“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.”
Exodus 20:2-3
We worship God, who revealed Himself in Jesus Christ
The God of Israel
God revealed Himself to Moses as Yahweh, the God of Israel. Out of respect for Him, pious Jews did not pronounce His name. They usually replaced it with “the Lord,” sometimes also with “Jehovah.” In the first commandment, the Lord reminds Israel that He is their God:
- He is the Creator (Deut 4:32), the author and preserver of all life;
- He is “I am” (Ex 3:14), the one who is always with His people and always there for them.
God chose Israel, a people who were in no way better than others, to be His people. He delivered them from slavery by performing a miracle that only He could do. He gave them a law to help them make good use of their freedom. By following the commandments, Israel was sure to behave in the right way toward God and humankind.
The first commandment required Israel to worship the Lord, their God. Israel had to recognize that they are completely dependent on God, the Almighty. They had to praise God and bring sacrifices to thank Him for what He had done for His people. God is not an idol, to whom we bring an offering to receive a favour. He is the Deliverer, whom we thank for the blessings received. Israel should not be satisfied with following a ritual. They must trust God, surrender to Him and love Him.
Israel should not turn to other gods:
- They who worship another god prove that they do not fully trust the Lord;
- Worshipping an idol is often more comfortable than worshipping the Lord—it is enough to bring an offering to them. The Lord wants us to give ourselves completely to Him;
- Humankind must not repeat the sins of Adam and Eve, who wanted to be like God.
Our God
The first commandment is still valid—like Israel, we must worship God. But we must see Him as He has revealed Himself to us through His Son, Jesus Christ:
- Jesus teaches us that God is not only the Creator but also our loving Father, who knows our needs and provides for them;
- Jesus Christ is Emmanuel—God with us (Mt 1:23). Whoever sees Jesus Christ sees the Father (Jn 14:9-10), His person reveals the true nature of God.
Jesus Christ chose us without our deserving it. Our election rests on His grace alone. He overcame evil by fulfilling a task that only He could do: He lived a sinless life, and He loved God and humankind with perfect love. Through His sacrifice, we can be delivered from the yoke of sin. And so that we can make good use of our freedom, He has given us the gospel, the law of liberty (Jas 1:25).
The first commandment asks us to worship God. We must accept the majesty of God, as revealed to us by Christ. God is love, He wants all people to have access to salvation. This salvation is eternal life—the kingdom of God is not of this world. We can only obtain it by following Christ.
It is by attending the divine service that we bring to God the worship that is due to Him. We thank Him for His blessings by serving Him and bringing Him our offerings. We do not worship God formally, but in spirit and truth (Jn 4:23-24). We love God with all our hearts. This love fuels our desire to be in fellowship with Him, to be like Him and to help in His work of salvation.
Let us not turn to other gods! Nothing should be more important to us than God. We need money to live our lives, but money should not rule our lives (Mt 6:24). Let us not fall into the easy way, choosing the most comfortable path to satisfy our needs and desires. Let us remain on the Godfearing path!
And above all, let us not make ourselves into a god. Let us not pretend to know better than God what is right or wrong. Let us not try to rule over our neighbors by imposing our ideas on them and giving more importance to our needs than to theirs.
God has revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ. We worship Him through our praise, thankfulness, trust and love. Nothing is more important to us than God.