Two:
Images
Let’s talk about images, then. In the early history of the Hebrews, ‘graven images’ was a big deal. I think most of us have at least a passing familiarity with this: God really had a thing about graven images. The Hebrews lived among nations that regularly crafted images for worship, and they were sometimes drawn in. Aaron’s golden calf is a good example. Such things, back then, were the norm. But God had called the Hebrews apart from the norm; He sought to make a nation better than all the others, and a people peculiar unto Himself (a treasure). God wanted a people that lived closer to the truth. With that in mind, one can see that the Lord’s commands were more than just arbitrary restrictions.
Exodus 20:4 shows such a command, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." We today have images all around us; we have fine art and we have cheesy home interior. They are things to look at, and so we wonder: ‘what was the big deal about images’. Deuteronomy 16:22 shows us God’s very human opinion toward them, "Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the Lord thy God hateth." The next question, necessarily, is why does God hate the images? Surely, they’re no threat to God - they are inanimate objects, but the next verse will give us several important clues in this regard. They are important because they lead us beyond the obvious. Deuteronomy 5:8-9 says, "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me."
This is actually a famous verse. It is famous for its use by non-believers. They use it to point to what they see as cruel and arbitrary in God - that the children must pay for the sins of the fathers. The word ‘sin’ is of a different flavor than the word ‘iniquity’. ‘Iniquity’ points more toward double-dealing than toward simply breaking the law, as implied in the word ‘sin’. This comes from the Spirit. Therefore, the word ‘iniquity’ speaks of agreements and covenants. To answer the non-believers, the iniquity perpetrated by the fathers is not an isolated thing, but a thing taught and perpetuated down through the generations. The children are actually punished for their own iniquity. When the father makes and worships a graven image, all kinds of things are going on. First, the Hebrew, having entered an agreement with God, breaks it fully knowing that God will take it as a hostile act (...Them that hate Me...). Second, by the very act of worshiping a corporeal object, a man turns his back on our spiritual God. With all the effort God invested in the Hebrews to lead them from slavery and take them as His own, such an act may be viewed as theft (...for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God...). One can only be jealous of what truly is in His possession. Third, on top of the iniquity of covenant breaking; on top of the sins of rebellion and theft, to teach your own children to be the enemies of God is simply ignorant and uncaring of the good of others. The above verse gives us a beginning clue of how directly related the corporeal is to the spiritual.
We can see then that there is a connection, from our actions, that crosses over into the spiritual realm. It anchors into something: does scripture give a clue? See Revelation 19:20, "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."
I had mentioned a covenant. The Hebrews made an agreement with God; promises were made on both sides. Terms were set. This was the agreement by which the Hebrews were exalted above all other nations; they belonged to God, and would bask in His favor so long as they kept their end of the bargain. For the Hebrews, there were only two places to be: with God as God’s own, or with the other nations, who were at that time out of favor with God for such things as idol worship. God warned His possession, His "peculiar treasure", in Deuteronomy 4:23-24 "Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." A ‘consuming fire’ is a thing that spreads in direct relation to the fuel offered to it. If you put a fire in a field of brush, it will consume everything that is dry and dead.
This study is currently exploring ‘images’, both corporeal and spiritual. It has looked at the corporeal image; taken note of God’s stand on the issue, and examined some of the reasons involved. We have gained an understanding of man’s relation to a spiritual God - that God has attempted to lead His people toward a proper relationship. We have seen that idol worship is a relationship toward the other end of the spectrum. Now we need to place our gains in a framework. When we put our previously studied ‘reasons’ within the framework of a higher reason, a new level is attained. It is like knowing where you live by way of daily familiarity, but then to stand on a hilltop and see where you live within a more concise context and from the vantage of an overview. Leviticus 26:1 reminds me that man is the image of God, "Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God."
Man is the image of God; perhaps that is why Christ said that seeing Him was seeing the Father. Perhaps that is why scripture called men gods (John 10:34-35). However, the artisan took rocks and trees and carved things that looked like corporeal flesh, and bowed to that. Now, the next verse to be cited may seem to cast an unrelenting barrier between God and His image on earth, but it does not. Those who might try to assert that it does are comparing apples to oranges. No, the verse merely contrasts the corporeal with the spiritual. Romans 1:23 says, "And(the workman) changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things." Man, not man’s image, is the image of God: the ‘likeness’, to put it in another familiar term. Yes, to see a man is to see God - but not so much the flesh (and here I add another level to our vantage point) as to the part that can be communicated with: the mind: (...If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture can not be broken...). That is why God has such disdain for the crafted image, as we see in Hosea 8:6, "The workman made it; therefore it is not God."
We know that God did not prohibit all graven images, 2 Chronicles 3:10, "And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold", only those images that will, through ignorance, cause a man to turn away from God. Why would God ever want or need us to craft images of God? He did that, Himself, when He made us. Romans 1:23, above, spoke of the ‘glory’ of God. With the next verse, I add again a level to our comprehension of man’s relation to an invisible and uncorruptible God. 1 Corinthians 11:7 says plainly, "man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God."
In being the ‘image and glory’ of God, man is still, nevertheless, corporeal (a shadow of what he can be). On this issue the Christian faith, though prominent, is not the only faith to hinge upon the aspiration for a spiritual evolution. Man, as a being, has studied his spiritual nature since time immemorial. That the corporeal is a mere marker along our way has never been a ‘what if’ scenario. 1 Corinthians 15:49 puts it thusly, "And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." The Christian hope for this is a lively hope; it is a well defined concept upon which millennia of serious thought has been dedicated, and a topic of interest voluminously recorded. The pivot on which our understanding of these matters swings is the life and death of God as a man. Romans 6:5 states, "If we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection."
We have seen that man is the ‘image and glory’ of God. Preeminent of all men is God as a man: Jesus Christ. After all, when one looks into a mirror, the reflection is one’s own. In putting such things together within a framework, as this study attempts to do, a higher vantage point for perception is attained. Things may now be seen in a new light; as part of a bigger picture, and sweet as that is, greater discoveries are still to come. We look into the mirror for a glimpse of God; we find that the reflection is not God but us. Then the realization hits home that the mirror, and all else as well, is God. Colossians 1:15-17 astounds us, "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." We consist of God; we are made up of God particles. Both the spiritual and the corporeal consist of God. We are a level (powers) in the cosmic order created by Christ. Strong meat, indeed. But here, we must stop and take a step back. In order that all may realize the truth, a reasonable effort must be applied to the gradual transition upward, building level upon level.
