42.v. “Wilderness” – 7.d. Sinai – “You shall not make for yourself a carved image”

 

Exodus 20:4  “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.

 Leviticus 19:4    Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the LORD your God.

 Leviticus 26:1    “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the LORD your God.

 Deuteronomy 4:15  “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully.

 Deuteronomy 4:23  Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you

 Deuteronomy 27:15   “‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’

 Psalms 97:7    All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols;

 Isaiah 42:8   I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.

 Isaiah 44:9   All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.

 Isaiah 45:16    All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together.

 Jeremiah 10:3  for the customs of the peoples are vanity. 

 Jeremiah 10:8-9    They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood!

 Romans 1:23   and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

 Revelation 9:20    The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,

God would have no likeness made of Him, no representation that might cloud the conception of His entire separation from matter, His purely spiritual essence. (Ellicott)

As the first commandment forbids the worship of any false god, seen or unseen, it is here forbidden to worship an image of any sort, whether the figure of a false deity or one in any way symbolic of Yahweh. (Barnes)

“After declaring in the first commandment who was the true God, He commanded that He alone should be worshipped; and now He defines what is His lawful worship” (Calvin). “Thou shalt not make to thyself a likeness and any form of that which is in heaven above,” etc. עשׂה is construed with a double accusative, so that the literal rendering would be “make, as a likeness and any form, that which is in heaven,” (Brown)

There is no God but Me. Don’t worship or place in worship anything but Me. Also, don’t make an image of Me or anything else, and indeed don’t worship it. We may find this type of worship foolish and even a bit old fashion. No one in the western world would do anything like this.  Maybe some satan worshipers or others hope to find peace of mind through some eastern religion. For the most part, we think this is foolish to fashion an idol and place it in our home or church to worship it. The western world is far above this, but I might say, much further away from knowing God. The western world, for the most part, denies God, things of God, and the Word of God. They say there is no God and then live a life that is void of Him and any worship of Him.  The idolaters at least try to have a god to serve – howbeit ever so wrong and God-defying.  No, the western world is a place of self-reliant enlightenment.  In this, they find what the world has to offer pleasing and though it never seems to satisfy an inner hunger, they keep chasing after it. Their idol is things of this world and what it has to offer. Though they may not make it an animate object of worship, it is an inanimate object of worship.  

Note the verses above to those who deny and reject God and His commandments.

34.w. “And God Said, “Let There Be….”

 

Genesis 1: 3-26 And God said, “Let there be light,” And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.”And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

Deep within each and every soul is a God-given yearning for purpose and meaning in their existence. Each soul will choose a path or paths to search out for themselves. Some may see God’s creation with awe and wonder giving praise to the Creator and then being led by the Holy Spirit come to an understanding of their Creator, His Holiness, their sin, and the need for redemption, and follow down the path that brings them to faith in Jesus Christ. Others seeing God’s creation have the same awe and wonder but reject the fact God created it, or for that matter there even really is a one and only God, and they follow down paths that are self-led or led by others with worldly wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, and with no thought about God. 

Just as there are millions of souls who have found purpose, meaning, peace, and rest for hearts, minds, and souls by faith in Jesus Christ and following, obeying, serving, honoring, and glorifying Him, there are a million times more who go through life to the grave denying and rejecting God, the Word of God, and salvation, redemption, and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. They have no lasting purpose and meaning for their lives and at the end of their days, they die unsatisfied and wanting more. The world offers many distractions and means to deaden the soul’s desire for true purpose and meaning.  It offers; fleshly lust, pornography, drugs, alcohol, prosperity, position, power, worldly wisdom, knowledge, greed, etc…..Not only does it offer these lies as a means of satisfaction and purpose, but it also promotes and condones them in the hearts and minds of those doing them. 

God created you with a purpose and meaning for your life. He has given you free will to choose either a purpose with soul deep meaning, satisfaction, rest, peace, joy, comfort, and hope, or to choose that which gives none of these though the world and flesh say it does and will. 

God so loved the world (His Creation) that He gave His one and only Son to redeem them to eternal life and give them purpose, satisfaction, and meaning, if they would but believe in Him, Trust Him, Follow Him, Believe in Him, Rely on Him, Obey Him, Serve Him, Honor Him, Worship Him, Praise Him, and Glorify Him with all their heart, soul, and mind. For this purpose they (we) were (are) created. Blessed is the soul that finds purpose and meaning through Jesus Christ.