Ancient Words For Today - 85
What did Solomon mean when he said that our duty is to fear God? And what are God's commandments that he said we are to keep? Jesus explained that we are to fear (reverence, honor, respect and obey) God by loving Him with all of our being:
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment. (Matthew 22:37-38)
This greatest commandment concerns how we are to relate to God: loving Him with all of our being - heart, soul and mind and strength. This encompasses the first four of the Ten Commandments written by the very finger of God onto stone tablets, which He delivered to Moses. If we love God we will respect and honor His wishes.
The Ten Commandments are recorded in Exodus 20:1-17. Here are the first four which relate to our relationship with God:
I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
1) Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2) Thou 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: Thou 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 shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
3) 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.
4) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, 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.
Jesus continued... "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:39-40)
Jesus said the second most important commandment concerns our relationship with our fellow man - how we relate to and treat each other. Jesus said we are to love one another (in the same way that we love ourselves). Loving one another is the essence and intent of the final six commandments delivered to Moses by God. Here they are:
5) Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
6) Thou shalt not kill.
7) Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8) Thou shalt not steal.
9) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
10) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
When John baptized Jesus, God, the Father, spoke from Heaven saying:This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. On a second occasion, during the transfiguration of Jesus, God spoke the same words and added the commandment: Hear ye him. In other words, we are to honor Jesus, The Son of God, and listen to what He says. We do this by believing that Jesus is the Son of God, accepting His sacrificial death on the cross for the forgiveness of our own sins, and receiving the gift of salvation and eternal life God offers us through faith in Jesus. Then we are to show our appreciation and love for Him by keeping His commandments. Since Jesus is both God (in the Flesh) and also is fully man, when we honor, respect, love and obey Jesus, we are in fact keeping all of the Ten Commandments - and this love for God will also be reflected in our loving relationship with others.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.. Hebrews 1:1-4
May God richly bless you as you reverence Him, love Him and then love one another!