Exodus 20:7, commentary and pictures

God forbids using His holy name lightly, carelessly or irreverently in oaths, common talk, trivial matters and prayer, requiring it to be spoken only with reverence, solemnity and holy awe.
The prohibition reaches beyond open swearing and perjury to evasive oath-taking, to frequent or needless repetition of His name, and to saying Lord, Lord while the life does not do His will.
It is also broken when profession is joined with dishonest business, unjust dealing, oppression and self-exaltation, for misrepresenting His character and bringing truth into disrepute takes His name in vain.
No one who does so will be held guiltless, for He hears, judges every case, and has joined sure retribution to disobedience while promising life and protection to the obedient.
Spoken by Christ Himself at Sinai amid awful majesty and written by God's finger as part of His unchangeable moral law, it remains binding on all, will be the standard in the judgment, and was perfectly kept by Christ in human nature to prove obedience possible and to cover the repentant.

Proclamation at Sinai

God Himself spoke the commandment at Sinai in the third month after bringing Israel out of Egypt, after Israel had encamped before the mount and promised through Moses to obey His voice and keep His covenant. It was given together with the declaration that He is the Lord God who brought them out of the house of bondage, with the command to have no other gods, the command against making and serving graven images, and the command to remember the Sabbath. It was proclaimed with awful solemnity and grandeur from Sinai, amid thunder, lightning, cloud, thick darkness, trumpet, fire, smoke, tempest and quaking mountain, so that all mankind might clearly understand the requirements of God. That power and glory with which it was given with God's own voice made known His majesty and authority as Ruler of the world to impress the people with the sacredness of His law and the importance of obeying it. With the other nine it belongs to the law of His kingdom, which is an expression of the character of the Sovereign of the universe, covers the whole duty of man, and is to be heeded as part of the faith once delivered to the saints by Christ the Redeemer speaking from Sinai.

It was not only spoken but engraved by His own finger upon tables of stone as a lasting record to remove all possibility of mingling tradition with His holy precepts or confusing His requirements with the practices of men. Those two stone tablets were kept in the ark, and the commandment was given a second time in the same way. Its place was amid majesty and glory as a special honor to His chosen people, and the stone form signifies that its precepts are immutable. The additional judgments and laws given to Moses amplified its principles in specific directions and were designed to guard the sacredness of these precepts engraved on stone.

The law to which it belongs was not new when God spoke it there but already existed, first given in Eden and to Adam after his fall, preserved in the ark by Noah, and observed by Abraham. Its principles existed before humanity's fall and were not changed afterward, governing angels and made known to Adam and Eve, with transgression afterward bringing the need for sacrifices and for Christ's death to preserve the law's honor. In Egyptian bondage it was lost sight of and mixed with heathen customs, and after God delivered Israel from Egypt and divided the Red Sea before them He proved them in the wilderness to see if they would trust Him who had taken them a nation from another nation by signs, temptations, and wonders, but they failed and murmured and wished to return to Egypt. Because of idolatry and disobedience God Himself condescended to come down upon Sinai enshrouded in glory and surrounded by His angels and in a most sublime and awful manner made known His law, not trusting its teaching to anyone, not even angels, but speaking with an audible voice in the hearing of all the people, and He delivered Israel notwithstanding the opposition of Pharaoh that they might keep it, so as to leave them without excuse. The Father and the Son were both upon Sinai's holy mount when it was repeated, and it was entrusted to Israel to pass on to later generations, not as a law confined to Israel.

Christ Himself proclaimed it at Sinai as Ruler of the world and Mediator, as Creator of man and living representative of perfect obedience. After the transgression of Adam the human race was given into His hands and all communication from God comes through Him, and without His mediation the people would have been consumed. He knows its full bearing because He spoke it, and in His sermon on the mount He defines it and presses its far-reaching claims on the mind, presenting old truth in its proper light apart from human traditions and commandments, showing it is not a cold, rigid exaction but has light, glory, dignity, and far-reaching claims. That law is God's unchangeable standard of character and absolute perfection, beyond the unaided human mind's full grasp and powerful to sanctify, the foundation of God's throne from the beginning of the world, standing fast forever through the ceaseless ages of eternity as the great standard of righteousness, holy and just and good, not changed in any part. In His humiliation and death He vindicated His right to pardon its transgression and all sin, having taken human flesh into vital union with divinity and passed over the same ground where Adam fell, bearing the test our first parents failed and being tempted in all points like humanity yet without sin, so that had He failed on one point Satan would have been victorious.

While with Him in the mount, God gave through Moses minute directions in judgments, statutes, and additional precepts from His own mouth to guard the ten precepts, to make their obligations more fully understood, and to illustrate and apply them. Those judgments and laws give minute directions in regard to duty to one another and to the stranger, and are the principles of the ten commandments simplified and given in definite manner that they need not err, by which God seeks to lead erring man, so prone to transgress, to strict obedience. They were framed by God rather than by human beings or Moses, proclaimed at Sinai with displays of divine power and glory to impress sacredness, importance, and permanence, and their far-reaching principles were to be enforced and carried out in practical life. The commandment's place in that law shows its importance for all ages, and God requires His commandments to be kept and represented with care today.

The law so proclaimed with His own voice showed its fundamental importance, sacredness, and the authority of God as Ruler, revealed His character, and was given to prepare His people to preserve its principles and make the principles of His government known to every nation as depositaries before all nations. Its importance Jeremiah renewedly emphasized as part of maintaining a covenant relationship with God, and its giving shows its importance for all ages. Moses was instructed to recapitulate it to the generation preparing to enter Canaan before his death, so they would understand the law and the need to obey it, and its history was written for admonition. Israel's prosperity depended on obedience to these precepts, and prosperity or adversity was sent according to obedience. Soon afterward Israel transgressed by asking for gods to go before them in the golden-calf apostasy, while Moses was in the mount pleading with the Lord in their behalf and while the divine presence remained with them apart from Moses, shown by manna continuing to fall to feed them by a divine hand morning and evening and by the cloudy pillar by day and the pillar of fire by night standing as a living memorial before them that the divine presence did not depend on the presence of Moses.

What Taking in Vain Means

The command forbids false oaths, perjury, common swearing and profane language, and this evil must be overcome. Perjury committed under the cloak of Christianity stands in direct opposition to the binding law of which this precept is part. The prohibition reaches beyond open crime to the spirit as well as the letter, requiring the depth and breadth of the law to be understood and obeyed.

The holy and reverend name must not be used lightly, carelessly, thoughtlessly or irreverently in ordinary conversation, invoked in trivial matters, or repeated without thought. That careless habit is found even among professed followers, and must be put away. Those in covenant are to speak of Him with respect and reverence, meditating on His majesty, purity and holiness, and uttering His name with reverence, solemnity and holy awe, especially as fallen and sinful people. To mix His holy name with common matters disregards the distinction between the sacred and the common and conflicts with the profession of worship.

Careless and irreverent expressions in prayer also break the command. The name is not to be repeated often or needlessly even in prayer, nor are words such as God Almighty to be coupled together in a careless, thoughtless manner. Such praying shows faint views of His holiness and glory and no realizing sense of God and the truth, that He is the great and terrible, great and dreadful God whose name is fearful, who dwells in light unapproachable whom no man can see and live, and who is soon to judge in the last day. It displeases Him, grieves His tender Spirit, causes petitions to be shut out of heaven, and must be understood and corrected before the church can prosper.

Beyond open profanity, evasive oath-taking that treats an oath as binding only under certain technical conditions, and then uses those exceptions to justify profanity or perjury, is still violation. Jesus states the requirement as letting communication be Yea, yea and Nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil. Saying Lord, Lord and making profession of godliness with lip and voice is taking His name in vain when character is not in harmony with the law and hearing is not joined with doing His will. Even prophesying in His name, and in His name casting out devils and doing many wonderful works, does not avail such professors, who are corrupt trees bringing forth evil fruit and workers of iniquity building on sand; they shall not enter the kingdom of heaven but shall hear Christ profess I never knew you and command them to depart, while only he that does the will builds upon a rock so that his house falls not. The law requires obedience and not merely professions of loyalty or words of praise, for its commands are essential to human happiness and well-being.

To use His name irreverently while living in defiance of His commands dishonors Him, and this is not a small fault to be overlooked or excused. Profaning His holy name brings accountability, and denial that the law remains valid wrongly reassures those who blaspheme. Unadvised speech and unsanctified actions that dishonor God and bring the truth into disrepute break both tables of the law.

Misrepresenting God by Conduct

To take the name in vain is to use it in a way that misrepresents character, and dishonest business done while claiming to advance the work does exactly that, disregarding the principles of the Ten Commandments. Such taking includes false claims presented as truth, sharp scheming and worldly-policy plans carried on for nearly a lifetime, and selfish financial sharpness used under cover of sacred cause. It requires practicing the commandments in every line of work with fine, keen, clear perception of equity, with pure heart and clean hands, with tender, pure, true, compassionate heart like Christ's, loving God supremely and neighbor as self with eye single to His glory, lest truth bear human imperfection, God be dishonored, and stumbling blocks ruin precious souls. Such conduct cannot bring approval or blessing, for the Lord sees every corner of the heart and knows the defilement to be cleansed, and obedience demands purification, self-examination, thorough searching of heart, and righting of wrongs with restitution made not only in word but in deed.

To plead work for the cause while oppressing others, dealing unjustly, ruling or ruining those under power, and robbing members of God's family of individuality and rights is taking His name in vain and is abhorrent and an offense to Him. No transaction of that kind is accepted as a burnt offering, but is received only as strange fire in place of the sacred, for He will never be in league with dishonest practices, will not vindicate even a single touch of injustice, and no prosperity will attend such movements. Any action claimed to advance the cause must conform to the ten precepts of Jehovah that govern how His work is to be conducted, and benefits gained by oppressing His children or denying them just rights He will not accept. There is no circumstance or condition excusing even the least injustice to brother or neighbor, so secret underhanded working to separate and steal away a brother's helpers under a false reason as a blind is fraud and sin, and Christians must be fair, open as daylight, frank, dealing as brethren and making every crooked thing straight. Accountability extends to a church body that gives credentials and pays from the tithe, for if it continues endorsement and support for a man who uses exaggerated statements and misrepresentations to draw money from trusting believers to relieve his own embarrassment, engaging in fraud rather than honorable integrity, it shares guilt for his wrong course until endorsement is withdrawn unless he changes.

Putting Satan's falsehoods into print and thereby exposing young workers to deceptive and polluting ideas misuses what is sacred, and managers who put such spiritually harmful teachings into workers' hands are held accountable and will not be left guiltless for helping prepare a snare that may ruin souls. Claiming to love God while not keeping the Ten Commandments shows His love does not dwell within, for keeping them defines the duty of those who love Him. Giving no heed to this word of divine authority spoken from Sinai while claiming to be sanctified manifests refusal to render required obedience, and making excuses to evade its requirement proves the claimed sanctification spurious. To say I am sanctified apart from obedience is to set up self-righteousness, a law of human imagining, instead of obedience to the Lawgiver, and to profess Christ while violating this commandment proclaimed by Christ Himself from Sinai is transgression and sin to be shown with certain trumpet sound as part of the third angel's message, since only supernatural wisdom can restore what sin made preternatural, and His followers share His work of manifesting God's name in spirit and action.

Pride can turn into vanity and lead to making a god of self, lifting the soul unto vanity and glorying in self, which fails duty to God outlined in the first four commandments, for one false to God cannot be true to neighbor, and the gospel sanctifies the soul and expels self-love. Loving riches supremely makes possessions an idol loved more than God, swallowing the heart and making full love with all heart, soul and mind impossible, as seen when the rich young man who thought he had kept the last six refused to sell and give to the poor and proved he had failed the first four and with them all. The same violation occurs in seeking Freemasonry honor and in joining oppressive monopolies and unions that rob neighbors of freedom to buy and sell, and in turning from light on eating and dressing with simplicity and from known duty to avoid reproach and shun the cross, from unwillingness to endure shame, which blunts conscience and leads to shunning duty in other things. The perversion of the temple service into extortion, robbery and unholy traffic by priests and rulers transgressed that Sinai law proclaimed by Christ Himself with the same clear ringing voice that later rebuked the desecration. To display the law outwardly on forehead, wrist, dress or blue ribbon of the border while works are directly contrary violates it, expressing exalted devotion in appearance while heart and life are not conformed to the will and word of God, as with scribes and Pharisees who enlarged displayed texts to appear especially devout.

Guilt and Divine Punishment

The taking of the divine name in vain brings fearful accountability, for God hears every irreverent utterance and oath and will not hold the transgressor guiltless, and He will not be mocked. Those in covenant with Him must speak of Him with respect and reverence, never treating His name as common speech or mixing what is holy with ordinary matters, for such disregard blurs the distinction between the sacred and the common and contradicts a profession of worship. Parents and ministers must teach this reverence by word and example. The warning stands as the third commandment of the moral law spoken at Sinai, forbidding the profanation of His name. God will judge each case rather than declare the offender guiltless, examining whether heart and soul have been sanctified and made fit to enter His presence, and whether Christ's death for that person has been in vain.

Blasphemy and willful Sabbath-breaking received the same punishment of death by stoning, as equal expressions of contempt for divine authority. The commandment is not set aside as applying only to the Jews, for the argument that the creation Sabbath is abolished because its violation was punished with death applies equally to the third commandment and to the fifth and nearly all the ten precepts. Though temporal penalties may now be withheld, the wages of sin is death, and in the final execution of judgment death will be the portion of those who violate His sacred precepts.

Disobedience to the law proclaimed at Sinai carries definite penalty and sure retribution, with recorded cases of sin and its consequences showing that God requires strict regard for His commandments. The presence of the law in the ark did not protect Israel apart from obedience, for God sent prosperity or adversity according to whether His law was obeyed or transgressed. When Israel later became lax in keeping His commandments, that disobedience brought His displeasure and punishment. Insulting or defying His holy commandments and the just claims of the Decalogue brings guilt and, despite great forbearance, will ultimately bring punishment.

The same principle that leaves the misuser of God's name not guiltless applies to those who lead others to disregard His commandments, for both the leader and the person led are guilty before God, and safety lies only in wholehearted belief in His word rather than choosing a path of one's own. God will not hold people guiltless when they fail known duty, including failing to hinder a marriage that would destroy happiness when the suitor holds false views and feelings and cannot provide a home, for to let a fine, noble girl commit her happiness to his keeping in that condition brings guilt on those who did not prevent it. The warning also reaches youths who disobey a godly parent, for despising a God-fearing mother's counsel transgresses the fifth commandment and can bring lasting harm to the youth and anguish to the mother. When a church body gives a man credentials and pays him from the tithe it becomes responsible for his influence among the flock, and if he uses exaggerated statements and misrepresentations to draw money from believers who trust him as a good and truthful man, practicing fraud rather than honorable integrity to relieve his own financial embarrassment, the body that continues his endorsement shares guilt for his wrong course. That guilt is not removed while the endorsement continues, and requires withdrawing credentials and support so that official influence no longer sanctions his proceedings unless he changes his course.

The Lord of heaven will not hold guiltless anyone who sets aside His commands and teaches others to keep human requirements in their place. The warning applies especially to disregarding and forgetting His explicit directions for the Sabbath He gave as a memorial of the work of creation and accepting a common working day in its place, and God will regard everyone according to works. Many accept the provision against profanation of His name and see no fault in it, as they do the first and second commandments, while stumbling over the fourth. To treat the authority of the ten commandments as less than human precepts and traditions repeats that same guilt.

Place in God's Law

The verse is the third commandment, standing on the first table of stone among the first four precepts that define duty to the Maker. Those four govern worship of the true God and sum up in brief the duty to love Him supremely with all heart and soul and mind and strength by reverencing His name. They allow no rival in the affections, no separation of the affections from God, and nothing to divide or share supreme delight in Him. Whatever divides the affections and takes away supreme love assumes the form of an idol, separates the soul from God, and must be sacrificed and put away in order to advance in Christian experience and to be a spiritual worshiper. The spirit of the commandment draws the chosen to God, separates them from the world and its pleasures and friendship, and calls them to trust in Him alone and press on in obedience without fear.

The ten precepts form one divine whole setting out the whole duty of humanity to God and neighbor for the instruction and government of all people. The first four concern duty to God and the last six concern duty to fellow men, and love for God bears fruit in love for others so that loyalty in the heart holds its rightful place. They must be obeyed together like links in a chain, for to violate this one makes a person a commandment-breaker guilty of all. Keeping the first four faithfully leads to keeping the duties to others, since love for God and love for people are inseparable, while exalting the first four above the last six to neglect mercy, benevolence and good works fails practical godliness, and teaching good works does not exalt the last six above the first four.

The law spoken from Sinai in majesty and glory and engraved by God's own finger on stone is a transcript and expression of His holy, just, good and perfect character, a part of Himself. It lies at the foundation of His throne and government in heaven and on earth, at the foundation of all right laws and enlightened law and government, and of rules for nations and families, so that those framing laws for the nation should understand what is written in it. It is unchangeable and was given after deliverance to be obeyed, bringing safety, healthy spiritual experience and true greatness to the obedient, while only holy men who strictly observe it honor Him by teaching it to others.

The verse belongs to an enduring moral law that can never be repealed while heaven and earth remain, binding on all people until the end of time and in every age. It cannot be amended, trimmed, changed or abolished, for it is eternal truth and a standard of right conduct, and Christ did not come to destroy the law proclaimed on the mountain and written on stone but upholds it. His death honored, confirmed and upheld the ten-commandment law and requires obedience to its precepts, proving it did not die with Him. Unlike sacrificial rites and ceremonies that ended when type met antitype, it remains binding under the gospel on Jew and Gentile, and its claims are to be taught to children despite attempts to replace the Lord's Sabbath with first-day observance.

Like every Thou shalt not it contains or implies a promise, protecting from the harms of wrongdoing, securing happiness and blessing in obedience, and expressing mercy rather than mere prohibition. Received in Christ it works purity of character and brings joy through eternity, and together with the other commands it outlines the conditions of salvation. The words spoken from Sinai mean life to those who obey and death to those who disobey, restoring access to the tree of life lost through disobedience, while disobedience brings danger and unhappiness. God's laws are designed to draw people closer to Him and save them from evil, yet He does not force obedience.

The verse must be obeyed in spirit as well as in letter, understanding its depth and breadth and not only refraining from actual crime. Knowing and teaching it in theory or giving mere assent is not enough; its pure principles must be loved, cherished from the heart, willingly obeyed in practical life and written on the heart, with mind and heart opened so truth finds entrance. When its light is brought to people's attention they become responsible if they reject it, and where truth does not work with transforming power it loses vitalizing power and sin strengthens. A life that contradicts the law while professing it is a lie, leaving a person without confidence, strength or efficiency as an agent for God, and obedience in spirit and letter expresses loyalty and reveals covenant relationship by which God is glorified.

To set aside one of the commandments proclaimed in awful grandeur by the Ruler of the world and present in its place a day that bears no sanctity insults God, profanes His holy day, and assumes authority as gods. Framing a law for a spurious Sunday Sabbath and compelling obedience to it usurps divine prerogatives, infringes upon His authority as Creator of heaven and earth and Monarch of the universe who made the world in six days, rested and was refreshed on the seventh, and sanctified it as a memorial rest day to be observed by all the world. The Sunday Sabbath is a child of the papacy set forth as the Lord's Sabbath, not the Lord's Sabbath, and to obey this human law compels transgression of Jehovah's laws. Human enactments that conflict with God's laws bear not the stamp of divine approval, and all who so act will be dealt with by Jehovah according to works.

Judgment Salvation and Christ

The command belongs to the perfect law that reveals God's will and character and sets out the principles of His government and righteousness, and that law is the standard by which all will be judged. Its proclamation from Sinai will stand to witness against the world in the day of judgment, when its principles will decide the destiny of every soul and the sentence of life or death. Those who have had its precepts made plain and yet reject them will be condemned without excuse, and those who disregard its authority will be declared guilty of transgression.

Obedience to that perfect law is the prerequisite and condition of salvation, determining life or death. Keeping the commandments as written, including the Sabbath, is required in order to be saved, and those who do His commandments will have right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. The law given at Sinai orders conduct and restricts men to what increases real happiness here and fitness for heaven, and carried out in daily life its principles ennoble and sanctify heart and mind and give moral fitness through Jesus Christ for the society of holy angels. It demands perfect obedience and harmony with God, it cannot be abolished and remains the standard of right conduct, and whoever breaks this commandment or teaches men so lessens its sacred claims and shall have no place in the kingdom of heaven, for lawless profession without doing God's will corrupts many and excludes from the kingdom.

Christ kept the commandments in human nature by perfect obedience and resistance to temptation, and His obedience showed that people can obey and that God is just in requiring obedience. He is the living representative of that eternal law proclaimed on Sinai, taking human flesh into vital union with divinity and passing over the same ground where Adam fell, bearing the test our first parents failed and being tempted in all points like humanity yet without sin, so that had He failed on one point Satan would have been victorious. In His humiliation and death He vindicated His right to pardon transgression of this commandment and all sin, giving His life to atone for lawbreaking and to enable obedience. The law gives rules for conduct and condemns every unrighteous act and every transgressor with Thou shalt surely die, yet every soul that repents toward God and turns to the Saviour shall as surely be saved as Christ died for men, for through faith in Christ the repentant and obedient have Christ's perfection counted to cover transgression and through His merits can be final overcomers.

The law to which the command belongs is not a cold, rigid exaction but has light, glory, dignity and far-reaching claims, whose full bearing Christ knows because He spoke it at Sinai after Adam's transgression when the race was given into His hands. In the Sermon on the Mount He defined this law and pressed its claims on the mind, presenting old truth in its proper light apart from human traditions, maxims, petty rules and commandments that make God's commandments ineffective and obscure them. He defended its great precepts and taught its truth in purity, showing its claims reach beyond technical observance to the first four commandments expressing the great principles of God's law. Its spirit points to Jesus Christ as the atoning sacrifice through whose merits the sinner can fulfill its requirements, showing perfect harmony between law and gospel, the law as tree and the gospel as blossom and fruit.

To profess to believe in Christ while violating it is transgression and sin that must be plainly shown with a certain trumpet sound to God's people and the house of Jacob. The commandment belongs to the Sabbath question as the great test for this time, to be proclaimed with intensified power in the third angel's message based on the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus as present truth, not in a tame and voiceless manner. That law was given in Eden at creation, proclaimed on Sinai, written with the finger of God on two tables of stone, and contained in the ark in heaven as a symbol of His presence; transgression brings the judgments symbolized by lightnings and voices and thunderings and earthquake and fire. In the end the obedient will stand out plainly as commandment-keepers wearing God's seal while the disobedient stand as commandment-breakers, those who have worshiped God only in name will be seen as they are and treated according to works, and those who have served in wholehearted obedience will receive eternal life, an obedience as far-reaching as eternity, for sin has made man's condition preternatural and only supernatural wisdom can restore what was lost through followers sharing Christ's work of manifesting God's name in spirit and action.

The law exposes sin and moral failure and shows people their need to repent and rely on Christ's atoning blood for pardon and cleansing, for sin is sin and must be called by its right name. Departing from this law while claiming to do the will of heaven puts feet on the very brink of ruin, and treating the law as bondage leaves people insensitive to sin and unstable when tested. The Lord will not come to punish transgressors of the ten commandments, so lightly regarded, without first sending a message of warning to fit a people for His coming, publishing His law and its penalties so distinctly and prominently like a city set on a hill that all intelligent beings can understand if they will. Violating natural law by indulging depraved appetite and lustful passions violates God's law and the laws He established in man's very being, dulling intellect and lessening mental and physical vigor so that perfect service cannot be rendered. In love and pity God causes the light of health reform to shine so men may realize that sinfulness, temperance in all things and harmony with natural laws keeping intellect clear to discern duty and guide to right action whatever the consequence, and health reform is one branch of the great work fitting a people for the Lord's coming, as closely connected with the third angel's message as the hand is with the body, while Christ who gave His life calls transgressors to come and His blood will cleanse them from all sin and every glossed-over iniquity.

Obedience must be revealed in life work with all business done according to the commandments, for the commandments are life and their restraining influence restores the moral image of God by keeping the soul in touch with the Creator, while passing over sins offensive to God breaks that obedience. Every expression of God's character revealed in His law must be obeyed so that human character becomes one with Him and like Him, for the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, and to know God as revealed is the science of all goodness and truth and righteousness. Keeping the law fashions character after the divine likeness, forms character in harmony with God on which character is to be built, gives a true revelation of God and Christ to unbelievers showing what members of the Lord's family must be, and makes people one with Christ who gave His life to redeem them from sin and make them free in Him. The commandments were given to be observed on earth as the lower school to qualify human beings for the higher grade in heaven, and only those whose garments of character are here freed from every spot and wrinkle, cleansed from all that defiles, made pure, holy and undefiled with Christ formed within, partaking of the divine nature and escaping corruption through lust, will enter through the pearly gates into the holy city and eat of the tree of life for the healing of the nations.

Reverent Living Today

The instruction given on the mount is to be obeyed, studied and presented before the people now just as truly as it was needed in the days of Moses. It is to be given in detail as occasion requires to end all contention and to lead to loving as brethren with softened and subdued hearts, guarding against injustice and guiding dealings with one another. It is direct and positive instruction from God, carrying greater force and value than customs, maxims and teachings of men handed down through rabbis, scribes and Pharisees, which must not be made all-essential above it lest spiritual education be hindered. It is to be vindicated by obedience of heart and mind and by strong argument, magnified by bringing its claims to attention, and printed in plain letters in a prominent place and in houses so hearts and minds may be impressed. If it had been obeyed with the rest of the ten commandments, the wickedness now seen in the world would never have existed.

Parents and ministers must teach reverence by word and example, for those in covenant with God must speak of Him with respect and not mix His holy name with ordinary matters or treat it as common speech. The ten commandments are God's law for His household on earth to guide family life and bring conduct into harmony with His plans, teaching children to respect His authority and obey from principle what He has commanded. They are to be taught to children as sacred, enduring and binding, impressed when rising up and sitting down, when going out and coming in, training them to speak clearly and decidedly without temper and to be neat, orderly and clean with commonness purged away. The sacred law cannot be written in the heart while person, clothing or home remain unclean and disorderly, and high profession without cleanliness is worthless, even wearing work clothes to worship when better is available dishonoring God. Where holiness pervades the home angels are present with softening influence and holy joy, while neglect of this teaching dishonors God, makes drunkards and fills jails and prisons with theft, robbery and murder that obedience would have removed.

The verse must be practiced in every line of work, giving principles of character and rules for conduct and dealings between those in authority and those under them, to be obeyed in practical life with the whole heart. Disregarding it is sin and dishonors God, placing stumbling blocks before souls and discouraging those who recognize its sacred claims, even turning others away from truth. Those who advocate its binding claims while walking in self-sufficiency, spiritual blindness and moral impurity perplex beginners, discourage them and give enemies occasion to reproach faith. Keeping God's cause free from taint requires representing Him with a tender, pure, compassionate heart like Christ's, with eye single to His glory.

The verse belongs with the first four precepts governing worship of the true God, requiring undivided love with all heart and soul and strength and allowing no separation of the affections or rival to share supreme delight. Whatever divides supreme love assumes the form of an idol, separates the soul from God and steps under the prince of darkness, and must be sacrificed and put away with everything that separates in order to advance in Christian experience. Its spirit draws God's chosen people to Himself, separating them from the world and its pleasures and friendship to trust in Him alone and press on in obedience without fear, demanding conversion from disobedience. Reverencing the Sabbath keeps this commandment, for keeping the Sabbath means obedience to all, as the everlasting sign and covenant by which He sanctifies His people and the golden clasp uniting man to God and man to fellow man.

Obedience to the verse is in harmony with the laws of health and belongs to godliness, for its precepts are as truly divine as the laws of nature. Breaking a commandment is breaking God's law, and violating the laws governing the body is likewise sin because those laws are also part of God's law. Needless violations of God's established laws are sins against God, and those who disregard known principles in eating and drinking will not be steadfast in following His law in other matters. Violating natural law through depraved appetites, lustful passions, needless expenditure of vitality or beclouding of intellect is violation of God's law and sin against the Creator, of which God sends warning before punishing. Had men always obeyed it with the rest of the law the curse of disease now flooding the world would not exist, and temperance keeps intellect clear to discern duty.

The direction given to the church when delivered from Egypt and the laws given from Sinai are to be held in the highest regard. Living by them keeps physicians from becoming loose in manners and careless in regard to the laws of chastity. All who so live may be safely trusted as physicians, especially as physicians for women. The physician as God's servant and Christ's representative must not follow practices God condemns but must govern daily conduct, work, weights and measures by principles of God's law, knowing conduct is reviewed by God and must not bring dishonor on His name.

Persistent disregard of the plain precepts given at Sinai weakens faithfulness, hinders the work of others and keeps heaven's blessing from resting richly on the people. Such disregard brings judgment intended to awaken transgressors to their peril and lead them to acknowledge God's supreme rule and the sacredness and binding authority of His law as standard of action over human rulers and enactments. Making God's law void fills up the measure of iniquity. Loyalty to that holy law may require moral courage in the face of opposition and contempt, as shown when Israel after great deliverance and privilege failed to serve as they should.

Old-time reverence taught by the verse is to be reinstated, sanctifying humanity and checking skepticism, for its precepts were given for the government of mankind and their sanctity is to be respected. They express principles of righteousness to be the rule of action, preserved in knowledge with enduring authority, engraved on stone that all might understand His eternal unchangeable character and know Him by experimental knowledge as heart and mind are brought into harmony with Him. Disobeying these plain principles of heaven while claiming power and dignity and to do heaven's will stands on the brink of ruin, for sin is sin and must be called by its right name, with remedy only in coming to Jesus Christ in humility and contrition whose blood cleanses every glossed-over iniquity. Its keeping is shown in faithful use of talents, benevolence to neighbors, and honoring civil law except where rulers conflict with God, where God must be obeyed rather than men, as a hedge distinguishing His people, a barricade in spiritual warfare, a yoke unlike Satan's heavy yokes, and freedom not bondage.

The verse belongs to the highest education that can be given to man, pronounced in awful grandeur from the highest and grandest court. That higher education is obedience to all of God's commandments by every sanctified soul living the Word of God. It is to be learned from God Himself, not from human unsanctified teachers who refuse higher education.