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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites this: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from Heaven: Do not make any gods to be alongside Me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.’"
“’Make an altar of earth for Me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause My name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. If you make an altar of stones for Me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it. And do not go up to My altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it.'"
Exodus 20:22-26
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the closing verses of Exodus, chapter 20, we find God speaking His first words to His people after giving them His Ten Commandments, again using Moses as His messenger:
“'You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from Heaven: Do not make any gods to be alongside Me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.’"
“’Make an altar of earth for Me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause My name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. If you make an altar of stones for Me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it. And do not go up to My altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it.'"
As we see, these words from God were basically a review of the first and second commandments along with some additional instructions as He demanded that they should “have no other gods before” Him and not make any idol to worship, no “gods of silver or gods of gold”. This point of emphasis shows us that this was one of God’s main concerns for His people.
Why?
I believe there were two main reasons.
First, God knew that the people of Israel had encountered and would later encounter cultures who observed different religious systems, systems that were polytheistic (a worship of multiple gods) in nature. Obviously, this was in stark contrast to the monotheistic faith that He demanded from the Israelite people.
The Lord knew that this would present a constant temptation for His people to divert their devotion in other directions, particularly toward other false gods and the idols constructed to represent them. This could include the Israelites actually fashioning idols of their own out of gold or silver, an act that would be absolutely unacceptable to the One who made it clear that He was a "jealous God" (Exodus 20:5).
We need to keep in mind that God’s demands here are just as applicable now as they were in Old Testament times. For the world offers us more than a few “gods” and “idols” that seek to draw our mind’s attention and heart’s affection from the only One worthy of them. He is just as jealous for us as He was the Israelites more than 2,000 years ago.
The second reason I believe God underscored these two commands was that He already knew the people were going to break them before they did it.
Now, you might ask yourself why God would say anything if He knew the people weren’t going to listen anyways and be disobedient but He wanted to get His words on record so He could rebut any suggestion that they hadn’t been told before once they sinned.
Unfortunately, we will see that the very fear of God that the people experienced at Mount Sinai, the very fear from being tested that kept them from sinning, would not last and soon they will decide to pursue their own desires over God’s. Sadly, this too still holds true today.
There’s one more important aspect of this passage to consider beyond the matter of not worshipping other gods and idols. For we see that the Lord expected the people to be in a proper spirit of worship. We read where He instructs them to “make an altar”, providing specific instructions on how it was to be constructed. He then tells them to “sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings” on their constructed altar using their sheep, goats and cattle before sharing these wonderful words of assurance:
"Wherever I cause My name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you."
We need to remember that the Israelite altars, when built and used in accordance with God’s standards, were His prescribed holy places of sacrifice and worship. It was there that His name would be honored and as He promised, He would come to them and bless them when they were obedient to doing what He commanded.
So what does all this mean to us?
We should be hypersensitive toward using every situation possible in our lives to lift up the Lord so that He and He alone is honored.
If we’re at home, praise and honor Him, especially around your family. If you’re single, no one else might see you but He does.
If we’re out at the store shopping or at the supermarket getting groceries, praise and honor Him.
If we’re at work, praise and honor Him. Let your co-workers know He is number one in your life.
If we’re driving in our cars, praise and honor Him. Listening to Christian music while on the road definitely helps this cause.
Indeed, we should be seeking to honor God’s name wherever we might find ourselves through our every action, word, and thought. For when we are doing this, He has promised His blessings to be upon us just as we are blessing Him with our full respect.
In the end translation, God is so good, all the time. And as the scriptures tell us, He is the Provider of “every good and perfect gift from above" (James 1:17). There is nothing impossible for Him and there isn’t anything beyond the works of His hands (Luke 1:37). And His steadfast love for us endures forever (1 Chronicles 16:34).
And so the question is:
Why in the world would anyone want to honor or worship anyone or anything else?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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