Verse for the Day, 14 August 2014.

Exodus 20:4-6, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  (5)  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,  (6)  but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

The second commandment follows on from the first, God not only commands that the Israelites, and in fact all mankind, worship Him alone; He also forbids them to engage in any form of idol worship.

Why was this commandment given?

There are many reasons, but we shall confine ourselves to four reasons.

Idolatry is forbidden because of what ultimately lies behind idolatry. Idolatry is one of the ugliest and most heinous sins because we are seeking to control God, reduced God and replace God. Listen to the words of Paul in Acts 17:22-25, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” To make an idol is to seek to determine with our own minds what God looks like, what God is capable of doing, where God should live and how God should be served. The root of idolatry is our pride, whereby we seek to put ourselves in the position of God and God in our position, we seek to have authority over God, we desire to control God.

To make an idol and to bow down in worship of an idol is to engage in a practice that is regarded as an abomination in God’s sight, it stirs God to immediate wrath. Why? By bowing down to an idol and proclaiming it to be our god, we are ascribing all that which belongs to God, that which God is and does, to an object of our own imagination and making. We are taking the indescribable glory and majesty of God and giving it, ascribing it to a piece of wood, stone, or precious metal. Isaiah 42:8, “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” There can be nothing more offensive that we could do towards God, than to take what He is and give it to another. God is entirely unique, infinite and beyond all human comprehension, thus idolatry is the height of foolishness, pride and rejection of and rebellion against God.

Idolatry is in many cases the worship of the evil one and his agents. Leviticus 17:7, Deuteronomy 32:17, Psalm 106:37, 1 Corinthians 10:20, 1 Timothy 4:1 and Revelation 9:20, clearly teach that much which lies behind idolatry is demonic, satanic and evil. It is a tool used by the evil one to lead us away from God and into destruction.

This second commandment is a commandment of love and life. We were created by God, for God, so as to love God and to give glory to God alone. Idolatry leads us away from this created purpose. In love God gives us this commandment so that we might be warned of the great sinfulness and danger of idolatry and keep clear of it, seeking to love and worship Him alone. If we do this, then we will know the blessing, favour and love of God. If we should turn away from God to idols, then we will find ourselves in direct rebellion against God, and thus we will be consumed and terrified forever, by the wrath of God. Thus God gives us this commandment so as to preserve our lives. It is only in worshipping God and God alone that we will find the life we were created to know and enjoy, idolatry will only serve to rob us of life and joy and lead us to eternal misery. This is a commandment of love and life.

Our true, only, unique God, besides You there is no other, You alone are all glorious and majestic, You alone are God. We desire to give You all the praise, worship and adoration, for You alone are worthy of it. We pray that You may keep our hearts, minds and lives from going after other idols, help us to understand how sinful and offensive idolatry is to You and how damaging it is to us. Please keep our lives fixed upon You. Amen.

Verse for the Day, 13 August 2014.

Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before me.”

The Ten Commandments are of central importance to the formation, establishment and national life of Israel, in fact to all mankind and especially to the believer in Christ. It is therefore beneficial for us to take time to consider them individually.

What then is the first commandment? “You shall have no other gods before me.”

Why was it given?

It was given for a number of reasons, but we shall just look at three.

The people of Israel had just left Egypt and were about to enter Canaan, they were going from one nation that worshipped many gods, and coming into an area where multiple nations worshipped a whole host of different gods. This commandment comes as a strong warning to the Israelites not to cling onto the gods of Egypt, nor to go after the gods of the Canaanite nations. The nation of Israel was to be unique by virtue of the fact that they worshipped one God and worshipped Him exclusively. They were not to have any other god, but God alone. They were God’s people and He was their God, their relationship was to be one of faithfulness, God would be faithful to them, and they were to be faithful to God.

This command is issued by God and comes as binding upon all men because God is the only, true and living God, all the others gods are false, a point made clear in the second commandment. This truth that God is the only true God is one that will be stated time and time again to the Israelite people through the prophets, as it is a truth they failed to regard. There is one God and He alone is to be worshipped and no other, for all others are but pretenders, either the lies of the devil, or figments of men’s imaginations.

We see the love of God in this commandment, for God is well aware of the great grief that will come upon us if we do turn aside from worshipping Him alone. The worship of other gods may seem appealing, but they will all lead to death and to the eternal judgement of God. Furthermore, all the promises these so called “gods” make to us will all be proved false and we and our families will find only grief and distress, instead of joy and contentment. God’s desire is for us to know and have life, and we can only know and have life in its fullest sense when we worship Him and Him alone. This commandment is a commandment of love and of life.

Our true, living, unique and only God, we worship and adore Your great and majestic name. We pray that You would cause us to rejoice in the reality that You are the only God, and You are a good, loving God. May we seek after You and You alone, desiring only to ever worship You. Amen.

Verse for the Day, 11 August 2014.

Exodus 20:1-17  And God spoke all these words, saying,  (2)  "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  (3)  "You shall have no other gods before me.  (4)  "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  (5)  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,  (6)  but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.  (7)  "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.  (8)  "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  (9)  Six days you shall labour, and do all your work,  (10)  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.  (11)  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  (12)  "Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.  (13)  "You shall not murder.  (14)  "You shall not commit adultery.  (15)  "You shall not steal.  (16)  "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.  (17)  "You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour's."

These verses from Exodus 20 are some of the most widely known and most often quoted verses from the book Exodus. As children we were taught them in Sunday School, possible even in school. But the great question that needs to be asked is, as well known as these verses may be, have we understood what it is that lies at the very heart of the Ten Commandments, and have we communicated this when we have taught, or quoted the Ten Commandments?

When many think about the Ten Commandments, it is seen as a set of restrictive rules designed to limit, control and direct our lives in a very specific and narrow direction. Numerous people believe that they remove all joy and happiness from life, they presume that obedience to God’s commands will lead to a miserable, unhappy, joyless life. So then, is God being harsh and unkind, is God a kill-joy who only wants us to be miserable, is God being overly restrictive?

If we take a careful look at the Ten Commandments, reading through them thoughtful, whilst keeping Genesis 1-3 in mind, we will come to see what it is that lies at the heart of the Ten Commandments and at the heart of each of the Ten Commandments. Ultimately the Ten Commandments are commandments of love and life. Think back to Genesis 1 and 2, in these two chapters God gave to Adam and Eve commandments, and we need to remember that at this point Adam and Eve were perfect and sinless. Why then if they were perfect did God give them commandments, particularly the commandment not to eat from the tree of knowledge? God gave them these commandments because He loved Adam and Eve, they were created in His image and given a special and unique place in all of creation. God also desired for Adam and Eve to have life, life to the highest and greatest measure. Adam and Eve would know and continue to know the great love of God, as they showed their love for God through their obedience and would enjoy the fullest measure of life as long as they walked in obedience. The moment they sinned against God, their lives changed, it went from fullness to emptiness, and they went from being objects of God’s love, to becoming recipients of God’s wrath. Whilst God still loved them, they no longer loved God in the manner in which mankind was created to love God. The result is that the lives we now live, lives lived in sin and in love for ourselves rather than in love for God, are in fact joyless, miserable and unsatisfactory. Lasting happiness, contentment, joy and peace seem illusive and therefore there is this constant chasing after it but never actually gaining it.

This is where the Ten Commandments come in, God desires for Israel and for all mankind, to know His love, to love Him in return and to have life as we were created to have it, which is only found through love for Him and obedience of Him. This what lies at the heart of the Ten Commandments, their primary purpose is to help us to love God first and foremost and to then know life in the manner that God designed and desires is us to know and live life. These commandments are designed not only to teach us the blessing, importance and benefits of loving and obeying God, they are also designed to teach us the blessing, importance and benefits of loving one another, upholding the glory of God and upholding the sanctity of life.

If Israel walked in love for and obedience of God, they would serve as a model to all the nations around them of the rich blessings, the fullness of life and the great joy and contentment that is found when we love and obey God and His commands. They are commands of love and life, and they still are commands of love and life, which is why they are still relevant to us today, especially as Christians. We now are the ones who are to serve as a model to the world of the rich blessings, the fullness of life and the great joy and contentment that is found when we love and obey God and His commands, by first taking hold of salvation through Christ and then living in obedience to God and love for Him.

Father of love and life, we thank You today that Your created purposes for us have not changed, they have remained the same through all the ages, even when generation after generation walks in sin. Thank You that You created us to know life in the highest and fullest extent, and to know Your love in a truly unique manner, whilst expressing our love for you in an equally unique manner. We pray that You would help us not to see Your laws, such as the Ten Commandments as restrictive, but rather to understand what lies at the heart of them and therefore seek with renewed effort of uphold them and teach them. May we demonstrate our love for You today by means of our obedience. Amen.