It is indisputable that both idols and idolatry are altogether abominable and obnoxious to the Eternal Lord God Almighty. This is made abundantly clear by the revelation of Himself in His Holy Word. God’s word to Israel was,
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God” (Ex.20:3-5).
It was the complete disregard of this by the nation in going after idols which roused the anger of God against them until He punished them by expulsion from their land.
“Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the nations; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy (healing)”(2 Chron. 36:14-16).
An idol is a false god, and by nature it intrudes itself into the heart to usurp the place of God in worship – this is idolatry. Having redeemed Israel from all the idols of Egypt God said to Israel
“Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God – the LORD is one: and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might”(Deut.6:4-5). This was not an invitation to the people, subject to an individual interpretation. Jesus said deliberately: “This is the first and great commandment” (Matt.22:38).
Again Jesus said “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). This worship can only be performed with the whole heart and mind and understanding God requires wholehearted and absolute, unqualified devotion to Him in worship.’ So the devoted servant of God cries out with intense desire:-
“Is there a thing beneath the sun
That strives with Thee my heart to share?
Ah, tear it thence and reign alone,
The Lord of every motion there:
Then shall my heart from pain be free,
When it hath found repose in Thee” (Hymn 12).
Thus it behoves every brother and sister today to look right into the depths of their own hearts and to examine with the most searching scrutiny the singleheartedness and purity of their own worship of the Father.
The Apostle Paul instances to the Corinthians the abominable idolatries of the fathers of Israel who were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. To the baptized believers in Christ he wrote that all these things are written for our warning, and he makes his earnest appeal to them all:
“Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say” (1 Cor.10:1-15).
Where then shall we find the idols to tempt us today which will mar the worship of the Lord in beauteous array? The only true guidance is from the Word itself, and this is the standard which all true worshippers will apply to themselves. John wrote:
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17).
Thus John looks back to the Garden of Eden and the inception of these “dreaded three”. They destroyed true worship and turned our first parents into idolaters. So John emphatically wrote “The whole world lieth in wickedness little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:19&21).
Explicitly, then, in reply to Bro. Stephen, the idols which influence us today are all those things of the world which distract our minds from giving wholehearted worship to our Father.
The world of today is vile and is to be taken by God and completely destroyed.- Its allurements and its temptations are on every hand. They are presented in most enticing forms to make their appeal to the mind of the flesh.
It is so very easy to become entangled in these pleasures of the world, to indulge in them, to see no harm in them. It is easy to form companionship in the world and to enjoy such company, and to be blinded to the eroding tendencies of godless ways. May every earnest soul anxious to worship the Father in spirit and in truth look the idols of the world full in the face for what they are worth and determine to shun them completely and to have no part in them.
This is the great and outstanding need of today, and everyone amongst us exercised in heart and mind concerning the present state of the brotherhood should determine to set the example both by word and effort to eschew these idols and to rid our community of this idolatry. It cannot be denied that as a community the brotherhood has moved far away in practice from that standard of separateness from the world and its ways which was the characteristic of those early brethren and sisters in this country in the days of the revival of the Truth, and which continued into the beginning of the present century.
The teaching of Paul was the same as that of John. To the believers at Rome he wrote: “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom.12:2), and again to the Corinthians,
“Those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the form of this world is passing away” (1 Cor.7:31 R.S.V.).
The illustration of conforming may be taken from the art of working clay. An article can be formed to the exact pattern required. A mould is used to form the clay lump into the fashion of the desired product which at the proper time can be burnt by fire into a fixed and stable article. However this form may pass away. In use it may be broken or disfigured and no longer of value.
To conform to the pattern of the world is to partake of its evil ways, to follow its idols, and to be found like it, a copy of itself. The Lord Jesus realised the peril for the disciples in the world, and he turned to the Father in most earnest supplication for them:
“I pray not that thou shouldest take than out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:15).
The opposite process is for the believer to be sanctified through the Truth – the Father’s Word. This is the result of transformation – literally “transfiguration” – by the power of metamorphosis working from within to produce “a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Tim.2:21). The true worshipper will recognise the dishonourable things of the world of today. He will purge himself from all its idols in whatsoever form they may present themselves to him and “fleeing from idolatry” will by God’s grace be found in the end to have been changed into the image and likeness of the glory of the Lord.
This article has been written in response to the letter from Bro. Stephen Green in ‘The Bible Student’ Vol.2 No.1
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One