It Starts Small

⁴ Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. ⁵ Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands. Exodus 20:4-6

As Moses was on the mountain something interesting happen with the people:

32 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods^[a] for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!”

² Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, “Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” Exodus 32:2-4

We have to stop for a moment and consider why would the Israelites build an image of God to worship. For more than 200 years, they had been enslaved by Egypt. All of Egyptian gods had images. They were in statues, temples and even adorned on the Pharaoh’s crown. They had been exposed for more than 200 years to the idea that gods were an image. They watched the egyptians bow down before the carved images of their gods. So what had happened was Moses was on the mountain, and they feared he was dead. SO they asked Aaron, the chief priest to make an image for them to worship. Seem innocent, right?

It would have been except they had received the 10 commandments and God specifically told them to not do this! God prohibited them from worshipping other gods and from worshiping idols carved to represent Him or His creation.

All of the surrounding nations beyond Egypt used carved images to represent their god or gods. God did not want His people to worship their gods or to make images of Himself to worship because He was teaching the people that He was set apart from all of the other false gods on earth. Not only was He set apart, he was to be worshipped differently.

God was also communicating to us that while we can know Him through the way He reveals Himself to us, we can never truly or fully understand all of Him. We can not capture one image of Him because we will always miss the mark. If we make an idol and worship who God is, we miss worshipping who God has revealed Himself to be. It is making an image of God in what He is rather than Who He is!

We do not need to rely on our own conception of who God is because He has already revealed who He is in Jesus!

³² And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him. John 1:32

All of God dwelled in Jesus. Jesus was a perfect reflection of His Father in heaven! Jesus is God in the flesh and perfectly embodies God’s good law on our behalf. Through the death and resurrection, He gives us perfect obedience before God. If we know Jesus, He lives inside of us through the Holy Spirit helping us to obey God and through that obedience, embody who God is.

God does not need us to create an image of Him because Christ is that image.

²⁹ For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Romans 8:29

Something to consider today, Why can we not capture the fullness of God’s image?

Do you have idols you worship and attend to more than God? Anything that comes before God or captures our love and affection over God can become an idol we worship.

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
¹⁶ For everything was created by him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through him and for him.
¹⁷ He is before all things,
and by him all things hold together.
¹⁸ He is also the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have
first place in everything.
¹⁹ For God was pleased to have
all his fullness dwell in him,
²⁰ and through him to reconcile
everything to himself,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace
through his blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 1:15-20

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Part 1: God’s Holiness Revealed
Part 2: Depending on God
Part 3: Image of God
Part 4: What is in a Name?
Part 5: Resting in God
Part 6: Lifelong Honor
Part 7: Living in Unity
Part 8: Following a Faithful God
Part 9: Work and Generosity
Part 10 Honest Justice
Part 11: Transformed Hearts