Second Commandment - Graven Images

Intro: Let’s set the scene: God is about to impart The Law to His people. This is a monumental part of Christian history - the law, the very law that was imposed on God’s people to help them recognize their sin and to set them apart from the world, the law that was to be fulfilled by Jesus Christ in His salvation of us, the law that lays the foundation for the rest of scripture, is about to be imparted to the people. This is one of the first steps in our salvation story - it’s as important as Christmas or Easter. The way that God chooses to do this is incredible. He chooses to give His people the law in an awesome display of His true power and glory - one that would justify the law for us all. Exodus 20: ​9 ​And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, ​10 ​the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments 11 ​and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. ​12 ​And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. ​13 ​No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot;​ ​whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” 16 ​On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. 1​ 7 ​Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. ​18 ​Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. 1​ 9 ​And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. 2​ 0 ​The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. It is at this point that God gives Moses the commandments. The first is to have no other Gods before Him. This is quickly followed up by the second, which some say is a simple continuation of the first: 4 ​“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ​5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6​ ​but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. The meaning of this is literal - we are commanded not to make an idol - (a physical image to worship.) This is incredibly important to the Lord. In fact, it is the first thing He mentions when giving Moses further instructions after the 10 commandments: 22 ​And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. ​23 ​You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. Why does God command us not to create idols to worship? 1. We are to put no other Gods before Him. This is an obvious point, which Mike covered in detail last week. However, it explicitly states in verse 5 that God is, in fact, a jealous God. (Remember, it’s justified jealousy - not receiving what you have a right to receive.) God, being the only god, does not deserve to have any other worldly things placed above his Heavenly nature. However, that’s not the only thing that God is jealous of. We can see this in greater depth when we see Moses preaching to the Israelites about this same commandment in Deuteronomy 4:15-20 15 ​“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,​16 ​beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,​17 ​the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 1​ 8 ​the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.​19 ​And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 2​ 0 ​But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. 2. God’s nature is too awesome to fit into a tangible, earthly form. - This is what He reminded His people of on Mount Sinai, and this is why He commands His people to worship not the created, but the Creator. - We as sinful humans are quick to “compartmentalize” God. We are comfortable with what is tangible, and are scared by what is intangible. We struggle with having faith in things we do not see. So, we take the intangible and try to make it tangible. The problem is, we can never fully show every aspect of this intangible thing in what we create. As a result, it’s a flawed image. An imperfect representation. “The heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19)” but we don’t worship the heavens, because they only show part of who God really is. (refer back to Deuteronomy 4) Misrepresenting God is something that He doesn’t take lightly. Remember that Exodus 20, verse 5-6 say: ...for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ​6 ​but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. And don’t forget how this story ends. After this epic show of power and might through the passing down of His law to His people, God looks down the mountain and sees His people bowing in worship not to Him, but to a golden calf that they’ve just created for themselves. A crudely formed idol that is not only a misrepresentation of the Lord, but is treated as a completely different god altogether. How does God respond? By using Moses and the Levites to force his people to drink the gold dust, by commanding them to sweep through the camp, killing 3,000 of those who worshipped falsely, and by later striking them with a plague for their disobedience. However, the story does not end there. 3. The second commandment is a picture of our salvation. - Not only does a tangible image fail to capture every aspect of the intangible thing it represents, it’s also heavily influenced by the perspective of the creator. - When we pick and choose what aspects of God to worship, we are using our perspective to put Him in that same box. - Our perspective is incredibly flawed because we are sinners - there is nothing that we as sinful beings can create that can accurately represent God. - Nevertheless, God himself offers us redemption in this regard, in a way that is simply unfathomable. He created us in his image. Genesis 1:26-27 26 ​Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; ​ male and female he created them. ​ God chose to create us in the very likeness of him - not in a physical image, but as a representation of His glory. He gives us the opportunity to show the world who He is - to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us and bear spiritual fruit in the lives of others. ​Who Christ is, and what He’s done, determines who we are and how we live. Not the other way around. So, let’s apply the teachings of the second commandment in these ways: - Worship the Lord completely for who He is - not for the parts of Him that we like - Don’t compartmentalize the Lord - He’s not plastic - Live life overflowing with the spirit of the Lord, not in an act of pride (that led to the death of so many people in the Bible) but in an act of humble gratitude.