New Year – No Other Gods

Excerpted from Sam’s Book: The Messianic Ten Commandments

Exodus 20: 2-3: “I am HaShem 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.”

The Only Cure

We live in a fragmented world, with no political, economic, or scientific fix in sight. And of course, the world is fragmented because the communities, families, and marriages of which it is made are fragmented. What is the answer, if there is one? The One who created this world is the only One who can fix it and those who dwell in it (i.e., us). This is why the Messiah of Israel came, to be the cure for a disease that is not limited to the Jewish people. The disease is sin and the only cure is His atonement to reconcile us to God and with each other.

Yeshua + Zero = Salvation

In Exodus 20: 1-2, God revealed that we are redeemed by Him in order to relate to Him. Therefore, His Ten Commandments (Exodus 20: 3-17) are for His redeemed people. Through them we can express our genuine relationship with Him in Messiah’s finished work.

By Yeshua’s fulfillment of the Law for us, this first of the Ten Words now assures us that we have no other gods before Him! Praise the Lord! In Messiah who is Adonai, you have no other gods but Adonai alone. Having anyone or anything in addition to Adonai is not having Adonai at all. It is Yeshua plus zero that equals salvation, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). This includes whatever else we may be using as gods to secure or satisfy our lives. Though we may not think of religious, financial, or social matters as “gods,” we depend on them as such.

The Triune God

One of the great misconceptions about the faith of New Covenant believers regards the Trinity. Some believe that followers of Yeshua “believe in three gods.” Of course, this is evidently untrue from the clear teachings in the New Covenant. Yeshua and the Shlichim instructed on the Oneness of God and taught the Shema itself. In biblical Messianic faith, there is only one God. New Covenant faith is biblically and undeniably monotheistic. But because of a general ignorance of Scriptural teaching on the “tri-unity” of God (the word “trinity” is a contraction of “tri-unity”) there is confusion about the subject.

So, in this chapter regarding Exodus 20:3, we will learn that the one true God has revealed that He redeemed you to enable you to relate to Him. He did this only because He is the one true God. His “oneness” is the first quality to know of Him and is essential for expressing both His redemption of us as well as our relationship to Him.

In this chapter we’ll consider ways that having only One God is required for…

Our Personal Relationship with God

Our Societal Redemption in God

Our Eternal Recognition by God

Having Only One God is Required for Our Personal Relationship with God

Exodus 20:3a: “you shall have no…”

One God, Our Guaranteed Redemption

In Exodus 20:3, you is in the singular. It is the response to the introductory verses, where we are told “your God brought you out of slavery;” therefore “you shall have no…” Though this provision of redemption is made to the whole nation (and then to all people through the Jewish Messiah), the initial truth that there is only one God must be applied individually. If there were two gods, then maybe you would have a choice of authority and salvation for your life. But there’s only one God! So, there’s only one way of redemption, and there’s only one way out of bondage, and only one way to God.

Yeshua is the Way…

Many people have responded to the truth that there’s only one way to God with a measure of offense. To them it seems that I have a narrow-minded exclusivity to my faith, as if I was saying that my way to God is better than their way to God. Of course this is not the case. For what they do not realize – and therefore must be told – is that Yeshua Himself declared that He is the only way to God.

Yeshua said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6).

Most pre-believing people I have spoken to about the faith don’t know that Yeshua Himself said this. Peter, too, proclaimed about the name of Yeshua the Messiah:

[T]here is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:10,12).

We proclaim the same, for there is only one God and He has provided His one and only way to bring people to Himself. That way is the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, by His sacrifice for sins.

One God, Our Guiding Rule

With one God, there is one equal set of values for all. As Paul wrote:

“[I]s God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one” (Romans 3:29-30).

In Messiah, Jew and Gentile are one; black and white are one; male and female are one; bond and free are one. There’s total equality in Yeshua and absolutely no room for prejudice. In this case, one size fits all since there is only one God. This is the biblical principle for being equitable and even-handed to all:

We are His People

You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. You shall have a full and just weight; you shall have a full and just measure, that your days may be prolonged in the land which HaShem your God gives you. For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to HaShem your God (Deut. 25:13-16).

We are His people; if we have “unequal weights and measures” on an interpersonal level, we give preferential treatment to certain people – which is wrong. As we represent Messiah in the world, if we gave preferential treatment to some, we make God seem to be a respecter of persons. We make Him seem unrighteous and unfair; and that is abominable and quite deserving of His wrath. The ground is perfectly level at the cross.