The True Nature of Idols and the True Nature of God (Isaiah 46:1-5)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
“1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; Their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle. Your carriages were heavily loaded, A burden to the weary beast. 2 They stoop, they bow down together; They could not deliver the burden, But have themselves gone into captivity. 3 Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, Who have been upheld by Me from birth, Who have been carried from the womb: 4 Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you. 5 To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal And compare Me, that we should be alike?”
Introduction
I read a news article that was sent to me by a pastor. This news article was about Jeff Bezos and Jeff wrote, “If you believe in the words of others then you will fail. When you encounter a problem or a situation, you must respond like this, ‘Impossible? This is the word of those who only have excuses.’ Impossibility is just an opinion. Impossibility is not eternal but it is just an obstacle and temporary. Impossibility gives the route and path for an opportunity and a challenge. Impossibility makes people brave. Impossibility is nothing to me.” I think Jeff Bezos created Amazon with great success with this kind of mindset. This made me realize that the people of this world are winning with this kind of mindset and with positivity. If that is so, we who are people of God, what kind of power and strength should we possess? We must hold onto is that the Triune God is watching and dwells over my heart, mind, and soul. We must believe in this and pray for the Triune God to reside within us eternally and powerfully. We must pray with the five powers. If we pray with this, then we will absolutely succeed. Today’s sermon is a very important sermon.
1. The True nature of Idols
1) Misunderstanding of the Jews
Verse 1 - Bel was an idol that the Babylonians worshiped. This also meant to them, Bel of God of all gods. They worshiped Bel as their supreme god. Nebo was the son of Bel. This means that Nebo held the meaning of, “The one who advocates and speaks”; also known as a god of great intellect and with wisdom. Even King Nebuchadnezzar’s name was named after the god, Nebo. King Nebuchadnezzar wanted to be worshiped and wanted to be seen as the son of Bel. These gods were famous among the Babylonians. Their gods that they worshiped, their gods, Bel and Nebo were destroyed and stooped down. This means that they surrendered. God constantly gave His people warnings not to worship idols but why did God continuously say not to worship idols? People thought back then that the cultural warfare was with great significance. If a nation won a war, they thought it was not a battle of nations but it was a war between their gods. So if they won, then that meant that their god was more strong and powerful. God prophesied that Judah will lose the war but the Israelites thought that their God was weak. The Israelites were in great misunderstanding. The Israelites thought that they fell into captivity and were destroyed because God was weak not because of their sins. We may not understand this well but you have to know that many people think like this even now. If people face a problem or a hardship, they think that it is because God is not helping them. So many people in this world blame God for their problems. They blame God and criticize God for giving them problems. They complain to God for their problems and end up cursing God.
2) Idols were taken captive
Verse 2 - The fact that the idols stooped down meant that all of these idols surrendered before God and ended up becoming destroyed. Before God, all idols were seen as nothing and powerless. The astounding message was that the idols that the Israelites worshiped, they couldn’t help the Israelites at all and they ended up falling into captivity. Their idols were being tied up and dragging along with them to captivity. In a nation, there is a lot of gold and wealth that they accumulate but Babylon dragged all of that along with their idols, and took it to melt all of them in the furnace to make more gold for themselves. This shows that God was showing that their idols are nothing but just dead weight that was carried with them to captivity. We have to see the meaning behind all of this. Worshiping idols is just worshiping in vain and they carry no significance. You put hope and prayers into that idol and worship them, and people are worshiping only things that they can see, not God who they cannot see. Even now, if you go to shrines and temples, you can see so many people going there, bowing down and praying endlessly to these idols. If you just break these idols, then they become nothing still but so many people are devoting their entire lives to worship these empty structures. God was giving us a message.
2. The True Nature of God
1) God who chooses
Verse 3 - God who created us in His image, God was telling us to remember our image. God was saying this to the Israelites. Even before they were created, they were held by God. The content of this holds the meaning, we who have been held from birth and from the womb, this means that the sin that we were born with. In other words, when we were bound by sin and death, God took hold of us and saved us. This God was saying that He is this God who saved us and holds the burden of sin on our behalf. God did not save the Israelites who were not sinless but saved them when they were still sinners.
Ephesians 1:4 “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” - We must hold onto this and understand this. We have been chosen before creation. What did God do after He chose us? He chose us in love so that we could be holy and blameless before God. We were bound to be within hell and curses but God chose us and saved us from sin. God bought us out from sin and called us before Him in Christ to be holy and without blame.
We were held by God when we were born, this means that God held onto the Israelites the moment the nation of Israel was made. God carried them and held onto them, and bought them out of Egypt during the Exodus. The chosen people of Israel were seen as precious before God. We who have been chosen, we are seen as very precious and important before God. How did we get to know and believe in this God? How did we become saved by this God? Without God’s grace, none of this was possible. God saved us when we had no choice but to fall into destruction and sin.
2) God who protects
Verse 4 - God called us as His children and protected us, and He will do this until we are old and our hairs turn gray. God will do this until the end of our lives. I made a lot of mistakes when I was younger and after I aged, I thought I would mature and not make mistakes. I am 70 years old but I still feel like I am still immature. There are times when I repent before God and realize that I am so immature. Even though I am old, I realize that I still make mistakes and am so lacking before God. The more I age, I realize that I need to rely on God more and more. Why is that? This is because God protects us. God says, “I” four to five times in verse 4. God said that He will protect us numerous times in this verse. God continuously reminds us that He created us, carries us, bears us, and delivers us throughout this passage. God is the God who protects and holds onto us. We are seen as so precious before God’s eyes. This is the blessing that we possess. That is why we must hold onto and confess of only Christ and when we make this confession then God will take full responsibility over our lives. That is why we must hold onto only. When we hold only then God will never lose hold of us.
1 Samuel 17:45 “Then David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.' ” - This was the battle that happened before David and Goliath. David made an astounding confession during this time. David was standing before a great figure, Goliath, who worshiped one of the strongest gods at that time. David was just a young boy but he knocked down Goliath with just one stone. Was it because David fought well? David was just a young boy but David won because God fought for David and gave David great wisdom. What does this mean? This means that God always holds onto us, protects us, and delivers us. That is why we must hold only God in all circumstances. Do you have a problem? Enter into only. Be victorious.
3. God's Concern
1) Worship only to God
Verse 5 - Many people say strange things and even the Israelites were saying strange things. They were saying that Bel and Nebo were stronger. Even now, people are saying all religions are the same and all we have to do is live good and do good. Many people think that we just need to do the same thing so people think that they just need to find a religion that matches them. What does this mean? These are actions and thinking are things that defy God. God and idols can never be on the same level at all and are not equal.
God absolutely says in 1 Samuel 2:30 “Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.’ ” - This is God’s pride. Pastors have pride and elders have their own pride. Our church members have our own pride. With our pride, we should go with this and live. This was what God was saying. If you honor me, then God said that He will honor us. Those who ignore God, God said that He will ignore them too. God said that this when Eli was doing strange things and Eli’s sons were eating the foods bought before God during worship. They were blocking worship before God and God ended up destroying Eli’s family line. In a replacement of Eli, God raised up Samuel. God raised Samuel to be only the temple of God and worship. He was someone who enjoyed the blessing of God’s throne. God ended up using Samuel greatly. May we enjoy this blessing.
2) Temple that blocks idolatry
Then, where is God’s concern? We must raise up the temple that blocks idolatry. We must build the temple that can relay the covenant eternally and save children. No matter how much wisdom you possess, if you are spiritually weak, then you are just a spiritual child. In order to raise up our spirituality, we must hold onto the covenant.
Hebrews 6:19 “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.” - Through the death of Jesus on the cross, the veil was ripped in half. This means that those who hold onto Jesus’ blood, the sin was forgiven eternally. We must hold onto the courthouse of prayer, the courthouse of children, and courthouse of Gentiles. We must raise up the temple that can pray. We must become church officers who can pray.
Isaiah 62:6 “I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent.” - Truly be victorious during 24 hour prayer. Be victorious during the 40-day challenge.
Hold onto the bartizan of the temple. Be ready to fulfill the mission of a watch tower. 1 Corinthians 4:2 “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” - Pastor Kwang-Su Ryu gave us the message that we should pray for and hold onto the country to save. During the 40-day challenge, pray for one country and research about that one country. Pick one country and pray for that country. The fact that we pray with these prayer topics, it will make God very pleased and happy. The fact that we are praying for one nation, God will truly be happy.
Conclusion
Hold onto Isaiah 62:7 “And give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” - During the 40-day challenge and during your prayer, make it where angels cannot rest. That the angles have to constantly move because of your prayer. Raise up the bartizan of prayer and the bartizan of 237 nations.
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