Deuteronomy 6:4, 5 declares, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” This command is an important message for our lives. This call is very personal; it is not a generic call to our families or churches, although we all need to take heed to this statement. The command is for me to love the Lord my God. Such a personal command has not been seen before in Scripture. This last book of the Pentateuch, a transitional book of Moses for the second generation, reveals something that had not been seen before. The parents of the previous generation failed because they did not love God; thus they were disobedient and were not a people with faith and belief. The first generation thought constantly of returning to Egypt; their heart was back there (Acts 7:39b). There was no love for God; there was no love to do His will or to obey His word and ways. The first generation never came to a true love for God.
Carefully reading the Book of Deuteronomy, we find that one of the key purposes of the book is the second giving of the Law (Deuteronomy 5). It represents a crucial transitional burden from the precious heart of Moses in the final days of his life. In Hebrew the name of this book is Had de Borim or “The Words,” particularly the last words of this dear emancipator to the next generation that would enter the Promised Land. His words were to a new generation, one that was very young in coming out of Egypt. Having been birthed in the wilderness during the forty years of wandering (a number were under 20 years old when the exodus took place), this generation now had come into their prime. Moses will speak to them of the Law from a different perspective. This generation was in a transition to a new possession; they were to give up the wilderness for Canaan. They were also in a transition to a new experience and a new life; they were going from tents to houses, a settled habitation instead of wandering, and a change of diet from the manna to the milk, corn, and wine of Canaan.
A New Revelation of God
Moses gave a new revelation of God: it was the revelation of His love towards them. From Genesis to Numbers the love of God was never spoken of—either of God’s love for them or that they were to love God. But here in Deuteronomy we have the words: “Because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed” (4:37; see also 7:7, 8; 10:15; 23:5). This was an important truth to help them keep God’s commandments.
We also read in this book of the second chance given by God. Before the new generation is committed to Joshua’s charge, Moses, at God’s command, rehearses the Law to them (chapter 5). Then in 10:12, 13 he gives the basic requirement:
And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
This is what God now requires of them for the coming days: obedience, loving obedience, flowing from the grateful consciousness of a precious relationship with God. The word obedience occurs some fifty times in this book and is a keynote of almost every chapter. Obedience is truly the end of the Law. Perhaps we may think God’s Word is too hard to keep or obey, or too far off, or too high to reach. Note Deuteronomy 30:11–14:
For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Paul quotes from this passage in Romans 10:6–10 as a hope to the Jews. God’s commands are not impossible; the key is for us to love the Lord!
“To Love the Lord!”—what does this Hebrew word love mean? Love is that in which a man delights or which he earnestly desires. It implies a vehement inclination of the mind, and at the same time a tenderness and fullness of affection. It includes cherishing and protecting. There is a problem with this hope, however—not that it is impossible to love God, but that which is within the human heart tends to fight against a full love for God. We know this love is initially shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost according to Romans 5:5. But God must bring about a change in my heart to keep this first and great commandment. Yea, He must give me a new heart.
To Love the Lord Thy God
But we are told in Deuteronomy 6:5 that we are to love the LORD Thy God. I must first come to know my God before I can love Him. Yet, who is my God? We read in the Scriptures that He is called the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is also called the God of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; we read that Christ cried out on the cross, “My God, My God!” But who is my God? My God is He to Whom I give my life, my desires, my decisions, and my love.
Note Matthew 22:35–37:
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
In Mark 12:28–34 we read that this individual was a scribe (sometimes the term lawyer and scribe are used interchangeably). The question in Mark 12:28 is, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus responded:
The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: 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. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 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: 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. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
This event is also given in Luke 10:25–28; however, here the question to the Lord is, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The Lord answered the question with a question: “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” The lawyer’s response was, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” Jesus responded by saying, “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.”
In each of these presentations, the command is to love the Lord thy God. Whatever controls our lives—whatever is the preeminent principle—that will be our love. Is the true and living God my God? Does my life give evidences to that acknowledgment? Or is the world my god? Are possessions my god? Do I love myself as my god? Dear reader, who is your God?
In Deuteronomy 6:5 Moses tells this second generation that each must love the Lord his God. When the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, they commenced the song with “The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation, my father’s God, and I will exalt him” (emphasis added). God was their father’s God, and He must be their God as well. Yes, God must be my personal God, and I must love Him. I must love Him for all He has done for me; He deserves my love.
Love rises in Deuteronomy 6 after the Law is addressed in chapter 5; for love is to be the motivation for keeping God’s Law. A life of true love must be constructed upon the model of God’s Law. God is the source of all authority; He must be in the central place of my heart; He must be the lawgiver of my living. He must be loved! But to what degree? The burden of these articles concerns to what degree am I to love Him affectionately, desiringly, passionately, cherishingly, and protectively.
To Love Him with All Thine Heart
Deuteronomy 6:5 calls upon us to love God, but we must love Him with all the powers of our being and with all the energy of these powers. It is surprising that the body is not mentioned within this command. It is not the physical aspect that God is addressing. Through the body love can be expressed with an embrace, a kiss, a cherishing, etc. But God is a Spirit; we must worship Him in spirit and truth. Thus we are called to love Him with the immaterial part of our being. Though Romans 12:1 calls upon us to give our bodies “a living sacrifice,” holy and acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service, we are to love God with all that is within us. This is not unusual. For if we love someone, we do so with the immaterial part of our being. We can speak about the love of a wife for her husband or a husband for his wife, the love for parents, or for others. We can even love a person who is not present with us. We may even say, “I love you with all my heart.” But what does this mean? The command to love the Lord thy God begins with loving Him with the heart. Why is this first? What is the heart that is presented here?
According to the Bible, there are actually two hearts identified with an individual. There is the natural heart that pumps blood throughout the entire body. But there is also a spiritual heart that is part of the inward man; it is literal but part of the spiritual reality of a human being. According to Proverbs 4:23, all of the issues of life flow from this spiritual heart.
The physical heart beats approximately 100,000 times a day and about 3 billion times in a lifetime. This physical heart pumps about 6 quarts of blood continuously throughout the body, beating an average of 60–80 times a minute. Over the course of a day, these 100,000 beats shuttle 2,000 gallons of oxygen-rich blood many times through the 60,000 miles of branching blood vessels and capillaries that link together the cells of our organs and body parts.
This blood-filled muscle called the heart has become the universal symbol of love. The Greeks believed the heart was the seat of the spirit; the Chinese associated it with the center for happiness; and the Egyptians thought the emotions and intellect arose from the heart. Heart irregularities can include murmurs and arrhythmias. All of our emotions affect this heart in some way, either as a detriment or for the good of the individual. Deep sadness is a detriment to the heart, and laughter can affect the heart in a good way. A tragic circumstance can “break a heart” and can cause one to swoon. A traumatic event, the death of a loved one, can lead to a form of heightened risk for heart attack. Such trauma triggers the release of stress hormones into the bloodstream that temporarily stun the heart with chest pains and shortness of breath, mimicking a heart attack. In under a minute your heart can pump blood to every cell in your body.
On the other hand, there is a spiritual heart that is as truly real as the physical. It is the seat, the fountain from which all the issues of life flow; it is the fountain of our desires. It is where God wants to reside; it is where He wants to rule our lives. It is what He wants to conquer, for the heart is the throne where self abides. This context of heart in the Bible is never used for an animal, while the words “soulish” or even “spirit” may be. The heart is where self-consciousness resides and operates; the heart is where the soul is at home with itself. For this reason, men of “courage” are called “men of the heart”; similarly, the Lord is said to speak “in his heart” (Gen. 8:21). God is represented in the Scriptures as searching the heart and trying the reins. The heart is that part of man that must be changed; for it is uncircumcised, hardened, wicked, perverse, godless, deceitful, and desperately wicked. Such a heart defiles the whole man; it is where the sin principle—the Adamic pollution—is located.
And yet it is the heart that God calls. The heart is where believing in Jesus Christ takes place. The heart is where the law of God is written in conscience. The heart is what grace can renew!
God is able through the power of the Holy Spirit and the cross-provision of His Son to remove the stony heart of the Christian. He can cause the heart to be fixed (settled) in the principles of His Word and filled with reverential fear for the Lord. Yes, it is with the heart man believeth (Rom. 10:9). The apostles prayed to God as the One Who knew the hearts of all men; therefore in Acts 1:24, He knew the one to take Judas’s place. In Acts 15:8 Peter reiterates that God knows the hearts of all men. Again, this is referring to the spiritual heart of the inward man. It is in this heart that the Holy Spirit and Christ dwell. It is in this heart that God’s love is poured forth by the Holy Ghost (Rom. 5:5). The earnest of the Spirit is given in the heart. It is truly this heart—this innermost, hidden, deepest part—that is the very center of all that man is. This is where, in the wicked, his greatest and deepest thoughts of iniquity reside (Gen. 6:5; 8:21).
Conclusion
Each time we read of the great commandment, both in the Old Testament and New Testament, the heart always takes first place—Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27. The greatest commandment is not any mechanical set of rules or a comparison of the commandments with one another. The greatest commandment is a principle—thou shalt love. Because selfishness and pride are a great part of the curse of sin, Christians are called upon to love. The highest form of love must have the highest object, and that object is God Himself. The Jews carried this commandment (Deuteronomy 6:4, 5) written on a piece of parchment and placed in phylacteries; God demands that we carry this commandment in our hearts.
My heart is where I live; the heart is where my motives reside; it is where my affections, desires, and ambitions reside; and it is the seat of my will. God calls us to love Him with all the heart! We must not believe this to be an impossible commandment, for God will help us to obey this command through the power of His Word and the grace of His Son. Yea, His own love within produces love. We will even read in Deuteronomy 30:6, “And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” He commands such a circumcision in Deuteronomy 10:16, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.” This will also be declared by Paul in Romans 2:29: “But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” We believe this circumcision of heart is the work of sanctification found in the great atonement and redemptive work of Christ.
To love God is the first of all commandments. And “we love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Certainly the Love of God must dwell in all the parts of our complex nature, as we will observe in our next article. Loving God is a foretaste of heaven—the joy of heaven is to love God perfectly.