“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. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

~ Exodus 20:4-6

There once was a kindergarten teacher who asked a young boy in her class what he was drawing. The boy, completely focused on his work, kept scratching away with his crayons and replied, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” The teacher, now smiling, responded, “But nobody knows what God looks like.” The boy stopped mid scribble, put his crayon down, and said, “They will when I’m done!”

Clearly, like so many young children, this boy had no idea what he was talking about (I’m a father of three small kids, I’m allowed to make that joke).

There are no images in this world that can accurately depict the One True God. God is invisible, not visible. He is infinite, not limited. He has a voice and is not speechless. He is incomprehensible, unable to be sketched on a kindergartener’s paper or crafted in the finest kiln you can image.

This 2nd command would have been extremely apropos for the Israelites because every nation that surrounded them at that time had images of gods that demanded to be worshipped. As we’ve advanced in our archeological ways, we’ve uncovered all sorts of images of ancient gods, including gods from the Canaanites, Babylonians, Ammonites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, and Moabites, to name a few.

Do you know what we have not unearthed in our archeological quests? Images of Yahweh. That is because God forbid any objects, even objects of Himself, to be worshipped. There is only one God, and no image will suffice to either represent Him or take His place.
God was, and continues to be, His people’s ultimate provider in times of need. The nations that surrounded Israel had their own means of sustenance. They would go to those images of false gods to get what they desired: food, crops, babies, power, comfort. Those images represented a god that they thought would fill a void in their life.

But those images never filled that void. Only God can do that.

So, when there is a void in our life, do we turn to God or to idols? While it is perhaps easy for us to look at our life and think we do not make for ourselves graven images to worship, perhaps there are idols in our lives we are guilty of seeking out in order to fill a sort of emptiness we feel.

Do we spend more time at our favourite coffee shops, watching sports, playing video games, reading comics, shopping for brand-name stuff, fighting in political issues, or even doing good things like cultivating the land, serving our community or even focussing on how we worship rather than actually worshipping God? All of those things can become idols if we aren’t careful.

What’s fascinating right now, in this time of COVID-19, is that we may find many of our idols have been stripped from us. We can’t watch sports, go to our favourite restaurants, or go shopping whenever we want. Perhaps we are finding that these voids in our lives are getting even bigger right now.

May I encourage you that no matter what season we are in, these voids in our lives can only be filled by God our heavenly Father. His calling for us in this 2nd commandment is to do away with all of the things that we may turn to for comfort instead of Him. Maybe this is a season where our idols have been taken away from us for a reason. Maybe this is the perfect time to give back our time to Him.

There are many things in this 2nd commandment we could talk about. We could continue looking at the idols of our culture, how images still play a large role in our modern idol worship, or why God’s jealousy is a beautiful thing. But there is a phrase in this command that calls for more of our attention.

God says that failing to adhere to this second commandment will cause God to punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generation. Generally, people don’t love this. It seems like a harsh and, honestly, a pretty unfair consequence! Why should innocent children be punished for sins committed by their parents or even great grandparents?

There is a logical reason for this statement. Three to four generations equal about one lifetime. If you live to be the cliché three-score-and-ten years (seventy years), then you will likely see a young fourth generation within your life. It also means you will carry some influence over those three to four generations. So, if you lie to your kids, your kids will learn to lie, both to you and their kids. If you gossip with others, they will also gossip. The reality is that your life will be modeled by those who look up to you, and three to four generations could be affected. This happened in Israel too. If you want evidence, just read the book of Judges.

However, that isn’t exactly what God was getting at here. The whole generational statement from God reveals an amazing truth! God says that if we fail to keep this command, He will punish the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation, but show love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.”

A thousand generations of God’s love to those who love Him! A thousand generations! For reference, there’s 61 generations from Adam to Jesus. A quick search online says there’s been between 26 and 101 generations since Jesus. And while that is an enormous spectrum of generations for the internet to throw out at me, at most we’re talking 162 generations from creation until now. Even if you want to double that number, compare it to 1,000!

This is not a statement we are supposed to read literally. It’s symbolic! We are not meant to look at these numbers and calculate how long our punishments will last or when God’s love will kick in. God is not keeping a score of our sin or a record of how many people must be affected because we screwed up. And God is certainly not waiting for the fallout of our sins to reach our great-grand-kids before He shows us His love once again.

No. God is exaggerating here to make a point!

God is saying that our sin will last a moment, but His love will endure forever. This is the gospel message embedded in the second commandment. God loves His people so much, that He redeemed us all from the sin that so easily entangles, and He sent His son to wear our sin on the cross and rise to defeat it all. Only our Loving King would speak of sins in terms of a moment but love in terms of an eternity.

During this season of Lent, especially now during Holy Week, let us remember God’s promises of love and grace to a thousand generations, symbolized for us this week by a cruel cross and an empty tomb. Also, let us think about what idols we may be guilty of going to for comfort, because God loves us more than we will ever know.

Questions to Ponder:

1) What idols creep into your worship life?

2) How does this second commandment resonate with you during this season of Lent?

3) In what ways does God’s love to 1,000 generations affect your life today?

Devotionals
The 10 Commandments