August 27 – LD 35, Day 1: The Sin of Image Worship

1. Exodus 32:1-19

In the first commandment, we learned that God alone must be worshiped. We must not imagine that there are other gods besides him, and we may not worship them. All our trust for salvation must be in Jehovah alone.

Now, the second commandment adds to that by telling us how we should worship Jehovah. God not only tells us that He is the only God to be worshiped, but He also tells us how we ought to worship Him.

The sin of the second commandment is image worship. In image worship, people create an image, which they say is a representation of the true God. They then say that by worshiping this image, they are worshiping the true God. In making an image, there is an attempt to bring God down to man's level, to a position where He can be perceived with the senses and understood with the mind; where He is not so majestic and transcendent, but where He is tangible, and where He can be understood in our terms and on our terms.

1. Israel, with Aaron, built the golden calf at Mt. Sinai, they were guilty of the sin against the Second Commandment. They attempted to set up an image as an object of worship that would help them to think about and be able to relate to Jehovah. This was the same sin that Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern Kingdom, committed when he built golden calves at Dan and Bethel and told the people that, rather than going to the temple atJerusalem to worship Jehovah, they could come and worship these images.

Image worship is “will-worship.” It is worship of God which stems from man's own desires. Man dictates to God the terms on which he will worship Him. Man does this because it is the easy way to worship God. The true worship of God is difficult work for man. Not only is God not material, but he is majestic, transcendent, heavenly, holy and of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Man is a sinner. How much easier to bring God down to his level, than to have to worship God as He is.

This explains why Israel worshiped God with the golden calf. They had heard God's voice thundering from the mountain, and said to Moses, “You speak with God, and then tell us what He has to say.” Then, when Moses was gone, they attempted to bring God down to a tangible, physical, visible, comfortable level.

Today, many churches worship God in much the same way. They want their worship to be palatable to man. They cater to what they think the audience might like. They are “seeker sensitive.” In all this, what God says about how He ought to be worshiped is ignored, and man dictates to God the mode of worship.

In our worship of God in the church, we must be very careful to worship Him only as He has commanded in His Word.