Worship By God's Rules Text: Exodus 20:22-26
Introduction: The Aftershock of Sinai
We have just come down from the mountain. The people of Israel have heard the very voice of God, a voice so terrible and holy that they begged Moses to be their mediator, lest they die. The mountain was wrapped in smoke, fire, and the blast of a supernatural trumpet. And out of that glorious terror, God spoke the Ten Words, the very foundation of His covenant law. These were not suggestions; they were the constitutional bedrock of the new nation of Israel, and by extension, the framework for all righteous human society.
Now, in our text today, the aftershock of that encounter begins to ripple out into specific, practical instruction. It is one thing to be terrified by the glory of God. It is another thing entirely to know how to approach that God without being consumed. If the first part of the chapter, the Decalogue, is the constitution, then what follows is the beginning of the case law. God moves immediately from the general principles of "no other gods" and "no graven images" to the specifics of worship. Why? Because worship is ground zero. Get worship wrong, and you will get everything else wrong. A corrupt altar leads to a corrupt culture. A man-made god will always demand man-made ethics, which is to say, no ethics at all.
Our passage lays out the fundamental grammar of true worship. And what we find is that it is a grammar of simplicity, humility, and a stark, unyielding separation between the Creator and the creature. Modern evangelicals, with their smoke machines and rock bands, desperately need to hear this. We live in an age that thinks worship is about what impresses us, what moves us, what makes us feel close to God. But God is not interested in our sentimental inventions. He is interested in obedience. He is not looking for impressive worship; He is looking for prescribed worship. And in these few verses, He lays down the rules of engagement for a people who have just seen that He is not safe, but He is good.
The Text
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves. You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. And if you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it. And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it.’
(Exodus 20:22-26 LSB)
The Unforgettable Voice and the Useless Idols (v. 22-23)
God begins by reminding them of the experience that is still ringing in their ears.
"Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.’" (Exodus 20:22-23)
The foundation of this instruction is their direct experience. "You yourselves have seen." This is not secondhand information. They saw the smoke and fire, and they heard the voice. God spoke from heaven. This establishes the fundamental divide, the Creator/creature distinction. He is in heaven; you are on earth. He speaks; you listen. He commands; you obey. This is the antithesis of all paganism, where the gods are just superpowered versions of men, born from the muck, who can be manipulated, bribed, or appeased.
Because He is the transcendent Creator who speaks from heaven, the very next command is a logical necessity. "You shall not make other gods besides Me." The Hebrew is emphatic. You are not to make gods of silver or gold "with me." This is not just a prohibition against atheism; it is a prohibition against syncretism. God will not be part of a pantheon. He will not be worshipped alongside some gaudy, man-made trinket. He is not looking for a spot on the board of directors. He is the sole proprietor of the universe.
Why silver and gold? Because these are the materials of human pride and wealth. Men fashion idols from precious materials to convince themselves that their god is valuable, but all they are doing is worshipping their own craftsmanship and their own portfolio. An idol of gold is not a tribute to a god; it is a monument to the man who could afford the gold. It is self-worship, laundered through a religious ritual. The moment you begin to manufacture your god, you have placed yourself above that god. You are the creator; it is the creature. This is the primordial sin of Babel all over again, trying to make a name for ourselves.
The Simplicity of True Approach (v. 24-25)
In stark contrast to the gods of silver and gold, God prescribes the way He is to be approached. And the prescribed way is shockingly simple.
"You shall make an altar of earth for Me... in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. And if you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it." (Exodus 20:24-25 LSB)
The first option is an altar of earth. A simple mound of dirt. This is worship at its most basic, accessible, and humble. Anyone, anywhere, can pile up some dirt. You do not need a craftsman, a budget, or a building permit. This demolishes all religious elitism. Worship is not to be a high-tech production. It is to be an act of simple, creaturely obedience.
And notice the glorious promise attached to this simple worship: "in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you." God's presence is not confined to a particular shrine or temple built by human hands. His presence is tied to His name, to His reputation, to His self-revelation. Where He chooses to make Himself known, He will come and He will bless. The blessing is not earned by the quality of the altar; it is a gift of grace bestowed at the pleasure of the King.
The second option is an altar of stone, but with a critical condition. It must be made of natural, uncut stones. "If you wield your tool on it, you will profane it." To profane something means to make it common, to treat it as unholy. Why would shaping a stone with a tool defile an altar? Because the moment a man takes his chisel to the stone, he is injecting his own skill, his own artistry, his own pride into the act of worship. The focus shifts, ever so slightly, from the God who is worshipped to the cleverness of the worshipper who made the pretty altar. The finished product would not be God's rock, but rather "Jedediah's rock, the one he got so smooth on the north side." It becomes a monument to man's ability, not God's glory. God wants to be met at a place of His own making, not ours. He provides the dirt, He provides the rocks. Our job is not to "improve" on His creation, but to use it as He directs.
This is a profound principle. We are not to bring our own cleverness, our own marketing strategies, our own "improvements" to the worship of God. We are to come with empty hands, to the place He appoints, in the way He prescribes. This is why the regulative principle of worship is so important. We are to do in worship only what God has commanded. To add our own inventions, no matter how sincere, is to bring a human tool to the altar, and thus to profane it.
The Humility of True Worship (v. 26)
The final instruction in this section continues the theme of humility and the separation from pagan practice.
"And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it.’" (Exodus 20:26 LSB)
This is, first, a very practical command for modesty. The priests wore linen garments, and ascending high steps could easily lead to indecent exposure. This stands in stark contrast to the fertility cults of the surrounding pagan nations, where ritual sexuality and sacred prostitution were common. Israel's worship was to be holy, set apart, and chaste. God is not to be approached with the swagger of sexualized paganism, but with sober reverence.
But there is a deeper, theological point here as well. High altars with grand staircases are about exalting man. They create a spectacle. They elevate the priest, making him the center of a theatrical performance. God commands a ground-level worship. The altar is to be low, accessible. The approach is to be humble. Later, when a larger altar is built for the tabernacle, God prescribes a ramp, not steps (cf. Exodus 27:1-8, Leviticus 9:22). The principle remains: the approach to God must be one of humility, not self-aggrandizement.
The mention of "nakedness" should also drive our minds back to the Garden. Adam and Eve's first response to their sin was to realize their nakedness and to hide in shame. Their nakedness was a symbol of their guilt, their vulnerability, and their rebellion. God graciously covered them with animal skins, a picture of a substitutionary sacrifice. To expose one's nakedness at the altar of God would be to flaunt the very shame and sin that the sacrifices were meant to cover. It would be a profound contradiction. Therefore, worship must be conducted in a way that honors the covering God provides, both literally in modest clothing, and spiritually in the atoning blood of the sacrifice.
From Earthen Altars to the Living Stone
Like everything in the Old Testament, these instructions are a shadow, pointing forward to the substance, who is Christ. We are no longer required to build altars of earth or stone, because the final and perfect altar has been established.
That altar was the cross of Calvary. It was an altar of wood, a tool of Roman execution, profane in every way. And on that altar, the perfect sacrifice was offered. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, was offered up for our sin. He is both the priest and the sacrifice. He is also the altar, the meeting place between God and man.
And what about the stones? The apostle Peter picks up this imagery and applies it directly to us. He says of Jesus, "He is the living stone, rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious" (1 Peter 2:4). He was the uncut stone, not shaped by human hands or religious committees. He was the stone the builders rejected, who has become the cornerstone.
And then Peter says this: "you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5). We are the stones of the new altar. And we are not to be shaped by the tools of this world, by its philosophies and its pride. We are to be living stones, shaped only by the Spirit of God, built upon the foundation of Christ.
Our worship, then, is not about building a physical altar, but about offering our bodies as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). This is our spiritual act of worship. We come to God not with our own accomplishments, not with our own cleverness, but simply as living stones, resting on the Cornerstone. We do not ascend by steps of our own righteousness, which would only expose our sinful nakedness. Rather, we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. He is our covering. He is our ramp. He is our access to the Father.
So let us take these ancient rules to heart. Let us reject the gods of silver and gold, the idols of our own making. Let us reject worship that is designed to impress men, that is polished by human tools. And let us embrace the beautiful, rugged simplicity of the gospel. We come to an earthen altar, acknowledging we are but dust. We are built as living stones, raw and unadorned, made holy only by the one who builds us together. And we approach God with humility, covered not by our own efforts, but by the perfect sacrifice of His Son. For it is only there, at the place where He has caused His name to be remembered, that He will meet us and bless us.