2 I am the LORD thy God, which have
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 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: 5 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; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands
of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Ex
20:2-6)
We are presented, in the first two Commandments of God, a single coin of the
Realm of Heaven – only two separate sides thereof. On the front side is the
first Commandment of God informing us of the fact that it is He who has brought
us thus far in life and spirit, and He is the One and only God. The obverse
side of the coin informs us of the contrary principle of who, or what, is NOT
God. We are to worship the One, Triune God, and no other. So what is the ‘other?’
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: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them.
Those who have not the Lord for
their god will make themselves a god, whether of philosophical atheism, of
money, of sex, drugs, or whatever. The prohibition is not against mere images
that are works of art, or inventions of the mind for good, but rather what
value we place upon them as articles, or venues, of worship. Anything made with
hands – even church buildings – are not to be reverenced. It is rather the
unseen God that we worship at the altars of the human heart that we owe our
faith and allegiance. Gold bullion is made with hands; diamonds are cut and
crafted by human hands; mansions of opulence are built by human hands; so are Lamborghinis. Immoral sexual inclinations are born in a corrupt human heart.
Many varied things of this world can become our god – even the denial that
there be a god can become our obsession and false god.
God built a safety net into His First Commandment. If we adhere strictly to the first, we can in no wise fail to
keep inviolate the Second. He is not ‘A’ Lord thy God! He is ‘THE’ Lord thy
God. If He is YOUR God, all others are discounted. In the first instant, God
agrees to be our God and our Father giving His fatherly care, love,
forgiveness, and protection while He expects us to render that which is due a
Sovereign Lord – obedience to His Law. Even lesser government of the secular
arm expects her laws to be obeyed. Should we do less for the Lord of Glory? We
are to keep His Commandments and serve Him alone. Here, again, we see two
dimensions of that same principle: Obey and we are beneficiaries of His
blessing:
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nd it shall come to pass, if thou
shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to
do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God
will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall
come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the
LORD thy God. 3 Blessed
shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy
body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of
thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou
comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 7 The LORD shall cause thine
enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall
come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8 The LORD shall command the
blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand
unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 9 The LORD shall establish thee an
holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the
commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. 10 And all people of the earth shall
see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of
thee. 11 And
the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in
the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the
LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure,
the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the
work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not
borrow. 13 And
the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above
only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments
of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: 14 And thou shalt not go aside from
any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the
left, to go after other gods to serve them.
(Deut 28:1-14)
But disobey, and the curses of Deuteronomy 28-30 become our
plight. I will not bother to list all of the plagues and curses that befall the
disobedient, but I will excerpt what appears to summarize the whole: If thou
wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book,
that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; Then
the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even
great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long
continuance. (Deut 28:58-59) For a more complete description of these terrible curses, read
Deuteronomy 28:15 to the end of the chapter.
Love of God and His creatures is the motivating force that
compels obedience to God. Dr. van Dyke wrote: “There is something finer than
to do right AGAINST inclination, and that is to have an inclination to do
right. There is something nobler than reluctant obedience, and that is joyful
obedience.” Do we remember how joyful we were to obey our fathers when they
asked us to help them to do some challenging project with them? When my mother
first invited me to mow the lawn, how grateful I was, and how manly I felt.
Unfortunately, that privilege became a routine obligation. Once our love fades
and our obedience to God becomes a mere obligation, we have lost not only our
joy, but the ability to obey Him.
The Second Commandment denies us the option to love ANYTHING
more than God – or even as much as we love God. Not only are we not to bow down
to statues and icons, but we are not to bow the knee to any desire apart from
God. Idolatry is centered not upon graven images alone, but also desires and
images graven in our minds and hearts. It is impossible to honor God by paying
homage to those things that are part and parcel of His Creation – and that is
EVERYTHING!
Do not forget that God is a jealous God! What does that mean?
We are the center of His love and attraction as a people of faith. He considers
us in the same light as a noble and upright young prince considers his
betrothed bride to be the owner of his heart and the most beautiful of all fair
ladies. When we turn to other entities to worship other than God, He feels
jilted and is severely offended just as the young prince would feel if his
betrothed darling became a harlot in the streets. (Sorry for the strong
metaphors, but they are relevant.)
Of God, we must acknowledge, It is He that hath made
us, and not we ourselves. Know
ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalms 100:3) What has given is greater value
than the clay from which we are made? It is God who has given us a soul to be
carried, for a time, in that clay body. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide
their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who
seeth us? and who knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall
be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it,
He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no
understanding? (Isaiah 29:15-16) It would behoove us to remember
that every contract is too-sided, and so is that covenant through which the
Lord deals with His people.
Please consider the benediction to the Second Commandment: 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
shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Certainly God does not visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
unless they are inherited from the fathers. A drunken derelict may influence
his children into the same life style. In fact, that is the normal case;
however, there is an ‘escape clause’ in God’s covenant with us: And shewing
mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Do you see the grace the door of which
God leaves wide open to every child of wicked parents who turns and loves God
and keeps His Commandment? Unfortunately, however, a child of wicked parents has a long
and grueling road to righteous understanding. Train up a child in the way he
should go, and when he is young, he will not depart from it is a Proverb
with direct bearing on the circumstances at hand.
My Closing Opinion: There have been many generations in
America who have received blessings of God on behalf of their forefathers. Our
fathers who built a great nation, under the Guiding Hand of God, trusted in the
Lord. He has favored us perhaps more for their righteousness than for our
lackluster obedience. But the coin is turning. There are rising up generations
in our time who no longer love God and keep His Commandments. The road was
short and dimly lighted to this situation, but I believe any American more than
sixty years of age will observe the reality of what I say. God may be preparing
to resort to that list of curses which He has reserved for those who turn away
from Him and the Commandments He has given[1].
If so, it may take more than a few generations to bring us from the banks of
the Red Sea to the Promised Land again.
[1]
Or it may be that the
misfortune that will come upon us is no more than that which is natural to
those who take the road into the pit.
God need not curse us if we do what is harmful for us, the damage will
occur as it is said, “By operation of law.”
