The first and greatest of the ten commandments is,
“You shall have no other gods before me.”
None shall be esteemed ahead of Him, and none shall endure in His presence.
“There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.”
He is rightly called a jealous God, for He says,
“My glory I will not give to another.”
And indeed, in every contest of divine power He has proven the victor. He executed judgement on the gods of Egypt by sending wasting plagues that decimated the land and proved them powerless.
He caused Dagon, the god of the Philistines, to bow before Him in subservience—even to its own destruction!
On Mount Carmel the speechless Baal was shown a fraud, while the true God answered from heaven with consuming, holy fire.
And when Sennacherib of Assyria boasted that the Lord of Hosts was like the other gods of the land and unable to deliver, the angel of the Lord went forth slew 185,000, and there was no deliverance for them.
In everything God has the supremacy, and He will not allow a rival to seduce the hearts of His people. Though we often make golden calves for ourselves and look to them for security, comfort, or meaning, He will not allow them to endure. He will graciously take them from us, burn them with fire, grind them to dust, and then cast them on the stream that takes away our sins forever.
Perish the gods who did not make heaven and earth, but
“You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.”
“Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people!”