What Can the Ten Commandments Teach Us About Jesus Christ?

This week, as I was reading in the Book of Mosiah, I came across a passage where Abinidi is reciting the Ten Commandments to the wicked priests of Noah.  Usually, it is easy to skim over this passage. After all, many of us know the Ten Commandments by heart and assume that we know all that we need to about them.  However, as I was reading, something stuck out at me that I hadn't recognized before.

We often start reciting the 10 Commandments with the verse, "Thou shalt not have any gods before me" (Mosiah 12:35, see also Exodus 20:2),  yet in both Exodus 20 and in this recitation by Abinidi, the Lord actually starts by declaring who he is and his relationship with His people.  He states:

"I am the Lord thy God, who hath brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. " (Mosiah 12: 34; see also Exodus 20:1).

Now, why would the Lord start his instructions with this?

The more I thought about it, I realized that while most of the commandments teach us what God wants us to do, this sentence teaches why we keep God's commandments and provides the motivation to do so.  We keep the commandments because we have a God and a Savior who delivered us.  That same Jehovah, the Lord who delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt and led them to the promised land, is also Jesus Christ, who suffered and died from our sins, delivering us from sin and death and enabling us to overcome our trials and reach our full potentials.  He is still here for us, and like then, He still wants to deliver us from our bondage, whether through sin or through the struggles of life.

As we remember Christ and all that He has done for us, and as we come to understand who He is and His Great Atoning Sacrifice, our desire to follow Him increases.  The more that we remember what Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have done for us and strive to recognize their hand helping us day by day, the more we want to follow Him and do the things that He has asked us to do.  We want to follow Him and put Him first in our lives, not merely because he will punish us if we don't, but to show our gratitude for all that He has already done for us.   Moreover, as we turn to the Lord, showing Him our love and striving to keep His commandments, the Lord promises to show us "mercy" (Mosiah 13:14) and to help us to draw closer to Him.

This passage motivates me to remember all that Jesus Christ has done in my life and to strive to do the things that He has asked me to do.  As we take time each day and each week to remember Him in our lives and strive to turn to Him and do His will, I know that He can strengthen us and help us to accomplish all that He asks of us.