The Folly of Idol Worship

Isaiah 44:6-20

Message No. 0779 | Twitter @GodandUs | www.wisdom-speaks.ca

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I have taken time to reason out why some people think it’s a good idea to worship idols, but I have come out with nothing. This week, we look at this subject again, and we offer many reasons why this practice is ridiculous and leads to nowhere. Please pray for those who are stuck in this dead end. God bless you as you read!

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It is completely disturbing that a human being would carve out an image and bow down to worship it. I tried in all of my thinking to see how sensible this is, but I could not see it. How could men fall down before the things that they made with their hands? Should the maker of a thing not be greater than the thing itself? Does a being deserve worship if it was made by the worshipper? How could the thing that I made deliver me from any troubles or woes?

In Isaiah chapter 44 verse 6, the Bible says:

"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.

Is it not bad enough for a man to be full of himself, thinking he is the greatest and there is no one above him? Was this not the sin of Nebuchadnezzar, in Daniel chapter 4, and did God not show him that he was absolutely nothing without Him? Was this not the arrogance of King Pharaoh, in Exodus chapter 14, and did the almighty God not prove to him that He is the Holy One of Israel? How did it end for King Herod in Acts 12:22-23, when he refused to give glory to God when people shouted to him, “The voice of a god and not of a man”?

There are no kind words in the Bible for idol worshippers. In Isaiah 44:9-10, the Lord declared:

Those who make an image, all of them are useless, And their precious things shall not profit; They are their own witnesses; They neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who would form a god or mold an image That profits him nothing?

In 1 Kings chapter 18, verses 20-40, there was an encounter between Elijah, prophet of God, and 450 prophets of Baal, an idol. The worshippers of Baal prepared a bull and put it on woods and cried to their god that it would ignite fire in the woods and consume their offering. They cried from morning till noon and nothing happened. Elijah mocked them and asked them to try harder, for perhaps, their god was resting, or sleeping, or on a journey. The prophets cried harder and even cut themselves with swords until blood gushed out, but their god did not respond. To prove to them how foolish they were, Elijah asked that they poured water on his own bull on woods, until the entire place was drenched. It took him just one call unto the Living God, and fire came down and not only consumed the offering and burned the woods, but also the stones, and the dust, and licked the water that was in the trench.

With these historical events and others that are occurring daily around us, why do men still worship idols? I have in the past given an example of a guy who obtained a ‘protective’ object from an idol worshipper and put it in his pocket with the promise that if he ever had an accident, the god behind the object would transport him miraculously into his house and he would not be hut in any way. With this, the guy would tell his driver to speed, and he was never satisfied with how fast his driver drove, until one day when an accident occurred, and he not only died but melted, owing to the impact of the accident.

In Isaiah 44:13-17, the Bible describes a man who planted a tree and nourishes it, and when it grew, cuts it down, and makes some into firewood upon which he roasts his meat and eats it, and bakes his bread, and burns part of it and warms himself, yet he carves out part of it and makes it into an image and falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, “Deliver me, you are my god!”

It sounds very ridiculous, yet there are people today who still worship idols. Should history not teach human beings lessons? If we do not learn from history, don’t we stand to repeat them? If you are an idol worshipper, how much have you benefited from your god? Does it make sense to continue to bow down to static things that cannot see or think or move or deliver? 

If you are yet to give your life to Christ, I can assure you that there is no other god out there that can  save or deliver. Salvation is only obtainable through the finished work of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter 4 verse 12, the Bible says that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Time is running out and no one can determine or predict the day he or she will die. Please surrender your life to the only Living God today. As you can see, other alternatives only lead to frustration and destruction.

What to Do?

Surrender your life to Christ today. There is no middle ground.