The ten commandments are absolutely brilliant. God is a God of glory, and the ten commandments are a revelation -- a prophetic Word -- of the wonders of God's transforming work in the hearts and states-of-being of His people through our Lord Jesus Christ.
First of all, at a very basic level, the Ten Commandments clearly encapsulate the needs, vices, and weaknesses of the human condition -- especially for those who are not in Christ. The lust, the dishonoring, the stealing (both in heart as well as in action), the anger, the hurting of one another, the greediness, the trying to cover up and deceive in order to protect ourselves, the lack of fearing God, the worship of God in false ways (knowing God exists, but not knowing how to please Him), the empty talk about God -- it's all there. Our need to be delivered from these things -- it's all there. It encapsulates the human condition in a masterful way. This should not surprise us, since God, our glorious Father -- the Father of wisdom, glory, and power -- wrote them.
But beyond these basics of revealing our need of the transforming work of our Father through the glorious person of our Lord Jesus, these ten Words reveal what the transformed work will look like in the heart of a believer. They reveal what a transformed person looks like on the inside.
Let's start by remembering that the work of our Father is to conform us to the image of His Son ("For those whom He foreknew, these He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren," Rom. 8:29). What does this really mean? It means that we shall be just like Jesus. We will look like Him. Not in physical appearance, but in our hearts -- in our thoughts, in our attitudes, in our fellowship with the Father, in our doing the works of the Father, in clear, unhindered fellowship with the Father. This is His transforming work in us now. The Bible says that we will come to this place of maturing into the "fulness of Christ" (walking just as He walked, living just as He lived, walking in oneness with the Father in the rich fullness that Jesus did) not when we "go to heaven," but when we "speak the truth in love" and "nourish" one another (Eph. 4:13-16). Praise God, we are going to "grow up" (not just wake up) "into Him" (into all that Jesus is) "in all things." "All things" means in every facet of our being, and in every part of our daily life and walk. That is exciting!
It is exciting also because "the time is at hand." The time is upon us. I do not mean necessarily that tomorrow morning the work will be done, but our Father is now transforming us, changing us, to be full of His Son, who is the first human fully in the image of God. He is now raising our humanity up into the fulness of the image of God. Brothers and sisters, this is an exciting hour. God's work marches on. For those who believe Him, God is doing a mighty work of awakening us to the greatness of our wonderful King Jesus! He is truly bringing His people into all that Jesus is. This is what is meant by the fact that He is "bringing many sons to glory" (Heb. 2:10). It does not mean that He is going to take many sons to heaven! No! It means He is changing many sons into the nature of Jesus! We are some of those many sons. What is this glory? John says, "And we beheld His glory" (John 1:14).
But what was this glory? It was His glory as THE WORD ("The WORD became flesh [human body], and lived among us" John 1:14). He was (and is) the very Word of God. He was (and is) the very speaking of God. He was (and is) the revelation of God to mankind. He is the outflow from the inner workings of God into our realm, into our experience, into our humanity.
The greatness of Jesus is not only how fully He walked with the Father, how fully He obeyed God, how fully He revealed the Father in His humanity. Even greater than these things, He is so highly exalted that He is now able to live out His life in our humanity! We are now in the image of the glory!
He is not trying to cause us to obey some external word and commandment. Rather, the Word is now our life -- it is the life we live. The Word -- the Revelation of the glory and greatness and ways of God -- is now our being. This is what it means that Jesus came to give us life. The Word came to give us His life. He is one with our spirits (I Cor. 6:17).
From that place of union with us in our spirits, He is poured out into our hearts. He is filling our hearts with the knowledge of God from within our being. We drank of the water of life (the Holy Spirit), and this water became a well (John 4:14).
Now, that is a strange picture in the natural. Usually water comes from wells, not wells from water! What it means is that as we receive the water into our being, it becomes a source of water. It becomes a well. This well "springs up to eternal life." This means it bubbles up into our thoughts, attitudes, decisions, feelings, etc. It fills all of our inner workings with the LIFE OF GOD -- with His thoughts, His ways, the drive of His Spirit instead of the drive of carnal man's spirit. In short, from within our being, the Word springs up by the working of the Holy Spirit, filling us with God. This "springing up" makes us "conformed to His image." Our whole being becomes a revelation of His glory.
In short, we become the Word of God. We are the very body of the Word become human. Instead of trying to obey some word in our carnal humanity, we are changed by the power of the Holy Spirit so that our whole being -- spirit, soul, and body -- becomes the Word. It is now our nature to do the will of God. And we are growing up into this nature more and more every day. Again I will say it for emphasis: our inner being is being changed to be the Word of God -- and out of this being comes forth doing.
This is what the ten commandments are all about. Literally, in the Hebrew language that the old testament was written in, they are called the "ten Words." Ten separate words coming together to paint one glorious picture of the Word within our hearts. They are written on two tablets -- the one corresponding to loving God, and the other corresponding to loving our neighbors as ourselves. In a complementary view, the one tablet is faith, and the other is love. This is the glorious image of Christ being formed within us!
With this glorious hope in view, let's now turn our attention to the ten commandments directly. They can be found in Exodus 20:1-17. A summarized version of them is: (1) You shall have no other gods before me; (2) You shall make no graven images; (3) You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; (4) Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy; (5) You shall honor your father and mother; (6) You shall not murder; (7) You shall not commit adultery; (8) You shall not steal; (9) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor; (10) you shall not covet. Notice that the first three deal with our relationship with God directly. The last six deal with our relationships with man directly. The one between these two sets deals with man being connected to God!
In Scripture, numbers have significance. They symbolize things. Just as gold, for example, represents the divine nature, wheat represents the Word of God, and the number seven represents perfection and completion, so also many other numbers are symbolic. The number three refers to God -- His nature is seen in threes. The number six is called the number of man. So it makes total sense that there are three commandments that refer to our relationship with God, and six that refer to our relationship with man. Also, the number ten represents man's responsibility.
When you add the sabbath rest to man's responsibility toward man, you get 6+1=7 -- you get completion. You get man becoming what he was intended to be. This means that in the true sabbath rest we can finally fulfill our obligation to love our neighbor as we should. You see, we cannot live properly toward other people without coming into proper relationship to God.
The sabbath rest speaks of our ceasing to do our own works, and entering into God's works (please see Heb. 4:3, 9, 10, Is. 58:13, John 5:19, 14:10, 12). It speaks of His works growing within us. It speaks of our coming up into His works. It is also called God's rest. This is because in this rest the Spirit can finally stop striving with man. Notice that at the time of the flood, God says, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man" (Gen. 6:3). Just as the dove found rest after the flood (this cleansing of the Earth through death, by the flood, speaks of the cross of Christ), so the dove of the Spirit rested on Jesus at His baptism. The Father's response was, "this is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." God had finally found rest with man -- "His own Arm brought salvation for Him" (Is. 59:16). You see, Jesus is the place of rest. This rest is God's rest because God's works can finally come forth through man. The Father has come to rest in Jesus' humanity. We also come to rest in Jesus' humanity -- ceasing from our works, and coming up into God's works.
So, again, 6 + 1 = 7 (the six commandments which speak of how we love people, plus the sabbath rest, produces completion). This is why the Sabbath of the old covenant was on the seventh day. God's works were complete. He rested. He rests in us by having all the works He wants to come out through us, as we cease from our works and believe Him to work His works within us.
Similarly, 3 + 1 = 4. Four speaks of the creation -- specifically all of the creation (consider, for example, how Jesus talked of "the four winds," and "the four corners of the Earth" -- probably speaking of the the four compass points, North, South, East and West). So God (symbolized by the number 3) entering into the rest by union with man through the cross of Christ (the fourth commandment), will work the mighty works He has promised in the prophetic Scriptures in all of creation. In this place of rest, God will finish His work in all of creation. Through us, the temple of God, He will work until, as He says it, "Behold, I make all things new" (Rev. 21:5). Peter says it this way, "we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells" (II Peter 3:13). The writer of Hebrews says it this way: "the earth and the heavens...shall perish, but You [Jesus] remain. And they [the earth and the heavens] shall become old as a garment does. And like a piece of clothing you shall roll them up, and they shall be changed" (Heb. 1:10-12). You see, Jesus is going to do the rolling up. He is going to do the changing, for the creation to put on the new garments -- the garments of newness of life everywhere. This is why the writer then goes on to say that to Jesus He (God) "put into subjection the world to come" (Heb 2:5-9). He further goes on to say that He is bringing many sons to glory (v.10), because it is through us, as Jesus' body, that Jesus will make all of this happen.
Paul, in Romans 8, says that the whole creation is groaning in the pains of childbirth, waiting for God's many sons to be revealed (see Romans 8:14-23). He says that those who suffer with Him (letting the cross of Christ kill and wash away the old, to bring in the newness of the Spirit), will also be glorified with Jesus. In Colossians 3:4 Paul similarly says that when Christ is revealed, we also will be revealed with Him in glory. We are His body -- the revealing of Jesus will reveal the glory of the Christ within us. He is coming to be admired in His saints! Back in Romans 8, when this glory flows out of us in resurrection life at a level we had never experienced before, then this same glory (revelation of God and His power and life and works) that Has set us free from sin, death, the flesh, and the world's lusts and ways, will flow out of us to set the whole creation free (verse 21). Through us, then, Jesus will make all things new.
This is why Paul says to the Corinthians that we are going to judge the world, and to judge angels (I Cor. 6:2-3). Whatever God is going to do in the creation to set things right, He is going to do through Jesus. And whatever Jesus is going to do in the creation to set things right, He is going to do through us. We are His body. We are "the fulness of Him who fills all in all" (Eph. 1:23). This means that all that Jesus is, He is in us! We are the full expression of Him. We are the lived out reality of His life, flowing within and through us into this realm, and into the realms of the heavens (the spiritual realm). So when Jesus judges the world, He will do it through us. When He destroys all sin and evil and death and corruption, and removes out of His Kingdom everything that causes stumbling, He will flow through us to make it happen.
It is right after this portion of Romans 8 that Paul goes on to talk about the present work of the Holy Spirit within us, causing us to hope in this glory to come (and even now we are "tasting ... the powers of the age to come," Heb. 6:5 -- the gifts and revelations and power of the Spirit now are a foretaste and preparation for the mighty glory that will flow through us to set all things right and make the creation new). This present work of the Spirit is causing us to intercede in the Spirit (vv. 26-27), works all things in us for the good of His calling and purpose to come forth inside of us (v. 28), and by that changing us to be conformed to the image of His Son (v. 29), that He might be the first one (the forerunner of living in the presence and glory of God -- Heb. 6:20) among a whole bunch of His brothers and sisters who are just like Him (v. 29).
This is what the ten commandments are talking about. They are about "Christ formed in you" (Gal. 4:19). They are about "being strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Eph. 3:16-17). They are about "Christ in you-all, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). Given what a great hope this is, of the glory of God reaching out through us to bring to pass God's glorious work of setting everything aright, should we not completely abandon ourselves into God's life, into the immersion in the Holy Spirit, into the Hands of the Holy Spirit, until the transforming work is done? Should we not abandon all else, and just give ourselves to God's presence in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord? Should we not abandon all our efforts, all of our works, all of our putting things together, to live only as Jesus did -- only doing what He sees the Father doing (John 5:19)?
So, given this "big picture" view of the ten commandments, let us now turn to the individual commandments, in the subsequent articles. The Holy Spirit has a lot more to show us as we look at each of the Ten Words.