Revealed in the Law - Conclusion

It is my humble prayer and great hope that you have come to know our great and loving God more intimately through this study, and about yourself and others.

The Word of God is a literary masterpiece, written by one God through more than 40 inspired authors, to reveal His character to us and tell our story.  We can trust this author, for He is Truth (John 14:17), even when we do not fully understand it, or struggle with what we think it says.  As 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 tells us, as faithful believers in Jesus (the Son of God whose sacrifice atoned for our sin, and restored our relationship with God the Father that our sin broke in Eden and has been drawing us away from Him ever since), we have been given His Holy Spirit to help us to understand the Word of God that is the Bible, to recognize it as the Truth (John 14:26 as well), and to help us keep (treasure up) all of His commandments and statutes (John 14:15-17) and live by His ways (Psalm 119:2-3; Isaiah 48:17; John 14:6).  I pray that you seek to know Him more by studying His Word more, and that you have received this truth into your hearts.

Let's review the highlighted character traits of God that were revealed as we went along.  It is wondrous to me that so many of them are indeed revealed by studying the Ten Commandments!  While this is a broad list, it is by no means exhaustive (12.1), and it only covers those that God has chosen to reveal to us about His eternal nature:

Unchanging

Righteous

Objective

Sovereign

Perfect

Transcendent

Good

Wise

Holy

All-knowing

Powerful

Loving

Merciful

Truthful

Faithful

Kind

Please pause a moment to let this astounding image of God wash over you, and humble you to know that He desires in His heart to draw you into an intimate relationship with Him forever.  

You have been made in this image (Genesis 1:27; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10).  Belief in Jesus is the key to unleash the full power of this image into the world! And to share in eternal life with God in a place where evil will no longer prowl and cause us to sin.

It seems a fitting conclusion to our study that we would look to specific summary statements that God Himself gave us within the section of Deuteronomy (chapters 6 through 26) we have been looking at.

Near the end of the unit summarizing Commandment 1 we find Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (ESV) which says:

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God desire* from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?"

It's the capstone statement for all that has come before, and all that is left to be said.  The history Moses recapped for us was included so that we could see and believe that our Lord is God and no other (Deuteronomy 4:35). We see iterations of it blossoming in Deuteronomy 4:40 before a restatement of the Decalogue and again in Deuteronomy 5:32-33 to close the restatement of the Decalogue just before Moses begins his expansion on them beginning with the "greatest commandment" of Commandment 1.  It comes yet again at the end of chapter 30 in Deuteronomy 30:10 as Moses is completing his sermons on all ten.  Again, pay attention to anything that is repeated in Scripture as it highlights something very important.

All of this repetition means it is obviously an important statement to pay attention to in the book of Deuteronomy (which is considered to be a summary of the entire Law in the first four books of the Bible) (12.2).  A closer look at it though reveals that it summarizes the commandments themselves!

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God desire* from you, 

but to fear the LORD your God, (no other gods, no idols)

to walk in all his ways, (preserve His name)

to love him, (stay connected and rooted in Him)

to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 

(by keeping all the commandments regarding other humans)

and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, 

which I am commanding you today for your good?"

* Expanding upon my translation point made back in Commandment 4, the NIV uses "ask" and the ESV uses "require."  But this is the same Hebrew word used in Deuteronomy 14:26 translated as “crave” in the ESV! It refers to God giving us the freedom to do with the remaining good things He gives to us (after we sacrifice our firstfruits to Him) in the most pleasant and delightful way that we desire or crave or want for our enjoyment.  So, God wants/craves/desires from us to follow these things in Deuteronomy 10:12-13 in that same way (Deuteronomy 5:29)!  These things are the desires of HIS heart for us to do for His delight and enjoyment!  Therefore, I humbly submit my interpretation as "desire from."

So then why wouldn't Jesus summarize the Law using this statement (Matthew 22:36-40; Deuteronomy 6:5)?  I believe it's because it gives us the who, what, where, and when, but it still doesn't contain the how.  As I stated above and previously, the Holy Spirit of God is given to us upon belief in Jesus as the One who helps us to keep these commandments and statutes of the Lord.  We can't do it on our own, not even close. His image in us is preserved and kept alive by loving Him with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our strength, even when we get things wrong or stumble and make mistakes. He does the rest (His power is unleashed in us) to help us love one another as He has first loved us, this is the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).

Praise the Lord, Amen!


Thank you for joining me for this study! May you feel God's presence as your heart processes and responds.
May I suggest a response of worship?  

How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin.  (My apologies if you start with an ad first.)
Click here for an additional powerful global arrangement that seems so very appropriate as it's meant to represent all nations worshipping God but not all the lyrics are sung in English.

I also suggest further teachings by The Bible Project on something you learned here that you want to know more about.

Credit Notes

Previous Posts:

Commandment 10

Commandment 9

Commandments 6-8

Commandment 5

Commandment 4

Commandment 3

Commandment 2

Commandment 1

The Decalogue (The Ten Commandments)

Some Background

Introduction

I encourage respectful and edifying dialog.  All comments are subject to approval.
Last updated: July 30, 2018