The Mountain of the Ten Commandments

The inspiration of the Old Testament reached its climax on Mount Sinai, the highest peak of a barren, bleak mountain chain. This peak is also called Horeb or Moses’ Mountain. It is 2700 meters high. From the peak you can see a wide, rocky desert. In this desert, opposite Mount Sinai, Moses and his people pitched their tents to camp after wandering in the remote wilderness of the desert for three months.

God chose Moses to be the leader of the Old Testament people. The Lord always guided Moses in understanding how to lead his people in the right way.

God, as it is written, God spoke to Moses face to face. On Mount Sinai the Lord said to Moses, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that when the people hear Me speaking with you, they will always put their trust in you.

God spoke to Moses again: Go to the people and consecrate them. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put barriers around the mountain and tell the people not to go up the mountain or even go near it. Whoever touches the mountain must be put to death. He must be stoned or shot with an arrow. Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.

Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He consecrated the people; they washed their clothes and were ready by the third day.

On the third day, when morning came, the people rushed frightened from their tents because they saw flashes of lightning and heard the sound of thunder, and a very loud trumpet blast. The people trembled as they left their tents. They saw a dense cloud covering the top of Mount Sinai and heard loud trumpets. Moses stood in the midst of the people and guided them toward Mount Sinai to meet God.

Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because God came down with fire. The smoke went up like the smoke of a volcano. The whole mountain shook violently. Then God called Moses and told him to climb up the mountain where He gave him the Ten Commandments as guidance for His people. Today, the Ten Commandments are still very important for everyone in the world.

I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD. YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.

The Almighty God is you Lord. You can have full confidence in Him because He created you and gave you life. He takes care of you daily, just like your father. He provides food and clothing for you, and blesses you with health and peace.

God wants to be the first and the last in your life. What do you think about God? Do you love someone else more than Him? If you honour someone or anything more than God, then it is the same as if you are worshipping other gods, which does not please God and is something He does not want you to do. God, the Lord, is a jealous God; He wants you completely for Himself. He is ready to speak with you in your prayers. He waits for you to worship Him alone and not any carved images or man made pictures. Anyone who worships other gods will be judged by the true God and will not be blessed.

The second commandment is:

YOU SHALL NOT MISUSE THE NAME OF THE LORD YOUR GOD.

This commandment means that when we speak God’s name it should be done with respect and not in a superficial or careless way. Do you know how people often use God’s name in a wrong way? Let us give you an example. Suppose somebody lied. Then another person confronted him with his lie, but he quickly answered, By God I have neither said this nor have I done such a thing. This is a situation where the name of God was used wrongly.

Everyone who uses God’s name when making an excuse for a lie, or anyone who trusts in witchcraft, or swears by God’s name, sins against the Holy One, because God’s name is used in the wrong way.

Ask God to keep you from speaking careless words. He helps you to speak His name with respect, to praise Him with songs, and to speak about His salvation and love. You will find great blessing and power in His name.

Do you know the meaning of the third commandment?

REMEMBER THE DAY OF THE LORD BY KEEPING IT HOLY.

We read in the Bible that after the Lord created everything, He blessed a certain day. The Lord declared that it was holy, because on this day He rested from all His work. For this reason, we should also rest on God’s day and keep it holy.

How great is God’s kindness! He gave us one day every week to rest from all our work. We do not have to go to school on this day, but have the privilege to keep this day holy. How can we do such a thing?

On this day we should concentrate on pleasing the Lord with all our deeds and words. Actually, we should always live such a life! But God wants us to set aside one day of the week for reading His word, gathering to worship Him, and to speak with Him in prayer, individually or in a group.

When we hear God’s word and keep it in our heart, then our thoughts, words, and deeds will be sanctified, not only during this one day, but the whole week through.

The fourth commandment is very important for all people, especially nowadays.

HONOUR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER, THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG IN THE LAND THE LORD YOUR GOD IS GIVING YOU.

The two words – father and mother – are the loveliest words in all the languages of the world! What do you feel when you pronounce these two names?

Every person loves his parents more than anything else. We should consider them a precious treasure and respect them. Obey your parents and treat them well. Do you really serve your parents? God gave us life through them. Anyone who recognizes this truth will be happy to offer them every good thing when they grow old.

Anyone who obeys this fourth commandment will be blessed by the Lord throughout his life, as well as in eternity. But anyone who disobeys his parents and rebels against them will be punished by God. Only if your parents don’t know the true God and hinder you in following Jesus, then you must obey God rather than men. Then pray for your parents that they will also come to know the truth and experience the love of God which appeared in Christ.

The first four commandments show how we should behave toward God and our parents. The other commandments instruct us in our behaviour toward relatives, neighbours, friends and all other people. They teach us how to live together. In the fifth commandment God tells us:

YOU SHALL NOT MURDER.

In these days, many people neglect or despise this commandment. They kill others and seek revenge because of their hatred or jealousy. They think that they have the right to kill or find revenge. But God commands us not to kill. Surely you have not killed a person and maybe you think that this commandment is not important for you.

Think about the things you say and do every day, and be honest with yourself. Haven’t you hurt other people’s feelings with your harsh words or conduct? If you don’t help a poor person, or neglect the sick or hungry, won’t you be responsible if anyone dies?

Let us change our way of life and act according to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:44, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you, and persecute you that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven.

If you do this faithfully then you will defeat the wickedness in yourself and in the world around you.

The sixth commandment is:

YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.

God told us to live a clean and holy life. Unfortunately, many people don’t take this commandment of God seriously. Anyone who does not live a pure life sins against his own body and soul and will bring great sadness to his heart.

God wants a husband and wife to love each other and remain together and to help each other when there are problems. The Bible tells us in I Corinthians 6:9, Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor other unclean offenders shall inherit it.

Avoid harmful and corrupt television programmes. Avoid vulgar magazines and all filthy jokes. Resist temptation and train yourself, from your childhood, to live a life which is pleasing to God. He will help you to live a clean and holy life.

The seventh commandment is:

YOU SHALL NOT STEAL.

Do you think that robbery only means to rob a person in the street? Or does it also mean to take something secretly?

God points at many other things in this seventh commandment. For instance, it is considered stealing when a person benefits from another’s disadvantage. If a merchant sells a product at too high a price, then he has robbed the money from the buyer. Or if a servant doesn’t do his work faithfully when his master is away; then he is stealing time and money.

Perhaps you say, I am innocent. But if you possess something that doesn’t belong to you, we advise you to return it to the owner immediately. God forbids you to commit any kind of robbery, even from ‘borrowing’ without the owner knowing. The Lord teaches us to work for the things we need, to be faithful in helping the needy, and to live in peace with the people around us.

No one likes to hear false stories about himself. For this reason, God gave us the eighth commandment:

YOU SHALL NOT GIVE FALSE TESTIMONY AGAINST YOUR NEIGHBOUR.

Don’t you think that there is great danger in saying something untrue about a person and giving him a bad reputation? This often happens when we hate somebody and accuse him of deeds he has never done, or when we want to prove that we are right and he is wrong.

Sometimes a person misbehaves towards another person because he is jealous of him. Perhaps the other person is even more intelligent, richer or more thoughtful than the first. Then the first person stains the good man’s reputation by saying things that are untrue so that people won’t respect him.

Giving false testimony or lying is something very wicked in us. Let us ask God to help us say only things that are good about others, even if they are our enemy. We should always tell the truth in love, whatever it costs.

Now, let us think about the ninth and tenth commandments together:

YOU SHALL NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOUR’S HOUSE. YOU SHALL NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOUR’S WIFE, OR HIS MANSERVANT OR MAIDSERVANT, HIS OX OR DONKEY, OR ANYTHING THAT BELONGS TO YOUR NEIGHBOUR.

What do these two commandments mean? The word covet means the desire to possess something that another person owns. To covet means to have a strong desire for something you don’t have the right to possess. God commands us not to look for ways to deceive our neighbour so that we can take what belongs to him. He also commands us not to be jealous of our friends or enemies. The Lord wants us to be satisfied with the things we have and to thank Him for them. If we love our neighbour we will wish him every good thing and we will be happy when he is successful.

Christ put all these commandments into two sentences. In Matthew 22:37-39 we read, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.

Maybe you have understood that the ten commandments of God are very important in our life. But no one can honestly follow these Ten Commandments completely in his own strength. For this reason Christ came into the world to save us from our sins and help us to follow God’s will. Christ has forgiven all our sins and offers us His power to overcome temptations and to keep the ten commandments of God faithfully.

Fill in the blanks and write the whole verse. If you cannot complete the verse by yourself, you will find the verse in Philippians 1:6

He wh_ be_an a g_od w_rk in you_ w_ll c_rry it on to c_mpletion unt_l the d_y of Chr_st J_sus.

We hope that you will learn the Ten Commandments by heart. If you want to do something special for us, please write each commandment five times on a separate sheet of paper and send it to us. Then we will send you a verse on a sticker. Do you have your crayons ready? Colour the pictures in this booklet.