The 10 Commandments

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Introduction

1And God spake all these words, saying,

2I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

The basis for this study is that the Ten Commandments are not laws in the sense that if we follow them we will be rewarded, but rather, if we are born again as a new creature in Christ, we will have no other desire but to do these things. As a corollary, the apostle Paul tells us the purpose of the law, which includes the 10 Commandments,

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. – Romans 3:19

God prefaces the 10 Commandments with the statement, “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” If we were to translate Exodus 20:2 literally from the Hebrew it could read:

I am that I am (the ever-existing one), your creator, The Supreme God, the one that delivered you out of the land of double-mindedness, to which you were a slave.

Once we are singly focused on God, we can do nothing contrary to these ten commandments.

What is a god?

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

The key question here is, “What is a god?” Mirriam Webster’s dictionary defines a god as:

a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship

The idea of good and evil has existed throughout human history.One possibility of how we think about good and evil is that: Good and evil are opposing forces that come from different sources. These two opposing forces may be of equal strength or not, the end result of the struggle between these two forces may be foreknown or not depending on the belief system, but the basic idea is that they exist independently of and in opposition to each other.

We see this belief system everywhere we look. We see it in movies like Star Wars, Batman, the horror and sci-fi films, love stories, comedies. In politics, in war, in rush hour traffic, in any situation where there is an us versus them mentality (presumably, us is good and them is evil). Many promoters of “family values” see things like pornography, homosexuality, television, and loose morals as tools of an evil force out to get us. Even some modern Christian thought about the end of the world is a battle between the forces of good, led by Jesus, and those of evil, led by Satan. The Jewish Zionist and Christian Dominionist movements have this same premise. The president of the United States commonly uses rhetoric that emphasizes good versus evil. The concept is pervasive, so it must be true, right?

Let’s look at a few instances where the Bible says something different:

I will cry unto God most high;
unto God that performeth all things for me. – Psalms 57:2

The LORD hath made all things for himself:
yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. – Proverbs 16:4

The great God that formed all things
both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors. – Proverbs 26:10

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. – Isaiah 45:7

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28

but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. – 1 Corinthians 8:6

For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. – 2 Corinthians 4:15

And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; – 2 Corinthians 5:18

and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: – Ephesians 3:9

For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. – Hebrews 3:4

To look at the concept from a logical perspective:

If good and evil are two opposing forces and God is not evil, than evil must occupy some place, no matter how small, where God is not. Since God can create only good, then the evil could only be created by something other than God. And if some other force created anything, no matter how small, than God is not the only God. Therefore, to believe in good and evil as diametrically opposed forces, is to believe in more than one God.I know there is only one God. While that may seem trivial, it really isn’t. Belief in one God is not as simple as it seems. For me believing in one God is knowing that everything is from God. Things I like, things I don’t, things that seem trivial, and things that seem profound. Everything. If I believe that only good comes from God and evil comes from some other source, then I believe in two gods. If I believe that I can do anything that is close to permanent or fundamental to my life or anyone else’s, I have elevated myself to the same level of God. If I put any credence in anything, other than God, I’ve created another God. Once you come to believe that something in the universe came from something other than God, it is only a small step to create in your mind a court of other gods who rule over various aspects of all creation.

When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they learned how to determine what was good and what was evil, but only based on good and evil as it related to them. Good and evil to me is relative to me. My evil maybe someone else’s good, and my good may be someone else’s evil. To me practicing yoga may be good, to others it is evil. By having this ability to judge for and with respect to myself, good and evil, I put myself in judgement of everyone around me. But more importantly, I judge the things God has set before me. While I may see something evil or bad, to God it is for good.

Gaven Images

4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

What is a graven image?

• Paul tells us that we are a temple of God in 1 Corinthians 3:16.
• There are several places in scripture that compare the mind to the temple of God. One of those places is Ezekiel 8. Another is Psalm 74. The temple of Solomon was an incredibly extravagant building. Inside the temple the walls were carved with intricate detail. Every surface of the inside walls was a bas relief. That relief was then gold plated.
• Like the real temple the walls of our mind are engraved with images. These images have been seared in our psyche as a result of our experiences. You can’t prevent this process. our experiences result in us believing that things should be a certain way. We create a rule or law or a conviction that this is the way things ought to be. These things etched in out psyche are graven images or idols.

The verse goes on to say that we carve these images to resemble the things we can perceive with our senses, things we see in the heavens, things we see in the earth, and things we see in the waters. What do all these things have in common?They are all bound to time! They change from moment to moment. Also, everything we can perceive with our senses is a created thing. If your foundation is God, is eternal, then you cannot give credence or worth to anything that changes with time. So what’s important to you? That is the thing you serve. You know you are bowing down to serve an idol if you are concerned with the outcome. Once you are concerned with the outcome, you worship an idol or graven image and are breaking the second commandment!

Taking God’s Name in Vain

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

There are three key words and phrases to understanding a fuller meaning of this verse: name, the LORD thy God, and vain.

Name

Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary has this to say about names:

Names are more than labels. In Old Testament times a name expressed identification, but also identity. Significant meaning is often attached to a name. Names had an explanatory function (cf. Abigail’s explanation about her husband, “He is just like his name — his name is Fool” [1 Sam 25:25]). Name changes were important, since a message attached to the name. Abram (great father) became Abraham (father of a multitude) (Gen 17:5; 32:28). In some sense a name was the expression of an inmost reality.

There are also at least three New Testament examples of names bearing some significance to the identity or nature of the person. When the angel announces to Mary the name of her forthcoming son, when Jesus changes Simon’s name to Peter, and when Jesus changes Saul’s name to Paul.

the LORD thy God

The convention of the translators is that whenever the name of God is expressed as “LORD” it refers to YHWH, the tetragrammaton. There is much debate about the meaning of this name, it is commonly translated in English as “I am that I am.” Another way to translate it might also be “The ever-existing one.”

When the word “God” is used, it refers to the Hebrew word elohim, which means God of gods. It is commonly used to express the creative force of God – the Word.

Vain

Vain, in the language of King James, means devoid of truth, empty, worthless, nothingness. It comes from the root meaning waste. The way it is used in scripture is referring to those things which are carnal, or of the senses, bound by time.

So if we want to try to apply the fuller meaning of this commandment, it might read something like this:

You cannot claim the nature of the great I AM (the ever-existing one), your creator, The Supreme God, and place it on things that can be defined by the senses; for the great I AM (the ever-existing one) will hold him guilty that does so.

There is only one being in all of history that took on the “nature” of God, and that was Jesus. And as soon as he claimed God’s nature for himself, the temple priests and scribes called him a blasphemer, the most serious of all charges under the Law.

Yet every time we put the name of Christ on things of this cursed world, we are violating this commandment, yet again proving to ourselves that we are not living the life of Christ, but the life of anti-Christ, the carnal creature in which we have identity.

The Sabbath

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Sabbath (in Hebrew, tbb#, shabbath; and in Greek, sa/bbaton, sabbaton) means to cease or to rest.
So there are a couple of questions about the sabbath that we should try to understand.

First, the Hebrew sabbath was on Saturday, so why do Christians no longer celebrate the sabbath as instructed by God in these commandments? Secondly, what is the Sabbath to the Christian?

In all of the New Testament there are only a few instances where Jesus or one of the apostlesteaches about the sabbath. The most significant teachings occur in Matthew 12, Mark 2:27-28, Luke 6, Luke 13:15-16, Luke 14:3-5, John 7:22-23, Colossians 2:16, and Hebrews 4:1-11.

At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were ahungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it,they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was ahungered, and they that were with him; how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests ? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless ? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what thismeaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. – Matthew 12:1-8

Look at what Jesus says, “The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath.” What does that mean? It means that Jesus has dominion over the day of rest. He commands rest!

The passage in Hebrews says the same thing, but perhaps more clearly.

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said,
As I have sworn in my wrath,
if they shall enter into my rest:
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise,
And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

And in this place again,
If they shall enter into my rest.

Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said,
Today if ye will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.

For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. – Hebrews 4:1-11

And Paul deals with the sabbath in a very succinct manner.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body isof Christ. – Colossians 2:16-17

The point is that the Sabbath is a shadow of something to come. Hebrews tells us that something is our eternal rest in Christ. I’m not talking about something that happens after you die, but rather something that becomes always true in you. You are at rest in Christ when you become a living sacrifice to God, at which point you are no longer doing your works, but Christ is doing His work through you.

Honor Thy Father and Mother

Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Father, we know. A human father is a shadow of the heavenly Father. A human father is the rock for his family. A human father is the source of security for his family. Financial security, physical security, emotional security, spiritual security. A human father is called to meet all the needs of his family. Now I know I don’t live up to these standards all the time or even most of the time, but my role as father is but a shadow of our heavenly Father. Fathers in the room should know that they are a shadow of God to their families, imperfect, but still with the purpose of providing the love, discipline, mercy and grace to our families, our communities and the world around us.

Mother, however, we, especially in Western culture, may not undertand from a spiritual perspective. But you have to recognize that we all long for a spiritual mother. We all need the completeness that mothers provide their children, and the balance mothers are to the father. Just like a human mother, the spiritual mother is there to nurture us, teach us and care for us. Jesus told us who our mother is.

While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. – Matthew 12:46-50

Paul tells us something similar,

But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. – Galatians 4:26

So what do these two things have in common? They are the same thing, the church. Not the human institution, but rather the congregation of the people that have come out of the land of double-mindedness. The congregation of God is the people singly focused on His will. The function of the church, when the church functions properly, is to be our spiritual mother, to nurture, teach and care for us. When the church is not functioning this way, it nurtures itself, it teaches lies, and it cannot care for us.

There is a Biblical description of what the one, true church is like.

And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. – Acts 2:44-47

They were of one accord, one mind, one goal. They were single-minded, all focused on the will of God as expressed through the teachings of the apostles. This is the church, wherever there are 2 or 3 gathered together in His name, of one mind, singly focused on His will. This is our mother, who with our Father is before us, who has authority over us. This mother and our Father are the ones we honor. And when we do, we receive the promise of the commandment.

Do you honor the will of your Father? Do you honor the will of your Mother?

Murder

Adultery

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Israel means, “to see God” and it is a feminine noun so it literally means “she who sees God.” Israel is the feminine where Messiah is masculine. Similarly, the New Jerusalem is our mother and God is our Father. The church on earth is prefigured by Israel and in heaven by the New Jerusalem. The commandment to not commit adultery is not only for the individual, but also for the church. But as we’ve discussed in the introduction to this study, the Ten Commandments are not laws in that they are things we must do or must avoid, but rather laws in the sense that they are universal truths that cannot be contradicted, like gravity. Your decision to obey these commandments is irrelevant. In this context, then, what is this commandment prohibiting adultery? What is the spiritual meaning of adultery?

Adultery is everywhere in scripture, especially in the books of the prophets. One of the clearest explanations of adultery is Ezekiel 23.

This passage in Ezekiel goes into great detail about how the two houses of Israel committed adultery: they “became one flesh” with the peoples around them, Israel worshiped their neighbors’ idols, Israel lusted after their power and riches, Israel abandoned the single-mindedness they shared with God, Israel mixed themselves with the world around them. Psalm 10 describes how the one true faith is corrupted by the world.

There are other scriptures that describe adultery: when Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of lentils,

And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: and Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I amfaint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I amat the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. – Genesis 25:29-34

when Hosea married Gomer,

The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hose’a. And the LORD said to Hose’a, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departingfrom the LORD. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Dibla’im; which conceived, and bare him a son. – Hosea 1:2-3

If you are of one mind with God, you do not mix with the world and commit adultery. If the church is one with God, the church does not mix with the world. I hope by this study you consider how you mix with the world. God has given us this law so we can see our innate evilness and repent of it. You should start to understand, like Paul, that you are the “Chief of sinners!”

Stealing

Thou shalt not steal.

As I study these commandments, trying to understand the spiritual meaning that underlies the simpler meaning that was in the temporal for the Israelites, this commandment has proven to be the most difficult for me to understand. And maybe, in my desire to find a spiritual meaning, I am grasping at straws. But also, because of the difficulty I’ve had in understanding this commandment, I have come to understand some familiar, and not so familiar passages of scripture in a different way. I have been on this journey, I hope you will follow me and discover for yourself the spiritual meaning of this commandment. There are a couple of passages that I have found important in my understanding of this commandment.

Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Ba’al, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, eventhe whole seed of E’phra-im. – Jeremiah 7:8-15

The Israelites began to put their trust in their religious trappings and ceremonies and rituals. And by doing so the priests effectively stole, God away from the people, they stole the possibility of salvation and redemption from the common man.

But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity. All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall beupon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity. As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them. And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it. My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it. – Ezekiel 7:16-22

This passage is a warning to Israel first, and to all men secondly. It is a warning of false religion. It describes something that looks like a lot of what is taught in modern Christianity. We have created in our minds a series of rituals, habits, rules and transactions that we must go through so that God will accept us. In other words, we have each created a set of actions we must do or goals we must achieve for our personal salvation and redemption. Having these criteria for ourselves breaks the second commandment about having idols. Going out and convincing others that these rules, rituals and habits are necessary for their salvation is stealing.

Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest hiswill, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. – Romans 2:17-24

Paul warns the Jews he is writing to them because they have the law, not to consider themselves special. The way the Jews regarded the Law, blasphemed God. How could regard for the Law blaspheme God? The Jews, and the Pharisees in particular, held the Law in the highest regard. So high that it became for the Jews a representation of God, an idol. They thought their righteousness was in following the letter of the Law. But Paul tells them in this passage, that their reverence of the Law is blaspheming God. Again the idea that the trappings of religion are as, or more important than God.

For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore, if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. – Romans 2:25-29

Paul speaks about the requirement of circumcision. Circumcision was one of those rituals the Jews held most dear as a way to separate them from Gentiles. But Paul is pleading with them to ignore circumcision as a sign of a man’s redemption and salvation. Imagine what Paul is saying here. It would be like telling Muslims they no longer needed to pray five times a day. It’s like telling a Buddhist that the eight way path to enlightenment is not valid. It is telling a Catholic that the pope is not God’s emmisary on earth. It is telling a an Evangelical Christian that missions are a meaningless waste of time. It’s telling a Methodist that potluck dinners are blasphemy. Or telling a Baptist that it is okay to have an occasional glass of wine.

In many ways our modern expression of Christianity requires action from us so that we may be saved. Sometimes that outward expression becomes the rule or ritual that we think God requires of us. In the modern American form of Christianity people assign that importance to baptism, or responding to an altar call or speaking in tongues, or exorcism, or miraculous healing, or financial success. When we teach anything other than God’s mercy and grace through Jesus Christ, we are adding a requirement to achieve salvation. And when we do that we steal salvation from the would-be believer. Jesus said,

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. – Matthew 23:15

When we require any “righteous” action of others we are guilty of stealing.

False Witness

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

We all know what it means to be a false witness. It means to lie or misrepresent some factual thing. But from a spiritual, we have to come to understand that anything and everything we do and say from the perspective of our fallen human condition is false witness. There are no exceptions to this. It goes back to the idea that when we come out of the position of double-mindedness and are single focused on God and His will, we can utter no lies. There are a few verses that we look into so that we can see that this is true always.

A false witness shall perish:
but the man that heareth speaketh constantly. – Proverbs 21:28

The idea behind the words “speaks constatntly” is that the speech is everlasting, always true, and not some chatterbox that won’t be quiet. According to scripture there is only one who fulfills this meaning. Only Christ is truth for all time, only Christ is righteous. Only Christ in us can fulfill this commandment. It is only when we are single minded and have denied our own will that Christ’s will, which is the will of Our Father, may work through us that we can fulfill this commandment.

What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; as it is written,
There is none righteous, no, not one:

there is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God.

They are all gone out of the way,
they are together become unprofitable;
there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Their throat is an open sepulchre;
with their tongues they have used deceit;
the poison of asps is under their lips:

whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes. – Romans 3:9-18

Let this sink in a bit. There are none righteous! Not you, not me, not any man. The only righteous is Christ. And He is righteous because He is a faithful witness to God’s will. We cannot be faithful witnesses to God’s will as long as our will lives. And if we are not faithful witnesses, we are false witnesses.Now keep in mind that these commandments were given to Israel as a people of one accord, and so they are given to us as the church of Christ. When the church is singly focused on God’s will it is a faithful witness, when the church allows doctrines that promote the will or self-seeking of the individual, then the church is a false witness.

Now let’s look at the punishment for the false witness:

If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. – Deuteronomy 19:16-19

The punishment for the false witness is that he will receive the punishment he desired on the one he aimed to harm. Consider this in light of what happened to Christ. When it is a battle of wills, ours versus that of Christ, our desire is to kill Christ. As we’ve discussed, when we live for our will we are a false witness.

A false witness shall not be unpunished;
and he thatspeaketh lies shall perish. – Proverbs 19:9

The Romans passage tells us we are all guilty, Proverbs tells us our punishment is death. Christ is the only one not guilty, so our salvation is “Christ in us, the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27

Covetousness

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.

The Hebrew word for covet is dmx, chamad. This word is more often translated as desire than covet. While the meaning is the same, we understand the word desire a little better.

I want to think about two things with regard to desire. First, let’s explore the nature of desire, and, second, the root cause of desire.

What is desire? How do we experience desire? One way to answer this question is that desire is directly related to our five senses. So desire is a result of our expectation to experience something by touch, taste, sight, hearing, or smell. Desire is wanting control over the object. Sometimes that control is direct, sometimes it is passive, but in either case it is still control. The key question is can we attain God by our senses? In other words, is it possible to taste God? Smell God? Touch God? Audibly hear God? See God? I believe the answer is a resounding NO! Let’s look at the words in Isaiah:

he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. – Isaiah 53:2b

What is the root cause of desire? We only want something when we think it will improve our lives according to our senses. When we perceive some sort of lack, or some sort of need (no matter what that need is). Think about the implications of that statement. Even if we desire or covet God for the betterment of our lives according to the senses, we are not single minded, we are still double minded: one part to deal with Godstuff and one part still concerned with our lives. Briefly, a look at the Apostle Paul’s teaching on lack. Paul says,

we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. – 1 Thessalonians 4:10b-12

He is talking about their love for one another. If you have love, you cannot have desire. Desire is love of self. Christian love as we’ve discussed in this whole series is the abandonment of self in deference to God’s will. Paul also exhorts the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 8:11-15,

Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want; that there may be equality: as it is written,
He that had gathered much had nothing over;
and he that had gathered little had no lack. – 2 Corinthians 8:11-15

Thou shalt not kill.

What is love?

Jesus says,

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. – John 15:13

Consider what it means to lay down your life. It’s giving up all your hopes, dreams, and even the expectations of how things should be. It is giving up everything. Your life exists to serve your friend, your associate, your companion.

So the opposite of love is hate. Now using this meaning for love, what does hate mean? Hate is not giving up any of your dreams, hopes, expectations. Hate is basically not giving up what you’ve decided is right.

With this in mind, let’s look at some scriptures that talk about hate.

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. Gil’e-ad is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness. I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: there isthe whoredom of E’phra-im, Israel is defiled. – Hosea 6:6-10

Hosea is describing how God does not desire sacrifice, but mercy. And despite God’s desire, the priests continue to perform the rituals because it is their desire, not God’s. Hosea equates this assertion of their own will to murder.

Have you seen the movie Hotel Rwanda? It is a story about the hotel manager of a four-star hotel and how he protected hundreds of people from the massacres being committed throughout the countryside.

Watching the movie forced me to ask myself, “How could people commit that kind of brutality?” I think the answer resides within each of us. We do not have the capacity to love like Jesus described. Pride prevents us from asking for forgiveness and following the path of love. Everyone of us commits acts of genocide and murder when we hold a grudge, every time pride does not allow us to seek forgiveness from someone we have wronged. Most commit murder in their minds by cutting people out of our lives, and we are appalled when we see or hear of someone using a knife to do it.

There is another place in scripture that talks about our murderous nature.

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. – Revelation 6:1-8

The rider of the first horse, looks like a Christ figure, but has no power. He carries a bow, but has no arrows. And the crown he is wearing is the crown of an Olympic champion, not the crown of a king. The rider of this horse is you, full of ideas about what is right and good and how things should be.

Right behind the white horse, the red horse comes roaring out. The red horseman is what happens when the white horseman doesn’t get what he feels he deserves. You don’t get what you want, and everyone and everything that gets in the way of what you want has to deal with your wrath.

The consequence of the red horseman is the black horseman. Even after you’ve ridden out proclaiming what’s is right and good, and even after you’ve gone and murdered everyone in the way, all that is left is famine. You still feel like there is something you need, it’s not quite perfect. If only I had this or if only I had that….

Finally, the pale horse leads to death, the kind of death that is separation from God.