Avoiding Idolatry; 1 John 5:20

The starting point in any system of thinking is either going to be with a God who is distinct from His creation, who speaks authoritatively to everything in creation, or the starting point is going to be within creation. When it is the latter you are taking some detail of the created order and elevating that to a position that is in competition with the God of the Bible as the creator of the universe as distinct from everything else. At some point paganism and human viewpoint thinking always takes some detail—maybe human thought and rationalism, empiricism, some form of logic, some physical law—and elevate it to a point of supremacy. That in turn is used to judge and evaluate the claims of the Bible and the claims of God and that is essentially what idolatry is. The pagan system, human viewpoint, the system of thinking which is called in the Bible cosmic thinking, the Greek word kosmos [kosmoj], which has to do with an orderly systematic approach to thought, always operates on this principle. There are many different views in cosmic thinking, everything from a strict mechanistic atheism to an extremely mystical Buddhism or Hinduism and everything in between, but they all boil down to taking some element out of the created order and elevating it as a universal, a supreme point, and then judging the Bible, judging the creator of the Bible by that principle, by that detail extrapolated from creation. That is what makes it idolatry and as part of the Christian life in order to implement the principle of 1 John 5:21 and keep ourselves from idols we have to be aware of this.

Remember that in the Old Testament the concept of idols usually had to do with some kind of physical representation of God. In the New Testament the word idol is never applied to a physical representation of God. It usually had to do with something much more sophisticated and subtle, and that is taking some element of thought and elevating it to that position of idolatry. What we have to recognise is that in idolatry what always happens is some aspect or some attribute of the creator is taken or abstractly ripped from out of the essence box and applied to some element of creation. God is self-existent, and one of the ways that is taken over in terms of idolatry is in evolution and Darwinistic thought where nature itself becomes self-existent—or maybe it is just matter, depending on how it is formulated. In the big bang theory what was there seconds before the big bang? There was something there. The Bible clearly teaches that God created ex nihilo, out of nothing. So in the big bang theory there is something there, matter and energy. So there is not a creation in the big bang theory, there is just a transformation. So matter and energy is really eternally existent in that view, so we end up with an idolatry of nature. That is going to work itself out in any number of pagan religions.

Another example is to take the attribute of God’s sovereignty, that God rules His creation and is the final authority in all of creation. This is taken out of context and placed into the created order with something that we would call fatalism. There is certainly any number of religions where there is fatalism where there is just this impersonal cause that determines everything. What happens is that something that legitimately belongs to God is ripped out of context and applied to something else. Another aspect is immutability, and that is that God never changes, He is always the same, and that is the source of all certainty and stability in the universe. The reason that a scientific formula works today just like it did 200 years ago is not because there is stability in the creation but because the God of creation stands behind it. The reason God can circumvent physical laws is because He is the God who made them, and that is the basis for the miracles. What happens in the scientific community is that immutability is taken and applied to certain scientific laws so that the laws themselves become the source of certainty and absolutes and stability. Another attribute is justice. God is absolute justice. That means that He is going to make decisions on the basis of His perfect righteousness, the standard of God’s character. Things are right not because God fits some standard or concept of right that is just abstractly out here, but because His character is right. For believers it is grounded in His righteousness; it is right because He says it is right. Justice is the application of that standard. But we hear people say, Well God wouldn’t do that because it is not fair. What they have done is taken their own standard of whatever right and wrong is and elevated that to the point of supremacy where they have some sort of abstract concept of fairness. Then whatever God does has to fit that abstract concept of fairness. So suddenly what they have done is they have created an idol out of that value system.

In Scripture we see that God provides salvation, and salvation is based on righteousness and justice. When God imputes His righteousness to the believer His justice approves it. What that means is that there is salvation that is not based on experience or emotion, it is based on a legal act that takes place from the courtroom of God. It is perverted in terms of an experience or an emotion or some kind of mystical religious ritualistic event and that becomes an idol and is elevated to this position of supremacy.

This is all putting the individual is the position of creating and usurping creative acts of God and being the ultimate source of his happiness, stability and meaning in life. In Exodus 32:4 and the golden calf incident, what does Aaron says? “This is the god that brought you out of Egypt.” He is assigning the act of God of deliverance, redemption, directly to that idol. That is exactly what idolatry is: taking the act and/or the character/attributes of God and assigning them to portions of the created order. This is the same order we see in Romans chapter one.

Romans 1:18 ^NASB “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, [19] because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. [20] For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. [21] For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

The point is that fallen man knows God exists. There is a clear recognition that God exists; they know the attributes of God. Because they are suppressing the truth and denying that He exists apart from the creation they, [22] “Professing to be wise, they became fools, [23] and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” So they start off knowing that God exists, then secondly they reject this witness of God, thirdly they suppress the truth in unrighteousness, and now they are in a position where there are no absolutes and there is no security anymore. There is a God who exists out there who is righteous and holy and when they are confronted with that kind of a God they are not very comfortable. So they get rid of this God and now there is nothing out there so they have to create something and they create idols. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob doesn’t exist, He is out of the picture. What does exist is the Baal or Ishtaar or some other god that they have created. It is exchanging God for something else. Nobody is without a god. Everybody has some kind of a god. It may be themselves, it may be some ideal, but they have replaced the God of the Bible with something else. That is the essence of idolatry.

What we have to do is to prepare ourselves and to prepare our children to live in an idolatrous culture.

Isaiah 40-49 was written in the eighth century BC to provide doctrinal information for the northern kingdom that is about to go out under the fifth cycle of discipline in 722 BC, and also for the Judeans who in the sixth century BC who will also go out under the fifth cycle of discipline and be taken into captivity in Babylon. So both are going to be removed from their culture and placed into an extremely idolatrous culture that is seeking to destroy all evidence of their beliefs. They are going to seek to brainwash them according to their pagan religious views and God is going to prepare them for this with the information that is in Isaiah. This is the way in which God prepares Israel to handle idolatry.

The preparation involves a solid emphasis on the truth. You don’t spend all your time running around just doing analysis of false systems of thinking, you spend your time teaching the truth, i.e. doctrine. But this teaching of the truth is not isolated from contrasting it in a very polemic way with the false teaching of idolatry. Beginning in Isaiah 40:12 there are five questions that God asks that are designed to emphasise their thinking. They are very similar to the questions that God asked Job. He doesn’t expect an answer but in asking the questions he is emphasising His uniqueness, His transcendence, that he is the creator and we are the creation. He is emphasising His exclusivity.

Isaiah 40:12 ^NASB “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales?” God is asking who it is among man who has this kind of knowledge? No one. It emphasises His uniqueness, that He is the creator, that He is distinct from the creation. [13] “Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has informed Him?” Has anybody taught the Lord? Is there anything above God to which He is answerable? Did He follow anybody else’s blueprint? No, He is above anything else. Verse 13 emphasises the sovereignty of God, the omniscience of God, and emphasises everything that He has done has been done according to a plan that has originated with Him.

Then we have the next questions: Isaiah 40:14 ^NASB “With whom did He consult and {who} gave Him understanding? And {who} taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding?” The first focuses on His justice, that God’s justice is above everything else. Did He seek somebody else’s advice? Who taught Him the path of justice? No one did. God Himself is the source of what justice is. It is just because he says it is, not because it fits some external pattern or concept of justice. Then the second half of the verse asks another question relating to knowledge or the divine attribute of omniscience. Nobody knows what God knows, He didn’t learn from anybody else; His knowledge was not acquired.

Isaiah 40:16 ^NASB “Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. [17] All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.” Verse 17 emphasises His immensity. All nations are inconsequential compared to God, He is so great. Then [18] the emphasis is on His uniqueness: “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?” This is a theme that is repeated again and again and again throughout these chapters. There is nothing that compares to God; He is unique. That is why all of our analogies when teaching about God break down; because there is nothing like God, you can’t compare Him with anything. We try, but this relates to the whole doctrine of the incomprehensibility of God. That doesn’t mean we can’t understand anything about God but we will never understand everything about God because is incomprehensible.

All of that emphasises who God is as the creator, as one who is unique, and it is contrasted with idolatry, starting in verse 19 ^NASB “{As for} the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith {fashions} chains of silver.” Notice, the idol is a creation of man in contrast to God who is self-existent and the creator of everything in the universe. Verse 20 emphasises that the idol is made from existing materials but God is eternally existent. [20] “He who is too impoverished for {such} an offering Selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman To prepare an idol that will not totter.” The gods of the pagans are all generated from existing materials.

In verses 21-24 Isaiah emphasises the sovereign power of God who rules over everything, and this emphasises the creator-creature distinction. Then v. 25 “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be {his} equal?” says the Holy One.” So throughout this whole section is the reiteration of the uniqueness of God and that he exists independent of the creation. The promise throughout this section is that God promises future deliverance and future glory for Israel because He is unique. He is telling Israel in this section that they are getting ready to be taken out of their country, to be destroyed as a national entity; but there is a future for them. In the ancient world if a country was defeated by another country the idea was that the victor’s gods were better than theirs. But what God is saying over and over again here is that He is unique, that He is in control of this, even when they are destroyed and taken into captivity. He is greater than all of these idols and all of these other gods and no matter what their problems, what their adversity, He is still on control and ultimately He would bring about security and future deliverance and glory. That was a promise to them and one we can apply today.

Furthermore, throughout this theme we see that Yahweh is the one who predicts and controls the future. Because He is God He can predict and control the future, therefore He can guarantee future deliverance and future glory. We see this emphasised in Isaiah 41:21ff, especially in vv. 23ff ^NASB “Declare the things that are going to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.” This is a challenge to the false gods to show what is to come, but they can’t do it. [24] “Behold, you are of no account, And your work amounts to nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.” So there is this constant polemic against the idols.

The fourth thing that is emphasises throughout this section is that Yahweh is the creator of heaven and earth and the one who formed Israel. Therefore, since he formed Israel he is able to bring about what He promises to Israel, Isaiah 42:4,5; 43:15; 44:24, 25; 45:8-13, 18; 48:12, 13. Isaiah 42:4-6 ^NASB “He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law. Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it And spirit to those who walk in it, I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations.” Isaiah 43:15 ^NASB “I am the LORD, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King.”

A fifth point that is emphasised throughout this is that man will be ashamed for trusting in idols, but in contrast those who trust in Yahweh will not be ashamed or disappointed. Isaiah 42:17; 45:16 in contrast to 49:23 ^NASB “Kings will be your guardians, And their princesses your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth And lick the dust of your feet; And {you} will know that I am the LORD; Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame.”

A sixth point that is made in this section is that no one formed Yahweh, nothing precedes God, and nothing is greater than God. Isaiah 43:10 ^NASB “‘You are My witnesses,’ declares the LORD, ‘And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me’.”

A seventh emphasis is that God is unique. Isaiah 44:6 ^NASB “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me’.” Cf. v.8. Isaiah 45:5-7 ^NASB “I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these…. [18] For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it {and} did not create it a waste place, {but} formed it to be inhabited), ‘I am the LORD, and there is none else’ … [46:5] To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal and compare Me, That we would be alike?”

The eighth point in this section is that idolatry is foolishness and that God presents a direct challenge to not only the Babylonian gods but to all other false gods that are erected in human history. Isaiah 44:9-17; 45:20-22; 47:1-3, 5, 7.

We conclude from this that at any time we seek peace, security, tranquillity; any time we try to manage the problems in our life; any time we seek to manage stress, by anything in the creation we are in idolatry. That idolatry may be overt or it may be in a more subtle intellectual form but any time we put something in the created order and lean on it as the source of peace, security and tranquillity, we are in idolatry.

Book called “Turn from Idols”:

“Just as polytheism continued in an underground form through the Middle Ages and lives on today in modern cults and witchcraft and Satanism the imagination of western man was never fully Christianised. The modern idolatrous imagination still refuses to believe the promises of the living God are sure and that His grace is sufficient for all our needs…. It still looks to other powers and other authorities for support and guidance, transferring to them what belongs to God alone.”

That is what idolatry is. In the modern world we have different kinds of idolatry such as Marxism and communism, scientific idolatry such as evolution and Darwinism. These are things that take elements of the created order and assigns them to God. There are more sophisticated, subtle, and less obviously harmful idolatries where a friend, the family, a marriage, a pastor, a business, a career, anything, is elevated to an absolute position in life. Whenever we replace God and worship something else in His place we are into some form of idolatry.

So how do we handle living in an idolatrous culture? First of all we inculcate the truth—who and what God is in terms of His attributes, His sufficiency, His power and His grace. In Daniel chapter one we need to pay attention to how Daniel handles his situation. Verse 8 ^NASB “But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought {permission} from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.” The impression here is that he doesn’t challenge in front of everybody but he has a personal conversation “outside of class.” He doesn’t mention that he is a Jew and the Mosaic Law says he can’t eat that stuff, so let’s try to find a better diet for us. If he did that he would be appealing to a standard that the chief steward does not recognise. Daniel exercises wisdom. Don’t make an issue out of Christianity because the unbeliever doesn’t recognise that standard. Make the issue a standard that they believe in and that they are violating. Always remember to be wise, cautious and gracious, and don’t be antagonistic or create secondary issues that are not essential.