Love Me and Keep My Commandments

Old Testament

“[I]f you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me.”

“All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”  

And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God.
You shall have no other gods before My face.
You shall not take the name of the Lord Your God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,
nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

“The Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to do, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

“Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.”

“Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God.”

Lead me in the Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,
To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.

The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness…to such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

The New Testament

Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”  

“Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

“Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a person building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock…. But he who heard and did nothing is like a person who built a house on the earth without a foundation…. And the ruin of that house was great.”

“He who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. He who does not love Me does not keep My word.”

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”

I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. 

Blessed are those who do His commandments.

The Heavenly Doctrines

The Ten Commandments were promulgated from Mount Sinai by Jehovah Himself in a miraculous way to make known that these laws are not only civil and moral laws, but also Divine laws. Acting contrary to them is not only doing evil to the neighbor, that is, to a fellow citizen and society, but is also sinning against God.

Such great holiness and power were in that law [the Ten Commandments], because it was the complex of all things of religion.

He who lives according to the commandments is conjoined with the Lord. For the commandments teach life and also give life, and thus open the way to heaven, and the sight to the Lord.

To do these commandments from religion purifies the internal person, opens heaven, admits the Lord, and makes a person as to his spirit an angel of heaven.

“Keeping the covenant” means to live according to the commandments.

The Ten Commandments contain everything concerning doctrine and life, not only everything which concerns God, but also everything which concerns people. That is why the law was written on two tablets, one dealing with God, the other with people.

The Ten Commandments are rules both for those in the world and for those in heaven. The literal or external sense is for those in the world, the spiritual or internal sense for those in heaven.