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KEY TEXT: Exodus 31:18 (KJV) – “And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”

God Himself wrote the tables of stone, also known as the testimony. He spoke them and then wrote them. Speaking is great, but writing is better because it has some level of permanency than speaking. For example, we have access to the writings done by the writers of the Bible. We have no access to their original voices. God could have given the Biblical writers the technological idea of making voice recorders and videos in the olden days, but He didn’t. Instead, He caused their words to be written. As a result, billions of people read them, those who can access the internet and those who can’t. Those who have smartphones and those who don’t.

The Ten Commandments are highly important. Obeying them is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12:13). God gave Moses the Ten Commandments after communing with Him. We should take worship sessions seriously, whether private or public. No worship experience lacks blessings. There is no time spent with God that is wasted or unprofitable.

Many people take spirituality as only one part of their lives and separate it from the rest. I once heard one Christian in church saying that spirituality forms only one part of life and is unimportant. He said spirituality is like salt or onions added to the main meal, which one can do without. Many people commit a grievous error by thinking that way. They think spiritual life is merely praying, attending fellowship sessions and attending church. They do not allow the Bible to govern other parts of their lives because they think spirituality is separate. They treat it like a side hustle. Therefore, they follow non-Biblical rules to govern their careers, social lives, health, families, etc.

What most of us don’t know is that life is more spiritual than it is physical, and it is the spiritual that controls the physical. Hebrews 11:3 (KJV) – “Through faith, we understand that the worlds (physical) were framed by the word of God (spiritual) so that things which are seen (physical) were not made of things which do appear (spiritual). What the Bible is saying is that the spiritual created the physical. In some sense, God designed us that way too, whereby we have to think first (spiritual) before implementing an idea (physical). Many people (not all) struggle in various aspects of their lives because they seek physical solutions to spiritual problems.

Some people punish their children severely, hoping they will be disciplined, but then they end up being the most undisciplined. Such people lean on their own understanding and are devastated when their strategies fail. Some of them have never thought of praying and fasting for their children. Others, it has never crossed their minds that it might be a generational curse door that is opened. Some children might even be demon-possessed or recruited in cults, and no matter how much you punish them, they never change.

Jeremiah 13:23 (KJV) – “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” A leopard cannot change his spots. A leopard cannot change the spots of another leopard. Only God can change the Leopard spots and the Ethiopian’s skin. When you attempt to change the behavior of your offspring without putting God at the center of it, you are wasting time because except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it (Psalm 127:1). The Bible compels us in Proverbs 13:24 not to spare the rod. Punishment is good only if God is at the center of it.

Some people have attempted to build businesses which have ended up failing. They started their businesses with sufficient capital, highly experienced advisors and consultants, the best employees and the best strategies. They thought all these would make their business successful, so they neglected to involve God. There are no amount of MBA business books, no amount of experienced businessmen that can make your business successful. It is only God who can make your business successful. Consultants, books, and excellent strategies have their place, but only God can make your business successful. The spiritual controls the physical.

The Word of God created all of us, and it is the one that sustains us. This means we should allow it to govern every aspect of our lives. Christianity is more than the religious disciplines of praying, fasting, reading the Bible, singing and joining others in fellowship on Saturday or Sunday. As much as all these things are important, Christianity goes beyond them. Matthew 7:24 (KJV) – “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.” Reading the Bible merely is not enough. God wants you to practice whatever you have read in all areas of your life, associations, career, education, etc. Revelation 22:14 (KJV) – “Blessed are they that do His commandments.” Some people have read God’s commandments and memorized them but don’t do them. Blessed are those who read and do them.

God gave Moses the commandments in two tables of stone. God would have put them in one stone table, but He put them in two. One table probably contained the first part (the first four commandments), which constitutes love for God, while the second part (the last six commandments), which constitutes love for fellow men. These two separate tables signify that love for God and love for fellow men should not be mixed. You should love your neighbour, but you should not put the love of a human being higher or at the same level as the love for God.

Some people have tried to mingle their love for God with their love for fellow man by worshipping pastors and priests. Therefore, they consider their pastor’s word the final word, even if it contradicts God’s Word. If their pastor tells them the Sabbath/the commandments were done away with when Jesus died on the cross, they believe that word even though Revelation 22:14 says otherwise. The book of Revelation was written years after the death and resurrection of Christ.

Deuteronomy 10:1-3 (AMP) –  “¹ At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make an ark (chest) of wood for yourself. ² I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you shattered, and you shall put them in the ark.’ ³ So I made an ark of acacia wood and cut out two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.”

Moses broke the tables which the Lord had written. He broke them out of anger when he found the Israelites worshipping a golden calf, thus breaking God’s law. Little did he know that by doing that, he sinned. Many people sin out of anger by insulting and fighting people who oppose Christianity. We don’t need to fight for God. God can fight for Himself because He is all-powerful. However, God is a God of second chances. He gave Moses the commandments again, even after Moses broke them. It is like cleaning the floor of a house, and then someone enters with mud.

The first time, God gave Moses the tables of stone with the commandments written on them. The second time, He instructed Moses to bring the two tables of stone so that He could write on them. This shows that the second time Moses had to put more effort into carrying them because of the sin he committed. Sin brings more struggles. Therefore, avoid sin.

“He did not design that they should gain the land of promise by warfare, but through submission and unqualified obedience to His commands.”- The Signs of the Times, September 2, 1880, par. 4, Ellen G. White.

The Lord did not intend for the Israelites to obtain the land by warfare. He did not want them to struggle. He wanted them to obtain it through obedience to His commandments. Obedience to the Ten Commandments of God will make your struggles less. It is not God’s will for His children to suffer and struggle. It is sin that brings about all these suffering and struggles.

Before God allowed the Devil to harm Job, He had provided a hedge over Job so that the Devil’s calamities could not touch him (Job 1:10). Sickness and poverty were not Job’s portion because God had provided protection (covering) over him. God intended work to be enjoyable and fruit-bearing to be easy. When Adam and Eve sinned, they caused labour to be hard and tiring. Their sin made them struggle to put food on the table while God had placed them in a garden full of food and everything else they needed.

However, in everything God does, He does it out of love. His punishments are out of love. God made Moses struggle to find the stone, cut it like the previous tables and carry them up to the mountain. He also made him to make an ark of acacia wood. He did all these out of His love for Moses and the Israelites, by extension.

God understood that if Moses cooperated with Him and put effort into that work, he would not break them like how he previously broke them. Sometimes God may allow you to undergo financial struggles so that when He blesses you, you won’t waste money like how you wasted when you had plenty that you hadn’t struggled for.

The testimony was to help them to live in harmony with one another and with God. Moses putting effort into God’s work by finding, cutting and carrying the tablets was an astonishing privilege. Moses got the privilege of bringing two tablets of stone which God would write on them with His own finger, and which would last for multiple generations. Working for God is always a tremendous privilege. The punishments of God are always a prodigious opportunity. That is why the Bible says in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” We should always rejoice in the Lord because God is always good.

Deuteronomy 31:26 (KJV) – “Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.”

The Word of God/the Commandments of God is to serve as a witness against us in case we sin.

2 Kings 11:12 (KJV) – “And he brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king.”

God is a God who saves everybody from the lowest to the highest in society. Jesus sat with Nicodemus, Zacchaeus and the rich young ruler. He was also friends with people like Lazarus, who were not very rich. Salvation is needed for a king as much as it is needed for an enslaved person. A crown was not enough for a man to be made king. The king needed to have the testimony (the commandments) also. Unfortunately, in today’s world, crowns, titles and majestic material goods are the only things that kings receive. They are not given the law of God to abide by it. The testimony that used to be given in those days signified the laws that the king intended to live by and govern his kingdom with.

The commandments of God should govern all leaders and all men in society because righteousness exalts a nation (Proverbs 14:34).

GOD BLESS YOU!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for the Ten Commandments. Help me not just to hear Your Word but to obey it in every area of my life. May Your law guide my heart, my choices, and my relationships. Teach me to love You first and my neighbor as myself. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Activity

Read Exodus 20:1–17 – the Ten Commandments – slowly and prayerfully.

Draw two columns on a sheet of paper:

• Label one side “Love for God” (Commandments 1–4).
• Label the other “Love for Others” (Commandments 5–10).

Pick one commandment from each column and write one practical way you can live it out.

• Example (Love for God): “Keep the Sabbath” → Plan not to work or shop this Sabbath and spend time in worship.
• Example (Love for Others): “Do not bear false witness” → Speak honestly and avoid gossip today.

Pray for strength to carry out what you wrote and reflect on your obedience at the end of the day.

Do the same for the remaining commandments.

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Author: Mark Alex   

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