Ten Words and a New Beginning

For some of us, the new year is the time when we resolve to take better care of ourselves — exercise, eat healthily, and, perhaps most important of all, evaluate and concentrate on our relationship with God. The last two years have been challenging for many of us, but God has been our refuge and strength even as we move forward from crisis to crisis. Nevertheless, these adverse times have brought closeness to both each other and the Lord.

"Not With Our Father, but with Us"

It was the first Sabbath of the new year; David Hamstra, our senior pastor, extended a timely and inclusive welcome and new year greeting to all those physically present as well online viewers. He introduced his topic with some sense of humour by saying, "You may have heard about this year twenty-twenty, but have you heard that twenty-twenty won [2021]? And what is this year going to be? twenty-twenty, too [2022]?” Pastor Hamstra's question to the audience was, "What is it that we expected out of this new year anyway?” The encouragement from Pastor Hamstra was to be optimistic and hope this year will give us a new beginning.

Pastor Hamstra indicated that the ministerial plans for the first quarter of this year would be to address the Ten Commandments. Why? He explained that this series is significant and essential: God offered His people a new beginning by giving the Ten Commandments. Pastor Hamstra reminded the congregation that things were not normal for God's people for the many, many decades they lived outside the Promised Land. When God offered a return to normalcy, He offered them the Ten Commandments. Pastor Hamstra remarked that if some of us were asked where the Ten Commandments could be found in the Bible, we would refer to Exodus 20. However, we were introduced to Deuteronomy, where the Ten Commandments are also found.

Pastor David Hamstra delivering his message.

You may have heard about this year Twenty- Twenty, but have you heard that Twenty- Twenty won. And what is this year going to be? Twenty -Twenty too?

One of the key texts for this sermon was Deuteronomy 4:12–14. Pastor Hamstra pointed out some crucial points to note in this verse: There is a distinction between the Ten Commandments and the rest of the instructions that appear in Deuteronomy. It was something the people heard with their ears — the words God spoke out of the fire. Pastor Hamstra emphasized that in the original language of the Bible, the Ten commandments are never called the “Ten Commandments;” they are called the “Ten Words.” He also pointed out that they heard ten words when God spoke out of the fire. He emphasized that the Ten Commandments are in a class set apart from the rest of the instructions the people get as a part of God's law.

Why Is It Called the “Ten Words”?

Pastor Hamstra passionately and thoroughly explained that as well. He said that when we say the Bible is God's Word, it is because it has God's message for us. When God gives them “Ten Words,” He gives them the principles that govern a particular domain of human activity in the world in which we live, and we would call that “domain morality.” "The Ten Commandments are ten principles that describe the moral structure of reality," Pastor Hamstra said, explaining that God is giving these Ten Words that describe what is moral reality, and that is why the commandments are called a transcript of His character. The character has to do with our moral nature. God is showing us His character because He is the one who constructed reality. Pastor Hamstra mentioned that the exciting thing about character is you only know what people's characters are if you get a chance to observe them through time. Practically, we see their characters in the correspondence or lack thereof between what they claim they are about to do and what they do. That is why the Ten Commandments are introduced with this big historical lesson. There is a short one in Exodus, but Deuteronomy expands it. God lives His life by it and invites us to do the same.

Deuteronomy 5:1–4

As Pastor Hamstra immersed us in this history lesson from Deuteronomy, we learned Moses was going to teach Israel those things God had instructed him to teach them: the structure of morality. Here, he's speaking to the children of Israel on the border of the Promised Land after they had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years to allow the generation that was fearful of entering Canaan to die off. Pastor Hamstra mentioned that many of these children were not born yet when God spoke to their parents. Their mothers and fathers heard this, and they were to instruct their children. Those stories were to be a living reality in their lives, just as if they were there hearing God speaking to them from the mountain.

Deuteronomy 5:5–6

We were reminded that after Israel heard God speaking out of the fire, they were afraid, so Moses went up to meet God instead. Here, God reminded His people that He is their God, who brought them out of Egypt. Sometimes, we forget the preamble. Addressing the congregation, Pastor Hamstra asked what the preamble to the Ten Commandments is, and affirmed with the answer, “I brought you out of Egypt, I rescue you, I want the best for you, I want to save you.”

Deuteronomy 10:1–2

When Moses saw the people had broken God's covenants — His agreement — he also broke apart the tablet of stone, the Ten Commandments Lord had written. God said it’s time to make a new one. He is going to make a new covenant. The Lord will dwell with His people in this new covenant—a new beginning.

Deuteronomy 10:4

We were reminded that God himself wrote the Ten Words. He did not employ any other writer to do this. He authored this. He offered a new start — a new covenant.

The Ten Commandments are ten principles that describe the moral structure of reality.

A New Beginning After a New Beginning

Pastor Hamstra emphasized that we thought 2021 was going to be our new beginning. Now, we are in 2022, a new beginning after a new beginning. How many new beginnings is it going to take? God offers a new start over and over again, but there is a new covenant time coming again.

As Pastor Hamstra wrapped up this appealing historical lesson and message from God’s Word, we were taken to Jeremiah 31:3 and 31–34 and Matthew 5:17–19. He stated that the preamble to God's new covenant is the same: He loved us with an everlasting love.

God is promising restoration to His people after being exiled in Babylon. He is reminding His people that He loved them with everlasting love. The preamble to God's new covenant is the same: “I love you; I am doing these things for you.” We were reminded that God did not come to destroy His laws or the prophets but fulfill them. Pastor Hamstra stated that when God makes this covenant with Israel, He calls on heaven and earth to witness that this was a permanent moral structure. The difference between the old and new covenants is not in the structure of moral reality — God doesn't say, “I am going to get rid of my law”; the difference is going to be how we develop moral character. We were reminded confidently that we would, at times, fail to live up to God's moral structure; we will, at times, fail to keep our promise to Him and each other; we will, at times, be faithless; but if we remember, at those times, that God is faithful, He will not deny us.

By Ina Martin, Edmonton Central Seventh- day Adventist Church