“Jeremiah, say to the people, ‘This is what the LORD says: “‘When people fall down, don’t they get up again? When they discover they’re on the wrong road, don’t they turn back? Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path? Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back? They cling tightly to their lies and will not turn around. I listen to their conversations and don’t hear a word of truth. Is anyone sorry for doing wrong? Does anyone say, “What a terrible thing I have done”? No! All are running down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse galloping into battle! Even the stork that flies across the sky knows the time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane. They all return at the proper time each year. But not my people! They do not know the LORD’s laws. [Jeremiah 8.4-7]
While God's Word was indeed written to address issues contemporary to the time in which it was written, it MUST be understood that it was, by God's intentional design, actually written to be progressively more relevant with every passing generation - even up to this present day and beyond! Frankly, it is hardly possible that a person can progress in relationship with God without understanding this. Yes, they might know about God, but they cannot actually know God.
To know about God starts with knowing His Word. To know God is the progressive understanding that His Word is actually about me, for today, and requires my response to Him. This is true for the plurality of humanity as well: To know God is the progressive understanding that His Word is actually about us, for today, and requires our response to Him. Those who know God are His people.
Having established this, it is remarkable that God's people could read His Word without recognizing the glaring ancient and therefore contemporary warning against idolatry - placing trust in anything or anyone instead of, or in addition to, God ALONE. To deny this ancient and therefore contemporary warning against idolatry in the Bible can be associated with one error: not knowing God's Word (not knowing about God) which is foundational to knowing God. Proud rejection of God is revealed in the context of today's One Year Chronological Bible reading from Jeremiah:
“My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot out lies. They refuse to stand up for the truth. They only go from bad to worse. They do not know me,” says the LORD. [Jeremiah 9.3]
Actually, speaking for God, Jeremiah, explained the verse above immediately following this article's subject passage (Jeremiah 8.4-7):
“‘How can you say, “We are wise because we have the word of the LORD,” when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies? These wise teachers will fall into the trap of their own foolishness, for they have rejected the word of the LORD. Are they so wise after all? I will give their wives to others and their farms to strangers. From the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed. Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that. They are all frauds. They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of these disgusting actions? Not at all—they don’t even know how to blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They will be brought down when I punish them, says the LORD. I will surely consume them. There will be no more harvests of figs and grapes. Their fruit trees will all die. Whatever I gave them will soon be gone. I, the LORD, have spoken!’ [Jeremiah 8.8-13]
Jeremiah 8.8-13 reveals the ancient and therefore contemporary denial of idolatry. Idolatry is not only found in ignorance of God's Word, but, as seen above, even more so in the outright proud rejection of God's Word that originates with proud teachers twisting God's Word into lies. One only has to give a moment's thought to the myriads of books written today that erroneously defend the Biblically inaccurate lie that 'bad things happen to good people' - They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound without even a mention of idolatry.
Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it to others? Why has the land been so ruined that no one dares to travel through it? [Jeremiah 9.12]
Only one who not only knows about God, but more importantly knows God understands that God's Word is very much about us, for today, and requires our response to Him.
Again, knowing about God is the start. Notice His undeniable and ageless warning against idolatry:
“I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me. “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. “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. [Exodus 20.2-7]
But knowing God is the timeless practice of responding to Him. And here is where, in His magnificently patient and enduring love for mankind, God sent His Son Jesus, Who, in perfect step with His Father defined all of God's Word with "bottom-line" clarity:
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)]
Idols have forever been self-destructive substitutes for God that unsurprisingly mask themselves as self-preserving alternatives to God. They have forever been man's way of taking care of himself independent of God. Idols have forever been man's way of rejecting God. Whether they look like the ancient idols of man's making or like the modern industries of finance, insurance, medicine and technology, idols are man's way of trusting something other than, or in addition to, God.
Idolatry is everything that infectiously prevents one from following Jesus, Who is the Way to God. If we will see it, the whole Bible consistently and timelessly teaches this truth.
Indeed, the Bible is not outdated as some suggest.
Father, Your Word is as true and relevant today as ever. In fact, Your Word is very much more relevant today than at any other time in history. May we recognize and confront our own idolatry today by giving up our own way, taking up our cross, and following Jesus. So be it.
