Your silver and gold will not save you on that day of the LORD’s anger. For the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. He will make a terrifying end of all the people on earth. [Zephaniah 1.18]
Two years ago, I wrote the article What Are We Paying For? It is an unfiltered and powerful (albeit unpopular) look at idolatry and what it actually looks like today.
Today however, I wish to explore Zephaniah 1.18 just a little deeper. To do so, we should first consider another passage included in today's One Year Chronological Bible reading:
“What good is an idol carved by man, or a cast image that deceives you? How foolish to trust in your own creation—a god that can’t even talk! [Habakkuk 2.18]
Most people comfort themselves that they are not worshiping idols today simply because they don't have little dolls or large statues to whom they bow down in worship. But the little dolls or large statues are NOT the problem - they never were. The problem lies with who made the little dolls or large statues! Habakkuk rightly pointed this out: your own creation. This warrants a review of God's commandment about idolatry:
“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. [Exodus 20.4-6]
The key phrase most people ignore in God's 2nd Commandment is the phrase make for yourself. The sin of idolatry is not the manufactured object of idolatry (the idol itself), but instead the motivation behind the manufacture of the idol: to make for ourselves something to mitigate vulnerability and fear in ourselves or the world around us.
The best way to digest what is said in the previous paragraph is to go straight to God's Word. There we will see exactly how idols work. We need only to look back in the Garden of Eden:
The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. [Genesis 3.6-7]
Instead of "going to God" in repentance, Adam and Eve made for themselves a covering of fig leaves in attempt to mitigate their vulnerability and fear. What follows next is nothing short of profound. In His jealousy, God rejected Adam and Eve's pathetic solution and provided a solution of His own design: and in that solution we find an early prophecy of Jesus Christ:
And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife. [Genesis 3.21]
Blood was shed by animals symbolic of the blood of Jesus Christ that would be shed to mitigate the vulnerability and fear Adam and Eve had brought upon themselves and all mankind through disobedience.
What about man's worship of the sun, moon, and stars (and the likes)? Man did not make those, right? Right! But what man did do was make for himself the decision to worship those instead of God. So, you see, make for himself, whether idol or decision, is consistent in that God is excluded as God ALONE (man's source for everything). The motivation for both is independence of God (to any degree: partial or complete).
So, it's one thing for man to worship something (through his trust) that costs him nothing (the sun, moon, stars, etc.) but another altogether to pay (silver and gold: money) to do so! If it makes God jealous for us to worship that which is found freely in nature, how much more jealous does it make Him when we pay to worship? The Bible warns against both spiritual adultery and spiritual prostitution (see Hosea in the Bible)! And, here is where, again, Zephaniah brings reality:
Your silver and gold will not save you on that day of the LORD’s anger. For the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. He will make a terrifying end of all the people on earth. [Zephaniah 1.18]
What does man trust (depend on) today that he pays for? The industries of finance, insurance, medicine and technology are very much man's "fig leaves" today.
To be clear: Not waiting for God's provision by repeatedly paying interest payments is the idolatry of finance. Not waiting for God's protection by repeatedly paying insurance premiums is the idolatry of insurance. Not waiting for God's health by repeatedly paying for prescriptions to stay alive is the idolatry of medicine. Not waiting for God's solutions by repeatedly paying for tools designed to wear out prematurely is the idolatry of technology.
Just to stir the pot a little deeper... The institutional church as a business (industry) might just as easily fit the description of something man made for himself that costs him money. We have to consider everything, right?
The very thought of giving up the industries of finance, insurance, medicine and technology that man made for himself - let alone, the thought of giving up institutionalized "church" as a business - is ludicrous! Right?
For all that the man-made industries of finance, insurance, medicine and technology promise to provide, Jesus simply said this:
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. [Matthew 6.33]
And, as we consider the idea of trusting Jesus alone (God's mitigation for the curses of sin upon the world), should we not understand what He demands?
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24 (also, Mark 8.34 & Luke 9.23)]
If it makes God jealous for man to make for himself industries (that, by the way, he has to pay for), how much more jealous does it make God for man to do so rejecting His Son?
Your silver and gold will not save you on that day of the LORD’s anger. For the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. He will make a terrifying end of all the people on earth. [Zephaniah 1.18]
If giving up our man-made idol industries of finance, insurance, medicine and technology (and possibly even institutional "church" as we know it) seems impossible, then and only then, might we begin to calculate the price Jesus paid with His own blood to make it possible.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. [John 3.16]
In total consistency with God, Jesus calls us to complete dependence upon Him, free from the encumbrance of idols. Sadly, our money repeatedly spent on man-made solutions out of vulnerability and fear points straight to our idols.
Father, Your Word is overwhelmingly biased against idolatry. Help us to see that if we truly trusted in You ALONE, as Your 1st Commandment demands, not a single idol would even appeal to us. Help us to see Jesus as Your mitigation for ALL our vulnerabilities and fears. Help us give up our own way of making for ourselves solutions for these vulnerabilities and fears, completely and thoroughly fearless even to the point of death, and follow Jesus. So be it.
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