March 11 – Exodus 20
The supreme test of love is the desire and effort to please the one loved, and this is measured by conformity to his known wishes. Love to God is expressed by obedience to His will. Only One has perfectly exemplified this, and of Him it is written, "I delight to do Your will, O My God; Your law is within My heart" (Ps. 40:8). But we ought to walk even as He walked (1 John 2:6). Simple but revealing is that word of His, "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me" (John 14:21). And again it is written, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:2-3). The "waning" of love, then, means departing from and failing to keep God’s commandments!
Now it is of first importance that we obtain a Scriptural view of the nature of the Law. The very fact that it is the law of God should show us that it cannot contain anything unfavorable to man’s welfare. Like everything else that God has given, the Law is an expression of His love, a manifestation of His mercy, a provision of His grace. The Law of the Lord was Christ’s delight (Ps. 1:2); so also was it the apostle Paul’s (Rom. 7:22). In Romans 7, the Holy Spirit has expressly affirmed, "So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good" (v. 12). How terrible then for men to despise the Law and speak evil of it! Above, we have said that the Law expressed God’s love. This comes out clearly in Deuteronomy 33: "The Lord came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; at His right hand there was flashing lightning for them. Indeed, He LOVES the people" (vv. 2-3). Love is the fulfilling of the law from the human side and love provided the Law from the Divine side. What then should be our response to such a Law? Surely that of David: "O how love I Your Law! It is my meditation all the day" (Ps. 119:97).
In the previous chapters we have witnessed God dealing in marvelous grace with Israel, bearing with them in tender patience, supplying their every need. But now the point has been reached when they must be taught that God has righteous claims upon them and that His Throne must be established over them. His will is supreme and must be made the regulator of their lives, and that as His redeemed they were under the deepest possible obligations to fear, obey, and serve Him. Some act as though embracing or accepting the Ten Commandments somehow weakens His love for us. Obedience, and keeping the commandments of one we love, is the proof of that love, and the delight of the new nature. God knows that if we follow His commandments that our lives will be most blessed, peaceful, and fulfilling. He made us and knows how best we operate.
Quickly, the order of the Commandments is significant. The first four concern human responsibility toward God; the last five our obligations toward man; while the fifth suitably bridges the two, for in a certain sense parents should occupy for their children the place of God.