Fulfilling The Law

Fulfilling The Law.

Archived on June 5th, 1999

Many are confused when you bring the subject of the Law up. Do we follow it? Do we ignore the laws? In this I am speaking solely of the Ten Commandments, which is really the meat of the laws that God put forth.The Ten Commandments are found in Exodus Chapter 20, and a few other places also, let's take a quick overview of these Commandments....

Exodus Chapter 20
1 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
He is identifying himself, and making it plain that he is, I AM THAT I AM.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
God didn't want any of his children to put other so called "gods" before him. Why would they if they truly loved him?

4 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:
5 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;
6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
He is a jealous God, and doesn't want us to worship any image that is made with hands. Why? Because then we would be serving our own works instead of him. Worship him only!

7 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.
This has much more to do with than just mispronounciation. It goes deeper than this, such as; using it as a swear word, saying for no reason, and especially for deception.

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 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:
11 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 Day, meaning literally; the Rest Day. Sabbath being the Hebrew word for rest or desisting. Mark this day, to recognize it as the day that God rested from his works that he had made.

12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Treat your family right. This goes not only for your actual biological parents, but also Honor the earth(Mother), treat it right and it will treat you right also. A good steward tends to the garden well.

13 Thou shalt not kill.
The Hebrew makes this much more clear.
H7523. ratsach, raw-tsakh'; a prim. root; prop. to dash in pieces, i.e. kill (a human being), espec. to murder:--put to death, kill, (man-) slay (-er), murder (-er).
It especially means, to murder someone. Jesus points this out in the New testament. The Greek is even more clear. To do no Murder.

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
To have relationships with a person outside of your marriage. This is physical, man and wife, and Spiritual, God and his children. Idolatry is really Spiritual Adultery.

15 Thou shalt not steal.
This is very plain. Do not steal from folks, becoming a thief.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Do not lie about your neighbor or to your neighbor, it only leads to bigger lies.

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Do not lust after other people's things, be content with what God has given you.
Now, some of these are very plain and not hard to keep straight. Yet; some are difficult to understand, even those that were easy to comprehend were made even easier when Jesus taught on this. On a certain day, he was teaching and many of the Pharisees and Sadducees had gathered together along with some who were well versed in the Laws, asking him questions. This was mainly to try him and see just how smart he was. One of these "lawyers" asked him....

Matthew Chapter 22
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.
Notice something? Wait, I thought the first commandment was "Thou Shalt Have no other gods before me", it is. Look at the next four too, I added a little embellishment so that maybe what Jesus was saying will hit home.
I)Thou Shalt Have No Other gods before me, instead Love me
II)Thou Shalt Not Worship any graven image, instead Love me
III)Thou Shalt Not take the name of the Lord God in vain, instead, Love me
IV)Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy and to Love me
V)Honour Thy Father And Mother and you will show your love for me also.
I know it may seem like I am adding words, but it is only the truth. It is what Yahshua was teaching these people, simplifying the Law.
If you truly Love the Lord with all your being you will automatically follow these commandments, for you will think it an abomination to even think about worshipping a different god. One who is not a god at all, but something made by mankind. You will hold only the greatest reverence for the Father, for you know that he truly is your Father and not some floating spirit out there somewhere in space. He is real!
So that covers the first five commandments, what about the others? Read On....

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
If you have love within you, which is a sure sign of the Holy Spirit, then you will love your neighbor as yourself. This means to do as Jesus said, "Love one another, even as I have loved you."(John 13:34,35)
Who is your neighbor then? Jesus also taught this, when he taught the parable known as "The Good Samaritan". His basic message here was that, "everyone is your neighbor, no matter who they are."
This commandment goes right along with "The Golden Rule". Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love begets love.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
How about this? Jesus states that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. This means that, LOVE IS THE BOTTOM LINE. As it is written; "Love is the Fulfilling of the Law"-Romans 13:10
If we Love, we keep the commandments, therefore; if we are truly Christian, then the Love of God is within us, through that love we automatically keep the Law.
So the entire thing is summed up in one word, L O V E!!!!
Next time I am going to discuss Keeping The Sabbath. Some still do absolutely nothing on the Sabbath. Should We? How do we keep it? Until Next time....

Love and Peace.....
Carl Towns

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