8.The Law of God, the Ten Commandments
9. The Holy Scriptures
7.The end of the age and the second coming of Christ
Believing that a bright and happy future will come, the society of mankind have striven for advancement and development in science, technology, industry, culture and economy,etc. The human society, however, does not become the comfortable one to live in and as soon as the age of cold war ended, the world has been plunged into the age of new war under the name of warfare against terrorism and the minds of people have been ruined and racked year by year.
The Bible tells us from beginning to end that the sin of man lies behind all the evil circumstances of society of mankind. Every man is born with the seed of sin as the result of the sin of Adam who is the representative of mankind. The sinful nature of man produces war,crime, illness, death and all kinds of misery in the society of man.
And to the man (Adam) he (God) said,"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it',cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life" (Gen3:17).
The world and the people living there are destined to be judged by God because of their sins. A long, long time ago, all mankind except 8 members of Noah's household were drowned to death by the flood. On the day of the next and last judgement, the earth and heavenly bodies in the cosmos are to be destroyed by fire and new heavens and a new earth are to be created newly.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and earth and everything that is done on it will be dissolved( 2Pet3:10).
But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home (2Pet3:13).
On the day of the last of the age, Jesus comes to the earth again and He comes like a thief to those who do not believe in Him, but not so to those who believe in Him.
But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober (1Thes 5:4-6).
On that day all the people, living and dead, are to be called out in the presence of Christ, and all the deeds of them are to be judged: not only their deeds but also their speech and thought.
Those who believed in Jesus and lived the righteous and holy life are to be given the same glorious bodies with Jesus and are permitted to enter and live in the new heavens and a new earth (Phil 3:21; 2Pet3:13). But those who refused to believe in Jesus and lived without Him are to be judged their sins and be given the bodies of shame and be thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur (Rev21:8; Mk 9:48).
You should not be too sure to think the day of the Lord will not come yet and be unprepared. Because the day for you to die is both the end of the age and the day Jesus comes for you. And the length of your life and the day to die are in the hand of God. The time for you to believe in Jesus and be saved are now while you live here on earth and there are no chance for you to repent and be saved after death.
" See,now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!" (2Cor6:2).
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (Jn 3:16).
8. The Law of God, the Ten Commandments
The Scriptures say that the law of God is the tutor of men to Christ (Gal 3:24).That is to say, that if you do not know the Ten Commandments, you will not understand your sins and the way of salvation from your sins. So, let us study them briefly to know the Savior Jesus well.
The Ten Commandments are the law of God which is written on the two tablets of stone by the finger of Him and was handed over to Moses. On the first tablet, the commandments concerning God were written, and on the second one concerning human relations. These commandments are as follows.
The Ten Commandments
1. You shall have no other gods besides Me (the only true God who created the heavens and the earth).
2. You shall not make for yourself any graven image to worship it.
3. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house and his belongings.
These Commandments are rules which teach men not only how to conduct themselves, but also how to direct their mind to God, others and themselves. So that, Jesus summarized them into two parts, and taught:
"'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.'" Mat 22:37-39
Therefore, the love to God and men is the essence of law, which the Bible says in other words, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." (Rom 13:10).
Explanation
1.The 1st Commandment teaches us not to worship and serve any other things or beings than the Lord, the creator of the heavens and the earth and the only true God. There are lots of religions in Japan. Shintoism has innumerable idol gods, and builds many shrines all over the country. Buddhism is a religion of funeral in Japan and they worship and pray the dead.
This commandment forbids their worship to being alive or dead as idolatry other than the only one true God.
Every one who worships the idol gods worships Satan who hides behind the them (1Cor10:20).
Fortune telling, incantation, friendship with the dead and witchcraft are violations of this law, too. And the violators of this commandment are put under the control of Satan.
2. The 2nd commandment teaches us not to use idols when we worship the Lord, the true God.
The Roman Catholic Church enshrines the images of Maria and of crucified Christ in their chapels to use for worship, though they say not for worship, but for reverence, there is no difference between them.
The 2nd Commandment forbids this deed indeed. They think this commandment as obstructive, and delete it, and divide the 10th commandment into two in order to make up the number:the 9th "Do not covet neighbor's wife", and the 10th "Do not covet anything which is your neighbor's"( Catechism of the catholic church,part3 section1).
3. The 3rd Commandment teaches us not to use ungodly what belongs to the Lord: His name and verses of the Holy Scriptures. In Japan people use ungodly the name and the words belonging to God: Amen,Trinity, Hallelujah, Miracles and etc.
4. The 4th Commandment
Since Christ resurrected on Sunday, the day had become the Sabbath of Christian Church. For Christian Church, Sunday is the model symbolizing the rest in the New Heavens and a New Earth which is to fulfill after the second coming of Christ. And it is the day when the Christian Church continues to observe the faith and worship and bears witness to Christ.
But it does not mean that Sunday is the special Day (Col 2:16,17), but the day when every Christian confess that everyday belongs to God and that we Christians spend everyday for His glory, by assembling together for worship and fellowship.
5. The 5th Commandment
Since the world war 2 ended in our country's defeat, our nation had worked hard and Japan had become a major economic power, but the hearts of people have become devastated morally and ethically.
When I was a child more than 50 years before, children had honored their parents and parents honored the school teachers of their children.
Now, however, parents force their way into their children's school to rail at the teachers of them. And children use violence on their parents and some of them kill their parents.
Under the law of the old testament children who disobey their parents were condemned to death. To teach and train their children to obey them is the very important duty of parents in order to prepare their children before they stand on their legs.
6. The 6th commandment
Men are made in the likeness of God. To kill men is to destroy the dignity of God, so that the killer has to be sentenced to death. In the presence of God the haters and revilers of others are regarded as killer of men. Suicide is one of the crimes of murder.
You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, "You shall not murder; and whoever murders shall be liable to judgement." But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, "You fool," you will be liable to the hell of fire. Mat
5:21,22
7. The 7th Commandment
Adultery means the sexual intercourse outside the marital relation. Even though you have love with each other, living together without marriage is the crime of adultery in the presence of God. And if you look at other sex with lust, you are regarded as an adulterator in front of God. Both masturbation and homosexuality are violation of this law.
You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Mt 5:27,28
8. The 8th Commandment
Personal possessions are not only money,house and land, but also time, name and honor etc. In addition to the stealing of other person's possessions, men steal possessions of God.
The true possessor of each man's life is not he himself, but the Lord God who created him and you and me,everyone and everything.
In the end of the age,everyone will be called to account how he spent his whole life.
9. The 9th Commandment
God of the Bible is God of truth and Satan is the god of false, stealth and murder. So that liars are considered as belonging to Satan and they are objects of God's anger and judgement. Everyone who slanders and backbites is a violator of this law.
10. The 10th Commandment
The love of money (covetousness) is a root of all kinds of evil (1Tim.6:10). Covetousness is idolatry (the deifying of created things instead of God)(Col.3:5). It is the reason why the idolatrous religions are eager to gain money.
In order to purify and save us from these sins and judgement , our Lord Jesus Christ shed His holy blood on the cross and redeemed our lives.
9. The Holy Scriptures
The central figure and subject of the Scriptures is our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament is a collection of books which was written between 1250-450 B.C. by various kinds of people who was inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament is the book of old covenant between God and Israel whom He chose and trained in order to give birth to the Savior Jesus from among them and to send Him to the world.
Jesus was born of virgin Mary, as one of Jews, who was a descendent of David the 2nd king of Israel.
Even though the Books of the Old Testament were written by many people, they all indicate to the coming Savior Christ and prophesy the important events of Christ from His virgin birth to the death on the cross and the resurrection from the dead.
The New Testament is composed of Books: the four Gospels which explain the life and teachings of Jesus who came as the fulfiller of these Old Testament prophecies and the records of the Acts of the Apostles and the Letters to Christian Churches.
The Holy Scriptures are the infallible Word of God in in the original text and the 66 Books of Old and New testament are the criteria of the faith and life of all Christians. Every Christian reads this Book as his spiritual daily food every day with prayer all through his life. To read through from Genesis to Revelation once a year is the standard way of Bible reading for all believers.
You can not understand the true meaning of the Bible without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, for it is written by the Holy Spirit. People say "Read it again and again and you will get it's meaning", but it is not true especially in the Bible reading. If you read it under the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit, you will understand it by reading it once. But if you read it as if it were one of novels, you will not be able to understand it even though you have read it one hundred times. So that we need to read and study it among the fellowship of Christian Church.
The Roman Catholic Church values their tradition over the Holy Scriptures. They, therefore, preferred to delete the 2nd article of the ten commandments, which forbid idolatry and do not fit their tradition, rather than changing their tradition of worshipping or adoring their saints. Protesting such wrong stances of them, the Protestant Church was born in Europe of the 16th century through the Reformation.
The Scriptures translated into modern languages were gotten in exchange of the lives of the Reformers who had been sentenced to death because of the works of Bible translation into languages for daily use of people in those days. But Protestant Christians in liberal countries of these days read the Bible only a few more pages than Roman Catholic Christians do. It is because of negligence coming from their free circumstances in which they can read it whenever they wish. And because their spiritual eyes are not opened wide enough to know the interesting and excellent taste of the Bible, they yield easily to the temptations of the world, that is , TV, movies, magazines and other amusements.
On the other hand, Christians who live in the countries where possessing the Bible is unlawful are so thirst spiritually that they want to get and read the Bible which costs as high as their pay to the work for half a year.
"Your decrees are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. With open mouth I pant, because I long for your commandments." Psalm 119:129-131
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Psalm 119:105
10 Feb. 2008 Published
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