“NO GRAVEN IMAGES” (EX. 20:4-6)
1. As I was growing up, I was sometimes taken to see my grandmother.
2. Although this was a long time ago, and my grandmother is now dead,
3. I can still remember the little apartment that she lived in.
4. I remember how it was situated in the Ghetto.
5. I remember how she always had some stale candy in a dish.
6. The unique odor that permeated her apartment has not been forgotten.
7. I can remember the radiator heating apparatus that was tied in with a boiler.
8. And I can remember how plants were scattered throughout her living quarters.
I. MY MOST VIVID MEMORY ABOUT GRANDMA AND HER APARTMENT IS A PICTURE THAT HUNG ON ONE OF THE WALLS.
A. This picture was supposed to represent Christ.
B. I was not real religious when I went to see granny.
C. I liked that picture.
D. If I had not become a Christian, I would have put this picture in my house.
E. Since I am a Christian, I have no pictures that represent Christ.
F. I do not intend to ever have such a picture on our house walls.
G. This evening I do not know if you have a picture that represents Christ
H. Hanging on one of your walls.
I. If you do, I am not here to condemn you.
J. I am here to draw attention to a small but important fact.
K. This fact comes from the book of Exodus.
L. A few minutes ago, we had the scripture reading.
M. Ex. 20:4-6 was read.
1) Here God said that the Jews were to:
2) Not make any kind of graven image,
3) The Jews were not to bow down to any kind of image,
4) And they were not to serve any kind of image.
N. With this information in mind, I want us to look at Ex. 32.
O. This is the place where we are told about how the Hebrews worried.
P. Moses had been on the mountain for a long time.
Q. There was no sign that he was coming back any time soon.
R. The people decided to get together and speak to Aaron.
S. READ v. 1.
T. The request of the people was granted as we see in vss. 2-6.
U. READ.
V. In light of what I have read, let me ask this question:
1) Which of the first two commandments was being broken?
2) Was it commandment #1—have no other gods before me?
a). This commandment was covered last week.
b). I showed that this commandment condemned worshiping pagan gods.
c). God didn’t want the people involved with Baal, Molech, etc.
3) Did the Jews violate this commandment, or did they violate #2?
4) Commandment #2 was: Make no image of the true God.
5) Do not try and put Jehovah into the physical realm.
W. Which of these commandments did the Jews violate?
X. Most would say that the first commandment was being violated.
Y. Most believe that the Jews were using this calf to turn to idolatry.
Z. After all, the people said “Make us gods”.
A. What is being described is not idolatry.
B. It may sound like it, but this is not so.
C. Look again at verse 5- READ.
D. The people were very conscious of Jehovah.
E. According to verses 5 & 6, Jehovah was worshipped the next day.
F. These people were not ready to abandon Jehovah.
G. They had witnessed too many miracles to turn their backs on God.
H. Instead of turning to some new pagan god(s),
I. The people wanted a representation of Jehovah.
J. These people wanted something that was tangible.
K. They wanted God to be in a form that they could see/touch.
L. After all, Moses was gone.
M. Jehovah was not present in the sense that they could feel Him.
N. They could not look upon the Lord.
O. Thus, these people wanted an image that they could focus on.
P. They wanted to drag God down to their own level.
II. THIS MAY BE A NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT THIS TEXT FOR YOU, BUT THIS VIEW MAKES THE MOST SENSE, AND AMONG INTERPRETERS, IT IS THE MOST WIDELY HELD VIEW. I MAINTAIN THAT THIS IS THE RIGHT VIEW.
A. God is a spiritual being.
B. These Jews were trying to put God into the physical realm.
C. They wanted Him to be represented by something, and they did this by having a calf made.
D. This action made God extremely angry, as we will see very shortly.
E. Before I get to this,
1) Think about this event in this way.
2) You are a pretty woman.
3) You are so pretty, that you are a model.
4) You are not only a model, you are the prettiest model in the world.
5) Your beauty is like none that has ever existed or will exist.
F. One day, a person takes a picture of you.
G. In developing this film, your beauty is marred.
H. You look like an old woman who has a face full of wrinkles.
I. Your beauty, in this photograph, is completely gone.
J. This picture makes you look so ugly that no one wants you- you look disgusting.
K. If you were a woman, how would this kind of picture make you feel?
1) You would be outraged.
2) You would sue to have the picture destroyed.
3) You would be fuming if someone did this to you.
4) A picture that did not do you justice would be a great insult.
L. This is sort of what the Jews did to God.
M. They took a God who was full of glory and reduced Him to a calf.
N. When God saw this, He wanted His wrath to “wax hot”.
O. God said, “I am ready to wipe these people out”. READ vss. 9-10.
P. This reaction is one that we can nod our heads to.
Q. We can, to a degree, understand why God said and felt what He did.
R. Lesson to be learned is:
S. No matter how hard man tries, he cannot adequately represent God.
T. This golden calf may have been beautiful.
U. The craftsmanship might have even amazed us.
V. No amount of craftsmanship can describe God.
W. There are at least three problems in trying to depict God:
1) Problem number one is inadequacy.
2) No matter what we make/draw, our representation of deity is inadequate.
3) Man cannot accurately capture the fullness of God.
4) No amount of splendor in artwork can depict God.
5) Our most extravagant creations or craftsmanship cannot do justice in describing the one omni potent God.
6) A second problem with portraying God is location.
7) Whenever man makes something, space is taken up.
8) Our creation may take up a space that is 12 X 12.
9) Maybe a creation takes up a space of three football fields.
10) No amount of space is sufficient to portray God.
11) God is everywhere.
12) When the Jews made their calf, maybe they used up 100’.
13) Can 100’ of space do justice to an omni-present God?
14) A third problem with portraying God is that it reduces trust.
15) God wants people to trust Him, not images.
16) A lot of people are unwilling to do this.
17) This unwillingness makes God extremely angry.
III. THE INFORMATION THAT WE HAVE ABOUT IMAGES IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR OUR DAY AND TIME.
A. People of our era are interested in religious items.
B. When people think that they can buy a piece of Noah’s ark,
C. or a chunk of Christ’s cross, they get out their checkbooks.
D. Crosses are frequently worn by people.
E. Within some religious groups, there are sanctuaries.
F. Within these sanctuaries, there are pictures, statues, icons, etc.
G. Often men wear religious robes with symbols.
H. It is often said that these images are supposed to help people think about God.
I. Within homes, people have religious pictures, crosses, sculptures, etc.
J. I am not here to make up a bunch of rules for you to follow.
K. There are some matters of judgment that are individual.
L. My purpose is to set forth what is wrong.
M. When this is done, you can determine which freedoms you will or will not use.
N. The first restriction I would point out is that:
O. The Golden Calf was an image of God.
P. This was a representation of deity, and this made God angry.
Q. Since we are to learn from the OT (Rom. 15:4),
R. It may be concluded that representations of God are wrong for today.
S. If we have an image of deity—
1) Perhaps a dove that is supposed to represent the Spirit,
2) Or a picture that is designed to represent Christ,
3) We should give careful consideration to the golden calf incident.
4) I realize that these items can be decorative.
5) Some images can be quite lovely. (My grandma’s picture)
6) Still, these images represent deity.
7) This makes them wrong.
8) In regard to the Holy Spirit is might be argued that:
9) The Spirit came in the form of the dove-
10) Since the spirit was represented in this way, we could represent the Spirit with a dove.
11) About this let me say that:
12) The Holy Spirit was not a dove. Check out Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
13) All 3 say the Spirit “descended AS a dove.”
14) Being a dove and being AS a dove are not the same.
15) Hence, the Spirit may not be accurately represented by a dove.
16) Be very wary of objects that somehow represent God.
T. Conclusion #2 is: Avoid objects that help people “focus” on God.
U. The golden calf was partly designed to accomplish this.
V. God was not pleased with this because the representation was inadequate.
W. Such is certainly the same today.
1) Suppose that we had a shiny cross at the front of the building.
2) Would a shiny, new cross adequately portray what happened?
3) This is the approach that many take.
4) The truth is, we cannot recreate the suffering that Christ went through.
5) Furthermore, God has already instituted one reminder.
6) We have the Lord’s Supper.
7) God counts this as being adequate for our “focus”.
8) Adding something to help focus on God is preaching another gospel.
9) Paul said in 2 Cor. 5:7, QUOTE.
10) If we use objects to focus on, we are walking by sight and not by faith.
X. The third conclusion to be drawn involves religious objects.
Y. It is wrong to think that a cross offers some kind of protective power.
Z. Movies have suggested that there is power in a cross.
A. God does not want His people to trust in objects.
B. 1 Sam.4 makes this point all too well.
C. The Jews were in a battle; things didn’t look good.
D. They thought that if they brought in the ark, things would be better.
E. They planed to put their trust in an object.
F. Do you know what happened to these people?
G. 30,000 men were slaughtered.
H. There is no power in a cross or any other object.
CONCLUSION:
1. The Jews made a serious mistake.
2. Let’s be sure that we do not follow in their footsteps.
3. Never be involved with things that represent deity.
4. Do not use objects to focus on God.
5. Don’t trust in religious symbols for power or protection.
6. Our only power is in the gospel, and our only protection is the blood of Christ.