The Ten Commandments also reveal that our God is righteous. Because He is righteous, He will visit those who hate Him for three or four generations. If He failed to do this, He would not be a righteous God. He must act in this way in order to indicate that He is righteous. If you hate Him, He will deal with you according to His righteousness. At the same time, however, He is merciful and loving.
Exodus 20:16 says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” This commandment reveals that God is truthful. To refrain from bearing false witness means that we must speak the truth and not lie. This commandment is concerned with lies that damage others. It indicates that we must be honest and truthful.
Those who tell lies are in darkness, but those who speak the truth are in light. As the truthful God, God is the God of light. We are even told that He Himself is light and that with Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). This means that with God there is no falsehood. Satan, on the contrary, is the father of lies (John 8:44). As such, he is the god of darkness and the power of darkness. With Satan there is no truthfulness. Therefore, Satan is of darkness. But with our God there is both faithfulness and truthfulness. Because He is light, He cannot lie. Light is the source of truth.
If we dig into the depths of these verses, we shall see that light is implied with the Ten Commandments. Actually, these ten words are words of light. This divine law is full of light. The same is true even of man-made laws. If in a city or country there were no laws, that city or country would be in darkness. But where there is law, there is light. Law always enlightens. It makes a person’s situation clear. God’s ten words, the Ten Commandments, are words of light, and they imply that our God is a God of light. With Him there is no falsehood and there are no shadows. In every respect He is truthful, for He is light. If sinners would come to the ten words of God recorded in Exodus 20, they would see light and be enlightened. Suppose a certain person has stolen a number of items. When such a one reads the commandment about stealing, he will be enlightened. The divine law will shine upon him. The ten words enlighten us with the light which comes from God. Oh, the Ten Commandments are certainly a revelation of our God! When we get into the depths of these ten words, we see that God is jealous, holy, loving, righteous, and truthful.
These words also reveal that God is pure. His purity touches our inner being. Whereas the first nine commandments are related to outward conduct, the tenth is related to the sin hidden within us, mainly in our thoughts. Actually, the first commandment is also related to our inward condition. To have another God besides the true God is primarily an inward matter. However, to make an image or likeness of something is an outward deed. Hence, the first commandment touches our inward condition, and the commandment about coveting likewise touches our inward condition. The first and the last commandment together expose the idolatry and covetousness within us. Inwardly we are filled with idols and coveting. Colossians 3:5 says that covetousness is idolatry. Paul refers to covetousness in Romans 7. The more he tried to stop coveting, the more covetousness was awakened within him. Thus, in Romans 7 Paul was not concerned with outward deeds, but with the inward problem of covetousness.
The fact that we are covetous indicates that we are not pure. Only God is pure, for those who are pure do not covet. We covet because we are impure and unclean. If our heart, desire, and intention were pure in every way, we would not be covetous.
The commandment about coveting reveals God’s purity. Under the light of this commandment, we all need to see that inwardly we are not pure. We all have a certain amount of covetousness. But because God is pure, with Him there is no covetousness.
Because the law is a revelation of God, it is God’s testimony. According to 31:18, the two tables of stone on which the Ten Commandments were written are called the “two tables of testimony.” This indicates that the law was God’s testimony. When the tables of the law were put into the ark, the testimony was put in the ark. Furthermore, the manna in the golden pot was placed in front of the tables of the law. However, we are told in 16:34 that it was “laid up before the Testimony to be kept.” This proves that the law was the testimony. Psalms 19:7 is a further indication of this. Here, in the parallelism often found in Hebrew poetry, we are told, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” The law of the Lord is thus the testimony of the Lord. As the Lord’s testimony, the law testifies of what kind of God our Lord is. Because the law, God’s testimony, was placed in the ark, the ark was called the ark of testimony (25:21-22; 26:33-34); and because the ark was in the tabernacle, the tabernacle was called the tabernacle of the testimony (38:21; Num. 1:50, 53). The law was the testimony, the ark was the ark of testimony, and the tabernacle was the tabernacle of testimony.
The law is a type, a figure, of Christ who speaks God, describes God, and expresses God. The law is, therefore, a type of Christ as God’s testimony. It is crucial for us to see that the law is a testimony which reveals God to us. As a type of Christ, it typifies Christ as God’s testimony, the One who describes God and expresses Him in a full and adequate way. As the law is the ten words of God which reveal God to His people, so Christ is the Word of God revealing God to us.