The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. (Deuteronomy 5:3-4)
There are some renderings of this verse that suggest Moses said, “not with the fathers alone but with us too.” In other words, that which God instructs His people to obey has always been thus and will continue to be. Therefore, “us” is not limited to just those who were present to hear Moses speak but included their descendants after them, and those who would come to faith in the future. In short, the words God spoke to Israel through Moses resound through time to us today. And if we were to summarize those commands, it would be this way: the God of Israel is the ruler of the Universe and, therefore, is authorized to tell us how we should live.
Unlike the gods of the nations, He is not just a “god” who is tied to the wind, the earth and the sea but, because He created it all, He reigns supreme over all. In fact, unlike Christianity’s reckoning of the Ten Commandments, Judaism recognizes the first command as, “I am the LORD your God.” If we acknowledge that He is God, then all other commands will fall into their proper place. Let’s put it this way: if He is God, then He gets to make the rules — it’s as simple as that. We may not like some of the rules and we may not understand all of them, but if He is God, we are obligated to comply with His Will.
Obviously, if a person refuses to recognize Him as the Supreme Authority, then it is unlikely that person will feel compelled to obey Him, However — and this is an important fact — that does not lessen His authority in the Universe or in the lives of all people. Recognized or not, He is still God and Messiah will reign over all the earth. And so we will close with this reminder of what is in everyone’s future: “At the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Yeshua Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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