Being Satisfied With The Unseen – The Second Commandment

Being Satisfied with the Unseen

The Second Commandment

Exodus, 20.4, 5; Deuteronomy 5.8, 9

“You shall not make for yourself a carved 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. You shall not bow down to them or serve them…”

We worship what we cannot see.

The Apostle Peter commended the faith of the churches in the north of Asia Minor because, as he put it, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Pt. 1.8). They worshiped and served Jesus Christ even though they had never seen Him in the flesh and did not at the time of Peter’s writing see Him. It pleases God not to reveal His countenance, or His appearance, to His people, but only to allude to the grandeur, majesty, might, and glory of His being by metaphors and other forms of suggestive language. There are good reasons for this, not the least of which is that, in our present sinful, albeit redeemed state, we could not bear the appearance of God and live. His glory would simply reduce us to non-existence. We must await the day of our own glorification before we will be sufficiently renewed to be able to see the Lord face to face and know the fullness of joy and pleasures forever more that go with that (1 Jn. 3.1-3; Ps. 16.11). Besides, if we could see God, then where would be the need for faith? Worship is an act of faith, and it strengthens faith to enter into the worship of God without actually seeing Him in any kind of physical or material way. The second commandment, therefore, reinforces the necessity of being content to worship God, Whom we cannot see, in the ways that are pleasing to Him – the ways of faith.

What role does faith play in your own worship of God? As you enter into worship, how aware are you of the unseen things of God?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.