Since Yahweh is the only true and living God, then only Yahweh is worthy of worship. To worship any other supposed god is to worship nothing, emptiness, vanity. All other gods are imposters. Yahweh refuses to share worship with imposter gods. He is a jealous God. Those who worship Yahweh must worship only Him.

Biblical religion—the biblical approach to knowing and worshipping God—unfolds in stages. Before the fall, people had direct access to God. After the expulsion from Eden, an element of sacrifice became necessary. We know that God called true saints before the flood. These included people like Abel and Enoch. We know that they had the protoevangelion and some form of ongoing revelation. How else would they know to sacrifice? We do not know how much God revealed, nor do we know the details of their approach to God. Later advances occur with Noah, then Abraham, and then Moses. Most of the Old Testament shows Israel’s worship under the Sinai Covenant.

God’s full revelation arrived with Jesus Christ (Heb 1:1). Christ and His apostles communicated the form of approach that God will require His people to use until the arrival of the eschaton. The New Testament revelation does not cancel out God’s previous teaching. The forms change, but the central content of worship remains the same. God’s disclosure of His will shows development rather than mere displacement.

That central content is summarized in the Shema and the Greatest Commandment (Deut 6:4–5). The teaching of these verses is fundamental to all biblical religion of every period. It is assumed in all worship before the Sinai Covenant. It is made explicit in the Law, and it continues to dominate and regulate the way that humana must approach God.

The Shema is found in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.” The Shema teaches that there is one and only one true and living God. It also identifies this true and living God specifically as Yahweh or Jehovah. No other supposed god is a god at all.

Since Yahweh is the only true and living God, then only Yahweh is worthy of worship. To worship any other supposed god is to worship nothing, emptiness, vanity. All other gods are imposters. Yahweh refuses to share worship with imposter gods. He is a jealous God. Those who worship Yahweh must worship only Him.

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