Exodus 20:1-2 Complete Jewish Bible
20 Then God said all these words:
א 2 “I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the abode of slavery.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
The Ten Commandments are some of the most recognizable words in the entire Biblical Canon, yet they are often among the most misunderstood.
How has the coming of Jesus transformed these ancient laws?
Do these commandments still matter to Christians today in 2023?
What does it look like to obey them in today’s world?
What do they tell us about God and His Love for His beloved Children?
In this devotional message we see in verses 1-2 three truths about the Law: it’s given by God, it follows the Gospel, and it’s the path of freedom.
Loved By and Belonging to God
Adonai, The Lord who claims our allegiance is God, our Creator and Savior.
God delivered Israel when he brought them out of Egypt.
They had been slaves there for hundreds of years.
Faithful to his covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:13-21; Exodus 3), God called this people his own and continued his work of making them into a nation through which all other nations would be blessed.
Then, many years later, through Jesus, a descendant of Abraham, God brought salvation to the world—and today God includes all who believe in Christ as his people, his worldwide family.
So if we believe in our Savior Christ, we belong to God, and we are His alone.
1 Peter 2:9-10 Complete Jewish Bible
9 But you are a chosen people,[a] the King’s cohanim,[b] a holy nation,[c] a people for God to possess![d] Why? In order for you to declare the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; before, you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.[e]
1 Peter 2 puts it, we are a holy nation set apart to be “God’s special possession.”
From the beginning, it was love that created us and has bound us to God.
And since our relationship with God is based on love, God’s law is not a burden but a means of unconventional liberty towards showing love to our neighbors.
God, The Giver of Law and Liberty
Exodus 20:1-2King James Version
20 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.
To faithfully read and respond to the Ten Commandments, we must first make a diligent effort to pray and study them, understand what they are and are not.
We find clarity in the truth that lies at their head: “I am the LORD your God.”
This poignant reminder of who God is precedes the instructions that follow.
In other words, the I am of God’s person grounds the you shall of His commands.
He can command us because of who He is.
The psalmist further expresses this:
“Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his” (Psalm 100:3).
God created us, and His being our Creator grants Him rights and authority over His creation.
Regardless of the efforts of our world to reject the creational handiwork of God, thus His authority over our lives, His role as our Ruler remains unthreatened.
He has made us; we are His.
When we should remember who spoke the law, we are in a position to grasp the purpose of the Ten Commandments as well as to understand what they are not.
First, the commandments are not a formal list of dos and don’ts given to restrict our personal freedoms.
God is NOT the Ultimate Cosmic Killjoy
God is not the Ultimate cosmic killjoy.
In fact, if you wanted to provide a heading for the Ten Commandments, you could instead call them “The Ultimate Guidelines to Freedom and Joy.”
They do not restrict our freedom but rather give us a blueprint for joy, showing us how life works best.
Second, the commandments are not intended as a ladder up which we climb to attain acceptance with God.
No such ladder has ever existed!
God brought His people out of slavery—from Egypt in the exodus, and from sin and death at the cross—before He called us to obey Him.
So we obey God because we have been “brought out by God,” not in order for us to somehow believe we could ever persuade Him to do so on our own time line.
If that were the case, why then did the bondage last as long as it did despite all the years of crying, pleading by the generations of Israelites held in bondage?
Until Moses had been prepared by 80 years of life at the pinnacle of authority, then at the bottom of authority for His “Burning Bush” encounter with God.
Rather than being rules that save us, the Ten Commandments serve as a mirror in which we should see ourselves, revealing the depths of our sin and our need for a Savior—and they show how we can all live every day to please our Savior.
Third, the Ten Commandments have not been rendered anywhere near obsolete by the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
When Jesus said the two greatest commandments were to love God and love our neighbor, He was summarizing the Ten Commandments (Mark 12:28-31 AKJV).
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.
What does it mean to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength?
The first four commandments tell us. [Exodus 20 verses 3-11]
What does it look like to love our neighbor as ourselves?
The final six commandments flesh that out. [Exodus 20 verses 12-17]
Jesus, master teacher that He was, summed up the ten with the two.
When we see all this, we are ready to read the Ten Commandments and let them transform our lives.
We must see the sin that the commandments reveal and respond in repentance and faith in the only One who fulfilled the law and offers Himself as our Savior.
He, the Lord Jesus Christ, will ensure that this law is not merely etched into our conscience but also inscribed upon our hearts and upon our souls.
Give yourselves unto the Lord our God and His way, and His Truth and His Life you and I will find everlasting love, everlasting joy and His everlasting liberty.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit …
Let us Pray,
Psalm 40The Message
40 1-3 I waited and waited and waited for God.
At last he looked; finally he listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
to make sure I wouldn’t slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:
they enter the mystery,
abandoning themselves to God.
4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing,”
ignore what the world worships;
The world’s a huge stockpile
of God-wonders and God-thoughts.
Nothing and no one
compares to you!
I start talking about you, telling what I know,
and quickly run out of words.
Neither numbers nor words
account for you.
6 Doing something for you, bringing something to you—
that’s not what you’re after.
Being religious, acting pious—
that’s not what you’re asking for.
You’ve opened my ears
so I can listen.
7-8 So I answered, “I’m coming.
I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
And I’m coming to the party
you’re throwing for me.”
That’s when God’s Word entered my life,
became part of my very being.
9-10 I’ve preached you to the whole congregation,
I’ve kept back nothing, God—you know that.
I didn’t keep the news of your ways
a secret, didn’t keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
I didn’t hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
let the congregation know the whole story.
11-12 Now God, don’t hold out on me,
don’t hold back your passion.
Your love and truth
are all that keeps me together.
When troubles ganged up on me,
a mob of sins past counting,
I was so swamped by guilt
I couldn’t see my way clear.
More guilt in my heart than hair on my head,
so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.
13-15 Soften up, God, and intervene;
hurry and get me some help,
So those who are trying to kidnap my soul
will be embarrassed and lose face,
So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable
will be heckled and disgraced,
So those who pray for my ruin
will be booed and jeered without mercy.
16-17 But all who are hunting for you—
oh, let them sing and be happy.
Let those who know what you’re all about
tell the world you’re great and not quitting.
And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing:
make something of me.
You can do it; you’ve got what it takes—
but God, don’t put it off.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 