The COMMANDMENTS (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: 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 showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”—Exodus 20:4-6
When visiting China two years ago, I had the dubious privilege of seeing idol worship for the first time. In the city of Shanghai we visited a Buddhist temple and there in the square before it many were burning incense and obviously praying to the idols representative of the founder of that religion. Imported to China out of India, Buddhism was founded by a real person, a kind of “religious philosopher,” who after his death was revered and eventually idolized in the literal sense. Many and varied are the figures that represent the man, but the images and the figure behind them are regarded as gods by many who follow him and the moral system he devised.
Man has an inclination to worship, but it is not generally an inclination to worship the true God. The first and second commandments are closely related. Together they forbid our bestowing our love and devotion on any god but the true God, the self-revealing God of the bible, or any representation of god in any thing in the height, breadth or depth of the natural realm. No element of creation is to be exalted as the Creator. Any such is an insult to the infinite and eternal God. Of all creation, man alone was made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26), and that image was marred beyond recognition in mankind since Adam bestowed his worship and allegiance upon the Serpent.
When men pray to “saints” and “the blessed mother,” when they idolize “the cross,” and/or put man made representations of Christ upon it, for example, the commandment is violated, however solemn and sincere the practice may appear. Sincerity is no substitute for obedience, and transgression can be wonderfully subtle.
Through the apostle Paul the Holy Spirit defines God as “…the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,” to Whom alone belongs “honour and glory for ever and ever [I Tim. 1:17].” He is made visible only in and through the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature [Col 1:15].” It is of far more than passing significance that He left behind no statues, sketches, or other representations of Himself when He returned to the right hand of the Majesty on high. There have been many such representations created and published since, but in light of the second commandment, all of them are false and not one of them carries the endorsement of God. We may not be idolators in the formal sense, but I fear many are by default. In many a church more love and devotion is poured out on the building and/or the program, the ritual and the routine than upon the living God himself.
And, there are other ways in which idolatry manifests itself. Should you think we are going a bit overboard, we need only turn again to the authority of the word of God and read His indictment of “covetousness, which is idolatry,” in Col.3:5. Here is an idol with a shape all its own. When “things” or what an acquaintance of mine used to call “the desire to acquire” becomes our goal in life, God is belittled and outraged.
You may recall that we said in an earlier meditation that the underlying goal of the commandments is not law, but love. When we love things, and their acquisition becomes the driving force in our lives, God is marginalized, and as the “giver of every good and perfect gift,” Who has promised to supply all our need, He is justifiably heartbroken as well as outraged.
Two things at least should emerge from this, as from each of the commandments. First, you don’t have to have a statue or icon in your home or church in order to be guilty of Idolatry. You have only to shift your focus, your priority in life, your devotion from the living God to anything or anyone else in all creation, great or small. Second, rightly understood, if this were the only commandment, we would all be convicted of having “sinned and come short of the glory of God,” standing in danger of eternal damnation and desperate need of a Savior.
Meditating on this passage of scripture should move us to humble admission of guilt, a passionate trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and a growing love for “the God of all grace.” What—or who—is the primary object of your affection?
For His glory,
"Pastor" Frasier
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