Yesterday morning I was led to invest several hours of my time researching the Ark of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath, and what the Bible says about obedience.

In the Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony, there were the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets. When the priests carrying this Ark stepped into the Jordan River (Joshua 3:6), the river parted for the two million Israelites to cross over safely into the Promised Land.

The Ark of the Covenant was kept in the Holy of Holies in both the Tabernacle of Moses and in the Temple of Solomon.

Both the Old Testament and New Testament instruct God’s children to “be holy!”

Ex 22:31 “And you shall be holy men to Me.

Le 11:44a ‘For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy.

1Pe 1:15-16 – but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

Re 22:11 “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”

If you were to ask Christians if it’s important to obey the Ten Commandments, most would say “yes.” Yet, few can actually recite all ten.

We have the Ten Commandments posted on a wall in our home. Why? To remind us of the importance of keeping them. Jesus said:

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” (John 15:10)

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

Hebrews 8:10 states, “I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

1 John 2:4 states, “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

When asked which is the greatest commandment in the law, Jesus said, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

The Greatest Commandment is my life verse and has been since committing my life to Christ in January 2001. A careful study will show the Greatest Commandment is a summary of the Ten Commandments. The first four of the Ten Commandments are ways for us to show we love God and the last six are ways for us to demonstrate our love for people.

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” There is a lot of misunderstanding about this in many Christian teachings. Some Christian say, “We are under grace and not the law.” There are attacks on God’s perfect law.

Many people want to pick and choose which of the Ten Commandments they obey and how they obey them. Yet, James wrote, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10)

In Exodus 34:27-29, we read, “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.”

A covenant is different that a contract. It’s permanent, especially with God. Now think about this. Moses had no food or water for forty days. Normally, it would be impossible for a human to live for even 20 days without drinking water or in some form or another. So after a supernatural fast, God wrote the Ten Commandments with His finger, and then gave Moses the divine blueprint for the Tabernacle of Moses with the Ten Commandments in the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies.

Are the Ten Commandments still important to God and relevant to us today? Of course they are. Is obeying the Ten Commandments important to be holy? Of course.

For centuries there has been an assault on the fourth Commandment, yet that is the longest commandment and the only one that says “Remember.”

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.(Exodus 20:8-11)

I will share more about the Sabbath next week.

Related messages

• Sunday Inspiration: Pray and Obey (January 16, 2011)
• How to keep the Sabbath (several outstanding videos) (July 5, 2006)
• The Restoration of America as a nation “Under God” (4 minute video)

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, thank you the precious gift of your holy Word and for the Ten Commandments to help us recognize what sin is and whay holy living means. Thank You for inspiring me to write this message today. May you open the eyes of understanding of those who read this message to your truth and your ways. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen and hallelujah!

Blessings to be holy!