Because of the importance of Israel and its people, and my personal love for The Land, I’m inviting you to join me through the key Old Testament book of Isaiah. Each day I’m posting some simple thoughts about this complex prophet.
Isaiah 21.
Babylon. Edom. Arabia. More woe!
“Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!’” (v9, NIV).
I’m reminded of the very first of the Ten Commandments:
“Do not worship any god except me. Do not make idols that look like anything in the sky or on earth or in the ocean under the earth.” (Exodus 20:3-4 ,CEV).
Babylon has fallen. Its images of its gods lie shattered on the ground. There is a lesson for us. If we worship other gods — and I believe the definition for both “worship” and “gods” is quite broad — we too will fall. Our joy is that we can worship the One, True, Living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is our only source of life and life to the full. Isaiah will ask the reader later in Chapter 44: 10: “Why make an idol or an image that can’t do a thing?”
Instead, let us fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12) and follow hard after God and let His powerful right arm support us (Psalms 63:8).
We make idols all the time, don’t we? They may not look like gods, but they are all around us. These are things that take our attention away from the eternal. When we do fall, when we prioritize idols over God — like a person or a job or a newly acquired thing — I’m thankful for the grace of Jesus. He offers new life time and time again as we recognize our folly.
“…and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:24, NIV).
(c) 2020. Rich Ronald.
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