Idolatry

Psalm 135:15-18: "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them."


Idolatry has been a persistent problem with humanity since the beginning of time. In history past, cultures would craft idols, many times out of ornate elements like gold or bronze; and they would worship the things that they had created. Many believed that their gods would inhabit such inanimate objects once they were crafted; thus, the people would pay homage to these supposed deities and petition these deities for their needs.

Conveniently, these inanimate objects were never able to communicate their divine will to the people worshipping them; thus, people were given license to interpret what their lifeless gods wanted them to do. I use the term "conveniently" because the people ended up serving their own selfish interests in the process. There was no deity to express consternation at the people's licentious behavior; for this reason, they were able to indulge in all kinds of immoral behaviors without apparent consequence. In fact, they would proclaim that their god(s) encouraged such libertine behavior.

Whereas in the modern world we may look with skepticism at societies that would craft inanimate objects into things worshipped, we nonetheless are apt to follow similar pursuits. Anything that displaces the worship of the true God of Heaven is idolatry, be it money, careers, relationships, substances, education, etc. And just like these people who would rationalize their antinomian behavior, we too can fall prey to the entrapment that our behavior is justified or even expected because of the benefits that we experience.

The foundation of all sin in the world is the quest of humanity to be divine itself! This first occurred with Adam and Eve desiring to be gods (Genesis 3:5); they wanted to be the center of the universe and not have to pay homage to the True Lord. So too with idol worship, we find that those who respond to such practices are attempting to secure license to do whatever they desire to do and be the center of their own universe. Irrespective of how we practice our idolatry, we nonetheless reveal that we are attempting to serve ourselves in order that we might assert our feigned claim to divinity.

Since our first priority in life is to glorify God, we fail to accomplish our purpose in life when we follow such paths of rebellion. We must repent of the "idols" that are in our lives that are mere smoke screens to our own quest for lordship. Our purpose in life is not to satisfy our own desires; the universe does not revolve around us. We would do well to submit ourselves to the True Lord. It is only through submission to the King of Kings that we will find His blessing. We can start by searching for Him through His Word, the Bible. Our God is not a lifeless deity who cannot communicate with us. His Word tells us exactly what we should do to acknowledge Him as the Lord.

What Makes God Hearing Impaired?

Ezekiel 8:16-18: "He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east. He said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually provoke me to anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them."

This passage in the book of Ezekiel has the Spirit of God taking the prophet Ezekiel to the temple to see the detestable things that the religious leaders were doing. Whereas these leaders were to be honoring the LORD through the required sacrifices, they were instead turning their backs upon the presence of the LORD and were worshipping the sun. Of course, this was just one episode in a plurality of scenarios in which the entire Jewish people were adulterating themselves against their covenantal commitment to the LORD alone (Ezekiel 6:9). Each man had an idol in his house . . . an idol in which he worshipped instead of the true God (Ezekiel 8:9-12). And although the idols varied from home to home, in reality these rebellious people were worshipping inanimate objects that would not reprimand them for their immoral, detestable practices. These idols displaced the One True God in the people's lives because the feigned substitutes would not hold them accountable for their debased, immoral lifestyles.

The point had been reached when the people had become rather flagrant in their detestable immorality and idol worship, for what they once did behind closed doors was now being practiced on mountaintops (Ezekiel 6:13). They had become obstinate and rebellious people who demanded that they have right to do whatever their sinful hearts desired to do (Ezekiel 2:4); thus, they were asserting their own quest for lordship over the true God. The worshipping of inanimate idols was merely a subtle way of attempting to displace the obvious fact that they worshipped themselves.

God would soon bring judgment against the Israelites through the invasion by the Babylonians (605-586 BC). First, God removed His Glory from the temple in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 10). And as He exited the temple and ascended from the Mount of Olives (Ezekiel 11:23), God removed His protective hand from His chosen people. Soon thereafter, the Babylonians would invade the land, taking some captive and destroying most of the others. Some believe that as many as 90% of the population in the land were displaced or killed as a result of the invasion. The people would cry out to God for deliverance; however, God would not hear them. The point of no return had been reached; God's patience had been replaced with His judgment.

Over 1000 years prior, God had told Moses that these events would occur. In Deuteronomy 31:16-18, God said that the people would "prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they were entering" (Deuteronomy 31:16). God told Moses when He brought judgment, He would turn a deaf ear to them due to their chronic wickedness.

Today, we would do well to hear these words of the Lord. Because the Lord is not fickle and does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17), we should examine ourselves as to our ultimate allegiance. Are we submitted to God alone or are we following after our own selfish desires? As Deuteronomy 33:3 tells us, those who bow to the Lord and are obedient to His instruction should expect to find His protection and love. They are the ones who will be set apart for His purposes and glory. Those who want to worship themselves can expect God's wrath to be poured out upon them in this life and in the life to come. They will cry out, but God will not listen

No Excuses

Deuteronomy 29:19-21; 30:11-19: "When such a person hears the words of this oath (God's Covenant [29:12-13]), he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, 'I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way.' This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. The LORD will never be willing to forgive him; his wrath and zeal will burn against that man. All the curses written in this book will fall upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. The LORD will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law . . . . Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, 'Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed . . . . This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses."



Here is the crux of salvation. God has given his covenantal oath that He will be our God (29:13). Still, the covenantal stipulations dictate that we must be yielded to God alone as our Lord and Savior. The one who would conclude that he can go his own way, to satisfy his own desires and seek his own adulation, is in effect saying that he is his own god. By his actions, this man proclaims that he has himself on the throne of his life, not the Lord. God in turn pronounces that a curse will befall that man. The Lord's wrath and zeal will burn against him, and God will enact curses upon such rebellion. Such a person has no hope for heaven, for God will "blot out his name from under heaven."

No one will have the excuse that God's Word was not readily available to all, for God has made His Word of truth readily available. That truth proclaims that we are not God; rather, we are the mere creation of a Holy, Sovereign Lord. We have all rebelled against God by seeking our own desires above Him, and this quest for personal satisfaction and aggrandizement above God (made manifest in many different forms) is called sin.

Sin (rebellion) against God brings God's wrath. Because we are not able to satisfy the penalty for our sins, God had to come to pay the penalty for us. This is why Jesus, who is the Second Person of the Triune God, came to the Earth, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and rose again from the grave. His death paid the penalty for our sins; his resurrection proclaimed His victory over sin and death. His precious gift of salvation necessitates a response from us; to refuse to submit to Jesus as Lord and to renounce His gift of his death and resurrection for the payment for our sins is to commit treason against God. Such treason will result in utter destruction (30:18).

Even for those who do not have access to the Bible, God has revealed his "eternal power and divine nature . . . from what has been made [i.e. creation], so that men are without excuse" (Romans 1:20). All men have within them the conscious understanding of right and wrong; thus the understanding of God's expectation of righteousness is not "too difficult or beyond our reach" (Deuteronomy 30:11). Heaven and earth stand as witnesses against those who do not submit to the Lord. Eternal life and eternal death weigh in the balance. What will you decide today? You have no excuse!

Watch Those "Opened Doors"

2 Corinthians 2:12-14: "Now I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him."

In this passage, Paul was on one of his missionary journeys, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to those with whom he came in contact. When he came upon Troas (modern day Turkey), Paul believed that a door had been opened for him to share the gospel; however, his spirit did not find peace with the opportunity. Instead of acting upon the philosophy that all opened doors are God's way of beckoning us to proceed, Paul relied more upon his spirit, which was in tune with the Holy Spirit. As a result, Paul left the opened door of Troas for Macedonia.

Sometimes, opened doors are not the direction that God wants us to go. So how are we to know in which direction we should go? Well, the same Holy Spirit that is in tune with our spirits, letting us know that we are in fact God's children (Romans 8:16) also is the Spirit that will impart to us the guidance we need to do what He wills for us (John 16:13). The key for us is to be receptive to His leading by being intimately connected with Him through His Word and continual Prayer. This level of intimacy will help us avoid the pitfalls that certain opened doors might bring our way. Specifically, the Holy Spirit will impress upon our spirits that there is no peace associated with such a path, and we will be redirected toward the right course even though we are diverting our path away from the door.

Notice in verse 14 that Paul knew that God was still leading him on a path that ultimately brought glory to the Lord and furthered the sharing of the gospel message to the world. Paul's purpose in life was being fulfilled by avoiding certain doors that seemed to be opened.

We should evaluate each door that seems to open to see if God in fact wants us to enter. If our spirits, which should be in tune with the Holy Spirit, have no peace about the decision, then we should take a step back and re-examine if God would have us move in another direction. Opened doors do not necessarily mean that God's will for us is found therein.

A New Perspective On Angels

Matthew 13:41-42: "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

In our culture today, we have a rather narrow view concerning the role and purpose of angels. Many in society see angels as feminine, starry, fairylike figures that surreptitiously follow us around, tapping us on the shoulder now and then with a magical wand of blessing. Never do we hear the argument that angels are ministers of God's righteous wrath upon the recalcitrant, wicked world.

Whereas we do find in Scripture that angels did attend to the needs of Jesus (Matthew 4:11), Elijah (I Kings 19:5); and Peter (Acts 12:8-10) and whereas there is implicit and explicit reference to angels being personally involved in the lives of followers of Jesus Christ (Matthew 18:10; Luke 16:22; Hebrews 1:14), Jesus' words mentioned above should remind us that angelic beings are not fairylike agents of blessing. In the above passage, Jesus Himself identifies that His angels will be the ones that will carry those who have not submitted to His Lordship into the depths of hell. If we know that "every knee will bow before God" (Romans 14:11), including the reprobate at the Day of Judgment, then we can picture the horror of the unregenerate being carried away against his will by the angels into everlasting torment. Although he will hope for God's eternal blessedness in Heaven, he will be thrown by the angels into the "fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Obviously, this is not a very pleasant picture on which to reflect; nonetheless, it is the future reality of so many who have disavowed allegiance to Jesus Christ. For this reason, we must first be committed to examining ourselves as to our submission to Christ; then, we as believers must be intentional at sharing the Gospel message to those who otherwise have no hope. Today is the day of salvation; tomorrow may be too late. The angels are prepared to carry out the Lord's bidding.

The Now and the Not Yet

Deuteronomy 29:5-6: "During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the LORD your God."



In the Old Testament, we find wonderful imagery of our eternal progression toward Heaven, our Promised Land. The Israelites wandered for forty years through a barren wilderness. Although God provided for them as He led them through that wilderness, He did not give them the blessing of bread and wine (products of a fertile land that yields the blessing of abundant harvest). God withheld these luxuries so that the Israelites would not become complacent with their wilderness wandering, but they would look forward to their arrival in His blessed Promised Land.



So too we as Christians find ourselves on a similar trek. We find that God provides for us in this life in order that we might move forward toward our blessed eternal hope. Still, God does not shower upon us the abundant harvest of Heaven now; rather, He is grooming us for the day of our redemption. By withholding the eternal blessings, He assures that we will not become complacent with this life, but we will look forward to our arrival into His eternal presence, a place where "no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared" (I Corinthians 2:9).

Who's On the Throne?

Colossians 3:1-6: "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry."

With submission to the Lordship of Christ, we have been reckoned with the blessedness of eternal salvation. And with our allegiance, we are now the property of God. Thus, we are called to set our hearts upon Christ, not upon earthly things that indulge the flesh, our former idol. Our flesh desires for its appetites to be satisfied, whether those appetites be sexual immorality or impurity or lust or evil desires or greed. Persistent allegiance to these things reveals a heart that has renounced the lordship of Christ and has bowed again to the lordship of self. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. Thus, we must be strengthened in our resolve to forsake any of the alluring attacks that would have us change allegiances back to ourselves. God alone is to be worshipped and praised.