Idolatry leads to death

     We’ve seen that God warned Israel about idolatry and its consequences before they even entered the Promised Land.

    Let’s go forward about half a millennium and resume the discussion.

     “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.  They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes…but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear; nor is there any breath in their mouths.  Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.”  Psalm 135:15-18

     The idols referenced are of the gentiles and are made of silver and gold.  Both metals were considered valuable then and especially now.

     Idols are described as completely lifeless; they are totally impotent to do anything.  Those who make them or trust in them are equally worthless.

     Thereafter the prophets spoke much about idols and the futility of dependence on them.

    “Let them bring forth and show us what will happen…that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them;  Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods…Indeed you are nothing and your work is nothing; he who chooses you is an abomination.”  Isaiah 41:22-24

     The challenges presented for idols to prove themselves are exclusively acts of deity.  Only God can declare that which is to come and proclaim the end from the beginning.  It is again declared that idols are nothing and he who trusts in such is an abomination, i.e. a detestable thing. 

     God admonishes His people to look only to Him for deliverance.

     “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth!  For I am God, and there is no other.  I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath…”  Isaiah 45:22-23

     Truth prevails and is timeless.  Nearly 800 years later the Apostle Paul echoed God’s words.

     “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him (the Christ) and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow... and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Philippians 2:9-11

    Who but God could proclaim the future in detail?

     God foreknew all of Israel’s history before time began.  Back in the time of Moses He proclaimed that the day would come when Israel would be in dire need of deliverance from her enemies.  In the time of Isaiah, as in ages past, He mocked those who trusted in idols.

     “When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you.  But the wind will carry them all away…”  Isaiah 57:13a

     Only those who trusted in God would inherit the land in the time of the millennial kingdom.  False gods, i.e. idols and those who trusted in them would be blown away by the wind into eternal separation from the only God.

     Jeremiah likewise extolled the folly of idolatry.

     “Thus you shall say to them; ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.’  He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion.”  Jeremiah 10:11-12

     God states that gods have no power of creation.  Creation is exclusively an act of deity.  God created according to His purpose and discretion.  The wisdom of God was embodied in Christ before the foundation of the world.  Any other ‘gods’ shall perish.

     Jeremiah further describes the consequences of those who cling to gods instead of God.

     God reminds Jeremiah that those of Judah and the city of Jerusalem have turned their backs on Him by serving other gods.  They have broken the covenant God made with their fathers.

     “Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen…”  Jeremiah 11:11

     Is America placing her trust in God or gods?