Part 3 - The Fall and the Restoration

The Model of Restoration: Commandment One

The first of the Ten Commandments is recorded in Deuteronomy 5:6-7 which states, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me."

Here Yahweh identifies Himself as the one who delivered Israel out of bondage from Egypt. Only the nation of Israel can literally relate to God in this. This is true also for all four commandments that concern Israel's relationship to God. The nature of these commandments is preservation. This is the preservation of a literal nation of God's people who dwell among nations who do not know God and do not practice His ways. God delivered Israel out from among them. They literally had been in the land of Egypt, in a state of bondage. The first four commandments were designed to preserve them as a separate and special nation belonging to Yahweh.

A spiritual application

The believer however can relate to these commandments in a spiritual application. The Exodus is a type of redemption in Jesus Christ. This began with the Passover, which is a type of Christ as a sacrifice whose spilled blood delivers from sin and death. Spiritually, Egypt is a type of the fallen world. The bondage represents the bondage to sin that fallen mankind is held in. It is the work of Christ that breaks this bondage and translates those who put their faith in Him into the Kingdom of God. The creation account in the first book of Genesis is a type of the work of Christ in accomplishing this deliverance.

It is to those whom Yahweh has delivered that He says, "You shall have no other gods before Me." In the fall of mankind, Adam and Eve rebelled against God. They removed themselves from that place of submission to Him. They disobeyed God and chose not to serve God and His purposes. However, the root of a proper relationship with Yahweh is the acknowledgment that He alone is absolute Lord and God. He must be the center of one's life. Adam and Eve put Him off to the side, disobeyed Him, and sought to serve their own purposes. This forced their separation from Him into "Egypt."

The restoration of Yahweh as all in all

In the restoration that Christ has brought about, it is repentance from rebellion that is the first step. This repentance is putting Yahweh back into His rightful place as Lord and God in one's life. In four simple commandments on a right relationship with God, this is the first. Yahweh must be at the center of man's heart with no other passion competing with or taking His place.

To those whom Jesus has saved, this is the primary aspect of a restored relationship with God. The main reason for the fall of man was the turning of his heart away from God in rebellion. The model of restoration from the fall foremost concerns that of the heart. The place of God being all in all must be restored in the center of man's heart.