SID: I want you to find out the rabbinic understanding behind the way Jesus, when he said, “If you’ll do these two commandments you’ll fulfill the Law.” There was a rabbinic understanding. Explain that.
ROBERT: Well actually, there was. The Pharisees that came to Jesus, the lawyers came to Jesus, and they asked him, “What is the greatest commandment?” Of course, he said, “The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” And he said, “The second one is to love your neighbor as yourself.” And what was understood by Jewish theologians is that the Ten Commandments, they were originally written on two tablets. And the first tablet actually had to do with loving God and our relationship with the Father. And the second one had to do with loving our neighbor as our self. So whenever Jesus actually said these two commandments, he was actually reemphasizing and reinforcing all of the Ten Commandments. Because whenever you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, you keep the first tablet, and whenever you love your neighbor as yourself, you keep the second tablet.
SID: You know, I’m Jewish and I never understood that revelation. So he was actually affirming the Ten Commandments, rather than just say, love, love, love and forget them. Well tell me the revelation God gave you on the first commandment.
ROBERT: Well the very first commandment, of course, is to have no other gods before Him. And I think a lot of times people have looked at the Ten Commandments solely from an aspect of don’t do this, don’t do that. But actually, for every commandment it can be stated in an affirmative way. For instance, “Have no other gods before me,” is actually also stated by, make me the priority of your life. It means the exact same thing. Well Jesus actually said that, “Seek the first the Kingdom of God in His righteous and all these things will be added unto you.” So the whole purpose for the very first commandment is this: God desires to bless us. So he wasn’t giving us commands in order to cramp our style or make our lives difficult. He was giving us these commands in order to keep us from difficulty and to create an avenue whereby He could release blessing within our lives.
SID: Tell me about the second commandment.
ROBERT: Well the second commandment, of course, is that you’re not to have any idols. And of course—
SID: I’ve wondered about that because most people don’t have idols today.
ROBERT: Exactly. Of course, we have to understand that the purpose of the second command was not in order to prohibit somebody from creating a sculptured item. The purpose of the second commandment had to do with worship. Because it went on to say, “You’ll not bow down to them.” And the words that are translated, “bow down”, it’s one Hebrew word that throughout the Book of Psalms is repeatedly translated “worship”. So the second commandment has to do with worship. It’s all about worship. It’s about the mandate of worshiping God. So the second commandment isn’t just, don’t bow down to an idol. It is a commandment that we are to worship Him and to worship Him only. It’s very interesting. Whenever you see Jesus and he is led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and of course, the devil comes and says, “Jesus, bow down before me and I’m going to give you all the kingdoms of this world.” And Jesus, what he does is he then quotes and rearticulates the second commandment by saying, “You will worship the Lord your God only and Him will you serve.” And so he is quoting, once again, the second commandment. Think about this. He’s actually using the second commandment to overcome the temptation of the devil. And this is what’s so powerful about it. The Bible says that as soon as he said it, and of course, I believe that Jesus did more than just say that. I believe that Jesus actually practiced what he said. I believe Jesus took an opportunity at that moment of time just to lift his hand and say, “Father, I worship you. I worship you only. I give you glory. I give you praise.” And the Bible says that from that point, the devil left him. See, because there’s power.
SID: Wait a second. Did you get that? Do you want the demonic things that are affecting your life? Do you want them gone? What do you do? Worship. That’s what you do.
ROBERT: Yeah, exactly. And again, one of the greatest ways that I believe we can worship God is through a lifestyle of obedience.
SID: Ah. You thought it was just this. No. I want obedience and not sacrifice. Are you ready for the revelation that God gave Robert on how you can participate in the next, in the greatest and perhaps the last miracle revival in history? Be right back.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth