When
God's Finger Writes
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Welcome to this new Bible lesson! Let us pray together:
Our Father in heaven,
In a previous lesson, You have shown us in Your Word that there is a judgment in which our
thoughts, words and actions will be examined.
We have also learned that Your Law will be the standard for this judgment. This is why we
now wish to deepen our knowledge of Your Law.
Please grant us Your presence, so that our spirit and our heart may be opened to the truth
You want to show us today.
In the name of Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.
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Genesis 2:16,17
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
«Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.»
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From the very beginning, man received from God precise instructions about the
things to do and not to do.
The aim of these laws was not to oppress man, but rather to show him the only way to
happiness.
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Romans 5:12
Through one man sin entered the world.
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1 John 3:4
Sin is lawlessness.
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Romans 4:15
For where there is no law there is no transgression.
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Choosing to disobey God's law, Adam became a sinner, thus separating himself
from God.
If there had been no law in Adam's time, he could not have been judged as a sinner, in
other words, a transgressor of God's law.
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Genesis 26:5
[The Lord said,]
«Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.»
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Kept by Adam and Eve, the commandments of God were thereafter taught from
generation to generation.
We can see that, centuries later, Abraham knew these commandments well, and obeyed them.
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Exodus 1:13,14
So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with
rigor.
And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage - in mortar, in brick, and in all
manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with
rigor.
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Exodus 12:40
Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in
Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
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Thereafter, the Israelites were reduced to slavery for the better part of four
centuries.
After their liberation from bondage to the Egyptians, God considered it advisable to give
them His law once again, solemnly...
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Exodus 19:16,18
There were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud
on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who
were in the camp trembled. (...)
Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire.
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Hebrews 12:21
So terrifying was the sight that Moses said,
«I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.»
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The proclamation of the law was an unforgettable demonstration of power.
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Exodus 34:28
[The Lord] wrote on the tablets the words of the
covenant, the Ten Commandments.
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Deuteronomy 4:13
[The Lord] declared to you His covenant which He
commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets
of stone.
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The text of the law, that is, the Ten Commandments, was written on two tablets
of stone.
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Exodus 31:18
And when [the Lord] had made an end of speaking with him
on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with
the finger of God.
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Exodus 32:16
Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was
the writing of God engraved on the tablets.
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The Ten Commandments were of such a great importance in the eyes of God that He
decided to write them Himself, with His own finger!
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Exodus 20:1,2
God spoke all these words, saying,
«I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage.»
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Thus begins the text of the law.
Let's see what each one of God's Ten Commandments consists of.
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First Commandment: Exodus 20:3
You shall have no other gods before Me.
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Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the
one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
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The first Commandment asserts that there is only one God: the Lord, Author of
the law.
Any worship given to another than the Lord is given to Satan, «the
god of this age» (2 Corinthians 4:4), the only other spiritual power working here
below.
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Second Commandment (Part I): Exodus 20:4
You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any
likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is
in the water under the earth.
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1 John 5:21
Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
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The second Commandment strictly forbids any and all forms of idolatry, even the
worship of God in the form of images or statues.
God wants to lift up our thoughts directly to Him, without the intermediary of any image.
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Second Commandment (Part II): Exodus 20:5,6
You shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to
thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
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Let's note that anything taking priority over God in our life is also an idol:
it may be our work, our money, our family, our friends, our hobbies, etc.
God must come first, before and above all things.
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Third Commandment: Exodus 20:7
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,
for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
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Romans 2:23,24
You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God
through breaking the law?
For «the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,» as it is written.
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The Christian, when setting a bad example around him, also commits a form of
blasphemy by taking the name of the Lord his God in vain.
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Fourth Commandment (Part I): Exodus 20:8-10
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the
Lord your God.
In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor
your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
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The first four commandments summarize our duty towards God.
In the fourth commandment, God asks us to remember the seventh day, the Sabbath, to keep
it holy by doing no secular work on that day.
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Fourth Commandment (Part II): Exodus 20:11
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,
the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.
Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
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Genesis 2:3
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,
because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
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The institution of the seventh day as the day of rest goes back to Creation.
We will return to this subject in a future lesson.
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Fifth Commandment: Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be
long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
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Ephesians 6:1-3
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is
right.
«Honor your father and mother,» which is the first commandment with promise: «that it
may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.»
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The last six commandments summarize our duty towards our neighbor.
First, respect of parental authority, leading the child to trust the Lord.
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Sixth Commandment: Exodus 20:13
You shall not murder.
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1 John 3:15
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know
that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
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The sixth commandment goes farther than murder: it also implies the respect of
life, the negation of war, crime and suicide.
All demonstrations of hatred, all obstacles to the liberty of one's neighbor, all
underminings of others' integrity, are condemned.
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Seventh Commandment: Exodus 20:14
You shall not commit adultery.
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Matthew 5:28
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust
for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
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Here again, the commandment goes farther than it seems at first glance: indeed,
simple lust of the eyes is a transgression of God's law.
God therefore asks us to learn to control not only our deeds, but also our thoughts,
through His power working within us.
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Eighth Commandment: Exodus 20:15
You shall not steal.
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Ephesians 4:28
Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him
labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has
need.
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Any breach of others' property goes against the eighth commandment.
We must earn what we need through conscientious and honest work.
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Ninth Commandment: Exodus 20:16
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
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Zechariah 8:16,17
«These are the things you shall do: Speak each man the
truth to his neighbor; give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace; let none
of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor; and do not love a false oath.
For all these are things that I hate,» says the Lord.
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Lies and gossip cannot serve God's cause.
The word must be a tool for edification, and the Christian, a servant of the truth.
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Tenth Commandment: Exodus 20:17
You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not
covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his
donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
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1 John 2:17
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he
who does the will of God abides forever.
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Covetousness, the root of all kinds of evil, led Adam and Eve to disobey God.
Today, it still leads millions of people into perdition.
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Romans 13:8-10
He who loves another has fulfilled the law.
For the commandments, «You shall not commit adultery,» «You shall not murder,» «You
shall not steal,» «You shall not bear false witness,» «You shall not covet,» and if
there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely,
«You shall love your neighbor as yourself.»
Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
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Let's remember: the first four commandments summarize our duty towards God, and
the last six, our duty towards our neighbor.
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Matthew 22:36-40
«Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?»
Jesus said to him,
«"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your mind." This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.»
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Obedience to the first four commandments demonstrates our love for God.
Obedience to the last six commandments demonstrates our love for our neighbor.
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John 14:15
[Jesus said,] «If you love Me, keep My commandments.»
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1 John 5:3,4
For this is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.
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God wants to give us the power we need to keep His commandments.
If we love Him, we will let Him work within us: and soon, keeping His commandments will be
for us a delight, and no longer a burden.
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Psalm 119 teaches us that following God's
law brings happiness:
«Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your
law.» (PSALM 119:18)
«Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it.» (PSALM 119:35)
«I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love.» (PSALM 119:47)
«Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.» (PSALM 119:97)
«Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, yet Your commandments are my delights.» (PSALM
119:143)
«Great peace have those who love Your law.» (PSALM 119:165)
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Deuteronomy 4:2
You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor
take anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I
command you.
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Job 23:12
I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I
have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
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As we will see in a future lesson, men have often tried to modify the text of
the ten commandments, a move strictly forbidden by God.
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Matthew 5:18,19
For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass
away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall
be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
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Jesus has made it clear: no one has the right to change a single commandment in
order to adapt the text of God's law to the customs of society!
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Deuteronomy 5:29
Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would
fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with
their children forever!
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Ecclesiastes 12:13,14
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God
and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is
good or whether it is evil.
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God's law shows us the only way to happiness.
The choice to obey is ours, knowing that, one day, we will all reap the consequences of
our choices.
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Let's give thanks to God for His guidance:
Our Father,
There are so many people claiming to love You. However, You declared that those who truly
love You will keep Your commandments.
We know that Your ten commandments are as beacons You have placed on our road, not to
bother us, but to show us the way to happiness.
This is why we humbly ask You to grant us Your Holy Spirit, so that we may receive the
power we need to obey You, to follow Your commandments, for without You we can do nothing.
In Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The test of Lesson 28 is waiting for you!