08/11/2019
THE LOVE OF GOD
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.”
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. EXODUS 20:5,6
What do we see from this?
1.It is part of the ten commandments.
2.It is part of the Law which the OT people of God were expected to live according to – it was the covenant between God and man of that day(s).
3. God loved them as his people. He had just delivered them out of slavery and from the hands of the Egyptians who had cruelly abused them, and he was telling them what he required of them. He was identifying himself to them. He was identifying himself to them as the Lord and as their God. He had chosen them as his people.
4. He was telling them the consequences of their being unfaithful to him. It wasn’t so much a threat just a reality of the nature of life? It’s the foundational rule for the healthy existence of man upon the earth.
5.Remember He was pronouncing this over people who would hate him – not over those who sin per se. Though obviously it is a sin to hate God. It has consequences.
6. So it seems that for those people if they wanted the blessing of God’s love upon their lives, they needed to love God - to own him as their God and not to worship other Gods.
7. Jesus too said,” If you love me, my Father will love you and we will come to you and make our home with you.” A man or a woman will feel at home, will be at home, with those who love them. There is nothing difficult about this. It makes complete sense. But the onus is upon us to love God, if we want to experience the love and close friendship of God. God pursues sinful man – because God is love and can do none other. Those who respond will be blessed by his love - those who reject him will not experience this love. And they will pass on the consequences of this rejection to future generations
