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THE LAW OF GOD

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 27, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 48.

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THE LAW OF GOD

By E. J. Hibbard

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”
But once in the history of our world since sin entered, has the Infinite One descended to earth in His consuming glory, to deliver in person a message to man. This fact alone ought to set men thinking. The glory of that transcendent scene will be surpassed by no other, save one. Of these two events we have this testimony: “Whose voice then shook the earth; but now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which can not be shaken may remain.” When this latter time comes, all men will decide whether or not Jehovah meant what He said at Sinai. But it will be well to have this matter decided, and that rightly, before that day shall come.
In delivering a message, the God of heaven usually introduces Himself in a way that will convey the fullest possible knowledge of the speaker to the party addressed. Thus at Bethel He said to Jacob, “I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac.” But twenty years later, in the land of Mesopotamia, He thus addresses the same man: “I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto Me.” The God of Abraham and Isaac—the God heard of; the God of Bethel—the God who was known.
To Moses at the “burning bush,” as to Jacob at Bethel, the message was, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” He then gave to Moses a commission as leader of His people out of Egypt and into the promised land. “And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
Apart from the fact that the God of their fathers had sent him, Moses could describe Jehovah no further to that people than to say, He is what He is,—“I AM THAT I AM.” However, the ten plagues of Egypt, which humbled that proud nation to the very dust, and utterly annihilated the supposed power of its almost infinitude of gods, also gave each individual abundant opportunity, such as few have realized before or since, of gaining a personal knowledge of, and acquaintance with, “the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” To the people who believed Him, how surpassingly impressive must have been the deliverance of their first-born, while in the homes of the rejecters of God’s mercy not one escaped the destroyer’s hand. But the climax was reached at the Red Sea. In the dead of night they find themselves entrapped,—insurpassable barriers to the front and left, the sea on the right, and the enraged Egyptian hosts so close in the rear that it becomes necessary for the “pillar of cloud” to lie between, with the light side toward Israel and darkness toward Pharaoh’s host. The sea is opened; the people pass over dry shod; but the Egyptians are drowned in the depths of the sea. Then follows the sweetening of the waters of Marah, the giving of the “bread from heaven,” and crystal waters from out the dry, flinty rock.
In view of all this thrilling personal experience, how ought the living God to have prefaced His holy law? “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” means little now in comparison with the more comprehensive title, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”
Nothing in the Bible is of merely local application, since “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” And while this is true of the Scriptures as a whole, shall man select from all the rest that portion which was deemed too sacred to be spoken through prophet, priest, or potentate; that which is the epitome of all; and call it obsolete? “God forbid. Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar.”
“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” Does that sound as if it were of local import? Whoever you are, if you are acquainted with our God, you will never consent to give this away to any one tribe or nation. No more can we do this than we can consent to give away the Gospel according to Luke and the book of Acts because these portions of Scripture are addressed to an individual named Theophilus; or that the epistles of Paul should be taken from us, since they are addressed to definite local churches or to individuals. “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”
How can we have other gods before the Lord when there are no others? “I am the Lord, and there is none else.” “There is one God and Father of all, and through all, and in you all.” “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” “We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.” These are the facts; and the commandment simply asks all men everywhere to recognize, acknowledge, and accept the facts.
But all men have become bewildered. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” The natural man is unlike his Maker. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.” “The carnal [natural] mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
How evident it is, then, that in order not to have other things in place of God, the man must be turned square about—converted. The first commandment, therefore, of the ten, calls for conversion, full and complete. But conversion makes necessary the Saviour, since man can not change his nature, his thoughts and words and actions. It is therefore evident, again, that none of these ten commandments can be rightly or profitably considered, except in Jesus Christ, and in the light of His atonement. “Reconciled to God by the death of His Son.” “He is our peace.” “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Christ is the Saviour. Faith appropriates to the individual the salvation which is in Him for every man. “After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
This means the giving up, the entire surrender, of all the affections and powers, to the Lord our Righteousness. Why should He ask so much? That He may restore us; that He may make us every whit whole.
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” These are the people who delight in keeping the first commandment. Being “filled with all the fulness of God,” there is no place for other gods besides the Lord.
E. J. HIBBARD.