Do Not Make Idols

Leviticus 25:54-26:1 – “‘Even if someone is not redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. “‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 11:44 – I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground.

Exodus 20:4 – “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

Psalm 97:7 – All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols—worship him, all you gods!

John 4:24 – God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Application:

• ·         Israel was to be totally consecrated to God. Because of who God is and what He has done, His people must dedicate themselves fully to Him.
• ·         The Bible probably does not forbid making statues, but it does forbid worshiping God in any material form.
• ·         Because God had no visible form, any idol intended to resemble Him would be a sinful misrepresentation of Him. Since other gods are not to be worshiped, making idols of them would be equally sinful.
• ·         Joy should be given to all who acknowledge the Lord; shame and disgrace to those who trust in the false gods.
• ·         The place of worship is irrelevant, because true worship must be in keeping with God’s nature, which is spirit. In John’s Gospel truth is associated with Christ, a fact that has great importance for the proper understanding of Christian worship.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV