"You shall not add on to the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish it from it, that ye may keep the Commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." Deuteronomy 4:2

Additional Readings: Deuteronomy 4:1-14; Revelation 22; Psalm 68

It was once believed that the Lord created man that He might rule over them, and for the gratification of being praised and prayed to. In some quarters this idea still persists.

Yet this is quite the opposite of the Lord's purpose in creation. It should be self-evident that the Infinite God would not take any pleasure in the praises of men. The created and finite can add nothing to the uncreate and infinite, for the created has its every faculty and power from God.

Yet we read, "Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless his name." Many of the the Psalms are psalms of praise, and in them we are taught that it is a good thing to give thanks unto God and to sing praises unto His name.

This is because by doing this we are saved from the evil of self-praise, and of thinking that any virtues and powers which we may have are from ourselves. In looking to the Lord we turn ourselves to Him as the source of all goodness and truth and of every blessing, and so make it possible for Him to come in to us and bless us.

Soon we celebrate the coming of the Lord into the world. He did not come for His own pleasure, nor did He contend against the principalities of darkness and endure the cross for his own Glory. It was all done for us. He declares this plainly in the words, "For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth," "that they may be made perfect in one," "that they may behold my glory," "that where I am they may be also," "that my joy may be in them," "that their joy may be full."

The Creator does not need our help for Himself. Of Him who created the countless suns and planets the prophet declares, "With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding… All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity."

He created us that He might serve us. He gives us life and guides us, whether we acknowledge Him or not; but He cannot bestow happiness upon us unless we learn of Him and keep His laws.The way is made clear to us in the words of our text, "Thou shalt not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it."

In doing our daily work, the most good comes to us if we continually think of the Lord in the desire to serve Him. That our service may be intelligent and pure we need to see that, although we cannot minister directly to any needs of the Lord, we can serve Him through service to our fellow men. The Psalmist writes, "my goodness extendeth not to thee, but to the saints that are in the Earth." We cannot instruct the Lord. We can no more add power or glory to Him then we can increase the glory and power of the Sun. And His glory surpasses all the countless suns in the material heavens. We cannot increase in Him that shining, but we can increase and intensify it on the plane of reception. For this purpose the Word was given and it can accomplish its purpose. "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

"Thou shalt not add unto the Words which I command you, neither shalt thou diminish ought from it." This warning applies not only to translators of Scripture, but to each individual.

The King James translation of the Bible, commonly known as the Authorized Version, is a remarkable work. It is based on the earlier work of William Tyndale. There have been other translations, and some very recent ones, but so far none of these has supplanted the King James. The reason why the distinguished scholars of today cannot produce as satisfactory a translation is that the Divine authorship of the Word is not their basic assumption. Today's scholars approach the Bible as the work of men, of men who lived long ago and who did not know as much as men now do. This exalts human intelligence above Divine Revelation. The text is twisted or changed to make it say what they think it ought to say. In this way they both add to the Word and take away from it, and the simple are misled.

But the warning in our text has a deeper and more universal application than this. The real danger of adding to or taking away from the Word lies in our application of it to life.

We read, "The law of the Lord is perfect" and that the Lord is a just God. In applying this to life, do we ever take away from it? Do we sometimes allow ourselves to feel that the laws of the Lord are not just, that some people are favored who ought not to be, and that we do not get our share? Some ask, "If there is a God, how can He be just when the wicked flourish, when so many humble and upright people and so many innocent children suffer?" Do we fall in with this thought? "Thou shalt not diminish ought from the word which I give unto you." Jesus said," In my father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you." Do we ever doubt the reality of the spiritual world, that we shall really find homes prepared for us there?

"If thine hand offend thee, cut it off: for it is better to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell... where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Do we ever think, or hear others argue that the Lord's Mercy is so great that in some miraculous way He will change the evil after death into angels of light? When we so think, the desire to attain inward cleansing is lost and the purpose of life here is defeated. "Thou shalt not add unto the word which I command you."

Sometimes we hear it said that all the world is evil, that greed, selfishness, and injustice reign everywhere. And from this appearance there are those who come to think that an honest man cannot succeed, and that the world is continually growing worse. But the Word tells us that the righteous shall inherit the earth, and that all the wicked shall be destroyed. Do we in spite of outward appearances believe that of the increase of the Lord's government and peace there shall be no end?

We should believe in the promises of the Word and live in the comfort, strength, and joy of them. "Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it."

It is written, "Thy Word is true from the beginning." No one can reject a part of the Word without forfeiting the life that is in it. This is the law: "If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book."

We read, "In my Father's house are many mansions. " Not to believe this is to take it out of the book. If this is taken out of the book, the life that is in that promise is removed, too. If one does not believe that the Lord can deliver him from his evils and distresses, the power in this belief must of necessity be lost. If one rejects the truth that the Lord will go through the valley of shadows with him, the life of that sustaining promise perishes. What one takes out of the book is taken out of his life. Whenever a promise, assurance, or quality is taken from the Word, the life of it goes out. And whenever we add anything to the word, we are setting human reason above the divine revelation. In either case we are choosing the Commandments of men instead of those of God.

"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought of it, that ye may keep the Commandments of the Lord thy God."