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Idols still exist, even in today’s modern culture.
(Leviticus 26:1) Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.
The average American knows that a stature (image of stone) cannot perform acts of creation. It cannot breathe, speak, see or hear. It is unlikely that anyone would bow down and perform acts of worship before any inanimate form placed on a stand before them. Nevertheless, there can be material things in your life that receive the same degree of attention that the ancient idol worshippers gave to their images of gods, animals, and the sun, moon and stars.
(Deuteronomy 4:16-18, 23) Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.
Your idol can be the similitude of any figure. A sports hero, a movie star, hunting, fishing, your Corvette, a hobby, or even your spouse. The likeness of any thing that receives more adoration from you than the Creator God is your idol. Therefore, be warned. Your idol is whatever you hold most dear. When you go to great effort to get tickets to that all-important football game and won’t go to the trouble to get ready for church, you have an idol in your life that occupies a more prominent position than the One who promises to give you eternal life. Can your idol do that?
The danger of tolerance.
The leadership of a nation can misdirect its citizens to conduct themselves in a manner that is displeasing to God. When the people knowingly abide a leader who promotes acts which are in obvious violation of God’s laws because they are willing to tolerate the wrong in order to get what they want, he has been elevated to the prominence of an idol, and judgment is in the offing. (2 Kings 21:11-12) Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols:
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.
Manasseh murdered children and delved into the occult. (2 Chronicles 33:6) And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
Manasseh set up idols in the Temple. (2 Kings 21:7) And he set a graven
image of the grove that he had made in the house (the Temple), of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
God had made a conditional promise to Israel. (2 Kings 21:8) Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
But Israel paid more attention to Manasseh than to God. They tolerated his evil, they embraced his complete disregard for God’s Commandments.
(2 Kings 21:9) But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.
When God has tired of trying to get the attention of a sinful nation that will not listen, He will allow them to remain blind to their wickedness and suffer the consequences of such actions. (Isaiah 66:4) I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.
Condoning the abominable practices of a leader committed to a philosophy diametrically opposed to God’s will is placing that leader in the position of an idol. Tolerance of such wickedness has its penalty.
The consequences of disobedience.
Breaking the Second Commandment has consequences. Devoting your time and attention to the material objects in your life to the extent of ignoring God can anger God and cause Him to punish a nation. He will not ignore persistent violations of His Commandments. (Deuteronomy 4:24-27) For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land …… ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
(2 Kings 21:13-14) ……and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.
……and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;
If God promised such punishment to Israel, the “Apple of His eye,” what do you suppose He will do to a nation that was founded upon the concept of a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence* when that Divine Providence is replaced with the idols of materialism? As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8:4, ……we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
*From the Declaration of Independence
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