SABBATH THOUGHT 2025-04-05—THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT & PASSOVER
May God bless you on His Sabbath day!
Of the Ten Commandments, the first four are generally accepted as pertaining to mankind’s relationship with God whereas the last six are directed toward our fellow man. While true in some regards, the Fifth Commandment really points to a relationship with God more so than with physical people because of the PROMISE attached to it:
EPHESIANS 6:2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise:
The Fifth Commandment demands giving honor to one’s father and mother that comes with a promise of a long life in the land for doing so:
EXODUS 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
Notice, however, that the promise of long days is in a land from GOD not the parents. This is key to understanding why this commandment relates to God more than people. At the core of it, the Fifth Commandment is one of many laws, statutes, and precepts that Jesus came to fulfill:
MATTHEW 5:17-18 “Do not think that I [Jesus Christ] came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
The Law of God will not be completely fulfilled until the destruction of the existing heavens and earth. But on the heels of that destruction is something brand new:
2 PETER 3:12-13 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His [God the Father’s] promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
God promises a New Heavens and a New Earth after the old heavens and old earth are destroyed, which is when Jesus said that the Law will be fulfilled. The Law of God cannot be fulfilled physically because God is spirit and must be worshipped (and honored) in spirit[1]. For this reason, the Fifth Commandment is less about honoring physical parents than God, making the first five of the Ten Commandments about God and the last five about mankind. The promise of the Fifth Commandment is “that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.” Clearly, the new spiritual creation is the PROMISE of the Fifth Commandment!
In fact, the Fifth Commandment has already been partially fulfilled because Jesus Himself kept the Fifth Commandment. He said, “I honor My Father” (John 8:49). For His obedience, God delivered on His promise of the Fifth Commandment by resurrecting Jesus to ETERNAL life (long days) and giving Him a KINGDOM (land). The following parable describes God fulfilling the promise of the Fifth Commandment to His Son:
LUKE 19:12-15 Therefore He [Jesus Christ] said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. 13 “So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ 14 “But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’ 15 “And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
“Nobleman” is an obvious reference to Jesus Christ who left to RECEIVE a kingdom (‘land’). The Fifth Commandment, along with all the Law of God and all the promises, was given to mankind. Jesus was, of course, flesh and blood so the Law AND its promises applied to Him just as it does to all humans. For His obedience to His Father, God bestowed ETERNAL life and a KINGDOM upon Jesus:
JOHN 10:17-18 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I [Jesus Christ] lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
LUKE 22:29-30 “And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me [Jesus Christ], 30 “that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Jesus was utterly without sin. He was never in need of the Passover blood to cover His sins. Therefore, receiving the Fifth Commandment promises of eternity in the Kingdom was for His perfect obedience to God, as Jesus said, “I have kept My Father’s commandments …” (John 15:10).
The Fifth Commandment is the promise of the New Covenant! But fulfilling that promise for the rest of mankind who have all sinned[2] required the sacrifice of Jesus on the Passover so that God the Father can forgive sins[3]. The blood of Jesus provides the means for God to fulfill the promise of the Fifth Commandment for all mankind. The Passover is the foundation for fulfilling the Fifth Commandment because it replaces sin with God’s righteousness[4]. This is necessary because only the righteous will enter into the Promised Land of the Fifth Commandment:
PSALMS 118:16-20 The right hand of the LORD [God the Father] is exalted; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly. 17 I [Jesus Christ] shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. 18 The LORD has chastened me severely, but He has not given Me over to death. 19 Open to me the gates [of the Kingdom] of righteousness; I [Jesus Christ] will go through them, and I will praise the LORD. 20 This is the gate of the LORD [God the Father], through which the righteous [saints] shall enter.
The promise of the Kingdom is upon all who honor (exalt) God the Father and who are made righteous through the sacrifice of His Son. For that sacrifice, God has extended the Fifth Commandment to include honoring His Son:
JOHN 5:23 “that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
The Fifth Commandment requires honoring both God the Father AND Jesus Christ. Jesus gave His life to extend the promise of eternity in the Kingdom to the whole of mankind, so the Passover memorial and remembrance of His sufferings, crucifixion, death, and resurrection obviously honors Jesus Christ. But that sacrifice led to another requirement:
LUKE 22:28 “But you are those who have continued with Me [Jesus Christ] in My trials.
1 PETER 2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
Partaking in sufferings after the manner of Jesus Christ honors God the Father[5]:
1 PETER 4:12-14, 16 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He [God the Father] is glorified. … 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
The Passover memorial honors Jesus Christ and partaking of Christ’s sufferings honors God the Father whereby the promise of the Fifth Commandment is fulfilled—eternity in a Kingdom FROM Jesus Christ:
LUKE 22:29-30 “And I [Jesus Christ] bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, 30 “that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
COLOSSIANS 1:12-13 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He [God the Father] has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
Jesus said, “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”[6] He also said that the Kingdom is His JOY:
JOHN 15:10-11 “If you keep My [Jesus’s] commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
The joy in Jesus was fulfilled for Him at His resurrection and He wants all to have it:
MATTHEW 25:21 “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
The Fifth Commandment has only been fulfilled for Jesus Christ and He is the only one of flesh and blood who truly knows “unspeakable joy.”[7] It is what will transform the sorrows of the Passover and the physical sufferings of our trials:
JOHN 16:20 “Most assuredly, I [Jesus] say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.
There is no joy in our present sufferings[8] but keeping the memorial of Jesus’ Passover sacrifice and having a FELLOWSHIP in His sufferings[9] lets us inherit the promise of the New Heavens and New Earth. However unimaginable, joy is promised to all who honor the Father and Son when all will be ONE with Them in the Kingdom:
JOHN 17:11, 13, 20-23 “Now I [Jesus Christ] am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. … 13 “But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. … 20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
The memorial of the Passover sacrifice HONORS Jesus Christ. Partaking of His sufferings HONORS God the Father. The promise for obeying the Fifth Commandment is eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven! And THAT, is the heavenly treasure[10] that brings pure JOY!
MATTHEW 13:44-46 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 “who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
May God’s grace and peace be upon you!
Steven Greene
https://sabbathreflections.org