The Law of God, The Fifth Commandment

The Law of God
Message 05

Gen 1:24-31
    24    And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing,
    and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
    25    And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that
    creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
    26    And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over
    the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
    every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
    27    So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female
    created he them.
    28    And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,
    and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
    every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
    29    And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the
    earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
    30    And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon
    the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
    31    And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and
    the morning were the sixth day. KJV

On the sixth day of Creation God made the animals that were to live upon the land (excepting the birds
which were made on the fifth day) and He made man, in His Own Image. That designation that was
given to man was given to him exclusively. There is no other created creature or being that is said to have
been made ‘in the image’ of God Himself. To this day we do not fully comprehend all of the ideas that God
intended to be taken from that description of this special creature that He had made.
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Gen 1:24-31
“The creation of man does not take place through a word addressed by God to the earth, but as the result
of the divine decree, "We will make man in Our image, after our likeness," which proclaims at the very
outset the distinction and pre-eminence of man above all the other creatures of the earth. The plural "We"
was regarded by the fathers and earlier theologians almost unanimously as indicative of the Trinity:

“The image of God consists, therefore, in the spiritual personality of man, though not merely in unity of
self-consciousness and self-determination, or in the fact that man was created a consciously free Ego; for
personality is merely the basis and form of the divine likeness, not its real essence. This consists rather in
the fact, that the man endowed with free self-conscious personality possesses, in his spiritual as well as
corporeal nature, a creaturely copy of the holiness and blessedness of the divine life. This concrete essence
of the divine likeness was shattered by sin; and it is only through Christ, the brightness of the glory of God
and the expression of His essence (Heb 1:3), that our nature is transformed into the image of God again
(Col 3:10; Eph 4:24). (from Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database.
Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
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So, although there is much that is incomprehensible concerning the matter, we do understand this. Man
was and is the special creation of God. There is no way around it and no other possible conclusion to
draw. We know that God had a special purpose for humans because from the very beginning He
interacted with man on the basis of intelligent communication.

Gen 2:15-17
    15    And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
    16    And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
    eat:
    17    But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou
    eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. KJV

We know that God made this creature, man, a relational being. First, God Himself entered into
relationship with him but also we see that God had made him so that he needed relationships with his own
kind.

Gen 2:18
    18    And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet
    for him. KJV

And He did, from Adam’s rib God made the first female human whom we call Eve.

Of course, we know that Adam and Eve refused to obey the command of God, which ended their stay in
the wonderful garden that God had made for them and brought upon themselves incredible destruction.
First of all, they died so far as their relationship with God was concerned and brought upon themselves the
declaration of physical death. In addition to that their lives were made more difficult in many other ways.
This was the First and the Great sin of the human race and its consequences propagated to the entire race,
to all of their descendants. Paul, the writer of the book of 1 Corinthians declared, “in Adam all die.”
(15:22)  

It should be noted that this sin was not only a violation of a specific command intended for Adam and Eve
only but it was also a profound violation of the First Commandment, which we looked at last week.

We have almost no information of how life was for our First Parents but we do know that soon they had
two sons, one of whom was a man of faith and one who was not. And, as so often has happened through
the course of human history, one day the unbeliever murdered the believer, his own brother. Not only was
Abel dead, but Cain had introduced into the human race a thought process that should never have been,
that one could solve problems by taking the life of another.

Many years later, in the Law given at Sinai, a number of issues of human wickedness were covered but this
morning I was to focus on the Fifth Commandment, in part because today is National Sanctity of Life Day,
pronounced so by President Reagan on January 22, 1984.

The Law of God concerning this matter is the shortest of all of the commandments given at Sinai to Israel
through Moses.

Ex 20:13
13 `Thou shalt not kill. KJV

We know that the actual declaration was ‘thou shalt do no murder.’ And, there are several things that we
know about how this command was to be applied.

First of all, it does not mean that capital punishment is forbidden because in the wisdom of God, the person
who violated this command was to be put to death.

We know that it did not mean that a nation could not go to war and send its’ soldiers to kill their enemies
because the same God that gave this command had, just a few days before, enabled the Israelites to kill
thousands of men from a tribe called Amalek. Not only that but God would give instructions for the Jews
to take the land of Canaan, put every resident of that land to death, and live in their cities, farm their land,
and enjoy all that the Land of Promise had to offer.

It also did not mean that a man could not defend himself even with deadly force because this same law
provided that one who was attacked could indeed kill his attacker if necessary and be held harmless.

Therefore all of the ‘straw men’ that have been fashioned by people supposedly relying on the Fifth
Commandment are shown to be just that, false arguments devised by people straining at gnats and
swallowing camels in the effort to promote a particular agenda.

The Law of God was this. No one was to take the life of another person without just cause. This was
considered murder and a violation of God’s Sacred Laws, punishable by the death of the offender.

This offence, this violation of Holy Law, is believed to be rooted in Creation itself. Because man bears the
image of God, though it is now severely defaced, there is special protection for his existence. God has
decreed, declared, and clearly communicated that the life of any of these special creatures that He has
made is not to be terminated except with the most supreme of causes and those all determined in a just and
reasonable way, looking to Him and His Word for those causes that render it proper for one to be killed.
The Word of God, therefore, should be understood to forbid the killing of anyone without just cause but
endorsing self-defense, capital punishment, and even war when necessary.

Jesus expanded our understanding of this Law in a very interesting and profound way.

Matt 5:21-22
    21    Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall
    be in danger of the judgment:
    22    But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of
    the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but
    whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. KJV

Matt 5:21-23
" You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever
commits murder shall be liable to the court.' 22 "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his
brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ' You good-for-nothing,' shall be
guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
NASU

Matt 5:21-22
21 "Under the laws of Moses the rule was, 'If you murder, you must die.' 22 But I have added to that rule
and tell you that if you are only angry, even in your own home, you are in danger of judgment! If you call
your friend an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse him, you are in
danger of the fires of hell.   TLB

Turns out that the core of the sin of murder is that one person decides within himself and for unjust cause
that another person is ‘worthless,’ the root meaning of ‘Raca.’ So, because he is ‘worthless’ his life can
and, in fact, should be ended.

Think about it. Every ‘murder’ (not every ‘killing’) is committed by a person who has decided that another
person is not worthy to live, has no value, and should be terminated. Those who set a high value on life,
including the lives of their enemies, rarely, if ever commit murder.

Jesus taught us to set a high value on the lives of our enemies, if you recall.

Matt 5:43-48
    43    Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
    44    But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you,
    and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
    45    That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the
    evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
    46    For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
    47    And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
    48    Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. KJV

“Do good to them and pray for them,” said the Savior. This is a reflection of the kind of value that we are
to set on the lives of other people, beginning with the ones who hate us.  

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament, both Moses and Christ, teach us to highly value the lives
of other people, especially the lives of those who have done no wrong. The Death of Jesus Christ screams
out at us because it was the unjust murder of One Who not only had done no wrong but Who had always
done nothing but righteousness. It was murder for that simple reason that the ones who committed it,
including Pilate the Roman, knew that it was unjust.

The more advanced a culture is, the more value it sets on human life and the more backward it is, the less
value that it sets, especially on the lives of the weak and the innocent.

An advanced culture deplores and despises those who abuse the weak and mistreat children, women, the
aged, and the disabled. The very foundation of Justice is the high esteem that a society places on the lives
of the unfortunate and those unable to defend themselves.

But the Western World, the culture of the 21st century, is already well along in its’ decay into a
primitive and unjust society.  

On January 22, 1973 the highest court in our country, that body which our Founders entrusted with having
the Final Word on all things Just and Right, decided a case which has been interpreted to be the National
Law, that any pregnant woman might, for whatever reason that seemed good to her, or for no reasons at
all, contract with a medical doctor to end the life of her unborn child. The result has been that tens of
millions of innocent children have been murdered. Since then our culture has been on a downward slide
morally like never before.

The fact of this is tragic enough but the murder continues unabated. Churches and denominations, even
those who have serious theological problems, have petitioned, sued, and protested but all to no avail.  

Think about this. In our government of less than 600 people, including House, Senate, Supreme
Court, and White House, there are not enough people with the conviction of the sacredness of
life to end this wanton murder of innocent children. Turn that idea around. The majority of our
government approves of the murder of infants, 50+ million and rising every day.

Hitler, it is said, had six million Jews murdered and our world uses his name as a by-word, a sort of a curse.
To be compared to Adolf Hitler is one of the greatest insults that one person can hurl at another, but our
country alone has been responsible for the legalizing of the murder of nearly 10 times that number of infants
and we still think of ourselves as a ‘Great Nation.’  
It is really difficult to imagine the twisted logic by which one arrives at the conclusion that ending the life of
a child is a decent and moral thing to do.

Oh, I know, it is argued that the unborn child is not a person, but this simply cannot be demonstrated to
be true, neither biblically nor logically.

Even the OT Law protected the life of the unborn with the threat that anyone who harmed the child would
pay eye for eye and life for life.

   Ex 21:22-25
             22    If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no
          mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay
          upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
             23    And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
             24    Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
             25    Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. KJV

The great commentators Keil and Delitzsch, writing in the last half of the 19th century believed, as do most
all conservative scholars that this injunction applies both to the mother and the child. If the child died, or
his mother, the one who struck the blow was to be put to death himself for he had violated God’s Law,
‘thou shalt do no murder.’

David made a wonderful proclamation in the 139th Psalm, describing himself in his unborn state and the
relationship that God had with him in that state.

   Ps 139:13-16
             13    For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
             14    I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and
          that my soul knoweth right well.
             15    My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought
          in the lowest parts of the earth.
             16    Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members
          were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
          KJV

He made the case that while he was in his mother’s womb he was himself, known by God and being
fashioned by Him. This goes much further than God simply knowing about him, he himself was ‘known’
by God. The Living God took knowledge of the person that He was forming, knowing him intimately and
fashioning him. This is a powerful testimony to the fact that person is a person from the moment of
conception, known and created individually by God Himself. For anyone to pretend that the destruction
of David in the womb would have been a harmless thing to do is to deny what God’s Word plainly teaches.

We even have evidence of intelligent action by one only six months into his development inside of his
mother. It was revealed to Mary, the mother of Jesus, that her cousin Elizabeth was also with child, but
she was further along than Mary, probably by about six months. She determined to visit Elizabeth and a
most unusual thing happened.

   Luke 1:39-44
             39    And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;
             40    And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.
             41    And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped
          in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
             42    And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and
          blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
             43    And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
             44    For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my
          womb for joy. KJV

While filled with the Holy Ghost, v.41, Elizabeth stated that the child in her womb had recognized the child
in Mary’s and had moved excitedly as an expression of joy for being in the Presence of the Son of God.

The conclusion of the matter is that the Worshiper of the Living God must consider the lives of
His special creatures to be valuable.

If for no other reason, consider this, those who do not respect the sanctity of human life are forbidden to
enter Paradise when this life is over.

   Rev 21:5-8
             5    And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me,
          Write: for these words are true and faithful.
             6    And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will
          give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
             7    He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
             8    But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers,
          and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth
          with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. KJV

   Rev 22:14-15
             14    Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and
          may enter in through the gates into the city.
             15    For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters,
          and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. KJV
So, what can we do?

First of all, make sure that you are completely right with God on this matter of the value of human life. I
know that you are not going to kill anyone but make sure that you do not consider anyone’s life without
value, for the Lord Jesus said that this makes you on some level the same as the murderer.

Second, pray for our nation and our culture that God might send an Awakening upon us, a visit of His Holy
Spirit, that would turn us away from such a hideous crime as abortion.

Thirdly, when you vote this year, do your best to vote for those who will protect human life, all of it,
including the unborn. Pray that God will either give us leaders who believe in true Justice or change the
hearts of those we have. It is simply unreasonable and unbiblical to think that God will hold this nation
blameless for our crimes against Him by murdering those created in His image.

May God Have Mercy Upon America.