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“Thou shalt not make unto thee any
graven image (idols, holy statues), or any likeness (so-called holy pictures,
images, etc.) of anything 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 (Jehovah) thy God am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third
generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that
love Me, and keep My Commandments.”
Exodus 20:4-6.
Good morning, true worshipper of Christ! On the full authority of God’s own
Spirit-inspired Word, you and I are well taught that we cannot create, sculpt,
paint, set up, or establish visual images of the Living Lord God Jehovah; of
His Eternal Son, Jesus Christ; nor of any other aspect of the Heavenly
Being. There are no exceptions to this
Commandment of God.
To begin to create, make, paint, set up
such ‘graven images’ – in church-buildings or in private dwellings - is to call
down the wrath of the Lord God upon ourselves and upon the congregations of
professing Christian believers with whom we join in public and private
fellowship. (Deuteronomy 4:14-20)
We
cannot disobey the 2nd Commandment of God and seek to please Him
with our worship at the same time! The
Lord places obedience above any envisaged ‘sacrifice’.
“...Behold (look and understand), to
obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because thou (king Saul) hast rejected the Word of the Lord, He hath
also rejected thee from being king.” (1
Samuel 15:22-23)
Throughout the history of ‘the church’ –
which I define as all those who are Spiritually regenerated, ‘born again’of the
Spirit of God; from all nations and containing members of every colour of skin
and station in life – there has been a repeated tendency to create statues,
paint pictures, engrave imagined ‘likenesses’ of the Lord God, and of Biblical
characters on wood, and canvas, and in stone.
The world’s cities are littered with such examples of mankind’s utter
folly and disobedience to God’s Commandment.
Then, after placing such creations of
fallen humanity’s imagination in positions where worshippers frequent – it is
not too long before history has found people worshipping the images/ pictures
that were created! Some foolish
religionists have often been found bowing at the feet of statues depicting
‘Mary, the mother of Jesus’, weeping and imploring the piece of wood or stone
to hear and answer their prayer! Such
utter deception and disobedience!
The Devil seems to have used, and
continues to use, fallen mankind’s inherent need to worship the Creator Lord as
a ploy to divert mankind’s attentions away from the true and Living Lord God
and worship of Him, to pathetic creations of fallen mankind’s own imagination. It is time for all serious and genuine
Christian believers to divorce ourselves from such open disobedience to God’s
own 2nd Commandment!
“Wherefore come out from among them, and
be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will
receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18)
Let us now read what the great J.C. Ryle’s view of
this vital subject was in his day:
“Let us beware of despising the Old Testament under any pretence
whatever. Let us never listen to those who bid us throw it aside as an
obsolete, antiquated, useless book. The religion of the Old Testament is the
germ of Christianity. The Old Testament is the Gospel in the bud. The New
Testament is the Gospel in full flower. The
Old Testament is the Gospel in the blade. The New Testament is the Gospel in
full ear. The saints in the Old
Testament saw many things through a glass darkly. But they all looked by faith
to the same Saviour, and were led by the same Spirit as ourselves. These are no
light matters. Much infidelity begins with an ignorant contempt of the Old
Testament
“Let us, for another thing,
beware of despising the law of the Ten Commandments. Let us not suppose for a
moment that it is set aside by the Gospel, or that Christians have nothing to
do with it. The coming of Christ did not alter the position of the Ten
Commandments one hair’s breadth. If anything, it exalted and raised their
authority. (Romans 3: 31)
“The law of the Ten Commandments is God’s eternal measure of right and
wrong. By it is the knowledge of sin. By it the Spirit shows men their need of
Christ, and drives them to Him. To it Christ refers His people as their rule
and guide for holy living.
“In its right place it is just as important as ” the glorious Gospel.” It
cannot save us. We cannot be justified by it. But never, never let us despise
it. It is a symptom of an ignorant and unhealthy state of religion, when the
law is lightly esteemed. The true Christian “delights in the law of God.”
(Romans 3:19-22) (Bishop J. C. Ryle. Expository thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew 5:13-20”
Exodus 20:4a: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Art, sculpture, creative design and architectural
beauty are not, in general, placed under the prohibition of the 2nd
Commandment of God. However, if the
artist, sculptor, creative designer, or architect creates a figure, picture,
etc. purporting to depict the Lord God, or the Lord Jesus Christ, or any aspect
of God the Holy Spirit – then the 2nd Commandment of God forbids
this act, and defines such an act, strictly, as an act of open disobedience to
His Commandment.
Exodus 20:4b: “…Thou shalt not make unto thee…any likeness of any thing
that is in Heaven Above. Creating ‘likenesses’ of Heavenly Beings, which after
all, are merely the imaginations of the fallen human creator’s mind, are
forbidden exclusively by the 2nd Commandment of God. No one has ever seen God’s face; the face of
the Lord Jesus Christ was never painted, nor photographed during His human
ministry. Therefore, you and I today
have no idea what the features of God the Father, or God the Son look like; and
God the Holy Spirit is invisible Spirit form, so our pathetic fallen, puny
human minds can never dare to conceive what the face of Almighty God even looks
like – never mind paint, or sculpt it!
Exodus 20:5. “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. Bowing in the
presence of an idol, painting, imagined ‘likeness’ of God, is a sin against His
2nd Commandment! Let all true
Christian believers revisit His Word – and try to keep it!
Thought: 46Q: What is forbidden in the 2nd Commandment? A.
The Second Commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images (Deut. 4:15-16;
Or any other way not appointed in His Word. (Col 2:18) (From
Spurgeon’s Puritan Catechism)
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