NO OTHER GODS

Can I pray for you in any way?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.

Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder.

Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain.

So Moses went up and the Lord said to him, "Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them."

Moses said to the Lord, "The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because You Yourself warned us, 'Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.'"

The Lord replied, "Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them."

So Moses went down to the people and told them.

And God spoke all these words: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me."

Exodus 19:16-25, 20:1-3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Three days after God commanded Israel to consecrate and prepare for His coming, He arrived at Mount Sinai with awesome majesty, authority and fanfare. The scriptures tell us "there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast.” Indeed, this wasn’t just any ordinary day but one where the Lord was coming to His people with glory and power, with a display that caused "everyone in the camp” to tremble.

With God present on Mount Sinai, we read where “Moses led the people out of the camp to meet” with Him and as they stood at the foot of the mountain," they saw it “covered with smoke” because the Lord had “descended on it in fire”. It had to be quite the spectacle as the Israelites watched the smoke billow up as if it had come “from a furnace” while “the whole mountain trembled violently” and “the sound” of a “trumpet grew louder and louder."

From this place, we see where God called Moses to the top of the mountain and repeated a warning He had given before, saying:

"Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them."

With this, the scriptures tell us that only Aaron was permitted to go up the mountain with his brother Moses after he "went down to the people” and “told them" God’s message.

This set the stage for God to begin delivering His guidance to the Israelites and we see Him begin with an important reminder as He identifies Himself to His people:

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."

These words from God were delivered in a format typical of a king who would first recite an introduction that would proclaim who he was and his level of authority. This would then be followed by a statement that would remind the people about something good the king had done for them. Finally, the king would give guidance to his people.

Well, there was little doubt that the Lord was a King but not just any king for He was the King of Kings. He tells His people that He was “the Lord your God." The people knew that this authority was not merely spoken for they had seen it on full display as He had brought great plagues on Egypt and commanded the seas and the clouds. Indeed, He was the One who had delivered them from their oppressive slavery and He didn’t want them to forget that.

His words surely had to activate the memory of the Israelites, beckoning them back to where they had been staring down certain recapture by Pharaoh and his forces as they stood before a great body of water that stood between them and freedom. They had to have recalled how God caused that great sea to separate so that they could walk right through on dry land, a wall of water suspended on either side. They then witnessed how God released those walls of water so that they came crashing down on their pursuers, bring absolute destruction. In one act, a long time enemy had been completely eliminated.

Then, as if this wasn’t enough, this Lord of all lords sent them quail and manna from Heaven so to prevent their starvation as well as water from a rock to prevent their dehydration.

The bottom line was that the people of Israel wouldn’t have made it to this point and time had it not been for God. This remains true for all believers today if they would only look back and remember how the same Lord has been with them through life to bring them to where they are presently.

Well, going back to our passage for today, we see where God had identified Himself and reminded His people what He had done for them. He was now ready to give them guidance, guidance that was known in Hebrew and Greek circles as "The Ten Words" but we know them better today as The Ten Commandments. This would be part of the law for Israel to follow as it was delivered from God to Moses to share with His people at Mount Sinai.

As we will see, the first four of these commandments highlight how the Israelites (and us as well) should live in their relationship toward God while the remaining six carried instructions on how they were to live with one another.

In the opening verses of chapter 20, we see where the first of these commands was simple and to the point.

"You shall have no other gods before Me."

Before any of the other commandments could be respected and followed, this first one needed to be complied with. For God made it crystal clear that He was God, the One and Only God. He and only He had been the Maker of Heaven and earth, the Author of all creation. He had no rival and therefore no one worthy of worship and honor but Him.

These truths have remained the same ever since then and always will.

Going back to the Israelites, they had also lived for a long time within the Egyptian nation which was polytheistic and as look at their history in the Old Testament, we know it will be far from the last time they will be in the midst of people who worshipped false gods. And so, God was driving the point home that He was the only God that the people of Israel were to follow.

Unfortunately, we will see them forget these words from the Lord and sin against Him over and over again, giving their devotion to other gods. What is equally unfortunate is that believers today haven’t learned from the mistakes of the past for we see people giving their heart’s affection and mind’s attention to any number of false gods, just as much if not more than the Israelites well over 2,000 years ago.

If you don't believe this, you’ve lost spiritual awareness and discernment for there are a multitude of “gods” that people choose to worship.

How many people become obsessed with money and/or possessions even though Jesus warned against it (Matthew 6:19-21, 24)?

Or what about the constant quest to fulfill sexual desires, often resulting in lust, another thing Jesus warned of (Matthew 5:27-28)?  

And then there is alcohol, drugs, or worse yet a combination of the two, substances that the enemy uses to drag people into a place of addiction and destruction?

I could go on and on here in mentioning things people ascribe their love to in exchange for God.

How about fame and celebrity, food, television, phones, video games, or even oneself?

The truth of the matter is there are plenty of idols out there who try and demand our consideration and we can usually figure out what we worship by the amount of time we dedicate to something. With this, a quick and thought-provoking question:

What do you invest most of your time in doing?

If the answer is anything outside of the Lord, then it’s time to reassess your life priorities for He expects us to place Him above all other things in our life. Like the Israelites, He has delivered us time after time after time from our life circumstances and the ultimate redemption is still to come after this temporary life is over through our belief in Christ Jesus.

Friends, our Lord has given us His all, and He commands and expects us to give Him the same.

His message is clear.

“You shall have no other gods before Me."

And no, means no.

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.