COMMANDS AND WILLS

 

KEY VERSES: ¹⁶ Because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. (Ephes 5:16-17)

  “Commands” are when an authority directs. It is one of a higher-level controlling another. The best human example are masters controlling their slaves. It turns out for the children of the Devil (John 8:44) sins are the “commands” and evil is the “plantation” system. On that plantation grows many appealing things: Paul enumerated many of them in Ephesians chapter 5: “fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness” (verse 3), “filthiness, foolish talking, jesting” (verse 4), and “whoremonger, uncleanness, (and) covetous man, who (one who) is an idolater” (verse 5).

  Satan allows his “slaves” to partake of those fruits and many more. However, he forbids his slaves to love one another as God loves them. Satan is a sly fellow; people fail to understand that they are controlled by him. The Devil never makes you do things but puts things in front of his children to entice them to be under his authority. For instance, planting a beautiful woman or a handsome man in a secret place grows lust, and when it is full-bloomed, lust begets sin: “When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (Jas 1:15).

  The ”crop” on the Devil’s “plantation” is a bundle of dead branches because Jesus is the Vine, and Christians are its branches (John 15:5). Ironically, Satan is not a cruel master but quite a generous one, but his crop does not even compare with the bountiful harvest of Jesus.  God’s harvest is slow in growing, but Satan’s spontaneous and appealing.

  Satan controls, not by commands, but offerings. He knows that the idols of humans are their fleshes, and Satan feeds the desires of their flesh. The sacrifice that Christians are to make is to submit their flesh to temperance, not for their own good, but because it pleases God. Paul wrote, “Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Ephes 5:2, NKJV).

  Christians are to imitate Jesus since they are in His image. As such, neither does God command us! “Command” is one interpretation of the Greek, but another is “direct” (Strong’s Dictionary). It depends how the worker understands it. The context depends on the receiver. “Slaves” would consider it a command to love their master. On the other hand, willing workers would consider love valuable direction. Freedom is the “understanding (of) what the will of the Lord is” from the key verses. If the Will of the Lord is perceived as demanding, then it is a command; but if it is perceived as voluntary, it is a directive. Thus, commands and directives depend on the hearts of the recipients.

  Those with “circumcised hearts” (Rom 2:2) follow directions like appreciative, willing workers, but those with uncircumcised hearts like disgruntled, controlled slaves. Is John 15:17, then, a command or a directive? That depends on you!

  When Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice, was it a command or a directive? That depended on how Abraham looked at it. His willingness to sacrifice his son was credited to him as righteousness; to wit: ““Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Rom 4:3).

  Note that God gave Abraham directions, and that he could have received them in either of two ways: commands or directives. Abraham was wise. He understood that he had the freedom to follow directives or not.

  If they had been commands, God would have controlled him by coercion. Abraham, without hardness of heart, considered them God’s Will to be done, and was willing to do them out of love for God. Abraham understood beforehand that God would do that same thing for him and all his seed. God planted another “Garden,” perhaps on Golgotha, wherein he had planted Adam’s seed in the beginning. Israel is the Garden of Eden, and there God planted all his “seeds” at different times! It is believed that even the seed of Noah was planted in the Kingdom of David which was then the extent of the Garden of Eden!

  Adam was advised to be a willing worker — “God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Gen 2:15). Note that God did not command but expected that from Adam. His “direction” to Adam was to tend the Garden and preserve it just because it belonged to God. The “Garden” was real but at the same time, a metaphor for a “Garden of Living Souls.” Adam was to demonstrate love by serving the vine and preserving its branches! In effect, God’s intention was that Adam operationalize the “Ten Words” of pre-incarnate Jesus, the first four which are serving God, and the last six preserving living souls.

  Can you not see that the Ten Commandments are not commandments at all, but the “Ten Wills of God?” What is God’s Will? “That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). What are the conditions in His Will for His heirs? “That whoever believes in Him (trusts Him)” (John 3:15). How is trust demonstrated? By following His directives, or prescriptions for eternal health. Jesus came to heal the nations (Rev 22:2). He is the Divine Doctor preserving dying souls. His prescriptions for healing and preserving are itemized. The Ten Directives are prescriptions that dying patients must willingly take to live forever.

  The Abrahamic Covenant is God’s Will for mankind… all the seed of Abraham. As God’s Will, there must be an “estate.” That “estate” was enumerated as the Kingdom of David, or Paradise. The environment on that plantation is not demeaning. No one is required to work! Because they love the Lord and His Garden, they are pleased to serve without coercion. What is grown in the Garden? Charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, forbearance, gentleness, faith, modesty, self-control, and chastity — the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit. (Gal 5:22-23; Vulgate).

  How to grow those twelve fruits? God provided directions for His tenants — the Ten Directives. Of course, he does not command their use, but it is left to the “farmers.” Abel used agreeable “fertilizer” and grew a good crop which he dedicated to God. Cain, on the other hand, grew a paltry crop which he shared only because of duress. He knew that blessings would only come by sharing, but he shared as little as possible. His heart was not in the “farm” nor God, but on himself and pleasure. Cain could have fertilized with God’s Prescriptions using God’s directions, but he sowed and reaped what he had sown!

  If Cain had only understood God’s prayer his living soul would have never died: 

⁹ Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

¹⁰ Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.

¹² And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

¹³ And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. (Mat 6:9-13; NKJV)

 

  “Your Will be done… On Earth as in heaven.” That is the key; — to do God’s Will here as we will do in the heavenly Paradise. Never expect to be one thing here and another there. Does failure mean damnation? No! Willingness to follow directives is the key. Commands are required because of unwillingness, but for willing hearts, they are not. It is just how you look at the directives!

(picture credit: Getty Images: "Adam and Eve, circa 1639. Artist Simone Cantarini; Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)