Whenever the second commandment is broken it is because the first already has been. When we reject the invisible God above, we embrace a visible god beside. We prefer tangible images because we can wrap our heads around them. We can't bear the idea of having our heads wrapped up into something else, however. We are allergic to being consumed, so we reject the omnipresent, transcendent God in favor of one that is present at my preference, immanent only when I care to imagine it.
"We would rather have an image we can control, because we can put an idol over here, dress it, and speak to it. This is the major distinction between the one true God and the false gods of the Old Testament -- while the pagans speak to idols, the one true and living God, who has no form, speaks to His people." -- Albert Mohler, Jr., The John MacArthur Handbook of Effective Biblical Leadership
Words are authoritative. They require understanding, belief and obedience,. There is no denying a word without denying it altogether. But an image can be discarded. It can be handled. It can be modified. It's nose can be cut off without despising its face. It can be painted, positioned, put away or put on display. But one thing it can never do, is speak.
1 Corinthians 12:2
You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols
Idols are mute. They cannot give instruction, so we fill their mouths with our own words. We put soliloquies in their mouths and our hands up their backs in order to move their mouths as we speak. When we are led by idols, it is merely us moving ourselves. Idols are silent, it is we who speak. Idols are empty, it is we who fill their mouths with words. Idolatry is ventriloquism. Some pull it off better than others, but none pull it off without putting words in someone else's mouth.
Jeremiah 10:5
Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field and they cannot speak
But God speaks. The second person of the Trinity is the eternal Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among us. As such, words carry a weight that cannot be easily displaced. Words don't wait at the back of the closet until you're ready for them. They hang and haunt and hound. They do not go gently into that good attic. They insist on being heard and acted upon. So we stop listening or do our best to clog our ears with cotton balls. We put our hands over our ears and raise our voices in order to drown out the sound.
Acts 7:57
But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.
Zechariah 7:11
But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.
But if we refuse to listen, we're no better off than godless pagans. If we reject the God who speaks because we do not like His words, we don't get different words, we get silence... and lots of it.
1 Kings 18:29
And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.
"Just think about those haunting words for a moment, and consider where we would be if God had not spoken. We would be in the same predicament as those pagan priests." -- Albert Mohler, Jr., The John MacArthur Handbook of Effective Biblical Leadership
If we reject God's Word, we are left without help or hope. We have no idea what we're doing, why we're doing it or where it's all going. We are alone and without a word to guide us. We are ranting and raving and cutting ourselves and crying out for answers or a word of advice, but there will be nothing -- no fire, no revelation, no reply, no word, no nothing. Without God's Word we have dead animals on dead altars offered in the name of dead religion by dead people with dead hearts.
In other words, without the Word, there is only dead silence.
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