Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · The Land & the Throne
Idolatry did not end with statues. The Bible calls covetousness idolatry and says the covetous man is an idolater, which means the throne of your heart can be occupied by money, comfort, approval, control, or even ministry. Ezekiel names the real location: men who “have taken their idols into their heart.” Idols are usually good things promoted to ultimate things, and they always pay in slavery. The cure is not to want less but to delight in something better, because a heart captured by treasure in a field will gladly sell everything else.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/what-modern-idols-hide-in-ordinary-christian-lives · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Ezekiel 14:1-6
As you read: Men who come to inquire of God while carrying idols inwardly, and God's answer to that arrangement.
1Then came certain of the elders of Israel to me, and sat before me.
2Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
3Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?
4Therefore speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols;
5that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
6Therefore tell the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Return, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Romans 1:18-25
As you read: The sequence from knowing God to not honoring Him, and the swap at the center of it: glory for images, truth for a lie.
18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.
20For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.
21Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.
22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.
24Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves,
25who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Colossians 3:1-11
As you read: Where covetousness lands in Paul's list, and what he calls it.
1If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.
2Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.
3For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.
5Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;
6for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
7You also once walked in those, when you lived in them;
8but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
9Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,
10and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,
11where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.
Psalms 73:21-28
As you read: The psalmist's envy of the prosperous resolved not by argument but by nearness, ending in the one desire that outranks all others.
21For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.
22I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.
23Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand.
24You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you.
26My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.
28But it is good for me to come close to God. I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
The elders of Israel came to Ezekiel to inquire of God, and God told the prophet what He saw: “these men have taken their idols into their heart.” They had no shrine in the room, yet the throne was occupied. That is why God says He will answer such a man “according to the multitude of his idols.” Idolatry is not measured by what stands on your shelf but by what sits on your throne, and the two are often very far apart in appearance.
“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?”Ezekiel 14:3
“Therefore speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols;”Ezekiel 14:4
Paul lists greed in the same breath as sexual sin and then names it: “covetousness, which is idolatry.” He tells the Ephesians that “no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.” Jesus says, “You can't serve both God and Mammon,” and Paul describes people “whose god is the belly.” Proverbs adds the social version: “The fear of man proves to be a snare.” Money, appetite, applause, safety, control: the New Testament keeps widening the category until it covers an ordinary week.
“Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;”Colossians 3:5
“Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.”Ephesians 5:5
““No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.”Matthew 6:24
“whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.”Philippians 3:19
“The fear of man proves to be a snare, but whoever puts his trust in Yahweh is kept safe.”Proverbs 29:25
Romans describes idolatry as a swap: humanity “traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image,” and “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Jeremiah pictures the same transaction from God's side: “they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Isaiah asks the obvious question, “Why do you spend money for that which is not bread?” and the psalmist answers with the cost: “Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god.” An idol is not a neutral hobby; it is a broken cistern that promises water.
“and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.”Romans 1:23
“who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”Romans 1:25
““For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”Jeremiah 2:13
“Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? listen diligently to me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.”Isaiah 55:2
“Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names on my lips.”Psalms 16:4
Idols are rarely obvious to the people who keep them, which is why Scripture keeps telling us to examine ourselves. A few questions do most of the work. What do you sacrifice for without being asked? What can you not imagine losing? Where does your mind go when it is finally free? Whose approval changes how you behave, the way the elders' approval changed Saul, who begged, “please honor me now before the elders of my people”? What makes you disproportionately angry or despairing when it is threatened? And remember that idols hide inside good things: family, health, ministry, nation, even correct doctrine. Paul told the Corinthians these stories “were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things,” and then gave the only safe instruction: “flee from idolatry.”
“Then he said, “I have sinned: yet please honor me now before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God.””1 Samuel 15:30
“The fear of man proves to be a snare, but whoever puts his trust in Yahweh is kept safe.”Proverbs 29:25
“Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.”1 Corinthians 10:6
“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”1 Corinthians 10:14
You cannot simply delete a heart's treasure; you have to replace it. The psalmist found the exchange that works: “Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you... God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 37 makes the promise plain: “Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Jesus tells the story as a man who finds “a treasure hidden in the field,” and “in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has.” That is the shape of repentance, God's own appeal through Ezekiel: “Return, and turn yourselves from your idols.” And underneath the command is covenant love, not mere demand: “Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God,” jealous for the whole heart because He means to be its joy.
“Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”Psalms 73:25-26
“Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”Psalms 37:4
““Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.”Matthew 13:44
“Therefore tell the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Return, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.”Ezekiel 14:6
“for you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”Exodus 34:14