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The Stone Tablets of the Law
The Ten Commandments were written on these two
pieces of stone, by the finger of God on Mount
Sinai (Exodus 31:18; 32:16,19; 34:1). The tablets
of stone are also called the tables of testimony
(Exodus 31:18), because they show us what God is
like: jealous, caring, faithful and true. He is
holy and righteous.
Here are the Ten Commandments (Exodus
20:1-17):
Introduction: "I am the Lord your God, who
brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage.
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourselves any carved
image, you shall not bow down to them nor serve
them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous
God.
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your
God, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone
who misuses His name.
Remember the Sabbath 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.
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the
earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested
on the seventh day.
Honour your father and your mother, so that you
may live long in the land the Lord your God is
giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your
neighbour.
You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you
shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor anything
that belongs to your heighbour.
The Ten Commandments on the two stone tablets
are the basis for God's covenant with the children
of Israel (Exodus 19:5-7). They stipulate what the
righteous requirements of the law are, but there is
no supply to help the children of Israel to obey
the commandments.
Because the children of Israel did not continue
in their side of the covenant (it was impossible,
Romans 8:3), God promised to make a new covenant,
"not like the covenant I made with their fathers,
My covenant which they broke, though I was a
husband to them" says the Lord (Jeremiah
31:32).
"This is the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I
will put My law into their minds and write it on
their hearts; and I will be their God and they
shall be My people. No more shall every man teach
his neighbour saying 'Know the Lord', for they all
shall know Me, from the least to the greatest among
them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their
iniquity and their sin I will remember no more"
(Jeremiah 31:33-34).
This is the New Covenant which Jesus has
ratified by His blood (Luke 22:20).
Psalm 40:8 is a prophecy of the Messiah:
"Behold, I come; in the scroll of the Book it is
written of me: 'I delight to do Your will, O my
God, and Your law is within my heart'". In
fulfillment: "When the fullness of the time came,
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under
law, so that He might redeem those who were under
the law" (Galatians 4:4). Jesus Christ has kept the
law of God, loving the Lord His God with all His
heart, and His neighbour as Himself. This is
obvious from reading the four gospels. Delighting
to do God's will (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38), Jesus had
the law of God (the Ten 'Words' of God) in His
heart, just as the Ark of the Covenant kept the
stone tablets of the Testimony. The Word of God had
become flesh and tabernacled among us, full of
grace and truth (reality, Greek) (John 1:14).
Through Jesus' death on the cross, as a perfect
offering, we are forgiven our offenses under the
law and redeemed from slavery to it.
God undertakes to write His laws into our hearts
and inscribe them on our minds, by sending forth
the Spirit of His Son into our hearts (Galatians
4:6 Hebrews 8:10-12). Thereafter, an inner working
of life takes place, "Christ who is our life"
(Colossians 3:4), "Christ being formed in you"
(Galatians 4:19), that will result in at least the
same testimony of God as the Ten Commandments. The
children of Israel broke the old covenant, and we
still do, because of trying to keep it by
self-effort in our flesh. In the New Covenant, God
undertakes to write His laws into our minds by His
Spirit (Romans 8:4 Ezekiel 36:25-28), providing we
walk by the Spirit.
John is very economical in his writing, using
one or two words to describe vast realities. But
his focus is not on understanding so much as truly
knowing, experiencing, for example the Bread of
Life (John 6:35). John refers to Jesus as:
the 'Word' in his gospel (John 1:1)
the 'Word of Life' in his first epistle (1 John
1:1)
the 'Word of God' in Revelation 19:6.
In each case, John's underlying thought seems to
be the Ark of the Testimony.
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