Words of Deliverance

Exodus 20:1-2

God’s self-revelation continues. His acts have been filling out what was expressed in the giving of the Name - from burning bush, to plagues, to Passover, to sea-crossing, to provision of food and water and deliverance from enemies.

The giving of these ten ‘words’ (verse 1) is not just another in a series of events. God will now accompany his-tory with a specific expression of the character of the life of freedom he has made possible by his deliverance. God’s specific commands are not, ultimately, restrictions, but rather a new kind of expression of his deliverance. To obey God is perfect freedom.

It is the greatest lie ever perpetrated to suggest that our freedom lies in just doing whatever we feel moved to do. God has delivered the people from one kind of slavery. Now, in what follows, he sets out the way for people to follow to be free from more insidious forms of bondage.

Prayer:
Lord, as your Son said of himself, your Way is also Truth and Life. Way, Truth, Life. Your Way is Truth is Life. Thank you for your Son’s self-identification in this manner. Let me absorb, in as many ways as I can, the significance of the order of the words he used. In Him. Amen.