Skip to main content

Deuteronomy 7:23 - Does God accept worship using any idol? - Day 154

Dear Friends,

As some of you may know, Ligonier Ministries (R. C. Sproul) does a periodic survey of evangelical Christians.  One of the questions is "Does God accept the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam?"  Roughly 65% said they strongly disagree (i.e. God definitely does not accept all religions).  So a total of 35% have varying degrees of agreement or are not sure.  Let's see what today's passage points to.

I am interested in your thoughts, so please post a comment on the blog.

Blessings,

Jeff

The thread of the second commandment and prohibition of idols and images reappears in the context of the upcoming conquest of Canaan.  Can you hear the Israelites saying, "we didn't make these idols and God only told us not to make our own"?  So Moses elaborates that the second also prohibits using idols that someone else has made.

When every culture around them used idols in worship of their gods, it is hard for us to understand how different Israel was supposed to be.  Calvin said "The human heart is an idol factory"  Maybe I don't fully appreciate how different the Church is supposed to be.  

Idols are a matter of the heart.  Paul makes the point in Romans 7 that the law cannot sanctify us.  He uses the example of covetousness.  But even without physical idols, my heart would dwell on something other than God.  Ultimately, only a regenerate heart can worship God in accordance with what he has appointed in His word.

I think that this passage speaks to the question of God accepting the worship of other faiths.  The first and second commandments are exclusive.  Man can only worship God as he has appointed in his Word.  This precludes all other faiths.  While Christians are not under the law as an external requirement to gain God's approval, God does write them on our hearts so that we obey out of love for what He has done in saving us.  God as revealed in the Bible is object of worship.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2 Chronicles 33:7-9 Thoughts on Davidic covenant - Day 362

Good morning faithful readers, The finish line is in sight!!!  One of the themes of scripture is that God is a covenant keeping God.  There are many between God and man. Adam, Noah, David are examples.  Covenants are more than promises.  They are made between a superior and inferior with conditions for each side and blessing and penalties based on keeping the conditions.  These are covenants of works which fallen man was unable to keep.  Thanks be to God that the Father made a covenant of grace with Christ, the second Adam, which he fully kept. Blessings, Jeff The promise in v8 was made to David when he had planned to build the temple and God promised to build him a house forever. (2 Sam 7:10).  Seems like there are only two possibilities about Manasseh's disobedience.  Either he knew of this covenant that God had made with his 13th great grandfather and chose to disregard it, or he didn't know of it and was unaware of the penalty.  Let's con...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 30:16-20 Hearts set to seek the Lord - Day 359

Good morning fellow members of the household of God, After writing the devotional, I am thinking about the Passover as a household event.  In ancient Israel, the physical household of man was covered by the blood of the lamb.  Now, it is the spiritual household of God that is covered by the blood of the Lamb. Blessings, Jeff The account of the greatest celebration of Passover since time of Solomon (v 26).   Observations: One of the things that made this one great is participation of some of the tribes from the northern kingdom.  Israel was a united kingdom and Solomon and now toward the end of the northern kingdom, there is at least a semblance of being united. God allows some exemptions: Who offers the sacrifice:  The original Passover was a family by family sacrifice of a lamb.  However in  Deuteronomy 16:5-6 this changed to a centralized location once they entered the promised land.  (You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 35:23-26 Lament for the last good king - Day 364

Good morning fellow exiles and pilgrims, One more day of devotions.  We are indeed exiles and pilgrims in this world as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  The 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks can serve as a reminder that this world is not our home. Blessings, Jeff The lamentations for Josiah written by Jeremiah.  However, the book of Lamentations does not include any reference to Josiah as they are focused on the fall of Jerusalem.  While these lost lamentations were "made the rule" there are only 4 more kings and none of them were good like Josiah and none died in Jerusalem.  The phrase "to this day" generally refers to the time of the author (post exile).  Taken together, it may be that these laments were for the last good king and during the exile the people were longing for the next good king. Zerubbabel in a way was the next good king as temple and Jerusalem were rebuilt. But Jesus truly was the next king and He...
Post a Comment
Read more