The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
Another historic statue bit the dust on July 10. Along with several Confederate statues, Charlottesville, Virginia, opted to remove one of Lewis and Clark with their guide and interpreter, Sacagawea. Decades ago it was touted as an honorable representation because it included the important role of a Native American and a woman in the western expansion of the United States. I find it strange that someone would think a piece of bronze sculpted more than a hundred years ago defines who she is today, but testimony to that effect is the stated reason for the removal.
Now the memory of Sacagawea’s work is demeaned in woke cancel culture, the honor of a historic moment besmirched because it involved flawed humans. Can any human who has ever lived claim to not be flawed? The only perfect human who ever lived was the One who died on the cross to redeem us from sin, Jesus Christ. He was not only human but also God incarnate, the only one found worthy to redeem us.
In modern western culture, monuments are historic reminders of people and events designed to prompt recognition of important facts in our history. Throughout our history as a nation, artists have been commissioned to capture moments in history using stone or bronze as a medium so that the piece would outlast everyone involved. Their purpose was not to worship these statues as gods, but that we not forget our true history, errors and all.
In ancient Greece and Rome, the statues of heroes were primarily carved of stone. While many of them portrayed the history and mythology of those people groups, they were most often considered deities used in religious worship and appeasement rituals.
Early in their history, the Hebrews were commanded by God to be different in many ways from the other ancient nations surrounding them, primarily in terms of not making idols to worship. It was such an important commandment that it was the first of the Ten Commandments given to Moses: “I am the LORD your God, which have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make unto yourselves any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, nor that is in the earth beneath, nor that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down yourself 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, but showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments” (Ex. 20: 2-6).
Instead of statues as historical monuments, they had a rich oral history that required retelling at frequent intervals and as part of special feast days. The history was written down numerous times in the Old Testament as part of the retelling for both celebrations and significant turning points for Israel’s repentance.
This instruction about idols is reiterated numerous times throughout the Old Testament and shows up in the New Testament as well. In Romans 1:19-25 Paul writes of the physically invisible attributes of God demonstrated in all of His Creation: “…that which may be known of God is manifest in them (i.e. humans) for God has shown it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse because, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God neither were thankful. But they became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
Unlike the ancient civilizations around them, the worship of Israel was without images or idols. Their worship was carefully laid out by God early on in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple. It involved singing praises, special cleansing and clothing to denote the separateness of the priests from what did not have to do with God, and sacrifices on an altar, with no physical representation of God connected to it. The Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies was the only physical place God would meet with men in general, and that was only with the High Priest once a year. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the curtain separating the Holy of Holies tore from top to bottom and the exclusivity of priestly intercession for the people was removed. Since that point, all people have personal access to prayer directly to God. He was the ultimate sacrifice to end the need for any further blood sacrifice.
As born-again believers, our monument to God is the Remembrance Feast, also called “Communion”, “Breaking of Bread”, and “The Lord’s Supper”. 1 Cor. 11:23-34 repeats the instructions of Jesus before His death to do this in remembrance of Him as often as you are together. When I was growing up we had a dedicated Breaking of Bread meeting first thing each Sunday morning, before Sunday School and the main Sunday Service. I miss that time each week in which several men shared Scripture, as they were led by the Holy Spirit, what God had given them during the week in their personal Bible study. This form of Remembrance Feast has become less manageable with the advent of mega-churches, but in small groups it is still practiced among many Plymouth Brethren chapels.
The shared concept of a 1 Corinthians 11 Lord’s Supper celebration is the absence of images or representations in any form of God except the designation of symbolic bread for His broken body and grape juice for His shed blood. We serve the Lord God Almighty who “…is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).
