Second Commandment
Notes
Transcript
4 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:
5 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;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
The Command (vv. 4-5a)
The Command (vv. 4-5a)
The underlying principle here is that God is the one who will tell us how He is to be worshipped.
Leviticus 10:1–2 “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.”
True in new testament . 1 Corinthians 11:29–30 “29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.”
How far does this go? It is only that we do in worship what is expressly described?
That is tightening the noose beyond Scripture. God regulates his own worship, and what should that look like?
Primary command is to not try and represent God by any created thing since He Himself is not created. It would be idolatry.
15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
NIVAC—”To identify God with any created thing is merely one step from thinking of God in terms of that image. It would be creating God in the image of his creation, which would put Israel’s God on par with the gods of the nations.”
This commandment does not rule out artistic creations that are not meant for worship. 2 Chronicles 4:2–4“2 Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. 3 And under it was the similitude of oxen, which did compass it round about: ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about. Two rows of oxen were cast, when it was cast. 4 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.”
It also does not rule out artistic portrayals of God that are not meant for worship or church use.
We should not be going out and destroying images of God that were made during the renaissance.
But we must exercise caution.
It is natural that we transfer worship to an image that we might use. This is why it has always been dangerous to have pictures of God in any capacity, even those not used for worship.
The natural question comes to Christ. What about pictures or images of him? all of those little stone statues of Him we can get for our front yard. Should we take them and burn them all down for gross idolatry?
Interesting how Jesus as the God-man is called the image of God: Hebrews 1:3 “3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”
2 natures, just no worship
The Reason (v. 5b)
The Reason (v. 5b)
Notice how it beings with God reminding us that he is “our” God.
Yahweh = covenant.
He is our God, thus as our covenant lord he is in charge.
Hittite treaty reminder.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
This is not the only place where God talks like this.
6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
We have discussed how we as the human race are not a collection of individuals.
1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.
24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.
25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
Families are connected covenantally in a way beyond mere physical interactions.
This is why, for example, if mom is hiding her bitterness and not seeking to mortify her sin, it is going to affect her family.
Even pagans admit this. They just talk about the consequences of alcohol or drugs.
For us, those consequences come from one source: God.
Sin and its effects do not stop with you: they flow downstream to everyone you are connected with.
The Hope (v. 6)
The Hope (v. 6)
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Notice how the consequences of sin go to the third and fourth generation, but God here says that his mercy goes unto the thousands.
God’s mercy always outstrips his justice.
God’s mercy is so great that you may sooner drain the sea of its water, or deprive the sun of his light, or make space too narrow, than diminish the great mercy of God.
Charles Spurgeon
You may very well be one of those in verse 5 who is suffering the consequences of someone else’s sin.
God’s mercy goes greater. You through the cross can be the end of that chain.