Throughout the Old Testament you will find the laws of God for His people, the clarification of them, the practice of them by those who serve Him, and the consequences of keeping and breaking those laws. Did Jesus change them because of the Grace of God? So, why would a loving God give us such strict rules to live by?
As a new creature in Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:17, we know that man is justified by faith without counting on the deeds of the law to justify us (Rom 3:28). However we do not now void the law, rather establish it in our lives (Rom 3:31). Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18, “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.” We don't obey because we are trying to earn anything...but because of our love for Him, “If ye love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15).”
In the book of Matthew, the Pharisees along with their rival group the Sadducees took Jesus on back to back, trying to “entangle him in his talk” (Matthew 22:15-46). Then in verse 35, one of the most educated and well spoken men there – a lawyer – asked Jesus a piercing question, “...which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus had been there when the law was created and knows there are two that can summarize the 10 Commandments, dividing them as the First through the Fourth, then the Fifth through the Tenth. He answered in verses 37-40, “...Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart (thoughts and feelings), and with all thy soul (the breath of life) and with all thy mind (deep thought, understanding). This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Let's look at the first and great commandment here, and the second will be studied in the next post.
Thus, the most important thing is how we love the Lord our God. Is God our greatest priority, above all else? He wants a family relationship with us; “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:18). Relationships take time; do we make the time to get to know Him? The Bible tells us everything we need to know about Him and how to show Him uncompromising love (2 Timothy 3:16-17). God desires a relationship with us that comes from the heart, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). We need to be aware of what is in our heart, for that is what will come out of our mouth, and what comes our of our mouth is what is in our heart!
That takes care of the first three Commandments. The Fourth, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, is the key to a relationship with our Creator and you can find it in Exodus 20:8-12. Six days you shall do all your work but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. God goes on to give extensive guidelines on how to keep it, then in verse 11 states, “Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” What God blesses and holds as holy, cannot be undone. He set it apart as a time of rest and spiritual rejuvenation; a special opportunity on a regular basis to draw closer to Him. He designated it for us to enhance our relationship with Him, learning how to better love, worship and relate to Him. That is how Jesus and His disciples used Sabbath. Sunday was not substituted for Sabbath until almost 300 years after Christ's ministry on earth, largely through a political decision by the Roman Emperor Constantine. He went for the political advantage of supporting Christians, but with a price – state control over all religious matters. In A.D. 321, he declared Sunday, the traditional day to honor the pagan sun god, to be the official day of rest in the Roman Empire. Nowhere in the Bible does God the Father or Jesus Christ grant permission to change the time of Sabbath. Read Isaiah 58:13-14 for instructions on how to delight yourself in the Lord and the blessings that will follow if you do.
God will never force anyone to do what they don't want to do. He does, however, give us plenty of insight about how to love Him, the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. It is solely up to each individual to follow His instructions and build that wonderful relationship with our Lord.
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