When is holy no longer holy?  When does “right” and “good” become “wrong” and “evil?”  Equally important questions involve who can make such determinations?  And why?  And under what circumstances?  To answer those questions we must return to the beginning.

In the Book of Genesis it is written: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (vs 1).  Throughout the following 30 verses we are told what He did, in what order and why.  In verse 31 we are told: “And God saw everything that He had made and behold, it (all that He had created) was VERY GOOD.”  Anyone Who has the power to create the universe certainly has the power to declare His creation good or bad.  He called the entirety of what He had done not merely GOOD, but VERY good.  Note that He called everything He had created thus far VERY GOOD.  Though He called every thing He had created “VERY GOOD,” He had not called anything He had created “HOLY.”  Keep that in mind as we go forward.

Following the creation of all material things during the first six days and declaring them “very good,” God then rested (“refreshed Himself”–Exo. 31:17) on the seventh day.  Not only did He refresh Himself on that specific day, but He also “blessed” that specific day (proclaimed a special blessing on it) and “sanctified” it (set it apart from all other days of the week)–Gen. 2:2,3.  As special as He had declared the seventh day to be, He had not placed His name in it.  He did this when He declared that the seventh day of the week was: “MY HOLY DAY” as we are told that He had done in Isaiah 58:13.  In the Isaiah passage he also gave specific instructions regarding what could and could not be done on HIS “HOLY DAY.”  By calling the seventh day His Holy Day, God placed Himself in that day and identified with it.  Note that He did not declare any other day of the week “HOLY.”  This specific day, AND NO OTHER DAY OF THE WEEK was declared special, blessed, sanctified and holy by its Creator.

Fast forward to the time when He called the children of Abraham out of Egyptian slavery.  After performing a number of miracles He directed Moses to lead them across the Red Sea on dry land, then drowned the Egyptian army in its water.  He then led the Israelites to Mount Sinai, miraculously providing them with water and food en route.  Once there He told them that if they would obey His “voice” He would make them His people and Himself their God.  They agreed to His terms.  Then He spoke (“voiced”) the Ten Commandments and wrote them in stone with His finger.

Let us remind ourselves of those ten commandments which were His instructions to mankind.  Out of all human beings who would be born, only those who believed and obeyed them would be His people.  This rule involved people other than the children of Abraham.  The Scriptures tell us that the Israelites were not alone when they left Egypt.  In fact, a “mixed multitude (of Gentiles–non-Israelites) came out with them” (Exo. 12:38).  These Gentile slaves had embraced the Israelite’s God and had agreed to obey Him.  He welcomed them and made them members of the nation of Israel having all rights, privileges and obligations thereof.  Gentiles have always been welcomed into the family of God IF they obeyed His Law, which made them SPIRITUAL ISRAELITES.  This still holds true today.

Let us now examine those ten commandments which, if obeyed, identifies true children of God.  GOD DOES NOT CHANGE, NEITHER DO HIS RULES FOR FAMILY MEMBERSHIP.  HE, AND HIS COMMANDMENTS, ARE THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER.  He said: “I am the Lord; I change not” (Mal. 3:6).  “In Him there is no variation, not even a shadow of turning” (Jam. 1:17).  He is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8).  His rules of engagement then are His rules of engagement now.

The Ten Commandments involve the following rules: 1) One must love God totally.  2) One must love one’s neighbor.  3) One must not have graven (man-made) images relative to one’s worship of and service to Him.  4) One must remember God’s Sabbath and keep it holy.  5) One must honor one’s parents.  6) One must not murder one’s fellow man.  7) One must not commit adultery.  8) One must not steal.  9) One must not bear false witness.  10) One must not covet (lust after) what another has.

Consider this: the God who created the entire universe and called the totality of His creation “very good” is the same God Who wrote the Ten Commandments–His life rules for those who would be His children.  He wrote His rules for living in stone with His finger, placed them in a specially designed ark which, if touched, would result in instant death (read 1 Chron. 13:9,10), then hid the ark containing His Law to this day.  I am convinced that the Ten Commandments were (and are) also “very good” in the eyes of God.  How “good” are those commandments?  God says that breaking them is sin (1 Jn. 3:4).  The Apostle James states that to break even one of them is to break the entire Law (Jam. 2:10), making one a worker of “iniquity” (Lawlessness) whom Jesus declared that He would reject on Judgment Day (Mat. 7:23) because He had never known them.

The Apostle John declares that anyone who claims to know Jesus and does not obey His commandments (Law) “is a liar, the Truth (God’s Word–Jn. 17:17) is not in him,” and he does “not have the love of God perfected” in him (1 Jn. 3-5).  Please read that passage carefully.  In doing so one will see that the Lord’s “COMMANDMENTS,” HIS “TRUTH” AND HIS “WORD” ALL MEAN AND REFER TO THE SAME THING–THE HOLY BIBLE.  The Ten Commandments comprise a summary of the entire Bible, every Word of which God spoke to and through His prophets and apostles who spoke and recorded them for “our instruction upon whom the ends of the world have come” (1 Cor. 10:11)–the end-time saints.  “All Scripture is inspired by God” (2 Tim. 3:14-16), for “holy men of old spoke (and wrote) as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21).  We are commanded to “Study (the Scriptures) to show ourselves approved of God” (2 Tim. 2:15).  We are told that God’s true saints “live by every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4).  Which begs the question:

DID NOT THE LORD SPEAK EVERY WORD OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS LAW?  DID THAT LAW NOT INCLUDE #4?  So what happened?  Who changed the Lord’s Holy Day from the seventh day of the week (Saturday) to the first day of the week (Sunday)?  Why was it changed?  When was it changed?  Who took upon himself the power to change God’s blessed and sanctified day from “holy” to “unholy?” and then to declare another day Holy?  Isn’t that the domain of Almighty God and Him alone?  These questions will be answered in this series.  L.J.