Click For Audio Version
The Second Commandment
God gave us a simple first commandment.
Without question, all of the Commandments are important for us to learn and obey. However, I believe that the Scripture places the commandments in order of importance.
That is why the first two tell us about our relationship to God. In our first lesson, God tells us, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3 NKJV
His command is short and leaves no room for questions.
About 1500 years later, Jesus was asked about the great or greatest commandment in Matthew 12:36-39 NKJV, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
God did not want us confused in any way!
As you can see in the Second Commandment, He expands on His instructions so no one can be unclear.
Make no image!
Read Exodus 20:4-6 NKJV with me, 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
God does not leave any wiggle room for those who want to worship any person or anything but Him. Notice, He tells us not to make or bow down to any image of anything in heaven, or the earth, or under the water.
I hope that you notice that God covers all possibilities. We are not to make anything to worship. Today, it is rare that anyone would carve out an image to bow down to, but does that mean that we are not guilty of worshiping other things?
Can we have carved images today?
We may not make carved images, but we certainly put other things before God.
With us, it may be a job, money, fine clothes, jewelry, a car, either new or old, our homes, or many other things. It is not necessary to carve an item to put it before God.
In these first two commands, God makes it clear that He will not take second place to anyone or anything. He alone is the God who created all things, and He expects us to worship only Him.
Notice that in the 5th verse, He says, “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” And He says in Exodus 34:14 NKJV, you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
You can not get any clearer than what God tells us about Himself and what He expects of us.
There are two other important points for us to consider.
God not only commands us to put Him first in our lives, but it will cost us not to do so. He warns us, “For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.”
Our loving God gave us the right to choose to follow His commands and live the good life He planned for us, or not. He loves us and wants every good thing for us, but He will not allow us to put anyone or anything before Him.
Our Lord follows the notice of what will happen to those who put their trust in any other thing with a wonderful promise.
In the sixth verse, He continues with this statement, “but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandment”.
Certain punishment and certain reward.
God gave us the Ten Commandments so we could understand how He expected us to live with Him and with each other. The first three commandments were to help us understand what He expected of us. They are clear and easy to understand, and yet mankind has failed to put them into practice as they should.
Our Lord has made it clear what He expects of us and how we will benefit by following what He is teaching us.
Yes, there will be punishment for failing to honor Him, but at the same time, there will be great rewards in following them.
However, the Ten Commandments will not save you.
I am now well into my eighties and have spent many of those years in ministry. During those years, I have known many wonderful men and women who lived good lives and tried to follow all the commandments. They were good by all worldly standards, but they lacked one thing that would save them.
Some of these individuals worked with their churches, but had not given their lives to God. They followed the moral standard as best they could, but were not following Jesus.
God gave us more than these Commandments.
He loved us enough to send His Son to show us the way into His Kingdom.
Even the devout Jewish Rabbis who tried to live by the Law failed. They were not alone. When God gave us the Ten Commandments, He knew that we could not keep the spirit of the law even if we could keep the letter of the law.
Paul tells us in Romans 3:23 NKJV, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And later he tells us that the wages of sin is death. So we are all in the same condition until we accept God’s offer to save us.
If you have some Church background, you may have learned John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God provided a way for all of us who choose to be saved. However, as we see in this Commandment, God rejects all who choose to put anything before Him.
We are to have no carved image.
God rejects everyone who worships anything except Him. He allows us to choose, but He makes it clear in these first two Commandments that the only choice that He will accept is Him.
My friend, what have you chosen?
If you are putting anything before the only Living God, you need to change and put God first in your life.
Click to go study the other Commandments, The First Commandment – No Other God!, The Second Commandment – No Idols