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.’”

Any depictions of God – in word, music, or other form – that do not conform to Scripture’s use of such devices, or that do not encourage an expansive vision of unseen things, cripple the eye of the heart rather than engage it, keeping it from functioning as it should and making us dependent in our worship on created things rather than God Himself.

As in everything else in the life of faith, God reserves the right to define the terms of our experience – what He will approve and use for our blessing – and He has been pleased to reveal as much as we need to know about such matters in His Word.

We shall have more to say about the proper way of worshiping God as we unpack the rules and statutes which attend the second commandment.

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