Isaiah 46 - 48

“Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born.  Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you".

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Chapters 46, 47, and 48  all deal with the same subject, the historic fall of Babylon.

God hates idols. Their only purpose is to turn attention from God. And, God will have no rivals. He is a jealous God. “With whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared? Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it. They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move". Somebody got the bright idea that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob wasn't good enough. They needed to make their own. So...what's the best they could do? They could get the most precious elements known, gold and silver, and hire the most accomplished artisans to fashion a god worthy of worship. What was the result? a hunk of metal that sits there...inert. It can't even move unless the carry it around.

Pretty pathetic effort, if you ask me...

Let's understand that God is not intimidated by this foolishness. The gods of Babylon were not a threat. They can't compete for God's omnipotent place above creation. After all, in His own words, God says "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me".

End of discussion. But, the idols still have to go.

I believe there's an important reason for God's intolerance. Man is ingenious and inventive. If those idols are not killed dead, man will continue to grow and imagine greater and more significant gods. God will not allow this to happen. Again...not because He is threatened but...because the more sophisticated our gods become, the harder it is to resist them.

In Chapter 47, when we look forward to the Babylon of Revelation we see far more potent idols...magic spells, sorcery, and astrology. None of these idols sit around like dead weight. These idols are inside our heads. They empower mere humans to cross the great divide. Although not chronologically new, these idols represent a new opportunity to interact with time/space dimensions otherwise denied to us.

"To boldly go where no man has gone..."

If that isn't an intent to become God...I don't know what is...

These are idols more familiar to us. Have you ever seen The Long Island Medium?  Theresa Caputo claims to be a medium who can communicate with the dead. Each episode focuses on Theresa as she conducts private and group readings with both believers and skeptics. Can you imagine how powerful this idol might be for a person who desperately misses a loved one?

Witchcraft is another idol. The promise of "spell-casting" that allows us to carry out mystical actions against (or, for) others. So, if I could punish my boss for his wicked behavior toward me I could truly be tempted. It's justice.

Or astrology. based on the premise that there is a relationship between teh stars and events in the human world. Ultimately, Astrology is part of the ancient heresy, Gnosticism, that taught there was a way to capture the mind of God and know the secrets of all creation. Our own pride makes this idol very attractive. So, Gods says “Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror".

Or, not...

As with any idol, "the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves".

Chapter 49 helps us understand why God is so intolerant of idols. Its because eventually they blur the distinction between man and God. Therein is the substance of apostasy. Why do you suppose God went to all this trouble...announcing future events...to a stubborn people? This section of Isaiah closes out with some challenges from . God says  I told you these things before they happened so that you could not say, My images brought them about; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.
Without God saying "My servant, Cyrus..." the Israelites would have somehow believed they escaped from captivity under their own power. God came right out and asked the question. "Which of your idols told you all these things?" So now, idolatry had assimilated itself into their very beings. they could  no longer distinguish between reality and make believe.

The false god is no longer sitting over there as a dead weight...the false god has moved into our lives.

So...we live lifes of desperation. Nothing goes as we plan. Our lives are filled with confusion. Why? because we have come to believe we are the masters of our own destiny. God says "if only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be blotted out nor destroyed from before me.”

I'd like that...but how? God says "Leave Babylon!"

Leave our idols and return to the one true God  Its a commitment we need to renew daily.

 

We don't need to be told what our idols are. We all know...if we're honest...

 

And think about this. If we get distracted from the one true God and follow idols, who pays? We do, of course. We pay eternally. Our disobedience doesn't cost God a thing. But, since He loves us, He want's to rescue us from ourselves. That redemption cost God mightly.

Live boldly out there today...