Commandment No. 2: Don't Make God's You Can See and Touch

Israel desires to bow before a God they can see and touch, but God doesn’t allow it.

Let us remember that the Ten Commandments are written to a nation and a place. They are not written directly to us. They are written to the ancient nation of Israel who received them from the voice of God on the mountain. Some of the principles that we find here are universal but that’s not their primary goal.

So let’s see what’s happening with Israel.

Exodus 32:1–4 ESV

1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

They’ve got a desire an unction a movement to make Gods they can see, touch, and experience, but God has said no.

We desire to worship gods that we can see and touch, but God doesn’t allow it.

—celebrities

— influencers — because you like these individuals and what they have on you will buy.

---- media personalities

--- they sell us things through the things that we see and feel on the internet.

They call them pixels. When you visit a site and you shop looking for your special thing, that site sends word to the online advertisers to send you ads about the thing you didn’t buy over and over again. Eventually, they get you to buy it. The whole science behind images is fascinating. You are not looking at the thing, but you are looking at an image of the thing. Your are looking at a likeness.. They may

change the contrast

change the white balance to make the picture warmer

they may change skin tones to make them more attractive and with less blemishes.

they may change the focus of the shot withe lighting and angling so that the representation of the purse looks better than the actual image.

let’s not get started with how they are able to manipulate the images of people to get you to bow down, to serve, to spend. In consumerist, capitalist society, you worship with your money.

There is something in us that gets excited over the image of something. Because the image of something can be with us, even when the reality of it is not. How many of you have kept old pictures and old

I’m convinced that the western world has a bunch of idols of their making they live in our phone.

We haven’t even gotten to pronography and that culture.

We are steeped in this stuff man!

They use what you desire and what you view and they turn that into sells.

1 John 5:21 ESV

21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Why would God place in us this instinct to worship visible manifestations of God and then consequently tell us not to worship any God of our making. Why would he put

Because the

Good News: God gives Israel a God they can see and touch..

— No rule against image of God. Genesis 1:26. Man was created in teh image of God.

The law is a prophecy. He doesn’t say don’t worship an image of God, he says don’t make one.

The tabernacle mercy seat is empty.

By not making Gods, I’m asking you to trust me that I will reveal myself to you and satisfy your longing to experience me and know me more intimately.

1 John 1:1–3 ESV

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

John 5:18–21 ESV

18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.

Colossians 1:15–20 ESV

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

He atones for our sins and breaks the power of idolatry in our life by revealing through his life and who he is and is spirit that he is the best option in a world full of options. It’s power of the blood that he opens our eyes through the new birth experience

God gives us a God we Can that we can See and Touch

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