No one can say that we have nowadays any need of such things. "Behold
I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
If Christ is in our hearts, why need we set Him before our eyes?
"Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in
the midst of them." If we take hold of that promise by faith, what
need is there of outward symbols and reminders? If the King Himself is
present, why need we bow down before statues supposed to represent
Him? To fill His place with an image (some one has said,) is like
blotting the sun out of the heavens and substituting some other light
in its place. "You cannot see Him through chinks of ceremonialism; or
through the blind eyes of erring man; or by images graven with art and
man's device; or in cunningly devised fables of artificial and
perverted theology. Nay, seek Him in His own Word, in the revelation
of Himself which He gives to all who walk in His ways. So you will be
able to keep that admonition of the last word of all the New Testament
revelation: 'Little children, keep yourselves from idols.'"
I believe many an earnest Christian would be found wanting if put in
the balances against this commandment. "Tekel" is the sentence that
would be written against them, because their worship of God and of
Christ is not pure. May God open our eyes to the danger that is
creeping more and more into public worship throughout Christendom! Let
us ever bear in mind Christ's words in the fourth chapter of John's
gospel, which show that true spiritual worship is not a matter of
special times and special places because it is of all times and all
places:
"Believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain,
nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and
in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit:
and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."