Law and Grace (11) Four Groups

The ten words fit into the following four groupings.
Follow God

1. You must only have one God.
2. Idols are out
3. The Lords name must not be misused.

The Israelites must stay loyal to the God, who had rescued them. He was committed to giving them even greater blessings, but they had to follow his angel into the land to receive them, and they had to organise themselves in his way, not Pharaoh’s way, to be able to keep on enjoying them.

These three words were also important for spiritual protection. They could not cast out demons, because Jesus had not yet died on the cross, so they had to avoid them. Worshipping idols would open them up to demons that would eventually destroy them. Using the names of gods to change things on earth releases demons. They would lose their blessing, if they allowed these things to happen.

Family and Tribe

5. Honour your parents
6. No adultery

God was not creating a nation state. He was not perpetuating an empire/slave culture. Instead, he was creating a family/tribal culture, which was different from anything that existed in the world. Honouring parents and forefathers would strengthen this culture. Adultery would destroy it.

Justice System

7. Stealing is a crime
8. Killing is a crime (it includes assault).
9. No false witness

God gave Israel a perfect justice system before they went into the land. It was different from anything they had seen in Egypt or in the surrounding nations. God’s justice system was encapsulated in three words. The first two were the main crimes. There is more information about how they should be handled in Exodus and Deuteronomy. False witnesses are dangerous, because they undermine the robustness of a justice system.

Economic System

10.No coveting
4. Enjoy a rest on the seventh day.

God gave the Israelites a new economic system, before they went into the new land. They would not have a slave system that they had experienced in Egypt, of a serf system that existed in most of the surrounding nations. God was giving them a system where they would could all own capital and be productive. Yet they could not respond to supply and demand with disregard for other people. If they took every opportunity to take whatever they could get from other people, they would destroy their economic system and lose their blessing. Coveting is the opposite of the giving and sharing on which this system is based. A day off at the end of the week, was one of the blessings that this economic system would produce.

Some of the implications of thse groupings in the Ten Words are described in more detail in the next four posts.

Time of Distress (6) - Four

Four is the number that represents the earth, so these events will reach to the four corners of the earth.

God promises that he will protect his people through this season.

You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you (Ps 91:5-7).

This psalm is a wonderful promise of hope for those who are faithful to the Lord.

A natural connection links the events symbolised by the four horsemen. The first two horsemen open the way for the third and the fourth horsemen. A decline in faith, leads to an increased warfare. The wasting of war tends to produce death and famine. Shortages of food cause sickness and death. We are seeing beginnings of these events, but we have certainly not seen their complete fulfilment. Before the first four seals are fulfilled, trouble and distress will sweep the earth on an unprecedented scale.

The Four Horsemen mark the beginning of the Time of Distress. Their activities release the conditions that allow a huge concentration of political and military powers. The fear and uncertainty brings human poltical power to a climax, as people give their freedom over to human governments in the hope of finding peace in a troubled world. This is has to happen, so faith in human government can be totally broken at the end of the season. For example, the advance of Islam will fail in its attempts to expand westward, but has already led to a big increase in state power and loss of freedom throughout the western world.