You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,Thou shalt 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;thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me,
3 sermons cite this verse
… definitions. The scripture says, it offers us a warning and an understanding of modern life. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make yourself an idol. You shall not bow down to them, you shall not serve them. Scholars speak of this scripture as one of the defining covenantal demands of what we call the Torah or the Old Testament. There is to be no competition or a free market where we split our time between multiple little gods. There is inherent in scripture a monogamy, asking the people of Israel to make a commitment Commitment to the God who brought you out of enslavement and cared for them through the wilderness. An idol would be the shifting of one's heart and spirit along with one's physical resources to one who has not been committed, to one who ain't done nothing in your life. It is Eric Fromm, that psychoanalyst who talks about an idol, an image, or an alternative to our ultimate concern fashioned by our hands that needs to feed our ego but does not feed our soul. …
… 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 for I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. the heidelberg catechism lord's day 35 question number 96 you can see in your bulletin summarizes and explains the principles behind this second commandment what is god's will for us that we in no way make any image of god nor worship him in any other way than has been commanded in God's word. I'd like to say it this way this evening, the holy God is jealous for your faithful worship. Let's explain what we mean by that. If we talk about worshiping the living and true God, we are talking about a form of worship that is laid out for us in scripture, not because our God is arbitrary, not because our God loves to set out rules, but because as a jealous God, he wants what is best for his people. He wants to bless us. He wants to feed us. He wants to sustain us week to week as we make pilgrim journeys. And so loving God looks like worshiping him the way that he wants to be worshiped. Of course, God is the authority on worship because he invented worship, …
… There is nothing that we can come up with that communicates the majesty of our maker. Exodus chapter 20, verses 4 through 6. And this text is pregnant with power and theology. Exodus chapter 20, verses four through six. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, 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 nor serve them for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. To give you a little bit of a backstory on this text, God had miraculously led the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. And it's very interesting theologically to understand they were first redeemed, then God resourced them with how to live. So he said, okay, here's where to walk, And here is how to walk. …