Be Gone gods of Wood and Stone!

Seeing Rest and Peace in the One and Only Living LORD

Good Morning!

A common theme which has run through Jehovah’s warnings to Israel in our Sunday morning sermon series through the closing word from Moses in Deuteronomy is that there is no other living Deity than the one true and living God. In a sense these curses are based off the great Shema found back in Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear O Israel, the LORD your God is One. The challenge He makes to His covenant people is that are they going to live and move and have their being based on their relationship to the Creator of Heaven and Earth or are they going to create gods for themselves based off of their fleshly desires and wants? To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, there is no alternative. You will either serve Mammon or God.

As we’ve heard each of the promises of death and destruction we’ve noticed that they perfectly parallel each of the beatitudes that came at the beginning of the sermon. We all want peace. How we get there is going to be God’s way, or no way. In other words if we think that we can discern a path towards that goal which looks different than what is laid out for us in the Scriptures than we are fooling ourselves, and the Lord will give us over to the natural consequences of our desires. That is one of the reasons why the picture of the false gods given for example in Isaiah 46 is of man-made objects of stone and wood. The power and authority of Dagon in 1 Samuel 5 is based off the willingness of his priests to put him back together. The strength of Ahab exists as long as Jezebel endorses him and supports his rule.

The prophets of Israel were known to mock and deride the obvious ridiculousness of placing one’s faith in false idols, Elijah’s words at Mount Carmel probably the most well-known. Yet probably the most effecting example is Isaiah’s in Chapter 44 of his book. There we have a guy who is a lumberjack of some sorts who happens to be done with work one day. He has been raising up this pine from seed and it being ready for the harvest he cuts it down. Dispensing with part of it for one reason or another he then makes a fire, readies some food, and while waiting for it all to be prepared picks up a portion of the leftover wood and begins to carve an idol. What he does next is astonishing to the man with ears to hear. The man bows down to the image and, “…prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god!’” I feel like a meme of some sort would be appropriate here. Notice the scene. Who planted the seed? The man. Who ensured the growth of the tree? The man. Who cut it down and apportioned each part for a specific purpose? The man. Who made the statue? The man. How INSANE is it to think that the god he made was going to be able to deliver him from whatever it was that was causing him anguish?

This is the kind of parable that got Jesus killed. For the very people who needed to listen to the teaching of the prophet Isaiah were the Jews around him for they had done this very thing. Rather than remember that the LORD God was One, they had forsaken Him for the gods of the nations, and those of their own construction. Why again do the Israelites do such a thing? Why do we do such a thing? The answer is fairly simple. We desire power. Authority. The right to determine that which is good and holy. Problem is that this belongs to One, the One. Try as we may to rest it from Him it’s like a short man trying to punch a tall man. As long as the reach factor exists the vertically challenged individual will never get close enough to strike.

The Apostle Paul helps us to see that God knows that this is the desire of the Devil and of fallen man after him, which is why that as humanity suppresses the truth in unrighteousness the Lord gives them over to their heartfelt desires and the consequences of those actions. If you play with fire you are going to get burnt. Mess with sin and damage will follow and it is not God’s fault in any sense if you receive the judgment for your transgressions. You have earned it in every way possible. In 1 Corinthians 5 we have a professed believer sleeping with his mother-in-law. The same apostle gets on the Church at Corinth for allowing the evil to exist among them. The main issue is that rather than, as Jude would say, hating even the very garment singed by the fires of Hell and pulling the man away from the path which leads to destruction they are countenancing his gross violation of the 7th Commandment for whatever wrong reason. In the mind of the Spirit given to Paul something needs done about it. His solution? Exile, or in New Testament terms, Excommunication. Wonder where he got that idea? Might be from the very example we see in the Old Testament for how the Lord treated covenant breaking Israel. The goal of which was/is what? To see Israel/the man confronted with life outside the promised land, that they/he may see what it means to be without the mercy and love of God. If they/he would not have Jehovah as their/his LORD than they will get their wish.

Let’s close this out by going back to that great Shema for a moment. What are we to hear? That the LORD our God is One. There is no other. Jesus says the same in John 14 in His words to Thomas. If we desire deliverance we mustn’t be like the lumber man above and seek it from sources that cannot in any sense provide it. Only one can, that is the One that has made life to begin with. If we are to have no other gods before the True God then it begins by remembering who He is and what He has done for you, sending His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life. To where should we turn but the one who Has life?

Rest in these things and they will be added unto you. That is the promise of the Gospel of grace.

Another word on this:

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/no-other-gods

Blessings in Christ,

Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Pastor, Bethany ARP Church