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From Eternity Past
“I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.” The close relation of God
to His people is represented under the figure of marriage. Idolatry
being spiritual adultery, the displeasure of God against it is fitly called
jealousy.
“Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third
and forth generation of them that hate Me.” Children are not punished
for parents’ guilt, except as they participate in their sins. It is usually
the case, however, that by inheritance and example the sons become
partakers of the father’s sin. Wrong tendencies, perverted appetites,
and debased morals, as well as physical disease and degeneracy, are
transmitted as a legacy from father to son, to the third and fourth
generation.
“Showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep
My commandments.” To those who are faithful in His service, mercy
is promised, not merely to the third and fourth generation as is the
wrath threatened against those who hate Him, but to thousands of
generations.
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(3) “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for
the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.”
This commandment forbids us to use the name of God in a light
or careless manner. By the thoughtless mention of God in common
conversation, and by frequent, thoughtless repetition of His name, we
dishonor Him. “Holy and reverend is His name.”
Psalm 111:9
. It
should be uttered with reverence and solemnity.
(4) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt
thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of
the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son,
nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle,
nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh
day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
The Sabbath is not introduced as a new institution but as having
been founded at creation. Pointing to God as the Maker of the heavens
and the earth, it distinguishes the true God from false gods. Thus the
Sabbath is the sign of man’s allegiance to God. The fourth command-
ment is the only one of the ten in which are found both the name and
the title of the Lawgiver, the only one that shows by whose authority
the law is given. Thus it contains the seal of God.