[Exodus 34:27 KJV] "And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel."
God is saying that the ten commandments are based upon/according to the covenant. The covenant isnt just the ten commandments
@GRACE ambassador , Doug,
God clearly tells us what His covenant is, in His own words.
Exodus 34:27–28 (ASV)
“And Jehovah said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And
he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.”
Here God does not separate the covenant from the Ten Commandments. He explains them. The covenant words were written on stone tablets, and those words are named plainly:
the Ten Commandments.
God repeats this even more clearly later, so no one can change the meaning.
Deuteronomy 4:13 (ASV)
“
And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.”
God does not say the commandments came from the covenant. He says
the covenant is the Ten Commandments.
Moses repeats the same truth again.
Deuteronomy 9:9 (ASV)
“
When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water.”
The stone tablets themselves are called
the tables of the covenant.
Now Scripture shows where this covenant was placed.
Exodus 25:16 (ASV)
“And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.”
What is this testimony?
Exodus 31:18 (ASV)
“And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”
The testimony is not a book of laws, traditions, or rituals.
It is the stone tablets written by God’s own finger.
When Moses remakes the tablets, God confirms again what they are and where they belong.
Deuteronomy 10:1–5 (ASV)
“At that time Jehovah said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.
And I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.
So I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in my hand.
And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which Jehovah spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and Jehovah gave them unto me.
And I turned and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as Jehovah commanded me.”
T
he Ark of the Covenant contains the Ten Commandments. That is why it is called the Ark of the Covenant. Nothing else is called the covenant itself.
Now we move forward to the future, to heaven.
Revelation 11:19 (ASV)
“And there was opened the temple of God that is in heaven; and there was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant; and there followed lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.”
John sees
the Ark of the Covenant in heaven. The ark still exists. Its meaning has not changed. The covenant God placed inside it still matters.
This agrees perfectly with the words of Jesus.
Matthew 5:17–18 (ASV)
“Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished.”
In Revelation, heaven has not passed away. The ark is still there. The covenant has not vanished.
Finally, Scripture shows who God’s faithful people are at the end.
Revelation 12:17 (ASV)
“And the dragon waxed wroth with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, that keep the commandments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus.”
Revelation 14:12 (ASV)
“Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
From Sinai, to the ark, to heaven, to the last days, Scripture says the same thing without changing its words.
God declared His covenant.
That covenant is the Ten Commandments.
They were written by His finger.
They were placed inside the Ark of the Covenant.
That ark is seen again in heaven.
And God’s people at the end are still described as keeping those commandments.
This is not interpretation.
This is what GOD says.
