Bible Studies for Life
The Greatest Command
Our obedience to God is seen in our love for Him and others.
An expert is the Old Testament law witnessed Jesus verbally sparring with religious leader. He approached Jesus and asked, “Which is the first commandment of all?” (Mark 12:28). Jesus perceived his sincerity and gave the man a clear, concise answer.
Mark 12: 28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Scribes were scholars and experts in Mosaic law. Their role was to copy, interpret, and write rules and regulations on how the law should be lived out for each generation. They counted 613 commandments, 365 prohibitions, and 248 positive commands in the Torah. While these experts wrote the Mosaic law procedure manual, they also attempted to summarize the whole of the law in as few words as possible.
One scribe approached Jesus and inquired which commandment could be considered the most important. His tone was different.
The scribe asked Jesus to summarize the whole of the law in a nutshell. Jesus’ response was a direct recounting of Old Testament Scripture, and Jesus plainly answered the question. Jesus quoted the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5.
It’s a commandment to know God and to remind His people that He is One. The Lord is the only One. He alone is God; there is no other. He ha no equal, no rival; He stands alone. It is a call to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
In His covenant, God gave Himself totally to Israel; He expected this to be reciprocated. We are not to love God casually or half-heartedly, but in full measure with our every thought, emotion, feeling, word, and action. We are to love God with all of our:
• Heart. To love God exclusively. We should have no other gods before Him. He alone has our heart’s allegiance.
• Soul. To love God with all our soul means we find our purpose and meaning in Him alone. Our love for God must surpass our love for others and for all things.
• Mind. We love God with all our mind by choosing obedience because we know what He says is true. Jesus said we are to worship God in truth.
• Strength. To love God with all our strength is to love with perseverance. Love keeps its commitment through all the trials and suffering of life lived in a broken world.
Mark 12: 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
The Old Testament commands us to love God and to love our neighbor, but these are separate commands. Until that moment no one had ever put them together and made one commandment out of two. Jesus demonstrated His love for the Father by showing His love for the scribe. He took an old law and illustrated it with a fresh perspective. The question lingered. Who is my neighbor? In His parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus defined our neighbor as anyone who was in need.
Neighbor was no longer limited by:
• Geographic proximity
• Social affinity
• Racial similarity
• Religious solidarity
• Political affiliation
Jesus summarized the totality of the law as love God and love others. The Ten Commandments define how to love God and others. The first four are about love for God, while the remaining six are love for others.
Jesus’s command to love others as ourselves implies that we won’t love others in the right way unless we love ourselves in the right way. Think about it this way: God loves you, so you can love yourself. God accepts you, so you can accept yourself. Loving yourself like that isn’t just okay; it’s what Jesus commands.
Jesus took two separate Old Testament commands, linked them together, and answered the scribe’s question. Love God with your whole being and your neighbor as yourself.
Mark 12: 32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: 33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
The scribe’s response to Jesus reflected a considerable knowledge of the Old Testament Scripture, he agreed that burnt offerings and sacrifices must take a back seat to a right relationship with God and others, one that’s characterized by love and obedience. He was proclaiming that even the most sacred of duties and sacrifices should never supersede our love for God and others.
Jesus implicitly revealed His identity. When Jesus witnessed the scribe’s understanding and insight into spiritual matters, He declared him “not far from the kingdom of God” (v.34). that judgement was more than just his understanding of the law; it was a judgement on the state of his eternal soul. Only God can judge eternal matters of the soul. Jesus revealed His authority to pronounce judgement on matters of eternal importance. When humans dare to sit in judgement of Christ, they find instead that Christ sits in judgement of them!
To be in the kingdom you must do more than approve of Jesus’s teachings as the scribe did; you must accept Him as your Lord and Savior.
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Lack of Trust
Numbers 20: 2 And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! 4 And why have ye brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? 5 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.
As the Israelites journeyed toward the Plains of Moab, they entered the Wilderness of Zin. A shortage of water led to more complaints. Israel was camped at Kadesh-barnea (v.1), where they had been forty years earlier (Num.13:26) they wandered in the wilderness (14:26-35). The need for water was an ongoing problem. Even though God had provided water four decades earlier, many in this generation had not seen that miracle (Ex. 17:1-7). The people “assembled against” Moses and Aaron and quarreled with them. Although not violent, they were intense and assertive. They believed they were going to die of thirst in the wilderness. Ironically, the people complained about being freed from Egypt. They forgot the slavery and oppression, and they forgot the mighty works God had done on their behalf.
Numbers 20: 6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them. 7 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
Hearing the people’s complaint, Moses and Aaron went to the doorway of the tent and fell facedown. In response, God spoke to Moses. He told Moses and Aaron to “take the staff” and “speak to the rock.” Then, God would provide water. It would come from the rock to provide for the people and their livestock.
Numbers 20: 9 And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. 12 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. 13 This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.
Moses and Aaron summoned the people to the rock. Despite God’s directions, Moses and Aaron had lost all patience. In asking “must we bring water out…?, Moses was calling attention to Aaron and himself. Then, instead of speaking to the rock, he struck it twice in frustration. God saw this as rebellion (see v.24). While He was gracious in providing water as He had promised, Moses and Aaron would face the consequences of their sin. Neither of them would enter the promised land nor lead the people into the promised land due to not trusting the Lord to provide the water as He said he would. God showed that He expects obedience from all of His people. A person’s status does not influence or dictate God’s expectations. He expects all of us to trust Him.
God calls His people to trust Him in every situation.
Believers can trust God even when current circumstances appear bleak. We can turn to God with our needs and concerns. We should recognize that ignoring God’s instructions leads to consequences.
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