Post by Admin on Jun 5, 2024 22:57:35 GMT
Hypothesis: Is the Ten commandments founded upon Faith principles?
Introduction: So far in our journey of understanding Faith as a process, we have learned we must appropriate to ourselves the precious promises of God by faith. These are English word meanings that parallel Hebrew word meanings, as explained by our Hebrew English translator, Mrs White. She wrote as God told her to write, so they are actually messages of Hebrew written into another tongue. God has done this sort of thing twice already so the Gentiles may experience a refreshing and hear the words of the Lord.
Isa 28:11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
Here the Lord writes the Hebrew messages of salvation in another tongue for the Greeks of the Hellenized world the latter rain known as the New Testament went out in Greek word meanings.
Today again the Lord of Hebrew messages writes the messages again in the Universal language of English, as another tongue, so others may be refreshed by the Words of the Lord.
Readers will be surprised to learn this English language is derived from Ancient Hebrew letters. For example the first five letters, A,B, C, D and E all are founded by the first five letters of Ancient Hebrew picture word meanings. In fact all 26 letters of English trace their development directly and indirectly from Ancient Hebrew letters.
spiritualsprings.org/ss-1391.htm for more on this theme.
When you read the messages of the Lord in another tongue such as English as recorded by Ellen White, the prophetess, do not assume the English is the same as your vernacular. For the messages in English closely parallel the Hebrew word meanings.
Now let’s investigate if the Ten Commandments are principles of faith.
Discussion: Search for phrases with “ten commandments” && “faith”:-
EGW: “If you refuse to believe until every shadow of uncertainty and every possibility of doubt is removed, you will never believe. The doubt that demands perfect knowledge will never yield to faith. Faith rests upon evidence, not demonstration. The Lord requires us to obey the voice of duty, when there are other voices all around us urging us to pursue an opposite course. It requires earnest attention from us to distinguish the voice which speaks from God. We must resist and conquer inclination, and obey the voice of conscience without parleying or compromise, lest its promptings cease, and will and impulse control. {1SM 27.3}
“The word of the Lord comes to us all who have not resisted His Spirit by determining not to hear and obey. This voice is heard in warnings, in counsels, in reproof. It is the Lord’s message of light to His people. If we wait for louder calls or better opportunities, the light may be withdrawn, and we left in darkness.… {1SM 28.1}
“It pains me to say, my brethren, that your sinful neglect to walk in the light has enshrouded you in darkness. You may now be honest in not recognizing and obeying the light; the doubts you have entertained, your neglect to heed the requirements of God, have blinded your perception so that darkness is now to you light, and light is darkness. God has bidden you to go forward to perfection. Christianity is a religion of progress. Light from God is full and ample, waiting our demand upon it. Whatever blessings the Lord may give, He has an infinite supply beyond, an inexhaustible store from which we may draw. Skepticism may treat the sacred claims of the gospel with jests, scoffing, and denial. The spirit of worldliness may contaminate the many and control the few; the cause of God may hold its ground only by great exertion and continual sacrifice, yet it will triumph finally. {1SM 28.2}
ROB: Notice the sentences: If you refuse to have faith until every shadow of doubt is removed, you will never have faith. Faith is founded upon evidence, not demonstration.
Notice the English word “believe” is actually the Hebrew word “aman” a word related to faith, and means those who are “beginning the process of faith”, ie: “believing”.
EGW” Paul had prided himself upon his Pharisaical strictness; but after the revelation of Christ to him on the road to Damascus, the mission of the Saviour, and his own work in the conversion of the Gentiles, were plain to his mind; and he fully comprehended the difference between a living faith and a dead formalism. Paul still claimed to be one of the children of Abraham, and kept the ten commandments in letter and in spirit as faithfully as he had ever done before his conversion to Christianity. But he knew that the typical ceremonies must soon altogether cease, since that which they had shadowed forth had come to pass, and the light of the gospel was shedding its glory upon the Jewish religion, giving a new significance to its ancient rites. {LP 65.1
ROB: One can practice law keeping using pious human strength, that means nothing to God, and is termed dead formalism. In this kind of faith there is no appropriation of the powers of God to yourself.
EGW” Faith in Christ, and obedience to the law of ten commandments, were regarded as of minor importance. Division, heresy, and sensualism were rapidly gaining ground among the believers in Galatia. {LP 188.2
It is the duty of every faithful servant of God, to firmly and decidedly withstand these perverters of the faith, and to fearlessly expose their errors by the word of truth. {LP 192.2
When, through faith in Jesus Christ, man does according to the very best of his ability, and seeks to keep the way of the Lord by obedience to the Ten Commandments, the perfection of Christ is imputed to cover the transgression of the repentant and obedient soul.82 {FLB 85.6}
ROB: “Today as in the days of Acts, the church rapidly lost it’s first love and faith became a dying thing, because it is easier to keep the laws through pious human power and traditions, than to appropriate the powers of God to yourself through faith in His words.
EGW: “God calls for men,—for those who in His sight will be true. Reforms must be brought about in the churches. There is now great need of reinstating in the hearts of men and women an old-time reverence for the ten commandments. Through obedience to these commandments, humanity is to be sanctified, that the results of skepticism shall not be strengthened, but that the foundation of our faith shall be made manifest, and all the precepts of God’s holy law enforced. The realization of individual responsibility is to be awakened. Men are to remember that in order to be regarded as men by the Lord, their course of action must be just, pure, and true.17 {SD 194.2}
EGW” God has given in his word a mirror into which the sinner may look and discover the defects of his moral character. That mirror is the royal law of God, the ten commandments. We are to compare our character with the law of God, and if that law condemns us, if we are breaking any of its requirements, then our garments are defiled by sin; and all the efforts we may make in our own strength will not efface one stain, one spot of sin. We must go to Jesus, humble the heart before him, and confessing our sins, forsake them. We must cease to transgress the law of God, but exercise repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only one who can remove these defiled garments of sin, and clothe us in the robe of Christ’s righteousness. {YI August 18, 1886, par. 1}
ROB: The royal teachings known as the Ten Commandments function as a mirror, as well as the foundations of our faith. This dual function is important, but overly missed by most churches seeking salvation.
The crooked person tramples upon the precious promises of faith, for they are foolishness to him, so he transgresses the laws and is punished as a transgressor. Written in this language of negative restrictions, the wicked person judges his folly more easily and simply by gazing into the Mirror telling him plainly as his living is.
The straight person ignorantly misses the flows of power from the precious promises for the Ten Commandments are the foundation of his faith. His living is a relational one with a divine Saviour and His words of precious promises of power are appropriated to himself as his own through faith in this relational process of divinity with humanity. God enjoys His fruits replicated in the supporter of His words, and the witness of relational power, well done thy functional servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.
There is a crossing over point which the human moves from one position to another is explained by this verse of Paul:-
Ga 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
The teachings that bring us to our Saviour serve a functional purpose as a schoolmaster until we are ready to live in a relational way with our Saviour by faith in His words, the teachings become renewed as the foundation of our faith.
Ga 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Here we need to understand what teachings is Paul speaking about that are not of faith but of human working of doing. Since Israel thought their doing could be of pious human doings using human powers alone, God gave them human doing to do in His teachings.
Circumcision of the foreskin of male sexual appendage is one such teaching, a common concern in the days of Acts. Such a teaching could be done using human powers alone.
But what was this teaching pointing towards?
Ro 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
De 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
Here Paul explains the letters of the teachings require circumcision of the flesh, but only God could undergo the circumcision of your heart. The letter of the law refers to pious powers of human strength that means nothing to God and the spirit of the law refers to the divine powers of God in you doing His doings.
In human pious powers we walk before men circumcised with missing flesh. Does this missing flesh means anything to humans traditions and precepts? Or did the act of doing represent by faith the act of God removing the flesh of your heart? What things in your heart require painful removal? The Hebrew word “aven” comes to mind. There are epi-genetic propensities to missing that cause the flesh to be weakened by the former habits of sin, both in the human now and the parents before, for “aven” genetic potential is inherited.
spiritualsprings.org/ss-1076.htm for more.
When the advocates of the law of God plant their feet firmly upon its principles, showing that they are not merely loyal in name but loyal at heart, carrying out in their daily lives the spirit of God’s commandments, and exercising true benevolence to man, then will they have moral power to move the world. It is impossible for those who profess allegiance to the law of God, to correctly represent the principles of that sacred decalogue while slighting its holy injunctions to love our neighbor as ourselves. {T26 77.2}
The most eloquent sermon that can be preached upon the law of the ten commandments, is to do them. Obedience should be made a personal duty. Negligence of this duty is flagrant sin. God lays us under obligations not only to secure Heaven ourselves, but to feel it a binding duty to show others the way, and, through our care and disinterested love, to lead towards Christ those who come within the sphere of our influence. {T26 77.3}
The singular absence of principle that characterizes the lives of many professed Christians, is alarming. Their disregard of God’s law disheartens those who recognize its sacred claims, and operates to turn those from the truth who would otherwise accept it. {T26 78.1}
It is necessary for a proper knowledge of ourselves, to look into the mirror and there discover our own defects, and avail ourselves of the blood of Christ, the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, where we may wash our robes of character and remove the stains of sin. Many refuse to see their errors and correct them, they do not want a true knowledge of themselves. {T26 78.2}
ROB” Why doesn’t Ellen White speak of the ten commandments as precious promises we can do using faith in Jesus? because she refers to the crooked ones doing their pious human doings using human powers.
EGW: “Such a multitude was carried down in the wrong course, the few who abhorred the course dared not open their lips; the rebellion ran so high, [they] feared it would arouse a more fierce determination. They walked contrary to God. {Ms170-1904.14}
ROB” speaking of Mt Sinai experience, the people broke faith. And so go down a rabbit hole of human depravity. Hence the moral law has duality of function because there are TWO ways of doing, man’s doings using man’s pious powers alone, or God’s doing appropriated to the man via faith, because the man asked for this precious promise.
Women of Vision” But Paul was teaching that salvation was gained not by lawkeeping, either moral or ceremonial, but by faith. The beauty of this concept as presented by Jones and Waggoner and sustained by Ellen White at Minneapolis thrilled most of the hearers, and they went forth to spread it to the churches. {WV 256.9
ROB: No where does Ellen White speak of the ten commandments as precious promises of faith? Written in their present state of negative restrictions, the royal teachings function first as The Mirror, for transgressors. Only after the mirror functions as your tutor or schoolmaster bringing you to your SAVIOUR, does the Ten Commandments function differently as the foundation of our faith.
In fact a mirror is a medium affect, a process of the image entering and leaving media, and becoming to the one looking, a medium affect.
spiritualsprings.org/ss-1033.htm for more.
EGW” Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me: for there is no Saviour beside me.” {GCB July 1, 1900, par. 29}
“O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.” “Return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously.... I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon... Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.” {GCB July 1, 1900, par. 30}
The Lord is infinitely merciful and
gracious. He is waiting for us to repent and turn to him with humble
confession, saying, We will take thy way, O Lord; we will no longer walk
in the way of our own counsels. Have mercy on us and save us and those
who have erred in following a path not cast up for the ransomed of the
Lord. {GCB July 1, 1900, par. 31}
The time has come for the renunciation of all self-confidence. The time has come to follow the Lord’s way. He has given instruction for all who will be guided by him, who have faith in his word, and courage to go forward. God calls upon those who have walked in paths of their own choosing to return to him. “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” {GCB July 1, 1900, par. 32}
ROB” Ellen White quotes the verses correctly and add we must go forward in faith in His word. Notice she adds Bible verses together correctly showing the renewed royal teachings as the foundation of our faith.
EGW: "The Lord has precious promises in this life for those who keep His law. He says, “My son, forget not My law; but let thine heart keep My commandments: for length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: so shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.” Proverbs 3:1-4. {CT 63.1}
ROB:” Notice Mrs White quotes Proverbs 3:1 to 4 calling them as precious promises. Such a statement is also saying the commandments are precious promises !
EGW: "But there are many precious promises on record for those who seek the Saviour early. Wisdom calls to the sons of men, “I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me.” Proverbs 8:17. {CT 330.1
EGW: "Those who trust wholly in the righteousness of Christ, looking to Him in living faith, know the Spirit of Christ and are known of Christ. Simple faith enables the believer to reckon himself dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are saved by grace through our faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. Should we try to unfold these precious promises to the worldly wise, they would but ridicule us; for “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). {FW 91.1}
When Jesus was about to ascend on high, He said to His disciples. “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:16, 17). Again He said, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (Verse 21). {FW 91.2}
ROB: Ellen White is speaking of living faith as a simple faith, the worldly wise will never understand, and she speaks of the commandments as precious promises of love.
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Search “ “precious promises” law"~10 will search phrase with law no further than 10 words apart from each other. 48 hits.
EGW: “Pray with heart and soul and voice, “O God, impress more deeply upon my mind and heart the principles of thy holy law, which is the transcript of thy character. Let me by faith grasp the exceeding great and precious promises, that I may not in my duty and work fail or be discouraged, but perfect holiness in thy fear.”—Letter 178, 1899, p. 9 (November 6, 1899). {ChL 19.1
God’s holy law is the only standard by which we can estimate divine affection. If we do not accept the law of God as our standard, we set up a standard of our own. God has given us precious promises of His love, but we are not to ascribe to Jehovah a tenderness that will lead Him to pass over guilt and wink at iniquity. {1SM 311.1}
EGW: "Only through faith in Christ is it possible for man to live the law. Man is not able to save himself, but the Son of God fights his battles for him, and places him on vantage-ground by giving him his divine attributes. And as man accepts the righteousness of Christ, he is a partaker of the divine nature. He may keep the commandments of God, and live. Says Peter: “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” {RH February 8, 1898, par. 12 (2Pe 1:4 )
ROB: Ellen White is describing the Ten Commandments as Precious Promises.
“timios” “epaggelma" Greek words in 2 Peter 1:4
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Search “ “ten commandments” faith"~10 will search phrase with faith no further than 10 words apart from each other. 92 hits.
EGW: “Before his conversion Paul had regarded himself as blameless “touching the righteousness which is in the law.” Philippians 3:6. But since his change of heart he had gained a clear conception of the mission of the Saviour as the Redeemer of the entire race, Gentile as well as Jew, and had learned the difference between a living faith and a dead formalism. In the light of the gospel the ancient rites and ceremonies committed to Israel had gained a new and deeper significance. That which they shadowed forth had come to pass, and those who were living under the gospel dispensation had been freed from their observance. God’s unchangeable law of Ten Commandments, however, Paul still kept in spirit as well as in letter. {AA 190.1}
EGW” By proclaiming the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel with His own voice, God demonstrated their importance. In awful grandeur He made known His majesty and authority as Ruler of the world. This He did to impress the people with the sacredness of His law and the importance of obeying it. The power and glory with which the law was given reveal its importance. It is the faith once delivered to the saints by Christ our Redeemer speaking from Sinai. {CH 358.2}
ROB:” Wow, Ellen White writes the ten commandments as a faith theme, spoken to us by Christ our Redeemer from Sinai.
EGW” When, through faith in Jesus Christ, man does according to the very best of his ability, and seeks to keep the way of the Lord by obedience to the ten commandments, the perfection of Christ is imputed to cover the transgression of the repentant and obedient soul. {FE 135.2}
ROB” Why does the faith process require obedience as a part of this process?
EGW:” The death of Christ did not destroy the law of his Father; but magnified and honored it, and enforces obedience to all its holy precepts. Had the church remained pure and steadfast, Satan could not have deceived them, and led them to trample on the law of God. In this bold plan, Satan strikes directly against the foundation of God’s government in heaven and on earth. His rebellion caused him to be expelled from heaven. After he rebelled, in order to save himself, he wished God to change his law; but God told Satan, before the whole heavenly host, that his law was unalterable. Satan knows that if he can cause others to violate God’s law he is sure of them; for every transgressor of his law must die. {1SG 110.1
ROB:"God cannot change His laws because these are principles of faith and thus is a process of GOD empowering creatures with his live ongoing powers. The laws are not mere letters of natural forces, but a process of divine relationship via the free will of intelligence creatures seeking His will.
EGW: "In the parable, Christ exalts the Samaritan above the priest and the Levite, who were great sticklers for the letter of the law in the ten commandments. The one obeyed the spirit of these commandments, while the other was content to express an exalted faith in them. But the apostle tells us that “faith without works is dead.” {BEcho December 1, 1886, par. 7}
When the advocates of the law of God plant their feet firmly on its principles, showing that they are loyal, not merely in name, but at heart also, carrying out in their lives the spirit of the law of God, and exercising true benevolence to man, then will they have moral power to move the world. But it is impossible for those who profess allegiance to God to correctly represent the principles of his law, while slighting the injunction to love our neighbor as ourselves. {BEcho December 1, 1886, par. 8}
ROB:"Pious law keeping to its letters are a pious flow of human power, that means nothing to God. God requires the humans to allow God’s power to flow through them because they ask through faith to appropriate the ten commandments of love to themselves.
EGW:"The Ten Commandments, Thou shalt, and Thou shalt not, are ten promises, assured to us if we render obedience to the law governing the universe. “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15.87 {FLB 86.6
EGW: "Many who claim to believe and to teach the gospel ... set aside the Old Testament Scriptures, of which Christ declared, “They are they which testify of me.” John 5:39. In rejecting the Old, they virtually reject the New; for both are parts of an inseparable whole. No man can rightly present the law of God without the gospel, or the gospel without the law. The law is the gospel embodied, and the gospel is the law unfolded. The law is the root, the gospel is the fragrant blossom and fruit which it bears.98 {FLB 88.7
He who proclaimed the law from Sinai, and delivered to Moses the precepts of the ritual law, is the same that spoke the sermon on the mount.... The teacher is the same in both dispensations.
ROB:” Where does Scripture proclaim this?
Hosea 6:3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD (YHWH) : his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
Jesus is YHWH, His latter rain is the following of His former rain. He is YHWH of both teachings. Therefore the same YHWH must have taught mankind both the OT and NT.
EGW: "There is now great need of reinstating in the hearts of men and women an old-time reverence for the ten commandments. Through obedience to these commandments, humanity is to be sanctified, that the results of skepticism shall not be strengthened, but that the foundation of our faith shall be made manifest, and all the precepts of God’s holy law enforced. The realization of individual responsibility is to be awakened. Men are to remember that in order to be regarded as men by the Lord, their course of action must be just, pure, and true.17 {SD 194.2}
EGW: "The Lord would have the subjects of His kingdom represent the character of their Sovereign. His commandments are not left for man to trim down to suit his ideas or his convenience. God’s great moral standard is His ten precepts, the foundation of the faith of prophets and apostles. The Sabbath is the great test question, and He has made precious promises to those who keep His Sabbath from polluting it. His infinite wisdom and power and love are engaged in our behalf. The heavenly host are registering our names as among the loyal and the true. It is safe always to be on the Lord’s side, and by faith to commit our whole interest, temporal and eternal, into the hands of Him who reigns over all in heaven and on earth. {2MR 119.2}
ROB:” Obey is in Hebrew “shama”, to “hear intelligently”.
GC 455.3 (The Great Controversy)
... . God works through those who hear and obey His voice, those who ...
(Life Sketches of Ellen G. White)
... different places, I hope to hear and obey His voice
2SM 488.1 (Selected Messages Book 2)
... themselves to Christ, whoever hear the truth and obey it, become children of one family
7BC 943.3 (EGW SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7)
... overcome. Those who hear His voice and obey His commandments are enabled ..
ROB” I am amazed how closely her messages in English are the same as the Hebrew word meanings. God is translating His Hebrew messages into English.
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Conclusion: The Ten Commandment teachings function as a Mirror of condemnations for the crooked humans who trample on the royal teachings.
The straight humans see the Ten Commandment teachings function as the foundation of our faith in our Saviour, who also upheld His Father’s commandments and lived under it’s powers by faith. We appropriate His powers through faith in the Ten Precious Promises.
Ex 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Where in this commandment written is a precious promise of faith?
Ho 13:4 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.
What is there in a sinless domain that requires creatures to seek this precious promise for a Saviour? What rescuing is required by the Divine in a sinless world?
Let us go to a cherub who once lived perfectly until he sinned:-
Eze 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
The word “iniquity” is the Hebrew word “aval” in Ancient Hebrew reads “The twisting secured Authority” . Notice the twisting letter is now lost in Modern Hebrew but was once present in Ancient Hebrew letters, according to Jeff Benner from Ancient Hebrew research center website. Something is happening inside the mind of the sinless cherub causing a twisting of God’s words.
Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Here the term “chet” is the noun form of “chata” the verb form, meaning to miss.
So the action of missing becomes complete as a “sin” there is a struggle inside the “reasoning centre” of the creatures mind.
This struggle has to be a breaking of faith first in our Saviour who promises to rescue us from this twisting authority of self.
Therefore the Saviour promises to rescue you from self authority. And therefore there is no other “elohiym power” apart from our Saviour.
1) Rescue me from “self powers” O Lord Jesus.
Where else in the Bible full of poetry is this described as a simile for lay people to understand easily?
The Prayer of David number 23:1 - The LORD is my shepherd;
A shepherd knows all his sheep by name, and calls them only when it is necessary to change the free will of His sheep, when in danger. Apart from this the sheep is freely able to do as it pleases His Shepherd and experience the joy of communion with other sheep activities.
Do the readers catch the daily freedom of the sheep under the Saviour guidance?
1) I am your Saviour.
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Ex 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or 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 to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
What is a graven image, that humans serve and bow down to? Technology. A word describing man changing nature in order to live under our own doings within nature.
For example when Adam broke faith and sinned, He manufactured leaves using technology to cover over his nakedness when the Holy Spirit covering shrank about him.
Where is this stated simply as a precious promise?
Psalm 23: 1 I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters
Simply put, Our Saviour is our provider.
We can go about mourning the things we have lost, such as our lost covering over our naked bodies, or we can claim the precious promise, Lord provide for us.
This word meaning of “ab” is mistranslated as “father”.
Song 6:11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits “ ab” of the valley,
Ge 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father “ab” and his mother, ...
What English word specifically can mean “fruit” and “father” but cannot mean both for all contexts?
The answer is “provider”. A provider can be a father. A Provider can be a fruit. But a fruit cannot be a father. Sadly there are scholars out there that words have multiple meanings.
Hebrew words have broad meanings, single basic meanings that are broad in nature.
2 Therefore, God is our provider.
That means GOD is the provider of all things, including your capacity to love, and provide you powers to love. If your wife is not responding to your love, it is because your love is not providing. So ask GOD to provide. Fruit is the filling of excessive love stored for sharing. If there is no fruit, it is because your providing love is not excessive or is selfish.
Where is this precious promise explained simply?
Lu 7:44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Lu 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
2 Lord give me attitude of gratitude.
One of the most fundamental precious promises is the restoration of our lost covering.
2 O Lord be my Provider.
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Ex 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Words have power, promise precious promises of divinity. Most people speak like an empty storm, all bang and thunder but no rain. Vanity. Powerless.
Most people pray using their own words that have no promises embedded in them .
However GOD has words as precious promises that have divine powers flowing into you via faith.
Take with you his takings of His words, praying to Him in His Grace and you will find He will break open the precious promises of His power and fill you with his fruits of doing in you. (Hosea 14:2)
3 Let your words be spoken O Lord, not mine.
3 Let me speak Your words of power.
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Ex 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Here we have the precious promise of ceasing-day. Does this mean we spend each week an entire day of ceasing from all things?
No. We have six days to do our own work of business and the ceasing day is a special day to do work of an entirely different nature. What work is this? It is the work or joy of sharing the fruits of His faith filled in you with others and with God.
The key to this commandment is the word “rested”.
“Over the nations, secure, outside” in two actions, the verb and noun form.
Es 9:18 But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. (KJV)
So our resting is completed when we have joy and feasting over the LORD
De 12:10 The LORD giveth you rest from all your enemies (KJV)
These enemies can be other Opposers, or The Opposer, or things that oppose you such as ill health, depression, guilt and slavery to sin, our biggest enemy.
GOD rescues us out of the house of bondage, to rest. We spend a whole ceasing-day being joyous and feasting in the Lord.
EGW: "And all this that man might be uplifted from the ruin and degradation of sin that he might reflect the love of God and share the joy of holiness.—Steps to Christ, 14. {Hvn 73.1
EGW: "He (Jesus) loves you, and it is better to share His love than to sit with princes and be separated from Him.... {OFC 29.2}
EGW: "Through faith we may be wholly one with Christ; we may have our entire soul, body, and spirit bound up with Christ in God, so that we shall share in the very same love wherewith Christ is loved by the Father. {Lt 102, 1894, par. 22}
Where is this written in the moral laws of God?
Ge 2:1 ¶ Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested “ceased” on the seventh day from all his work which he had made
Why did GOD cease on ceasing-day making it a special day?
Ex 31:17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested "ceased” , and was refreshed “energised”.
The word "naphash” comes in two forms, verb and noun. Here is the verb form, and the noun form means “living-energy” the completed form of having energy expressed as a “soul” a fuzzy translation of this word.
So GOD who is “living energy” made and formed from matter, “living energy” in His image, so that on ceasing day, God could cease and become energised by the fellowship with these new “living energies” termed Adam and Eve.
So ceasing-day is a day of energising and experiencing the joy of redemption in our Mediator who we have faith is, will rescue us from our enemies. We share this love because He first loved us, and love is relational.
4 Lord energise me with your love. Let me experience the joy of sharing you.
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Ex 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
If a father is a Provider, a mother is a Responder of His love. And Adam and Eve first communion was on their first ceasing-day was to their Divine Parents.
EGW: "Happy are the parents whose lives are a true reflection of the divine, so that the promises and commands of God awaken in the child gratitude and reverence; the parents whose tenderness and justice and long-suffering interpret to the child the love and justice and long-suffering of God; and who, by teaching the child to love and trust and obey them, are teaching him to love and trust and obey his Father in heaven. {CG 480.4}
EGW: "Let parents do their duty to those who are dependent upon them, and fashion their characters after the divine Pattern. Let parents, with living faith and entire reliance upon God, do the part assigned them, and God will do His part, ...{CSW 50.1}
EGW: "The heavenly Parent is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children. {YRP 284.3}
ROB: Why does Ellen White term the Father a heavenly Parent, if the Divine Powers of GOD are not Divine Parents? Clearly they are.
Where does the Scriptures declare this for lay people to read this idea easily?
Ge 49:25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
Both the Provider (ab) and the Responder (Shadday) are written here with “breasts” and a “compassion-centre”.
Ps 22:10 I was cast upon thee from the womb “compassion-centre”: thou art my God from my mother's belly. (KJV)
ROB” Who is the “Strong Authority” (God) here from my mother’s belly? Translated correctly by the King James Version.
Ho 4:19 The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. (KJV)
ROB “wind” here is “ruwach”, the medium or Holy Spirit. Notice the term “her wings”.
EGW: "The Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the earth. When the angel of mercy folds her wings and departs, Satan will do the evil deeds he has long wished to do. {TMK 355.2
5 Respect providers and responders of love.
Many will not know there are two Hebrew words for love, not one as in English.
He went to love her with his love, is a good example of these two forms of love.
Love is relational , hence why there are two personalities of love, the provider and responder of each creature kind.
Inside the man “adam” was 24 chromosome’s of sacred words describing all the functions of this creature to become living energy. Billions and billions of sacred letters packaged onto the DNA structure. This set was allowed to be expressed the Provider love as a gender male “adam-kind”. But the creature felt lonely and his loving was not completed.
So making another set is allowed, and this does not make two independent humans, it could have technically make a clone, but GOD chose to switch off some expressions and doubly switch on other expressions, so the Responder to Providing love was complete and presented to the man. This is why the two personalities of loving are considered cardinally one and functionally one, because the circuit of loving is complete.
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Ex 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.
No ratsach. No wounding.
The Hebrew word “harag” means to kill, but the Hebrew word "ratsach” is much more broader, meaning no wounding. No bullying, no pulling down others, and always allowing others an opportunity to seek His Salvation.
The opposite of wounding is living.
The way of living is via faith, appropriating the vital life force to ourselves via faith in God. Many spurn this function and out of God grace and kindness we are allowed living for a probationary time.
6 Respect life.
6 Promote faith.
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Ex 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery
No na'aph.
What does na'aph mean?
Jer 2:24 A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.
25 Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.
26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets,
27 Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
28 But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
29 ¶ Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.
30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
31 O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?
32 Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
33 Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
34 Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.
35 Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.
36 Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
37 Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
(KJV)
Jer 3:1 ¶ They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
5 Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.
6 ¶ The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
ROB: Here in this long poetry discourse is many themes about "na'aph”. In broad terms the word means “biological urges” and can become the fruit of many vices.
To those who think in the Christian marriage, my wife does not give me enough sex when I need this relieving, “I am too tired, you embarrassed me, my back aches - or such excuses” so the Christian husband resorts to masturbation as a way to release the biological urges that accumulate over cycles within the body.
There is a precious promise found with this love principle:-
God is able to remove your biological urge and make all other vices go away. Claim this precious promise and appropriate His powers within yourself through faith.
7 No urges. No biological urge.
The more specific vices such as lusting, porn, fornication, self-abuse and adultery are all vices going down this rabbit hole of depravity. Simply ask Jesus to take away your biological urge and experience the freedom from the house of bondage.
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8 Ex 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.
No ganab. What does ganab mean?
Ge 31:20 And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.
ROB: “The act of stealing away a persons respect is the meaning also of “ganab”.
Word comes in two forms, the verb and noun form, having the same basic meaning.
English words like “robbing/robber” come to mind.
or “stealing/stealer” some might prefer thief.
“Walking over the nations (at) home”
Job 24:14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
ROB: The one who wounds others is a simile of a robber or thief.
Ps 50:8 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.
ROB: A robber is a simile of those who do adultery - they steal away your character.
The Lord has not answered my questions here? What is the difference to desire things more than to satisfy family hunger? Or to borrow things and but not return them? Why do some gamble away the Lord’s property granted unto them? What about those who cheat others and deceive them by fraud? What about natural depravity caused by the natural laws of dysfunction allowing the sacred words in our DNA to be corrupted over time? How do we go about respecting the Lord’s material world and be a good steward preserving it functionally?
I notice a garden is in Ancient Hebrew “Walking over the nations” and an adopted root for this foundation root is “Walking over the nations (at) home” is the dysfunctional term to spoil the garden GOD has provided for you.
Le 19:11 ¶ Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.
12 And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
13 Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
14 Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.
15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor,
ROB” These are all judgements from those who spoil the “gardens” people have been given as stewards by the Lord God.
Pr 30:9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
ROB:"Notice the balance here between stealing and being too full, thus becoming selfish.
Jer 7:9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
ROB: If GOD gives us a GARDEN, so you can “walk among the nations of others” you are to honour, care and protect your sacred duty as a functional steward of God’s garden.
Not allow other masters to master over you, not allow others to spoil your Garden, not seek other Strong Authorities who spoil the Garden with dysfunctions.
Jer 23:30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
Stealing the Lord’s words and pretending to know them fully, is spoiling the Garden of God’s Sacred Words, and destroying the process of faith that is relational.
Ho 4:2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.
5 Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.
6 ¶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
ROB: “There are many things in this passage about spoiling God’s Garden. Swearing, lying, killing, stealing, animal urges, disrespecting life, are all examples of spoiling God’s Garden, that even the soil the Garden is a foundation to, mourns. Who is the Mother here? It would be both Mother Earth, and the Holy Spirit, who is the Mother of all living.
The people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge and thus the process of faith is forgotten.
There are many precious promises from this, where and how does one condense this to a single precious promise covering over all these aspects?
So how is your “walking among the nations (at) home” ?
Are you a dysfunctional spoiler or a functional steward?
Ob 1:5 If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?
ROB” How interesting. If the grape-stealers come to steal your grapes, do they spoil everything or just take some?
Ge 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Here is the precious promise the Lord gave man to do regarding His Garden given to Man.
In fact when man sinned, GOD took His very Garden back to heaven so that the Garden would not be spoiled by stealers that spoil. The cities around the Garden such as Sodom is a good example of what stealers do when fully dysfunctional.
EGW: "The first moral lesson given to Adam was that of self-denial. The reins of self-government were placed in his hands. Judgment, reason, and conscience were to bear sway. “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” {Con 12.2}
ROB: “So stealer’s steal because they deny self as a Strong Authority and allow dysfunction to rule over them and spoil God’s Garden granted to them.
EGW: "A portion of their time was to be occupied in the happy employment of dressing the garden,.... This beautiful garden was to be their home. {CC 12.2
It was the happy labor of Adam and Eve to form beautiful bowers from the branches of the vine and train them, forming dwellings of nature’s beautiful, living trees and foliage, laden with fragrant fruit.8 {CC 12.3
8 Be my functional steward of the Garden I have given you.
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9 Ex 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
The Hebrew word “ed” means in Ancient Hebrew “Seeing (through the) door” translated as “witness”.
EGW: "This is most assuredly the witness of the Spirit.... “If ye keep my commandments”—from the heart—“ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love” (John 15:10). {HP 144.3}
Those who are obedient to the will of God will not have a hard and miserable time in this life. Hear again the words of Christ: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (verse 11). This is the witness which it is the privilege of all to have—the joy of Christ in the soul through appropriating the word of God ... and bringing the requirements of Christ into the practical life. There is full assurance of hope in believing every word of Christ, believing in Him, being united to Him by living faith. When this is his experience, the human being is no longer under the law, for the law no longer condemns his course of action.... {HP 144.4}
ROB:” The one who has faith in Jesus and appropriates the principles of love in the Ten Words, find they are no longer under the law, for the law no longer condemns, but empowers the one through faith. We are witnesses of this practical faith in action.
9 Let my faith be a true witness for you O Lord.
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10 Ex 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
The key word here is “desire” translated here as “covet”.
Ge 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant “desired” to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
God designed many functional things for us to desire.
Pr 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight “desire” in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Pr 6:25 Lust “Desire” not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should “desire” him (Translated correctly)
10 O Lord let me “desire” You.
The first four faith promises collect your powers from GOD
The last six faith promises respond to this love received by faith
Faith is relational, as God is relational and His powers of love are based on communal love
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Summary of Ten Words as precious promises of faith
1 My Saviour, saves me from self will.
2 Be my Provider
3 Your words be spoken though me
4 Energise me: Let me share Your love of Faithfulness
5 Faith honours my Provider and Responder as my Communal Lord
6 Faith promotes living but does not wound
7 Faith controls urges and builds relationships
8 Faith understands all things come from God: I am His steward
9 Faith is a true witness
10 Faith desires first the Divine.
Shalom