The Foremost commandment

[K2K]

Few Christians really understand what the "Foremost" commandment is. It is not a commandment in the Law. It is the commandment that makes it possible to start fulfilling the commandment that says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart...." Because this "Foremost" commandment is the commandment that enables us to start fulfilling the command to love the Lord with our all are hearts, it of course take precedent over, and must come first, so that we can love the Lord your God with all your heart...

This command was issued by Moses with the instruction to put in on your door post. This command was used at the being of the writings by Isaiah because the people did not know. The Father gave this command and only this command from the mountain top where Jesus Christ was transform before His disciples. And Jesus Himself explained that it was the "Foremost" command when asked what the greatest commandment was as opposed to what the greatest commandment in the Law was, and then explained "And you shall love the your God... so He had clearly explained that the keeping of this command resulted in the loving the Lord.

This of course, if thought about, is of no surprise. However somehow is seems to get mostly missed even by Christians. If asked what the "Foremost commandment was?" Would you instantly respond that is was hearing from our Lord?

It should be obvious to all of us that if we start hearing form our Lord regularly we would develop a great love for Him, simply because He is God and God is love and He is awesome. It only makes sense that would be the case - but who seeks to listen to Him daily? So who loves Him? So who keeps the "Foremost" commandment?

Mark 12:29 Jesus answered, "The foremost is, HEAR, O ISREAL! THE LORD OUR GOS ID ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WILL ALL YOUR STRENGTH.

Hear, O Isreal - is a commandment and then you shall/will love the Lord

Isaiah 1:2 Listen, o heavens, and hear, O earth For the Lord speaks

Matthew 17:5... a voice out of the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!

Deut 6:4 Hear, O Israel! the Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
Deut 6:6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your hearts
Deut 6:9 You shall write then on the doorpost or your house and on your gates

Hearing what our Lord has to say to us personally has always been the foremost command. It is what the Father, the Son, and Spirit want you to do. It is what Moses, Isaiah, and Matthew were trying to explain to us. So how are we doing with that commandment?

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

Shema Israel!

 

[OldWiseGuy]

"Shall" can mean immediately, or sometime in the future. Also there are quite a few details to be sorted out in the commandments.

 

[K2K]

"Shall" can mean immediately, or sometime in the future. Also there are quite a few details to be sorted out in the commandments.

Of course "Shall" can mean immediately, or sometime in the future. If you start listening to the Lord when are you going to start falling in love with Him - isn't it immediately and in the future also?

My friends - If hear GOD tell "I love you" because you have opened your ears up to hear Him, are you not going to start loving Him and will that not grow in the future? It is written that we love Him because He loved us first. However, if you don't listen to Him you don't know that so His love is then a vague thing to you personally. Even if He does a miracle in your life you will soon forget and not even associate the event to Him who loves you.

As far as saying there a quite a few detail to be sorted out in the commandments: what needs to be sorted out is us listening to Him!! He loves us if we listen to Him. God is love. It is in His nature to love us if we are willing to accept His love. Yet it is also written that Jacob I have loved, but that He hated Esau.

Mal 1:2,3 I have loved you," says the Lord. But you say, "How have You loved us? "Was not Easu Jacob's brother?" declares the Lord. "Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Easu, and I have made his mountains a desolation...

So who says "How have You loved us?" or "there are quite a few detail to be sorted out in the commandments"? Is it really too hard to understand that "You shall have not other Gods" but you will if you do not "Love the Lord your God with all your heart..." And that is accomplished by paying attention to Him and thus listening to what He has to say. That is how the question of "How have You loved us?" answered. Listen, and you will know how He has loved you, but don't listen and you won't know.

And so again we see the commandment to listen:

Mal 2:1 "And now this commandment is for you O priest, "If you don not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name," says the Lord, "then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already.

So it is that we, even us 'priests' (you know we are a nation of priests, right?) have already had our blessings curses because we have not listened. And so what is His name we need to honor?

Rev 19:13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

The Word of God, is His name. And so Malachi started by writing "The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel though Malachi. So it could have been written or understood, 'The oracle of Jesus Christ to Israel through Malachi, but only if you know that He speaks and we can listen -- or we can come up with an excuse like we have a few details to figure out before we listen to God. Do we?

Do we have a few details to work out before we start listening to the Lord? Do we really have to figure out who He has already cursed our blessings before we start listening, even in these times? Why don't we just start seeking the Lord and listening?

He can help you with the details after that!!!

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Of course "Shall" can mean immediately, or sometime in the future. If you start listening to the Lord when are you going to start falling in love with Him - isn't it immediately and in the future also?

My friends - If hear GOD tell "I love you" because you have opened your ears up to hear Him, are you not going to start loving Him and will that not grow in the future? It is written that we love Him because He loved us first. However, if you don't listen to Him you don't know that so His love is then a vague thing to you personally. Even if He does a miracle in your life you will soon forget and not even associate the event to Him who loves you.

As far as saying there a quite a few detail to be sorted out in the commandments: what needs to be sorted out is us listening to Him!! He loves us if we listen to Him. God is love. It is in His nature to love us if we are willing to accept His love. Yet it is also written that Jacob I have loved, but that He hated Esau.

Mal 1:2,3 I have loved you," says the Lord. But you say, "How have You loved us? "Was not Easu Jacob's brother?" declares the Lord. "Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Easu, and I have made his mountains a desolation...

So who says "How have You loved us?" or "there are quite a few detail to be sorted out in the commandments"? Is it really too hard to understand that "You shall have not other Gods" but you will if you do not "Love the Lord your God with all your heart..." And that is accomplished by paying attention to Him and thus listening to what He has to say. That is how the question of "How have You loved us?" answered. Listen, and you will know how He has loved you, but don't listen and you won't know.

And so again we see the commandment to listen:

Mal 2:1 "And now this commandment is for you O priest, "If you don not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name," says the Lord, "then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already.

So it is that we, even us 'priests' (you know we are a nation of priests, right?) have already had our blessings curses because we have not listened. And so what is His name we need to honor?

Rev 19:13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

The Word of God, is His name. And so Malachi started by writing "The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel though Malachi. So it could have been written or understood, 'The oracle of Jesus Christ to Israel through Malachi, but only if you know that He speaks and we can listen -- or we can come up with an excuse like we have a few details to figure out before we listen to God. Do we?

Do we have a few details to work out before we start listening to the Lord? Do we really have to figure out who He has already cursed our blessings before we start listening, even in these times? Why don't we just start seeking the Lord and listening?

He can help you with the details after that!!!

The details will become clear during the courtship period, if the affianced are mature and clear-headed. Marriage isn't based on infatuation. Baptism followed by Confirmation is a good pattern to look to, as are repentance followed by conversion.

 

[K2K]

The details will become clear during the courtship period, if the affianced are mature and clear-headed. Marriage isn't based on infatuation. Baptism followed by Confirmation is a good pattern to look to, as are repentance followed by conversion.

Excellent post!!

This is exactly right!

A relationship with the Lord is like other relationships, in that you grow into the relationship. If you start a relationship with anyone it grows with communication and time spent together. Of course, the Lord is love so a relationship with Him is desirable, but even a relationship with Him is not all you think it would be when you get into it. For example, someone might think that if they get to know God He would do something incredible for them, like perhaps give them the winning numbers to the lottery, but what are we thinking? If He needed you to have lots of money He probably already would have given it to you. If things happen where He does need you to have it, He will give it to you but perhaps it is better for you to learn to live and get by with less, not more.

The Lord said through Isaiah, that if you come reason with Him your sins would be white as snow, but in doing that you will find out that your thoughts are not His thoughts. His thoughts are right. You will find that out about Him. So you will get to know Him, but don't think your thinking about Him is going to turn out to be what you think. Indeed, the details will become clear in that sense during the courtship, but you don't need much in the way of details to start reasoning with Him. Moses made that clear by telling the people that the word is near you.

So yes, marriage isn't based on infatuation but the relationship does start that way! So get 'infatuated' with God so that you start seeking Him and conversing back and forth with Him. Then you have started keeping the foremost command and love for Him will follow. Then you will not have others gods before Him. So seek His voice to listen, then you shall love the Lord your God, and then you will have no other gods before Him, and also you will be loving to your neighbor because He does and you are doing what He tells you to do, right?

Thus loving the Lord Jesus Christ your God, having no other gods before him and loving your neighbor are all results of keeping the foremost command of "Hear, O Israel". You don't need much in the way of detail to start hearing and all the details in the law are taken care of and learned by simply listen to Him.