One of the signs of the last days is "anarchy." Anarchy, basically is a revolt against law and order. Surely this is the spirit of the times and it is setting the stage for the one who defies all of God’s law and order. (The antichrist is called "the lawless one!") Although we can understand how the spirit of iniquity could infect the unregenerate world, I don’t think that we ever imagined that it would infect the church such as it has. We live in a day when we have to defend the Ten Commandments in the church.

Someone once asked me; "Are we not under grace, and not the law?" I responded back, "Which law would you like to be free from?" In other words, which law would you like to break? When the Lord brought Israel out of the land of bondage, He gave them the Ten Commandments – which basically summarize all the law. In Exodus 20:2-3, we read: "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me…"

If we went no further than these two verses, I think that we could interpret this to mean; I brought you out of the house of bondage, and I’m giving you these commandments to keep you from returning thence! Not a difficult study from Scripture – every bondage and curse can be traced back to a people who flagrantly transgressed the commandment and eventually found themselves captives, or in some form of bondage.

When Joshua brought the people into the Promised Land, he read all of the blessings and the cursing of the law to Israel. The real intention of the Old Covenant (and the New Covenant) was to save people from ruining their lives, and make them candidates for great blessing! In Psalm 119:1, we read: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD." Blessed is the man…. Israel went into a seventy-year captivity to amend for all of the Sabbaths that she had broken. Israel was forced to serve other gods in Babylon for all of their idolatries.

Yet, we can bring these truths into present day reality. The idolatries of God’s people still turn into bondage, and they are still made to serve their covetousness! A man of God once said that he had never counseled a young person that was in bondage to drugs, who had not broken the fifth commandment – "Honor thy father and mother…" When any of the ten commandments are disregarded there are consequences accordingly. The proverbs give us a picture of one who breaks the seventh commandment (adultery): "Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed" (Pro. 5:9-10).

The New Covenant (church age) demands a greater performance of the commandments because there is a greater provision (or enabling) given to walk in them. The moral law was never abolished! The law that was nailed to the cross (Col. 2:14) was the law of ceremony – which law, the gentiles were never under anyway. Christ abolished the law of ordinances (ceremony) that separated the Jew and the gentile so that the two might become one. See Ephesians 2:12-16. The only ceremonial law that was imposed upon the gentiles concerned the eating of blood and fornication (Acts 15:28-29). The paganistic worship of the gentile world often involved eating blood and fornication. Fornication does not really fall into the category of "ceremonial" laws, but because it was a ceremonial practice of the pagans it was emphasized.

The commandments were given not only to save man from the house of bondage, but that he might inherit great blessing. Our conference president once gave a message on the "House of Obededom" (2 Sam. 6:10-12). The great revival that came to Zion first began in a man’s house. After David’s disastrous attempt to have revival, the Ark of the Covenant was diverted into the custody of a Levite by the name of Obededom. The ark spent about three months in Obededom’s house and his house was so blessed that all of Israel heard of it. The essence of the story is that the ark contained the "Ten Commandments." This man’s house was blessed by virtue of the fact that God’s commandments were being kept there. Of course, David himself heard of the great blessing upon this man’s house – corrects his previous errors, and brings the ark to Zion where they experienced a great revival!

Upon Mt. Zion in heaven, we see a group of saints playing upon their (10 stringed harps). Josephus interprets the word harp (kithara) as a ten stringed instrument. This speaks of those who have fulfilled the law – the Ten Commandments. In these anarchic times when even much of the church resents the Ten Commandments, let us embrace them! Let us magnify them, and allow The Spirit of God to write them deeply upon the fleshly table of our hearts! Amen!