The Ten Commandments

The REAL ten commandments Yahweh gave to Moses are  here 
The biblical requirement to post them at your residence is  here
What does the bible say about the ten commandments - find out   here
Two Covenants - did the ten commandments get replaced by the new covenant? 
Did the ten commandments go out with the cross?? 
Here is new testament scriptural passages that cover all ten.

The Ten Commandments, God's laws to us, were given to Moses on Mt Sinai after he took his people from Egypt during the Exodus across the Red Sea where he parted  the waters. The stone tablets the laws are written on are not mythological. They are real and exist today; along with the Ark of the Covenant they were stored in.   There were actually two sets of tablets; the first God made and simply gave to Moses.  Deuteronomy 9:10 "And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly".    But Moses was on this mountain for 40 days and 40 nights and his people got restless, thought he wouldn't return, and made a golden calf to worship in his absence. When Moses returned he was so angry at this lack of faith of his people that he threw the tablets down and broke them - (Deuteronomy 9:17). Then he lay face downward for another 40 days and 40 nights to atone for their sin because God at that point in time was intent on destroying those people. And God listened. In Deuteronomy 10:1, God told him to return to the mountain with a second set of stone tablets that Moses would make and he would write on the new set  the same words that were on the previous set; which he did. The interesting thing is HOW God engraved the tablets; with his finger.  Those tablets have been seen  in the 90's by a man named Ron Wyatt; an Indiana Jones type of biblical archeological expert who devoted his whole life to exploring the events of the bible.  Mt Sinai  contains much red granite.  The tablets Ron saw inside the ark of the covenant were also made of red granite. But here's the clincher; the WRITING on the tablets he saw was as if the surface of those red granite stone tablets were as warm butter  and God's little finger WAS used to form the letters on them  - JUST as is stated in Deuteronomy  9:10  and the real King James version found at www.justbible.com.  This passage has been changed in NIV versions to say "by his own hand " instead of "finger".  When you question the wordage in a passage; go to the original King James Version before man has messed with it making it  "easier for us to read"; and changed important verbage along with making it "easier to read  and understand". I use both bibles when comparing notes; so I get the jist better with the NIV versions, but I stick with the proper content with the original KJ 1500's version. If you want to know where the real stone tablets with the ten commandments written on them & the ark of the covenant is today; see  www.detailshere.com/arkofthecovenant.htm  where it is all covered. The tablets are to be removed from their current location and made public when the "mark of the best" is required. Until then, any who try to remove them are killed instantly.  One man, in the company of four angels, who one at each corner lifted the lid of the 800 pound  gold mercy seat, was shown their location and was allowed to look at them as well as touch them to be able to tell the world of their authenticity.  Why is it his discoveries do not receive the attention they deserve?   See  http://www.wyattmuseum.com .  

WHAT WAS ABOLISHED AT THE CROSS AND WHY?

By Allen Walker; adapted by David Sullivan

Many of the commandments of the Old Testament had to do with the practicing of ceremonies that were intended to cease at the cross because they pointed ahead to the death of Christ. To practice these things after the death of Christ would be in fact denying His death. There are other commandments called in the Bible the Ten Commandments, which are entirely different in their meaning and duration. God never intended that the time would come when the law against stealing, lying, killing, etc., would be abolished. I have been often asked, "If you are going to observe the seventh day, why don't you offer the sacrifices?" It seems to me that such a question reveals a superficial concept of the teachings of the Bible. It would be just as logical to ask, "If you are going to observe the commandment which says, 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,' why don't you offer the sacrifices?" This is certainly perverted thinking. It really means, that to prove we should not offer sacrifices now we ought to desecrate the Lord's name, His holy day, lie, steal, and do everything else the Ten Commandments forbid. If that argument which says, "If you are going to observe the seventh day, why not observe all the regulations of the sacrificial law?" were applied to all the other commandments, it seems to me it could be seen how unreasonable and absurd that argument is.

There is vast difference between the Ten Commandments and the ceremonial law. The former was done away with at the cross; the latter was not.

I believe that if honest-hearted Christians can understand once and for all that there were two laws in the Old Testament--the law of sacrifices, which was abolished, and another, the Ten Commandments, which was not abolished--it will then be easily understood why Christians should observe the seventh day, but should not offer the sacrifices. Then when we read in the New Testament about a law that was abolished at the cross, we will not become confused, thinking this is the law of the Ten Commandments. There are two laws--one was abolished, and the other was not. This is plain from a simple reading of the following texts:

"Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances" (Ephesians 2:15); "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law" (Hebrews 7:12); "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross" (Colossians 2:14).

There was in addition to this abolished law another law that was not abolished, which is evident from the following texts:

"And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail" (Luke 16:17); "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law" (Romans 3:31); "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10).

If we hold that there were not two laws we have the first three of these Scriptures contradicting the other three. Here is Exodus 19:16-18: "It came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire." Then as the people listened in silence and awe they heard distinctly the voice of the Lord saying:

The Real Ten commandments  Exodus  20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21

1. I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.  Thou shalt have none other gods before Me.( This laws tells us not to worship or pray to anybody else except Yahweh or Yahshua - since both are God.  Praying to Mary, or the saints, or angels, or anyone else except to Yahshua as the intercessor or  intermediator  to God is in violation of God’s law. First Timothy 2:5 “For there is ONE God and ONE mediator between God and men; the man Christ Jesus”.  Try  John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.  or Mathew 4:10 “Though shalt worship Yahweh thy Elohim, and Him only shalt though serve”. or Acts 4:12 (Speaking of Yahshua); “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name (singular) under  heaven given among men by which we must be saved”. Do you see Mary or St Peter or St Christopher or an angel or the Pope mentioned anywhere there?   Don’t pray to anyone except Yahshua or Yahweh direct. The only intercessor Yahweh allows is his son Yahshua.)

 2. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything 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; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments."  
(The Papacy and Roman Catholic church completely eliminated this commandment from their bible in the dark ages when few could read as they encouraged the worship and praying to statues and pictures of Mary, the cannonized Saints, angels, the Pope and even Christ in blatant disregard for this law of Yahweh to enjoin paganism and Christianity. This law of Yahweh still stands today. Don’t ignore it. )

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. 
(Basically; don’t “swear”, as  we term it , using God’s or  Christ’s name  -  when the book of deeds is opened; it is your  tongue that  will condemn you.)

4. "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.  
(The Sabbath  was established and practiced as a Saturday. It begins on Friday evening at dusk and extends to Saturday evening at dusk. The Papacy changed the bible Sabbath from Saturday, the last day of the week as Yahweh commanded, to a Sunday, the first day of the week;again,  back in the dark ages to enjoin  pagan practices with Christianity to reach more people.   The church says this is the mark of authority that they can exalt tradition above scripture.  We don’t agree. When Protestants worship on Sunday they’re wrongfully accepting the authority of the Catholic Church for that change.  This is against God’s will and teachings.  The Sabbath is still on a Saturday! Not on Sunday. This is an important issue.  You see, the Sabbath/Sunday issue is more than merely a day of worship issue.   The issue is the commandments of Yahweh versus the man-made union of church and state which will use threats and force on others to ensure compliance with man’s doctrines.  The issue is one of loyalty, obedience, and allegiance to Yahweh. And if you don’t obey Yahweh, just who are you obedient to?   That’s right; the dragon himself.)

5. "Honor 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 neighbor.

10. "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 anything that is thy neighbor's" 
(Exodus 20:2-17  and Deuteronomy 5:6-21).

..and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly stated: 
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  (Romans 13:9).

The Bible calls these "the Ten Commandments.", God's Moral law.  In proof we read:

"And He wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, even the Ten Commandments" (Exodus 34:28).

"And He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even Ten Commandments" (Deuteronomy 4:13).

"And He wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments" (Deuteronomy 10:4).

If all the other commandments were to be counted with these there would certainly be more than ten. The word "ten" limits the number. God never intended that any other commandments be added to these, to make more than ten. This is clear from Deuteronomy 5:22: "These words the Lord spake . . . and He added no more." If God added no more to these ten where is the man who has authority to add the multiplicity of sacrificial laws and yearly sabbaths to these commandments? God made the week out of seven days. That fixed the number of days to the week. What man has authority to add other days to the seven and claim that the week has ten, twenty, a hundred, or even more days in it? When God said "seven," that limited the week to that number of days and it cannot be changed. Then when God said "Ten Commandments" and "added no more," how can man say that law contained hundreds of commandments? The week cannot have as many as eight days in it, and this law does not have as many as eleven commandments in it. The fact that the Lord used the word "ten" shows that none of the other commandments are to be counted into this law.

When in Daniel 7:7, Daniel declared that the fourth beast had ten horns. Can man change that and make it more than what God said? When verse 24 of the same chapter says: "The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise," can man add to these and prove there were more than ten? We can see that "ten" limits the number. When God says "Ten Commandments" are in the law, can man change the number "ten" to include the dozens of other commandments found scattered here and there in the five books of Moses? Yet that is the very thing man tries to do in order to include the Ten Commandments in the "law of commandments contained in ordinances" which was abolished. We need to remember God's Word says, "Add thou not to His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar" (Proverbs 30:6). Certainly such is the case when man contradicts God and claims there were more than ten commandments in this law spoken by God on Sinai.

After He spoke this law, the Lord wrote it on two tables of stone, indicating the immutability (unchangeableness) of the principles contained in these commandments. Notice too that these Ten Commandments which the Lord spoke and wrote are called a law and not just a small part of a law:

"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" (Exodus 24:12).

Here we are told that what God wrote on tables of stone is "a law." What did He write on tables of stone? "And He wrote on the tables . . . the Ten Commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly" (Deuteronomy 10:4).

If this language does not prove that the Ten Commandments constituted a complete law composed of a certain number of commandments to which were added no more, then language really has no meaning. Why did the Lord speak exactly tencommandments and stop? Why did the Lord later write just exactly tencommandments and "added no more"? This limits the number of these commandments to "ten" and "no more."

If the Israelites wished to read something about sacrifices and the laws pertaining to them, they would have to look elsewhere. These laws could not be found in the Ten Commandments. In addition, these Ten Commandments were kept separate from all the others. As to the separate place where these commandments should be kept, Moses said:

"I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me" (Deuteronomy 10:5).

The fact that this law was kept in a separate place proves that it was a separate law. There was nothing else in the ark, as far as commandments or laws go, for the Bible says: "There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt" (1 Kings 8:9). This is the law in which the Lord says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," and because it says this, and for no other reason, it is being claimed today that it was abolished. A standard reference book defines the word "abolish" to mean: "To do away with; put an end to; annul; destroy; abrogate, annihilate, end, eradicate, exterminate, obliterate, overthrow, remove, revoke, set aside, stamp out, terminate." This is what is claimed by modern teachers and preachers to have happened to the commandments which instruct children to honor their parents; the law which enjoins purity of life, honesty, truthfulness, reverence for the Lord's name and His holy day, etc. When we come to think about just what this law teaches, it is hard to understand how any normal mind can argue that this law was abolished. Let's look at the claim that the Ten Commandments were done away, from the following standpoint:

That would mean, according to the logic of some, that the day before Jesus died, it was wrong to steal; but that His death abolished the law containing this prohibition; and the next day after Jesus died, it could not be a sin to steal, for "sin is the transgression of the law," and "where no law is, there is not transgression" (1 John 3:4; Romans 4:15). Some people declare this law "stamped out" and "set aside" the instant Jesus died. Again, the day before Jesus died, it was a sin to murder, commit adultery, lie, break the Sabbath, blaspheme the name of the Lord, dishonor parents, covet, etc. Why claim that the law which prohibited these crimes was "set aside," "destroyed," "obliterated," "stamped out" and "overthrown" when Jesus died? It is absolutely impossible for it to be sinful to ignore and to violate the prohibitions of any law that has met such a fate, because Paul says, "Sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Romans 5:13).

It was just as sinful and wicked in the sight of heaven to worship idols, take the Lord's name in vain, break the Sabbath, dishonor parents, kill, commit adultery,
steal, lie, and covet, the next minute and the next day or year or thousand years after the death of Christ as it was the minute before he died. His death never set aside the Ten Commandments.

The next day after Jesus died was the Sabbath. And the Christians "rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment," just as they had done on the Sabbath before His death (Luke 23:56).

The death of Jesus never set aside a single one of the prohibitions of the Ten Commandment law. Any one who willfully violates one of the commandments of this law is accounted guilty before God. This is abundantly clear from the following verses: James 4:17: "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." 1 John 3:4: "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." James 2:10: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."

The next verse proves it is the law of Ten Commandments: "For that law which said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou are become a transgressor of the law" (James 2:11).

These texts cannot be passed by lightly. They stand opposed to the claim that the law of Ten Commandments was not complete and separate. When the apostle James spoke of the whole law, he did not have his mind of the entire five books of Moses. He says he had reference to "that law which said, Do not commit adultery" and "do not kill." He was quoting the Ten Commandments. He declares the "whole" of that law is to be obeyed. This is the same law which says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." The command to observe the Sabbath is one point of "that law which said, Do not commit adultery." If some other commandment were involved, there would be no one who would object to this application. Suppose it were contended that if a man practices lying, theft, immorality, or the violation of any one of these commandments (except the fourth) he will be lost? But when the same man is confronted with the application of James' words to the Sabbath commandment, he will not have it that way. But it is there in God's Word, and the refusal to accept it does not alter it in the least.

Suppose the text in question read: "For that law which said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Bring a lamb of the first year for an offering. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou bring not the lamb, thou art become a transgressor of the law." That would sound strange, would it not? It would be mixing the two laws. According to the argument that there are not two laws, this reading would be in perfect accord with the Bible. But since James quotes two of the ten to illustrate his point, this proves he had reference to the law of Ten Commandments. And when he says the whole of that law is to be obeyed, this is proof that the Ten Commandment law, as a whole, is still to be respected and obeyed. When the text says, "convinced of the law as transgressors" (James 2:9), that means guilty of sin, for "sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4).

Those who hold that all the Ten Commandments were abolished at the cross and then later almost all were brought back to life, "and incorporated into the grace system," purposely avoid this text. It says "the whole law," and they say, "No, not the 'whole law'--the Sabbath was dropped out at the cross." I once heard an
evangelist trying to explain this passage in James. He did his best to make it appear that James was condemning the doctrine of "justification by works" and that he used this illustration to prove how very impossible it is to attempt justification by the works of the law. This is certainly true, but this man said that "James says if you break one you are guilty of the whole. Where is the man who keeps them all? We are saved by grace, not by keeping the law." This in definitely true, but the fact is that James was discussing the opposite extreme, namely, that the truth of justification by faith does not give license to transgress the law. He says (verse 14): "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?" Then he goes on to say: "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man would say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works . . . But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" (Verses 16-18).

In the face of these verses, which James used to explain what he meant when he said, "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all," how can an honest man distort what James says to mean that his topic was condemning justification by works? He was condemning the error of the dispensationalists in their claim that, obedience is an impossibility, therefore, the doctrine of justification by faith gives license to transgress God's holy law.

If, as Dr. Chafer once said, "the injunctions addressed to a perfected heavenly people are as exalted as heaven itself," and since these injunctions "are superhuman and yet the doing of them is most essential," in order to make this possible "God has provided that each individual thus saved shall be indwelt by the Holy Spirit to the end that he may, by dependence on the Spirit and by the power of the Spirit, live a supernatural, God-honoring life," then Seventh-day Adventists hold that this same provision answers the question, "Where is the man who keeps these commandments?" It can be said with Paul, "Not I, but Christ liveth in me."

James speaks of this law as "the law of liberty." It is such to those who are "indwelt by the Holy Spirit," for that Spirit kills the love for sin. The same law is an instrument of restraint to the man whose "carnal mind" wishes to transgress it. The law against the sale of narcotics is a restraint to the man who is a dope fiend. To the man who is not, it is a law of liberty. The law which says, 'the seventh day is the Sabbath" is a law of liberty to the man who loves the Sabbath and the principles for which it stands. It is not to the man who wishes to desecrate the Sabbath. He tries to do away with this law, especially the fourth commandment. What he should do is pray that the Lord will take away the "carnal mind" which "is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7).

We have so far seen that the whole law of Ten Commandments is to be obeyed; and so much so that if a man willfully breaks one point and practices that violation, "he is guilty of all." He cannot satisfy ten points of requirements with nine points of obedience. We are born in sin, and are naturally weak and helpless. We cannot do what is right, by ourselves. Jesus died for our sins and offers His perfect obedience in the place of our disobedience. But the person who has been so graciously redeemed by the Lord will want to please Him in all things--not in order to procure salvation, but because we are so thankful for all that He has done for us.

Indeed, love is the only appropriate response to our dear Saviour who has given us so much; and love is the only appropriate motivation for commandment-keeping. Jesus said, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).

In the sermon on the mount Jesus declared: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 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." Then, in view of this, Jesus added: "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" (Matthew 5:17-19).

Many times I have heard it argued that Jesus meant up until the cross, at which time the commandments were "fulfilled" and done away; that until then whosoever should presume to break one of the least of the commandments and teach men so would be of no esteem in heaven, but that after the cross this would not be the case. It is tragic that men often speak without first analyzing their words and foreseeing the logical conclusions. If we put this claim through such a process it would be as follows: "Up until the cross whosoever should steal, lie, desecrate the Sabbath, or break the least one of these commandments and teach men so would be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But at the cross the commandments would all be done away, and after that it would be perfectly all right to profane the Lord's name, the Lord's day, lie, steal, and teach others to do the same thing because the commandments against these things had been 'fulfilled' and done away."

It requires no argument to prove that such a misinterpretation of Jesus' words with reference to the law and the prophets is wrong. The best proof that it is wrong is the argument itself. So lets allow the Scriptures to explain what Jesus meant. The Revised Version of Matthew 5:18 reads: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished."

Many things foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament have not yet been accomplished. They foretell the second coming of Christ (Isaiah 25:8, 9), the resurrection of the dead (Hosea 13:14), the new earth state (Isaiah 66:22), and many other things which, even in our day, are yet to come.

Then the fact that Jesus fulfilled the law does not mean that He ended it, but kept it as an example to us. The same Jesus came "to fulfill all righteousness" which includes baptism (Matthew 3:14, 15). Does it do away with the law of baptism? The only way to fulfill duties based on love to God and love to man is to live out these duties in the life, and that is exactly what Jesus did. And "he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk, even as he walked" (1 John 2:6). Luke makes very plain just what Jesus meant , when he quotes the Master as follows: "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one title of the law to fail" (Luke 16:17). And that is what Jesus meant in Matthew 5:18.

He had reference to the law of Ten Commandments. And when Paul said to the Gentile Christians at Rome so emphatically, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law" (Romans 3:31), he had reference to this immutable law of Ten Commandments.

But there was another law besides this one. The Lord did not speak it directly to the people with His own voice; He never wrote it on tables of stone; He never had it placed in the ark. This law was abolished at the cross. This is the law, as we shall see, that Paul refers to when he says, "having abolished in His flesh . . . the law of commandments contained in ordinances" (Ephesians 2:15).

So let's look at this other law--what it contained, and why it came to an end at the cross. These two laws--the Ten Commandment law that was not abolished and the other law that was abolished--are spoken of in Deuteronomy 33:1, 2: "This is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them. He shined forth from mount Paran, and He came with ten thousand saints; from His right hand went a fiery law for them."

Here we are definitely told that that which the Lord proclaimed to the people on Sinai was "a fiery law"--not part of a law, but "a ... law." Then verse 4 we read, "Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob."

This makes it plain that here it is recorded that the Lord commanded a law and in addition to this, verse 4 says, "Moses commanded us a law." This certainly makes two laws. In Deuteronomy 4:11-14 we have both these laws plainly mentioned:

"Ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountains burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds and thick darkness. 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. 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. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it."

Here we have it. The Lord commanded a law of Ten Commandments and wrote them and "no more" (Deuteronomy 5:22) on tables of stone. That was one law. At the same time He told Moses to command them statutes, and this made another law; for speaking of this in Deuteronomy 33:4, it says, Moses commanded us a law." It could not be any plainer. The Lord commanded a law and Moses commanded a law. One and one equal two.

Speaking of this hundreds of years later in 2 Kings 21:8, God said: "Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them."

Here we read that what Moses commanded them was a law. Then we have read in a number of places that that which the Lord commanded and wrote on two tables of stone is a law. Certainly inspiration recognizes that there were two laws. What we are contending is that there was a difference in the way in which they were given; one was spoken by the Lord with His own voice to the people, and the Lord told Moses to command the other. That which the Lord commanded was written on the two tables of stone and that which Moses commanded was not. The law which the Lord spoke and then wrote with His finger on tables of stone was placed in the ark; the other law was not. The law which the Lord commanded and wrote on tables of stone was to abide until heaven and heaven and earth pass away (Luke 16:17). The other was typical and ceremonial and was "abolished in His flesh," on the cross (Ephesians 2:15). Plainly there were two laws.

Now let us see some things that were in the law which Moses commanded the people and why it passed away at the cross. We turn to Leviticus 4:1-4: "The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: . . . then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering. And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the Lord."

What did this mean? Let's find out. This man had sinned and brought upon himself the sentence of death. The bullock had not sinned. The man placed his hand upon the bullock's head and transferred the guilt from himself to this substitute. Then, with his own hand, he took the life of the animal, thus admitting that he ought to die, but that a substitute died in his place. So it is with us and Christ. We have sinned and because of this, "death passed upon all men." Our sins were laid upon the lovely Jesus, and He died in our stead. This animal sacrifice provided a way for this man to express his belief that some day God would send the Lamb of God to die as his Substitute.

The day before Jesus died, a man conscious of guilt was under obligation to do this as an expression of his faith that God would send His Son to die as a Substitute. But the next day after Jesus died, it would not be proper to obey that law because to do so would be to deny Jesus had died and to imply that they were still looking forward to His death. So in the book of Hebrews we read: "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Hebrews 9:12).

Since Jesus' death we no longer bring an animal sacrifice for sin. We can see that this regulation came to an end at the cross, but it was not part of the law of Ten Commandments. It was in the law of types, and foreshadowed the death of the Lamb of God, and when that event occurred, the law of sacrifices ceased. Not so with the Sabbath (Luke 23:56).

Before going further we should understand this fact: The death of the animal canceled the sentence, but did not cancel the law which imposed the sentence. Suppose the sin of the man was theft. He made confession of the sin, and the animal died in his place. Did the law against theft die too? Could he now go and steal anything he wished? Let us make the application to the death of Christ. Did Christ's death abolish the sentence, or the law--which? When the lamb died, did the law the man had transgressed die too? Can we not see the point? Do we not see how impossible it would be for the law to die too?

Then another thing: This man came with his sacrifice to the sanctuary. As he walked along he was "under the law"--under its condemnation. After his sacrifice was offered and he was pardoned, he went away "under grace." Did this grace give him license to keep on stealing? God forbid.

This law which Moses commanded enjoined the observance of a number of yearly sabbaths, as the following quotations form Leviticus 23 will reveal:

"These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day (of the seven beginning on the fifteenth day of the month) ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein" (verses 4-7).

Here we have one of the yearly sabbaths. It came once a year on the fifteenth day of the first month. That being the case, it came on a different day of the week year by year just as the Fourth of July. The first day of the seventh month of every year was a sabbath. We read in verses 23 and 24:

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation." Please note that this is not a weekly Sabbath. It came on the first day of the seventh month every year.

We read in verses 26-28 that the tenth day of the seventh month was always observed as a rest day: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: . . . and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in that same day."

In verses 33-35 we read that the fifteenth day of this seventh month was a rest day: "The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,

The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein."

We have discovered four yearly sabbaths that were not in the Ten Commandment law. They are:

(1) The fifteenth day of the first month.

(2) The first day of the seventh month.

(3) The tenth day of the seventh month.

(4) The fifteenth day of the seventh month.

There were other yearly sabbaths besides these. Then there were months and times and years and new moons that were to be observed in special ways. All of these were in the law which the Lord told Moses to command to the people, and not in the Ten Commandment law which the Lord spoke directly to the people and then wrote on tables of enduring stone, thus indicating their unending nature.

Summing up these yearly sabbaths and mentioning the distinction between them and the weekly seventh-day Sabbath, we find in Leviticus 23:37, 38: "There are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything upon His day: beside the Sabbaths of the Lord."

Notice how the Holy Spirit makes that plain distinction between these yearly sabbaths and the weekly Sabbath. These yearly sabbaths were to be observed, "beside the Sabbaths of the Lord." We read in the fourth commandment that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." So as the weekly Sabbaths would come from week to week, they were "the Sabbaths of the Lord." The Sabbaths, or rest of the Lord, was in the Ten Commandment law. The others were not. The word "Sabbath" is a Hebrews work meaning rest. These others were not the sabbaths of the Lord, because He never had rested on these days. But at the close of creation week He did rest on the seventh day from all his work. This makes it the Sabbath--literally, rest--of the Lord. Thus we do see a vast difference. The weekly Sabbath is a perpetual reminder that we did not create ourselves, and we cannot redeem ourselves. It is a picture of grace.

Now when some read in the New Testament about "sabbath days" which were shadows of the body of Christ, and passed away at the cross, they become confused and declare this means the weekly Sabbath. They do greatly err and lead many uninformed people into error. Let us turn to Colossians 2:14-17 and read about the abolition of these "sabbath days" that were in the law that enjoined meat offerings, drink offerings, new moons, and festivals. We read:

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; . . . let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday [feast day, R.V.], or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

There was nothing in the Ten Commandment law about meats, drinks, new moons, sabbath days (plural) or feast days. These were all in the law which the Lord told Moses to command to the people. The weekly Sabbath is not mentioned in these texts. Paul says plainly that he is speaking of "sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come" and not of the weekly Sabbath which was a memorial of something that happened in the past at creation.

The fourth commandment does not tell us to keep the seventh day as a type of something to come. It says: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy . . . 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."

There is all the difference in the world between a typical shadow and a memorial. A shadow points forward and a memorial points backward. The contrast is as distinct as that between night and day. And to show that He never had the weekly Sabbath in mind the Holy Spirit distinctly said, "sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come." Of course the word "days" in this text (Colossians 2:14-17) is supplied, but this is justified by the fact that the word "Sabbath" in the Greek is in the plural. Anyone may confirm this by consulting any Greek lexicon. So it would read, "or of sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come" (Greek N. T.).

The King James Version uses the work "holyday" and some may contend that that means the weekly Sabbath and the expression "sabbath days" means the yearly sabbaths. The Revised Version uses the word "feast day" instead of "holyday." This is correct. For the word translated "holyday" here is from the Greek heorte, and in John 5:1 this word is used to designate one of the yearly festivals of the Jews: "After this there was a feast (heorte ) of the Jews: and Jesus went up to Jerusalem."

This is one of the holy days that Paul spoke of as having been abolished. Thus do the evidences multiply that it is absolutely wrong to tell people that these verses prove that the weekly Sabbath was abolished. We should further observe that "shadows" pointed to Jesus as a Savior from sin and were observed with that in mind. But the weekly Sabbath "was made for man" before sin ever entered into the world (Mark 2:27). The shadows pointing forward to His death as an atonement for sin certainly were not instituted until after sin. But the Lord's rest day existed before man needed atoning blood to save him from his guilt. Now since the weekly Sabbath was instituted before sin, just as the marriage institution, it was not a shadow of Christ's death as a Savior from sin; and His death never brought it to an end any more than it brought the marriage institution to an end. Both institutions come to us from the sinless garden of Eden.

Paul's very language to the Christians at Colosse proves he had reference to the shadowy ceremonies, which pointed forward to the cross, and ended at the cross. Notice carefully his words in Colossians 2:14: "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross."

As plain as he can make it, he declares they were "ordinances" that were nailed to the cross. They were ordinances that would be "contrary" to the faith of Christians to observe. In fact he declares that the observance of these would be "against us." Now for the use of some good common sense. Would it be contrary to Christian faith and practice and against Christian principle to refrain from idolatry, profanity, Sabbath desecration, dishonoring parents, murder, theft, adultery, lying, and coveting? How could it be "contrary" to Christian principle and "against us" to refrain from the immoralities and vices condemned by the Ten Commandments?

How unreasonable to think that Paul was arguing thus! This plainly shows to any reasonable mind that he was talking of another law which enjoined meat offerings, drink offerings, the observance of feasts, new moons, and yearly sabbaths.

Would the observance of these after the death of Christ be "against" the Christian faith and "contrary" to their faith and teachings? Most assuredly! May we ask the reason why? The reason is easy. Take the passover sabbath that came during the first month every year. The killing of the passover lamb typified the death of the Lamb of God until Jesus died. To offer it after His death, would be saying in figure that Jesus had not died. It would be a repudiation of His death and atoning blood. Surely such as observance would be "against" and "contrary" to the belief and teachings of Christianity. The apostle Paul declares, "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7). All the other typical ordinances in this law pointed to the death of Jesus on the cross. All these feasts, meat and drink offerings, and sabbaths that were nailed to the cross, Paul declares, were "a shadow of things to come" and then adds, "but the body is of Christ." That is, the body, or substance, that cast these shadows was Christ's body on the cross. Now even a child knows that, late in the afternoon when a tall tree casts its shadow eastward, one can begin at the farthest end of the shadow and follow it until he gets to the tree, or body, that casts it and there it ceases.

Just so, we may go back to the time when "by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin," and there a merciful God promised to send a Redeemer (Genesis 3:15), a Substitute, to die in man's stead. To keep man continually reminded of this and to supply him with a means of expressing his faith in the coming sacrifice, ceremonies were instituted which man was to observe as an expression of his faith. These ceremonies, which were given to man immediately after the fall, with several others added, were all included in the law which was not written on the tables of stone.

Follow these shadowy ceremonies all the way from Eden lost to the time of Moses, and from there through the wilderness journey, and then on for hundreds of years, after the settlement in Canaan, and at last they lead up to Calvary, and there they cease. So it would be "against us" and "contrary" to our faith to observe these after His death. It would be denying that He had died. Not so with the other law. It is just as necessary to refrain from idolatry, profanity, Sabbath desecration, murder, adultery, and theft, after the cross as before. It was a violation of these principles that caused the death of Christ. Could they have been set aside, or changed to accommodate the carnal mind, Jesus need not have died.

Now with these truths before us, let us again read Colossians 2:14-17 and see how plainly it reveals that he had no reference to the Ten Commandments:

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink, or in respect to an holyday (R.V. feast day ), or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

How plain it is that not one of the Ten Commandments is mentioned or even hinted. Albert Barnes, one of the most noted Presbyterian commentators of our country, in his Commentary on the New Testament, says of these verses:

"The allusion here is to the festivals of the Jews; . . . there is not the slightest reason to believe that he meant to teach that one of the Ten Commandments had ceased to be binding on mankind. If he had used the word in the singular number--the Sabbath--it would then, of course, have been clear that he meant to teach that that commandment had ceased to be binding . . . But the use of the term in the plural number, and the connection, show that he had his eye on the great number of days which were observed by the Hebrews as festivals (such as the passover, pentecost, feast of tabernacles, new moons, jubilee, etc.) . . . No part of the moral law--no one of the Ten Commandments--could be spoken of as 'a shadow of good things to come.' These commandments are, from the nature of the moral law, of perpetual and universal obligation."

Albert Barnes was a student. He was versed in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. He had no prejudices against the Seventh-day Adventists. He was one of the best informed scholars the Presbyterian Church ever produced. He declares that Colossians 2:14-17 has no reference to the obligation of the weekly Sabbath or any of the Ten Commandments. He agrees with Paul that it was "sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come" that were abolished, and not the memorial-of-the-creation Sabbath.

If this Ten Commandment law did not declare, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," none would find fault with it. But in order to get rid of the Sabbath, it is necessary to do away with the entire law. There is no other way out. The Sabbath is a part of this law which forbids murder, theft, adultery, etc. So long as this law abides, the Sabbath must also, because it is part of this law. In the new birth experience, this law, including the Sabbath commandment, is written upon our hearts, as part of the New Covenant relationship between God and His people (see Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10). The law is carried out in Christians, because the Holy Spirit moves and enables us to do the will of God. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

Mr. Moody, the founder of the Moody Bible Institute, on this point says: "The people must be made to understand that the Ten Commandments are still binding, and that there is a penalty attached to their violation. We do not want a gospel of mere sentiment. The Sermon on the Mount did not blot out the Ten Commandments" ("Weighed and Wanting, p. 16).

I have here before me Dr. C. I. Scofield's pamphlet on "Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth," and he positively declares on page 32 (center paragraph) that Colossians 2:14-17 has reference to "the ceremonial law only."

Adam Clarke, the Methodist commentator, when he reached Colossians 2:14-17, took the same stand with Albert Barnes, namely, that Paul had not the remotest thought of the Ten Commandments. He says: "The apostle speaks here in reference to some particulars of the handwriting of ordinances, which had been taken away... the necessity of observing certain holidays or festivals; such as the new moons and particular sabbaths; . . . all these had been taken out of the way, and nailed to the cross, and were no longer of moral obligation. There is no intimation here that the Sabbath was done away or that its moral use was superseded by the introduction of  Christianity. I have shown elsewhere, that 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,' is a commandment of perpetual obligation."

It will be of interest just here to quote from the founder of the Methodist Church. In his Sermons (2 Vol. Ed.) Vol. 1, pp. 221, 222, Wesley says: "But the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, which 'stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven.' The moral stands on an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law."

We believe we can give an illustration just here that will thoroughly convince the honest in heart that the law of Ten Commandments was a distinct and separate law, that when the other "law of commandments contained in ordinances" (Ephesians 2:15) was abolished, the Ten Commandments were not included.

We may go over every one of the Ten Commandments the day before Jesus died and agree that it was sin to willfully have other gods, worship images, desecrate the Lord's name and the Lord's Sabbath day; we will agree that the day before Jesus died it was sin to willfully violate the commandments which forbid disrespect for parents, murder, adultery, theft, lying and coveting. Now we ask in all sincerity, Was it a sin to violate these same commandments the next day after Jesus died? Was it not just as wicked to steal, lie, and kill, the day after Jesus died as the day before?--Not if these commandments were all abolished the day before.

Let us now put the commandments in the other law to the same test, and see what we find. The day before Jesus died it was obligatory to celebrate the passover and the passover sabbath; if a man committed sin he was under obligation to bring a

lamb without spot or blemish for a sin offering; infants were to be circumcised. Were the commandments which enjoined these things in force the next day after Jesus died? Would the disciples have been held guilty of sin if they had ignored these ordinances the next day after Jesus died?--Most assuredly not. Thus do we see that these commandments were not of the same durability as were the Ten. But if these and the Ten constituted just one law and there was no distinction, then it would have been no more a sin to ignore the commandments which said, Bring a lamb without spot or blemish. By these illustrations it can be seen there was a distinction, and there are no Scriptural or reasonable arguments to the contrary.

Another very important distinction between the Ten Commandments and all the others is the fact that the Ten Commandments were placed inside the ark and the others in the side of the ark. In Deuteronomy 10:5, we read: "I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me." The other law was not put "in the ark" but "in the side of the ark." So we read: "Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 31:26). Here we have one law "in the ark" and the other "in the side of the ark." Why did the Lord direct that one be put in the ark and the other left out? Such facts cannot be passed by lightly. There they stand in the Word of God as plain contradictions of the teaching that there was but one law, and the the whole thing was abrogated at the cross.

There are some facts as to why the Ten Commandments were placed inside the ark which must not be overlooked. There is a reason why they were placed inside the ark. The discovery of this reason will further prove their immutability. The ark was the most sacred article in the temple. It was placed in the holy of holies and "over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat" (Hebrews 9:5). It was from the "mercy-seat" that mercy and grace were dispensed to the penitent transgressor. Of these angels at the ends of the ark it was written: "The cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be" (Exodus 25:20). These angels were to look down upon the ark, showing the respect which heaven has for God's law therein. God further said: "There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubims"(verse 22). Above this ark was the throne of the Infinite, and inside the ark was the law of love containing the principles of the divine government. David prayed: "Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth" (Psalm 80:1). God dwelt mystically "between the cherubims" in the earthly sanctuary; and there mercy had its "seat," or source, and from there pardon was granted for the violation of the law of love in the ark.

All this constituted "figures" of the true sanctuary in heaven, and today "Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Hebrews 9:23, 24). There Jesus, as our High Priest, mediates the merits of His blood for sin. But what is sin?--We have the answer in 1 John 3:4: "Sin is the transgression of the law." Which law?--We find the answer in Revelation 11:19: "The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament." There we find the real ark; there we find the real Priest; there we find the real mediation; and there we find "the ark of His testament"--the real "Ten Commandments" which the earthly was patterned after. If this law that was in the ark was abrogated at the cross, Christ is mediating for the transgression of an abrogated law! These are irrefutable truths which escape the mind of the man who holds this sacred law in contempt. The very fact that the original of this law is in heaven, where Christ, our High Priest, mediates His blood for pardon, shows how impossible it would be for this law to be done away.

This law is a transcript of the character of God. It is in heaven, setting forth the principles of the divine government, based on love. No stronger argument could be produced to prove it is not abolished. And there today, just as in the earthly ark, it must read, "The seventh day is the Sabbath," else it would not be a true original for the pattern.

In the Old Testament sin is defined as doing "somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done"

(Leviticus 4:27); and in the New Testament it is the same: "Sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). In the Old Testament these commandments of the Lord were kept in the ark, in the holy of holies, where God dwelt. This ark was called, "the ark of the testimony." Years after the cross John was permitted to see the temple above, and he says there was seen in His temple "the ark of His testament." So there it is today, defining sin, and there Jesus is too, mediating His blood for "the transgression of the law." This shows how very false is the teaching that this "testimony" is abolished.

It will be of interest to inquire, How this matter of what was abolished and what was not abolished happen to come up in some of the apostolic discussions? The answer, as we hope to prove, is plain. Some came along, after the apostles had raised up churches and gone on to other places, and taught the new converts that they should go back to the practicing of circumcision, the keeping of new moons, festivals, and annual sabbaths which were "shadows."

We get an instance of this in Acts 15:1, "And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." In verse 4 we have this repeated: "But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses." This was not the law of Ten Commandments for there is nothing in that law about circumcision. Paul puts a distinction between the two when he declares in 1 Corinthians 7:19: "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but the keeping of the commandments of God." It is very un-Scriptural to claim that in Acts 15:1, 4, That the discussion had to do with whether or not Christians should "keep the commandments of God."

The same matter came up in the church at Galatia. Speaking of this Paul said: "And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus; that they might bring us into bondage" (Galatians 2:4).

What was this "bondage"? Was it (as antinomians teach) that Paul's gospel had given them "liberty in Christ Jesus" to worship idols, commit adultery, and that these "false brethren" had come to Galatia, in the absence of Paul, and had protested against such immoralities, thus restraining their "liberty" to practice such things? Is that what Paul meant?

How is it possible for those who claim to be Christians and ministers of God to hold such a view? We again inquire, What was this "bondage"? Let us turn to Galatians 5:1-2 and read what it was: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." Is there anything in the Ten Commandments about circumcision? Can't we see it was not that law of which Paul was speaking?

This is repeated and explained further in Galatians 4:9-10: "How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly element wherein ye desire to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years." Do we find anything in the Ten Commandments about "days" (plural), "months", "times", and "years"? Not one word. They were all found in the other law which Moses gave to the people.

This should make it plain that these discussions did not come up because the apostles taught Christians to practice the immoralities condemned by the Ten Commandments and then false teachers came along and attempted to stop the practice of such sins. It was because these false teachers attempted to get them back to the observances of "the law of commandments contained in ordinances" which were "abolished" at the cross (Ephesians 2:15). Many of these pointed ahead to the death of the Redeemer, and to practice them after the cross would be a denial that He had died.

There are some verses found in Hebrews 7:12-14 which are often misapplied to the Ten Commandments: "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For He (Christ) of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of (the tribe of) Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the priesthood."

This is not speaking of the law of "ten commandments", but of the law of the priesthood. God, through Moses, appointed the Levites of the tribe of Levi to be the priests (Numbers 3:9-10). According to this law no one but a Levite could be a priest. But after the death of Jesus the priesthood was changed. It was changed from earth to heaven (Hebrews 8:1-3), and from the tribe of Levi to the tribe of Judah. Therefore the law that regulated the priesthood had to be changed in order that Christ, who sprang from the tribe of Judah, could be made priest. Just why men will read these verses and declare they have reference to the Ten Commandments is hard to understand. What is more tragic is this: an ordinary audience knows so little about the Scriptures that they will accept this "wresting of the Scriptures" thinking it to be the truth.

If there are any Roman Catholics or Mormons who happen to read these words about "the priesthood being changed," may we kindly say to them, that if the earthly priests who serve them are not literal Jews, having sprang from the "tribe of Judah," then they, according to this New Testament law of the priesthood, are disqualified to be priests. In the Old Testament this law regulating that the Levites only should be the priests, was so rigid, that anyone else who attempted to act as a priest was "put to death" (Numbers 3:9-10). If that was true in the Old Testament, how much more is it true in the New that no one can be priest except he prove he sprang from the tribe of Judah. Moreover, this same law says there are not to be a plurality of priests, nor a succession of priests by reason of death. That makes it plain that Christ only is "the one Mediator between God and man" today (1 Timothy 2:5).
 

See the documents "THE TWO COVENANTS" & "THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH"
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Did you know you are required  by Deuteronomy 6:3-9  to display the commandments at your residence?

Why display the ten commandments?
(check the references out at www.justbible.com  - an on line KJV bible)

1.  Your life will be lengthened.
2.  Your children's lives will be lengthened.
3.  So your home life will be "as the days of heaven upon the earth" (Deuteronomy 11:21).

Deuteronomy 11:18-21

18.  Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
19.  And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20.  And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
21.  That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

Displaying and obeying the Ten Commandments will bring blessings upon you and your family. Read these words from Deuteronomy 6:1, 2-3, 9.

1.  Now these are the commandments . . .
2.  That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
3.  Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee . . .
9.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Buy a sign at the phone number and website noted below or make your own.

We went a step further with clarifications added and then even put the sign in Spanish so the majority who live here could read it.  
The wordage on our 23" x 28" outside sign goes like this:

The real Ten Commandments
- as given to Moses on Mt. Sinai -
1. I am thy Lord thy God, thou shalt not have other
Gods before me.
(Pray to  NO ONE else except God)

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. (Do NOT worship or pray to any statues, figurines, or pictures. Pray directly to God only)

3.Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. (Don’t swear using God’s or Christ’s name).

4.Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; in it thou shalt not do any work.(The Sabbath was established as the last day of week; Saturday, not Sunday).

5. Honor thy father and thy mother.
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           neighbor (Do not lie).

10.Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbor’s.

..and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly 
stated:Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Romans 13:9
(Ask us for our detailed Ten Commandment  handout)

And yes it all fit on a 23" x 28" sign - if you would like the layout spacing email me

What Does the Bible Say about
the Ten Commandments?

What are the rewards for keeping the Ten Commandments, for teaching them to children, displaying them in the home?

What is the covenant, and why were the Ten Commandments put into the Ark of the Covenant?

What is the greatest commandment?

What is a summary of the law and the prophets?

Is Love the fulfilling of the law?

These questions can be answered by reading the following Scripture verses.
(again go to www.justbible.com for online bible access) 

Deuteronomy 6:1-9
1     Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
2     That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
3     Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
4     Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
5     And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6     And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7     And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8     And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9     And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Reward for keeping commandments.
Deuteronomy 6:2-3
2     That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
3     Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

Requirement to teach children.
Deuteronomy 6:7
7     And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Requirement to display in homes.
Deuteronomy 6:9
9     And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

The commandments put into the Ark of the Covenant.
Deuteronomy 10:1-5, 8
1     At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.
(This is the second set; God gave him the first set which he broke in anger when he went back down and found his people had built the golden calf and were worshipping it)
2     And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.
3     And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.
4     And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.
5     And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.
8     At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

The words of the covenant are the Ten Commandments
Exodus 34:28
28     And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

The Ten Commandments were in the Ark of the Covenant, written on stone tablets. They are the only verses that we are commanded to post in our homes (Deuteronomy 6:9). Therefore, the Ten Commandments is the most important passage of Scripture. See www.detailshere.com/arkofthecovenant.htm   for a fascinating story of where the tablets are today.

Requirements to keep the Ten Commandments
Deuteronomy 10:12-13
12     And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
13     To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

Deuteronomy 11:18-23, 26-28
18     Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
19     And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20     And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
21     That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
22     For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
23     Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.
26     Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
27     A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:
28     And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

What is the greatest commandment?
See also 
THE TWO COVENANTS
Deuteronomy 6:5
5     And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Matthew 22:36-38
35     Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36     Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37     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.
38     This is the first and great commandment.
39     And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40     On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The Love of God and of neighbor is the summary of the law and prophets.
Mark 12:28-34
28     And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29     And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30     And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31     And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
32     And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
33     And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
34     And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

The understanding of love and of the commandments gives one great understanding: "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God."

"Love is the fulfilling of the law."
Romans 13:8-10
8     Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9     For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
10     Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

The law is fulfilled by love.
Galatians 5:14
14     For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thysself.

from   http://tencommandments.faithweb.com 

TEN COMMANDMENTS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

     Churches across the world teach that God's Ten Commandments were abolished---nailed to the cross with Jesus Christ and that they are no longer required to be kept under the New Covenant.  Is this what Jesus and His Apostles taught?  Did they continue to teach and observe the commandments?  What does the Bible say?

     In Matthew 5:17, Jesus declared, "Think NOT that I am come to destroy the Law . . ."  So WHY is it that this is what people think?  Jesus clearly said DO NOT EVEN THINK THIS, yet ministers and Bible "scholars" alike go ahead and GO AGAINST Jesus' clear teaching by saying that the law is done away in Christ. We are warned of these FALSE teachers by the apostle Paul in 2Cor 11:13-15, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness: whose end shall be according to their works." Satan's ministers pawn themselves off as Jesus' ministers and Satan makes himself out to be Christ!!!

     The apostle John taught throughout his writings that the law is still to be observed by God's people.  You could read in John 5:14 & 8:11 where Jesus told people to "sin no more."  WHAT IS SIN?  I Jn 3:4 states, " ...sin is the transgression of the law."  SIN IS THE BREAKING OF GOD'S COMMANDMENTS!   Jesus said not to break them anymore!! John said that WE DON'T EVEN KNOW JESUS IF WE DON'T keep the commandments (I Jn 2:3-6).  He continued to show that we are to keep the commandments in the book of Revelation.  Rev 12:17 says, "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."  Now read Rev 14:12, "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."  Rev 22:14 states: "Blessed are they that do His commandments..."

     What about the apostle Paul?  False teachers take Paul's writings out of context to say the Law is done away with.  The apostle Peter gave warning of this in 2Pet 3:15,16.  Paul himself kept the law and declared, "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good."  He wrote to the Romans that "...the doers of the law shall be justified" (Rom 2:13).  Concerning the GRACE of God that we are under, he asked, "...Shall we continue in sin (lawbreaking), that grace may abound?  God forbid! (the Greek words here mean, "May it never be conceived of" - DON'T EVEN THINK IT!) How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Rom 6:1,2).  And concerning Law and Faith he asks, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid (Again - MAY IT NEVER BE CONCEIVED): Yea, we establish the law". (Rom 3:31)

     These are just a few of the many Scriptures which show the Truth of Lawkeeping for Christians.  Let's now take a survey of the New Testament and make a list of the Ten Commandments as they appear throughout it.  We'll list each of the commandments as they appear in Exodus 20 first, followed by their New Testament counterparts.

NO ONE/NOTHING BEFORE GOD

1st Commandment OT: "I am the LORD thy God, Which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." (Ex 20:2,3)

1st Commandment NT: " . . . Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. " (Matt 4:10/Luke 4:8)

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Mt 6:24)

"For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 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." (1Cor 8:5,6)

IDOLATRY

2nd Commandment OT: "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 fouth generation of them that hate Me; And shewing mercy unto thousands who love Me, and keep my commandments." (Ex 20:4-6)

2nd Commandment NT: "But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols . . . "(Acts15:20)

"Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:" (Acts 17:29,30)

" . . . I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat." (1Cor 5:11)

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." (1Cor 6:9,10)

"Neither be ye idolaters." (1Cor 10:7)

"Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." (1Cor 10:14)

"Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led." (1Cor 12:2)

"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" (2Cor 6:16)

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Gal 5:19-21)

"For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." (Eph 5:5) [This verse and the next both show the connection between covetousness and idolatry - when you covet something, it becomes your idol, and therefore your god (breaking the 1st commandment also)]

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." (Col 3:5)

" . . . how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." (1Thes 1:9)

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols." (1Jn 5:21)

"And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk." (Rev 9:20)

"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Rev 21:8)

"For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." (Rev 22:15)

VAIN USE OF LORD'S NAME

3rd Commandment OT: "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." (Ex 20:7)

3rd Commandment NT: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name." (Mt 6:9/Lk 11:2)

"I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." (Mt 12:36)

"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Mt 15:8,9)

"And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." (Mt 23:9)

" . . . that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." (1Tim 6:1)

SEVENTH DAY SABBATH

4th Commandment OT: "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." (Ex 20:8-11)

4th Commandment NT: "For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day." (Mt12:8/Lk 6:5) [So the Sabbath is the TRUE Lord's Day]

" . . . it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days." (Mt12:12)

"But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day." (Mt 24:20 speaking of the time of tribulation just before His second coming)

" . . . they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he (Jesus) entered into the synagogue, and taught." (Mk1:21)

"And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath." (Mk 2:27,28) [Notice: The Sabbath is NOT just for Jews, or Israelites, or Hebrews, or Semites (descendants of Shem), but FOR ALL MANKIND]

"And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach . . . " (Mk 6:2)

"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day . . . " (Lk 4:16)

" . . . (Jesus) taught them on the sabbath days." (Lk 4:31)

AFTER JESUS' DEATH, HIS DISCIPLES OBSERVED THE SABBATH:

"And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment." (Lk 23:55,56) [ This occured AFTER Jesus' death obviously, which is when the false teachers claim the law was done away.  They say the law was "nailed to the cross", BUT His disciples obviously didn't believe that, as we see here - they "rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment"]

" . . . when they (the apostles) departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day." (Acts13:14)

"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath." (Acts13:42) [Notice: the Gentiles (non-jews) wanted to hear the word of God on the next Sabbath. Paul DID NOT tell them, "Come back tomorrow, the first day of the week, because that's the day us Christians keep." He had them return the following SABBATH]

"And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." (Acts13:44)

"For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day." (Acts15:21)

"And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made." (Acts16:13)

"And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures." (Acts17:2)

"And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." (Acts18:4)

"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." (Heb 4:4) [See Eph 5:1 where it states that we are to be imitators of God.]

"There remaineth therefore a rest [See margin: Greek word is "Sabbatismos" which means "Sabbath-keeping"] to the people of God." (Heb 4:9)

"For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 66:22,23) [I realize this is an OT scripture, BUT as you can clearly see here, this is dealing with the NEW heavens and earth (after Christ's return) and it states that ALL shall keep the Sabbath then.  It seems quite preposterous, that God would give the seventh day Sabbath to mankind at creation (Gen 2:1-3), re-introduce it to Israel BEFORE Sinai - after they lost sight of it in captivity (Ex 16:4,23,27-29), codify it at Sinai (Ex:20) having all His people observe it, including Christ, THEN CHANGE it to Sunday, just to change it back to Friday sunset  through Saturday sunset.  THE SABBATH HAS NEVER CHANGED AND IS STILL TO BE OBSERVED!]

HONOR PARENTS

5th Commandment OT: "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." (Ex 20:12)

5th Commandment NT: " . . . Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death." (Mt15:3,4/Mk 7:10)

"Honour thy father and thy mother . . . " (Mt 19:19/Mk 10:19/Lk18:20)

"Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." (Rom 1:29-32)

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." (Eph 6:1-3)

"Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." (Col 3:20)

"But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God." (1Tim 5:4)

MURDER

6th Commandment OT: "Thou shalt not kill (murder)." (Ex 20:13)

6th Commandment NT: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment." (Mt 5:21,22 - see 1Jn 2:9)  [Jesus says unjustified anger is equal to murder]

" . . . Do not kill . . ." (Mk 10:19)

" . . .Thou shalt not kill . . ." (Rom 13:9)

"For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." (James 2:11)

"But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters." (1Pet 4:15)

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." (1Jn 3:14,15)

ADULTERY

7th Commandment OT: "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Ex 20:14)

7th Commandment NT: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Mt 5:27,28) [Lustful fantasies are equal to adultery]

"I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery." (Mt 5:32)

"Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery . . ." (Mt 19:18/Mk 10:19/Lk 18:20)

"Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery." (Mk 10:11,12)

"Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery." (Lk 16:18 )

". . .  this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.  . . . Jesus said unto her, . . . go, and sin no more. (Jn 8:4-11)

"So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress" (Rom 7:3)

". . . Thou shalt not commit adultery . . ." (Rom 13:9)

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." (1Cor 6:9,10)

"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." (1Cor 6:18)

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Gal 5:19-21)

"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication" (1 Thes 4:3)

"Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." (Heb 13:4)

"Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." (Jude 1:7)

"And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.  Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds." (Rev 2:21,22)

THEFT

8th Commandment OT: "Thou shalt not steal." (Ex 20:15)

8th Commandment NT: "Thou shalt not steal . . " (Mt 19:18/Rom 13:9)

"Do not steal . . . " (Mk 10:19/Lk 18:20)

" . . . thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." (1Cor 6:10)

"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." (Eph 4:28)

"But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters." (1Pet 4:15)

"Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." (Rev 9:21)

FALSE WITNESS / LYING

9th Commandment OT: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." (Ex 20:16)

9th Commandment NT: " . . .  every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." (Mt 12:36,37)

"For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man." (Mt 15:19,20)

" . . . Thou shalt not bear false witness . . ." (Mt 19:18/Rom 13:9)

" . . .Do not bear false witness . . . " (Mk10:19/Lk 18:20)

"And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages." (Lk 3:14)

"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44)

"But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty . . . " (2Co 4:2)

"Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour." (Eph 4:25)

"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds" (Col 3:9)

"Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things." (1Tim 3:11)

" . . . speak evil of no man" (Titus 3:2)

"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Rev 21:8)

"For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." (Rev 22:15)

COVETOUSNESS / LUST

10th Commandment OT: "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 anything that is thy neighbour's." (Ex 20:17)

10th Commandment NT: "And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." (Lk 12:15)

"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." (Rom 7:7)

" . . . Thou shalt not covet . . . " (Rom 13:9)

"But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;" (Eph 5:3)

"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (1Tim 6:10)

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Heb 13:5)

     Mt 22:37-40 states "Jesus said..., 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.  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." (See also Mark 12:29-31 & Luke 10:25-28).  False teachers use these scriptures to say that the Ten Commandments are no longer required to be kept--that the only commandments are to love God and fellow man.  Jesus clearly stated that "all the law" HANGS from these two commandments, meaning they are a source of all of His law.

      If you are TRULY keeping the Two Great Commandments, then you will in no way be breaking the Ten Commandments--in fact, you will be exceeding beyond the letter (but not neglecting the letter) of them and keeping them in the spirit with the indwelling love of God.  These Two Great Commandments summarize the Ten Commandments.  The first five commandments deal with the "LORD thy God" and the second five with "thou" and "thy neighbour"---"For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery [7th], Thou shalt not kill [6th], Thou shalt not steal [8th], Thou shalt not bear false witness [9th], Thou shalt not covet [10th]; and if there be any other commandment [concerning neighbors], it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Rom 13:9).

     If we love God with all our heart, and mind, and being, we certainly would not want to place other gods before Him (ANYTHING we put before Him, becomes our god).  We would not worship idols (this would break the first commandment also).  Nor would we vainly use His name.  Ancient Israel did this by placing His name on their idols and pagan customs they observed (Is 29:13; 42:8; Ezek 20:39), just as modern professing "Christians" place the name of Christ on their idols and pagan customs (man's holidays).  Those who love God should observe His Sabbath, for it is the day HE set aside to spend with us to further our loving relationship with Him.  It is the sign He gave that shows Him to be the True God - the Creator (Gen 2:3; Ex 20:11; 31:17).  And if we really love Him, we would honor him as our heavenly Father by obeying all of His commands (Col 3:20).  If we would do these things He asks of us, we would show our love for Him.

     And if we love our neighbours, would we be murdering them, breaking marriage vows through adultery, stealing from them, lying to them or spreading lies about them, or coveting anything of theirs (which coveting could lead to all of the previous things listed)?  Of course not!  The apostle John stated in I Jn 5:2,3, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

      The origin of God's law is LOVE.  He has set the guidelines for love in His commandments.  They set the path for us to walk in love for God and fellow man.  "He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love." (I Jn4:8).  His love is the source of His covenant with us (Jn 3:16).  He is seeking those who will love Him in return.  As stated above, we show Him love by obeying His voice.

     "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them" (Heb 10:16).  Far from abolishing the law, God said He would write His Laws in our hearts and minds. "My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart." (Prov 7:1-3, see also Prov 3:1-3)

     Man was hardhearted and stiffnecked to God's law:  "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great...and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen 6:5)   Even when He set forth His Law at Sinai, He knew man's heart was against Him: "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!" (Deut 5:29).  God had to create in us a new heart and give us His spirit so we could overcome our evil ways and walk in His ways.  "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ezek 36:26; read Ezek 11:19 also).  God had to remove our stony hard heart that would not accept His Law (read Rom 8:7). With the new heart He puts in us we may say in truth, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." (Ps 40:8).

     The Law was spoken by God on the day of Pentecost (Ex 19) at Mt Sinai and was later codified by God in tablets of stone (corresponding with the stoniness of mankind's hearts--thus showing God's intention to write the Law in our hearts).  The spirit of God was also sent on Pentecost (Acts 2) to write His law in the tablets of our (new, non-stony) hearts (2Cor 3:3).  And with the gift of the holy spirit, we can overcome sin (lawbreaking) and walk in His law.  A truly converted Christian has God's Laws written in their heart and does not consider ANY of God's commandments to be a burden or a yoke of bondage.  For God is circumcising the enmity (Rom 8:7) against His Law from the hearts of His People.  Read Psalm 119 to see the converted attitude of a "man after God's own heart".

     As we have clearly seen, the Ten Commandments were kept by Christ, His apostles, His disciples, their disciples - both Jew and Gentile, and that they are to be kept by Christians TODAY.  We all must be overcoming our sinful (lawless) ways (Rev 2:7,11,17,26; 3:5,12,21; 21:7).  REPENT, turn to God & keep His commandments that He may heal you and you may have eternal life in His Kingdom.

May God be blessing you

Authored by Brian Hoeck

Did the Ten Commandments go out with the cross?

Do we no longer have to keep God's Old Testament Laws??
What DID go out with the cross?

I find three groups of christian people in my research for the truth. 
One group believes that  ALL of God's Laws, Moses' Ordinances,  and Feast Days still apply, such as www.yahweh.com   I think they have many good teachings at this website, I have a lot of their booklets,  but they teach many things wrong too such as this notion that nothing went out with the cross. In fact in their booklet of the 613 laws of Yahweh, they claim  we should still be following all of those. It is 99% Mosaic Law and those DID go out with the cross.  

I find a second group of people who feel everything in the old testament went out with the cross including the ten commandments. I do not identify with these "grace only" , "just believe and you will be saved", "once saved, always saved", "eternal salvation" self proclaimed christians. In Acts 16:25-33, the jailer asked Paul, "What must I do to be saved"? Paul answered "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved ..." verse 31".  Sounds simple enough; but is it? 
In Mathew 7:21 which says ," Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." Or James 2:17 "In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action; is dead".  This second group of people do not believe much in the works/grace tie in. They preach justification (forgiveness of sins) but ignore sanctification (allowing the holy spirit to work within you which effects changes in your life to make you holy) which is needed in addition to justification to reach glorification (appearing sinless in front of the Father ).  The end goal is for us to be glorified in front of the Father. I think this is dangerous salvation teaching. My page at www.detailshere.com/saved.htm  gets into that issue. Remember there are two sides to a covenant. Each side has to keep their part of the agreement. Literal Israel (genetic descendants of Israelites) are NOT spiritual Israel today because they continually broke their part of the covenant with God; their history is a record of apostasy, sin, idolatry, repentance, returning to God, then further apostasy again. God will fulfill HIS promises of blessing if you will be faithful to Him and His Law. 

The third group of people I find are who I identify with the most. We feel certain things in the Old Testament still apply, like the Ten Commandments that were written in stone with the finger of Yahweh Himself and kept INSIDE of the Ark instead of outside of the ark where the Mosaic Ordinances were kept. These were separate and distinct laws. God's Law, the ten commandments, has no curses associated with it as did the Mosaic ordinances.  There were other laws in the Old Testament we should still be paying attention to also. In Genesis 8:20 & 21 God allowed man to sacrifice and eat clean animals.  Genesis 9: 1-5 tells why we are not to eat the blood of animals, because the blood carries the impurities. In Genesis 7:1-3 The clean beasts entered the ark in pairs of seven, the unclean in two's. These were health laws along with the ten commandments that were not part of the Mosaic Laws, given long before Moses was even born.  The clean and unclean food laws of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy  clarified more specifically what these beasts, fish and birds were that were considered clean and unclean. And if you analyze each one, there's a scientific reason for each. Pigs contain trichinosis worms. Cook pig meat enough and you are still eating dead trichinosis worms. Bottomfish (fish with no scales) and shellfish contain hundreds of times more toxic metals and poisons than do fish that have scales and swim above the bottom. Yahshua's death did away with the Mosaic ordinances, but no one will ever convince me they did away with the decalogue or other key parts of God's Law. I feel we are still bound to keep God's Law as presented in the Old Testament as best we can as our part in "doing the will of the Father in heaven" and doing our part of the covenant agreement.    AHHHH, "works" you say. Yes, but not of our own doing, "works" as a manifestation of the holy spirit within us exhibited outwardly as good works when we have true "faith" in the salvation of Jesus and God's grace. 

Now for the clincher. 
For those of you who claim the ten commandments went out with the cross; here is scriptural support for all ten commandments being brought over into the new testament. 
Remember the words of Mathew 5:17-19  "Do not even think that I have come to destroy the law (meaning do away with the ten commandments or other of GOD'S LAWS of the old testament) ; I have come to fulfill or establish them". (some Greek translations use the word "fulfill", others use the word "establish")
Fulfill means to carry out, to do, or to make happen. By definition it doesn't mean he is substituting  or replacing; it means he is carrying out those laws, doing what is necessary to make those laws happen or be established. 

What went out with the cross then??
Colossians 2:14-17  "the handwriting of ordinances that was against us"!!
This can't be the ten commandments because they were written by the "finger" of God and not by "man's hand". The handwriting of ordinances refers to the Mosaic laws, the sacrificial laws. When the curtain was rent (torn in two - past tense of rend - to tear or split) in the sanctuary when Jesus died, these sacrificial laws became toast, history, gone, done away with. The Sabbath Days that went out with the cross were the annual Sabbath FeastDays of the Mosaic Law which occurred on days other than a Saturday; NOT the weekly 7th day Sabbath established in Genesis and reaffirmed as the fourth commandment at Mt Sinai. See www.detailshere.com/sabbathissue.htm    here for more on that issue. 

See proof below. 

1. The 1st commandment was restated in Matt. 22:37; 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. 
And in 1 Cor. 8:5,6.  For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)
8:6: 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.

2. The 2nd commandment was restated in 1 Jn. 5:21. 
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
(Col. 3:5 and Eph. 5:5 broadens idolatry to include covetousness.)
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

3. The 3rd commandment was restated in Col. 3:8.
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

4. The 4th commandment was restated in Hebrews 
Hebrews 4:4 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. 
Hebrews 4:9  There remaineth , therefore, a  "rest"  to the people of God. 
The Greek word for REST in this verse is different from the word used in verses 1, 3, 5, 10 and 11. This word means "sabbath rest" and is found only here in the new testament. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his (Heb. 4:4-10).

5. The 5th commandment was restated in Eph. 6:1-3.
     6:1: Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
     6:2: Honour thy father and mother; 
     6:3: That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

6-10th  The 6th,7th, 8th, 9th and 10th commandments were reinstated in Rom. 13:9; Matt. 19:18; Gal. 5:14; 1 Cor. 6:9,10; and Gal. 5:19-21. 
Romans 13:9: For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

I hope you won't jeopardize your salvation by accepting the erroneous notion that God's Laws went out with the cross.  Once saved always saved does not work.  You CAN lose your salvation after having come to Christ by your sinful thoughts, actions, speech, and deeds.

The Ten Commandments
the REAL ten commandments Yahweh gave to Moses are on this page further down and the biblical requirement to post them at your residence is  here.

See the Ten Commandments FOLDER for sign verbage and a ten commandments in Spanish.
The Ten Commandments, God's laws to us, were given to Moses on Mt Sinai after he took his people from Egypt during the Exodus across the Red Sea where he parted  the waters. The stone tablets the laws are written on are not mythological. They are real and exist today; along with the Ark of the Covenant they were stored in.   There were actually two sets of tablets; the first God made and simply gave to Moses.  Deuteronomy 9:10 "And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly".    But Moses was on this mountain for 40 days and 40 nights and his people got restless, thought he wouldn't return, and made a golden calf to worship in his absence. When Moses returned he was so angry at this lack of faith of his people that he threw the tablets down and broke them - (Deuteronomy 9:17). Then he lay face downward for another 40 days and 40 nights to atone for their sin because God at that point in time was intent on destroying those people. And God listened. In Deuteronomy 10:1, God told him to return to the mountain with a second set of stone tablets that Moses would make and he would write on the new set  the same words that were on the previous set; which he did. The interesting thing is HOW God engraved the tablets; with his finger.  Those tablets have been seen  in the 90's by a man named Ron Wyatt; an Indiana Jones type of biblical archeological expert who devoted his whole life to exploring the events of the bible.  Mt Sinai  contains much red granite.  The tablets Ron saw inside the ark of the covenant were also made of red granite. But here's the clincher; the WRITING on the tablets he saw was as if the surface of those red granite stone tablets were as warm butter  and God's little finger WAS used to form the letters on them  - JUST as is stated in Deuteronomy  9:10  and the real King James version found at www.justbible.com.  This passage has been changed in NIV versions to say "by his own hand " instead of "finger".  When you question the wordage in a passage; go to the original King James Version before man has messed with it making it  "easier for us to read"; and changed important verbage along with making it "easier to read  and understand". I use both bibles when comparing notes; so I get the jist better with the NIV versions, but I stick with the proper content with the original KJ 1500's version. If you want to know where the real stone tablets with the ten commandments written on them & the ark of the covenant is today; see  www.detailshere.com/arkofthecovenant.htm  where it is all covered. The tablets are to be removed from their current location and made public when the "mark of the best" is required. Until then, any who try to remove them are killed instantly.  One man, in the company of four angels, who one at each corner lifted the lid of the 800 pound  gold mercy seat, was shown their location and was allowed to look at them as well as touch them to be able to tell the world of their authenticity.  Why is it his discoveries do not receive the attention they deserve?   See  http://www.wyattmuseum.com .  

WHAT WAS ABOLISHED AT THE CROSS AND WHY?

By Allen Walker; adapted by David Sullivan

Many of the commandments of the Old Testament had to do with the practicing of ceremonies that were intended to cease at the cross because they pointed ahead to the death of Christ. To practice these things after the death of Christ would be in fact denying His death. There are other commandments called in the Bible the Ten Commandments, which are entirely different in their meaning and duration. God never intended that the time would come when the law against stealing, lying, killing, etc., would be abolished. I have been often asked, "If you are going to observe the seventh day, why don't you offer the sacrifices?" It seems to me that such a question reveals a superficial concept of the teachings of the Bible. It would be just as logical to ask, "If you are going to observe the commandment which says, 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,' why don't you offer the sacrifices?" This is certainly perverted thinking. It really means, that to prove we should not offer sacrifices now we ought to desecrate the Lord's name, His holy day, lie, steal, and do everything else the Ten Commandments forbid. If that argument which says, "If you are going to observe the seventh day, why not observe all the regulations of the sacrificial law?" were applied to all the other commandments, it seems to me it could be seen how unreasonable and absurd that argument is.

There is vast difference between the Ten Commandments and the ceremonial law. The former was done away with at the cross; the latter was not.

I believe that if honest-hearted Christians can understand once and for all that there were two laws in the Old Testament--the law of sacrifices, which was abolished, and another, the Ten Commandments, which was not abolished--it will then be easily understood why Christians should observe the seventh day, but should not offer the sacrifices. Then when we read in the New Testament about a law that was abolished at the cross, we will not become confused, thinking this is the law of the Ten Commandments. There are two laws--one was abolished, and the other was not. This is plain from a simple reading of the following texts:

"Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances" (Ephesians 2:15); "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law" (Hebrews 7:12); "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross" (Colossians 2:14).

There was in addition to this abolished law another law that was not abolished, which is evident from the following texts:

"And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail" (Luke 16:17); "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law" (Romans 3:31); "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10).

If we hold that there were not two laws we have the first three of these Scriptures contradicting the other three. Here is Exodus 19:16-18: "It came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire." Then as the people listened in silence and awe they heard distinctly the voice of the Lord saying:

The Real Ten commandments  from Exodus  20:3-17

1. "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
( This laws tells us not to worship or pray to anybody else except Yahweh or Yahshua - since both are God.  Praying to Mary, or the saints, or angels, or anyone else except to Yahshua as the intercessor or intermediator to God is in violation of God's law. First Timothy 2:5 "For there is ONE God and ONE mediator between God and men; the man Christ Jesus".  Try  John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me".  or Mathew 4:10 "Though shalt worship Yahweh thy Elohim, and Him only shalt though serve". or Acts 4:12 (Speaking of Yahshua); "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name (singular) under  heaven given among men by which we must be saved".
Do you see Mary or St Peter or St Christopher or an angel or the Pope mentioned anywhere there?   I don't. Don't pray to anyone except Yahshua or Yahweh direct. The only intercessor Yahweh allows is his son Yahshua.)

 2. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything 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; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments." 
(The Papalcy and Roman Catholic church completely eliminated this commandment from their bible as they encouraged the worship and praying to statues and pictures of Mary, the cannonized Saints, angels, the Pope and even Christ in blatant disregard for this law of Yahweh. This law of Yahweh still stands today. Don't ignore it. )

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. 
(Basically; don't "swear" as we term it - when the book of deeds is opened; it is your tongue that will hang you.)

4. "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. 
(The Sabbath  was established as a Saturday. Yahshua's sabbath was on Saturday, his disciples sabbath was on Saturday - It begins on Friday evening at dusk and extends to Saturday evening at dusk. The Papacy changed the bible Sabbath from  Saturday, the last day of the week as Yahweh commanded, to a Sunday, the first day of the week back in the dark ages when few people could read; and even fewer owned bibles.   The church says this is the mark of authority that they can exalt tradition above scripture.  When Protestants worship on Sunday they're wrongfully accepting the authority of the Catholic Church for that change.  This is against God's will and teachings.  The Sabbath is still on a Saturday! Not on Sunday. This is an important issue.  You see, the Sabbath/Sunday issue is more than merely a day of worship issue.   The issue is the commandments of Yahweh versus the man-made union of church and state which will use threats and force on others to ensure compliance with man's doctrines.  The issue is one of loyalty, obedience, and allegiance to Yahweh. And if you don't obey Yahweh, just who are you obedient to?   That's right; the dragon himself.

5. "Honor 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 neighbor.

10. "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 anything that is thy neighbor's" (Exodus 20:3-17).

The Bible calls these "the Ten Commandments." In proof we read:

"And He wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, even the Ten Commandments" (Exodus 34:28).

"And He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even Ten Commandments" (Deuteronomy 4:13).

"And He wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments" (Deuteronomy 10:4).

If all the other commandments were to be counted with these there would certainly be more than ten. The word "ten" limits the number. God never intended that any other commandments be added to these, to make more than ten. This is clear from Deuteronomy 5:22: "These words the Lord spake . . . and He added no more." If God added no more to these ten where is the man who has authority to add the multiplicity of sacrificial laws and yearly sabbaths to these commandments? God made the week out of seven days. That fixed the number of days to the week. What man has authority to add other days to the seven and claim that the week has ten, twenty, a hundred, or even more days in it? When God said "seven," that limited the week to that number of days and it cannot be changed. Then when God said "Ten Commandments" and "added no more," how can man say that law contained hundreds of commandments? The week cannot have as many as eight days in it, and this law does not have as many as eleven commandments in it. The fact that the Lord used the word "ten" shows that none of the other commandments are to be counted into this law.

When in Daniel 7:7, Daniel declared that the fourth beast had ten horns. Can man change that and make it more than what God said? When verse 24 of the same chapter says: "The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise," can man add to these and prove there were more than ten? We can see that "ten" limits the number. When God says "Ten Commandments" are in the law, can man change the number "ten" to include the dozens of other commandments found scattered here and there in the five books of Moses? Yet that is the very thing man tries to do in order to include the Ten Commandments in the "law of commandments contained in ordinances" which was abolished. We need to remember God's Word says, "Add thou not to His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar" (Proverbs 30:6). Certainly such is the case when man contradicts God and claims there were more than ten commandments in this law spoken by God on Sinai.

After He spoke this law, the Lord wrote it on two tables of stone, indicating the immutability (unchangeableness) of the principles contained in these commandments. Notice too that these Ten Commandments which the Lord spoke and wrote are called a law and not just a small part of a law:

"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" (Exodus 24:12).

Here we are told that what God wrote on tables of stone is "a law." What did He write on tables of stone? "And He wrote on the tables . . . the Ten Commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly" (Deuteronomy 10:4).

If this language does not prove that the Ten Commandments constituted a complete law composed of a certain number of commandments to which were added no more, then language really has no meaning. Why did the Lord speak exactly tencommandments and stop? Why did the Lord later write just exactly tencommandments and "added no more"? This limits the number of these commandments to "ten" and "no more."

If the Israelites wished to read something about sacrifices and the laws pertaining to them, they would have to look elsewhere. These laws could not be found in the Ten Commandments. In addition, these Ten Commandments were kept separate from all the others. As to the separate place where these commandments should be kept, Moses said:

"I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me" (Deuteronomy 10:5).

The fact that this law was kept in a separate place proves that it was a separate law. There was nothing else in the ark, as far as commandments or laws go, for the Bible says: "There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt" (1 Kings 8:9). This is the law in which the Lord says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," and because it says this, and for no other reason, it is being claimed today that it was abolished. A standard reference book defines the word "abolish" to mean: "To do away with; put an end to; annul; destroy; abrogate, annihilate, end, eradicate, exterminate, obliterate, overthrow, remove, revoke, set aside, stamp out, terminate." This is what is claimed by modern teachers and preachers to have happened to the commandments which instruct children to honor their parents; the law which enjoins purity of life, honesty, truthfulness, reverence for the Lord's name and His holy day, etc. When we come to think about just what this law teaches, it is hard to understand how any normal mind can argue that this law was abolished. Let's look at the claim that the Ten Commandments were done away, from the following standpoint:

That would mean, according to the logic of some, that the day before Jesus died, it was wrong to steal; but that His death abolished the law containing this prohibition; and the next day after Jesus died, it could not be a sin to steal, for "sin is the transgression of the law," and "where no law is, there is not transgression" (1 John 3:4; Romans 4:15). Some people declare this law "stamped out" and "set aside" the instant Jesus died. Again, the day before Jesus died, it was a sin to murder, commit adultery, lie, break the Sabbath, blaspheme the name of the Lord, dishonor parents, covet, etc. Why claim that the law which prohibited these crimes was "set aside," "destroyed," "obliterated," "stamped out" and "overthrown" when Jesus died? It is absolutely impossible for it to be sinful to ignore and to violate the prohibitions of any law that has met such a fate, because Paul says, "Sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Romans 5:13).

It was just as sinful and wicked in the sight of heaven to worship idols, take the Lord's name in vain, break the Sabbath, dishonor parents, kill, commit adultery,
steal, lie, and covet, the next minute and the next day or year or thousand years after the death of Christ as it was the minute before he died. His death never set aside the Ten Commandments.

The next day after Jesus died was the Sabbath. And the Christians "rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment," just as they had done on the Sabbath before His death (Luke 23:56).

The death of Jesus never set aside a single one of the prohibitions of the Ten Commandment law. Any one who willfully violates one of the commandments of this law is accounted guilty before God. This is abundantly clear from the following verses: James 4:17: "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." 1 John 3:4: "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." James 2:10: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."

The next verse proves it is the law of Ten Commandments: "For that law which said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou are become a transgressor of the law" (James 2:11).

These texts cannot be passed by lightly. They stand opposed to the claim that the law of Ten Commandments was not complete and separate. When the apostle James spoke of the whole law, he did not have his mind of the entire five books of Moses. He says he had reference to "that law which said, Do not commit adultery" and "do not kill." He was quoting the Ten Commandments. He declares the "whole" of that law is to be obeyed. This is the same law which says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." The command to observe the Sabbath is one point of "that law which said, Do not commit adultery." If some other commandment were involved, there would be no one who would object to this application. Suppose it were contended that if a man practices lying, theft, immorality, or the violation of any one of these commandments (except the fourth) he will be lost? But when the same man is confronted with the application of James' words to the Sabbath commandment, he will not have it that way. But it is there in God's Word, and the refusal to accept it does not alter it in the least.

Suppose the text in question read: "For that law which said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Bring a lamb of the first year for an offering. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou bring not the lamb, thou art become a transgressor of the law." That would sound strange, would it not? It would be mixing the two laws. According to the argument that there are not two laws, this reading would be in perfect accord with the Bible. But since James quotes two of the ten to illustrate his point, this proves he had reference to the law of Ten Commandments. And when he says the whole of that law is to be obeyed, this is proof that the Ten Commandment law, as a whole, is still to be respected and obeyed. When the text says, "convinced of the law as transgressors" (James 2:9), that means guilty of sin, for "sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4).

Those who hold that all the Ten Commandments were abolished at the cross and then later almost all were brought back to life, "and incorporated into the grace system," purposely avoid this text. It says "the whole law," and they say, "No, not the 'whole law'--the Sabbath was dropped out at the cross." I once heard an
evangelist trying to explain this passage in James. He did his best to make it appear that James was condemning the doctrine of "justification by works" and that he used this illustration to prove how very impossible it is to attempt justification by the works of the law. This is certainly true, but this man said that "James says if you break one you are guilty of the whole. Where is the man who keeps them all? We are saved by grace, not by keeping the law." This in definitely true, but the fact is that James was discussing the opposite extreme, namely, that the truth of justification by faith does not give license to transgress the law. He says (verse 14): "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?" Then he goes on to say: "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man would say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works . . . But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" (Verses 16-18).

In the face of these verses, which James used to explain what he meant when he said, "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all," how can an honest man distort what James says to mean that his topic was condemning justification by works? He was condemning the error of the dispensationalists in their claim that, obedience is an impossibility, therefore, the doctrine of justification by faith gives license to transgress God's holy law.

If, as Dr. Chafer once said, "the injunctions addressed to a perfected heavenly people are as exalted as heaven itself," and since these injunctions "are superhuman and yet the doing of them is most essential," in order to make this possible "God has provided that each individual thus saved shall be indwelt by the Holy Spirit to the end that he may, by dependence on the Spirit and by the power of the Spirit, live a supernatural, God-honoring life," then Seventh-day Adventists hold that this same provision answers the question, "Where is the man who keeps these commandments?" It can be said with Paul, "Not I, but Christ liveth in me."

James speaks of this law as "the law of liberty." It is such to those who are "indwelt by the Holy Spirit," for that Spirit kills the love for sin. The same law is an instrument of restraint to the man whose "carnal mind" wishes to transgress it. The law against the sale of narcotics is a restraint to the man who is a dope fiend. To the man who is not, it is a law of liberty. The law which says, 'the seventh day is the Sabbath" is a law of liberty to the man who loves the Sabbath and the principles for which it stands. It is not to the man who wishes to desecrate the Sabbath. He tries to do away with this law, especially the fourth commandment. What he should do is pray that the Lord will take away the "carnal mind" which "is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7).

We have so far seen that the whole law of Ten Commandments is to be obeyed; and so much so that if a man willfully breaks one point and practices that violation, "he is guilty of all." He cannot satisfy ten points of requirements with nine points of obedience. We are born in sin, and are naturally weak and helpless. We cannot do what is right, by ourselves. Jesus died for our sins and offers His perfect obedience in the place of our disobedience. But the person who has been so graciously redeemed by the Lord will want to please Him in all things--not in order to procure salvation, but because we are so thankful for all that He has done for us.

Indeed, love is the only appropriate response to our dear Saviour who has given us so much; and love is the only appropriate motivation for commandment-keeping. Jesus said, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).

In the sermon on the mount Jesus declared: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 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." Then, in view of this, Jesus added: "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" (Matthew 5:17-19).

Many times I have heard it argued that Jesus meant up until the cross, at which time the commandments were "fulfilled" and done away; that until then whosoever should presume to break one of the least of the commandments and teach men so would be of no esteem in heaven, but that after the cross this would not be the case. It is tragic that men often speak without first analyzing their words and foreseeing the logical conclusions. If we put this claim through such a process it would be as follows: "Up until the cross whosoever should steal, lie, desecrate the Sabbath, or break the least one of these commandments and teach men so would be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But at the cross the commandments would all be done away, and after that it would be perfectly all right to profane the Lord's name, the Lord's day, lie, steal, and teach others to do the same thing because the commandments against these things had been 'fulfilled' and done away."

It requires no argument to prove that such a misinterpretation of Jesus' words with reference to the law and the prophets is wrong. The best proof that it is wrong is the argument itself. So lets allow the Scriptures to explain what Jesus meant. The Revised Version of Matthew 5:18 reads: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished."

Many things foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament have not yet been accomplished. They foretell the second coming of Christ (Isaiah 25:8, 9), the resurrection of the dead (Hosea 13:14), the new earth state (Isaiah 66:22), and many other things which, even in our day, are yet to come.

Then the fact that Jesus fulfilled the law does not mean that He ended it, but kept it as an example to us. The same Jesus came "to fulfill all righteousness" which includes baptism (Matthew 3:14, 15). Does it do away with the law of baptism? The only way to fulfill duties based on love to God and love to man is to live out these duties in the life, and that is exactly what Jesus did. And "he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk, even as he walked" (1 John 2:6). Luke makes very plain just what Jesus meant , when he quotes the Master as follows: "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one title of the law to fail" (Luke 16:17). And that is what Jesus meant in Matthew 5:18.

He had reference to the law of Ten Commandments. And when Paul said to the Gentile Christians at Rome so emphatically, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law" (Romans 3:31), he had reference to this immutable law of Ten Commandments.

But there was another law besides this one. The Lord did not speak it directly to the people with His own voice; He never wrote it on tables of stone; He never had it placed in the ark. This law was abolished at the cross. This is the law, as we shall see, that Paul refers to when he says, "having abolished in His flesh . . . the law of commandments contained in ordinances" (Ephesians 2:15).

So let's look at this other law--what it contained, and why it came to an end at the cross. These two laws--the Ten Commandment law that was not abolished and the other law that was abolished--are spoken of in Deuteronomy 33:1, 2: "This is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them. He shined forth from mount Paran, and He came with ten thousand saints; from His right hand went a fiery law for them."

Here we are definitely told that that which the Lord proclaimed to the people on Sinai was "a fiery law"--not part of a law, but "a ... law." Then verse 4 we read, "Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob."

This makes it plain that here it is recorded that the Lord commanded a law and in addition to this, verse 4 says, "Moses commanded us a law." This certainly makes two laws. In Deuteronomy 4:11-14 we have both these laws plainly mentioned:

"Ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountains burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds and thick darkness. 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. 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. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it."

Here we have it. The Lord commanded a law of Ten Commandments and wrote them and "no more" (Deuteronomy 5:22) on tables of stone. That was one law. At the same time He told Moses to command them statutes, and this made another law; for speaking of this in Deuteronomy 33:4, it says, Moses commanded us a law." It could not be any plainer. The Lord commanded a law and Moses commanded a law. One and one equal two.

Speaking of this hundreds of years later in 2 Kings 21:8, God said: "Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them."

Here we read that what Moses commanded them was a law. Then we have read in a number of places that that which the Lord commanded and wrote on two tables of stone is a law. Certainly inspiration recognizes that there were two laws. What we are contending is that there was a difference in the way in which they were given; one was spoken by the Lord with His own voice to the people, and the Lord told Moses to command the other. That which the Lord commanded was written on the two tables of stone and that which Moses commanded was not. The law which the Lord spoke and then wrote with His finger on tables of stone was placed in the ark; the other law was not. The law which the Lord commanded and wrote on tables of stone was to abide until heaven and heaven and earth pass away (Luke 16:17). The other was typical and ceremonial and was "abolished in His flesh," on the cross (Ephesians 2:15). Plainly there were two laws.

Now let us see some things that were in the law which Moses commanded the people and why it passed away at the cross. We turn to Leviticus 4:1-4: "The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: . . . then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering. And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the Lord."

What did this mean? Let's find out. This man had sinned and brought upon himself the sentence of death. The bullock had not sinned. The man placed his hand upon the bullock's head and transferred the guilt from himself to this substitute. Then, with his own hand, he took the life of the animal, thus admitting that he ought to die, but that a substitute died in his place. So it is with us and Christ. We have sinned and because of this, "death passed upon all men." Our sins were laid upon the lovely Jesus, and He died in our stead. This animal sacrifice provided a way for this man to express his belief that some day God would send the Lamb of God to die as his Substitute.

The day before Jesus died, a man conscious of guilt was under obligation to do this as an expression of his faith that God would send His Son to die as a Substitute. But the next day after Jesus died, it would not be proper to obey that law because to do so would be to deny Jesus had died and to imply that they were still looking forward to His death. So in the book of Hebrews we read: "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Hebrews 9:12).

Since Jesus' death we no longer bring an animal sacrifice for sin. We can see that this regulation came to an end at the cross, but it was not part of the law of Ten Commandments. It was in the law of types, and foreshadowed the death of the Lamb of God, and when that event occurred, the law of sacrifices ceased. Not so with the Sabbath (Luke 23:56).

Before going further we should understand this fact: The death of the animal canceled the sentence, but did not cancel the law which imposed the sentence. Suppose the sin of the man was theft. He made confession of the sin, and the animal died in his place. Did the law against theft die too? Could he now go and steal anything he wished? Let us make the application to the death of Christ. Did Christ's death abolish the sentence, or the law--which? When the lamb died, did the law the man had transgressed die too? Can we not see the point? Do we not see how impossible it would be for the law to die too?

Then another thing: This man came with his sacrifice to the sanctuary. As he walked along he was "under the law"--under its condemnation. After his sacrifice was offered and he was pardoned, he went away "under grace." Did this grace give him license to keep on stealing? God forbid.

This law which Moses commanded enjoined the observance of a number of yearly sabbaths, as the following quotations form Leviticus 23 will reveal:

"These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day (of the seven beginning on the fifteenth day of the month) ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein" (verses 4-7).

Here we have one of the yearly sabbaths. It came once a year on the fifteenth day of the first month. That being the case, it came on a different day of the week year by year just as the Fourth of July. The first day of the seventh month of every year was a sabbath. We read in verses 23 and 24:

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation." Please note that this is not a weekly Sabbath. It came on the first day of the seventh month every year.

We read in verses 26-28 that the tenth day of the seventh month was always observed as a rest day: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: . . . and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in that same day."

In verses 33-35 we read that the fifteenth day of this seventh month was a rest day: "The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,

The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein."

We have discovered four yearly sabbaths that were not in the Ten Commandment law. They are:

(1) The fifteenth day of the first month.

(2) The first day of the seventh month.

(3) The tenth day of the seventh month.

(4) The fifteenth day of the seventh month.

There were other yearly sabbaths besides these. Then there were months and times and years and new moons that were to be observed in special ways. All of these were in the law which the Lord told Moses to command to the people, and not in the Ten Commandment law which the Lord spoke directly to the people and then wrote on tables of enduring stone, thus indicating their unending nature.

Summing up these yearly sabbaths and mentioning the distinction between them and the weekly seventh-day Sabbath, we find in Leviticus 23:37, 38: "There are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything upon His day: beside the Sabbaths of the Lord."

Notice how the Holy Spirit makes that plain distinction between these yearly sabbaths and the weekly Sabbath. These yearly sabbaths were to be observed, "beside the Sabbaths of the Lord." We read in the fourth commandment that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." So as the weekly Sabbaths would come from week to week, they were "the Sabbaths of the Lord." The Sabbaths, or rest of the Lord, was in the Ten Commandment law. The others were not. The word "Sabbath" is a Hebrews work meaning rest. These others were not the sabbaths of the Lord, because He never had rested on these days. But at the close of creation week He did rest on the seventh day from all his work. This makes it the Sabbath--literally, rest--of the Lord. Thus we do see a vast difference. The weekly Sabbath is a perpetual reminder that we did not create ourselves, and we cannot redeem ourselves. It is a picture of grace.

Now when some read in the New Testament about "sabbath days" which were shadows of the body of Christ, and passed away at the cross, they become confused and declare this means the weekly Sabbath. They do greatly err and lead many uninformed people into error. Let us turn to Colossians 2:14-17 and read about the abolition of these "sabbath days" that were in the law that enjoined meat offerings, drink offerings, new moons, and festivals. We read:

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; . . . let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday [feast day, R.V.], or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

There was nothing in the Ten Commandment law about meats, drinks, new moons, sabbath days (plural) or feast days. These were all in the law which the Lord told Moses to command to the people. The weekly Sabbath is not mentioned in these texts. Paul says plainly that he is speaking of "sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come" and not of the weekly Sabbath which was a memorial of something that happened in the past at creation.

The fourth commandment does not tell us to keep the seventh day as a type of something to come. It says: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy . . . 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."

There is all the difference in the world between a typical shadow and a memorial. A shadow points forward and a memorial points backward. The contrast is as distinct as that between night and day. And to show that He never had the weekly Sabbath in mind the Holy Spirit distinctly said, "sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come." Of course the word "days" in this text (Colossians 2:14-17) is supplied, but this is justified by the fact that the word "Sabbath" in the Greek is in the plural. Anyone may confirm this by consulting any Greek lexicon. So it would read, "or of sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come" (Greek N. T.).

The King James Version uses the work "holyday" and some may contend that that means the weekly Sabbath and the expression "sabbath days" means the yearly sabbaths. The Revised Version uses the word "feast day" instead of "holyday." This is correct. For the word translated "holyday" here is from the Greek heorte, and in John 5:1 this word is used to designate one of the yearly festivals of the Jews: "After this there was a feast (heorte ) of the Jews: and Jesus went up to Jerusalem."

This is one of the holy days that Paul spoke of as having been abolished. Thus do the evidences multiply that it is absolutely wrong to tell people that these verses prove that the weekly Sabbath was abolished. We should further observe that "shadows" pointed to Jesus as a Savior from sin and were observed with that in mind. But the weekly Sabbath "was made for man" before sin ever entered into the world (Mark 2:27). The shadows pointing forward to His death as an atonement for sin certainly were not instituted until after sin. But the Lord's rest day existed before man needed atoning blood to save him from his guilt. Now since the weekly Sabbath was instituted before sin, just as the marriage institution, it was not a shadow of Christ's death as a Savior from sin; and His death never brought it to an end any more than it brought the marriage institution to an end. Both institutions come to us from the sinless garden of Eden.

Paul's very language to the Christians at Colosse proves he had reference to the shadowy ceremonies, which pointed forward to the cross, and ended at the cross. Notice carefully his words in Colossians 2:14: "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross."

As plain as he can make it, he declares they were "ordinances" that were nailed to the cross. They were ordinances that would be "contrary" to the faith of Christians to observe. In fact he declares that the observance of these would be "against us." Now for the use of some good common sense. Would it be contrary to Christian faith and practice and against Christian principle to refrain from idolatry, profanity, Sabbath desecration, dishonoring parents, murder, theft, adultery, lying, and coveting? How could it be "contrary" to Christian principle and "against us" to refrain from the immoralities and vices condemned by the Ten Commandments?

How unreasonable to think that Paul was arguing thus! This plainly shows to any reasonable mind that he was talking of another law which enjoined meat offerings, drink offerings, the observance of feasts, new moons, and yearly sabbaths.

Would the observance of these after the death of Christ be "against" the Christian faith and "contrary" to their faith and teachings? Most assuredly! May we ask the reason why? The reason is easy. Take the passover sabbath that came during the first month every year. The killing of the passover lamb typified the death of the Lamb of God until Jesus died. To offer it after His death, would be saying in figure that Jesus had not died. It would be a repudiation of His death and atoning blood. Surely such as observance would be "against" and "contrary" to the belief and teachings of Christianity. The apostle Paul declares, "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7). All the other typical ordinances in this law pointed to the death of Jesus on the cross. All these feasts, meat and drink offerings, and sabbaths that were nailed to the cross, Paul declares, were "a shadow of things to come" and then adds, "but the body is of Christ." That is, the body, or substance, that cast these shadows was Christ's body on the cross. Now even a child knows that, late in the afternoon when a tall tree casts its shadow eastward, one can begin at the farthest end of the shadow and follow it until he gets to the tree, or body, that casts it and there it ceases.

Just so, we may go back to the time when "by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin," and there a merciful God promised to send a Redeemer (Genesis 3:15), a Substitute, to die in man's stead. To keep man continually reminded of this and to supply him with a means of expressing his faith in the coming sacrifice, ceremonies were instituted which man was to observe as an expression of his faith. These ceremonies, which were given to man immediately after the fall, with several others added, were all included in the law which was not written on the tables of stone.

Follow these shadowy ceremonies all the way from Eden lost to the time of Moses, and from there through the wilderness journey, and then on for hundreds of years, after the settlement in Canaan, and at last they lead up to Calvary, and there they cease. So it would be "against us" and "contrary" to our faith to observe these after His death. It would be denying that He had died. Not so with the other law. It is just as necessary to refrain from idolatry, profanity, Sabbath desecration, murder, adultery, and theft, after the cross as before. It was a violation of these principles that caused the death of Christ. Could they have been set aside, or changed to accommodate the carnal mind, Jesus need not have died.

Now with these truths before us, let us again read Colossians 2:14-17 and see how plainly it reveals that he had no reference to the Ten Commandments:

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink, or in respect to an holyday (R.V. feast day ), or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

How plain it is that not one of the Ten Commandments is mentioned or even hinted. Albert Barnes, one of the most noted Presbyterian commentators of our country, in his Commentary on the New Testament, says of these verses:

"The allusion here is to the festivals of the Jews; . . . there is not the slightest reason to believe that he meant to teach that one of the Ten Commandments had ceased to be binding on mankind. If he had used the word in the singular number--the Sabbath--it would then, of course, have been clear that he meant to teach that that commandment had ceased to be binding . . . But the use of the term in the plural number, and the connection, show that he had his eye on the great number of days which were observed by the Hebrews as festivals (such as the passover, pentecost, feast of tabernacles, new moons, jubilee, etc.) . . . No part of the moral law--no one of the Ten Commandments--could be spoken of as 'a shadow of good things to come.' These commandments are, from the nature of the moral law, of perpetual and universal obligation."

Albert Barnes was a student. He was versed in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. He had no prejudices against the Seventh-day Adventists. He was one of the best informed scholars the Presbyterian Church ever produced. He declares that Colossians 2:14-17 has no reference to the obligation of the weekly Sabbath or any of the Ten Commandments. He agrees with Paul that it was "sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come" that were abolished, and not the memorial-of-the-creation Sabbath.

If this Ten Commandment law did not declare, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," none would find fault with it. But in order to get rid of the Sabbath, it is necessary to do away with the entire law. There is no other way out. The Sabbath is a part of this law which forbids murder, theft, adultery, etc. So long as this law abides, the Sabbath must also, because it is part of this law. In the new birth experience, this law, including the Sabbath commandment, is written upon our hearts, as part of the New Covenant relationship between God and His people (see Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10). The law is carried out in Christians, because the Holy Spirit moves and enables us to do the will of God. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

Mr. Moody, the founder of the Moody Bible Institute, on this point says: "The people must be made to understand that the Ten Commandments are still binding, and that there is a penalty attached to their violation. We do not want a gospel of mere sentiment. The Sermon on the Mount did not blot out the Ten Commandments" ("Weighed and Wanting, p. 16).

I have here before me Dr. C. I. Scofield's pamphlet on "Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth," and he positively declares on page 32 (center paragraph) that Colossians 2:14-17 has reference to "the ceremonial law only."

Adam Clarke, the Methodist commentator, when he reached Colossians 2:14-17, took the same stand with Albert Barnes, namely, that Paul had not the remotest thought of the Ten Commandments. He says: "The apostle speaks here in reference to some particulars of the handwriting of ordinances, which had been taken away... the necessity of observing certain holidays or festivals; such as the new moons and particular sabbaths; . . . all these had been taken out of the way, and nailed to the cross, and were no longer of moral obligation. There is no intimation here that the Sabbath was done away or that its moral use was superseded by the introduction of  Christianity. I have shown elsewhere, that 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,' is a commandment of perpetual obligation."

It will be of interest just here to quote from the founder of the Methodist Church. In his Sermons (2 Vol. Ed.) Vol. 1, pp. 221, 222, Wesley says: "But the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, which 'stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven.' The moral stands on an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law."

We believe we can give an illustration just here that will thoroughly convince the honest in heart that the law of Ten Commandments was a distinct and separate law, that when the other "law of commandments contained in ordinances" (Ephesians 2:15) was abolished, the Ten Commandments were not included.

We may go over every one of the Ten Commandments the day before Jesus died and agree that it was sin to willfully have other gods, worship images, desecrate the Lord's name and the Lord's Sabbath day; we will agree that the day before Jesus died it was sin to willfully violate the commandments which forbid disrespect for parents, murder, adultery, theft, lying and coveting. Now we ask in all sincerity, Was it a sin to violate these same commandments the next day after Jesus died? Was it not just as wicked to steal, lie, and kill, the day after Jesus died as the day before?--Not if these commandments were all abolished the day before.

Let us now put the commandments in the other law to the same test, and see what we find. The day before Jesus died it was obligatory to celebrate the passover and the passover sabbath; if a man committed sin he was under obligation to bring a

lamb without spot or blemish for a sin offering; infants were to be circumcised. Were the commandments which enjoined these things in force the next day after Jesus died? Would the disciples have been held guilty of sin if they had ignored these ordinances the next day after Jesus died?--Most assuredly not. Thus do we see that these commandments were not of the same durability as were the Ten. But if these and the Ten constituted just one law and there was no distinction, then it would have been no more a sin to ignore the commandments which said, Bring a lamb without spot or blemish. By these illustrations it can be seen there was a distinction, and there are no Scriptural or reasonable arguments to the contrary.

Another very important distinction between the Ten Commandments and all the others is the fact that the Ten Commandments were placed inside the ark and the others in the side of the ark. In Deuteronomy 10:5, we read: "I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me." The other law was not put "in the ark" but "in the side of the ark." So we read: "Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 31:26). Here we have one law "in the ark" and the other "in the side of the ark." Why did the Lord direct that one be put in the ark and the other left out? Such facts cannot be passed by lightly. There they stand in the Word of God as plain contradictions of the teaching that there was but one law, and the the whole thing was abrogated at the cross.

There are some facts as to why the Ten Commandments were placed inside the ark which must not be overlooked. There is a reason why they were placed inside the ark. The discovery of this reason will further prove their immutability. The ark was the most sacred article in the temple. It was placed in the holy of holies and "over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat" (Hebrews 9:5). It was from the "mercy-seat" that mercy and grace were dispensed to the penitent transgressor. Of these angels at the ends of the ark it was written: "The cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be" (Exodus 25:20). These angels were to look down upon the ark, showing the respect which heaven has for God's law therein. God further said: "There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubims"(verse 22). Above this ark was the throne of the Infinite, and inside the ark was the law of love containing the principles of the divine government. David prayed: "Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth" (Psalm 80:1). God dwelt mystically "between the cherubims" in the earthly sanctuary; and there mercy had its "seat," or source, and from there pardon was granted for the violation of the law of love in the ark.

All this constituted "figures" of the true sanctuary in heaven, and today "Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Hebrews 9:23, 24). There Jesus, as our High Priest, mediates the merits of His blood for sin. But what is sin?--We have the answer in 1 John 3:4: "Sin is the transgression of the law." Which law?--We find the answer in Revelation 11:19: "The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament." There we find the real ark; there we find the real Priest; there we find the real mediation; and there we find "the ark of His testament"--the real "Ten Commandments" which the earthly was patterned after. If this law that was in the ark was abrogated at the cross, Christ is mediating for the transgression of an abrogated law! These are irrefutable truths which escape the mind of the man who holds this sacred law in contempt. The very fact that the original of this law is in heaven, where Christ, our High Priest, mediates His blood for pardon, shows how impossible it would be for this law to be done away.

This law is a transcript of the character of God. It is in heaven, setting forth the principles of the divine government, based on love. No stronger argument could be produced to prove it is not abolished. And there today, just as in the earthly ark, it must read, "The seventh day is the Sabbath," else it would not be a true original for the pattern.

In the Old Testament sin is defined as doing "somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done"

(Leviticus 4:27); and in the New Testament it is the same: "Sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). In the Old Testament these commandments of the Lord were kept in the ark, in the holy of holies, where God dwelt. This ark was called, "the ark of the testimony." Years after the cross John was permitted to see the temple above, and he says there was seen in His temple "the ark of His testament." So there it is today, defining sin, and there Jesus is too, mediating His blood for "the transgression of the law." This shows how very false is the teaching that this "testimony" is abolished.

It will be of interest to inquire, How this matter of what was abolished and what was not abolished happen to come up in some of the apostolic discussions? The answer, as we hope to prove, is plain. Some came along, after the apostles had raised up churches and gone on to other places, and taught the new converts that they should go back to the practicing of circumcision, the keeping of new moons, festivals, and annual sabbaths which were "shadows."

We get an instance of this in Acts 15:1, "And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." In verse 4 we have this repeated: "But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses." This was not the law of Ten Commandments for there is nothing in that law about circumcision. Paul puts a distinction between the two when he declares in 1 Corinthians 7:19: "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but the keeping of the commandments of God." It is very un-Scriptural to claim that in Acts 15:1, 4, That the discussion had to do with whether or not Christians should "keep the commandments of God."

The same matter came up in the church at Galatia. Speaking of this Paul said: "And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus; that they might bring us into bondage" (Galatians 2:4).

What was this "bondage"? Was it (as antinomians teach) that Paul's gospel had given them "liberty in Christ Jesus" to worship idols, commit adultery, and that these "false brethren" had come to Galatia, in the absence of Paul, and had protested against such immoralities, thus restraining their "liberty" to practice such things? Is that what Paul meant?

How is it possible for those who claim to be Christians and ministers of God to hold such a view? We again inquire, What was this "bondage"? Let us turn to Galatians 5:1-2 and read what it was: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." Is there anything in the Ten Commandments about circumcision? Can't we see it was not that law of which Paul was speaking?

This is repeated and explained further in Galatians 4:9-10: "How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly element wherein ye desire to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years." Do we find anything in the Ten Commandments about "days" (plural), "months", "times", and "years"? Not one word. They were all found in the other law which Moses gave to the people.

This should make it plain that these discussions did not come up because the apostles taught Christians to practice the immoralities condemned by the Ten Commandments and then false teachers came along and attempted to stop the practice of such sins. It was because these false teachers attempted to get them back to the observances of "the law of commandments contained in ordinances" which were "abolished" at the cross (Ephesians 2:15). Many of these pointed ahead to the death of the Redeemer, and to practice them after the cross would be a denial that He had died.

There are some verses found in Hebrews 7:12-14 which are often misapplied to the Ten Commandments: "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For He (Christ) of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of (the tribe of) Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the priesthood."

This is not speaking of the law of "ten commandments", but of the law of the priesthood. God, through Moses, appointed the Levites of the tribe of Levi to be the priests (Numbers 3:9-10). According to this law no one but a Levite could be a priest. But after the death of Jesus the priesthood was changed. It was changed from earth to heaven (Hebrews 8:1-3), and from the tribe of Levi to the tribe of Judah. Therefore the law that regulated the priesthood had to be changed in order that Christ, who sprang from the tribe of Judah, could be made priest. Just why men will read these verses and declare they have reference to the Ten Commandments is hard to understand. What is more tragic is this: an ordinary audience knows so little about the Scriptures that they will accept this "wresting of the Scriptures" thinking it to be the truth.

If there are any Roman Catholics or Mormons who happen to read these words about "the priesthood being changed," may we kindly say to them, that if the earthly priests who serve them are not literal Jews, having sprang from the "tribe of Judah," then they, according to this New Testament law of the priesthood, are disqualified to be priests. In the Old Testament this law regulating that the Levites only should be the priests, was so rigid, that anyone else who attempted to act as a priest was "put to death" (Numbers 3:9-10). If that was true in the Old Testament, how much more is it true in the New that no one can be priest except he prove he sprang from the tribe of Judah. Moreover, this same law says there are not to be a plurality of priests, nor a succession of priests by reason of death. That makes it plain that Christ only is "the one Mediator between God and man" today (1 Timothy 2:5).
 

See the documents "THE TWO COVENANTS" & "THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH"
 Questions or comments? You can email us at: pastor@basictruth.net
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Biblical Integrity
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Did you know you are required  by Deuteronomy 6:3-9  to display the commandments at your residence?

Why display the ten commandments?
(check the references out at www.justbible.com  - an on line KJV bible)

1.  Your life will be lengthened.
2.  Your children's lives will be lengthened.
3.  So your home life will be "as the days of heaven upon the earth" (Deuteronomy 11:21).

Deuteronomy 11:18-21

18.  Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
19.  And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20.  And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
21.  That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

Displaying and obeying the Ten Commandments will bring blessings upon you and your family. Read these words from Deuteronomy 6:1, 2-3, 9.

1.  Now these are the commandments . . .
2.  That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
3.  Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee . . .
9.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Buy a sign at the phone number and website noted below or make your own.

What Does the Bible Say about
the Ten Commandments?

What are the rewards for keeping the Ten Commandments, for teaching them to children, displaying them in the home?

What is the covenant, and why were the Ten Commandments put into the Ark of the Covenant?

What is the greatest commandment?

What is a summary of the law and the prophets?

Is Love the fulfilling of the law?

These questions can be answered by reading the following Scripture verses.
(again go to www.justbible.com for online bible access) 

Deuteronomy 6:1-9
1     Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
2     That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
3     Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
4     Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
5     And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6     And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7     And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8     And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9     And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Reward for keeping commandments.
Deuteronomy 6:2-3
2     That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
3     Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

Requirement to teach children.
Deuteronomy 6:7
7     And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Requirement to display in homes.
Deuteronomy 6:9
9     And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

The commandments put into the Ark of the Covenant.
Deuteronomy 10:1-5, 8
1     At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.
(This is the second set; God gave him the first set which he broke in anger when he went back down and found his people had built the golden calf and were worshipping it)
2     And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.
3     And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.
4     And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.
5     And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.
8     At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

The words of the covenant are the Ten Commandments
Exodus 34:28
28     And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

The Ten Commandments were in the Ark of the Covenant, written on stone tablets. They are the only verses that we are commanded to post in our homes (Deuteronomy 6:9). Therefore, the Ten Commandments is the most important passage of Scripture. See www.detailshere.com/arkofthecovenant.htm   for a fascinating story of where the tablets are today.

Requirements to keep the Ten Commandments
Deuteronomy 10:12-13
12     And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
13     To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

Deuteronomy 11:18-23, 26-28
18     Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
19     And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20     And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
21     That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
22     For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
23     Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.
26     Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
27     A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:
28     And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

What is the greatest commandment?
See also 
THE TWO COVENANTS
Deuteronomy 6:5
5     And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Matthew 22:36-38
35     Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36     Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37     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.
38     This is the first and great commandment.
39     And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40     On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The Love of God and of neighbor is the summary of the law and prophets.
Mark 12:28-34
28     And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29     And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30     And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31     And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
32     And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
33     And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
34     And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

The understanding of love and of the commandments gives one great understanding: "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God."

"Love is the fulfilling of the law."
Romans 13:8-10
8     Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9     For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
10     Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

The law is fulfilled by love.
Galatians 5:14
14     For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

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