I am currently teaching two Bible Studies at the moment, one on Revelation and the other on the 12 "minor prophets". Both of these studies have been fruitful in several ways for me. Each time I teach a book of the Bible, I learn something new or discover something that I had not seen previously, even if I've read or taught that book several times. The same is true of Revelation this go around and, considering that I've never taught the minor prophets before, I'm learning a lot about them (and the history of Israel). What I really love, however, are the relatively few moments of synchronicity that occur when studying, teaching, or reading two different books of Scripture. One of these happened a few weeks ago and I've been meaning to blog about it, but am only now finding the time. Here are the Scriptures that got the ball rolling:
Zephaniah 3:1-2 - "Ah, soiled, defiled, oppressing city! It has listened to no voice; it has accepted no correction. It has not trusted in the Lord; it has not drawn near to its God."
Revelation 17:8 (in reference to the scarlet beast upon which the Whore of Babylon was riding) - "The beast you saw was, and is not, and is about to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the inhabitants of the earth…will be amazed when they see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come."
Both of these Scriptures bring to mind Paul's teaching in I Corinthians 8:4-6 - "Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that 'no idol in the world really exists,' and that 'there is no God but one.' Indeed, even there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth - as in fact there are many gods and many lords - yet for us there is on God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist."
The thread that runs through both of these passages is the idea that idolatry is ultimately a negation of existence. Throughout the whole of Scripture, the sin that seems to occur with the most regularity is idolatry. This is also the subject of the first of the Ten Commandments, is the sin most pointed to by the prophets, and figures prominently in the New Testament. I have found that the Christians that I have known pretty much excuse themselves from Biblical commands against idolatry. I think that we associate idolatry with ancient idols and, since we don't worship little wooden statues or have any Asherah poles lying around, we pretty much assume that injunctions against idolatry, especially those found in the Old Testament, don't apply to us.
The passage in Zephaniah puts it well: the idol has "no voice". The voice of the idol is our own voice which we attempt to amplify through a false god. When we seek our well-being, our self-worth, our freedom, our peace, and our salvation through anything other than God, we are listening to the "no voice" of the idol. Basically, we are listening to ourselves talk. The construction in Revelation is also instructive: "the beast…was and is not and is to come." The "is not" indicates the negation of being in the present. The idol does not exist. Idolatry has existed and will exist - but the idol does not exist. It is not.
And as Paul states in the above passage: "no idol in the world exists" - so why should we worry? Well, it's pretty easy to see that humans can make idols out of just about anything. The threat of idolatry is that idols promise something that they cannot deliver. In the Old Testament, the culprits were Baal and Asherah, in Jesus' day it was a mixture of Egyptian deities, Greco-Roman gods, and the Emperor cult. Today - well, it's less about a personified deity and more about those things/ideas we look to for meaning and fulfillment. There are, of course, the obvious ones: drugs, sex, money. Most American Christians can easily attack these things (and with good reason, if we're looking to drugs, sex, or money to fill the hole in our hearts.) However, some of our other idols are more insidious, more tempting, less recognizable: consumption (establishing your identity in the things you own or purchase), self-worth, relationships, your job. Even things that are overwhelmingly positive can become idolatrous if they are what we rely on exclusively to give our lives meaning: our marriage, our children, our own good behavior.
Twice in the closing chapters of Revelation (19:10 and 22:9), John bows to worship an angel. Both times the angel commands John to get up and "Worship God!" There is only One Who is worthy of worship. Some things are worthy of attention, all people and some things are worthy of love, only One is worthy of worship. My questions for myself as we move through the season of Epiphany: what am I making an idol, what am I worshiping besides God? What do I depend on for my peace, my freedom, my salvation? Where might I cast down the idols in my life? Good questions to ponder leading into Lent…
Grace and Peace to all of you!
