ESSAYS ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
By Vernon O'Dell

 The Ten Commandments are regulations which express God's unchanging moral laws and are equally applicable to every generation both Jew and Gentile. These commandments are not rules imposed arbitrarily upon mankind by a sadistic tyrant, but are principles that were inherent in the establishment of God's created universe. 

The people had just been delivered from slavery where they had no privileges, no rights, no hope, and no future. The commandments were given by God while the people were organizing themselves as a society, and they comprise two essentials: a revelation of truth and a demand for obedience. 

The first commandment contains the revelation of the essence of God. God is the infinite being responsible for the creation, operation, and principles of our universe. He is one who loves us, and is interested in our welfare, and desires that we come to know Him. 

When God gave the commandments, He disclosed Himself in three ways. 

First He established Himself as a God of purpose: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Exodus 20:2). His purpose for bringing the people out of Egypt was to fulfill the promise He had made to Abraham several hundred years earlier, (Genesis 15:13-14). It seems like God sometimes takes a long time to develop His purpose, but He never fails to fulfill it. When God brought the people out of slavery in Egypt, He completed His purpose. By giving the Law, He explained the purpose, which was to make them a moral light to the nations, a model for the world to follow. 

Second He is a powerful God. He demonstrated His power not only over the strongest military nation the world had known but also over the elements, when he delivered the people from bondage. Man did not create God, but God created man, and while man is limited God is not. He is omnipotent, and His awesome power is available for His people. "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3:20). 

Third, He is a God of redemption. Through redemption, God gives freedom instead of bondage, light instead of darkness, and power instead of weakness. The first commandment points to absolute sovereignty, for the true God is not only the source of human existence, but also its end or goal. By excepting God's sovereignty we allow Him to control every avenue of our life. His purpose will prevail whether we agree with it or not. God does not assume command of our lives to force us into anything, but to empower us to become like Him. 

The first commandment sets a standard for the spiritual life both by its requirements and by its implied fulfillment. Jesus Christ is the only one who has completely kept this commandment, and it is, through Christ in us, that we can know the purpose, sovereignty, love, and redemption of God the Father. To worship Him as the only true God commits us to Him in full trust and in an obedience that recognizes Him as the final authority for life. This acknowledgement and worship of Him as the one true God fixes the ultimate standards and destiny of each one of us. 

The Ten Commandments as rules for living are the only ones given to us by the hand of God personally, and yet we treat them with very little respect. Test yourself and turn to the book, chapter and verse that tells us about these rules for living. If you could do this without looking up in a concordance or thumbing through the Bible than you probably have a good understanding of what God intended for us as a way of submitting to Him in all things. 

Please pray these rules will be burned into our very souls by the power of the Holy Spirit, and pray without ceasing that they become the accepted standard for living for all mankind. 

In the love of the great I AM, 

Vernon L. O'Dell 

This commandment contains two thoughts. 

The first is "You shall not make for yourself an idol". The idol is often referred to as "graven image" , and the word graven (carved) identifies the kind of image. A graven image is an inanimate likeness or representation of a person, animal, or thing. 

Most people today have never physically bowed before any graven images, but we have all had our gods, whether they be persons, professions, pleasures, or possessions. However God demands our undivided attention, and nothing less will satisfy Him. This principle is set forth in 1 John 5:21, where we are told, "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols". 

At times idolatry will show up in the way people equate the church building with the physical presence of God. In a very real way, these people believe that by going to a church building they are going into the presence of God. While this can be true, to make the building the focus of God's presence causes the building to take on the role of an idol. God does not inhabit buildings or denominational doctrines, but He does inhabit the praises of His people. Jesus tells us "For where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them" (Matthew 18:20). So, whenever, people gather in the name of the Lord, He is amongst them, wherever the meeting may take place --- a church, a home, or any other designated meeting place. 

The commandment goes on to say "in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below". This part of the commandment was given because the nations around the Israelites had many different gods, such as the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, sea life and many more. God knew that the Israelites were going to come in contact with these people, and He was warning them against bowing down and worshiping their deities. 

It didn't take the people long to break this commandment; for while Moses was with God, the people made a golden calf to worship. The calf did not replace God but was worshipped together with God. Just as the Israelites worshiped many different gods in defiance of the one true God's warning, so do the people around the world this very day bow down to all kinds of false gods. 

God will not tolerate this. He loves us and wants us to attach our souls to Him. He then will free us from sin by correcting and disciplining us. 

Jehovah is a jealous God who desires pure worship, and will not share this worship with anything or anyone else. "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:5-6) 

Paul tells us God is jealous of anything man creates to represent His image. In addition to graven images of stone and wood, forbidden also are images of the personality. A man holds a graven image if he willfully projects a distorted image of himself for the purpose of deceiving others. When we try to make others think we're better than we really are, we are actually worshiping ourselves. In the Old Testament, God prohibited images in order to guard purity of the one unique image of God that He Himself would one day reveal. This unique image of Himself was revealed in Jesus of Nazareth. 

Christians today have God's image through the work of the cross --- "and (Christians) have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." (Colossians 3:10) 

The second commandment, paraphrased, might read as follows: Make no graven images because, by faith in Jesus, you are already in God's image. 

I love you the only way I ever could --- by the power of the Holy Spirit in me, 

Vernon L. O'Dell