Over the centuries, people have numbered God’s Ten Commandments several different ways. Why the difference? First, God does say that He gave “ten,” not nine or 11 (Deuteronomy 10:4). And when you look at the Ten Commandments, you find that they contain more than ten subject areas.
But today, we’re going back to beginning, to see the setting in which God gave His Ten Commandments, to whom, and what He called them. Today, we want to understand the Ten Commandments as God originally gave them. But, today, we’ll only focus on those commandments between God and us, not us and our neighbor.
So, we start at the first verse of Exodus, chapter 20. “And God spoke all these words, saying…” God used the word, “words,” not “commandments” to describe what He gave to His people. Now, God could have called them “commandments”—but He chose not to! And that’s the point. God doesn’t want His “dos” and “don’ts” for us, His commands, to shape our primary view of Him. God wants who He is and what He does, not what we do, to understand who He is—and who we are!
And that’s what we find in God’s first Word. “I am the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” God’s first Word is not a command: It’s a statement of identity. Who is God, and who are we to Him? He’s the One who saves us!
And that’s what He did for His Old-Covenant people: He rescued them from their slavery in Egypt. But you might be thinking, “What does that have to do with me?” I’m not a slave in Egypt.” Well, let’s see. Our Epistle reading connects the experiences of ancient Israel to our experiences, of what it means to be in the New Covenant. “Our ancestors who left Egypt were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:1-2).
So, what’s the point? God rescued Israel from their slavery through the Red Sea, using the sea to save them and defeat their enemies. And that Red-Sea event even looked forward to what God would do for us, rescuing us from what enslaves us: sin, death, and Satan through the waters of baptism.
That God saves us lets us know that we need to be saved. But it also lets us know who is saving us (God) and how He does that (baptism). God’s first Word is a saving Word, not a commandment. He shows us who He is, our Savior, and what that means for us—we are His people. That changes our understanding of the Ten Words that God gave to His people (remember that God doesn’t call them all “commandments”).
So, with God as our rescuer, and we as the rescued, what does that mean in how we live our lives? Ah, God tells us that. Since God saves us, it makes no sense to have another god. And so we hear God say, “Have no others gods.” And that includes not placing our trust in any part of creation over the Creator. For God then says: “Don’t make a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in the skies above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters below.”
God’s prohibition against “graven images” was so they wouldn’t become a way to trust in some part of creation over the Creator. A “graven image” is nothing more than a three-dimensional sculpture. But such sculptures, in and of themselves, aren’t wrong.
We know this because God commanded three-dimensional carvings to be in His Temple (1 Chronicles 28:11-12, 1 Kings 6:17)! And so the Word against such “graven images” is to support God’s earlier Word not to have other gods, not to be a separate commandment in and of itself.
God then gives us a peek into His nature. “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.” Today, “jealous” has a negative connotation that’s not in the original Hebrew. God is zealous and passionate for us; that’s what He means. And how does this zeal that God has for His people show itself in our lives? God punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth of those who hate Him.
Now, the word “generation,” isn’t in the Hebrew. Bible translators add that word to help you out as a reader. And it does help you get the gist of what God says, but it also may cause you to miss the main point. So, let’s hear what God says next, so we can make better sense of it. God then says that He “shows faithful love to a thousand.”
So, what do we learn about God’s nature? He punishes when it’s needed—but He would rather overwhelm us with His love. That’s the point! God gives us an understandable ratio that we can grasp: three or four versus 1,000. It’s three or four spankings versus 1,000 hugs and kisses. God’s character is to love and be faithful—but, if needed, He will take us to the woodshed.
God then says, “Don’t take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.” We find this confusing because we don’t understand the idea of “a name.” The idea of a name is that it’s attached to something, which makes the name as powerful, in some way, as the item to which it is attached. “Stop in the name of the law”: we’re supposed to quit doing what we’re doing because with the name of the law comes the power of the law. They come together; where you get the name, you get what the name represents.
Think of baptism. Jesus commanded His Apostles to baptize “in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). With the name of “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” comes the power of “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” With God’s name comes His saving power (see 1 Peter 3:21).
If that’s true, and it is, then why doesn’t God just dispense with His “name” and come to us directly? Well, if God were to do that, we would die because we’re sinful. God later told Moses, “No one can see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). And so, God uses His name, as an act of mercy and grace. It’s God revealing more of His nature to us: He comes to us in a way that saves us, which He has attached to His name.
Because of that, we don’t abuse God’s name, for abusing His name is the same as abusing Him. “Don’t take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.” We usually think that means not to use the word “damn” when it associated with God’s name. For example, don’t tell another person, “God damn you.” And that’s true, for you are telling God to condemn someone, which is contrary to His nature.
But it’s more than that. For God says, “Don’t take,” not “Don’t speak.” God doesn’t just limit our abuse of His name to what we say, but also to what we do. There’s a physical side to this Word of not taking God’s name in vain.
But what does “in vain” mean? It means doing something for no useful purpose; it’s treating something as trivial. The original Hebrew says, “Don’t carry God’s name into nothingness.” That means to say or do anything that makes God seem less than who He is; it’s making Him smaller. We do that when we live our lives as if God doesn’t matter; it could be worshiping God in a frivolous way (see Hebrews 12:28).
Every sin, in some way, involves having another god or belittling God’s name. For when our trust in God is weak, it’s then that we think that He won’t take care of us, and so we sin to make up the difference, to have our way. And when we do that, we also belittle God, saying, through our actions, that He’s not enough.
And so, God’s next word tells us where to go to receive what He wants to do for us and what He wants to give us. After all, we just learned that it’s in God’s nature to lavish us with love, not spank us with the paddle. And so, God says, “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.”
God sets aside a day for His people not to work. But this “day of rest,” for Sabbath means “rest,” is more than a physical rest. We know this because God attaches the word “holy” to that day of rest. So, when we remember that God has a day of rest for His people, we remember two truths: this rest is physical and spiritual.
Such rest is physical because someone doesn’t work on that day. But not working has a purpose—and it’s not to sleep in! By not working, someone is then free to receive God’s spiritual rest for him (that’s the “holy” part of the Sabbath).
From the beginning, worship was never about what God’s people did for God; if that were true, then worship would be work, not a Sabbath, not a time of rest. And so we learn that worship is not about what we are doing for God. No, it’s about what God is doing for you. That’s why coming to church is all about God bringing you into His rest for you, not you doing something for Him. That’s the way of the Pharisees!
So, what was the point of those Old-Covenant sacrifices? It was God forgiving His people through the forgiveness that Jesus would bring about, that He would work for His people, on the cross. That’s also the point of the New-Covenant sacraments; it’s God bringing us the forgiveness that Jesus has already earned for all on the cross.
So, what do you do when you sin? What do you do when you put your trust in some part of creation more than God? What do you do when, by your actions, you are saying that God isn’t enough? You repent, turning from your sin and receiving God’s rest for you, resting in His forgiveness and salvation. That happens here in worship.
Don’t come to worship to do something for God, but to receive from Him. And the work that God has called you to do is, not here during worship, but serving others whom God has brought into your life after you leave this place of rest. That’s the rest of Ten Words from God.
But for now, it’s all about Jesus coming to you to give you His forgiveness and life. So, come; rest in the forgiveness that Jesus worked for you on the cross, which He now gives you in His body and blood. Amen.
