The Ten(der) Commandments: “Pursuing Empty Images”
Exodus 20:4-6
They didn’t meant to do wrong; they simply felt the need to do something. That’s why they made it.
Moses, their leader, was missing. He had gone up the mountain and disappeared into the smoke to talk with God - the holy God of power and might. That had been more than a month ago, and there had been no word from him since... only angry rumblings from the mountain. The whispers began. “Perhaps he’s hurt, or dead! Perhaps God has consumed him with fire! He’s not coming back. What should we do? Who will lead us? Finally the people went to Aaron, Moses’ brother. “It’s been too long,” they said. “We don’t know what has happened to Moses. We can’t wait forever. We need someone to lead us. Aaron, make us a god who can go before us.” (Ex.32:1) A golden calf was build, beautiful to look at, hard but graceful, concrete and real, something they could see and touch and understand... something they could control.
“This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of Egypt” (Ex.32:4).
God was not pleased.
Today as we continue our study of the Ten Commandments, we come to the second commandment, found in Exodus 20:4-6.
“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them...” Let us pray...
With a casual glance it would be easy to think that the Second Commandment is merely a repetition of the first, only using different words. That is not true. The First Commandment -
You shall have no other gods before me - is all about worshiping the right God. The second commandment - You shall not make for yourself an idol or worship it - is all about worshiping God the right way.
Even before Moses went up the mountain, the people had been clearly told not to try to make any earthly image of God, yet even as God was speaking with Moses the people were already creating their first idol at the foot of Mount Sinai. Sadly, it would not be their last. To their credit, in this case at least, they weren’t trying to worship other gods. This wasn’t a step back toward Egypt, at least not yet. It was just that with Moses gone and God in the clouds, they needed something they could understand, something they could see and touch.
You can understand it. Even today we incorporate things in our worship service to remind us of God. The stained glass windows, the altar candles, the beautiful tapestries, all can be vivid reminders of God. That’s good; we need a place that can visibly remind us each week of God’s holiness and help make God’s presence real. The problem only comes when we allow the symbols to become substitutes for the real thing; for then they becomes idols taking the place of God.
For instance, think about the tapestries in the Sanctuary. By themselves they are beautiful and can inspire us. However, if we were to put candles and an altar rail under them and began seeking healing and guidance by kneeling under them, we would be going too far. Eventually we would be looking to them and not to God for our help.
That has always been one of the great problems with creating anything that for us represents or depicts God. Idols can quickly become substitutes for the real God.
There is a dramatic story of this danger of idols in the Bible. The story begins in Numbers 21:4-9.
“As they traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, the people grew impatient on the way. They spoke against God and against Moses, and said, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!’
Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.”
Not much is made of this story as it is found in Numbers. In the beginning the bronze snake was simply meant to be a tool to point
the people’s gaze upward that they might look to God for help and guidance. In fact, centuries later Jesus would refer to it in John 3:14
when he said,“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may
have eternal life.” Just as the purpose of the snake was to lift the gaze of the people up to God, so the purpose of Jesus on the cross was to lift our gaze to the one true God.
However, it didn’t work out that way at all. That bronze serpent makes one other brief appearance in the Bible, this time, in 2 Kings 18:1-4.
“In the third year of Hoshea king of Israel, Hezekiah king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it.”
Ouch! What Moses had originally used as a reminder of God’s power little by little had come to be seen as having a power of its own. That is one great danger of idols or images of God: they easily become substitutes for the real God.
There is another danger from idols or anything that for us becomes an image of God.
Idols dishonor God, for they always tend to create God in our image. For instance, here is a popular collection of sayings about God. Maybe you’ve heard them before:
God. Maybe you’ve heard them before:
GOD is like Coke...He's the real thing.
GOD is like General Electric...He lights your path.
GOD is like Bayer Aspirin...He works wonders.
GOD is like Hallmark Cards...He cares enough to send the very best.
GOD is like Tide...He gets the stains out that others leave behind.
GOD is like Dial Soap...Aren't you glad you know him? Don't you wish everyone did?
GOD is like Scotch Tape... You can't see him, but you know he's there.
Some of those are funny. They can make you smile. There’s a problem with them, though. They do what idols and image have always done: they work to bring God down to our level instead of us up to God’s level. Simply put, any time you hear the words “God is like...,” you are about to hear something wrong. We can’t help it. Our human vocabulary, our imagination, our intellect is simply too limiting for us to ever adequately describe, define, or depict God. “God is like...” always moves the analogy the wrong way and create an image that dishonors God.
Just to make sure, I did a search of the Bible and found only three places in the entire Bible with the words, “God is like...” One is in Psalm 71:19, which says in part, “Who, O God, is like you?” The other two are found in Mark 4, where Jesus says twice, “This is what the kingdom of God is like...” None of them are analogies about God.
On the other hand, when I searched for the phrase “God is...” I found numerous references. God is a consuming fire... God of gods and Lord of lords... the righteous judge.... God is my rock... my refuge... my salvation.... God is our help... our strength... our witness.... God is merciful... holy... light... love... mighty... exalted....
My favorite is: God is... God! How do you depict that? We can’t! The second commandment reminds us that our task - our calling - is to strive to become like God, but never to try to make God like us!
If we cannot represent God accurately with anything we can make, say, or think, how then can we ever comprehend God’s true nature? We can’t, unless God chooses to reveal himself to us. Praise God, he has. Through the Scriptures we may form a true notion of God; without it we never can. More than that, God gave us a concrete way of thinking about him through Jesus Christ. John 1:14 and 18 says,
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . No one has ever seen God, but the only begotten Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.”
Friends, if you want to know God, if you want to see God, look to Jesus, God incarnate, our truest and best image of the invisible God. No idol will suffice; no image will inspire as Jesus does.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
