In our Wednesday night study (Walking in the Excellencies of
God) last night we began to discuss the triune nature of God by exploring the
voluminous testimony of Scripture that there is only one God. The major implication of monotheism is
that Yahweh alone is worthy of worship. One way that the prophets drive this truth home is by exposing the absurdity of
worshiping idols.
We’ve noted many times at Providence that though we may not
worship literal, physical idols made by human hands as the Israelites did, we
do have other objects of worship that should be considered idols. We could say that anything that is more
important to us than God is an idol.
So our idols could be almost anything including career, sex, material
comforts, and entertainment. We
can even worship as idols things that are good things, like the safety of our
children or a godly reputation.
So how might we go about destroying our worship of these
false gods? Isaiah 44 and Jeremiah 10 provide us with a paradigm.
Let’s walk through one of these passages and see how it exposes the
absurdity of idol worship and how we might use it to overcome our idols.
Isaiah begins by asserting that Yahweh is the only God:
6 Thus says the LORD,
the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first
and I am the last; besides me there is no god. 7 Who is like me?
“Who is like me?”
The implied answer is, “no one!”
That is the question and implied answer that must be applied to our
every idol. Our idols must be
compared to the One True God and exposed for all the ways that they fall
short. Let’s suppose that the idol
we are dealing with is the praise of men (John 12:43). That is, we want so badly for others to
think highly of us that we’ll sin in order to attain it or we’ll sin if we
don’t attain it. As Isaiah does
with idols of wood and metal in Isa 44, we must hold up the praise of men next
to the magnificence of Almighty God so that the praise of men is shown to be
nothing by comparison.
12 The ironsmith takes
a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and
works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he
drinks no water and is faint.
Isaiah describes a man creating an iron idol. Here the “creator” is the man, but this
creator is a creator who gets hungry and thirsty and whose strength fails. If the “creator” is this needy, how
much more needy will be the idol which depends upon man for its existence? Isaiah is exposing the absurdity of
idolatry. He continues by
describing the making of an idol from wood:
14 He cuts down
cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among
the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then
it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles
a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an
idol and falls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the
half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says,
"Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!" 17 And the rest of it he
makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to
it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!"
What could be more ridiculous than using half of a tree to
cook your food and making the other half into a god before which you fall down and
worship? The portion that became
the god could just as well have been fuel for a fire! Again, the prophet demonstrates the
absurdity of worshiping idols. He
then provides a contrast by pointing to the greatness of Yahweh:
21 Remember these
things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my
servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. 22 I have blotted out your
transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have
redeemed you.
The idols made by men are worthless. They “do not profit” (v9); but Yahweh, by contrast, is all
powerful. The idols of Israel were
formed by men; but Israel was
formed by Yahweh. The idols of
Israel can do nothing but sit wherever they are placed; but Yahweh is a redeemer of souls.
Every idol is going to have its own unique absurdity when
compared to the One True God. Our
objective is to find that absurdity and magnify it by comparing it to the
superiority of our God.
In the case of the idol of the praise of men, we could
prayerfully think through the essence of this false god. A helpful picture for understanding
this idol is found in John 12:42-43, where the Jews believed in Christ but
refused to confess him for fear of the Pharisees. They feared the displeasure of the Pharisees, which would
lead to being put out of the synagogue, more than they feared the displeasure
of God for rejecting Christ. At
its core, a desire for the praise of men is really the fear of man as opposed
to the fear of God. We seek man’s
pleasure and fear man’s displeasure rather than seeking God’s pleasure and
fearing God's displeasure. We perceive that it will be more
beneficial for us to have the pleasure of men than the pleasure of God. Where is the absurdity?
Consider the power of man versus the power of God: The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me? (Psa 118:6)
Man is impotent in the face of the power of Yahweh. There is nothing man can do to me
against the will of God. Why on
earth would I seek the pleasure of man and fear the displeasure of man over
against that of God? It’s absurd.
Consider also the heart of man versus the heart of God. The Scriptures teach that every
intention of the thoughts of the heart of man are only evil continually (Gen 6:5). Man’s heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately sick (Jer 17:9). On the other hand, God is merciful and gracious, slow to
anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Exo 34:6). He demonstrated His love for us in that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). Why then would I seek the favor of the
fickle, evil heart of man over the gracious, forgiving, saving heart of God? It’s absurd.
Consider also the wisdom of man versus the wisdom of
God. Men, professing to be wise,
became fools in rejecting God (Rom 1:22).
The foolishness of God is wiser
than men…(1 Cor 1:25). Indeed,
the wisdom of God is so vast it cannot be fathomed (Rom 11:33). In Christ are hidden all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3).
So even if men had it within their power and inclination to do me good,
they do not have the wisdom to carry it out in the best way possible. God alone is good, powerful, and wise. Why then would I desire the favor of men over the favor of
God? Why would I expect that man
could do good for me in a way that God could or would not? It’s absurd.
There are undoubtedly other ways in which worshiping the praise
of men is absurd, but this demonstrates how one might go about thinking through
such things using Isaiah 44 as a paradigm. Having identified the absurdity, then we could meditate on
this daily – both the absurdity of the idol and the superiority/magnificence of
God, praying that God would help us grow to hate the idol and love Him.
I encourage you to take a look at Jeremiah 10 and think
about how it also might help you discover the absurdity of idolatry and make war on false worship.
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