"Cute ... clever, even. But misguided. "
Yes, I am very familiar with the verses describing the glory of Christ.
But you know what, he chose to leave all that behind when he came to earth.
Yet for some reason we think it's ok to pursue glory down here - as long as we do it "for God's sake".
I'm quite certain He chose to return to all that when He ascended into Heaven.
But you know what, he chose to leave all that behind when he came to earth.
Well, not really. Even though He (primarily) kept it hidden during His earthly sojourn 2,000 years ago, Christ retained and continues to retain His full and unchanging Eternal Glory at one with His Divine Nature upon His Incarnation. Meaning the hypostastic union of His human nature (body and soul) with His Divine Nature in His one Person.
Yet for some reason we think it's ok to pursue glory down here - as long as we do it "for God's sake".
It is precisely the intention of the Incarnation of Christ - God becoming man - to reclaim and lift us up, with the rest of Creation, to His Eternal Glory in heaven.
It is true that we all have to be on guard for merely seeking earthly "glory" for our ego's sake, but this is different from using the visible and invisible products of God's Creation to Glorify God, under the auspices of His Grace, with the fullness of our being. Spiritually and bodily, individually and corporately.
The Grace of God builds on the nature He continues to perfect in us. It is precisely within context of our human nature to corporately "imitate" the Divine life in us through Sacred Art, pointing the way to an Eternal destiny.
This is a fundamentally different category than that of God proscribing the ancient Israelites from worshiping the false gods of other nations in the land at the time - "gods" whom the inhabitants would even offer their small children to as human sacrifices. Or that of God "laicizing" the twelve tribes sans the Levites because of the golden calf event. The golden calf was a false god of Egypt that the Israelites were reverting back to.
But even in the Torah, God does have specific commands on how the implements of worship were to be carefully crafted by the artists among the Israelites. Consider carefully the Ark of the Covenant and it's placement in the Holy of Holies.
There is obviously an hierarchy of importance in the life of worship and the situation of Sacred Art in it. But in worship, EVERYTHING is important. Both that which is absolute and that which is relative.