Podcast: The Trouble with Statues

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“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.”
-Exodus 20:4

We’re continuing our look at the Ten Commandments, and already, with number two, we’re going to run into some problems, because people number the commandments in different ways. Some include this one in number one, saying we are forbidden from making images of false gods. Others say, no, you shouldn’t make images of the true God. It is a separate commandment.

I’m taking this as a separate commandment, but even if you don’t agree, this is still going to apply to you. A warning against making images of God is repeated in Acts 17:29: “Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.”

The Bible tells us not to make images of God. Why is this important? I mean, what does God care if we build Him a little statue or paint a picture of Him? Shouldn’t He feel honored that we want to do this for Him?

I’m reminded of a very funny Simpson’s episode where Homer is searching for a gift for his wife, Marge. He decides to get a bowling ball, measured to his hand and with “Homer” engraved on it. Marge was understandable furious. Obviously, he had bought the gift for himself, not for her.

I think a lot of our worship is like that. It’s more for us, not for God. God tells us over and over again in Scripture that He is not a man, but Spirit. He does not want us to depict Him like a man. But we do it anyway. Why? Because that’s the way we want it.

And in this we prove that we’re not worshiping at all, but only entertaining ourselves. It’s like we’re buying a gift for God, but it is measured to us and it has our names on it.

But this goes deeper. When we make an image of God as a man, we are trying, in essence, to make God in our image. But we have it backwards. We are made in HIS image. When we bow down before a golden idol, we are bowing before a creation of a creation. But God is the Creator of all things. “God is spirit,” Jesus tells us, “and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Should God be honored with our efforts, no matter what they are? Why would He be? He told us in His Word how He wishes to be worshiped. If we ignore His wishes and instead worship as WE would rather, then why would He be honored by that? Would you be honored if you were given a bowling ball measured to someone else’s hand and engraved with that guy’s name?

Lastly, any effort we make to depict God as a man falls short. We tend to depict one aspect of His glory at the expense of all others. Someone will depict Him as a comforter, and someone else as a judge, and someone else as creator. But our efforts fall so short of the truth.

Nothing shows that so clearly as when God did come in the form of a man, Jesus Christ. All the wonder of God was wrapped up in a man, and He was rejected. Why? Because the people had for so long been trying to form God in their own images that they did not recognize God when He walked right up to them.

They were expecting a God interested in the things they were interested in; they were expecting a God that agreed with them. This is the danger when you start making images of God. More often than not, you are only making images of yourself, and you may not recognize God when He stands in front of you.

If you are worshiping your own idea of what you would like a god to be like rather than God Himself, repent and believe in Him. Turn to the real Jesus and seek out what He is really like. You will be forgiven.