The perfect Law of Jehovah

The Law of Jehovah

Exodus 20:1-17

[1]And God spake all these words, saying,[2]I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.[4]Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness [of any thing] that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.[5]Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them, for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me,[6]and showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.[7]Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.[8]Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.[9]Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work;[10]but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:[11]for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.[12]Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.[13]Thou shalt not kill.[14]Thou shalt not commit adultery.[15]Thou shalt not steal.[16]Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.[17]Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

This is the Decalogue (10 Commandments). These are the commandments written by Jehovah's very own fingers. They are also in heaven in the ark which is in the Temple (Revelation 11:16-19). Many pulpit preachers say this list of 10 moral commands is a bondage and impossible to keep, however if you read through them you will see that they are for our good. Every command is given to protect us and bless us. The things that it tells us to follow will only bring a blessing to us, not one of these commands is detrimental to our well being. Breaking these commands only bring hurt to ourselves and others most importantly Jehovah and His Son Jesus.

These commandments teach us how to love Jehovah as well as our fellow man. That being the case, anyone who teaches that the 10 commandments is a bondage is not speaking according to the law and the testimony (Isaiah 8:20).

 Psalms 40:7-8

[7]Then said I, Lo, I am come; In the roll of the book it is written of me:[8]I delight to do thy will, O my God; Yea, thy law is within my heart.

David, a man after Jehovah's own heart declares that the law of God is written within his heart. When we have Jehovah's law written in our heart then it is a joy to keep. If we are trying to keep it as a list of rules then it becomes a set of do's and don't's. We will have the law of Jehovah written on our hearts when we have a personal relationship with him through his Son Jesus Christ. Reading the word of Jehovah is key, as this is how we know what his law is.

 Matthew 22:36-40 (KJV)

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Here is a passage that is often taken out of context by the commandment breakers. In no way is Jesus doing away with the law here. In fact if we keep these two commandments we will automatically keep the other ones. The first four commandments deal with our love for Jehovah and the next six has to do with love for our neighbor. If a man says he loves his wife but doesn't spend quality time with her then he doesn't really love her. If he doesn't abide by certain boundaries in The relationship then his love is merely a profession of words but not deeds. 1 John 5:2-3 shows that the evidence of loving Jehovah and our brethen, is by keeping the commandments.

Deuteronomy 28:1-14  (ASV)

[1]And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that Jehovah thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth:[2]and all these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God.[3]Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.[4]Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy beasts, the increase of thy cattle, and the young of thy flock.[5]Blessed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough.[6]Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.[7]Jehovah will cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thee: they shall come out against thee one way, and shall flee before thee seven ways.[8]Jehovah will command the blessing upon thee in thy barns, and in all that thou puttest thy hand unto; and he will bless thee in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.[9]Jehovah will establish thee for a holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee; if thou shalt keep the commandments of Jehovah thy God, and walk in his ways.[10]And all the peoples of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of Jehovah; and they shall be afraid of thee.[11]And Jehovah will make thee plenteous for good, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which Jehovah sware unto thy fathers to give thee.[12]Jehovah will open unto thee his good treasure the heavens, to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.[13]And Jehovah will make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do [them],[14]and shalt not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

In the above passage we see that Jehovah promises those who hear his voice and keep his commandments prosperity. "Hearken diligently" denotes that there has to be a decided effort in keeping the commands which Jehovah gave us in his word. This promise of prosperity is conditional upon keeping the commandments. This does not get taught in most of the pulpits of Christendom today. This sentiment of conditional promises depending upon keeping the commandments of God is reiterated by Jesus and is a theme throughout all the new testament.

Although commandment keepers have always been persecuted and especially in these very last days, there will be a deliverance when Jesus comes back to earth. Commandment keepers will have victory over their enemies. Those who have kept his Father's commandments will eat of the tree of life and enter into New Jerusalem (Revelation 22:14).

 Deuteronomy 14:1-28 (ASV)

[1]Ye are the children of Jehovah your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.[2]For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God, and Jehovah hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.[3]Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.[4]These are the beasts which ye may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,[5]the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the antelope, and the chamois.[6]And every beast that parteth the hoof, and hath the hoof cloven in two, [and] cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that may ye eat.[7]Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that have the hoof cloven: the camel, and the hare, and the coney; because they chew the cud but part not the hoof, they are unclean unto you.[8]And the swine, because he parteth the hoof but cheweth not the cud, he is unclean unto you: of their flesh ye shall not eat, and their carcasses ye shall not touch.[9]These ye may eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales may ye eat;[10]and whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye shall not eat; it is unclean unto you.[11]Of all clean birds ye may eat.[12]But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the gier-eagle, and the ospray,[13]and the glede, and the falcon, and the kite after its kind,[14]and every raven after its kind,[15]and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kind,[16]the little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl,[17]and the pelican, and the vulture, and the cormorant,[18]and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.[19]And all winged creeping things are unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.[20]Of all clean birds ye may eat.[21]Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself: thou mayest give it unto the sojourner that is within thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto a foreigner: for thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk.[22]Thou shalt surely tithe all the increase of thy seed, that which cometh forth from the field year by year.[23]And thou shalt eat before Jehovah thy God, in the place which he shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of thy grain, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herd and of thy flock; that thou mayest learn to fear Jehovah thy God always.[24]And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far from thee, which Jehovah thy God shall choose, to set his name there, when Jehovah thy God shall bless thee;[25]then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thy hand, and shalt go unto the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose:[26]and thou shalt bestow the money for whatsoever thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul asketh of thee; and thou shalt eat there before Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thy household.[27]And the Levite that is within thy gates, thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee.[28]At the end of every three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase in the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates:

The clean/unclean meat laws have never been done away with, neither have the principles of the tithe. These are all for our good but Satan has his ministers that tru to say Jehovah's laws are bondage. The clean meat laws are for our good as they give us better health if we follow them. Tithing shows that we trust Jehovah and also that we care for his workers who selflessly do the work of the ministry. As we give to them we give to Jehovah. Even though we no longer have the Levitical preisthood we do have men who have been committed to do the work of the ministry which is a full time service.

 Matthew 5:17-20 (KJV)

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus came to magnify the law and make it more full. He came to perfect the keeping of the law (to render it perfect) and to cause it to abound. Jesus carried out the law by keeping it perfectly not as a set of do's and don't's, but rather making it more full by keeping it from the heart. Jesus set a pattern for keeping the law. Many of the religious leaders of the day were keeping the law outwardly but their hearts were not in accordance with their outward obedience. Jesus rebuked this type of superficial law keeping and said that law keeping was most importantly a heart matter.

While many churches in Christendom use this passage to say the law is done away with, verse 19 eliminates any possibility of such a thing. Jesus clearly says that breaking the least of the commandments and teaching others to do so will cause the violater to be looked at as being "least in the kingdom of heaven". A stern warning from our Saviour.

Hebrews 8:8-10 (KJV)

8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

It wasn't the law itself that was faulty but rather the covenant partners who were faulty. This was because they were trying to keep the law apart from faith in Jehovah. Jehovah wanted the Israelites heart knowing that if he had their heart then as a result they would keep his law. Remember, by faith Abraham obeyed Jehovah. The Israelites often kept the law as a means to be justified rather than keeping out of love for Jehovah. They often looked at the law as a set of rituals and ceremonies and institutions.

 In verse 10, we see that Jehovah in the new covenant puts his laws in our hearts and minds internalizing them. This in no way does away with the law but actually makes them more binding. We are to keep the law from our heart and mind. As we read scripture and meditate on it daily, Jehovah's law will be implanted in our minds and hearts. We no longer need an earthly tabernacle, sanctuary or ark to have as a guide for law keeping but rather our law keeping should flow from our heart as we consecrate it daily to Jehovah's word. The word of God makes clear what his law is. If we love him we will have his law in our minds and hearts and then keep out of love for Him. If you love someone serving them is not a burden. If you don't then it is. The old covenant was written on tables of stone set in the earthly ark wheras the new covenant is written on the tables of our heart with the original tables in heaven in the Temple of Jehovah in the heavenly ark.

John 15:7-10 (KJV)

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

Notice the two "if's" in the above passage. We see that if we abide in Christ and his words abide in us, we will be able to ask Jehovah what we will. Many have used this passage to justify the prosperity gospel, however if Christ abides in us, our petitions to his Father will be in accordance to the Spirit not the flesh. We will not have selfish motives in what we ask for. What we ask for will be in accordance with the will of Jehovah.

When we abide in Christ and his words abide in us we bear much fruit thereby glorifying his Father Jehovah. In verse 10, we see that all of this is contingent on keeping our Saviour's commandments. Jesus himself "if" you keep my commandments you will abide in his love. That is a stern warning for those in Christendom who say we don't need to keep the commandments. Some will erroneously say that Jesus commandments are different from the 10 Commandments written by Jehovah's very own fingers. Jesus clears that lie up at the end of the verse. He says that he has kept his Father's commandments  (Decalogue) and thereby he abides in his Father's love. Jesus commandments are his Father's commandments magnified. In order to abide in his and his Father's love we need to keep the commandments (Decalogue) the way Jesus did which includes the Sabbath.  It's the keeping of the commandments that is a fruit of abiding in Christ and his words abiding in us. Abiding in Jesus and Jehovah's love and having access to the Father in prayer  is conditional on us keeping the commandments.

 Ephesians 2:8-10 (KJV)

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

By grace, which is unmerited favor and divine influence (the power of God). We are saved by this grace through faith (conviction of the truth, belief). It is nothing of ourselves but rather a free gift from Jehovah God. Our works don't save us, this prevents us from being high minded. Our reliance is solely on God and his Son Jesus. It's through Christ that we then can become workers of good which his Father Jehovah ordained that we should walk in them. Grace + Faith = good works which results in law keeping.

 1 John 5:3 (KJV)

3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

The pulpit preachers of Christendom say that Jehovah's commandments are a bondage. In this, they do the work of Satan in maligning God's Royal Law. Here, John refutes the lies of apostate Christendom and equates the love of Jehovah with keeping the His commandments which are obviously the 10 given at Sinai written with his hands on tables of stone. If a Christian refuses to keep Jehovah's commandments including the Sabbath command, he does not truly love Jehovah.

John refutes the lies of sunday keeping pulpit preachers and declares firmly that Jehovah's commandments are not grevious. Next time a Christian says that the commandments are a burden go to this passage and show them where they are in error in thinking that. Clear Jehovah's name and extol the virtues of his eternal law.

 Romans 8:3-4 (KJV)

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

As we are imputed with Christ righteousness we then can keep the law the way he did. As Jesus fufilled the law by Magnifying it we also can fufill the law as Christ did. This fufilling of the law doesn't do away with it but rather makes it more full in how we live it out. Many of the religious leaders of Jesus day lived out the law in the flesh. Jesus lived out the law in the Spirit. We are to follow Jesus example in how we live out the law. Jesus never did away with the law but kept it how it was intended to be kept by being merciful, loyal and just. Jehovah sent his Son Jesus to die for us, that the law in us would be fufilled (lived out more fully). We are to exemplify the righteousness of the law in how we live. This is possible only in the Spirit after we have received Christ as our personal Saviour.

 Psalms 19:7-14 (ASV)

[7]The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul: The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple.[8]The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart: The commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes.[9]The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring for ever: The ordinances of Jehovah are true, [and] righteous altogether.[10]More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the droppings of the honeycomb.[11]Moreover by them is thy servant warned: In keeping them there is great reward.[12]Who can discern [his] errors? Clear thou me from hidden [faults].[13]Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous [sins]; Let them not have dominion over me: Then shall I be upright, And I shall be clear from great transgression.[14]Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in thy sight, O Jehovah, my rock, and my redeemer.

The psalmist here joys in Jehovah's law. He praises it. David was called a man after Jehovah's own heart and he is praised by many of the churches today as such. Yet many of these churches malign Jehovah's law and speak evil of it calling it a bondage. They fail to follow the example of the man who was after God's own heart. When we love and extol the virtues of Jehovah's law then we are like David who was a man after God's own heart.

David says that Jehovah's law is perfect and able to convert the soul. The law of God, in connection with accepting his Son as Saviour, is able to convert someone into the faith. The Royal Law of Jehovah is sure (established, verified, continuance) meaning it doesn't change. It makes wise the simple. This tells us that Jehovah's law is simple to understand and plain. Even those not well educated can understand the requirements of it. The law of Jehovah is righteous regardless of what the pulpit preachers claim. The judgments of God and his commandments and statutes are to be sought after as precious treasure.

If we do not allow sin to have dominion over us, we then are upright and innocent from transgression of the law. Remember sin is the transgression of the law (1 John  3:4). Those who malign God's law and especially his holy Sabbath are not men after his heart.