Based on a series of sermons preached in PCC Prayer Meetings in 2020
18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? 19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. 20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved
Isaiah 40:18-20
What has idolatry got to do with comfort? The two subjects seem incongruously incompatible. It is like adding a cube of chocolate to a plate of Char Kuey Teow1[1], or adding siham (blood cockles) to a pizza. They seem incompatible. Why does the prophet Isaiah talk about idolatry in a chapter that is designed to comfort God’s people?
Well, some commentators suggest that Isaiah mentions it not so much to comfort as to inoculate the Jews who are about to be swamped with the idolatrous practices in Babylon.
However, the context in the passage suggests that Isaiah is led to the subject by his statement on the greatness of the LORD. In a way, He is essentially seeking to draw out a contrast to accentuate the greatness of the LORD. God is so great that it is impossible to compare Him with anything. Indeed, He is so great that He is unportrayable or ineffable.
You can portray a false god by making an image because there is really not much of a difference between the false god and the idol that can be crafted to portray it. This is the case regardless of whether you use metal, wood, or plastic to make it.
You can try to make your idol more glorious by covering it with gold, decorating it with silver chains, using high-quality hardwood, or seeking a very skilled craftsman to create it. Regardless, it will not, in the least, bear any resemblance to the God of glory or represent Him to any degree at all.
In fact, the idol, however glorious it is in the sight of man, portrays exactly the opposite of what God is. God is the creator of man; idols are the creation of man. God is sovereign and free; idols are powerless and unable to move. God knows all things; idols are incapable of knowing anything. The whole forest of Lebanon is not sufficient as a sacrifice to God, whereas the most insignificant sacrifice is too wasteful for idols.
Sadly, however, sin has blinded man so that he fails to understand these things. Both the rich and the poor try to have their own idols. The rich decorate their idols with precious metals; the poor put in effort to find the right wood and to engage a craftsman willing to make their god for them.
What is this reality to us? Briefly, three things:
1. Unhelpfulness
Firstly, it is manifestly unhelpful to compare God with anything. We can find comfort in Christ our Saviour because He is not only a man of like passions as we. He is at the same time also God, who is infinitely greater than the most incredible things in creation, whether of oceans, mountains, or nations or galaxies.
This is why Reformed Christians refuse to use any pictures of Christ at all. We do not even want pictures of Christ in our children’s book. Because any picture of Christ will not only fail to represent Christ adequately, but actually depict the opposite of who He is. Talk about misrepresentation.
2. Injustice
Secondly, images of gold and silver do great injustice to the glory of God. In fact, however glorious they may be, they have the effect of lulling man to settle for grossly inadequate ideas of God. Let me illustrate what I am saying. In this era of Zoom communications, we can become so accustomed to seeing and communicating with one another with such convenience that it is no longer important to many of us to gather in person. Many of us are being lulled into contentment with what is a poor replacement for in-person fellowship.
Pictures of Christ or of God have the same effect. This is one of the reasons why God forbids man from making any images of Him. Therefore, let us resist any temptation to represent Him or to replace Him.
What do we mean by replacing Christ? Well, Paul reminds us that idolatry is covetousness. Therefore, anything in our life that holds the same importance and authority as Christ should have over us is an idol and a replacement of Christ. It may be technology, qualifications, respectable persons, jobs, etc. If we find our chief comfort in these things rather than in Christ, we have lapsed into idolatry and will one day be sorely disappointed.
Let us, instead, find comfort in Christ by meditating on who He is and what He has done as He is revealed in the Scriptures, including the present chapter.
3. Control
Thirdly, for some reason, many idolaters are so passionate about their idolatry that they put in great effort to secure idols for their own use. Perhaps this is due to a desire to see and to control God.
It is wicked to want to control God, but God has given us His Son, the express image of His person, so that by seeing Him, we may see God. This image of God, unlike the idols of man, laid down His life for us to reconcile us to God.
Shall we not, therefore, cultivate a zeal for Him that is not inferior, but rather far exceeds the zeal of the poor idolaters? Let us pray that His Spirit will revive us and give us and our children the heart and attitude of the man who found the Pearl of Great Price, who sells all he has that he may have Christ! Amen.
—JJ Lim
- A popular Southeast Asian dish of stir-fried flat rice noodles, which often include blood cockles as one of its signature ingredients. ↩︎