This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Jesus and the Law” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 22, 1986.
About this sermon
The second commandment concerns the covenant as well as images, and it shows both continuity and discontinuity between law and gospel. The preface in Exodus 20:2 roots that covenant relationship, and it has three aspects.
Sermon transcript
Our scripture this morning is from Deuteronomy, chapter four. We will be reading the first twenty verses. Now therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish it from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor. For all the men that followed Baal, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go possessing.
For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great to have God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great to have statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, lest they depart from thy heart from all the days of thy life, but teach them thy son and thy son’s son.
Especially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God at Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my word, that they may learn to fear me all the day, that they may live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
And he came near and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire, reaching into the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire, and you heard the voice of the Word, and from humility alone you heard a voice. And He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform—ten commandments—and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the Lord commanded me at this time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might do them in the land to which you are going to possess it.
Therefore, make for yourselves good deeds, for you saw no form of any kind on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you corrupt yourselves and make for yourselves a carved image, or the 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 or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, and showing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any 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. Thou 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 to the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy to the thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
Now, Lord, we pray ourselves before You. And, Father, we pray that Your word, as it is read and declared, may take hold in our hearts, that we may be transformed by this living word, for Your own name’s sake. Hear us, we pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.
The progression has been good. We have been preaching on Matthew’s gospel. We have now come to the conclusion of that gospel, and we have seen that Jesus gave specific command to His church, that the church is, in fact, to carry the message of the risen Christ to the ends of the earth, that the nations themselves might become disciples. And this discipling focuses upon the commandments which Jesus Himself has given. In order to understand those commandments, we have then gone back to Matthew 5, and there we have taken stock of Jesus’ statement concerning how those who are called by His name are to live. Out of this has arisen the subject at hand: Jesus and the Lord. Not merely a subject, but Jesus and the Lord.
The reason for the difficulty, I think, is plain. On the one hand, we want to hold on to what we might call a principle of continuity: that our Old Testament and our New Testament coalesce, that they hang together, and that they do not contradict one another. Therefore, we are not among those who would say that there is an absolute distinction, even an antagonism, between the law and the gospel. We are those who would say: we find the gospel in the law. We also say there is law to be found in the gospel. Now having said that, have we said enough?
By no means. For while we want to hold fast to this principle of continuity between the Old and New Testaments, we also want to appreciate the principle of discontinuity. When Jesus came, was anything the same? The answer to that question is no. Nothing is the same since Jesus came. Not even the law. So while we are holding fast to the thread that runs from Old to New Testament.
At the same time, we wish to appreciate the profound significance of the coming of Christ and what that means. We must therefore appreciate the message that Christ brings, a message that has an effect even upon the world. Those are the basic points. I hope it is clear to you.
But what do we do now with the commandment? To take up the commandment in light of these principles that we have articulated is a very difficult undertaking indeed. We have made an effort to understand the first commandment. Yes, as that commandment still has binding force upon us, nevertheless, it must now be understood in light of Christ and His appearance. Can the Jew truly live by keeping the first commandment?
May God help you. Even if you turn to the other side, for a moment, pause and consider the nature of sin, and the fact that no one can keep the law of God perfectly. Yet, gradually, this Old Testament Jew had at his disposal a self-sufficient system by which he might stand righteous before God. Given all of that—given his diligent efforts, given the sacrificial system—if he could, in any sense, say what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3: “Before the law, I will claim him.”
So, it may be that, strictly in light of the provision of the law for his forgiveness, yet even that height to which he had attained, that clarity of vision which he had as a Jew, serving God as best he could, now, under the first commandment, he, in that condition, disobeys God. Why? Because, you see, for God, in keeping with the first commandment.
That God before whom he is to have none other is not simply the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Nor is he simply the God who has delivered Israel from Egypt. That God, now, is the God and Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ with the Father. Jesus Christ, being the Son, is exalted to the status of equality with the Father and with the Spirit. So no, no other god will do such a thing. Be ye even the God of Abraham, the God of Israel. No other god will do it, but this God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The second commandment, this one, you have read it. It is before you in Exodus, chapter twenty. As we consider the first commandment, seeking to understand its specific intention, so we now approach the second commandment. How do you assess the second commandment? What do you do with graven images, likenesses? How do you take hold of this command from the Lord? Let us ask the question: What is the precise significance of this commandment? What we are doing and what we are to do is the precise significance of this commandment. It is a declaration, an affirmation of the spirituality of God.
Over against the idols that are mentioned—the carved images and the lightning—over against these idols, the makers and the crafters, God and images. The fact that they are made by human hands from the substance of visible things. Over against all of this, there stands the invisible God.
A God who is spirit and not material substance. Is that the focus of the commandment? Is it an affirmation of the spirituality or the invisibility of God? Or is the specific significance of this commandment the manner of worship to be offered to, before, the true God? That is, when it comes to worshiping the true God, He is not to be worshipped by any visible representation.
Is that the specificity? Now, note, I am not saying that these questions which I have addressed are inconsequential or meaningless. I am not even saying that there might not be application from this commandment concerning righteousness. The issue before us, however, is this one.
Is the precise significance of this second commandment the spirituality of God, the manner in which God is to be worshiped, or both? Although we may speak at length about the spiritual nature of God and the proper way to worship the true God, neither of these points is the precise focus of the Second Commandment. This may be surprising, for I know that most of us have spent time studying the catechisms, have engaged with traditional Reformed theology, and have considered the standard interpretations of this commandment. It often seems that when we come to this commandment, the issue before us is precisely the points I have mentioned.
The spiritual nature of God is invisibility, but even more than that. The manner in which the true God is to be worshiped, as emphasized here, is known as the regulative principle—that we are not permitted to include in our worship anything that God has not explicitly commanded. I stand by that principle. I stand by it.
I even affirm that this commandment has application in that direction. But the issue at hand is this: what is the specific focus of the commandment as it was given to Israel? The specific focus of this commandment is the exclusive bond. The exclusive bond that now exists between God and His people. That is the point. That is the power. First of all, that is the focus. I will say it again.
The specific focus of this commandment is the exclusive relationship that now exists between God and His people. Do you know what this exclusive relationship is called? It is called the covenant. The covenant. This exclusive relationship has been established. It is something that now exists in the realm of history. It is something that is a reality in a way that it was not before.
Because it is the result of a gracious, presumptive act of God. On behalf of His own people, His church, if you like. And that is the power of verse 2 in Exodus 20, and why you cannot understand the commandment properly unless you grasp that second verse and take it in for all that it is worth. That preface stands there for a reason. So that you might read all the commandments that follow in light of that statement. And I cannot overemphasize this.
The covenant, Paul, the exclusive covenant, is now established in a way that it was not before, and that by the direct, gracious, redemptive act of God. God has done something, and therefore the commandment, contrary to what the liberals have told us, is not a set of bright ideas that occurred to Moses at some point in his life, while he was in the wilderness of Sinai, tending sheep, or a reflection upon his life when he was in Egypt, and then the construction of ideas, a philosophy of life, a philosophy of ethics, that he may have developed from those experiences. What is here, presented before you, is not in keeping with what the liberals have tended to say. Rather, what is here is because of the direct, the direct impact of God.
Something has happened. A historical event has taken place. And that makes all the difference. This covenant established by God, the consequence of His direct intervention in life and in history, now mandates the exclusive relationship between Him and those whom He has raised. That, then, becomes the focus of the commandment—the exclusive relationship between Him and those whom He has chosen. This exclusive relationship exists between God and the redeemed.
Emphasize this specific commandment in three ways. First of all, God’s people are to make, construct, or fabricate no rival deity. They are not to create any rival deity. The issue here is the making of a god. The language of the commandment itself refers to great fashion images, such as the various things that are listed.
But you see, the force of such action by Israel or by an Israelite is a breach of the exclusive bond that exists between God and His own people. It is also a denial of His redemptive work. Do you hear the voice of the Israelites? It was not Yahweh who saved us from Egypt.
It is Yahweh who sustains us, who gives us the produce of the earth, who provides what we need. Rather, you hear what they say: It is in God that we are born. It is God who gives us life. It is God who saves us. It is God who delivers us. God’s people are to make no rival creator, no rival deity. The creation of rival deities is an act by which people turn away from God and turn toward other gods. The language here in the Second Commandment.
Is reflective of the relationship that takes place between the husband and the wife in a marriage. Therefore, what is in view when the people of God forsake their God and turn to gods they have made is spiritual adultery and an attack upon the union that exists between God and His people. Therefore, God says, I am a jealous God. God speaks of Himself here as a husband to His people, jealous for their love. In the third place, we are also confronted with the absolute seriousness with which this exclusive relationship between God and His people is understood by the people. God’s jealousy, you see, is not harmless, trivial, or insatiable.
For you see how He expresses Himself at the conclusion of the commandment. A specific reference is made to the working out of His jealousy in wrath. A wrath that comes upon those among His people who have turned to rival deities of their own nation.
I think, with regard to this familiar phrase at the conclusion of the second commandment—“visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me”—how we have ordinarily understood this phrase. As if it were intended to be a limiting concept. If our descendants can merely endure to the fourth generation, then the punishment will be removed. Pray that God may spare the fifth generation. For when the fifth generation comes, may they dwell with us, and our children will return.
Is that truly what the Lord is saying here? I believe one thing that helps us understand this passage is how the phrase about quarreling appears, without any mention of generation. The reference to showing mercy is not about that. In fact, it is not good for him. And I believe you see that in the first part, there is no way this can be understood as comprehensive. What Moses is writing here, and what the Lord intends, is not some idea that if we can just make it through this generation, then we will be free from trouble and revival will follow. No, not at all.
In the Hebrew understanding of generations, there were only three: the fathers, the sons, and then their sons. That is all there was. You heard from your fathers and you taught your children. There were only three generations. And what the Lord is saying here, in effect, is that there are no more generations beyond the third or fourth. Therefore, you are utterly cut off. My covenant is such that if you forsake me, you have condemned yourselves eternally. And there is no definition. There is no rest for me today. What is happening today in theology? What have the pressures from National Geographic and anthropological studies brought upon us? Have they not told us that cultural practices, apart from the gospel, are plain, interesting, and tremendously instructive?
They have value, and that value is to be preserved, not revived. This applies to the making of images and the worship of the Word of God. But what of the people of God? Clearly, in the new day brought by Jesus Christ, the focus is now on the ends of the earth, not just a small area in the corner of the Mediterranean world. The gospel will go to the ends of the earth for the transformation of nations. And as it does, it will confront the other worshippers of the world. But the focus of the commandment is precisely upon the people of God and the way in which they conduct themselves.
And you may say to yourself, well, the Church is going forth, but I am not aware that the Church is incorporating into its midst the manufacturing of deities, the creation of God, or the making of idols for itself. There is, however, a new solitude upon the face of the earth. As the Church goes forth, it is not so much a matter of returning to images and idols, but rather of incorporating thought patterns, attitudes, ideologies, superstitions, and attitudes toward magic within the very fabric of the Church itself. All of those things that were associated with image worship in the Old Testament are now incorporated into the practices of the Church.
If I think in this way about the commandment, it is not the manner of worship that was the specific focus of the commandment. But it certainly has application. The Church goes forth, and as it does, we see the incorporation of pagan practices into the habits and attitudes of the people of God. And we consent to this. And we take it lightly. This should not be.
In fact, when Christ speaks in the book of Revelation to the church of Ephesus and charges them with leaving their first love, it is precisely this point that He has in mind. It is not that they are running off to the local cave temple. But what they have done is to bring the practices of the Satanic temple into the Church and away from God. Their compromise in worship constitutes leaving their first love.
And because of this, Jesus speaking to that church said, “Repent, or I will remove your lampstand from its place.” The language of the Church, found here in this commandment, then occurs with no uncertainty in the ear of the gospel, and certainly with the spirit of the Holy Spirit.
Let us be sure that as our church worships, we are on our guard and keep our stance firm against spiritual threats. Dear Father, we realize that your church has been commissioned to the ends of the earth, and as it goes forth, it confronts the cultures and attitudes of this world, where the creation of idols and images has been a way of life. Lord, we pray that as the Church makes progress, many will be reclaimed from such practices, as we hear of. And Lord, we pray that your servants may be powerful in presenting the gospel and the message of the true God, so that your people, your elect, may be called forth and gathered into one. But as they are gathered, we ask, Lord, that there might be no room for practices that were known in the past.
Instead, in the newness of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, may there be a celebration of the Spirit, and may there be great delight. And Lord, may we be encouraged by the vision of that great celebration—a celebration that comes on the wings of your Spirit and in the power of your word.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.