Say ‘No’ to Idolatry: The Second Commandment Part 02

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: ⁵Thou 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; ⁶And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments — Exodus 20:4-6

In Part 01 of the 2nd Commandment, we learned that idolatry is very wrong.

First, because it uses human reason to describe God on their terms;

Second, idolatry leads to the worship of creation, rather than the creator.

Third, it is a deficient and substandard form of worship.

We now continue to outline the case that idolatry is ‘dead wrong.’

Fourth, idolatry makes God jealous. The Hebrew word for jealous is ken-a. This term applies to God and God alone. It means that God has no rivals, since there are no other gods but Him. Idolatry means that His creation, made in His image, seek to create rivals of God through their own misdirected creative work. Remember the distinction between covetousness (which is the subject of the 10th commandment) and jealousy. The former seeks to obtain out of pure greed something that belongs to someone else. Jealousy is the emotion one experiences when they are about to lose something or someone that rightly belongs to them. For example, Jack covets Marilyn, the wife of Joe. Joe is jealous that he will lose Marilyn to Jack. True, Bible-based, Spirit-filled worship belongs to God and God alone. Anything else is delving into the dangerous trap of idolatry.

Divine jealousy is not some ego-trip; it is truly love in action. God is jealous for us, not from us. God knows that when people focus on Him, they get forgiveness of sins, the new birth, the gift of eternal life, and an immeasurable inheritance. Idolatry hijacks the idolater and diverts them to a pathway of death and destruction. Idolaters hate God and will be punished to the third and fourth generation.The second commandment is designed to spare us of this grief. True worshippers who love God and obey His commandments will receive great mercy.

After the Babylonian captivity, the Jewish people appeared to have learned their lessons and forsook the idols of the past, like the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. In fact, they understood the last days apostasy preceding the Messianic kingdom would be called the ‘abomination of desolation’ (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15; II Thessalonians 2:3-4). And what is this? The one-world antichrist figure will have a statue of himself that will be set up for worship. In the Book of Revelation, there will be an image of the beast who will come alive, speak, and slay all who do not worship him. This is idolatry on steroids!

TO BE CONTINUED