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In His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stated, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, even the least commandment, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Mt. 5:19) Throughout the entire message, Jesus was explaining and expounding and magnifying the Ten Commandments. He was showing that this spiritual law was a living law--like the law of gravity, when you break it, it breaks you.
We have seen therefore, that when men or nations break the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," they bring an inevitable penalty of suffering and wretchedness upon themselves and their posterity. Men cut themselves off from the source of their being, from the purpose of life, from the laws that would give them happiness, peace and joy. Men cut off from the true God are empty, frustrated and miserable. And whether by the awfulness of war, personal violence, sickness or simply the rotting of corruptible human flesh, the ultimate fate of all men cut off from God is an ignominous death--with no hope or promise of eternal life thereafter. (Rom. 6:23, Rev. 21:8) Man is incomplete, then, having cut himself off from the true worship of the true God. Yet he is to worship that God alone. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
The Second Commandment tells us about how to worship the true God, what pitfalls to avoid in our worship, and of the continuing blessing or penalty that comes as a result of the way in which we worship Almighty God. "Thou shall not make unto thee no graven 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 shall 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 unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me: and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Ex. 20:4-6)
The natural mind of physical man cries out for something to help him in his worship of God. He wants some physical object to remind him of the invisible God--some aid to worship. Yet that is exactly what is forbidden in this commandment.
Jesus said, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." (Jn 4:23) Notice it is only the "true" worshipers who are able to worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Many others attempt some form of worship but, because they limit their worship by a false concept of God, it is largely in vain. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. (Jn. 4:24)
The instant a man sets up any representation of God, he denies that which is essential in God. God is the essence of all power, all wisdom, all love. God is limitless. When man erects a mental or physical image of God, he automatically limits, in his own thought and worship, the God who will not be limited.
Many times God warned Israel against any form of idolatry. "Make you no idol or 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. I am the Lord your God." God was continually against every form of idol image used in worship.
Let us pause at this point to note that God does not condemn art or sculpture, but rather the setting up of any picture or image or representation to bow down unto it. In the original command in Exodus 20:4-6, God is not condemning every picture and image, but as the command states, "Thou shall not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them." So it is the use of art or sculpture as a form of worship or aid to worship that God condemns.
Notice that this Second Commandment is not speaking of the worship of an idol--that's forbidden in the First Commandment. This Second Commandment forbids the use of physical "aids" or help in worshiping the invisible God. No man who really knows God as his Father--no man who is living in daily communion with Him needs a picture or image to help him to pray. If a man thinks he needs this kind of help, it is simply because he has not come to know God--and undoubtedly is not filled with and led by the Holy Spirit of God.
In order to worship God in spirit, you must have the Holy Spirit. God gives His Holy Spirit only after repentance and baptism, and only to those who obey Him. (Acts 2:38, 5:32)
Thousands of professing Christians employ representations or pictures of so-called Jesus Christ in their worship and even display them in their homes. What does your Bible say about such pictures? First of all, the Second commandment itself obviously prohibits the use of anything which represents God or could easily become an object of worship. Certainly, since Jesus Christ is God, this would directly prohibit any picture or likeness of His person.
In addition, for those who might wish to reason or argue about this point, these so-called pictures of Christ have no similarity whatever to the way Jesus Christ really looked. Jesus, when in human flesh was a Jew. (Heb. 7:14) The features in most of His supposed pictures are obviously not Jewish. As the Word of God, Christ inspired the Apostle Paul to write: "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a man has long hair, it is a shame unto him? (I Cor. 11:14) Yet these pictures invariably show a man with long hair, soft feminine features and sentimental sanctimonious look in His eyes. This is not the Christ of your Bible. Actually, Jesus was undoubtedly very masculine in appearance. As a young man, He was a carpenter--working outdoors. And He continued spending most of His time outdoors even during His ministry.
So most crucifixes, pictures and images of Jesus are in total opposition to every description given of Him in the sacred Word of God. They give a false impression of the true Jesus Christ in every respect. Jesus' face must have had a rugged sunburn appearance. He must have had short hair. But as He inspired Isaiah to describe His human appearance: "He hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." (Isa. 53:2) As a human being, Jesus was a normal healthy, perhaps somewhat rugged-looking young Jew in His early thirties, who with earnestness and conviction preached the message of God's soon coming kingdom or rule over this earth.
However, if we think of Jesus' appearance at all, we should think in general terms at least, of the way He looks today. He has described this for us in Revelation 1:14,16: "His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were as a flame of fire---and his countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength." As very God, Jesus' face now shines with radiance and with power. As a human being, you would not dare to look directly into it!
If you use such images or pictures of Christ you are breaking the Second Commandment. And you are greatly limiting your concept of the living Christ who now sits glorified at the right hand of God in heaven with His face shining like the sun in full strength. God commands, "Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Rom. 12:2) This command seems very hard to obey for people who get to thinking that other people must be right in what they think, say and practice.
The Bible shows that many people in Jesus' day failed in their worship. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. (Jn 12:43) If you blindly obey the dictates of your family, your church or society instead of the direct commands of God, you are guilty of idolatry. That group or institution becomes an idol to you in place of the true God! The Bible directly warns that people of our day would have a form of Godliness, but deny the power thereof. (II Tim. 3:5) The true God is the invisible, eternal creator and ruler of the universe.
How should you worship the true God? You must worship God directly--and with a humble and willing heart. You must study God's word, willingly be corrected by it, and tremble before its authority over your life: with a heart proven to be submissive through repentance and obedience. You must pray to God in heaven many times each week on your knees and in silent prayer as you go about your daily tasks. You must come to know God as your Father. As Enoch, Noah and Abraham did, you must learn to "walk with God" --and be in constant and increasing communion and yieldness to Him throughout every day of your life.
We have seen that God forbids the making of any image or idol to represent Him. God calls men into His own immediate presence--to worship their creator directly. Men can come to really know the great God of the universe as their personal Father. They can walk daily with Him and talk with Him. Whenever a man stops short of that face-to-face worship of the eternal God, he is working ruin in his own character--breaking the commandment of God. This is the meaning and force of the Second Commandment.
