Why Are The Commandments Of Jesus Different Than God’s?

Transcript

Welcome to World Events And The Bible. I’m Brandon T. Ward. Hey, we got a question from name withheld today so I want to take this opportunity to go ahead and answer it.

He asks, why are Jesus’ first two commandments, not the same as the first two written in stone by the one God, the Father’s finger. He also had a second question to that is basically asking how come Jesus didn’t basically command the law of the Sabbath.

Jesus Fulfilled Much Of The Old Testament

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So we’re gonna go ahead and touch on some of those. His questions today, but before we get there, I actually want to make sure that everybody understands that Jesus fulfilled a lot of this stuff.

That’s in the Old Testament. Okay. Many things from the Old Testament. And he talked about it himself in Matthew chapter five, verse 17. He said he didn’t come to change the law, but to fulfill the law. So I just want to touch on that. It’s very, very important to the subject here.

So in the past, Jesus, I mean, God, he was. An unblemished, everything for sacrifice. I mean, take some time, go read Leviticus and Deuteronomy and this type of stuff. And you’ll see all these sacrifices that God wants the Israelites to do. And this was to atone for their sins. Okay.

I mean, we’re talking about unblemished lambs, oxen, doves. If a guy didn’t have those types of things to offer, you know, basically a sin offering, then he would provide flour, even oil.

It was an entirely different world and nobody does those things anymore today. Right? So I’m mentioning that there with the Sabbath thing, which what we’re going to cover, and during the time of Moses, we’re all familiar with this, the Passover, right? And the Israelites were led out of Egypt by God and everything.

But that night they had to sacrifice an unblemished lamb. So everything was unblemished and something that you may not know that I think is kind of key, to this conversation. Is that even the Levitical priests had to be unblemished. So it even specifically tells us in scripture, if you had bad eyesight Then, Hey, he couldn’t go serve God because he was blemished.

If he had a hunchback, a limp, he walked with a limp. I mean, God was kinda picky. That’s, that’s how he wanted it done. The other thing that we should take note of is a priest pastor, if you want to call it that. They could only serve God between the ages of 30 to 50 years old. And after that they were, they were retired.

So how many pastors are there out there that wear glasses that are over the age of 50 years old? You know, and I, and I’m bringing these points up because nobody follows those things and nobody ever thinks about those things, but when it comes to the Sabbath and some other things, then everybody kind of gets bent out of shape on.

So I want to keep everything, make sure we’re all on the same page here. Okay. Nobody’s breaking the law. All these things really were fulfilled through Jesus Christ. We’re going to find out about that. So we don’t sacrifice animals. You know, and all those unblemished sacrifices of the old, the lamb and everything, Jesus became all those things.

You know, when he was crucified on the cross, you know, all those things were nailed to the cross. Uh, Colossians two 14 tells us that. So, um, I also got, uh, when I read the whole question personally, myself, I’m not sharing all that with you, but I got the sense that potentially the individual has some doubt. Maybe that Jesus is the son of God.

Maybe I misconstrued that from what I read, but I want to touch that too. You got to remember when Jesus was baptized by John. There was a voice from heaven and it was God, right? And he said, this is my son who I am well pleased. Right? So there you have the witness, John was there watching it.

And the disciples it’s written in scripture to Acts chapter five, verse 31 through 32, they said, Hey, we’re witnesses of the life of Jesus Christ. So they were there. They saw it, they saw these miracles and they’re written in the book that we call the Bible today so that we have. So it’s documented history. Jesus was the son of God. No doubt about it. All right. Just in case there were.

The Commandments Of Jesus

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All right. How about what you answer the main part of this gentleman’s question here, talking about Jesus, uh, commandments. Why are they not the same as the first two in the 10 commandments? And really, they’re not the same of any of the 10 commandments, right?

What’s going on here? How about let’s read it. So we’re gonna open our Bibles to Matthew chapter 22, verse 36, Matthew 22:36.

All right. And it starts out, it says master, which is the great commandment in the law. So a guy comes up to Jesus and he’s asking him this question. So let’s see, let’s see what happens with verse 37. Jesus said unto him, thou shall love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.

Hey, what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with that?

Let’s let’s keep reading here. Verse 38. This is the first and great commandment and let’s keep reading verse 39 here. And the second is like unto it. It’s just about like, it is what he’s saying. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself on these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets.

So some people are getting, you know, might get bent out of shape. Hey, that’s not in the 10 commandments, you know, what’s going on. What’s Jesus doing here, but you got to remember that God has many commandments, not just the 10 commandments. You go read the Old Testament. You’re going to find commandment after commandment, after commandment. Right?

And think about it here. If you followed those two commandments, you do like what Jesus said, you follow all the law and all the law of the prophets. If you love God above everything else, and you treat your neighbor as yourself. Like your fellow man, you will follow everything. Cause you’re not going to be coveting in his possessions. Your not going to want his wife or his dog or his car, his house, you know what I mean?

So that’s why Jesus is talking about this, but also we’re going to learn Jesus is actually quoting the Father. All right. So we didn’t speak out of tongue. Remember Jesus said himself, he came to do the will of God. And God is well pleased with the work he did.

The Commandments Of Jesus And God Are The Same

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So let’s go to the Old Testament because I want to prove this to you. That Jesus was actually quoting our Father. So Deuteronomy chapter six, verse five. Let’s go over there. Deuteronomy 6:5.

All right. And it says, and thou shall love the Lord, thy God, with all thine heart and with all thine soul and with all thy might. That’s exactly what Jesus told us, right? The same thing. And those were the words of God right there, right from the Old Testament. I’m going to jump over to Deuteronomy 11:13 real quick.

You don’t have to join me on this one. And it shall come to pass. If you shall hearken diligently unto my commandments there, we have it, my commandments, God had a ton of them. Which I command you this day to love the Lord, your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. So we have this one over and over again.

So what Jesus was actually doing is he was just reaffirming what the Father already told us a long time. All right. So he wasn’t doing anything wrong, anything that he wasn’t supposed to, he came to do the will of God. Very important that we understand that, but there’s another verse. What about the neighbor business?

We didn’t cover that one yet. Right. So how about let’s turn over to Leviticus 19 verse 18 Leviticus 19:18. Thou shall not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself I am the Lord. There’s the neighbor part. Love your neighbor as yourself.

It’s just what Jesus said. The same thing. So Jesus didn’t when he was asked, what are the greatest commandments? Think about it. That’s what he was asked. And Jesus is saying out of all of God’s commandments, not limited to just, just the 10, but all of them. The most important one are love God with everything you got and love your neighbor as yourself.

If we did that, we’ll follow all of God’s law. So we just super simplified all of God’s law. I think it’s, I think it’s awesome myself.

The Sabbath Day

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So how about the Sabbath day? So the individual is kind of concerned that’s asking this question about, Hey, why is Jesus not, you know, saying that the Sabbath is super-duper important?

You know, God kind of talked a lot about it in the Old Testament and you certainly did. So let’s turn over to Matthew chapter 12, verse one and see what we can learn there. Matthew 12:1. It says at that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn and his disciples were an hungered. They were hungry.

They didn’t have anything to eat, and they begin to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. But on the Sabbath day, if you follow the Old Testament law, you’re supposed to have everything prepared ahead of time. All the food’s supposed to be done for.

So on the seventh day, the only thing you’re supposed to be doing. Putting your feet up having some lemonade or something, you know, and hanging out with the family type of deal.

But the disciples they’re walking through the corn field and eating some corn. You know, they’re hungry. So let’s see what happens in verse two. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, behold, thy disciples do that, which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day.

And let’s get something straight here. These Pharisee dudes, they were bad business. The scripture tells us they were continually looking and trying to find if Jesus was slipping up somewhere along the way, you know. So if you paid attention to these last two verses, there’s actually some key notes there.

The disciples were going through the corn. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a cornfield or not, but once you’ve gone past the first, you know, 5, 6, 10 stocks of corn, you can’t see anybody in there. And it says the Pharisees saw them, right? They were spying on Jesus and the disciples. They’re trying to get them. They’re trying to hang them up on something, especially cause it was the Sabbath day. Right.

So take note of that sometimes there are people trying to take you down, and that’s what they were doing to Jesus here. So verse three, but he said unto him, have you not read what David did when he was a hungered and they that were with him?

What’s this about?

Let’s keep reading verse four, how he entered into the house of God and did eat the shewbread. That’s like the holy bread. So David entered the house of God, which was not lawful for him to eat. Neither for them that were with him, but only for the priests. It’s only the priests were supposed to be eaten that shewbread, but David was hungered, right?

David was hungered. And you can find out about this example here in Leviticus, 24, verse five and nine, you can read about the priests. And in 1 Samuel 21:6 you can read about the shewbread. And it was probably being exchanged out on the Sabbath day with a fresh bread. And that’s probably why there was nothing for David to eat.

And if you read there that the priest actually kind of reasons with David and says, have you been clean. I’m not going to get into all the details, but David just says, yeah, we’ve been clean these last three days. And the priest was satisfied, gave the bread to David to feed him. We’re going to learn why, because you’re not supposed to, according to the law.

All right. Let’s keep pick it back up with Matthew chapter 12, verse five. So it’s just the next first down. And Jesus is saying, or have you not read in the law? How that on the Sabbath day, the priests in the temple, profane the Sabbath and are blameless. And you can read about the profane thing here in Nehemiah chapter 13, verse 17 and Ezekiel 24:21.

But Jesus is just saying, Hey guys, don’t play with me. Like you’ve never heard of any Sabbath day being broken before. This has been happened before, and there’s actually a larger point here, and this is why Jesus pointing it out. So let’s see what it is. Verse six, but I say unto you, Jesus is talking still, that in this place, there is one greater than the temple.

Jesus kind of putting on in a away. He’s like, Hey, and he’s talking about himself. He’s like, I’m way more important than this temple. He’s going to fulfill all this old stuff that was contrary to us in the Old Testament. Verse 7. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.

What is this? You know, uh, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. God would rather have mercy than some sacrifice, some old bloody carcass, some animal. Right. So he’s always merciful. So when David came along and his men and they’re like hungry. Then it makes more sense in God’s law to feed them than to worry about some sacrificial law and everything.

When they could use that bread that the priests were normally supposed to eat, they were clean. The priest was okay with it. So you can go read those, the Old Testament books on that. But that’s what he’s talking about. I’d rather have mercy than sacrifice. So let’s check out this verse eight here. What does it say, for the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.

So Jesus laid out all the examples there. Right? He’s well aware of the Sabbath. He even went old school on them and pointed some examples from the past how the Sabbath had been broken. And he’s saying, Hey, I’m more important than the temple. And I am the Lord of the Sabbath. He fulfilled the Sabbath literally at that point, but certainly when he was crucified on the cross for us.

All right. And to draw the point a little further on that. I’m going to jump over to Mark chapter two, verse 27, Mark 2:27. Jesus is talking, and he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Read that again. Read that again. The Sabbath was made for man. That’s why God made the Sabbath right.

Work your hind end off for those six days. But when it comes to seven day, relax. I mean, you think about life back in those days, right? There’s no electricity and all this stuff that we have today. You want to stay warm, go chop some wood. You wanted some water, go bail it from the well or the creek. You want some food to eat some vegetables, you better plant them, and harvest them, and tend to the crop and the animals.

You had to raise much different people work like crazy. Okay. So God set aside that seventh day. So everybody can relax, you know, take a day off. That’s what he wanted, you know, but the whole point here that we’re learning in scripture and what I just read to you in Mark that’s from the New Testament.

There’s a lot of people who say the Old Testament stuff. Uh, none of it matters anymore at all. And there’s, some people would go way overboard, but you’ll find that Jesus has kind of laying this line down here that there’s this happy medium. So man is not a slave to the Sabbath. It was made for us to give us rest.

Jesus replaced, he fulfilled all of these things. He spiritually became these things when he was crucified on the cross. And to dial in the Sabbath thing here for you, it doesn’t mean we don’t honor the Sabbath anymore. It doesn’t mean you don’t take a day off out of every seven. I think you should.

I think you should definitely do that, but don’t be a person who gets so caught up on some of these laws. I mean, there’s, a lot of people will argue and say, if you don’t take your Sunday off, you’re going to burn in hell. If you don’t take your Saturday off, you’re going to burn in hell. Some people think it’s Saturday. Some people think it’s Sunday.

I’m going to throw another one at you. How about just one out of seven days that you take an honor God? Because Jesus became the Sabbath. Right? We take our rest in him then. That’s what that means. So take a day off. Study the word one out of every seven, at least. Right. I hope you’re studying the word more than that, but look, Hey, that’s everything I had to say on this one.

I hope it’s helped you. Thank you so much for watching.