When people think about God’s laws, they often picture limits. Restrictions. Heavy burdens. A list of things you cannot do. But Exodus 20 pushes us to rethink that. Because before God gives a single command, He reminds His people who He is and what He has already done for them. He has rescued them. He has carried them. He has brought them out of slavery. And the commands that follow are not shackles. They are invitations into real freedom. They show us how life actually works when God is at the centre. And m...
When people think about God’s laws, they often picture limits. Restrictions. Heavy burdens. A list of things you cannot do. But Exodus 20 pushes us to rethink that. Because before God gives a single command, He reminds His people who He is and what He has already done for them. He has rescued them. He has carried them. He has brought them out of slavery. And the commands that follow are not shackles. They are invitations into real freedom. They show us how life actually works when God is at the centre. And maybe you need that reminder today.
Exodus 20:1–21 (ESV)And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, You speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, lest we die. Moses said to the people, Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin. The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
Before God gives His people the law, He reminds them them of who he is and what He has done for them. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. In other words, He says, I saved you before you did anything. I redeemed you before you kept a single command. I loved you before you even knew how to live. Obedience was never the doorway into God’s favour. It was always the response to it.
And so God begins with the first command. You shall have no other gods before me. God knows there is no life to be found in anything else. Idols promise a lot, but they take more than they give. They leave you empty. They demand everything from you and give nothing back. God calls us to Himself because He alone is the source of life.
The second command builds on this. Do not make an image of Me. God refuses to be reduced or reshaped into something manageable. We do not get to remake Him according to our preferences. We do not get to tame Him. He is who He is. And His jealousy here is not petty. It is the jealousy of a God who loves His people too much to let them wander into spiritual slavery again.
The third command reminds us that God’s name is weighty. We do not use it carelessly. We do not attach it to lies or empty promises. When we speak of God, we speak of the One who made us, who sustains us, who rescued us. Reverence is right.
Then comes the Sabbath. One of the most countercultural commands. The world tells you to work endlessly. To produce. To hustle. But God tells His people to stop. To rest. To remember that He is the One who provides. The Sabbath teaches us that we are not machines. We are children. And children rest because their Father is strong enough to hold their world together.
The commands that follow shape our life together. Honour your parents. Value life. Be faithful in marriage. Respect the property of others. Speak truthfully. Refuse envy. At first glance, they might seem like ordinary things, but they are not. They describe a community shaped by the character of God. A people who reflect His ways in the world. These commands are not random. They flow out of who God is. And because of that, they show us who we are meant to be. They describe what it means for a human being to flourish. The show what a flourishing society looks like.
But notice the people’s reaction. When they see the mountain shake and hear God’s voice, they tremble. They stand far off. They say to Moses, you speak to us instead. They sense the holiness of God and it is overwhelming. And Moses responds with something both surprising and comforting. Do not fear. God has come to test you, that the fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin. Moses is distinguishing two kinds of fear. There is the fear that pushes you away from God, and the fear that pulls you toward obedience. One is terror. The other is awe. And awe is good for us.
And this is where Jesus becomes so precious. The people could not bear the voice of God. They needed a mediator. They needed someone to stand between them and the holy presence of God. Moses could do that in part, but only Jesus could do it fully. Only Jesus could bring sinful people into the presence of a holy God without them being consumed. Only Jesus could obey these commands perfectly when we could not. Only Jesus could bear the cost of our disobedience.
So how might you respond today. Perhaps it is simply to remember that God’s commands are not chains. They are invitations into life. They show us what freedom actually looks like. And maybe your next step is to ask where you have been resisting God’s ways. Where you have listened to the idols around you. Where you have shaped God into something smaller than He really is. And then to come back to the God who rescued you first. A God who speaks these commands to His redeemed people not to bind them, but to set them free.
PrayerFather, thank You that Your commands come to us after Your rescue. Teach us to see them as gifts. Help us to trust that Your ways lead to life. Give us hearts that honour You, rest in You, and walk in Your ways. And thank You for Jesus, who obeyed perfectly in our place and brings us near to You. In His name we pray, Amen.
Get full access to Reformed Devotionals Daily at reformeddevotional.substack.com/subscribe
