The Second Commandment and Our Worship

Heidelberger: Lord's Day 35

NOTE: This sermon was delivered to Grace Covenant Church on July 21, 2024 in the Lord’s Day morning service. You can watch the video here.

Introduction

I am a product of the public school system. In some ways, I’m almost ashamed to admit it. In other ways, I say that somewhat proudly as I am an evidence of God’s grace in the midst of all sorts of ungodly and foolish indoctrination. Being a product of the public school system, education was much more of a visual practice than anything else. Everything was taught by pictures. Our books had colorful, engaging pictures. Our math lessons had 2 dimensional pictures. Even our language arts lessons had images to “help” us. Many of the pictures went away as I got older, but not all of them. The visual element was still present. Fast forward to 2010, and my wife, who is in college for mid-level education at the time, informs me that she wants to homeschool our children. I am fine with the idea. I assume she will purchase a curriculum that mimics what is taught in public school classrooms and keep track along with that system so my children do not “fall behind” whatever that means. Early on, it wasn’t too different. I watched my 3 year old daughter doing things at her high-chair that I can remember doing in daycare and kindergarten. But, a few years into the endeavor, things changed drastically. My wife was reading full-length books to her. She was learning math with real money and doing word problems that I did not encounter until those standardized tests they made us take came along (you know, so we wouldn’t get left behind). I watched my daughter, and her little sister right behind her, and now my son as well, and soon my youngest child engaging with so-called adult-level content. To this day, Susannah and Caroline have read books that I’m ashamed to say I have not read. Susannah’s math just crossed over into a realm that I am finding it difficult to help with. There isn’t an interaction that goes by with a complete stranger where their intelligence level is not complimented. And, lest you think this is nothing more than a chance to brag on my family’s approach to homeschooling or my children in general, I know this is the case with most homeschool families out there. And, most of it done without the aid of images.

This experience, however, was not unique to the so-called secular aspect of education. I immediately began to see carry-over in the biblical education of my children as well. This perhaps became clear as we began memorizing the children’s catechism while simultaneously reading The Jesus Storybook Bible. We had also watched animated films like The Star. I noticed my children were gaining a better grasp of systematic theology from the catechism than they were at remembering the biblical narrative. We would read a story from the Bible and it would be jumbled up in their memory with details from the creative license Sally-Lloyd Jones or some movie employed. It was at this point that mine and my wife’s approach to homeschooling our children blended with our biblical education of our children. And one of the consistent themes was the minimizing of the use of images; reserving them for areas where images are actually the point such as art study.

So, here’s a question for us to ponder as we come to Lord’s Day 35 of the Heidelberger: How has this use of images impacted us as Christians? I don’t want to come off as ignorant on the history of this subject. I know the debate about images in the Church goes back long before the public school system. But as the doctrines of the reformation continue to make headway again in our culture, it is our experience in that realm that will most impact our views.

The Second Commandment

Lord’s Day 35 addresses the second commandment which goes like this.

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: 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; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6)

Question 96 of the catechism gets straight to the point of this commandment.

Q.What is God’s will for us in the second commandment?

A.That we in no way make any image of God nor worship him in any other way

than has been commanded in God’s Word.

The subject of the second commandment is clearly put forward here in this question and answer. God is not speaking against artistic expression. In fact, the arts have a long-standing place in the life of the Christian Church. At times, the artistic expression has stumbled into violating the principles put forward in the commandment, but, nevertheless, we are not advocating for a rejection of artistic expression here. We are however, along with the authors of this catechism, rejecting the use of such things in worship.

Worship being the primary subject before us, the catechism begins with artistic expressions of God himself. We are not to make any images of God. Why? This is answered for us in God’s words to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 4:1-19.

There we read that when God spoke to the people at Mt. Sinai, they saw no image, but only heard a voice (vv.12, 15) The logic is quite simple from here. Why are we not to make images of God? Because God said so, and because God has not revealed himself this way, but rather through his spoken Word.

Furthermore, if we were to make an image of God, what would it look like? As God has said in Deuteronomy, no image was seen. So we really don’t have anything to go off of for this carving or painting, do we? Isaiah picks up on this point in his prophecy when he says,

To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. (Isaiah 40:18-25)

Any image we would make of this God would be inadequate at best and slanderous at worst. In any attempt to capture his image, we simply find ourselves claiming to be wise, but becoming fools, and “exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” (Romans 1:22-23)

And what would be the point of making such images if not to worship them? The second part of question 96 addresses this as well. We are not to worship God outside of the pattern that he has put forth for us in his Word. To do so is to be guilty of the same sin as Nadab and Abihu.

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. (Leviticus 10:1-2)

And lest we think that getting knit-picky about our obedience to God is merely being legalistic and overstating the case, let us remember the condemnation brought on Saul by the mere bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen. (1 Samuel 15:1-21) And Saul’s rebellion and attempt at justifying himself received this response:

And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:22-23)

Simply put, God cares about how he is worshiped. And he has prescribed how he is to be worshiped in his Word. We would do well to obey him.

At this point, the rebellious heart will find itself asking a question like the one put forward in question 97.

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

A.God cannot and may not be visibly portrayed in any way. Although creatures may be portrayed, yet God forbids making or having such images in order to worship them or serve God through them.

The way the question is framed gets to the heart of the problem. When we are told something from the Scriptures that goes against what we have grown most accustomed to, we feel as if something is being taken away from us; as if we are being robbed of some opportunity. But, we must remember that both when God instructs in what to do and in what not to do, he is not taking from us, but is graciously offering something to us. He is offering communion and fellowship with him. Things that he has not prescribed do not aid our worship, they hinder it. This is why the people were told to tear down the idols of the people they conquered in their conquests of Jordan.

But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: (Exodus 34:13-14)

Our edition of the catechism has a footnote that provides a nice bridge for us to a specific aspect of this topic: namely, images of Jesus.

Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he 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 any that were before him. (2 Kings 18:4-5)

You might recall that the bronze serpent was instituted by God through Moses. It was a prescribed image. It was given in light of the people’s murmuring against God and Moses, and thus their punishment of being bitten by venomous serpents. They were to look to the snake so as to not die from the venom. However, no further instruction was given regarding the bronze serpent. Yet, we read here in 2 Kings 18 that the people had begun to worship it and burn incense to it. I believe the point here is that the bronze serpent’s purpose was complete, and therefore it was no longer needed. Yet, the people, in their superstition, kept it and made their own use of it. Now, let us recall what the bronze serpent was a type of. We learn from John 3:14 that it was a type of Christ. Particularly of Christ’s crucifixion.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. (John 3:14)

Think on how our use of images of Christ correlates to the people’s use of the bronze serpent. Roman Catholics hang crucifixes on the walls of their home and wear them around their necks. Even some protestants do the same, either not realizing the Roman Catholic connection, or simply not caring one way or the other. We excuse such practices as “harmless”. Protestants do the same with nativity scenes at Christmas and children’s bible storybooks. But, the question must be asked: Why do we do this? If it doesn’t matter, then take it down, and throw it away. But, tell someone to do this, and you will immediately be met with a variety of degrees of opposition. Appeals will be made to sentimentality, to the arts, to setting a Christian aesthetic in the home, etc. But, we aren’t worshiping it, right? (insert smirk here) “It is harmless and by no means is the reason I am responding with such emotional fortitude!” Right…

Just as the Israelites needed the bronze serpent for a particular season and purpose, so we too needed the crucified Christ. But, now, after we have believed, we need the risen Christ. We need the ascended Christ. We need the interceding Christ. We need Christ to come again and rid the world of all sin once and for all. At this point, someone with great wit and not a bit less snark will reply, “So, we should use a crucifix for evangelistic purposes only?” To which I would simply respond with the Apostle Paul, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10:17) not by images of the crucified Christ.

Question 98 drives this point home.

Q.But may not images, as books for the unlearned, be permitted in churches?

A.No, we should not try to be wiser than God. He wants the Christian community instructed by the living preaching of his Word—not by idols that cannot even talk.

That really is what’s happening, isn’t it? We are trying to be wiser than God. We have become like our pagan forefathers to whom the preaching of the cross was folly, so we decided to substitute it with a picture. But the Gospel (which is a verbal declaration, not a depiction), is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe.