Every human being born into this world needs to gain an understanding of how to live and function successfully. We quickly master the use of the basic five senses (Touch, Sight, Smell, Hearing and Taste) with which we communicate with the physical world, but it is not as clearly apparent how we are meant to deal with things that are spiritual in nature. What follows is a basic representation of one spiritual aspect of life that influences us all and is especially important for those interested in Christian parenting.
Initially it is important to understand that God Himself makes a differentiation between the Jewish people and those of us who are non-Jews (also called gentiles). When God spoke to Abraham He called him to become separate from the other nations of the world, and through Abraham God chose to establish a people who were set apart to Himself. The nation of Israel (Jews) are direct natural descendants of Abraham and it was through this nation that God brought forth His Son Jesus Christ.
God chose Moses to bring the children of Israel out of the slavery of Egypt, and he led them (guided by God) to the mountain of Sinai, where God delivered The Ten Commandments to Israel. (Exodus 20:2-17)
It is these same Ten Commandments that are the basis for much of the legal system that we use in the western world, and indeed by extension our systems of democracy and government. But the aspect I would like to deal with today is how the Law of God (The Ten Commandments) affect us spiritually as human beings.
God gave the Ten Commandments to give mankind knowledge and understanding of what was right and what was wrong. It defined how we as created beings should relate to Him as our Creator, and how we should deal with our fellow-man here on earth. The knowledge of God’s law was originally kept only by the Jewish people, but there came a day when God Himself chose to send that knowledge forth into the whole world.
Jeremiah the prophet declared under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that God was going to do a new thing in the earth and send forth the knowledge of His law into the hearts and minds of all mankind directly. (Jeremiah 31:33) God did this when He sent His Holy Spirit upon the earth on the Day of Pentecost after Jesus Christ’s resurrection and ascension to heaven. Now the Ten Commandments are written in every human heart upon the earth and we perceive them spiritually through our conscience.
It is the Ten Commandments and the words of Jesus Christ that are the standard by which all the world will be judged when we stand before the Throne of God on Judgement Day. Every time we break one of the Ten Commandments, we are alerted in our conscience that we have broken God’s law again and we feel shame as a human being. Our shame is meant to be an indicator that we have sinned against God’s Law and need to find His forgiveness and mercy lest we be judged.
The way that God chose to reveal His forgiveness to man is through our faith in the Death, Burial and Resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus came to take our sins upon His own body and paid our debt before the Throne of God so that we as human beings would not be found guilty on Judgement Day. By turning away from our sins and asking Jesus Christ to be our Saviour and Lord we are brought back into relationship with God and are born again spiritually.
In summing up here are the main things to remember:
· The Ten Commandments teach us what is right and wrong
· We all have this knowledge written in our hearts and minds
· Our conscience is the indicator of whether we have failed or succeeded by God’s standard
· We must all stand before God on Judgement Day and give an account of our lives
· Jesus Christ paid the debt for all our sins when He died for us
· Forgiveness and mercy are available to us all through faith in Jesus Christ
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