All Who Make Idols are Nothing
and the Things They Treasure are Worthless
44: 6-23
Central to the redemption and restoration of Isra’el is the uniqueness of God. He alone controls human history and is neither surprised nor stymied by Isra’el’s spiritual adultery. The people are in captivity for one reason: their broken covenant with the LORD. This was foretold. However, His uniqueness means that the idols that Isra’el had been worshiping could do nothing to prevent Him from delivering them when He chose to do so. The deliverance was also told of in advance. To all that had already happened, and to all that would happen, Isra’el was a witness. This section caps the entire argument. It begins with the superiority of the LORD and the futility of idolatry in 44:6-20, then Isaiah explains that ADONAI is Isra’el’s only Redeemer in 44:21-22, and finally a hymn of praise in 44:23. Through it all, God’s Spirit, through Isaish, drives the final nail of persuasion through the hearts of idolaters. It is foolish to compare the living God to dead idols.
We face the challenge of idolatry in our own age just as Isaiah did in his. The question for contemporary believers, especially young ones, is whether we will confront our society as directly as Isaiah and the rest of the prophets of Isra’el did theirs. Young people are under terrific pressure to conform to the anti-God culture of today. Many times they are being encouraged to look at the past, especially at their parents, with contempt. They have been encouraged to flaunt their defiance of all authority, as though authority is an evil thing.
Let the young believers in Messiah today refuse to bow down to the false idols of this world just as believers did in Babylon 2,700 years ago. The meaninglessness and pointlessness of life in a world where the LORD has been shut out is clearly seen in the media today. We are already reaping the bitter fruits of the view that this world is all there is. Can things made with human hands save us from ourselves any more today than they could then? Not at all. Therefore, believers must reject all the gods and goddesses of unlimited sex, the god of power through wealth, the god of the drunkard’s party scene, and the gods and goddesses of physical attractiveness today as we seek the face of God more than anything else. He alone can free us from the dungeons in which those gods and goddesses abandon us at the end of the day. These are the lies of Satan and they are as old as the world itself. This requires much courage. ADONAI is writing our history and no one else please delete and He who holds our future in His hand. When we choose to follow Him as our Lord, He writes our name in His Book of Life and promises to always be with us (see my commentary on Hebrews, to see link click De – Believer’s Behavior in Relations to Ourselves). So we can dare to be different, and continue to be lights for the truth so that others lost in this dark world can find their way home to God our Father.166
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