Three words remind us that God once gave a law. He wasn’t afraid to cut straight across men’s and women’s natural bent and say, “No, no! . . . Thou halt not . . .”
The first four of the Ten Commandments straighten us out concerning our relationship to God. The last six teach us how to relate to each other. After the fifth commandment: “Honour thy father and thy mother’ the remaining five are all negative (Exodus 20):
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness . . .
10. Thou shalt not covet . . . any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
We offer them here again as a reminder that certain things do not change. God is still God. His standard is absolute. Jesus Christ died to offer us grace to live by His laws, not to offer a way to get around them. At the end of our short life span,every one of us will face God at the judgment. “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:12).
Western society is like a float with props of cardboard and tinsel being pulled along a predetermined route. It offers personal liberties ranging from mod and immodest dress, divorce and remarriage, to gay rights and abortion. To our myopic vision, it may seem that we’re the universe, and that God’s signposts are changing and irrelevant. But as surely as He let us get on the float, and as surely as He let us arrange the props, He will bring us to our predetermined appointment with Him at Judgment. Don’t ignore the signposts.
Our wagonload of non-values has served us a spectacle all the way from the White House to the lowest-class neighborhoods. Scenes of a nation on skids flick across the T.V. screen like soap operas.
We just passed the “Thou shalt not commit adultery ” sign again. Is there any way to get off this wagon? “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). There are eternal values to delight in. Things I once loved I now hate. Also old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.
-by Dallas Witmer