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Exodus 20.4-6
“You shall not make for yourself a carved 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, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Deuteronomy 5.8-10
“‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.’”
The Westminster Catechism reminds us that “God is a Spirit, infinite and eternal…” He is not bound by any limits beyond Himself. The worship we owe to Him is thus unlimited and qualified only by our growing knowledge of and love for Him. The more we grow in the Lord, the greater our love for Him will be, and the more complete and satisfying our worship will become.
Idols, on the other hand, create limitations, forcing our ideas of the infinite God into images constructed by our own finite and fallible minds and contained within the parameters of the object we have made. Contrary to what we may suppose, such images, because they limit and constrain our understanding of God, do not enhance worship but actually confine it and, at the same time, bring the honor of the uncreated God down to the paltry substance of created things. While there is a place for representations of God in the arts and in education, in worship all such representations must be set aside, leaving our hearts and minds free to search the infinite depths of the holy God under the guidance and tutelage of the Spirit of God alone.
Order a copy of The Law of God from our online store, and begin daily reading in the commandments, statutes, testimonies, precepts, and rules of God, which are the cornerstone of divine revelation. Sign up at our website to receive our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell, written by T. M. Moore.