[Sermon] The First Commandment & the Passover

The First Commandment and the Passover

[World Mission Society Church of God]

Most of churches are teaching what is the 'first commandment' among the Ten Commandments given to Moses on the mount Horeb in the Old Testament times.

And they only emphasize how much important the First Commandment is, but don't let the saints learn what it is and how they keep God's laws in the fulfillment of the first commandment.

The word, 'first' itself is sounded to have a priority than the rest of the others, dealing with before everything else we have to do, and implies a supreme value in the sequences. Even though there are the next orders, but the first should be ahead of the others and put at the very beginning.

Now, let's compare the first commandment of Moses and that of Jesus.

Ex 20:1~3 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 me."

The LORD Jehovah, God the Father, in the Old Testament gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and let him to proclaim to the Israelites so that they had to keep the God's laws in order not to serve other 'gods', which didn't create heaven and earth, nor make mankind.

But how do they convince themselves not to serve other gods, and only serve the LORD God? Just is it accepted that they insist that way? It's vague and very hard to prove.

Mt 22:37~38 Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment."

The first commandment by Jesus is to love God with all our heart, soul and mind.

But how can we love our God with all our heart? How can we show our true love toward Him with all our soul? How can we be acknowledged that we serve Him with the sincere love with all our mind?

It's vague and very hard to prove because heart, soul and mind cannot be seen.

The way to follow the God's first and greatest commandment is to celebrate the Passover. By keeping the Passover, all the other gods are judged and destroyed by God's power, and we can only serve God. By keeping the Passover, we can be one with God, eating the bread and drinking the wine as Jesus' flesh and blood, and finally we can prove sincerely our love toward God Elohim as the precious God's children. It is because God is our Father and Mother and we're Their beloved children.