December 16: REPLACING THE LORD (part 1)
Everyone helped his neighbor, And said to his brother, “Be of good courage!” So the craftsman encouraged the goldsmith; He who smooths with the hammer inspired him who strikes the anvil, Saying, “It is ready for the soldering”; Then he fastened it with pegs, That it might not totter. Isaiah 41:6-7
The Holy Spirit, the inspiration behind truth, leads Isaiah to show his people the reality of how widespread is the problem of idolatry. The above passage builds upon 40:19-20 to reveal a veneer of friendliness – Everyone helped his neighbor – with which false ideas about God are spread. The workman [first] molds an image into the likeness of sinful man’s wishful thinking, and then the goldsmith overspreads it with gold, which is the misuse of God’s name to make it appear acceptable.
Isaiah’s inspired writings certainly applied to the Jews of his day, but they also carry a sweeping application for the professed people of God in the time of the end, the days in which we are now living. Idolatry undermines the unique and intimate relationship with the Creator God by elevating other things to the place which only He deserves within the hearts of His people. Ancient idolators believed that they were worshipping divine beings through images or symbols of them. The first commandment, prefaced with the reminder of Who has already saved (Exodus 20:2), is stated: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (v.3). But if an idol is needed to represent the true God (remember the golden calf! Exodus 32:4-5), the LORD rejects it as a likeness of Himself, for no one knows how to depict Him (Deuteronomy 4:15-19), and there is nothing that can represent His incomparable glory and greatness. Therefore, claiming to love God supremely while holding anything or anyone in higher regard, is actually a denial of His real and powerful presence.
This carries directly over to the second commandment regarding idolatry: a carved image (Exodus 20:4) to represent Him. Idolatry takes many forms, many of which are subtle. The Holy Spirit will prompt every Christian - who seeks and accepts His guidance - with the discernment to recognize the strategies of the archdeceiver, who “hammers away” at the truth so that his ideas will displace the Word of God.
The enemy’s representative on earth is he who strikes the anvil, Saying, “It is ready for the soldering”. Over the last 15 centuries, many of God’s people have attempted to escape the influence of the fiery red dragon (Revelation 12:3 – see vv. 6, 14); however, vestiges of false teachings slithered into the Protestant churches. Some of the various corrupted doctrines are detected within various denominations that sprang up out of the Protestant Reformation, but not all were immediately discovered. This is the phenomenon behind the fracturing of God’s church after its escape from the “mother” church (see Revelation 17:5); and these are the pegs that unwittingly support her. Yet, God never stops working to unify His people around all truth!
“I have raised up one from the north, And he shall come; From the rising of the sun he shall call on My name; And he shall come against princes as through mortar, As the potter treads clay.” Isaiah 41:25 (the north: where the Most High resides; see Isaiah 14:13 – call on My name: see Matthew 14:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; 6:12; John 11:41-42; 17:1-26 – come against princes as through mortar: Jesus challenged rulers by confronting their false beliefs and corrupt practices – As the potter treads clay: The Creator of all humbled Himself to become like one of His created beings to communicate truth!