“One
God”
[Isaiah
44:6-20]
September
20, 2020 YouTube
Last week we saw God comfort Israel and Judah and give
them hope. He told them that they did
not have any reason to fear their discipline due to the fact of Who God is and
the promises He made to them. And,
whether they died in captivity or not, they had the promise of a blessed
future. All who believe in Jesus for
salvation have that promise.
In this morning’s text, God continues His condemnation of
idols and idolatry. Before, God looked
at the idols and compared them to Himself.
Now, God gives a portrait of Himself and then compares Himself to the
idols.
We begin by seeing there is One God.
“Thus
says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:”
God
addresses His people by telling them Who He is with a variety of titles.
He
is the Lord – He is YHWH – the God Who spoke to Moses in the burning bush and
delivered His people from slavery in Egypt.
The God Who is personally involved with His people.
He
is the King of Israel. He is the True Ruler
– the Sovereign over His people. He is
the One Who governs His people in righteousness – seeking their best in Him.
He
is the Redeemer of Israel. He is God
Alone Who provides a gracious salvation for His people – for all who believe –
God promised and sent the Savior to earth so salvation has been accomplished.
And
He is the Lord of Hosts – the YHWH of Hosts.
He is the ruler over every created thing that has and does and will ever
exist.
“I
am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.”
God
speaks of His eternality – telling Israel that He existed before anything ever
existed, and He will always be. He is
the utmost to the uttermost – in fact, there is no other god in all of
existence – no one else who claims to be a god is a god – all the other gods
are false gods – idols. And God knows
that because He is and was and is to come, and all things were created by Him.
Having
said this, God continues:
“Who
is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I
appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will
happen.”
God
puts forth the challenge – is there anyone like Me? Is there any being in all of existence that
can claim to be the Being that I am or like Me?
This
is, of course, a rhetorical question.
God knows there is no god like God and there cannot be since God is the
Creator of everything. In order for
there to be another god even comparable to God, he would have had to exist with
God from all of eternity past.
Also,
God chose a people – Israel – the descendants of Abraham – to be the people
through which God gave His Law and guided the prophets to inform the people of
Who God is and what God will do. Is
there any god who has done anything like that?
And,
as we have seen before, God asks if any idol can tell what will happen in the
future. Is there any god who can tell
what will happen? God, the True God, can
and does.
God
shows Who He is in the context of Israel, so there is no excuse for their
idolatry – their sin. God displays His
Glory in the context of His relationship with Israel and tells them there is no
excuse.
More
so, we who know Jesus Christ – the Promised Savior – Who we know has come in
history and we can point to and say He came at this point in history and did
these things and accomplished salvation for us – so our understanding of God
and His work with us and in us is far better than that of ancient Israel – we
have even less of an excuse to sin
We
commit idolatry when we sin – when we put anything in the place of God – when
we know that God has said to do something or not to do something and we believe
we have a better idea or want something that God has forbidden – we put whatever
that is on God’s throne – and that is blasphemy – that is idolatry – that is
sin.
We
know there is One God. We have seen so
much more of His Glory. We know so much
more about Who He is and what He has done.
Let us focus on these things and be amazed – and then obey Him in faith
and obedience, and we will have joy – even in suffering and captivity – and
Covid – we will have joy in Him.
God
says, “Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared
it?”
God
tells His people not to be afraid – not to fear – because the idols are nothing
– in reality they are nothing – they are not gods – they are the sinful
creations of humans. And so, God calls
on His people to witness for Him – to show Him if He is wrong and idols are
really gods comparable to Him:
“And
you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not
any.”
God
tells them that they are His witnesses to the fact that He Alone is God and
there are no other gods. God asks if
they know of any other god – if they know of any other rock – any bastion of
strength and security. And God answers
His question with full tongue in cheek, “I don’t know of any.” “I have always been God and always will be God,
and I have not met any other god – a real god – have you?”
Then
God turns to the craftsmen of idols and the material they are made of to show
how infinitely lesser they are than God – they are not gods – there is only One
God.
Second,
idol-makers are not ignorant of what they are doing.
It
only takes a moment of thought to see that idolatry is ridiculous – that it is
sin and not anything based in the reality of the world. It only takes a moment to stop and look at
what you are about to do and ask yourself if it is sin – if it is what God
wants of you – and then decide whether or not to stop and take a different
course.
“All
who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit.
Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.”
One
of the rules of logic is that you cannot create something that is greater than
yourself. A cat cannot create a human, a
human cannot create an angel or a god.
The best any human or any creature can do is create something equal to
himself.
And
the idol-maker knows this. God says that
everyone who makes an idol understands it is nothing – it is a human creation –
it does not and cannot rise to the level of a higher being. They delight in nonsense – in things that
can’t do any good for anyone else. And
since the idols they make cannot see or know anything – the reality is that
idol-makers are put to shame. What they
have made is not worthy of praise, but ridicule and shame.
All
sin is doing something that we know in our hearts and minds is less than what
God would have for us – whether it be idolatry out-right like Israel was
engaging in or another form of idolatry in which we do not obey God – it is
always settling for less – and God will not have it.
“Who
fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his
companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them
all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put
to shame together.”
God
pushes the point that the idol-makers are humans – they cannot create something
that is greater than they are – and what they have created is profitable for
nothing – idols cannot do or know anything.
If you gather all the idol-makers together – they will all be ashamed of
what they have created – they will be terrified as they consider that there is
a real God Who will not give His glory to another.
And
that’s what we do when we worship an idol – when we put anything in God’s
place. When we hold onto our rabbit’s
foot or any other lucky charm in the hopes that it will bring us luck – or our
lucky numbers or our lucky underwear – elevating humans beyond sainthood to
someone to be worshipped.
And
here’s what they do – here’s a formula for making a god – an idol. (We don’t normally worship statues – though
some people do – so consider the ways that we have made other things in our
lives idols – how we have imbued them with powers they do not have.)
“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. The carpenter stretches a line; he
marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a
compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to
dwell in a house.”
The
craftsmen work with iron and wood and make them into the shape of a human
being. They decorate it and make it look
like they think a god should look, and when they are finished, they are
exhausted, but the god is done and it can sit on someone’s coffee table or in a
church.
The craftsmen aren’t ignorant about what they
have created – it is no more a god that the planter they made for someone
else. Humans cannot create a being
greater than themselves.
We
know that plaster statues and the foot of a dead rabbit or the lucky stone we
carry around can’t really do anything.
And if we think about it, we know we are attributing power to something
that can do nothing and knows nothing.
We’re not ignorant. When we don’t
have time to read the Bible, but we do have time to read the latest Stephen
King novel – we know what we have done.
Let’s
not pretend that our sin is Christian liberty or to the glory of God. We know what we are doing. Let’s take a
breath and step back before we act – not trying to fool ourselves – but acting in
faith and obedience to the One God.
Third,
idols can’t be gods because they are made of what God created.
“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.”
Picture
this: A man cuts down a cedar or an oak
tree in the forest and loads it up to bring back to his home or shop. And being a good ecologist, he plants a tree
to replace the one he cut down and it grows as God waters it with the rain.
And
the man unloads the tree:
“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. 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!’ 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!’”
The
man takes the tree and cuts it up. Half
of the tree he cuts up and uses as firewood to heat his home. Half of it he uses in his oven where he cooks
a rabbit for dinner – except for the feet, which he has cut off to sell as
lucky charms. And the final half, he
carves into an idol, and when he finishes making the idol, he falls down before
it and worships it and asks it to deliver him from his problems.
From
the same tree – a tree that God created and grew – this man made a fire to warm
himself, filled his stove to cook dinner, and carved out a god – out of the
same piece of wood – the same tree. Why
wasn’t the wood he threw in the fire a god?
Why wasn’t the wood he used in his stove a god? Why was the other wood a god when the same
piece of wood was also used to light two different fires? Do you see how absurd this is?
What
can the piece of wood that was made into an idol do that the wood that was used
for the fires cannot do? The material is
the same. And God made the
material. It cannot be a god. It cannot save us.
And
the government won’t save us. Our bank
account won’t save us. The lottery won’t
save us. Your lucky penny won’t save
us. Only God, the One True God can save
us.
“They
know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot
see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is
there knowledge or discernment to say, ‘Half of it I burned in the fire; I also
baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the
rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?’ He feeds
on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or
say, ‘Is there not a lie in my right hand?’”
God
emphasizes how crazy it is to believe that a block of wood can do anything or
understand anything or bring salvation to anyone. Not only is it insane – like considered a
pile of ashes to be a healthy meal – the idolater’s heart is deluded – so much
so that he doesn’t even realize he has embraced a lie.
When
we get so involved and persuaded by our own lies – the sins and inventions of
our hearts that we put in the place of God, we cover our eyes and ears so we
cannot hear or see or return to the right worship of God. So, it may take captivity or Covid or death
to break the spell of sin and get us to wake up and turn back to God in faith
and obedience.
Why
would we want that? Why would we play
around with things we know cannot do us any good – with things we know cannot
be gods? When God gives us His Son for
salvation and we say we have believed on Him, why do we turn to the psychic
hotline and horoscopes rather than the Word of God?
Elijah
called the people of Israel to choose between God and their idols:
“And
Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you go limping
between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal,
then follow him.’ And the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to
the people, ‘I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets
are 450 men. Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves
and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will
prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you
call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and
the God who answers by fire, he is God.’ And all the people answered, ‘It is
well spoken.’ Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose for yourselves
one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your
god, but put no fire to it.’ And they took the bull that was given them, and
they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon,
saying, ‘O Baal, answer us!’ But there was no voice, and no one answered. And
they limped around the altar that they had made. And at noon Elijah mocked
them, saying, ‘Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is
relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be
awakened.’ And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with
swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. And as midday passed,
they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no
voice. No one answered; no one paid attention” (I Kings 18:21-29, ESV).
And
then Elijah said to the people to absolutely drench his sacrifice with water,
and he prayed to God, the One True God, and God sent down fire and burned up
the sacrifice, and the altar, and the people believe in God, the One True God,
the Only God, and Elijah slaughtered the prophets of Baal.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, You continue to speak out against idolatry
because You are the Only God and the sinful human heart is an idol
factory. Lord, forgive us for our sin
and stir up the Holy Spirit that He would continue to grow us in faith and
obedience and draw us ever closer to You as He makes us into the Image of Your
Son. Cause us to hate sin and to delight
in You and Your Law. Teach us anew each
day from Your Word. And we ask this in
Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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