The Ten and the USA

God sent to a family of slaves a voice, a spokesman, a leader.  God raised up a man to lead an enslaved people to form a new nation.  We’re talking here of Moses and the soon to be nation of Israel. 

A leader team (Moses with Aaron) declared to a strong king and a great empire (King George and England) their will to be freed – they uttered a Declaration of Independence: “Let my people go!”

And that declaration created a war consisting of a series of battles.  For the Jews, it was 10 battles (plagues) scattered over about 9 months. For the colonists it was a war of many skirmishes with about 10 key battles over 6 years [Lexington (April of ’75) to Yorktown (October of ’81)].

Once victory was secured, it became necessary to establish a means of governing the new group of independents.  How would they live in union and in peace?  Would the 12 tribes (13 colonies) meld or fuss and separate?  A strong Constitution would be needed.

A time of struggle and movement followed the last battle of the war until those newly freed people finally came to a camp to establish a “wedding” – a covenant – a union.  For one group it was Mt. Sinai and for the other it was Independence Hall in Philly.

At Mt. Sinai, God gave the new nation a Constitution, a Capitol (the tabernacle), and an organization of its tribes – states (leaders, boundaries, a militia and a flag – Numbers 2:2-4…)

At Sinai the people were asked to accept the proposal.  Exodus 24:3, So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” 

The 13 were sent the proposal and less than a year later 9 of the 13 had accepted (June 21, 1788) and the remaining 4 were on board by May of 1790.

Core Concepts from the Ten:

1. a common worldview – from, going, why here, what is evil – common beliefs
   –Mark 3:23-26, a kingdom divided does not stand
   –all peoples are religious – one nation under God, in God we trust  
2. no idolatry – spirit trumps the letter – not worship the people, nor the symbols, nor the history
3. names – symbols and reps – like the flag, the eagle, national sites
4. Sunday – the calendar – common events, days, festivals, ponder on founders (Creator)
5. family – commitments, children and elderly
6. about life – all life – womb to tomb, life taken requires life taken (capital punishment)
7. about morality – marriage, fidelity, family units
8. private property
9. justice – for all!  a more perfect union – justice blind, speedy trial, before peers, Ex. 18
10. contentment – capitalism – some have more, some less, some rich and some not

As similar as the paths were of two great nations coming into existence, one has to consider the second as being led by God as was clearly the case with the first nation.

For the first sesquicentennial or so, the second nation held to the Ten core principles of the first nation (the Ten Commandments) but, the last century has seen a systematic discarding of portions, if not all of those foundational truths.  While the United States is rejecting God’s “Constitution”, there is no reason for the citizens of His kingdom to do the same.  I John 5:3, For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.  And His commandments are not burdensome.