Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before me. How shall we conceive of God? Who is He? What is His name? The First Commandment answers these questions. The language is local, but the meaning is universal. I. THE MEANING OF THE FIRST COMMANDMENT FOR THE ANCIENT JEW. II. THE MEANING OF THE FIRST COMMANDMENT FOR OURSELVES. 1. The Divine declaration. (1) The name "Jehovah." Jesus of Nazareth is Deity in exposition — the Word of God. See how the "I AM" of the burning bush reappears in the "I am" of the Nazarene (Matthew 18:20; Matthew 28:20; John 8:58; John 14:3; John 17:24; Revelation 1:8). (2) The Divine relation. Who is Jehovah's Israel in our day and land? It is the Church of the Living God (see Romans 2:28, 29; 1 Corinthians 12:27). If we really belong to Christ, truly loving Him and obeying Him and sharing His character, we are, in spite of all our diversities, one Christian personality; for in Christ Jesus there can be neither Jew nor Gentile, neither Greek nor Scythian, neither male nor female; for all in Christ are one, and Christ is all and in all. (3) The Divine deliverance. As it is the Church that is the true Israel, so it is Diabolus who is the true Pharaoh, and Sin which is the true Egypt, and Jesus who is the true Deliverer. 2. The Divine prohibition. We ourselves need this prohibition no less than did ancient Israel. For, although Christendom, theoretically speaking, is monotheistic, yet Christendom, practically speaking, is largely polytheistic. Recall, for example, the practical tritheism of many Trinitarians, conceiving the three Persons in the Trinity as three distinct Gods; or the practical dualism of many Christians, conceiving the Father as the God of wrath, and the Son as the God of love: or, again, conceiving the Creator as the God of nature, and the Redeemer as the God of Scripture. Behold in the Pantheon of our Christendom how many niches there are for various gods — the god of the deist, the god of the materialist, the god of the fatalist, the god of the sentimentalist, the god of the churchman, the god of the pantheist. CONCLUDING LESSONS: 1. Our indebtedness to the Jew for monotheism. 2. Jehovah is to be worshipped. 3. Jehovah alone is to be worshipped. (G. D. Boardman.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. |
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