I Am God, and There Is No Other

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).

You would think this should not be a difficult piece of advice
to follow. The voice of God thundered from Sinai in the second command.

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of
anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You
shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a
jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and
fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand
generations of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:4-6).

Within the month, the people of Israel were busily building an
idol, a golden calf. It did not last long.

Rachel, Jacob’s wife stole her father’s household gods. All of
the sons of Jacob had idols.

“So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him,
‘Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and
change your clothes….’ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the
rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem” (Genesis
35:2, 4).

King David’s wife, Michal, had an idol.

“Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it
with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head” (1 Samuel 19:13).

Jeroboam built two golden calves, one in Bethel and one in Dan.

In this age of tolerance, we have accepted foreign idols as
legitimate, alternative forms of worship. To speak against the idolatry of
Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism is considered bigotry, intolerance, and hatred of
other people.

“Gather together and come; assemble, you fugitives from the
nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods
that cannot save. Declare what is to be, present it—let them take counsel
together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and
a Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the
earth; for I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:20-22).