Beware of Modern-Day Idols

Imagine the disappointment in store for the Babylonians who put their trust in idols, which will prove to be completely useless! Should Israel believe that those Gods are to be compare to Jehovah?  Of course not. Rightly, Jehovah asks:  "To whom will you people liken me or make me equal  or compare me that we  may resemble each other?"  (Isaiah 46:5)  How inexcusable that some of Isaiah's  fellow countrymen have turned to the worship of speechless, lifeless, and helpless statutes!  For a nation that knows Jehovah, relying on lifeless, defenseless images made by human hands is foolish indeed.

Consider the empty-headed reasoning of idol worshipers.  The prophecy continues:   "There are those who are lavishing out the gold from the purse, and with the scale beam they weigh out the silver.  They hire a metalworker, and he makes it into a god.  They prostrate themselves, yes, they bow down." (Isaiah 46:6)  As if an expensive idol had a greater saving power than one made of wood, worshipers spare no expense in building their deity. Still, no matter how much effort is expended or how costly the materials, a lifeless idol remains a lifeless idol, nothing more.

Further highlighting the foolishness of idol worship, the prophecy continues:  "They carry it upon the shoulder, they bear it and deposit it in its place that it may stand still.  From its standing place it does not move away. One even cries out to it, but it does not answer; out of one's distress it does not save one."  (Isaiah 46:7)  How ridiculous to pray to an image that lacks the ability either to hear  or to act!  The psalmist well describes  the uselessness of such objects of worship:  "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of the hands of earthling man. A mouth they have but they cannot speak; eyes they have, but they cannot see; ears they have, but they cannot hear. A nose they have, but they cannot smell. Hands are theirs, but they cannot feel. Feet they have, but they cannot walk; they utter no sound with their throat. Those making them will become just like them, all those who are trusting in them." -Psalm 115:4-8.

Next time: "Muster up Courage"

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, Volume II, 2001