July 21, 2007
Newsletter Archives

Right at the very start of God’s revelation of Himself to the Jewish people, He gave specific instructions as to what He permitted in their worship of Him. At Mount Sinai, God gave the Ten Commandments and, in concise and unmistakable terms, the second commandment lays out God’s prohibition of image making and image worship. There are two parts to the commandment. Part one commands: “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.” Exodus 20:5.
The centuries following only underscored the absolute necessity for such prohibitions. The nation was plagued with the disease of idolatry for most of the Old Testament period of approximately 1000 years. The Lord did allow a certain amount of symbolism for their tabernacle and temple worship. But He alone prescribed and limited this as He saw fit. He knew the human heart and knew that symbols that are used to promote worship of God often become the objects of worship themselves.
The history of the Christian church over the last two millennia has only confirmed this pitiful fact. Hence in the New Testament Christian church there are only three visible symbols of divine things. In Christian communion, the symbols bread and wine are used to commemorate the suffering of the Lord Jesus for human sin. And the water baptism of Christians is used to show that those who are baptized have already trusted Christ as their Savior and are making a public declaration of this reality.
It is vital to highlight, however, that these are only symbols. They have so saving value in themselves. Those who participate in communion or baptism have been saved already. No work of righteousness-even if it is sanctioned by the Christian community-has any saving value. Salvation is only the mercy of God to those who trust Christ as their Savior. This is why the apostle Paul wrote: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.” Titus 3:5
Hence, trusting symbols is a fatal mistake. Symbols and symbolic acts can never save us; they were only intended to point us to the Lord Jesus who can.

Russ Nesbit