Take Your Stand With The Eternal One – First Commandment

Take Your Stand with the Eternal One

The First Commandment

Exodus, 20.2, 3; Deuteronomy 5.6, 7

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”

God is, has always been, and always will be.

Our estimation of the commandments of God must not be detached from our understanding of the God Who gave the commandments. The Law of God begins with the words, “I am the LORD…” Here God declares His personal Name, the Name by which He made Himself known to Moses at the incident of the burning bush. The Name, “Yahweh” (which is typically translated, “LORD”) derives from the Hebrew verb which means, “to be.” Roughly translated, Yahweh means “I am Who I will be.” This speaks to the eternality and changelessness of God. He has always been, is, and always will be, and He is always the same, unchanged and unaffected by the changing circumstances of a sinful world. In changing times we need a North Star that doesn’t vary in its positions; otherwise, we won’t be able to navigate the dark night of sin toward the safe shores of a new day. Yahweh is just such a North Star – unchanging, bright and clear, a reliable focus for our every tack. And as the north star graciously casts its light for grateful mariners, so our eternal and unchanging North Star makes known to us the right course for all our needs in His holy and righteous and good Law. There are billions and billions (to borrow another phrase) of stars in the sky, but only one won’t let us down. There are billions and billions of claimants to deity, but only One is unchanging and sure, because He alone is eternal. His Name is Yahweh.

What are some of the “gods” by which your friends are trying to navigate their lives? What are the dangers associated with following any god other than Yahweh?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.