ESSAYS ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
By Vernon O'Dell

Exodus 20:7 says, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name." 

In this statement the word, "name", is used to refer to the divine character or personality of God. When we speak the name of God in a careless, frivolous, or angry way, we commit an act of presumption; we presume to speak for God, as if we know the mind and will of God. We also presume to define Him through the attributes such use attaches to His character. Such presumption seeks to detract from the sovereignty of God as it bears false witness to His true, divine nature. 

The King James version of the Bible uses the word, "vain", when referring to this commandment. Understanding the word, "vain", also helps us to understand what God is warning us against. Vain means "lacking in reality or truth, empty, or phony". For example we have all heard someone, or perhaps we ourselves have spoken damnation upon a person or a thing in the name of God, not believing that God will actually condemn at that time, thus His name has been used emptily, or in vain. If you take an oath in the name of God thinking it really doesn't make any difference whether or not you keep that oath, you are using His name emptily, because you don't believe He will hold you accountable for your words. 

Through this commandment God is giving us two rules to live by, that we might keep the right perspective of Him in our lives. 
First, on the negative side, God is telling us never to live as though He does not exist; 
and secondly, on the positive side, He is saying to live every day in the awareness of His existence. 

There are many ways we live as though God does not exist. One way this is done is by pretending to know who He is, what He is, and what He is doing, yet deny knowledge of His essence through our actions. 

It is a common trap to fall into --- to proclaim Christ as the Lord of our lives, yet continue to rely on our own ability to solve our problems. How many of us extol the virtues of "living on faith", yet fret when the bills come in and there isn't enough money to pay them? 

Another way that we replace God in our lives is when we try to make Him into something other than what He is. Have you ever been guilty of predicting how God will have to do a certain thing? Have you ever felt the only way you can know the presence of God is through an emotional experience? Have you ever tried to intellectualize God's existence? If you see yourself in any of these situations, you have been guilty of treating God as if he is not truly God - you are because you are placing God into a mold of your own making. If, on the other hand, you believe He is the God whose ways are above our ways, whose thoughts are above our thoughts, and who will not allow Himself to be boxed in, you are probably living in the awareness of God's existence and power. 

This third commandment places us under the wrath of God, because He knows we cannot live by it. However, as we come into the knowledge of His Word, we realize that we have been received, accepted, forgiven, and reconciled in Jesus Christ. We are no longer exposed to God's wrath because Christ Himself fulfilled the commandment for us. 

If ever there was a time since the creation of man that we need to understand and observe the rules to live by, as given by our creator Yahweh, it is now; tomorrow may be too late. 

Pray without ceasing for obedience in all who call themselves followers of the living God. 

Vernon L. O'Dell 

The Living Bible Encyclopedia lists the Sabbath day as "the weekly day of rest and worship of the Jews." The Sabbath was instituted at the time of creation for we see in Genesis 2:3 how "God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all His work which God created and made". Since God Himself established the pattern of setting aside one day of the week for rest after six days of toil, it would seem this commandment emphasizes physical rest. 

This day of rest is to honor what God did for man as creator, "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it Holy" (Exodus 20:11); and what He did for Israel as redeemer, "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day" (Deuteronomy 5:15). 

The fourth commandment was given that Israel should observe the seventh day as a holy day on which no work should be done by man or beast. It is clear that God intended the Sabbath to be a blessing to man both physically and spiritually. 

During the time Jesus walked upon the earth, he came into conflict with religious leaders of the Jews over His claim to be the Messiah and over the observance of the Sabbath. The Jewish leaders regarded the Sabbath as established by law and man as being under the law to observe the Sabbath. But Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27-28). 

However scriptures indicate that Jesus Himself regularly attended worship in the synagogue on the Sabbath --- "He went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom. And He stood up to read" (Luke 4:16). Therefore, He did not destroy God's Law; He only destroyed man's additions and wrong interpretation of it. 

The early Christians, most of whom were Jews, kept the seventh day as a Sabbath, but, because the day of the Lord's resurrection was the most blessed day in their lives, they began to meet for worship on the first day of the week, designating it as the Lord's day. 

Paul directed the Corinthian Christians to bring their weekly offerings to the church on the first day of the week: "Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so when I come no collections will have to be made" (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). 

Christians gradually gave up meeting on the seventh day and adopted the Lord's day as the day of Sabbath. 

The Lord's day is a day for rest and celebration because it is a time when all Christians can come together for fellowship with God and each other. On this day, we have the opportunity to share the Christian faith and to help one another to be strengthened and matured in our belief that Christ has set us free from the law of the sabbath. Like the Psalmist we should be able to say "I rejoiced with those who said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord'" (Psalms 122:1). 

How long will it be before we the body of the living God reject the policy of going along to get along? 

In Christ I love you, 

Vernon L. O'Dell