#2
I will not give My Glory to Another

This commandment is a continuation of the first - I am the Lord your God.

 

      When the Lord brought the people of Israel out of captivity to freedom, He told them from the beginning, they were being set free to worship and sacrifice to the Lord God who made them and made a covenant with their fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) that He would bring them to a land which He promised to give them.

      They had to learn how to live as a free, separate and holy people after having been under the oppressive Egyptians and accustomed to their worship of false gods (idols). Therefore, one of the things the Lord told the people was this:

Exodus 23:23-24

… Mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

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Leviticus 26:1

Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God.

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The Lord makes it clear yet again when He tells Isaiah the prophet to tell His people this:

Isaiah 42:5-8

Thus saith God the LORD, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

I am the LORD: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images.

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       He is the Lord and He has called His people to be in righteousness, not that they are to try to do it on their own, but hand in hand with Him. He will keep and guide them into all righteousness for the purpose of them being a sign of the covenant for the people, a light to those who do not know Him. To those who are blind, do not realize what they are doing and how their sin is damaging them, God's people will have the ability (by the Spirit of God) to make them aware, not only by speaking but also by demonstrating the truth of the Word of the Lord through their active testimony. To those who are prisoners and in darkness, the people of God will be able to lead them out to be a people set free from sin and doing the deeds of darkness. They will teach them the ways of the one and only God not only by their words but also their actions reflecting what they teach in the name of the Lord.

This requires strength and fortitude in a land where there is an abundance of idolatry and plenty of bad influences attempting to convince God's people it is alright participate in them; which is one of the reasons the Lord, through Joshua, instructed the people of Israel:

Joshua 23:6-8

Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left; That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:

But cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day.

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The Lord gave them a promise He would be with them and would bless them as He had done, but if they turned away from Him to idols, the following would apply:

Joshua 23:15-16

Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the Lord your God promised you; so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things, until He have destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.

When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which He hath given unto you.

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The following scriptures show the Lord fulfilling His Word:

Judges 2:12, 17, 19

And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger.

And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.

And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

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We cannot be willing only to accept the fact that God blesses and refuse the Word of the Lord that says God will also condemn the wicked actions of those who turn against Him, because then we are not accepting the whole Word of God. God is Good, so very good, but we must understand also that He is Faithful and True in every sense of each of those words. He is truly a jealous God, with the right to be so because He created all things, and without Him nothing would have been made that was made (John 1:3) all power and glory in Heaven and on earth belongs to Him. He will not share this with any other.

If the people of God turn to serve idols which they call gods, then they are as much as saying: He is not all-powerful, nor is He able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think, therefore we must turn to other "gods" because the Lord God is not sufficient, He is not all He says He is, and He will not really condemn this sin of disobedience and rebellion. They are showing the people of the world an example of infidelity, therefore demonstrating that God Almighty is the same as they.

God will render to every person according to their work. He showed this many times when His people turned away from Him. When they repented, He had mercy on them and allowed some of them to return to the land He had given them. It was at this time that a man named Nehemiah had gone with fellow workers to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. With them were people who taught again the laws of God, so they would understand and keep the laws of God who had shown them such great mercy.

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Nehemiah 8:5-8

And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:

And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

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Listen to what the Lord has to say through His servant David:

Psalms 95:6-8

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For He is our God; and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. To day if ye will hear His voice,

Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

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Hear the Word of the Lord which He spoke in times past through the prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 45:20-24, 25

Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside Me.

Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I Am God, and there is none else.

I have sworn by Myself, the Word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to Him shall men come; and all that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed.

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There is no other Savior, except the Lord. It is imperative to learn to recognize who He is and who He has called His people to be so they can know Him and how to serve Him well.

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Learn to Choose the Good and not the Evil.