Exodus 20:1-6 "And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."
God descended upon mount Sinai with fire and the mountain shook at His presence. God told Moses to bring Aaron and to come up into the mountain. He also cautioned again that none other of the priests, or the people, or their livestock was to touch the mountain. To do so would bring swift and certain death.
The first thing that God said to Moses established an unshakable relationship. He declared that He alone was the LORD God of Moses. He alone brought the people out of the house of bondage. Do we recognize today the sovereignty of God that He still declares that He alone if the LORD our God, and He has delivered us from the house of bondage (sin and death).
The LORD is God alone. The children of Israel were to not worship the gods of the Egyptians where they had come from or the gods of the Canaanites where they were going. It is the same for us today. Regardless of what our culture tells us is acceptable to worship, there is no other god that we are ever to bow down before.
No graven image will ever be the true God. No human being, or government, or riches (other than that of Christ) will ever be worthy of our worship. Our God is jealous of our worship and adoration because He alone is deserving of it. It belongs to Him by virtue of the relationship that He has decreed. He will not pardon idolatry in iniquitous men or their rebellious children that hate Him. But unto the host of those that love Him and keep His commandments, His mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23)!