The Chosen and the Rosary Beads


2. You shall not make for yourself a graven 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; 
  • you shall not bow down to them or serve them...

Basic to this second commandment is the temptation for man to make for himself some kind of representation of God. 

  • Man desires to see with his eyes what he worships with his heart. 
  • Yet God says, “You shall not make any kind of image of Me.”
Why not? There are at least three reasons: 

In the first place, God cannot be visibly portrayed. 
  • God is spirit (cf. John 4:24). 
  • It is impossible to make a physical representation of a spiritual being. 
In the second place, any representation we might make of God would be a creaturely representation. 
  • Man is not able to conceive of anything except what he has seen in creation. 
  • It is impossible for man to think of something which he has not seen on earth. 
  • Whatever man draws, he draws from that which he sees in creation.
If we were to make an image of God, 
  • we would be using creaturely characteristics to portray the Creator. 
  • If we portray God by things of this earth, then we bring God down from His glorious position to our own level and make Him in our own likeness (cf. Romans 1:23). 
  • That is an insult to God’s greatness and does injustice to God’s greatness and uniqueness (cf. Psalm 106:20).
  • Therefore God cannot be visibly portrayed.
In the third place, pagans made images of their gods as a means to manipulate (to control) their gods. 
  • They believed that they could channel the power of their gods into their lives by making and having images of their gods. 
  • Their view of images could be compared to our use of extension cords. 
  • When a power outlet is too far away from us, we use an extension cord to bring the power to us. 
  • So the pagans believed that an image was a channel through which the power of their distant gods could be channelled to them when and where they needed it.
Israel once adopted similar pagan thoughts and committed idolatry with the ark of the covenant. 
  • In 1 Samuel 4, we read that the Israelites fought against the Philistines, but they were defeated. 
  • They decided to bring the ark of the covenant with them into the second battle. 
  • (The ark of the covenant was a symbol of the presence of God who sat enthroned on the mercy seat of the ark). 
  • By bringing the ark into battle, they thought that they could force God to be in their midst and thereby win the battle. 
  • It is this manipulation that God forbids in the second commandment. 
  • Man must never suppose that he can control God.

Q. May we then not make any image at all? 

  • God cannot and may not be visibly portrayed in any way.
  • Creatures may be portrayed, 
  • but God forbids us to make or have any images of them in order to worship them 
  • or to serve God through them.
Exodus 34:13-14 
  • But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images 
  • (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 
Exodus 34:17 
  • You shall make no molded gods for yourselves. 
Numbers 33:52 
  • then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places; 
2 Kings 18:4-5 
  • He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan. 
  • He trusted in the LORD God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him.
Isaiah 40:25 
  • “To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
The Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 35

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

By God's Word at Last My Sin I Learned

Image
From where do you know your sins and misery?  From the law of God. The knowledge of misery is a knowing by faith  or as we might also call it: a faith knowledge.  We come to know this in the relationship of faith in Jesus Christ, and without that relationship it does not exist.  With that we are assured that there is no knowledge of misery,  in the sense that it is meant here,  without the knowledge of redemption.  Faith focuses on the whole of God’s Word and can never accept one aspect of the truth of God without the other.  We can never submit in faith to the judgment of God without that same faith taking hold of the gospel of redemption.  God’s Word and faith are certainly distinct, but faith from its very beginning embraces God’s entire revelation in its various dimensions,  even if it is only in embryo.  Therefore, we cannot possibly address the matter of our misery except in terms of the knowledge of faith.  Without faith...
Read more

Wrestling With God

Image
But does not God do man an injustice by requiring in His law what man cannot do?  No,  for God so created man that he was able to do it.  But man, at the instigation of the devil,  in deliberate disobedience robbed himself and all his descendants of these gifts.  One could say that in this Lord’s Day at least in the questions our flesh, that is our sinful nature, is speaking.  For not only now but also throughout all centuries it has continually carried on a dialogue with God in finally seeking to justify itself over against Him.  That is the sinful nature that never lets itself be cornered or captured but always comes up with some sort of response, or even better, knows how to devise yet another query.  It always knows how to avoid the snare and to escape the threat of defeat.  How consistently it maintains this is understood by everyone who knows himself well.  What the Heidelberg describes here takes place in everyone’s life: wrestlin...
Read more

His Eye is on This Sparrow

Image
Jesus also preserves me in such a way   that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head;  indeed, all things must work together for my salvation.  For the Bible Tells Me So... John 6:39,40 “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”  John 10:27-30 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”  2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.  1 Peter...
Read more