The Ten Commandments Revealed

By Pastor Jess Foglesong

How many of you have read the Ten Commandments and thought -- oh my God, there’s no way I can follow those rules! What kind of God expects us to abide by such regulations; no wonder we have so many problems … The only person who could adhere to every command is a perfect person. Certainly, no body I know … Oh wait a minute! … there is one person that we’ve heard of … was it Budda? No … he died, and never did re-appear to his followers. Wait a minute … there was a Jesus! They called Him The Christ! The Savior, The Mediator, The Guarantor … The Son of God! Well, thank heavens! At least there was ONE!

God certainly understands that humanity can not follow all of His rules and regulations due to "Sin." 

It is The Character of God is described in The Ten Commandments.

So if the Character of God is written as the Ten Commandments, then why is it presented to humanity as “the Right way to be.” Thou shalt NOT do this and that?

Well, as we know from reading of the Bible (and through the articles in this church website), humanity fell under the spell (through lies and deceit) by the prince of Darkness. Plunging all of humanity into darkness; into the “negative.”

Knowing that God is of a Righteous Being; of a righteous realm, He can only communicate with us (humanity) from that point of view. He views us as a negative -- bound by “Sin.” Therefore when God -- YHWH -- declares (or writes something) as in The Ten Commandments (written on stone and given to Moses), He wrote it in the "negative" -- symbolizing humanity.

Thou Shalt not … etc. What he is really stating (declaring) are “positives.”

God is declaring what and who He is … what His true Character is! Who His true Self is! And since he is directing the declarations to a fallen (Sinful) humanity -- he describes “Himself” -- a Positive Righteous Being -- in the negative. Let’s look at the Commandments one by one:

..............In the Negative:......................................................In the Positive....

1) Thou shalt have No other gods before me..........................I Am Trustworthy

2) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image..................I Am Holy

3) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain...........I Am Genuine

4) Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy........................I Am All-Sufficient

5) Honour thy father and thy mother.....................................I Am Faithful

6) Thou shalt not kill........................................................I Am the Life-giver

7) Thou shalt not commit adultery............................I Am the God of Integrity

8) Thou shalt not steal................................................I Am an Honest God

9) Thou shalt not bear false witness against they neighbor..I Am Compassionate

10) Thou shalt not covet...........................................I Am a Respectful God

 There you go … God wrote it in the negative, but what He really was implying was exactly the Opposite. God views humanity only through the eyes of the perfect one -- The Mediator, The Christ! And His Son -- in the Father’s eyes -- is Good, and shameless. Therefore in the Old Testament, when He gave Moses (who was a type of Jesus -- a saviour), the spiritually written Ten Commandments, He wrote it in the “negative.”  Having to work with a restless and extremely difficult group of people -- the Israelites -- God could only view them in the Negative. But what He really wanted to get across to them (and all of humanity) was who He is: Trustworthy, Holy, Genuine, All-Sufficient, Faithful, The Lifegiver, Integrity, Honest, Compassionate and Respectful.

So the focus is not on you (us); the focus is on His Character. It is Not about us! He wants us -- His created human beings to look up at Him, trust Him, rely on Him, depend on Him, try to be like Him … and so much more.

Another note: The Old Testament Ten Commandments becomes the true Testament of Love in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount -- the Beatitudes -- in The New Testament.