Why Study the Ten Commandments - Part Five

Why would God give us rules like the Ten commandments? Well, doesn't every good father do that? We, as dads, are a lot wiser than our children. We've been around the block a time or two more. We know that there are some things in this sin-damaged and cursed world that are dangerous. There are things so devastatingly dangerous, so devastatingly shattering to our lives, that we want to protect our children from them. So we set rules.

What kind of rules do parents set? "Don' play in the road. Don't talk to strangers. Eat your vegetables. Don't wander out of sight. Stay out of the medicine cabinet." Do you see what I'm saying? We want to protect our kids.

God feels the same way, so He sets down rules - rules that, if we follow them, will give us a better life and protect us from the dangers that are out there. And who can doubt that, if we keep the Ten Commandments faithfully, our lives will be better? And like any good father, God will also set punishments if His kids disobey. That provides the incentive to stay on the straight and narrow way. This is why God gave us the Ten Commandments. They are God's loving rules to us as for protection - given to us because we are God's special children.

Israel was, according to the preamble of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-2, a special treasure to God. The verses say, "And God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." God did something special for Israel. He personally rescued them out of miserable bondage in Egypt, and He is now establishing a personal relationship with them as His special people.

He has now chosen us in the church to be Christ's special people, Christ's very bride. Israel and the church are God's special people. We are His because of something He did. With Israel, it was bringing them out of slavery in the land of Egypt by the passover event where the lamb was slain and the blood applied so that the death angel would pass over them as it took the firstborn in every Egyptian household. With the church, it was when God redeemed us out of slavery to sin by the death of His own dear Son, Jesus, on the cross of Calvary where He shed His blood for us to pay the penalty for our sin. We too, therefore, have a special relationship with God, and a special obligation to Him as His redeemed people.

Do you see? The Ten Commandments are set in the context of God bringing His people out of slavery, not leading them into slavery. God is leading them to freedom. The same is true for us. Jesus said in John 8:36, "Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." Paul adds in Romans 8:2, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." We are free people whom God has given rules to live by, not to mnake us slaves, but to protect us.