A Note from Michael Gossett
Confronting Idols
Exodus 20:4–6
“Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands.” – Exodus 20:4–6 (CSB)
The second commandment might seem irrelevant to a modern, secularized world, but the commandment is needed today just as much as it has ever been. Few people today carve statues or bow down before stone figures. Yet while the forms of idolatry have evolved, the essence remains unchanged. The human heart is still drawn to idols and manufactures them daily.
We may no longer melt gold to fashion a calf, but we have learned to craft images in more subtle ways. When the Israelites made the golden calf in Exodus 32, they did not claim to reject Yahweh. They simply wanted a visible representation of Him. They wanted to see what they could control, to touch what they could understand. In the same way, our age has embraced a form of “religious realism” that demands God conform to our categories and desires. We prefer an image we can manage to a God we must trust.
This is why the second commandment is not about ancient superstition but about the timeless struggle between revelation and imagination. The God who speaks from heaven refuses to be remade by our own hands or our minds.
The Nature of Idolatry
The command begins: “Do not make an idol for yourself.” The Hebrew word pesel refers to a carved or engraved image, a visible representation of a deity. God’s prohibition extends beyond worshiping false gods but also includes fashioning any image of the true God for worship.
Why is that? Because God is invisible, eternal, and uncreated. He cannot be captured in matter or confined to form. To make an image of Him is to distort Him, for any physical representation of God is necessarily a lie about His nature. As Isaiah said, “To whom will you liken God, or what likeness compare with Him?” (Isaiah 40:18)
At its core, idolatry is the attempt to localize and limit God. It seeks to domesticate the divine, to render Him manageable, predictable, and safe. But the God of Scripture will not be managed. He is not a product of human imagination. He is the creator who speaks all things into existence.
Every idol that surfaces in our lives most likely begins with an innocent impulse. The impulse that is shared among us is the desire for something tangible. Israel wanted to visualize the God who had delivered them from Egypt. But that desire, left unchecked, becomes rebellion. When we fashion a god in our own image, we invert creation itself. Humanity, made to reflect God’s glory, begins instead to project its own.
The second commandment exposes this fundamental inversion. We were made as image-bearers, not image-makers. Our calling then is not to craft God into our likeness, but to be conformed into His likeness through His Son. This is the second value of our church. Those who are connected to Christ and His church grow in His likeness.
Uncontainable
To understand the weight of this commandment, we must recognize that it protects the transcendence and holiness of God. He is the only One who is uncontainable. In the ancient Near East, idols represented the localized presence of a deity. People believed that the spirit of the god inhabited the image. But the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth, cannot be confined to wood or stone.
When Solomon dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, even he confessed, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you, much less this temple I have built” (1 Kings 8:27). The second commandment guards the infinite majesty of the Lord from being reduced to finiteness.
God reveals Himself through His Word, not through our imagination. Faith is not the art of seeing or visualizing God, but rather it is the act of what is heard through His living and active Word. This is why Deuteronomy 4:12 reminds Israel, “The Lord spoke to you from the fire. You have heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.” God made His presence known through His Word so that His people would never attempt to capture His form.
When humanity replaces the Word of God with images of God, revelation is then in turn replaced with imaginary forms of God. It is at this point that truth is replaced with subjective realities. The result is always spiritual straying and spiritual blindness. Psalm 115 says, “Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.” The tragedy of idolatry is not merely that it insults God, but it begins to deform us. We become like what we worship.
The Jealousy of God
The Lord accompanies this command with this statement: “For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” This sounds strange and is potentially one of the most misunderstood phrases in Scripture. This almost makes the Lord sound insecure or envious. However, divine jealousy is nothing like human possessiveness. It is the righteous passion of covenantal love.
When God declares Himself to be jealous, He is not revealing weakness in Himself, but is declaring His holiness. His jealousy is the protective zeal of a husband guarding the purity of his marriage covenant. In Scripture, idolatry is often described as spiritual adultery. To worship another god is to betray the covenant relationship between God and His people.
This divine jealousy is not only a defense of God’s glory but an expression of His mercy. He knows that idolatry enslaves, that every false god ultimately devours its worshipers. When God guards His glory, He is simultaneously guarding our joy. His jealousy, therefore, is not a volatile emotion waiting to erupt, but is the intensity of His affection for you and me.
In the same way that a loving husband would not tolerate another person in their marriage, God will not tolerate rivals in His people’s hearts. His jealousy then is not about insecurity but intimacy. The one who redeemed Israel out of bondage will not allow them to crawl back into chains.
The Gospel Fulfillment
The second commandment, like the first, finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ. The God who forbade images has given us the true image of God Himself. Colossians 1:15 says, “His the image of the invisible God.” The invisible has become visible in the person of Jesus Christ.
In Christ, God reveals Himself without distortion. Every attribute of the Father shines through the Son. To see Christ is to see God as He truly is, as holy, gracious, merciful, and just. He is not a crafted image but the living Word made flesh.
The irony of idolatry is that it seeks to make God visible on our terms. The miracle of the gospel is that God made Himself visible on His own. And He did so not to enslave us in fear but to redeem us in love.
At the cross, every false image of God is shattered. The gods of power, pleasure, and pride are exposed as frauds. The One who could not be contained chose to be crucified. The eternal Word entered the limitations of flesh, not to be domesticated but to deliver.
Through the resurrection, Christ conquers not only death but every idol that demands our devotion. He alone is worthy of worship because He alone is God incarnate. And by His Spirit, He now writes the law upon our hearts, empowering us to worship in Spirit and truth (John 4:24).
Confronting Idols Today
If we are honest, the idols we serve are often more respectable than the golden calf, but they are no less destructive. Our culture bows before the image of self. Social media feeds the worship of self-expression. Political ideology becomes a substitute religion. Entertainment shapes our desires more deeply than Scripture.
The call of Exodus 20:4-6 still echoes: “Do not make an idol for yourself.” That warning is not only for ancient Israel but for every generation tempted to replace God’s revelation with its own imagination. The church must continually guard against crafting a god who fits our preferences, politics, or personalities.
Christians are not immune to idolatry; we are simply more skilled at disguising it. We baptize ambition as calling, materialism as stewardship, nationalism as patriotism, and comfort as contentment. But the Lord who thundered from Sinai still speaks today. His Word still pierces the heart, shattering the images we cling to and calling us back to Himself.
The Journey’s of Moses 2026
Can you imagine being in the land where the TEN COMMANDMENTS were given? To see Mt. Sinai as we were just discussing? To stand where Moses once stood and experience the power of God in the very places where He revealed Himself to His people? You are invited to go with me on a spiritual journey and trip of a lifetime, October 19-29, 2026.
This trip is designed not just for travelers, but for believers who want to grow in their understanding of Scripture and experience God’s Word in the land where the story of redemption began to unfold.
Experience the Story of God’s Deliverance
- Stand before the Pyramids of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
- Walk through Old Cairo, visiting the site believed to be where baby Moses was drawn from the Nile.
- Sail along the Nile River and visit Luxor, Edfu, and the Valley of the Kings, where ancient rulers were laid to rest.
- Journey through the wilderness to Mount Sinai, where Moses encountered the living God and received the Ten Commandments.
- Visit St. Catherine’s Monastery, one of Christianity’s oldest places of worship, nestled at the base of Sinai.
Each stop along the way will be paired with biblical teaching and moments of reflection, connecting history to faith and Scripture to life.
This is far more than a tour; it is a journey of discipleship and renewal. As we open God’s Word together in the very places where it happened, you’ll see how the faith of Moses, the power of God, and the covenant promises of Scripture all come to life in vivid color.
We’ll worship by the Nile, study at the foot of Sinai, and reflect on how God’s unchanging faithfulness continues to guide His people today. You will return home with more than photos; you’ll return with a deeper understanding of God’s Word and a stronger faith to live it out.
Limited spots are available, so please sign up quickly to reserve your spot! REGISTER HERE!
This Weekend at Green Acres
This weekend I’ll be in Abilene for the Texas Baptists Annual Meeting, serving our state convention alongside pastors and leaders from across Texas. Please be in prayer for me and for all who will be gathering, that the Lord would give wisdom, unity, and a renewed passion for the gospel as we seek to strengthen churches across our state.
While I’m away, you’ll be blessed by faithful preaching across our campuses. John Roach will bring the Word at our Tyler campus, Lanny Bridges will be preaching at Flint, and Fernando will be preaching at our Español campus. We are continuing our powerful series through the Gospel of Luke as we look into detail about the Lord’s mission for His people! Come expectant and you will be blessed by His Word!
As we worship together this Sunday, let’s continue to be faithful in our church budget giving and in our World Mission Offering, supporting the work of the gospel both here in East Texas and around the world.
Thank you, Green Acres family, for being a church that prays, gives, and lives on mission! You are a blessing.
You are loved and prayed for!
Michael Gossett