WEBVTT 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.200 Today's reading is from Exodus twenty, verses one through six. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:15.039 And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:17.679 You shall have no other gods before me. 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:29.760 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 underneath the earth. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:51.759 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I am the Lord your God, 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, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:53.200 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:54.799 Thanks be to God. 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:02.159 All right. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:03.200 Good morning. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:06.159 It's great to see you all this morning. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:11.680 You made it in past the uh earth that was just removed from the front of the church. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:14.159 We used to there used to be earth there. 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:15.359 Now there's not. 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:16.400 There's nothing to stand on. 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:18.000 It just gives way beneath your feet. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:19.920 So thanks for uh joining us. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:21.280 It's great to gather together with you all. 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:22.480 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:25.120 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:33.200 And we are moving it today into the second commandment as we're having a fall in the Ten Commandments, uh, which is gonna be great. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:37.599 Falls, you know, during sweeps week, you gotta hit your numbers. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:39.920 So we're gonna do uh the Ten Commandments. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:41.280 Greatest hits. 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:42.719 Let's pray. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:48.959 Holy Father, we praise you for your word to us. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:02:02.719 Lord, that you have not hidden yourself from us, but you have revealed yourself to us in your word, so that we might know who you are, and we can say true things about you, that we can hold fast to your promises, Lord. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:07.599 Lord, there are often times in our lives where all we have left are your promises. 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:10.319 But Lord, that is to have all that we need. 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:14.080 It's to have the whole world is to have your promises, Lord. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:21.120 I pray that you would teach our, uh you would teach us to fix our eyes on your word. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:23.680 Fix our eyes on your promises. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:31.360 That we would turn to the things not that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, because the unseen things are eternal. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:36.719 And Lord, we pray that you would help us to see the eternal work that you are doing. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:48.639 Lord, our eyes are surrounded by distractions and uh uh competition vying for our attention. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:53.280 Lord, we behold things that we should not behold, and we confess that to you. 00:02:54.800 --> 00:03:04.960 Lord, our hearts we desire, Lord, that we would behold you in the way that you tell us to, so that we might be formed into your image, Lord. 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:06.560 We lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:07.439 Amen. 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:12.960 So the first commandment is about the object of our worship. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:16.319 First commandment is you shall have no other gods before me. 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:19.919 The second commandment is about the manner of our worship. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:25.919 That is, how is it that we are to come to God in worship? 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:38.000 We are to have no other gods before him, of course, and we are not to worship other gods, but also God is concerned with how it is that we come to worship him. 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:46.960 And so, most simply put, the second commandment is that we are not to worship the true God by manner of images. 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:51.599 We're not to worship the true God by the manner of images. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:55.120 We're not to have portrayals of God. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:58.719 That's uh, God doesn't like that. 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:01.039 It's his second commandment. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:03.439 Thanks for being with us this morning. 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:07.360 And we will worship together next week as well. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:08.960 So let's look at it. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:11.120 Why is this commandment there? 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:14.000 Why is that a commandment? 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:15.520 Why is that top ten? 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:18.560 Doesn't it feel like that wouldn't be in the top 10? 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:24.160 Not making images to worship God or not worshiping God by manner of images? 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:30.560 Uh would you I don't know if I'd put that in the top 10, but here it is, right off the bat, number two. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:33.040 So it must be very important. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:35.040 Why is that commandment here? 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:39.439 And how is it that we are to follow this commandment? 00:04:39.839 --> 00:05:02.560 You may be even thinking as you hear this commandment, yes, this is a relevant commandment for the ancient nation, for the ancient Israelites just coming out of Israel, or just coming out of Egypt, excuse me, and they're surrounded by an idolatrous people that are, you know, sort of backwards, not modern, contemporary, cosmopolitan people like we are. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:19.040 We know that the worship of idols like that, and like setting up statues in your home or having images that you would uh uh venerate, that sort of thing, we know that this is an archaic way of living, and uh so we wouldn't do that anyway, right? 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:20.959 Right? 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:30.319 Uh so it may seem relevant to them, but I I hope to demonstrate that during this uh uh sermon that this is this is very relevant for us. 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:40.879 Because it has to do with how our hearts are formed to honor God, and how our hearts are formed by honoring God. 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:52.480 And how prone we are, how prone our hearts are to self-deception in our worship. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:06:00.399 That's one of the key things that are revealed to us in the second commandment, that we are prone to self-deception in our worship. 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:03.680 So let's first look at what this commandment is. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:16.800 So in Exodus 24 through five, it says, 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. 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:19.839 You shall not bow down to them or serve them. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:23.759 So, don't make for yourself a carved image. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:33.680 During the uh time of confession that we had this morning, did any of you repent of the idol, the household God that you made earlier this week? 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:34.399 It's okay. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:36.000 You can you don't have to say it. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:38.240 You confess it to the Lord, it's forgiven. 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:50.959 You're not to make a carved image or likeness of anything that is in heaven above, that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:53.920 This is the threefold tier of creation. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:07:00.079 This is the this is a the biblical way of saying any creature anywhere, this is the whole of creation. 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:03.839 This is the same three three-tiered structure of the ark. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:08.879 We'll see Moses make three trips up the mountain in sort of a three-tiered way. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:15.040 We'll see the temple has a three-tiered structure, the tabernacle has a three-tiered structure, the temple has a three-tiered structure. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:18.399 This is a demonstration of the whole of creation. 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:24.079 You are not to look anywhere in creation and create an image of that thing. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:32.240 Now, on first reading, and especially in our own plain English, doesn't it sound like this commandment is you can't make representations of anything? 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:37.120 If you're to just read it, it sounds like no representational art. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:39.360 And there are some traditions that have that. 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:43.120 Um, Islam does not allow the creation of any representational art. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:46.240 So that's why they just have it's all geometric shapes and stuff. 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:47.600 It's very trippy. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:51.439 And uh a very uh flourished script. 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:55.920 They have very flourished script in uh Islamic art and architecture. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:01.920 Um there's uh non-representation uh modernist art is non-representational. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:06.079 Um have you been to the Clifford Still Museum? 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:19.360 The Clifford Still Museum is uh is downtown, it's beautiful architecturally, and uh it shows um if you're rich enough, you can get away with anything. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:23.360 You can trick the you can trick the plebes into looking at just about anything. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:28.000 And I've gone and done it and stood before just a red square and thought, wow, whoa. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:29.199 This guy was good. 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:33.600 So that's what it's a monument to in art, which is important to have downtown. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:36.399 So I recommend uh weekend there, take the kids. 00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:38.639 They don't like that, by the way. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:42.480 Which can make it more fun. 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:46.559 But this is not a commandment against representational art. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:47.919 That's not what it's a commandment of. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:09:01.679 In fact, it can't be a commandment against the making of any representational art, because later, uh in just uh, you know, a couple chapters from now, God will instruct Moses on top of the Ark of the Covenant, you are to make uh two cherubim. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:06.639 And these two cherubim are to have wings that touch one another and that'll be made out of gold. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:09.840 And you guys have seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, you know exactly what it looks like. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:14.159 And there's uh this uh, but that's a representation, right? 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:16.480 That's uh of something in the heavens. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:22.559 And so this doesn't mean that you aren't to make representations of things that are in the heavens or things that are in the earth. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:27.200 Uh it doesn't mean that they can't be around during worship. 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:28.559 How could it? 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:30.399 How could it? 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:59.200 What it means is that you are not to it, but what we what we need to see is that the the language here is that the language of carved image is a word that is uniquely tied throughout the scripture in all of its uses in the scripture to objects to which your worship is dedicated. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:12.240 Idolatrous objects, objects which you behold in a worshipful manner, which even you consider as these these are supporting your worship. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:21.039 So these are uh uh that is what the word carved image means uh throughout the scriptures. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:22.480 That's how it's translated. 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:34.320 And the word likeness is really just like just uh uh uh is the word for form or the the shape of something or impression of something. 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:39.120 Uh it is it is like how we are in the image of God. 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:41.519 We are in the likeness of God. 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:46.879 That's what it means to be a person, to be in the image and likeness of God. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:50.080 So this doesn't mean no images generally. 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:58.000 This is particularly for no images of God for your worship. 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:01.039 That is the heart of this commandment. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:11.039 But you might think, well, of course, I'm not going to make an image of a lizard and then go worship the lizard god. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:14.879 I'm not going to make an image of a serpent and then go worship the serpent god. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:22.159 I I'm I I know from the first commandment that I'm not to have any other gods before me. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:28.080 And so how could I take this image of another god and worship that God? 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:32.159 That's already, isn't that already taken care of in the first commandment? 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:39.440 So is the comm is the second commandment, I guess the question is, is the second commandment adding anything to the first commandment? 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:43.840 Or is it just another way of saying you are to have no other gods before me? 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:48.080 Well, it it must be because it's there, so it's saying something. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:12:04.080 What this really fundamentally comes down to is that this is not merely a commandment which says we are not to worship other gods by means of statues and in these pagan traditions and these pagan fashions. 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:09.759 It means that we are not to worship the true God by the means of images. 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:15.120 We are not to worship our God by the means of images. 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:17.600 That's the prohibition of the second commandment. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:32.000 And we can see this because we see sort of narratively how the second commandment unfolds uh in just several chap several chapters from now, 12, I guess, in Exodus chapter 32, with the golden calf incident. 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:40.480 And the golden calf is perfectly demonstrating to us what uh the breaking of the second commandment looks like for the people of God. 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:52.320 It looks like this in um Exodus 32, what happens is Moses goes is called up onto the mountain to meet with God, and he's meeting with God on the mountain, and he's there for 40 days. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:59.679 And while he's there for 40 days, the rest of the nation of Israel is gathered together at the foot of the mountain, at the foot of Mount Horeb. 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:02.159 And it's taking way too long. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:05.840 Have you ever sent anybody somewhere and then it takes them 40 days? 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:07.440 It's too long. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:12.000 And so they're sitting at the foot of the mountain and they're thinking to themselves, where is Moses? 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:13.759 We don't know where he is. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:19.840 We don't have any spiritual leadership, we don't have any way of holding together as a people. 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:26.480 And they're likely, you know, you can imagine factions or things are starting to form and the questions of who Moses is. 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:32.320 They're saying we have to put something above us that we can reverence so that we can be held together as a people. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:39.039 We can have a sense of who we are and what it means to be us instead of just like sojourning mountain folks. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:43.200 You know, at the end of uh Burning Man, do you know what they all do? 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:44.879 At the end of Burning Man? 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:46.240 You guys know what I'm talking about? 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:48.879 Yeah, we've all seen the news. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:56.480 There's uh at the end of Burning Man, they've there's a giant man and they burn it. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:14:07.840 And the reason that you have to do that when you're all gathered together in the desert with no reason to be there is because if there's nothing for you to look at and behold and revere and reverence, you will all turn on one another. 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:12.480 And it will be a terrible catastrophe, and there will be no sense of party there. 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:30.480 And so they have they this is a group of people gathered together in the desert, about to turn on one another, and they say, we have to have something that we hoist above us that that we we can form ourselves as a people into the image of. 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:35.919 I hope nobody important goes to that Burning Man festival. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:42.159 Nobody that controls, I don't know, our our media or something like that. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:43.840 That would be terrible to find out. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:53.120 So they say to Aaron, make us gods who shall go before us. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:57.840 They turn to Aaron and they say, Make us gods who will go before us. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.279 This is the request at their impatience. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:03.679 Make us gods who will go before us. 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:06.320 Then that's what Aaron does. 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:16.480 Aaron collects the gold that they plum that they plundered from the Egyptians, and he melts down the gold, and he fashions it into the shape of a calf. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:18.559 So they have a golden calf. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:33.440 And he presents it to the people, and the people's response is in Exodus 32, verse 4, it says, And they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:36.879 And then they hold a feast to Yahweh. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:46.000 And there's dancing and revelry, and it looks just like any pagan feast that you would find among any of the Canaanites around them. 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:48.879 But notice what they're doing. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:55.440 They create this image, the golden calf, and who what is the image? 00:15:55.679 --> 00:15:59.360 They say, These are the gods who brought you out of Egypt. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:19.759 Now, there's a bit of a translational thing going on because God is plural, but the plurality of God is baked into his name in Elohim, and so there's I think the translators are being a little um, they're not wanting to say this is the this that they're referring to God, but but they are referring to God. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:23.440 They're referring to the true God, Yahweh. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:30.320 And that's why after this, they have a feast to Yahweh at the base in the worship of the golden calf. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:36.960 So they say, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:39.039 So notice what they are doing. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:43.039 They are not worshiping another God. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:50.399 They are worshiping the true God by means of the golden calf. 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:52.080 That's the sin. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:55.120 That's the sin. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:07.279 That they said, our God, who's not here right now, in a I can look at him sense, we're gonna make it so that he is. 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:11.680 So, what does the golden calf get you? 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:20.000 There are some benefits to the golden calf when your God is with your mediator on the mountain and you're alone with your friends. 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:23.039 Here are the benefits of making a golden calf. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:26.799 First, it satisfies your impatience. 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:33.920 Moses would be coming down, they could not wait for Moses to come down. 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:44.720 They had to have God manifest to them in a tangible way that they could not wait. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:47.920 It satisfies their impatience. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:56.079 Secondly, when God spoke to them at Sinai, he was very, very scary. 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:01.839 When God spoke to the people at Sinai, it was terrifying. 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:08.480 And they came to Moses after he spoke to them at Sinai, and they said, never let that happen again. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:12.079 We don't want God, God can talk to you, you can tell us. 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:14.480 We don't want to hear directly from God again. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:16.160 It's too terrifying. 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:20.240 Third, uh, the golden calf. 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:21.759 Oh, yeah, this is what's the benefit? 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:27.039 The golden calf, not scary, even exciting, shiny. 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:34.400 You know, and it's kind of, you get to raise, they got to raise their flag for the first time in a long time. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:39.039 They're the herders in Egypt, you want to be looked down upon. 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:40.400 You'd be a herder in Egypt. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:43.839 You know the old saying, you look guys like a herder in Egypt. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:48.400 That's how they felt for like 400 years among these people. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:52.240 And as they move out, now what can they raise? 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:53.839 A golden calf. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:59.279 You know, finally Goshen, the land of Goshen, gets some representation out here. 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:01.119 This feels good. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:04.720 And we can say, This is our God who conquered Egypt. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:10.559 So they get this binding together. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:12.000 Third, what is the golden calf? 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:13.680 The golden calf is mute. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:17.920 The golden calf can make no demands on the people. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:20.319 We're in the midst of the Ten Commandments. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:22.400 These are demands being made upon us. 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:25.039 The golden calf makes no demands on you. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:28.720 You know, and we don't like it when God makes demands upon us. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:40.720 Even when we have a sense of it in our conscience, we would like to we would like to put something in the way of our conscience, so there's something between us and it, so that it gets silenced again. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:42.880 A golden calf can do that. 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:46.400 Because we can say, I'm not hearing from it right now. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:50.240 Let's just praise it and celebrate as we see fit. 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:54.400 Fourth, the golden calf is comprehensible. 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:58.880 The golden calf can be looked at and understood. 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:03.599 It has a particular place, a particular form. 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:10.079 All of this can be grasped and understood and rallied around. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:33.599 So the golden calf, we can see the revering of it, the reverencing of it, even though they are saying this is merely a they might say perhaps, yes, this is a means by which we are worshiping God, in their reverencing of it, they are offering a distortion of who the true God is. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:36.480 Is the true God mute? 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:37.839 He is not mute. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:39.119 They have just heard him. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:42.720 Is the true God reducible to this place at this time? 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:45.039 He is not reducible like that. 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:54.480 Is the true God manifesting himself to them right now in a way that is uh, we could say, shiny and majestic. 00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:55.519 He's not. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:20:58.480 He's with Moses on the mountain. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:01.759 Is he operating according to their timeline and in their way? 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:02.880 He is not. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:11.680 What he's doing is he's doing things like living in the heavens, doing as he pleases, which is also what he's doing right now. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:14.319 That's what our God is like. 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:36.000 So when they are worshiping him as the golden calf, we must see that there's this there's this sense, and of course, this is about the manner of their worship and the wrongness of their coming to him, but what's being shown to us is that you you can't violate the second commandment without also violating the first commandment. 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:38.480 They are so linked. 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:47.759 Because the very manner of worship, by worshiping the golden calf, is exposing this distortion in who they think God is. 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:59.759 Many people have said that the reason, the main reason that God cannot be worshipped by means of images, is because God is invisible. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:03.279 And therefore cannot be seen in a truthful way. 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:06.240 He cannot be imaged. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:08.160 God cannot be imaged. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:11.440 But that isn't the case. 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:12.960 That's not true. 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:14.640 Because God is imaged. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:16.480 God images himself. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:20.400 We are in the image of God. 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:22.240 God can be imaged. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:31.279 The invisibility of God is not that there is never a circumstance in which God can be seen. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:35.359 Isaiah is called up into the throne room of God. 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:39.279 Jacob says that he has seen God face to face. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:51.839 And of course, Jesus says, Do you not know, Peter, that if you have seen me, you have seen the Father? 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:55.519 So what is the invisibility of God then? 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:07.359 It does not mean that there is no such thing as that we should not think of the invisibility of God on a limit on God's ability to be seen. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:15.039 You know, an invisible thing, if you could imagine being invisible, have you guys ever seen a movie about an invisible person? 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:21.920 So the plot points of this movie are I'm invisible, cool, fun. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:26.000 And then later on, they're like, I'm invisible, not as much fun anymore. 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:30.079 I'd like to be seen by some people that I that I want to be seen by. 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:33.839 See, that type of invisibility is a constraint. 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:36.559 They can't make themselves seen. 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:40.880 This is not the invisibility when theologians refer to God as invisible. 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:44.799 It is not that God is like, oh man, I wish I could just manifest myself to these people. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:46.640 And then they would see me and they would know me. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:48.960 That is not what it means. 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:52.559 What it means is that he is not like us. 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:57.119 You can't be invisible. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:00.079 You can't be unseen. 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:06.720 You are trapped in, you are trapped in visibility. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:11.759 You're stuck in it, I can tell from here. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:13.920 By looking at all of you. 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:20.480 God is not trapped in his invisibility, nor is he trapped in his visibility. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:24.559 The Lord is the Lord of light, and he can manifest himself as he pleases. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:27.039 And when he does that, they are truthful things. 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:28.559 It is truthful. 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:33.200 The manifestation that God and he, when he chooses to do that, it is truthful. 00:24:33.519 --> 00:24:37.519 But what that means is that God is not discoverable. 00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:43.680 It is not that you can you can go look around in the highest heavens. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:51.200 You can look around the whole of the earth, you can plumb the depths of the sea, and you will not find him there. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:59.599 You know the famous Russian astronaut that goes up into the heavens for the first time, goes up into space for the first time, and he says, I've ascended to heaven and God is not here. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:04.559 Well, if God wanted to show himself to him then, would not have been a problem. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:07.039 Would not have been a problem. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:24.000 So when we think of God as, so it all that to say that the sense that the invisibility of God, because he can't be manifest, is the reason that we can't depict him, I think that that is false. 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:27.440 And it's not the way that the scriptures talk about it. 00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:36.400 The way that the scriptures talk about seeing God is not that it can't be done because he's invisible, so there's no sense in looking. 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:37.759 That's not what it's like. 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:43.599 The scriptures talk about is you can't see God and live. 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:47.119 That's the way the scriptures talk about it. 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:51.920 That if you see God, you will die. 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:56.960 You will die from his glorious presence. 00:25:57.279 --> 00:26:08.400 That you in your sin before him, you in your unholiness and uncleanness, if you behold the face of God, you will die. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:12.960 That's why Jacob names the place where he wrestles God. 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:15.279 He names it face of God. 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:21.039 And he names that because he says, I have seen, I have seen the face of God and lived. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:24.799 And he's thinking to himself, how can this be? 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:32.640 Or Samson's parents, when they see the angel of the Lord and they say, We have seen the angel of the Lord, we will surely die. 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:41.440 Or Isaiah heaps the condemnation upon himself when he beholds the presence of the Lord. 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:45.359 This is what the presence of the Lord means. 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:47.839 Why is it that you can't see the Lord? 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:50.319 Why is it that you can't behold the Lord? 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:57.119 It's because if you see the Lord, you in your sin will die. 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:02.240 This is the emphasis of the text. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:08.319 And so, why is it that we are not to worship God by manner of images? 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:10.559 Well, do you see the trick here? 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:12.160 Do you see what that trick is? 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:18.480 It's saying there is, I can look at God and live. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:21.519 That's what it's saying. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:27.359 I can look at God on my terms and live. 00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:31.839 It's a distortion of the whole story, but you can see the seduction of it. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:34.720 I can look at God on my terms and live. 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:39.279 We are worshiping God as though he can be seen on our terms. 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:49.519 That is a fundamental denial of his glorious transcendence, what his glory means for us, and a fundamental denial of our fallen state before him. 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:58.000 That if we were to come into his presence and behold him, that we in our sin would die in beholding him. 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:04.960 And so to image him is to distort the whole picture of the gospel. 00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:08.319 It's to distort the reality of our state. 00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:18.720 It is to take him and make him a creaturely type of thing, a creaturely type of glory, which is no threat to us. 00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:21.519 There's no danger in approaching him. 00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:38.160 What we want in our flesh, we want the God who we want a God that we can possess, a God that dwells where we place him, that shows up on our terms. 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:50.240 We don't want the God that when we approach him, the depth of our sin is truthfully exposed by his holiness. 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:52.640 That's not the type of God we want. 00:28:53.920 --> 00:29:02.400 We want the type of God that we can approach and worship on our terms, in our manner, in our way. 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:14.720 Not the God who is radically above us, totally transcends us, and then on his terms makes himself known to us. 00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:21.279 You see, this is the difference, this is the heart level difference, and this is why God places it in his Ten Commandments. 00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:37.920 It is the heart level difference of a God which we attain to, or a God which must come to us, who must condescend to our level, who must see our humiliation before him and come to us still. 00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:43.200 It is even a hiding of his grace towards us. 00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:50.079 Because fundamentally, what we are doing then is we are worshiping a creation of our own minds. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:54.319 It is so hard. 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:59.039 One of the hardest things to do in our faith is to worship God as He is. 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:01.279 That's what the second commandment is about. 00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:04.079 That we worship God as He is. 00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:16.319 Now, I wake up every morning and I have to often, by the scriptures, wrestle my mind back into a position of understanding who God is. 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:22.799 And it's it's often because I am thinking of him as worse than he is. 00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:26.240 Which, of course, it's it's not like I'm at. 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:28.960 I just thought of that. 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:34.480 As though I could comprehend God who is better than he is. 00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:37.440 Anselm of Canterbury would have something to say about that. 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:40.640 There's there I can't comprehend that. 00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:51.039 But there's a there's a uh, and so what I have to come to terms with is I'll find myself hiding from prayer or hiding from him in prayer. 00:30:51.839 --> 00:30:53.839 Who am I treating him like he is like? 00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:56.799 I'm treating him like he is cruel. 00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:00.000 I'm treating him like he is disinterested. 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:09.920 I'm treating him like he is he is waiting in the wings, looking for my mistakes, looking for something that he might hold against me or hold over me. 00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:12.960 This is not how he has revealed himself to us. 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:17.920 This is not how he discloses himself to us in the scriptures. 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:22.240 Our God is gracious, patient. 00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:25.680 He promises that he cares. 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:34.799 He has already given his own son and demonstrated the depth of grace and love towards us in this manner. 00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:43.359 And so when I'm worshiping him, then if I come to God according to my own imaginations of God, I'm coming to something less glorious. 00:31:43.599 --> 00:31:45.680 And I'm either I'm doing one of two things. 00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:54.319 I'm I'm coming to something that needs, that I can just walk up to and control and approach in any manner that I would like. 00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:57.920 And then that is not the true God. 00:31:58.240 --> 00:32:03.759 And I'm approaching him as a false version of myself, not a sinner saved by grace. 00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:07.599 Not someone who has that this is like, how do we approach God? 00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:12.240 You know, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to my cross to the cross I cling. 00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:23.039 This approach of God, according to my own imaginations, is I've got stuff for you, and this will be sufficient for you to that I might be reconciled to you. 00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:24.799 This is foolish. 00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:28.240 And I will not approach God in that way. 00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:30.880 Or I will not approach him at all. 00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:38.240 I will hide because I might have a sense or an understanding of how radically glorious and transcendent he is. 00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:47.599 And this will flash the humiliation of who I really am and the condemnation of who I really am onto myself, and I will have a clarity of that. 00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:52.240 And in my clarity of that, I will think: how could I possibly approach this God? 00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:54.160 I just need to hide from him. 00:32:54.559 --> 00:32:56.160 I just need to hide out from him. 00:32:56.319 --> 00:33:03.759 Maybe I can hide out from him for a long enough time so that I might be, I might not come under, come under the terrible condemnation. 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:05.359 But that is a false God. 00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:07.599 That is not the true God. 00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:17.279 The true God is the one who is so glorious and so transcendent, so holy that if I were to behold him, I would die. 00:33:18.799 --> 00:33:40.960 But in his holiness and righteousness, he is seen fit to save me by his grace and by his love, even to the uttermost of sacrifice of his son on the cross, so that I might come to him in full confidence that he will see me and receive me in the fullness of grace. 00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:42.799 That's the true God. 00:33:44.960 --> 00:34:04.720 If I create a mediator, even an image that must go between me and him, I am either wrestling him down from his glory into something that can be contained and constrained, or I am minimizing the depth of need that I have. 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:16.800 And I am raising myself up to the type of thing that can that can constrain God to a place that I desire him to be. 00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:38.800 So that is why this commandment and what we see in Exodus 32 with the golden calf and with our own worship of the worshiping of God according to our own imaginations, rather than his revealing himself to us in his word. 00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:42.880 You can see it it blocks out the gospel. 00:34:44.800 --> 00:34:50.400 It blocks out the truth of his glory, the depth of our need, and the wonder of his grace. 00:34:52.480 --> 00:35:07.199 Now, what this command is grounded in, because why not make this command more complicated for us preachers, is in Exodus 20, 5 through 6, it says, You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. 00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:12.960 This command, the importance of this command, is grounded in the jealousy of God. 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:24.239 Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:27.679 This command is grounded in the jealousy of God. 00:35:27.760 --> 00:35:35.519 You should not worship him by means of created images, because God is a jealous God. 00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:39.280 Now, right off the bat, we hear that and we think God is a jealous God. 00:35:39.440 --> 00:35:42.559 That doesn't seem fitting for God. 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:49.280 That he would that he would be considered that feels like a like a human thing that we do. 00:35:49.440 --> 00:35:57.199 But what happens is, is we can confuse the concepts of jealousy and the concepts of envy in our minds. 00:35:57.440 --> 00:35:59.119 These are not the same thing. 00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:08.480 Envy you can think of, or covetousness, which we'll get to at the end of uh the Ten Commandments, it's the tenth one. 00:36:09.519 --> 00:36:11.840 Uh so until then, you know. 00:36:12.559 --> 00:36:13.840 Covet all you want. 00:36:14.400 --> 00:36:15.840 No, that's not not true. 00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:17.840 I'm not writing them as I go. 00:36:18.880 --> 00:36:20.239 So, anyway. 00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:25.360 The uh covetousness is that you can think of it as like a two-party game. 00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:29.840 There's the thing that you want and don't have, and then there's you. 00:36:30.320 --> 00:36:33.679 So you see the thing you want and don't have, and then you just want it. 00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:34.800 You have that thing. 00:36:35.039 --> 00:36:37.440 Jealousy is like a three-party game. 00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:48.079 There's the the thing that you that you want, and positively, positive jealousy, which is what God has, there's there's the thing that is yours. 00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:50.880 The thing that's yours. 00:36:52.559 --> 00:36:56.800 And then there's the thing, and then there's the rival. 00:36:57.679 --> 00:36:59.679 It's more of like a three-party game. 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:02.079