13 Feb Devotional Thought – The Same Ten Again
“And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.” Deuteronomy 10:2
At first this seemed to me to be a very strange, and even stingy, statement on the part of God. He said, “I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets…” “What? You’re going to write the same thing – again? Is that all you’re going to write?” Sure, the first tablets were destroyed and the revelation lost, but wouldn’t that mean that God should give further revelation instead of just repeating the same revelation? Shouldn’t there be something higher, better, greater?
Any singer that sings a song twice would be expected to sing better, and with more confidence, the second time. So, why then, would God confine Himself to just one song? Doesn’t the scripture say that His voice is like the sound of many waters? So, why would He simply repeat the old words, write the same statements on stone again? Why not move forward with a further and future revelation? Why wouldn’t He swing wide the windows of Heaven and reveal more of His glory and sovereignty to us? Why limit us to the simple sphere of everyday does and don’ts like we find in almost any children’s bible-book? “Love God!” “Love others!” “Love your mom and dad!” “Love your neighbors!” Love truth and righteousness, gentleness and goodness!” The first tablets contained earthly principles and precepts, surely the new tablets would hold the commands and promises of Heaven!”
But, the answer comes from Heaven in a resounding, “No!” God set the same statements in stone again. Why? Because Heaven can have no other standard of morality than that which was written on the first tablets. As odd, and contrary to common thinking as it might be, the Ten Commandments are as much for eternity as they are for earth. We will never have another moral law. There will be no rewriting of what is good and just, right or wrong. Anywhere we go on earth or in eternity we will find the same old statements that were first written on those tablets of stone.
There will be many new and never-known things to experience in the realm of Heaven. Our eyes will see sights and colors never beheld before. Our ears will hear sounds so subtle and sublime. We will walk roads without end and scale heights unimaginable. There will be new laws of physics – think of a place and immediately we will be there. There will be new laws of physiology – no more disease or death. There will be new social laws – the humble will be exalted and the proud will be humbled. There will be new laws of knowledge – science will be known without the aid of schooling, and truth will be comprehended without any training. But even in Heaven there will be no new laws concerning what is right and what is wrong.
Wherever you go in that new land, you will not go beyond the writing of those first two tablets. There will never be a day when righteousness is anything other than right. There will never come a time when purity isn’t pure. There will never come a morning when holiness is anything other than holy. Heaven may pass away, but the heart will remain. Gravity may break on itself, but grace will never be broken. Light may forever be extinguished, but love is everlasting. We will find the tablets within the veil and meet the same statements once again in the Father’s house. Goodness and mercy will not just follow us, they will walk with us, carried by us over the flood. Other things may fall from our arms into the rushing, raging waters – vanity will vanish, pride will perish, and selfishness will sink, but God has set eternity in our hearts and the things of the heart will ultimately and finally make it across the flood. This is why God set to stone the same Ten again.
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