“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
John 10:17-18, NKJV
As we have explored the life and mission of Jesus, We have embarked on a side journey, studying a significant passage in the Old Testament, where God’s own description of His Law seems to come together in one verse:
And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Gen 26:4-5, NKJV
For some reason, the Creator chose to break His interactions with Abraham into five categories – His voice, His charge, His commandments, His statutes and finally, His laws. To this point, we have looked at God’s voice and His charge. We found that God’s voice meant His call. Abraham obeyed God’s voice – His call – by listening to Him and leaving His home and culture for a place that he did not know – a place that only God knew. Next, we found that His charge to Abraham was to be a keeper of His promise. Abraham’s belief fulfilled God’s charge. And we have seen that Jesus, in keeping with His mission to fulfill the “Law and Prophets”, also kept God’s both voice and His charge. With an understanding of voice and charge behind us, it’s time to move on to God’s “commandments”.
As we are in the habit of doing, we should look into the original language to begin understanding the concept of God’s commandments. The Hebrew word used in this verse is: מצוהי (misvotay). The root of mitsvotay is “mitzvah”:
מצוה mitsvah (mits-vaw’); a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law):
KJV – (which was) commanded (-ment), law, ordinance, precept.
(Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
But mitzvah also has a primitive root, tsavah:
צוה tsavah (tsaw-vaw’); a primitive root; (intensively) to constitute, enjoin:
KJV – appoint, (for-) bid, (give a) charge, (give a, give in, send with) command (-er, -ment), send a messenger, put, (set) in order.
(Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
Both definitions are somewhat vague and ambiguous. In fact, just based on their English definitions, it is hard to understand the difference between commandment (tsavah) and charge (mishmeret). So it helps to look at the word in context to best understand its true meaning. And where else would we start but the first mention?
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 2:15-17, NKJV
So the first mention takes us right back to the same chapter of Genesis that contains the first mention of charge. Adam was given the “charge” of the garden, but “commanded” not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Let’s take a look at some other passages containing our word “command” (tsavah):
Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
Genesis 6:22, NKJV
Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. Thus he did for them.
Genesis 42:25, NKJV
Then Moses and Aaron did so; just as the Lord commanded them, so they did.
Exodus 7:6, NKJV
“Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers.
Deuteronomy 8:1, NKJV
Have you noticed the similarities between these passages and their use of the word “command”? Each passage refers to an action or set of actions that are required. Tsavah is an active word – it refers to something to be done – an active command. And how did Abraham obey God’s active commandments? In several ways:
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Genesis 12:1-5, NKJV
And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” …
…So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Genesis 17: 9-14, 23-27, NKJV
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
Genesis 22:1-4, NKJV
In each of these three cases, God’s commandments were active – “leave.”, “circumcise.”, sacrifice.”. And in each case, Abraham did as he was commanded – without hesitation. As a very important side note, notice the progression. Each command was more difficult than the last one. Leaving home to go to a place yet unknown is hard; but cutting your flesh and that of your loved ones is harder still. But nothing could compare to the act of physically sacrificing your own son. God’s commandments to Abraham were incredibly significant, and required perfect faith in obedience.
But there’s more. Notice again the progression. First – “Leave where you are and follow my directions.” Second, “cut away the flesh.” And third, “sacrifice everything to Me.” These three commandments form a wonderful pattern for our lives. Is God not calling each of His children to go where He leads?
Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. But whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘The very dust of your city which clings to us* we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.’ But* I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city.
The Gospel of Luke 9:59-62, 10:1-12, NKJV
Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
The Gospel of Mark 16:14-18, NKJV
Does He not require each of us to cut away the flesh?
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
The Gospel of John 3:5-8, NKJV
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
The Gospel of John 6:63, NKJV
For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. …
… For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Paul’s Letter to the Romans 7:5-6, 7:18-8:8, NKJV
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,* fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders,* drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Paul’s Letter to the Galatians 5:19-25, NKJV
And is He not requiring us to not only make a sacrifice, but to be a living sacrifice?
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Paul’s Letter to the Romans 12:1-2, NKJV
So in these three major commandments God gave to Moses, we see a pattern for the life that God wants for all of His children. But if the story ended there, we would be (in Paul’s words), of all, most pitied. It is not possible, of our volition alone, to follow these commandments perfectly. We must have both a model, and an enabler. And it’s in these very commandments that we get a glimpse of the very mission that we are studying – that of Jesus. Did Jesus act as our model? Did He fulfill these commandments? And did He give us an enabler to help us meet God’s commandments?
“Leave where you are and follow my directions.”
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Paul’s Letter to the Romans 8:2-4, NKJV
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians 5:21, NKJV
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
Paul’s Letter to the Philippians 2:5-7, NKJV
And in His own Words,
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
The Gospel of John 6:38, NKJV
While “taking on sinful flesh”, did He “cut away” the flesh? In other words, did He live in the flesh, or did he live in the Spirit, forsaking all sin? The letter to the Hebrews speaks about Jesus’ perfection and His holy sinless ministry:
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.
The letter to the Hebrews 4:14-15, 5:1-4, NKJV
Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He [Jesus], because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.
The letter to the Hebrews 7:23-28, NKJV
And did He “sacrifice everything to Me”? Not only did He sacrifice Himself to God, but He sacrificed Himself for me!
For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
The letter to the Hebrews 7:26-27, NKJV
As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. …
…”Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
The Gospel of John 10:15, 17-18 NKJV
We have examined this passage many times, and will likely keep coming back to it. Why? Because it is in this very passage that the entirety of Holy Scripture has its focus! All is fulfilled in this verse! Praise be to the Holy God for His redeeming work!
So Jesus did indeed obey God’s tsavah (צוה)! And I am the beneficiary, as are you if you are one of the redeemed!
We have now seen that Jesus obeyed God’s voice, his charge, and his commandments. In my next blog, we will explore the concept of God’s statutes. Until then, may God richly bless your study of His Word! Selah!
YouJi