Rule of Love

Robert Marsh

Midland SDA Church

July 3, 2010

Scripture reading: 1 John   4:7   Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  4:8   He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 

1 John 4:8 tells us that  “God is love”. Love is the principle, a relationship-oriented principle which originated with Deity and is displayed in His creation. Lets consider the some of the relationships  and designs in God’s creation.

Take the area of chemistry; there must be millions of relationships existing between the various elements. By combining atoms of an element with atoms of one or more other elements all the substances in our world may be produced. Who would hazard a guess as to the number of these relationships!

This kind of thinking can also be applied to the field of astro‑physics, and the areas of outer space, the winds, the forces of the heavenly bodies on each other, heat, light, magnetism, mathematics, engineering and on and on. Again, I ask, how many relationships exist out there?

Between living creatures there are also innumerable relationships. Nothing lives for itself. As human beings we are part of the great biosphere. We live side by side with other human beings as well as all kinds of living things, -animals, birds, insects, and the plants and trees which grow, and also  the air we breathe and the water we drink and the land we till and the sea which surrounds us. All these relationships were set up in the beginning by the Creator. In their ideal forms they are reflections of His character, and “God is love." They are altered or broken at great peril to all concerned.

What would happen if these were somehow abandoned?  No gravity? No electricity? No chemical bonding?...

Things would disintegrate – they would go from order to disaster!

PRAYER

The Love Relationship With God

Man also must live in the right relationship with God if he is to realize his greatest potential. To disrupt or ignore these relationships results in disintegration and ultimate death.

This relationship we know as “love”. But what do we mean by “love”?

Three Greek Words for Love

Eros :  Eros was the name of god of sexual love, and so eros came to mean love which was an outgrowth of this God’s nature. Eros is driven by sexual drives and emotions

Eros thinks only of self and self‑preservation. Our English words erotic, erogenous and erotica are derived from this Greek root. Eros or its derivatives are never found in New Testament. In the Old Testament two forms occur, but rarely (Est 2:17; Prov 4:6; Ezek 16:33; Hos 2:5).

“philos” The common Greek word for love between people, ‑friends, children and companions, and often based on a blood‑relationship - was “philos”.  Several English words have sprung from this root combined with its objects.  Phil‑adelphia means love of a brother. Phil‑anthropy means love mankind. Philo‑sophy, love of wisdom, etc. While this love is actuated by emotions or feelings-(i.e. joy, fear, sorrow,excitement etc.)  these exist on a different level from those which drive eros.

Philos often occurs in the Scriptures. Respect and reverence are not involved in philos.

“agape” The third Greek term is agape, "a word born within the bosom of revealed religion; it occurs in the Old Testament (2 Sam 13:15; Cant 2:4: 2:2).

And  at least one author (Trench pg 43) declares there is no trace of it in any heathen writer whatever". 

A peculiarly Christian term- “agape” - it describes God's relationship with man.

 As a consequence of “God's love shed abroad in our hearts” we are able to build ideal relationship with each other on a richer plain.

 (I John 4:7‑11 4:7   Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.    4:8   He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.    4:9   In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.   4:10   Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.   4:11   Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.  ).

Agape is not driven by emotion or feeling but solely by principle.

It describes the forming of relationships on a carefully considered intellectual level with a view to bringing about every good result to all concerned. It "expresses a more reasoning attachment, of choice and selection, . . . respect and reverence ...

While men are continually bidden to manifest agape love as in Matt 22:37 where  “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.” The 'phile’ love is  commanded them never.

(also in Lk 10:27), and good men are declared to do so (Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.  ; 1 Peter 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see [him] not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:  1 John 4:21   And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. )

The Father indeed, both agape and phile:   'agape’ as in John 3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.”

and also 'phile’ in John 5:20  “For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth...”. God requires mankind to show agape‑love.

God's love, agape, created the universe "in the beginning," everything was "very good."

 Goodness contains the idea of universal well‑being. There is nothing of self in agape. God's love‑creation required the setting up of all the relationships necessary for the maintenance of every form of existence in a state of perfection.

Relationships Defined by Law

When these billions of relationships are studied and analyzed they are found to be explainable by laws,  chemical, physical, mathematic astronomical, civil, social, religious, etc.

Webster suggests that a law is “a formulation describing a relationship that is presumed to hold between or among phenomena for all cases in which the specified conditions are met."

In short, a law is the description of a relationship of some kind.

 The moral law covers relationships between man and God, and between man and man.

And this brings us to another point. The relationship existed prior to the law which formulated it.

One molecule of sodium was joined to one molecule of chlorine to form sodium chloride, or common salt. This was long before a chemist analyzed this relationship and defined it by a chemical law. This conclusion is true of every relationship in the universe, wherever it is formed.

 Love Exists Only in Relationships

As we have already noticed, the Divine principle which devises, makes and maintains these relationships is agape‑love.

 Love does not exist in a vacuum. As soon as love comes into being it is revealed in the form of alliances. In fact, the true love which springs from God is observable only in such ideal relationships.

Since these may be described by law, and law defines and legislates them, law is a codification of the principle of love. In law is loving reduced to a set of rules. John was perfectly clear about this: (I John 2:3‑6;  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 2:4   He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 2:5   But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. “....  4:20   If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 

To obey the law is to love, he declared. To disobey the law, and claim to love is lying

In short, if man wants to learn how to love as God loves he must study His law.

We live in a world of sin, which is, by its very nature, the fracture of relationships which God has set up.

In other words, "sin is transgression of the law" (I John 3:4). But through years of satanic conditioning we are no longer capable of deciding what are ideal relationships. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. We need to scrutinize the law carefully in order to understand how the love of God is to be expressed through our thoughts and actions. It is impossible to know how He wants us to love without this kind of study of the principles of His law.

Law Reveals the Gospel

"The law of God existed before man was created. The angels were governed by it. Satan fell because he transgressed the principles of God's government.  After Adam and Eve were created, God made known to them His law. It was not then written, but was rehearsed to them by Jehovah. The system of sacrifices was then established, to keep before the fallen race that which the serpent made Eve disbelieve, that the penalty of disobedience is death. The transgression of God's law made it necessary for Christ to die as a sacrifice; for only thus could He redeem man from the penalty of the broken law, and yet maintain the honor of the divine government. The sacrificial system was designed to teach man humility, in view of his fallen condition, and to lead him to repentance toward God and faith in the promised Redeemer for pardon of past transgressions" (Signs 10 June 1889).

"The Decalogue reveals and illustrates the principles of the gospel" (DA 608). God is agape. "The law of God is as sacred as Himself. It is transcript of His character" (PP 52). "The central theme of the Bible is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God...  The burden of every book and every passage of the Bible is the unfolding this wondrous theme" (Ed 125, 126). Since "God is love," to become like Him, that is, to behave in our sphere as He behaves in His, is to love as He loves. This means we must conform to His laws which describe that behavior.

”The law is the gospel embodied, and the gospel is the law unfolded “ (COL 128). Through the law we see what God wants His children to become. Through the gospel we receive a second chance to start again, and the power of His grace to achieve His ideals. The Spirit gives us faith and the power to exercise it. Faith on our part puts us in the frame of mind to start, and grace aids us in reaching His goal. Both faith and grace are free undeserved gifts.

"Every prohibition of God is for the health and eternal well‑being of man" (Redemption: or The Temptation of Christ 74). And every prohibition of the law displays by implication the positive which is its opposite.

The Decalogue is a Revelation of God's Character – The only part of scripture written by God’s own finger.

The Decalogue consists of God's "ten words" (hadebarim asereth, E 34:28; Deut 4:13; 10:4). They are proposals for achieving the fullness of the life which He has committed to mankind. "The law is an expression of the thought of God; when received in Christ, it becomes our thought.... When the law was proclaimed from Sinai, God made known to men the holiness of His character, that by contrast they might see the sinfulness of their own. 

The law was given to convict them of sin, and reveal their need of a Savior.  It would do this as its principles were applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit. ……This work it is still to do.

As the scientist studies the relationships in our physical world he has discovered valuable truths that in many cases have greatly enhanced our life. So it can be in our study of spiritual relationships.

In the life of Christ the principles of the law are made plain; and as the Holy Spirit of God touches the heart, as the light of Christ reveals to men their need of His cleansing blood and His justifying righteousness, the law is still an agent in bringing us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith" (Signs, 29 March 1910).

The decalogue consists of the language of His covenant (debrei haberit, Ex 30:28). By the everlasting contract of salvation the Father and the Son and the Spirit pledge Themselves to help fallen mankind to attain to the standards They reveal within the law. Christ ratified this agreement on the Cross with His blood. In calling His law His covenant Jehovah states implicitly that with His ten words He will supply power to enable those who willingly comply to reach the goal He has set.

The decalogue consists of the commandments (mitzoth, Deut 7:9) of God the King by which He commissions His subjects for service to Him and their fellow men. "All His biddings are enablings" (COL 333). What He requires is, therefore, possible because He is God our Father. He knows the potential of His children, and demands nothing impossible. "The commandments are holy, and just and good" (Rom 7:12).

The decalogue is God's testimony (haa'dut, Ex 31:18; cf. aduth). The two tablets are solemn affirmations of His authority. They are, therefore, unalterable. "The law of God, being a revelation of His will, a transcript of His character, must forever endure" (GC 434).

The decalogue is God's law (hattorah, Deut 1:5; 4:8, 44), the sum total of His revealed truth, through which He displays His love for mankind. Since truth is reality, God's law describes ideals which are real and unshakable.

The truth as it is in Jesus can be experienced, but never explained. Its height and breadth and depth pass our knowledge. We may task our imagination to the utmost, and then we shall see only dimly the outlines of a love that is unexplainable, that is as high as heaven, but that stooped to the earth to stamp the image of God on all mankind.  {COL 129.1}     Yet it is possible for us to see all that we can bear of the divine compassion.

Let us consider the ten commandments in some detail (Ex 20: 1 ff). They are divided into two parts.

Obedience to the First Four Displays Love to God

But lets look at what the Bible records what God actually said to Moses when he started his discourse.

Ex 20:1   And God spake all these words, saying,    20:2   I [am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.   

Our SDA Bible commentary says “ Note the order here: the Lord first saves Israel, then gives them His law to heed. The same order is true under the gospel – Christ first saves us from sin, then lives out His law within us.

(Gal 2:20   I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.) 

True worship is only possible by the relationship described by God’s  rule of love.

I.  “Thou shalt have no other God before Me.” Ex 20:3

The first commandment calls attention to the Object of true worship.

This the first commandment is God's proposal of marriage to the human race. He wants to be first, last and everything to His bride. He forbids her to cherish any rivals to Him in her heart. He is revealing to mankind that unless He is the Object of their supreme devotion, His people are in supreme jeopardy.  Obedience to this law precludes all possibility of apostasy.

 God is first, and the First Cause. "He is before all things, and by Him all things consist" (Col 1: 17).

 He is eternal. There never was a time when He was not. He longs to be betrothed to us (Hos 2:16, 19, 20), to be our Lover Deut 7:7; Jer 31:32), our Husband (Isa 54:5; Ezek 16:8; Jer 31:32), our Home (Ps 90: 1), our Sustainer (Ps 107:9), our Restorer (John 3:1‑8); 2 Cor 5:17), and our Deliverer (Ps 91:14, 15). He is ready to be all we need, and much more, and promises us His fidelity and support (Ps 139:1‑14).

Christ says in effect, I am laying aside all the treasures of the universe that I might win you as My own precious darling (Ps 22:20; 35:17). As your Creator I promise you My loyalty and invite you to love and trust Me with complete acceptance and worship.

 Through the first commandment God displays His longing to be personally and intimately involved with each of us.

II. "Thou shalt not make any graven image." Ex 20:4

( Ex 20:4   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: )

The second commandment calls attention to the mode of true worship.

What’s wrong with making an image of God?

An image has the premise that the reality exists but the image is not that reality – God wants a real and personal relationship. An empty object of affection can only take away or distract and allow a for a facade to take the place of the real.

An image is made by man.

A graven image does not go beyond the craftsman's skill and vision. It limits God to man's imagination and creative ability.

An image is finite, static. Our relationships to the illimitable God is never to be static. God the omnipresent One must never be confined within the forms of thought or visual expressions of any person or any age.

Our understanding of God must grow out of a current, living, immediate, personal relationship with Him as a Lover. He has exposed His heart in His love‑letter to humanity, the Holy Bible. God tolerates no substitutes.

This rule of love is not arbitrary, it makes total sense.

Because of this insidious danger the Creator says in effect, My personal desire is that you shall never permit your spiritual vision to be dulled by any superficial impression of My Person or character. Stretch your intellect to the limit to comprehend the love and meekness, the lowliness and majesty of Him Who has infinite knowledge and power but Who modestly chooses to remain invisible and in the background. Study the things I have made. They will reveal to your imagination the infinite power and Godship I possess (Rom 1: 19‑2 1). Manufacture no visual or verbal props to aid your worship of Me, because any three‑dimensional image is restrictive. It distorts and limits the Reality that I am. Worship only the real God in Spirit and truth. A correct form of worship negates all substitutes.

III. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain." Ex 20:7

  (Ex 20:7   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.)

The third commandment calls attention to the approach for true worship.

The Spirit reveals that God's people are married to Him. They have taken on His name (cf. Gen 4:26, margin: Acts 11:26; 2 Chron 7:14; Isa 43;7), and are part of His covenant family. Being called by His name is their badge of distinction.

When Christians take His name at baptism (Matt 28:19, 10)  they signal that the Godhead is now their bond of union and their authority for action, as well as the Source of their success. Christ appeals to His bride to remain true to Him until His character is fully reproduced in her (AA 20).

A name in Biblical terms is intended to convey an associated meaning…so being named a “Christian” has with it responsibilities regarding how we live our life.

In this commandment He says in effect, I invite you to bear My name on condition that you do not exploit it for your own purposes.

 When He promised Moses,” I am what I am," or "I will become what I will become" (Ex 3:14; 6:3) He looked forward to the Incarnation (John 1: 14). He would then have a new name, not El Shaddai, but Jesus Emmanuel Saviour. This name and all it stands for He is ready to give to His born‑again disciples. The third commandment urges His bride to allow His name to shine brightly, and never to tarnish it.

Taking the name of God on our tongues in true reverence negates all profanity.

IV “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Ex 20:8

The fourth commandment calls man's attention to a specific allotment of  time for true worship.

Since the central theme of the Decalogue is the restoration of the image of God in the sinful human soul, He declares in effect, I have especially designed My uniquely made Sabbath day as your keepsake of My creation.

As you remember it, and observe it, I will reveal My love through it and it will remind you of My power as your Creator and the Designer of your environment. Its purpose is to sanctify you (Ezek 20:12,20; Ex 31: 14‑17) by nullifying both your hereditary and environmental weaknesses. I will confer on you a divine heredity (2 Pet 1:4) through the new birth, and provide a spiritual ambience for your growth every Sabbath. The observance of the Sabbath by My grace will free you from both the bondage and the power of sin.

Paul illustrated how the keeping of the Sabbath will help Christians to achieve this goal (Heb 4:ff). G. Campbell Morgan once observed: "He who never works is unfitted for worship. He who never pauses to worship is rendered incapable of work." He continued: "The Sabbath is not the ideal of any dispensation of Divine dealings. It is universal in the purpose of God, and was part of the economy of time which waited for the birth of man" (The Ten Commandments, 46, 48). "There is nothing in it [the Sabbath] shadowy, or of restricted application to any people" (PP 48, [ ] added). Fidelity in the covenant relationship with our creator is true worship.

These four laws, which form the first table of the Decalogue, clarify every relationship which it is possible for man to have with his Creator.

They reveal the scope of the first great commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might" (Deut 6:5; Matt 22:37).

These four precepts thrust man's thinking and worship vertically upward. Their objective is to keep each individual in a right relationship with God.

Obedience to the Last Six Displays Love to our Fellows

Through his right relationship with God, man is ready to enter into right relationships with his associates.

The last six commandments extend the principles, already outlined in the first four precepts, into another area, by inviting persons to assume toward others the attitudes which God displays toward them.

The second tablet of the law pushes man horizontally out toward other human beings.

V. "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

As the first table of the law opens with a summons to God's children to give their undivided allegiance to their heavenly Father, the second table begins with a call for all boys and girls to give total support and respect to their fathers and mothers, Jehovah's earthly representatives. In order to reach their full potential as sons or daughters, God challenges children to take their responsibilities in the home seriously. When they honor their parents, they glorify their heavenly Father Who created families.

Paul reminds children that this "is the first commandment with promise" (Eph 6:2). It guarantees all offspring that fidelity and appreciation shown to their parents will bring about a happy future for the race.

Paul wrote to Timothy to encourage the children in his congregation to cultivate “piety at home". The old word pietas [piety] meant "the duty of men to God reflected in their duty towards their parents" (Farrar, The Voice ftom Sinai, 188). "Character molded in the atmosphere of honor to parents has within it the element of quiet power which tends to prolong life. On the other hand, character formed in the atmosphere of subjection has within it the element of recklessness and fever which tends to the shortening of life" (G. Campbell Morgan, op cit., 58).

What an example of obedience to this law Christ left the universe!

V1. "Thou shalt not kill." Ex 20:13

The premise of this commandment is that life exists. "God is the source of life and light and joy to the universe.

Like rays of light from the sun, like the streams of water bursting from a living spring, blessings flow out from Him to all His creatures. And wherever the life of God is in the hearts of men, it will flow out to others in love and blessing" (SC 81).

Human beings had no part in producing it, and they have no right to destroy life. Since life is a gift from the Creator, man should do nothing to lessen its full worth, for himself or for any one else. Intelligent life may be analyzed under four heads, physical, mental, social and spiritual.

In His sermon on the mount Jesus illustrated this. He warned His disciples that even to call one's neighbor a fool lessons his sense of self‑worth, and interferes with the quality of his life (I John 3:15; Matt 5:21, 22).

His negative feelings, and those of the one who used this language, will eventually shorten life. To be angry increases blood pressure and has many deleterious effects on the body. The negative emotions, anger, hatred, jealousy, envy, and holding a grudge are all assassins of others as well as those who harbor them.

The sixth commandment requires all to do everything, physically, mentally, socially, environmentally to ensure that life's potential is reached.

To love one's neighbor as one loves himself means that the child of God will seek to surround his neighbor with tangible and intangible tokens of affection and regard, and thus enhance the qualities of his life. In doing this, he will improve his own health. – Our body, our mind, our spiritual, and social life.

VII. "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Ex 20:14

God invented marriage. It represents this intimate relationship, the most intense possible to human beings, as the one which the Creator wishes should exist between Himself and His earthly creatures.

In the same way as He does not want anything or any person to come between Himself and His earthly bride, God does not wish anything or any one to break the relationships He has created between a husband and his wife.

The marriage relationship is an illustration of man's continuous oneness with God. If a husband and wife break the relationship into which they have entered by their own free choice, how can they maintain their oneness with their Creator?

If they cannot love the one whom they have seen, how can they love the One Whom they have not seen? Bible religion must be supreme within human personality, totally pervading every other.

     Following the commandment which protects human life comes the one which protects the highest human relationship.  "God's first circle of society is that of the family, and the origin of the family in His purpose lies within the sacred unity of  man and woman. The first principle of human life is its relationship to God. The second is its interrelation, that of man to man. Within this sacred realm, the type and origin of all subsequent relations, is the family. Nothing can be more essential, therefore, for the social order, than that the relationship upon which all subsequent ones are based should be jealously guarded against any and every form of attack" (G. Campbell Morgan, op. cit., 76, 77).

Physical adultery is typical of spiritual adultery (Jas 4:4; Jer 2:31‑37; 3:8: Ezek 16:15ff; Hos 3:1‑5; Rev 17:1‑18).

Christ is depicted in Scripture as  the loving Husband of the church (Rev 2:1‑4; 21:14; Isa 54:5: 62:4, 5).

Adultery corrodes physical life,‑mind, body, health,‑and gnaws like a cancer at the soul. It produces diseases difficult to cure. Spiritual adultery produces disease in the psyche as contagious as does physical adultery in the body (Ezek 16:15‑59).

The seventh commandment says in effect,  Do not mix or adulterate the pureness of the ideal relationship which the Creator has set up between man and woman in marriage. Respect for the covenant of marriage makes for respect for covenants with fellow creatures.

VIII. "Thou shalt not steal." Ex 20:15

God gave mankind the right of property. Man did not make the physical world around him. He is the appointed steward of all its resources, and can take nothing with him when he dies. Stealing is heisting by guile or force what does not belong to us. "Both public and private sins are included in this prohibition. The eighth commandment condemns man‑stealing and slave‑dealing, and forbids wars of conquest.

It condemns theft and robbery. It demands strict integrity in the minutest details of the affairs of life.

It forbids overreaching in trade, and requires the payment of just debts or wages. It declares that every attempt to advantage one's self by the ignorance, weakness, or misfortune of another, is registered as fraud in the books of heaven" (PP 309).

It includes taking or wasting some one else's time, reputation, character or possessions.

This commandment gives the individual the sacred freedom to use the property which the Creator has entrusted to him. It requires that each individual accept full responsibility for what he has, and respect all that is possessed by his neighbor.

IX "Thou shalt not bear false witness." Ex 20:16

The ninth commandment covers all kinds of communications.

In communicating mankind exercises freedom of speech, and through it displays character. Truthfulness is an attribute of God while Lucifer is a liar from the beginning, and is the spring of all falsehood. Truth saves while lies destroy. Pride and cowardice are the basis of lying, while love and understanding are the foundation of truth. In our daily lives we communicate with everyone whom we meet by some means or other. All languages, body, verbal or written, ‑must be transparently truthful. God is truth and His word is truth. As He communicates with His children, they must communicate with their fellows.

"An intention to deceive is what constitutes falsehood.

By a glance of the eye, a motion of the hand, an expression of the countenance, a falsehood may be told as effectually as by words.

All intentional overstatement, every hint or insinuation calculated to convey an erroneous or exaggerated impression, even the statement of facts in such a manner as to mislead, is falsehood.

This precept forbids every effort to injure our neighbor's reputation by misrepresentation or evil surmising, by slander or talebearing.

Even the intentional suppression of truth, by which injury may result to others, is a violation of the ninth commandment" (PP 309).

X. "Thou shalt not covet." Ex 20:17

This commandment enters into the very foundation of thinking. It "strikes at the very root of all sins, prohibiting the selfish desire, from which springs the sinful act" (PP 309).

It touches the way in which man relates to everything connected with his fellow human beings.

Should a person allow himself to hanker after anything, reputation, possessions, family or position of another, his covetousness will devour his own soul like a festering canker.

Covetousness was the sin which ruined Lucifer, fractured heaven and finally murdered the Son of God. It is still as devastating.

As heirs of God's promises His disciples will one day "inherit all things" in the Lord's good time and place and ways. To allow ourselves to lust after things which do not belong to us will eventually destroy us. Jesus Continually displayed the spirit which was the exact opposite of satanic covetousness. He showed Divine self‑emptying service (Phil 2:5‑9).

The covetous spirit of Lucifer grasped what was not his, nor ever could be. The spirit of Jesus gave everything He ever had. The joy of enriching others enriches the giver one hundredfold. Unselfishness in thought negates selfishness in action.

The second table

The second table of the decalogue covers every relationship which it is possible for man to make with his fellow humans.

These six precepts show what it means to keep the second great commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Mark 12:31). It covers parent‑child relationships, man‑woman relationships, and person‑person relationships, and deals with acts, words and thoughts.

All ten commandments thus "hang" from, or are outgrowths of, that twin command to love God and man. The Old Testament gives the norm by which to gauge the quality of our love for our neighbor: it is the way we love ourselves. When Jesus came He raised this motivation. Love others, He said, "as I have loved you" (John 13:34; 15:12). Calvary is the lens through which we must study agape. Greater love is not conceivable.

The Decalogue Covers Every Relationship Possible to Man

These ten commandments thus cover every relationship with God and our fellow men which it is possible to form. Their length, breadth and depth touch every phase of living. God has placed this law as the foundation of His government. All who hope one day to share Christ's throne must take their stand on these ten precepts here on earth.

With His own finger God wrote His ten words upon two tablets of sapphire. "Finger" is a symbol of one function of the Holy Spirit (cf. Matt 12:28 with Lk 11:20). Then Jehovah told Moses to place these stone tablets within the ark. The mercyseat on the ark was the symbol of His throne. In this sign language the Lord declares to the world that His law is the bedrock of His government. Ezekiel was shown this in a vision of God's throne resting on a sapphire foundation (Ezek 1:26; cf. Ex 24:10).

Our contemplation of the ark reveals a picture of God's eternal throne founded upon agape‑love as the fundamental principle of the government of Heaven. The law is the explication or unfolding of love, and agape is defined by the ten commandments. This love is not static. It continually displays the power of God in creating ideal relationships with Himself and with man. "The God of heaven has placed a benediction upon them that keep the commandments of God. Shall we stand as a peculiar people of God, or shall we trample upon the law of God and say it is not binding? God might just as well have abolished Himself. In the law every specification is the character of the infinite God" (1BC 1104).

Our Lord promises that with the Finger of the Spirit He will inscribe the principles of His eternal law upon the Fleshly tablets of our hearts whenever we desire Him to do so. His grace will then enable us to live our daily lives by its eternal principles of love. May this be our experience.