First Mennonite Church
March 1, 2026
The Ten Words of Yahweh
Text: Exodus 20:1-21
Last Sunday, we considered the passage where the Israelites arrived at Sinai. There, Moses went to meet with Yahweh on the mountain of God. On that encounter, God asked Moses to go down to the people with an extraordinary offer in exchange for full obedience and faithfulness. Yahweh offered to make of Israel a kingdom of priests and holy nation, and make them his precious and exclusive possession on the condition that they fully obey Yahweh’s command and keep the covenant.
When Moses communicated the offer of Yahweh to the Israelites, their response was unanimous: Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do, said the whole congregation. With that promise, Moses went back up the mountain to tell God.
Yahweh then commanded Moses to tell to the people that he will come to meet with them; however, they must purify themselves and abide by the clear instructions God will give them. Thus, we read: On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
It was here, at this first encounter between Yahweh and Israel, that God established his covenant with Israel. The stipulations in that covenant are what we call “The Ten Commandments.” These were given to Israel in light of Yahweh’s gracious deliverance from the Egyptian oppression. As we can see, first came grace, then demand, and the demands weren’t the means by which to establish a relationship with the Lord. Instead, obedience to the covenant was supposed to be an expression of devotion and gratitude to Yahweh for his wondrous love.
The Ten Words of God to Israel were given to shape and order the world of the people God had rescued and chosen as his very own. The Ten Commandments outlined God’s radical and distinctive vision for the people he chose among all other nations. By observing the commands, Israel would become a beacon, a model, and a living witness to the Holy God that appeared to them at Mount Sinai. By observing the commands, Israel would become a radical and egalitarian society among the pagan and highly stratified societies in the other nations. In contrast, Israel would be in its entirety a royal priesthood and a holy nation.
The Ten Commandments were given to Israel inscribed on two tablets. One stipulated Israel’s relationship with Yahweh, with the first commandment forbidding Israel from having and worshiping other gods beside Yahweh. And the second tablet stipulated the type of relationship with the neighbor, beginning with the command to honor father and mother. Obedience to the covenant as expressed in the Ten Commandments was intended to show Israel’s unique relationship with Yahweh, their liberator and ruler. Worship of Yahweh as their only God was to be based on their experience of God’s mercy and liberation. The Ten Commandments were meant to shape the lives of an otherwise nomadic people into a community with a deep and particular sense of peoplehood.
(You might remember that some years ago, we looked at each of the Ten Commandments.) But today, I want for us to consider this question: Are the Ten Commandments for us? What do we do with them?
First, let us remember that the Ten Words belong to the covenant God established with the people of Israel after God freed them. Inn Exodus 25, verse 16, God instructed Moses to place the two tablets of the covenant in the sacred box, called Ark of the covenant with was kept in the holy of holies in the tabernacle and later in the temple. In Deuteronomy 11, 19 and 20, the Israelites were given these instructions regarding the laws of God: Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. But as far as the testimony of scripture is concerned, Israel struggled to abide by the covenant from day one. (We will consider this next week)
The prophets of the Old Testament lived and died calling Israel to return to Yahweh and the covenant. Israel’s failure to abide and uphold the commitment it made with the Lord at Sinai finally led Yahweh to propose a new covenant; thus, we read in Jeremiah:
31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to[d] them,[e]”
declares the Lord.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
In the new covenant, the tablets containing the commandments will not be stored in the ark of the covenant, but in the mind of God’s people. Instead of God writing his commandments on stone tablets, he will write them on his people’s hearts.
Jesus instituted the new covenant with his death and resurrection, as he declared in Luke 22:20 and as Paul declared in 1Corinthians 11:25. In 2Corinthians three, verse six, Paul declares himself as a minister of the “new covenant.”
This new covenant was established through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, the law of love is inscribed in the hearts of God’s people—you and I and every believer in the Lord. In this new covenant, the Lord will also forgive our sins and remember them no more.
But let us go back to the question regarding the role of the Ten Commandments and us believers in Jesus.
First it must be clear to us that the Ten Commandments are the basic embodiment of God’s covenant with Israel. These were specifically given to Israel as the core conditions for Yahweh to take Israel as his people, holy nation and royal priesthood.
Secondly, we must know that the commandments, especially of tablet number two, are universally accepted because of their social moral norms reflected in them. These are broadly accepted beyond Israel and the Christian church.
Thirdly, the religious and moral norms of nine of the ten commandments are repeated in the New Testament and were enforced in the teachings of Jesus and his apostles. Nine of the commandments, therefore, are relevant to our Christian practice. The only commandment that is not enforced is observation of the Sabbath day.
Today, as during the apostolic times, there are disagreements regarding the observation of the Sabbath. In Romans 14, verse five, Paul says, “One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike.” And, in Colossians two, Paul writes: Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ (v 16, 17).
Jesus declared that he is Lord of the Sabbath and the true Sabbath rest.
So, are the Ten Commandments applicable to us Christians? When we consider them from the point of view that the Ten Commandment are God’s covenant with Israel, the words in the letter to the Hebrews makes it very clear to us. The author there says, that “By (God) calling this covenant “new,” (in his Son) he has made the first one (covenant) obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.” Therefore, it would not be wrong to say that nine of the Ten Commandments constitute God’s will for us. But when it comes to the Sabbath rest, Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath, is our true Sabbath rest. His law of love is now written in our minds and hearts and through the power of God’s Spirit, we are given the strength and the will to live according to the new covenant in Jesus Christ. Amen!
Pastor Romero