In the concluding verses of Chapter 20 the Lord gives further details about keeping the first and second commandments: having no other gods besides Him, making no idols for worship.
Moses is engulfed in the dark cloud that sits upon Mount Sinai while the Lord provides this additional information. He is to receive the instructions from the Lord and relay them to the people who are standing at a distance.
"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Tell the Israelites this: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: Do not make any gods to be alongside Me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.'" (Exodus 20:22-23) He says, "I have spoken to you from heaven and you have heard My voice. You have witnessed with your own eyes how the ground shook, how the thunder rolled, how the lightning struck, how the trumpet sounded, and how the cloud of darkness and fire descended upon the mountain. What other god besides Me has done this? What other god besides Me has ever spoken to you? What other god besides Me has wanted to form a personal relationship with you? None; I am the only one. I am the one true God. Because of this you are not to worship anyone or anything else and are to make no images before which you can bow. You are to make no images that represent Me and you are to make no images to represent any other 'god' or force of nature."
The Israelites have proof of only one God. They have no proof that any other deity exists. Therefore they are to worship Him alone because He alone is God and there is no deity besides Him.
The people will need to set up altars wherever they reside for the purpose of making offerings and sacrifices to the Lord, but these altars are not to be ornate and carved. They are not to be gilded with silver or gold. They are to be made of a mound of dirt or a mound of rocks stacked atop each other. "Make an altar of earth for Me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause My name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. If you make an altar of stones for Me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it. And do not go up My altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed.'" (Exodus 20:24-26)
These may sound like odd instructions, particularly that last one, but the heathen cultures of that day tended to build their altars as high as they could build them. This required many steps to get to the top and the priests and priestesses could not maintain their modesty while climbing all those narrow, steep steps. People in those days wore long robes that had to be lifted at least to knee level while climbing to the top of their tall altars. Anyone climbing a steep altar would be exposing their legs (and possibly much more) to anyone climbing up behind them and to the people standing on the ground around the foot of the altar. Later in the Bible the Lord will instruct the priests to fashion long undergarments for themselves so no glimpse of any flesh above the knees will ever be seen while they go about their work, but here in Exodus 20 nobody has any Fruit Of The Loom undies to wear and the Lord wants the people's modesty preserved.
Modesty is important in the church and everywhere else. It's unseemly for the believer to go to church or out in public with too much flesh showing. The Christian lady shouldn't be seen wearing too-short skirts or wearing tops that allow a lot of cleavage to show. The Christian man shouldn't go out in short-shorts or wearing shirts or pants so tight that they leave little to the imagination. Dressing like this isn't being respectful of our own bodies and it's not being respectful toward the Lord or toward our fellow human beings. We can't "let it all hang out" and then wonder why others regard us as people of questionable morals. We are sending the wrong message about who we are. We are sending the wrong message about the Christian life. Our value is to be found in who we are in Christ, not in how many people turn and take a second look (and think lustful thoughts) when we walk by.
Why must the altars be so plain? Because if man adds anything to the altars he is defiling the altars. If the altars were made of beautifully carved stone, what would be in a person's mind when viewing the altars? Would the person be thinking about the Lord or would he be thinking about the superior craftsmanship of the stonework? Would the person's mind be on the Creator of the universe and everything in it or would the person be distracted by the design and beauty of the altar? If altars were gilded in silver or gold, would the bringer of the offering be focused on the Lord or might he be thinking about the value of the precious metals? Would his eye be caught by the rich glow of the gold in the lamplight and would he focus more on earthly things than on heavenly things?
Later in the Old Testament a tabernacle for worship will be built and even later on a temple will be built. Judging by the descriptions we'll be given of these places of worship, they were quite lovely. Our churches today tend to be beautiful. But it doesn't matter how much money we spend on architects to design our houses of worship or how much money we spend decorating the interiors of our churches if we are not honoring the Lord in them. We are not any better off, spiritually speaking, by attending a fancy church than we are by attending a very plain church. And I think this is at least part of the point the Lord is making in verses 24 and 25. There is nothing man can do to "add to" what the Lord has already done. If the people worship at elaborate altars they are not any holier than if they worship at an altar of heaped up earth or stone. The Lord is the One who forgives and sanctifies and saves them; altars and buildings aren't capable of doing these things.
If the people carve the stones the Lord says they are defiling the altar. We end up defiling ourselves anytime we try to "add to" what the Lord has done or said. We can't improve upon His plan of salvation. We can't improve upon the redemptive work Jesus accomplished on the cross. We can't improve upon the way the Holy Spirit continually ministers to our hearts. Whether we kneel at an ornate altar in a beautiful church or whether we kneel beside a rock in a field, the Lord is to be the focus of our worship. Whether we pray wearing a stylish dress or suit or whether we pray in our work overalls, the conversation taking place between us and the Lord is what matters. We aren't holier in a suit than we are in our work clothes. We aren't holier in a fancy church than we are praying by our bedside. I do believe it's very important to gather together with other believers but it's not the church building that saves us; it's our faith in the One who lived a perfect life, gave His life for our sins, rose from the dead, and sits in the place of honor at the Father's right side making intercession for us every day. It's nice having beautiful and comfortable facilities in which to worship, but those facilities can't "add to" what Christ has done for us, and if we place more value on where we worship than on Who we worship, we are defiling ourselves. We are disrespecting Christ---the head of the church---when where we worship means more to us than Who we worship.
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