Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Jeremiah 10:1-13 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: "Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good." Inasmuch as there is none like You, O Lord (You are great, and Your name is great in might), Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For this is Your rightful due. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You. But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; a wooden idol is a worthless doctrine. Silver is beaten into plates; it is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the metalsmith; blue and purple are their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men. But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to endure His indignation. Thus you shall say to them: "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens." He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion. When He utters His voice, There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: "And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries."
HEAR, O ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD!
In the book of Deuteronomy (6:4) we are told, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." A New Testament parallel is found in 1 Corinthians (8:4), "There is none other God but one." The descriptive word defining the worship of the none other God but one is the word "monotheism," as compared to polytheism which is the worship of many gods.
We worship one God Who is triune--three in one. The Athanasian Creed declares the faith of the Christian Church, "There is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal ... So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God." In the creation of the world the Triune God, or Trinity, functioned in the uniqueness of the Godhead, as our text states, "He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion." At the baptism of Jesus, the three distinct persons are present in their unique roles--the Father speaking, the Son being baptized, and the Holy Ghost descending. The commission that Jesus gave to the Church was to baptize "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
Scripture is clear. It is just as clear as regards the gods of the heathen, " ... a wooden idol is a worthless doctrine," literally, " ... the instruction of uselessness is wood." And you can replace the word "wood" here with anything else that people use to replace God in their heart. They who believe in another god than the triune God are ultimately no better off than the fool who says in his heart, "There is no God." The idols of men are whatever they--or God forbid, we--put in the place of God, be it riches, reason that sets itself above God's Word, the pursuit of pleasure that forces God into the background, even family that becomes more important to one than God. All these besides the thousands of gods of the heathen are condemned by the First Commandment where God says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." Instead we are to "fear, love and trust in God above all things."
Have you ever wondered why the LORD God calls Himself a jealous God (Exodus 34:14)? He declares in Isaiah 45:21, " ... there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior." He is jealous because of His love for us sinners. "[God] desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:3). Our Savior God cannot bear to see us follow a god that cannot save us! Idols, those things that replace the true God in our heart, be they statues, money, people, or even ourselves, can do nothing for us. "For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good."
Concerning our salvation, we lost and condemned sinners were in need of someone outside of ourselves if we were to be delivered from the condemnation of hell. It is the folly of unbelief to believe that we who are the cause of our problems can some how deliver ourselves. God the Father promised and sent the Son; His perfect Son, born of the virgin, satisfied the stern demands of the Law which condemns to hell and everlasting separation from God. Jesus' blood cleanses us from all sin, and has redeemed us to God. He died and rose again so that salvation is won for all, and becomes the personal possession of all who believe. But how shall we who are dead in trespasses and sins believe? The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost, creates saving faith through the blessed Gospel. Only they who trust in the Triune God will stand in the evil day, and stand they will. Trust in anything else for salvation will only end badly, for "They are futile, a work of errors; in the time of their punishment they shall perish." The faith, the confession, and the confidence of the believer in the Triune God was expressed by the Psalmist who said, "He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God" (Psalm 62:6, 7).
