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Question 98-99

  Question 98: Then, can't those images be used as teaching aids in church? Answer: Yes. We shouldn't try to be wiser than God. God wants his people to be taught not by dumb idols, but by the preaching of his living Word. The image of God is Christ. The invisible image is made visible. Colossians 1:15, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." Each church community portrays Jesus in various ways. They portray him as Jesus Christ preaching the gospel, Jesus Christ on the cross, and Jesus Christ resurrected. No church would call these images idolatrous.   Question 99: What does the third commandment require of us? Answer: We are not to blaspheme God, nor to use his name in cursing, perjury, or unnecessary oaths; nor by being silent bystanders to such terrible sins, nor to participate in them indirectly. In short, the commandment is that we are to use God's holy name in all our words and deeds, confessing our faith in him, p...
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Question 96-97

  Question 96: What does the second commandment require of us? Answer: We are not to make any images of God in any way, nor to worship him in any way other than as he has commanded us in his Word. The second commandment is slightly different on the first and second stone tablets. Exodus 20:4-6 “ You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth … ” Deuteronomy 5:8-10 “ You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth … ” The first stone tablet forbade making for themselves images in the sky, on the earth, in the waters, or above. The second stone tablet forbade making images not only in the sky, but also on the earth, under the earth, in the waters, or in the waters. The first tablet forbade making images in the mind, w...
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Question 95: What is idolatry?

  Question 95: What is idolatry? Answer: Idolatry is trusting in or creating something to possess instead of, or alongside (equal to), the one true God who has revealed himself through his Word. Spiritually, idolatry is making oneself a god. The greedy desire to display one's own righteousness is idolatry. Colossians 3:5 says, "Therefore put to death your earthly members: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." The members of the earth are the old self. The old self's most essential desire is wealth. For a believer to claim to serve God while also serving wealth is spiritual adultery. Matthew 6:24 says, "No one can serve two masters: either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." The essence of greed is a love of the world, self, and sin. Those who are in Christ have died to the world with Jesus Christ, have deni...
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4. Christ in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (1) Exodus

  4. Christ in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy   (1) Exodus ① Moses Moses shares many similarities with Jesus Christ, to the point where he foreshadows him. He was similar to him from the moment he was born into this world. Matthew 2:16 "Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the Magi, was exceedingly angry. He sent out and put to death all the male children in Bethlehem and in all its districts who were two years old and under, according to the time which he had carefully determined from the Magi." The pain of death began from the very birth of Jesus. Exodus 1:15-16 “ Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one named Shiphrah and the other Puah, saying, ‘ When you assist the Hebrew women in childbirth, look at the birth canal. If it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live. ’” To save him, Moses' mother placed him in a reed basket and set him adrift on the Nile River. This basket, called an ark, was likened to the ...
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Question 94: What does God require in the First Commandment?

  Question 94: What does God require in the First Commandment? Answer: That I must avoid and forsake all idolatry, magic, and superstitious sacrifices, and all prayers to saints or other creatures, on account of the danger of losing my salvation; that I must rightly acknowledge and trust in the one true God alone, humbly and patiently desire to receive all good from Him, and love, fear, and honor Him with all my heart. In short, that I will never do anything contrary to the will of God. The First Commandment: You shall have no other gods before me. People of the world worship gods by their own names. Even believers call their gods "God." But is the God they envision truly Jehovah God? God is not distant; He approached the Israelites in various ways. Yet, the people perceive Him as a fearful God. When Moses went to Mount Sinai to receive the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, they made a golden calf idol and worshiped it as God. In this way, people in the world wor...
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Question 93: How are these commandments divided?

  Question 93: How are these commandments divided? Answer: They are divided into two parts. The first part teaches us how we should live in relationship with God, and the second part teaches us how we should live with our neighbors.   Most believers connect the two commandments of the New Testament to the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament. The first commandment connects to the first five commandments of the Ten Commandments, while the second commandment connects to the second five commandments. They make this simple connection without even understanding the true meaning of the commandments God gave. The Ten Commandments teach us that people are sinners who have turned away from God, but Jesus' two commandments speak of the life-giving resurrection. The Ten Commandments of the Old Testament foreshadow Jesus' death on the cross, while the two commandments of the New Testament foreshadow Jesus' resurrection. Therefore, the old self, the sinner, must die, and we must ...
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