God’s Top Ten

TO READ: Exodus 20:1-18; 24:12-18

The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, and I will give you the tablets of stone on which I have inscribed the instructions and commands so you can teach the people.”

Exodus 24:12

In the Ten Commandments, God gave Moses a pretty substantial message for us. On tablets of stone were written ten things he wanted us to do. These laws were given to the Jewish people to give to the world. While some in today’s culture don’t want to admit it, these Ten Commandments form the foundation of our society, the bedrock of our system of law and order.

The Ten Commandments are expanded and explained in the books of Moses that form the Pentateuch. The statutes that Psalm 119 extols are the civil and religious applications of the Mosaic Law.

The Bible is a whole book. The Old Testament is the preparation for the Gospels, which contain the manifestation of the living Word of God; the Acts of the Apostles, the propagation of his message; the Epistles, the explanation; and the Revelation, the consummation of all things. The Bible is God’s library, yet some don’t even bother to join! God in Christ intervened in human history. The Old Testament sets the stage for it, and the New Testament describes it as it happened.

The Ten Commandments are not ten suggestions; they are the foundation of all the laws of life. They have to do with our relationship to God, to other people, and even to ourselves. Psalm 119 tells us that his laws are good, fair, and true (Psalm 119:68, 137-138, 151). Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear” (Matthew 24:35). Words that substantive are worth investigating, don’t you think?