We Must Obey God Rather Than Men

The following is an exhaustive list of verses containing the word “commandments” obtained by my use of E-Sword, a free Bible software program available on the Internet, and The Blue Letter Bible Online, a web site that provides extensive Bible study materials at no charge. My comments are posted at the end. Programs like these are invaluable for examining the whole counsel of God in regard to specific subjects. When I began to examine “the sum of Thy word,” which, according to the psalmist, “is truth,” (Psalm 119:160) by these means, my perspective of the Scriptures, and what is expected of followers of Jesus/Yeshua, drastically changed and has, over the years, radically affected my walk with the LORD. It is my prayer that this article will prompt much prayerful thought, consideration, and searching in the Body of Christ that we might all say, as did Peter and the apostles, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts. 5:29)

The reader is urged to read, at the very least,  the entire chapter in which these verses are contained in order to understand context.  I realize this is quite an assignment.  For a free PDF copy of this document via email, please contact me:  cathy@cathyhelms.com

GENESIS

Genesis 26:5 – . . .  Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my COMMANDMENTS, my statutes, and my laws.”

EXODUS

Exodus 15:26 – . . . saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his COMMANDMENTS and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”

Exo 16:28 – And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my COMMANDMENTS and my laws?

Exo 20:6 – . . .but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my COMMANDMENTS.

Exo 34:28 – So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten COMMANDMENTS.

LEVITICUS

Leviticus 4:2 – “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the LORD’s COMMANDMENTS about things not to be done, and does any one of them,

Lev 4:13 – “If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the LORD’s COMMANDMENTS ought not to be done, and they realize their guilt . . .”

Lev 4:22 – “When a leader sins, doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt . . .”

Lev 4:27 – “If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the LORD’s COMMANDMENTS ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt . . .”

Lev 5:17 – “If anyone sins, doing any of the things that by the LORD’s COMMANDMENTS ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his guilt, he shall bear his iniquity.”

Lev 22:31 – “So you shall keep my COMMANDMENTS and do them: I am the LORD.”

Lev 26:3 – “If you walk in my statutes and observe my COMMANDMENTS and do them . . . “

Lev 26:14 – “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these COMMANDMENTS . . .”

Lev 26:15 – “. . . if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my COMMANDMENTS, but break my covenant, . . .”

Lev 27:34 – These are the COMMANDMENTS that the LORD commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.

NUMBERS

Numbers 15:22 – “But if you sin unintentionally, and do not observe all these COMMANDMENTS that the LORD has spoken to Moses…”

Num 15:39 – And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after.

Num 15:40 – So you shall remember and do all my COMMANDMENTS, and be holy to your God.

Num 36:13 – These are the COMMANDMENTS and the rules that the LORD commanded through Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

DEUTERONOMY

Deuteronomy 4:2 – You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD your God that I command you.

Deu 4:13 – And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten COMMANDMENTS, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.

Deu 4:40 – Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his COMMANDMENTS, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”

Deu 5:10 –  . . . but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my COMMANDMENTS.

Deu 5:29 – Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my COMMANDMENTS, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!

Deu 6:2 – . . . that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his COMMANDMENTS, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.

Deu 6:17 – You shall diligently keep the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you.

Deu 7:9 – Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his COMMANDMENTS, to a thousand generations . . .

Deu 8:2 – And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his COMMANDMENTS or not.

Deu 8:6 – So you shall keep the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.

Deu 8:11 – “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his COMMANDMENTS and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today . . .”

Deu 10:4 – And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten COMMANDMENTS that the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.  And the LORD gave them to me.

Deu 10:13 – . . . and to keep the COMMANDMENTS and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?

Deu 11:1 – “You shall therefore love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his COMMANDMENTS always.”

Deu 11:13 – “And if you will indeed obey my COMMANDMENTS that I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul . . .”

Deu 11:27 – . . . the blessing, if you obey the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD your God, which I command you today . . .

Deu 11:28 – … and the curse, if you do not obey the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.

Deu 13:4 – You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his COMMANDMENTS and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

Deu 13:18 –  . . . if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all his COMMANDMENTS that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God.

Deu 26:13 – . . . then you shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your COMMANDMENTS, nor have I forgotten them.

Deu 26:17 – You have declared today that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his COMMANDMENTS and his rules, and will obey his voice.

Deu 26:18 – And the LORD has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his COMMANDMENTS . . .

Deu 27:10 – You shall therefore obey the voice of the LORD your God, keeping his COMMANDMENTS and his statutes, which I command you today.

Deu 28:1 – And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his COMMANDMENTS that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

Deu 28:9 – The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.

Deu 28:13-14 – And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD your God, which I COMMAND you today, being careful to do them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I COMMAND you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Deu 28:15 – But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his COMMANDMENTS and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

Deu 28:45 – All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his COMMANDMENTS and his statutes that he commanded you.

Deu 30:8 – And you shall again obey the voice of the LORD and keep all his COMMANDMENTS that I command you today.

Deu 30:10 – . . . when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his COMMANDMENTS and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deu 30:16 – If you obey the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his COMMANDMENTS and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

JOSHUA

Joshua 22:5 – Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his COMMANDMENTS and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

JUDGES

Judges 2:17 – Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD, and they did not do so.

Judges 3:4 – They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

1 SAMUEL

1 Samuel 15:11 – “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my COMMANDMENTS.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the LORD all night.

1 KINGS

1Kings 2:3 – . . . and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his COMMANDMENTS, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn . . .

1Kings 3:14 – And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my COMMANDMENTS, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.

1Kings 6:12 – Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my COMMANDMENTS and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.

1Kings 8:58 – . . . that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his COMMANDMENTS, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers.

1Kings 8:61 – Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his COMMANDMENTS, as at this day.

1Kings 9:6 – But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my COMMANDMENTS and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

1Kings 11:34 – Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my COMMANDMENTS and my statutes.

1Kings 11:38 – And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my COMMANDMENTS, as David my servant did, I will be with you and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

1Kings 14:8 – . . . and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my COMMANDMENTS and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes . . .

1Kings 18:18 – And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD and followed the Baals.”

2 KINGS

2Kings 17:13 – Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my COMMANDMENTS and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

2Kings 17:16 – And they abandoned all the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal.

2Kings 17:19 – Judah also did not keep the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.

2Kings 18:6 – For he held fast to the LORD.  He did not depart from following him, but kept the COMMANDMENTS that the LORD commanded Moses.

2Kings 23:3 – And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his COMMANDMENTS and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

1 CHRONICLES

1Chronicles 28:7 – I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues strong in keeping my COMMANDMENTS and my rules, as he is today.

1Ch 28:8 – Now therefore in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek out all the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever.

1Ch 29:19 – Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your COMMANDMENTS, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.”

2 CHRONICLES

2Ch 7:19 – But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my COMMANDMENTS that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them . . .

2Ch 17:4 – . . . but sought the God of his father and walked in his COMMANDMENTS, and not according to the practices of Israel.

2Ch 24:20 – Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you break the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.'”

2Ch 31:21 – And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the COMMANDMENTS, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.

2Ch 34:31– And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his COMMANDMENTS and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.

EZRA

Ezra 7:11 – This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD and his statutes for Israel:

Ezra 9:10 – And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your COMMANDMENTS . . .

Ezra 9:14 – . . . shall we break your COMMANDMENTS again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape?

NEHEMIAH

Nehemiah 1:5 – And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his COMMANDMENTS . . .”

Neh 1:7 – We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the COMMANDMENTS, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.

“Return to Me,” written in Paleo Hebrew letters.

Neh 1:9 – … but if you return to me and keep my COMMANDMENTS and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.

Neh 9:13 – You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and COMMANDMENTS . . .

Neh 9:14 – . . . and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them COMMANDMENTS and statutes and a law by Moses your servant.

Neh 9:16 – But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your COMMANDMENTS.

Neh 9:29 – And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your COMMANDMENTS, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey.

Neh 9:34 – Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your COMMANDMENTS and your warnings that you gave them.

Neh 10:29 – . . . join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD our Lord and his rules and his statutes.

PSALMS

Psalm 78:7 – . . . so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his COMMANDMENTS . . .

Psalm 89:31 – . . . if they violate my statutes and do not keep my COMMANDMENTS . . .

Psalm 103:18 – . . . to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his COMMANDMENTS.

Psalm 112:1 – Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his COMMANDMENTS!

Psalm 119:6 – Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your COMMANDMENTS.

Psalm 119:10 – With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your COMMANDMENTS!

Psalm 119:19 – I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your COMMANDMENTS from me!

Psalm 119:21 – You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your COMMANDMENTS.

Psalm 119:32 – I will run in the way of your COMMANDMENTS when you enlarge my heart!

Psalm 119:35 – Lead me in the path of your COMMANDMENTS, for I delight in it.

Psalm 119:47 – . . . for I find my delight in your COMMANDMENTS, which I love.

Psalm 119:48 – I will lift up my hands toward your COMMANDMENTS, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.

Psalm 119:60 – I hasten and do not delay to keep your COMMANDMENTS.

Psalm 119:66 – Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your COMMANDMENTS.

Psalm 119:73 – Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your COMMANDMENTS.

Psalm 119:86 – All your COMMANDMENTS are sure . . .

Psalm 119:115 – Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the COMMANDMENTS of my God.

Psalm 119:127 – Therefore I love your COMMANDMENTS above gold, above fine gold.

Psalm 119:131 – I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your COMMANDMENTS.

Psalm 119:143 – Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your COMMANDMENTS are my delight.

Psalm 119:151 – But you are near, O LORD, and all your COMMANDMENTS are true.

Psalm 119:166 – I hope for your salvation, O LORD, and I do your COMMANDMENTS.

Psalm 119:172 – My tongue will sing of your word, for all your COMMANDMENTS are right.

Psalm 119:176 – I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your COMMANDMENTS.

PROVERBS

Proverbs 2:1 – My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my COMMANDMENTS with you . . .

Prov 3:1 – My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my COMMANDMENTS . . .

Prov 4:4 – . . . he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my COMMANDMENTS, and live.”

Prov 7:1 – My son, keep my words and treasure up my COMMANDMENTS with you . . .

Prov 7:2 – . . . keep my COMMANDMENTS and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye . . .

Prov 10:8 – The wise of heart will receive COMMANDMENTS, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.

ECCLESIASTES

Ecclesiastes 12:13 – The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his COMMANDMENTS, for this is the whole duty of man.

ISAIAH

Isaiah 48:18 – Oh that you had paid attention to my COMMANDMENTS! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea . . .

DANIEL

Daniel 9:4 – I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his COMMANDMENTS . . .

Dan 9:5 – . . . we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your COMMANDMENTS and rules.

MATTHEW

Matthew 5:19 – Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these COMMANDMENTS and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 15:9 – . . . in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the COMMANDMENTS of men. 

Mat 19:17 – And he [Jesus/Yeshua] said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the COMMANDMENTS.“

Mat 22:40 – On these two COMMANDMENTS depend all the Law and the Prophets.

MARK

Mark 7:7 – . . . in vain do they worship me [Jesus/Yeshua], teaching as doctrines the COMMANDMENTS of men.

Mark 10:19 – [Jesus/Yeshua said:] You know the COMMANDMENTS: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’

LUKE

Luke 1:6 – And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the COMMANDMENTS and statutes of the Lord. [click here for more on the facinating subject of being blameless] 

Luke 18:20 – [Jesus/Yeshua said:] You know the COMMANDMENTS: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’

JOHN

John 14:15 – [Jesus/Yeshua said:] If you love me, you will keep my COMMANDMENTS.

John 14:21 – [Jesus/Yeshua said:] Whoever has my COMMANDMENTS and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

John 15:10 – [Jesus/Yeshua said:] If you keep my COMMANDMENTS, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s COMMANDMENTS and abide in his love.

ROMANS

Romans 10:5 – For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the COMMANDMENTS shall live by them.

Rom 13:9 – For the COMMANDMENTS, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

1 CORINTHIANS

1Corinthians 7:19 – For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the COMMANDMENTS of God.

EPHESIANS

Ephesians 2:15 – . . . by abolishing the law of COMMANDMENTS expressed in ordinances *, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace . . 

1 JOHN

1John 2:3 – And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his COMMANDMENTS.

1John 2:4 – Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his COMMANDMENTS is a liar, and the truth is not in him . . .

1John 3:22 – . . . and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his COMMANDMENTS and do what pleases him.

1John 3:24 – Whoever keeps his COMMANDMENTS abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

1John 5:2 – By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his COMMANDMENTS.

1John 5:3 – For this is the love of God, that we keep his COMMANDMENTS. And his COMMANDMENTS are not burdensome.  

2 JOHN

2John 1:6 – And this is love, that we walk according to his COMMANDMENTS; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

REVELATION

Revelation 12:17 – Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the COMMANDMENTS of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus . . .

Rev 14:12 – Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the COMMANDMENTS of God and their faith in Jesus.

 Cathy’s comments:

To the serious student of Scripture, these key factors stand out:

• Abraham kept God’s commandments 1100 years before God gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai. (Gen. 26:5)  [John 8:39 They answered and said unto him [Jesus], “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said unto them, If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. “]
  

• God promises to lavish abundant blessings on those who keep His commandments. The blessings include health, prosperity, well-being, favor, deliverance from one’s enemies, and peace [including for one’s children]; but also curses to those who do not, including sickness, injury, captivity, barrenness, war, pestilence, drought, famine, mental illness, terror, and torture. (see Deut, Chapter 28)

• Moses exhorted God’s people to keep His commandments

• Joshua exhorted God’s people to keep His commandments. (Joshua 22:5)

• Ezra repented for the people’s failure to keep God’s commandments.

• Nehemiah repented for the people’s failure to keep God’s commandments.

• Daniel repented for the people’s failure to keep God’s commandments.

• Various psalmists extol God’s commandments as “blessing”, “delight”, “true,” “right.” Psalm 119 in particular exalts the wisdom of God’s word, covenant, and commandments (which terms are interchangeable, as we will see below]

• King Solomon sums up “the whole duty of man” to keep the God’s commandments. (Ecc 12:13)

• Isaiah promises “peace like a river” for keeping the commandments.  (Isaiah 66:12)  and proclaims Isa. 56:3″Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”…Isa 56:6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it, and takes hold of my covenant; Isa 56:7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people. Isa 56:8 The Lord GOD which gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.”[Note that “covenant” and “commandments” are interchangeable:  Exodus 34:28, Lev. 26:15, Deut. 4:13, 7:9, 2 Kings 23:3, 2Chron. 34:31, Neh. 1:5,  Psa_103:18, Dan. 9:4.  So also are “word” and “covenant” interchangeable: Num_15:31, Psa_147:15, Pro_13:13, Titus 1:3, 1 John 2:7] [Click here for verse list “Sabbath”]

• Jesus/Yeshua promises that those who keep the commandments and teach others to do them will be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven and that those who do not will be the least in the kingdom. (Mat 5:19)  [Would we really want to be the least?]

• The parents of John the Baptist are called “blameless” and “righteous” for keeping the commandments. [If there was a different standard for Jew and non-Jew, would that make God a “respecter of persons?”  “And so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.” (Mal. 2:9) “So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. (Luke 20:21) So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality.” (Acts 10:34) “For God shows no partiality. (Romans 2:11). 

• Jesus answered the man who desired eternal life, “If you would enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Mat 19:17) [“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.(Mat. 5:17-19)]
  

• Jesus told His disciples, “if you love Me, keep My commandments,” echoing the Ten Commandments  (John 14:15, see Exodus 20:6).  He says they are not “burdensome” (1 John 5:3  [It was the “traditions of my fathers,” said Paul (Gal. 1:14)  and tradition of the elders, of which Yeshua warned. See Mat. 15:2, Mark 7:3-8]

• John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” writing perhaps fifty years after Jesus’ resurrection, over and over exhorts God’s people to keep His commandments.  (1John 2:3-4, 1 John 3:22-24, 1 John 5:2-3)

• The Book of Revelation promises satanic warfare against those who have the testimony of Jesus and keep God’s commandments (Rev 12:17, Rev 14:12)

“For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)

What is glaringly absent from this list is any prophecy that the  commandments will cease. “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.” (Psa. 119:160).  “Remember his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations.” ( 1 Chron. 16:15, Psa. 105:8). “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”  (Isaiah 40:8 see also 1 Peter 1:25).

Admittedly, there are some verses written by Paul which, if allowed to stand alone could be interpreted to mean that God’s commandments are no longer in affect. In ignorance, the Church has swallowed the lie of Leviathan that we are separated from God’s chosen people when in fact, we have been grafted in to the “commonwealth of Israel” and “are no longer aliens and stranger” to the covenants of promise.

Eph 2:12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Eph 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility Eph 2:15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances [*Thayer’s Greek Dictionary: G1378  dogma  .1) doctrine, decree, ordinance, 1a) of public decrees, 1b) of the Roman Senate, 1c) of rulers, see below] , that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, Eph 2:16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. Eph 2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. Eph 2:18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. Eph 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, Eph 2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, Eph 2:21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Eph

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2:22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. *NOTE, this is NOT referring to the Torah of Moses; but to doctrines of men, revered traditions of the religious leaders, which, according to Jesus/Yeshua “make the word of God of no effect.” (Mark 7:13) “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”  (Mark 7:7 see also Mat. 15:1-6. Jesus/Yeshua came to expose the religious dogma, ordinances that were ADDED by men. That is the definition of legalism. Keeping the commandments is called “obedience.”)

It is religious dogma that prevents the body from being one new man! Christians will never be echad (one, united) with the Jewish people until we understand God’s plan from the beginning: Equal weights and measures means one set of instructions for all of God’s people. And that is exactly what the beautiful Torah of Moses  prescribes:

“There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” (Exo. 12:49)  “One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.” (Num. 15:16) ” You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them.” (Num. 15:29).

No wise and loving earthly father would be foolish enough to give one set of rules to his own flesh and blood and another set to an adopted son. Doing so would practically quarantee disunity, jealousy, vexation, and chaos. From the beginning, non-Jews were intended to be joint-heirs with the House of Judah, the Jewish people, who began their return to the land in 1948. The other tribes of Greater Israel, the House of Ephraim, who was scattered by the King of Assyria into the nations, has yet to return to the land promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

When considering Paul’s writings that appear, in places, on the surface, to teach that there is one way for the Jew to walk and an entirely different way for Gentiles, we must recall that Moses, Jesus, and Paul, himself, declared that “a matter is decided on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” (Deut 17:6, Deut 19:15, Mat 18:16, 2Cor 13:1, 1Tim 5:19, Heb 10:28) More than 350 New Testament verses directly quote the Hebrew Bible [Old Testament]. Paul’s writings are full of such quotes, as seen in this document. The only way to interpret without Paul contradicting himself–or the rest of Scripture–is in view of what God instructed Moses. Otherwise, Paul will be “least in the kingdom.”

In the days when Jesus/Yeshua lived, as well as Paul and the disciples, there was no New Testament. There was only the Hebrew Scriptures. (For more on this see “Exactly What IS “Scripture According to the New Testament. 

Peter warned that Paul’s writings are “hard to understand” and were, even then, being twisted:

But, according to his [God’s] promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2Peter 3:13-18

For more information on this subject, please see Examining the Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees and  Examining Replacement Theology.

Jesus/Yeshua said,

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness [torahlessness].’ “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Mat. 7:21-24)

Shalom!