God Spoke These Divine Words-2 quotes

This third commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to communicate to Him or about Him, declaring that the people were not to “take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain”, and any who did would not be held guiltless. God’s followers were not to use His name in a light or frivolous manner in their communications, but when speaking to, or speaking or writing about Him, they were to respect and honor His name.

The Hebrew word for “name” used in this commandment is “shem” (Strong’s, word #8034), and it translates and means “a mark or memorial of individuality, character”. Thus the name God did not want His people to take in vain was not His literal name, but was His character – which was a mark or memorial of His individuality from all the other so-called gods.

As God’s name represents His character, then how could His people take His name or character in vain? The Hebrew word for “take” in this commandment is “nacah” (Strong’s, word #5375), and it translates and means “to lift, accept, advance, bear, carry, hold up, respect, wear”. And the Hebrew word for “vain” is “shav” (Strong’s, word #7723), which translates and means “deceptive, false, lying”. So instead of this third commandment only forbidding the irreverent usage of God’s literal name, it more importantly forbids His people from being deceptive, or false, or lying about His character.

God had separated His people from all of the other pagan nations, and brought them into a special covenant relationship with Himself. They were no longer to worship any pagan gods, nor were they to abide by pagan laws, practices, rules, rituals, etc. But now they were to worship only the Mighty Lord God, and were only to abide by His laws. In doing this, no longer would they develop characters resembling what was depicted of the pagan gods, but would instead develop characters resembling the living God. And it was this character of the living God that His people were to then take or accept or wear in their own lives. By doing this they would reveal before others that they had respect for God’s name because their very lives worked to advance, bear, carry, hold and lift up a correct representation of God’s true holy character.

But if their character was different than the true character of the living God whom they claimed to be followers of, then their lives would work instead to lift up or manifest a false representation of the true character of the living God to others. Thus by giving a false representation of God’s true character, while claiming to be a follower of God, they would be guilty of lying to and deceiving others, and thus guilty of taking the name of the Lord God in vain.

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 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: 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.” Exodus 20:8-11.

This fourth commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to spend their time during each day of the week. The Lord God Michael plainly told them that “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God”. Michael also revealed that this Sabbath commandment was not something newly created just for the Israelites to keep, but had been first established at creation because “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day”.

The first six days of the week were nothing more than common work days to be spent in earning a living and doing anything and everything else the people wanted or needed to get done. But the seventh day of the week was different: it was not a common day like all the rest. The seventh day was set aside to be a day of rest and worship to God because “the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hollowed it” after all His labor of creation those first six days. And just so that no one would forget this fact of truth, Michael began this fourth commandment of His covenant by plainly stating and even warning: “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy”!

“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking [thine own] words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it].” Isaiah 58:13-14.

3) The Sabbath day of the Lord God Michael was a special day between Him and His people which actually distinguished them from all pagan worshipers. Thus this Sabbath was actually a sign between God and His people – designating those that keep it holy to be a worshiper of the Lord God, and designating God to be the God and protector of those that keep it holy.

“Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I [am] the LORD that sanctify them....And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I [am] the LORD your God.” Ezekiel 20:12, 20.

The Sabbath day itself was a distinguishing sign or mark between God and His people who He had done so many marvelous things to deliver them from Egyptian slavery. While Sunday was itself the day which was a distinguishing sign or mark between Lucifer and His pagan followers. So the day of worship at that time indicated exactly which people were serving the Lord God and which were not – and the same today.

The fifth commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to respect and uphold authority by honoring “thy father and thy mother”, and in doing so He would bless them so they could live a long time in the promised land. Notice that God did not say to only honor your parents if they worshiped the same God you did, or if they treated you properly while growing up, or if they raised you without making any big mistakes or blunders. The Hebrew word for “honor” used here is “kabed”, which translates and means “to be heavy in a bad sense (burdensome, severe, dull) or in a good sense (numerous, rich, honorable), to be chargeable” (Strong’s, word #3513). Thus this commandment to honor our parents was not to be taken lightly, but was a very heavy or weighty responsibility.

All offspring were chargeable to honor, respect and care for their parents irregardless of whether their parents were rich and had ability to take care of themselves, or were poor and had become burdensome in their old age. They were chargeable to care for their parents whether they had been loving and numerous with their kindnesses, or had been very dull and unloving; whether they had indeed been honorable by properly and unselfishly raising their children, or had been too severe, demanding, and selfish.

5) When either our parents, or religious leaders, or civil and governmental leaders urge or command us to do something that God commands us not to do, or not to do something that God commands us to do, then “we ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29) in that issue. While we are still to respect our parents and other leaders since they are in positions of authority over us, yet when their laws or commands conflict with God’s laws and commands then we are instead to obey God first and foremost as He is the greatest authority. Whatever consequences we have to suffer, because of our polite yet firm disobedience of the commandments of men so that we can remain faithful to the commandments of God, we can safely trust God to help us bear and carry us through. This is because God promises that “them that honor me I will honor” (1 Samuel 2:30).

The sixth commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to respect and uphold life, declaring that they were not to kill any other person. Yet this commandment does not forbid all taking of life because then God Himself would be guilty of breaking His own law in regards to the flood killing all those who chose not to enter into the ark, as well as in the killing of many of the Egyptians throughout the plagues.

The Hebrew word for “kill” used here is “ratsach”, which translates and means “to murder” (Strong’s, word #7523), and murder means “the unlawful and malicious or premeditated killing of one human being by another” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, under word “murder”). This commandment does not forbid all killing, but it forbids all unlawful or unjustified killing or murdering of others.

The seventh commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to respect and uphold moral purity, declaring that adultery was not to be committed. So instead of God permitting His followers to give loose reign to their sexual passions like the pagans around them, He desired them to be morally pure by keeping their bodies and passions under the control of reason, and to reserve any and all sexual intimacy for their own married spouse.

Not only does this command apply to human relations with other humans, but it also applies to human relationships with God. The Hebrew word for “adultery” is “na’aph”, and it translates and means “to commit adultery, to apostatize” (Strong’s, word #5003), and to apostatize means to “abandon one’s faith” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, under word “apostatize”). All who have chosen to enter into a covenant agreement with God to keep His commandments have actually entered into a relationship between God and them – like a marriage contract between partners – with God promising to be their faithful God, and they promising to be His faithful people. If after entering into this covenant relationship with God, they should then choose not to live up to their agreement, would mean that they were no longer faithful in their relationship with God – their faithful Partner, and thus would be in apostasy or adultery against Him.

“Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.” But “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you...” Jeremiah 3:20, 14.

The eighth commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to respect and uphold the property rights and possessions of others, declaring that all stealing was prohibited. But it was not just the stealing of the actual property or possessions of another that this commandment alone forbids. The Hebrew word for “steal” is “ganab”, and it translates and means “to thieve, to deceive” (Strong’s, word #5003). Thus any and all deception, which actually steals away the truth from others, is also prohibited by this commandment.

The ninth commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to respect and uphold the truth, declaring that they were not to bear false witness against their neighbor. The Hebrew word for “false” is “sheqer”, and it translates and means “an untruth, a sham, falsehood, lie” (Strong’s, word #8267). The Hebrew word for “witness” is “ed”, and it translates and means “a witness, testimony, recorder” (Strong’s, word #5707). God prohibited His people from lying, telling untruths or spreading falsehoods under any conditions, whether they were a witness to some event, or were giving testimony about some person or group, or were writing and recording something about another. This meant that His people were to be very careful in all that they said or wrote about their neighbors.

But this restriction against all forms of lying included more than just the people living next door to you. The Hebrew word for “neighbour” is “reya”, and it translates and means “an associate whether close or not, a brother, companion, fellow, friend, husband, lover, neighbour, or another” (Strong’s, word #7453). This prohibition against all forms of lying and spreading falsehoods included every person that His people had any form of contact with – whether close or not. God did not care whether these people were family, or relatives, lovers, companions, friends, or associates. Nor did He care whether these people were close in relationship or very distant; whether they were known or were complete strangers; whether they were an Israelite, or from a different nation; whether they were of the same faith, religion, race, color or class distinction. This commandment prohibited all forms of lying and spreading of false information about anyone else without limitations or conditions.

This commandment did not just prohibit all forms of untruths and falsehoods being personally spoken, written, or otherwise provided by you against another, but it also prohibited listening to all falsehoods being told you about others! The Hebrew word for “bear” is “anah”, and it translates and means “to heed, pay attention, to testify, announce, hear, utter” (Strong’s, word #6030). So not only did this commandment prohibit God’s people from themselves bearing or uttering false information about another, but it also prohibited them from hearing or paying attention to false information being told them about another, and went even further in prohibiting them from giving heed to what they were told and then announcing or uttering it to others. Telling as well as listening to all forms of gossip, story telling, evil surmising and exaggerated statements about others were prohibited by this commandment.

“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.” Exodus 20:17.

The tenth commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to respect and uphold contentment with what He had already provided them with, declaring that they were not to covet their neighbor’s house, or his wife, servants, animals, or anything that he owned. In being content with whatever possessions you already have would eliminate envy and jealousy over the spouse, property or prosperity of others – no matter how beautiful and pleasing to eye all these things might be. This would elevate the trap of overspending or borrowing in order to “keep up with the Jones”, and then having to overwork in order to pay the bills that such selfish indulgence brought. This commandment was actually promoting economy and the need to live within one’s own means, and the contentment it brought was producing peace, rest, and health among God’s people.


	"LET THERE BE LIGHT" Ministries home \| Sermon Quotes GOD SPOKE THESE DIVINE WORDS, part 2 quotes 1) The third commandment of God is: “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.” Exodus 20:7. This third commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to communicate to Him or about Him, declaring that the people were not to “take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain”, and any who did would not be held guiltless. God’s followers were not to use His name in a light or frivolous manner in their communications, but when speaking to, or speaking or writing about Him, they were to respect and honor His name. The Hebrew word for “name” used in this commandment is “shem” (Strong’s, word #8034), and it translates and means “a mark or memorial of individuality, character”. Thus the name God did not want His people to take in vain was not His literal name, but was His character – which was a mark or memorial of His individuality from all the other so-called gods. As God’s name represents His character, then how could His people take His name or character in vain? The Hebrew word for “take” in this commandment is “nacah” (Strong’s, word #5375), and it translates and means “to lift, accept, advance, bear, carry, hold up, respect, wear”. And the Hebrew word for “vain” is “shav” (Strong’s, word #7723), which translates and means “deceptive, false, lying”. So instead of this third commandment only forbidding the irreverent usage of God’s literal name, it more importantly forbids His people from being deceptive, or false, or lying about His character. God had separated His people from all of the other pagan nations, and brought them into a special covenant relationship with Himself. They were no longer to worship any pagan gods, nor were they to abide by pagan laws, practices, rules, rituals, etc. But now they were to worship only the Mighty Lord God, and were only to abide by His laws. In doing this, no longer would they develop characters resembling what was depicted of the pagan gods, but would instead develop characters resembling the living God. And it was this character of the living God that His people were to then take or accept or wear in their own lives. By doing this they would reveal before others that they had respect for God’s name because their very lives worked to advance, bear, carry, hold and lift up a correct representation of God’s true holy character. But if their character was different than the true character of the living God whom they claimed to be followers of, then their lives would work instead to lift up or manifest a false representation of the true character of the living God to others. Thus by giving a false representation of God’s true character, while claiming to be a follower of God, they would be guilty of lying to and deceiving others, and thus guilty of taking the name of the Lord God in vain. 2) The fourth commandment of God is: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 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: 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.” Exodus 20:8-11. This fourth commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to spend their time during each day of the week. The Lord God Michael plainly told them that “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God”. Michael also revealed that this Sabbath commandment was not something newly created just for the Israelites to keep, but had been first established at creation because “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day”. The first six days of the week were nothing more than common work days to be spent in earning a living and doing anything and everything else the people wanted or needed to get done. But the seventh day of the week was different: it was not a common day like all the rest. The seventh day was set aside to be a day of rest and worship to God because “the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hollowed it” after all His labor of creation those first six days. And just so that no one would forget this fact of truth, Michael began this fourth commandment of His covenant by plainly stating and even warning: “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy”! This Sabbath day of God was a day which Michael chose as His holy day for all of His people to worship Him on. “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking [thine own] words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it].” Isaiah 58:13-14. 3) The Sabbath day of the Lord God Michael was a special day between Him and His people which actually distinguished them from all pagan worshipers. Thus this Sabbath was actually a sign between God and His people – designating those that keep it holy to be a worshiper of the Lord God, and designating God to be the God and protector of those that keep it holy. “Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it [is] a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that [ye] may know that I [am] the LORD that doth sanctify you.” Exodus 31:13. “Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I [am] the LORD that sanctify them....And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I [am] the LORD your God.” Ezekiel 20:12, 20. The Sabbath day itself was a distinguishing sign or mark between God and His people who He had done so many marvelous things to deliver them from Egyptian slavery. While Sunday was itself the day which was a distinguishing sign or mark between Lucifer and His pagan followers. So the day of worship at that time indicated exactly which people were serving the Lord God and which were not – and the same today. 4) The fifth commandment of God is: “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” Exodus 20:12. The fifth commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to respect and uphold authority by honoring “thy father and thy mother”, and in doing so He would bless them so they could live a long time in the promised land. Notice that God did not say to only honor your parents if they worshiped the same God you did, or if they treated you properly while growing up, or if they raised you without making any big mistakes or blunders. The Hebrew word for “honor” used here is “kabed”, which translates and means “to be heavy in a bad sense (burdensome, severe, dull) or in a good sense (numerous, rich, honorable), to be chargeable” (Strong’s, word #3513). Thus this commandment to honor our parents was not to be taken lightly, but was a very heavy or weighty responsibility. All offspring were chargeable to honor, respect and care for their parents irregardless of whether their parents were rich and had ability to take care of themselves, or were poor and had become burdensome in their old age. They were chargeable to care for their parents whether they had been loving and numerous with their kindnesses, or had been very dull and unloving; whether they had indeed been honorable by properly and unselfishly raising their children, or had been too severe, demanding, and selfish. 5) When either our parents, or religious leaders, or civil and governmental leaders urge or command us to do something that God commands us not to do, or not to do something that God commands us to do, then “we ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29) in that issue. While we are still to respect our parents and other leaders since they are in positions of authority over us, yet when their laws or commands conflict with God’s laws and commands then we are instead to obey God first and foremost as He is the greatest authority. Whatever consequences we have to suffer, because of our polite yet firm disobedience of the commandments of men so that we can remain faithful to the commandments of God, we can safely trust God to help us bear and carry us through. This is because God promises that “them that honor me I will honor” (1 Samuel 2:30). 6) The sixth commandment of God is: “Thou shalt not kill.” Exodus 20:13. The sixth commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to respect and uphold life, declaring that they were not to kill any other person. Yet this commandment does not forbid all taking of life because then God Himself would be guilty of breaking His own law in regards to the flood killing all those who chose not to enter into the ark, as well as in the killing of many of the Egyptians throughout the plagues. The Hebrew word for “kill” used here is “ratsach”, which translates and means “to murder” (Strong’s, word #7523), and murder means “the unlawful and malicious or premeditated killing of one human being by another” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, under word “murder”). This commandment does not forbid all killing, but it forbids all unlawful or unjustified killing or murdering of others. 7) The seventh commandment of God is: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14. The seventh commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to respect and uphold moral purity, declaring that adultery was not to be committed. So instead of God permitting His followers to give loose reign to their sexual passions like the pagans around them, He desired them to be morally pure by keeping their bodies and passions under the control of reason, and to reserve any and all sexual intimacy for their own married spouse. Not only does this command apply to human relations with other humans, but it also applies to human relationships with God. The Hebrew word for “adultery” is “na’aph”, and it translates and means “to commit adultery, to apostatize” (Strong’s, word #5003), and to apostatize means to “abandon one’s faith” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, under word “apostatize”). All who have chosen to enter into a covenant agreement with God to keep His commandments have actually entered into a relationship between God and them – like a marriage contract between partners – with God promising to be their faithful God, and they promising to be His faithful people. If after entering into this covenant relationship with God, they should then choose not to live up to their agreement, would mean that they were no longer faithful in their relationship with God – their faithful Partner, and thus would be in apostasy or adultery against Him. “Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.” But “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you...” Jeremiah 3:20, 14. 8) The eighth commandment of God is: “Thou shalt not steal.” Exodus 20:15. The eighth commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to respect and uphold the property rights and possessions of others, declaring that all stealing was prohibited. But it was not just the stealing of the actual property or possessions of another that this commandment alone forbids. The Hebrew word for “steal” is “ganab”, and it translates and means “to thieve, to deceive” (Strong’s, word #5003). Thus any and all deception, which actually steals away the truth from others, is also prohibited by this commandment. 9) The ninth commandment of God is: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” Exodus 20:16. The ninth commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to respect and uphold the truth, declaring that they were not to bear false witness against their neighbor. The Hebrew word for “false” is “sheqer”, and it translates and means “an untruth, a sham, falsehood, lie” (Strong’s, word #8267). The Hebrew word for “witness” is “ed”, and it translates and means “a witness, testimony, recorder” (Strong’s, word #5707). God prohibited His people from lying, telling untruths or spreading falsehoods under any conditions, whether they were a witness to some event, or were giving testimony about some person or group, or were writing and recording something about another. This meant that His people were to be very careful in all that they said or wrote about their neighbors. But this restriction against all forms of lying included more than just the people living next door to you. The Hebrew word for “neighbour” is “reya”, and it translates and means “an associate whether close or not, a brother, companion, fellow, friend, husband, lover, neighbour, or another” (Strong’s, word #7453). This prohibition against all forms of lying and spreading falsehoods included every person that His people had any form of contact with – whether close or not. God did not care whether these people were family, or relatives, lovers, companions, friends, or associates. Nor did He care whether these people were close in relationship or very distant; whether they were known or were complete strangers; whether they were an Israelite, or from a different nation; whether they were of the same faith, religion, race, color or class distinction. This commandment prohibited all forms of lying and spreading of false information about anyone else without limitations or conditions. This commandment did not just prohibit all forms of untruths and falsehoods being personally spoken, written, or otherwise provided by you against another, but it also prohibited listening to all falsehoods being told you about others! The Hebrew word for “bear” is “anah”, and it translates and means “to heed, pay attention, to testify, announce, hear, utter” (Strong’s, word #6030). So not only did this commandment prohibit God’s people from themselves bearing or uttering false information about another, but it also prohibited them from hearing or paying attention to false information being told them about another, and went even further in prohibiting them from giving heed to what they were told and then announcing or uttering it to others. Telling as well as listening to all forms of gossip, story telling, evil surmising and exaggerated statements about others were prohibited by this commandment. 10) The tenth commandment of God is: “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.” Exodus 20:17. The tenth commandment of this covenant revealed how God wanted His people to respect and uphold contentment with what He had already provided them with, declaring that they were not to covet their neighbor’s house, or his wife, servants, animals, or anything that he owned. In being content with whatever possessions you already have would eliminate envy and jealousy over the spouse, property or prosperity of others – no matter how beautiful and pleasing to eye all these things might be. This would elevate the trap of overspending or borrowing in order to “keep up with the Jones”, and then having to overwork in order to pay the bills that such selfish indulgence brought. This commandment was actually promoting economy and the need to live within one’s own means, and the contentment it brought was producing peace, rest, and health among God’s people.