By causing men to violate the second commandment, Satan aimed to degrade their conceptions of the Divine Being. By setting aside the fourth, he would cause them to forget God altogether. God’s claim to reverence and worship, above the gods of the heathen, is based upon the fact that He is the Creator, and that to Him all other beings owe their existence. Thus it is presented in the Bible. Says the prophet Jeremiah: “The Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King. . . . The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion.” “Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like them: for He is the former of all things.” Jeremiah 10:10-12, 14-16. The Sabbath, as a memorial of God’s creative power, points to Him as the maker of the heavens and the earth. Hence it is a constant witness to His existence and a reminder of His greatness, His wisdom, and His love. Had the Sabbath always been sacredly observed, there could never have been an atheist or an idolater. Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 336
Statue or idol worship is becoming very common today. Perched on a mountain 3000 feet above Butte, Montana, is a statue of Mary called “Our Lady of the Rockies” that rises to the notable height of 90 feet. This is the same height as the image Nebuchadnezzar built on the plain of Dura. There are Mary statues around the world that cry real blood tears, drink real milk, or perform other supernatural things. Hindu idols do these things, also. Many people revere and worship these statues.
What about us? Are there idols in our lives? They may not be idols of metal or wood or stone made to look like strange animals or unearthly, human-like beings, but are there things made of metal and wood and stone that we live in or drive around in that are absorbing our energies and our resources so they are not available for God’s kingdom? How sad God must feel when his people do this.
We ought now to be heeding the injunction of our Saviour: “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not.” It is now that our brethren should be cutting down their possessions instead of increasing them. We are about to move to a better country, even a heavenly. Then let us not be dwellers upon the earth, but be getting things into as compact a compass as possible. Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, p. 152
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Isaiah 55:2, 3
I have been studying the original Hebrew pictograph alphabet and have found some very interesting things. I would like to share an example. The Hebrew word for sabbath is shabbat. The original Hebrew pictograph characters had a very intrigueing meaning. The first letter was a picture of a set of teeth and meant to eat or rest; the second letter was a tent with a person in it meaning to sit in one’s tent; the third letter represented a sign or mark or covenant. The word shabbat is like a compound word that combines all these meanings into one: to rest in your tent as a sign of the covenant.
Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. Numbers 15:38-40
Blue is a symbol of God’s law. Israel was to have blue on their robes to remind them of the Commandments of God. It was to remind them so they would not go into idolatry. The colors of the sanctuary were gold, purple, blue, scarlet, and white. The prostitute Babylon in Revelation 17 has all of these colors except for blue and white, law and purity.
Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink. Exodus 24:9-11
Blue sapphire was the foundation of God’s throne. So the Law is the foundation of God’s throne and government since blue represents the Law. Also there is an ancient Jewish tradition that the original Ten Commandments, God’s Covenant with His people, were written on blue sapphire stone.
God wants to ratify that covenant in our heart. Will you enter into covenant with Him today?
The closing words of Malachi are a prophecy regarding the work that should be done preparatory to the first and the second advent of Christ. This prophecy is introduced with the admonition, “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. The Southern Watchman 03-21-05
In these last days there is a call from Heaven inviting you to keep the statutes and ordinances of the Lord. Signs of the Times, 02-03-88
Note: If you are interested in learning about the ancient Hebrew pictograph alphabet, check online at the Ancient Hebrew Research Center. I got a book called The Ancient Hebrew Language and Alphabet by Jeff A. Benner. It is very fascinating to learn about ancient Hebrew thought and culture, and how it relates to our understanding of scripture.