The Twelve Commandments
Many preachers of this generation say that the laws of the Old Testament are done away with because we are under grace. The exact opposite is true. We have grace to keep God’s laws and only by grace are we able to keep his laws. The ability to keep his laws comes from the Holy Spirit within us, not from ourselves. Jesus Christ added to the requirements of the law, teaching us that it is a sin when we break the law in our hearts. We must have the law written on our hearts. That is the New Covenant that He promised to Israel.
The Gospels have many references to the law. “And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31. These two commandments were not part of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Israel when He made a covenant with them at Mount Sinai. I call these the “Love Commandments” which are only possible to keep if we have the Holy Spirit within us. That is why I have entitled this article “The Twelve Commandments”. These two commandments, along with the Ten Commandments, are part of the New Covenant He promised to Israel. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jeremiah 31:31-33.
We must have love in our hearts. “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God,” and also “We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.” I John 4: 7 and 19-21.
The first Covenant with Israel was made at Mount Sinai and the Lord wrote Ten Commandments for them and married them. This did not work and ended in divorce. I believe the second Covenant with Israel will be made at Mount Zion and He will give us Twelve Commandments and marry us nationally again. The Twelve Commandments would be the Ten Commandments plus the two “Love Commandments”. Many of us are already part of the New Covenant individually by receiving Jesus Christ into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. However, we need a national commitment from our people which will come in the Kingdom Age.
This is the truth that the Christian denominations miss in their understanding of the New Covenant. They believe the New Covenant is only for the Christian Church, but the prophecy of Jeremiah Chapter 31 says it is for the House of Israel and the House of Judah. This can only mean one thing: National Repentance! “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.” Hosea 5:15 and 6:1. Our people will repent of their sins and enter in to a new love relationship with God, and righteousness will exalt our nation.
