himself with His own finger. The rest of the bible God spoke his words to His servants and inspired them to write but with the Ten Commandments, He wrote with his own hand. This does not make the rest of the scripture insignificant but it emphasizes to a greater extent the importance of this law.
And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. [13] And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. Deuteronomy 4:12-13.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. [13] And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God. Exodus 24:12.
Were the Ten Commandments given only to the children of Israel?
Every true believer should be guided by the teachings of God’s Word because Jesus Christ is the Word that was there in the beginning:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. [4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men. St John 1:1-4.
What does the Word (Christ) say to his believers concerning the Ten Commandments?
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. [18] For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. [19] Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. St Matthew 5:17-19.
It was expected that Christ would abolish the law, which is the law of sacrifices and ordinances as contained in the book of the Law of Moses. But mistakenly, so, people expected that he was to repeal the tables of stone which His Father, twice wrote and gave to Moses. (Exodus 32:16, Deuteronomy 4:12-13, Exodus 24:12)
Jesus said “Think not hat I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets, I’m not come to destroy but to fulfill….” (Matthew 5:17-19). There were some present at that time who had the same understanding as some people of today that Christ came to destroy the handiwork of God .God left his lofty habitation, descended on Mount Sinai with his infallible, immutable Decalogue. The ten commandments are still as valid in this day as they were when God gave them to Moses. We cannot have a right to the tree of life unless we keep the Ten Commandments, (Revelation 22:14).
We will take this opportunity to explain the difference between the ceremonial laws which were a shadow of things to come and pointed unto Christ and the moral law which Christ said not even o jot or a tittle of the law will be removed till heavens and earth pass. (Matthew 5:17-19). Prophet Daniel prophesied that the Messiah the prince shall come and abolish the Ceremonial Laws, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” (Daniel 9:27). The death of Christ marked an end to the ceremonial laws.