Sunday, March 19, 2023 PM

in the second commandment that God gave to Israel when he made covenant with them at Sinai.

So we gave some thought to why that might be given that the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai is a restoring and revealing relationship that he formalized with them as their creator.

It hearkens back to some truths about who we are made in God's image. It is not that God is against images, but he made us in his image and images are not meant to be worshipped, but those made in God's image are made to worship, to give him glory, to exalt him.

And we thought about the importance of the image of God given the covenant that God made with Noah.

And how he specified that there ought not to be anyone murdering anybody else, but we are made in the image of God.

If a beast sheds the blood of one made in God's image, then that beast should die.

We still have laws like that today. If an animal bites a human being, what's the outcome for the animal?

It's put down. Should be. We also have the instruction in God's covenant with Noah about capital punishment.

If a man sheds man's blood by man, his blood shall be shed. For man was created in God's image.

We thought about also the covenant that God made with Abraham and how he was an idolater.

When God called him out of the land of the Chaldeans and how

Abraham laid aside all other gods and all images and refused to be idolatrous.

And then we talked about Israel and Israel's connection to idolatry, which is unfortunately a very strong connection.

What did the prophets tend to preach about? They preached against injustice and immorality, but in the main what they preached against was idolatry.

We read the book of Isaiah or the book of Jeremiah. What are they preaching against?

Idolatry, the breaking of the second commandment. And we thought about why that is.

What happens when we worship idols? There was a book written by Greg Beal.

We become what we worship. We become what we worship. Remember Psalm 115, that those who make idols and worship idols and trust in idols become like them.

Eyes that cannot see, ears that cannot hear. I found a note in one of my old

Bibles on the shelf the other day. We resemble what we revere for restoration or for ruin.

And this is important as we think about the second commandment that we are to make no graven images to bow down before them and worship them.

Well, we are trying to trace the the meaning of the Ten Commandments ultimately in light of who

Christ is. These are ten words about Christ. The Ten Commandments are given in one of the many

Biblical covenants. The covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai. And so we're thinking about how this commandment shows up in God's dealings with his people and its significance to those who are made in God's image.

So now we come to the covenant that God made with David. Now what did God promise David? David was an heir, right?

So David says, I'm gonna build you a house. He says, hold up. I'm gonna give you a house. I'm gonna give you a kingdom.

I will give you descendants. And I promised to put an heir upon an everlasting throne.

And we've looked at that language. But how does the second commandment show up in the life of the kings of Israel, the

United Kingdom, and then the divided kingdom, the northern kingdom of Israel, sometimes described as Ephraim or Samaria, and the southern kingdom known as Judah.

There's a lot of different kings. It's hard to keep track of them. I had a professor. His name is Spencer Ledbetter.

I think he's still pastors in the Oklahoma City area. And he had most of the Bible memorized.

And he would walk into class without notes. He'd have a Bible, but he never had to open it because he just quoted everything.

And he walked up to the chalkboard one day, and he started writing down all the kings of Israel.

And he did the United Kingdom. That's easy, you know, Saul, David, Solomon. Okay, but then he started listing all the kings of the divided kingdom.

Here's Judah. Here's Israel. And he listed them all. And then, out to the side, he started listing the prophets, where they ministered under which king in northern or southern, and just laid it all out from memory.

He had a gift. And as you went through, of course, you could point to the names.

Well, he was a good king. He was a bad king. He was a good king. He was a bad king. Bad king. Bad king. Bad king. Bad king.

Good king. All right. We have those evaluation statements, don't we, as we read through 1st and 2nd

Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles? Evaluation statements about whether or not a king was good or a king was bad.

So, who were some good kings and who were some bad kings? We're not going to be as good as Spencer Ledbetter, but we can try.

Oh, yeah. Josiah, good king. Was that a good king or a bad king?

Very bad king. Jeroboam.

Okay, so is Jeroboam a good king or a bad king? Bad king. Yes, a bad king.

Something like that. Any other kings? Solomon. Okay, is

Solomon a good king or a bad king? We'll put him in the middle.

He was a lot of both, you know. Hezekiah.

He was a pretty good king. Pretty good king. King David.

Asa was a good king. Jehoshaphat, yeah.

Was he a good king or bad king? He wasn't listed as one of the bad kings.

Yes, Henry. Saul. Saul, good king or a bad king?

Bad. He started off kind of okay, but not really.

How do you, what is it? Ahaziah. His name means he who fall through roof.

Okay, well, we have a lot of different kings. Some of them are called good.

Some of them are called bad. What was the main difference between the good kings and the bad kings? Idol worship.

That was the big difference, wasn't it? When the scriptures list the kings, they say, well, you know,

Josiah was after the fashion of David, where he served the

Lord with all his heart, and he put away the idols and destroyed the high places and so on. And then some, some of them will get a ranking of, he's a good king.

And he got rid of some of the idols, but he left some of the high places. He did a clean house.

He just didn't clean it really well. Okay, and then the bad kings would be, oh, they pursued idols, and they did far more wickedly than their fathers before them in pursuit of idols.

And of course Solomon, I mean, you start off with Solomon humble, praying to God, asking him to give him wisdom, recognizing his limitations, obediently following his father's final instructions there at the beginning.

And of course, God uses Solomon to build the temple. And then everything's basically on an upward trajectory all the way through first Kings 10, and then first Kings 11, just and it tells all the ways in which

Solomon sinned. But especially harkening, focusing on all the wives he married, but what was the point?

The point was their idols and how they turned his heart away from the Lord. And that was the major difference between the kings.

Now the kings that were idolatrous, their nation was filled, their nation when they were ruling and reigning, their reigns were characterized by injustice and immorality.

Those things come with idolatry. They are standard symptoms of an idolatrous nation.

Injustice and immorality. But when the good kings were in charge and they got rid of the idols, what was characteristic of their reigns were justice and faithfulness.

And so there was a big difference between the two. And as we think about the relationship the significance of the king in the life of Israel, we think about how the king stood in for all the people.

So if the king did well and was faithful, then the whole nation was blessed. And then if the king stood in for the nation and he did bad, then the whole nation was cursed.

You go back and you read the blessings and cursings in Deuteronomy, where God had made his covenant with Israel at Sinai and then tells them on the basis of the covenant, you know, the

Ten Commandments and so on, that if they were faithful to him, he would greatly bless them.

Blessing upon blessing. And if they were unfaithful and they broke the covenant, he would bring wave after wave of curses upon them seeking their repentance and the turning back to him.

And then when we get to the days of the kings, the focus is, and we still hear about Israel as a nation and so on, but the focus is on the king.

If the king is good, then the blessings of God are upon the nation. The covenant blessings of God are upon the nation if the king is good.

And if the king is bad, then here come the curses. So we see a moment in, so we see this change where there is a focus upon the king standing in for the whole.

Let's think of some examples of that. We recall that Saul wouldn't do something right and then how did the nation fare?

We remember that Saul slaughtered a whole bunch of Gibeonites. That's a problem, right?

Normally if you slaughter some ites, you're doing the Lord's will. But not the

Gibeonites. Can we remember why? Joshua and the leadership had made a covenant with the

Gibeonites. Now they had been deceived by the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites really played their part well.

And they got into a covenant agreement with Joshua and the leaders that the Israelites would not wipe out the

Gibeonites. Well, Saul did not keep that promise and he moved the ancient landmark that had been set down.

And later on there was a great famine during the days of David.

When David had become king there was a great famine. And they inquired of the

Lord and they discovered the reason why the nation was under the curse of God, famine, one of the cursings, was because Saul had done the wrong thing and they had to set things right.

What about David himself? Remember that David sinned? He sinned greatly.

What did he do? Oh, yeah, bathed Sheba, you know. He stayed home during war.

At the very end of David's second Samuel we read that David numbered the people.

That was a prohibition. He was not supposed to number the people and he wanted to know how big his army was. Well, you're not supposed to do that.

And it was such a bad decision, even Joab knew it was the wrong thing to do.

And if you can prick the conscience of Joab, you know, it's a really bad thing that you're doing. This brings on the people, the judgment of God.

Three days of plague and disaster and judgment upon the people. And the angel of the

Lord is standing above Jerusalem, sword drawn, ready to destroy and who's the only one who can set things right?

David. David did the wrong and brought the curses and the judgment upon the nation. Only David can set it right.

And so he goes up to the threshing floor of Arunah. He buys it from him and offers sacrifices to the

Lord on that future site of the temple. And the wrath of God is turned away.

I think it's very important that we see the development of how God is dealing with his people.

We're in, as he was talking to Israel as a whole, now he's dealing with kings standing in for the whole people.

That's really important when we get to the New Covenant. Why is that? Because we have a king that stands in for all the people.

Right? And when Jesus Christ, who is king of kings, stands in for all the people, what does the

Heavenly Father think of his son's obedience and performance as king?

This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And far better king than even

David and Josiah, Jesus Christ fully pleases his father. He bears the curse for us on the cross and that is taken away but what do we have in Christ?

We have the blessings. We have the blessings of God and it's not based upon our performance but upon Christ's.

Right? That's how, that's why it works in the New Covenant. But it's not, it doesn't come out of thin air.

God had been dealing with his people Israel for a long time. The king stands in for all the people. The king stands in for all the people.

The king does well, blessings. King does poorly, curses. Christ does perfectly.

He does perfectly in the place and for the sake of all of his people. Let's see an example, another example that has to do with idolatry.

Okay, so first Kings, sorry, second Kings chapter 21 verses 10 through 12.

This is about the bad king Manasseh. And the

Lord spoke by his servants the prophets saying, because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, he has acted more wickedly than all the

Amorites who were before him. And he also, he has also made Judah sin with his idols.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel, behold I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.

What great disaster would that be? Well, that would be the destruction of Jerusalem in 586

BC by the Babylonians. Hmm. So Manasseh did very, very poorly.

Manasseh did great evil. He reigned 52 years and he filled Jerusalem from one end to the other with innocent blood.

And judgment is now slated on the horizon. Now let's move forward a little bit to second

Kings 23, second Kings 23. And we're reading here in second

Kings 23 of Josiah's reforms, his, his, his bringing about of a national repentance.

And they, they go to every measure that they can to eradicate idolatry from the land.

They, they restored the temple. They, they, the temple was in, in sad, sad repair.

They, they restored the temple. They found the book of the law in the rubble of the temple and that was read and there was great weeping and repentance because of that.

He found every idolatrous paraphernalia within the whole country.

It all got burned and crushed to dust. He took away all the high places. He executed all of the idolatrous priests and he said we're going to keep the

Passover. The Passover had not been kept for a very long time. And he in verse 24 of second

Kings 23, we read, moreover, Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the

Lord. Now before him there was no king like him. Wow, so he even surpassed David who turned to the

Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, nor after him did any arise like him.

Now I want you to notice verse 26. Nevertheless the

Lord did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath with which his anger was aroused against Judah because of all the provocations with which

Manasseh had provoked him. Verse 27, the

Lord said I will also remove Judah from my sight as I also have removed Israel and will cast off this city

Jerusalem which I have chosen and the house of which I said my name shall be there. So during the days of Josiah things were good and yet because of the sins of Manasseh the judgment stayed in place.

So we see a mixed representation of the people of God. The bad kings, the judgment that the bad kings earned, the curses that they brought upon the people would remain and had to be resolved even though good kings would intersperse the bad kings and bring seasons of respite and seasons of blessings, it wasn't enough.

And we see that it's focused on idolatry. The bringing about of idols or the removal of idols makes the real difference.

All right, so why is that so important? Because the king was tasked, the prototype king in Israel described in Deuteronomy, long before a king of Israel ever reigned.

The prototype king in Israel he was not to do the duties of a priest as Uzziah found out, he was not allowed to go in and offer sacrifices himself.

But he was to make sure that the worship of God was correct.

And he wasn't to do the duty of a prophet, but he was to keep a copy of God's Word with him so he would know what

God said. And so the king was to oversee and ensure that proper worship was taking place in the kingdom.

You think of David and how involved he was in the worship of God during his reign.

By the removal of all of the idols and by the king mediating the authority of God and calling everyone to right worship, they're simply serving as the forerunners of Christ himself.

Let's think about who Christ is in relation to the significance of the second commandment.

In 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, a passage we've read and referenced these last couple of Sundays, 2nd

Corinthians chapter 4 verses 3 through 5. We read, "...but

even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the

God of this age has blinded who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ," and now notice the statement, "...who

is the image of God should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the

Lord and ourselves your bondservant for Jesus' sake." Now, Colossians 1 15 says that Christ is the image of the invisible

God, the firstborn, meaning rank, firstborn over all creation.

"...for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him."

And in Hebrews 1 verse 3 says that Christ is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of his person.

So we look at the second commandment.

We recognize that it's part of the Ten Commandments. It's part of this covenant that God makes with Israel.

And we recall that this redemptive covenant is one that restores, it's a restoring relationship and a revealing relationship.

It's a restoring relationship because it's thinking back to creation, thinking back to what

God had originally made, and he made man in his own image. But now man has become idolatrous, and he's making images to worship

God, and God says this has to stop. Stop making graven images by which to try to worship me or worship other gods.

It's also a revealing relationship, this covenant that God makes, because it's looking forward to something else.

It's looking forward to the one who is to come, who is the image of God in perfection, who is

Jesus Christ. Now we have Adam, the first Adam, who sinned, and he fell into sin, and everything about his life became denoted by death.

He was supposed to love God supremely, love others rightly, and steward the creation with righteousness.

But as soon as this relationship is undone, everything is just death. Everything is death.

All the relationships begin to unravel in the life of this first Adam. But what of the second

Adam? What of the second Adam? The son who does all that the father wants him to do, always pleases the father, always says what the father wants him to say, always does what the father wants him to do.

He completely satisfies the perfection and the glory and the righteousness of God.

Well, what did he say? I am the resurrection and the life. Do you want life? Come to Christ.

Come to the second Adam. The second Adam who was even raised from the dead to die no more, who holds the keys to death and Hades.

So, Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. He's the mediator.

There's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. It's through him that we may worship

God. It is through him that we are to know God. Philip says, show us the father. Jesus says, have you known me this long,

Philip? And then you say, show us the father. If you've seen me, you've seen the father. The way to the father is through the son.

He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can come to the father except through him. He is the image of the invisible

God. So, we are not to have any graven image, anything that we have made to worship through, for God has provided how we worship him, and that is through Christ.

He has provided for us to know who he is, not through some image that we make, but by he has given us his son, and it's through his son that we worship

God. Not by anything that we make. Now the, the interesting thing is to remember this.

There's a, there is a difference. We always have to remember this. There is a difference between creator and creation.

This is fundamental. One philosopher once said that what we need to do is learn how to count to two.

Okay, there is the creator, and then there's the creation. These are not the same.

Okay? Now, this may pose a problem, however. How is it that those who are made by God can truly fellowship with the creator?

How can these be so separate, and yet there be some kind of relationship? Well, God in his wisdom gives us

Christ, who is God of very

God, and man of very man. He is the second person of the Godhead in his full divinity, who is taken upon the form of a bondservant, taken on the form of of a man, born of the

Virgin Mary, as a humble servant taken upon human flesh, and so he is of two natures in one person.

So, in the mystery of the incarnation, there is a relationship restored between creator and creation that was undone by the sin of the first Adam.

So, everything that is in creation is given to Christ to rule over.

It all belongs to him. Hebrews says he is the heir of all things. So, everything in creation belongs to Christ, and God has given it to Christ, and Christ is of the

Godhead who is the creator. We read in Genesis, from Genesis to John, we read, in Colossians, we read that God created everything.

We're told that the Father created everything. We're told that the Son created everything. We're told that the Spirit created everything.

That the three persons of the Trinity created everything. God, as one

God, created everything. So, the creator and the creation have their relationship in Christ.

They are not the same. There are two natures in Christ, but they are brought together in a union, a union by which we have our hope of salvation, and by which we understand everything in the world today.

Okay, so it's very important that we not substitute anything for Christ.

For the creature to try to carve an image or make something by which we may mediate ourselves unto

God, by something we make, is by definition a denial of Christ, right?

So, when Roman Catholics make statues of Mary, Jesus, Joseph, and all the rest of them, whereby they hope to make their way to God, this is a denial of Christ.

It is a denial of the Incarnation. It is a refusal of what Jesus said, that he's the only mediator, that he's the only way.

So, we can't make anything. We can't provide anything for ourselves to make our way to God.

God has to give something to us, whereby we may come to him.

We remember that, right? Last story, Jacob Jacob was a deceiver.

Jacob was a trickster. His name means heel grabber, right? Grab somebody by the heel and take him down, and he had tricked his brother by the instructions of his mother, and now there was a death mark on his life, and he's on the run.

He spends the night in a place, and he uses a stone as a pillow, and he has a vision that night.

And he sees a stairway, a ladder that spans from heaven to earth, and the angels ascend and descend upon it, and the message of God, the voice of God, comes from the top of the ladder and declares once again, his covenant promises to Abraham, and he declares them to Jacob, who is the chosen seed of Isaac.

And Jacob says later on, I did not know that God was in this place, and he names the place

Bethel, meaning house of God. And he sets the stone that he used as a pillow, he sets it up as a marker, not as an idol, but as a marker, this is the place where I met with God.

Much later on, when Jesus was beginning his ministry, he met a young man named

Nathanael, who had been under the fig tree, and he spoke to Nathanael about who he was, and Nathanael was pretty amazed.

He said, well, you're gonna, you're gonna be amazed at more than that. You're going to see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the

Son of Man. What did Jesus just do there? He took what happened to Jacob, and he said,

I'm the ladder. I'm the ladder. All of what God has for all of creation is mediated through me.

Jacob saw the angels ascending and descending upon the ladder. Jesus says, you're going to see the angels ascending and descending upon the

Son of Man. All right, so what is he saying? He's the mediator between God and man.

He is the image of the invisible God, so we have to completely avoid idolatry.

We'll talk more about that later, as we look at instructions in the New Testament about idols.

What idols are, in contrast to who Christ is for us and for our salvation and sanctification.

All right, so that's the plan. All right, so let's close tonight by singing the doxology. Praise God from whom?