The Second Word

Exodus 20:3-6 You shall have no other gods before My face. 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 nor serve them. For I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Your mind is an idol factory. If you only had to contend with he temptation to worship wood and stone figures your life would be easy. However, your mind makes an idol out of everything. With your lips you confess that you worship God alone, but your mind and actions tell a different story. Money is the greatest American Idol of all time. With your lips you claim that you do not worship money, but what happens when gas prices go up? or food prices? or you lose your job? What happens when the stock market crashes? Why do you think that you would be happy and content if only you had just a little more? Yahweh does not say that we can have a collection of gods with Yahweh at the top. You shall have NO other gods before His face. You take the good gifts that Yahweh has given you and worship them. Family, work, and career become part of your idol collection. The modern church practices missiolatry. The church is constantly diverting its eyes from the worship of the Lamb on the Altar and engaging in idolatry.

From the time of the beginning of the New Testament church, the church argued over whether or not images could be made of Christ. One side argued that since the commandment prohibits making images of God and Jesus is God, we cannot make images of Jesus. The other side rightly pointed out that the prohibition existed because God had not taken any form when this commandment was written. God did take form in the incarnation.

Deuteronomy 4:15-19 Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.

Philippians 2:7-8 Instead, He emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave and being born like other human beings, and being recognized as a human being. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Yahweh says He is a jealous God. Yahweh does not want us looking for help from anyone or anything but Him. Through the Lamb on the Altar He is the only one who can help us. Yahweh does not tolerate idolatry. Sins get passed down from generation to generation. But God's mercy is infinitely greater. The Lamb on the Altar is the ultimate expression of God's mercy and love. God's love is displayed towards all whose robes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. The Lamb is the only one who has kept Yawheh's commandments.