OUR SUBTLE IDOLS:
CONCLUSION
by A. Gene Veal

This is the conclusion of a series of articles entitled “SUBTLE IDOLS”.  In none of these articles do we intend to bring you under condemnation, but perhaps the articles might cause you to consider where your confidence rests: in God or in things.  There are at least twenty more that I could mention (goals, ideals, identity, happiness, self-esteem, logic or reason, education, psychology, ministry, experience, plans, doctors, etc.).  Because these idols are “subtle,” it is possible you just might not have thought of them this way.  I recommend you go over our articles again and pray for God’s grace to grant you eyes to see and “the spirit of wisdom and revelation.”  God’s Word warns us, “let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

We will conclude this series with this admonition from Scripture: “Let us lay aside every weight, and THE SIN which doth so easily beset us.”  A. T. Robinson says, “The easily besetting sin.”  Of this phrase, he says, “The verbal adjective reminds one of the ring of wild beasts in the jungle that encircle the camp-fire at night, each ready to pounce upon a careless victim.”

What sin would you think is the most hideous to God?  Adultery?  Blasphemy?  Pride?   What sin do you think might even incorporate all of them?  Let’s look at a revealing chapter in the book of Ezekiel for the answer.

Ezekiel 8:
¹Then on September 17, 592 B.C, during the sixth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, while the leaders of Judah were in my home, the Sovereign LORD took hold of me. ²I saw a figure that appeared to be a man. From the waist down he looked like a burning flame. From the waist up he looked like gleaming amber. ³He put out what seemed to be a hand and took me by the hair. Then the Spirit lifted me up into the sky and transported me in a vision of God to Jerusalem.

I was taken to the north gate of the inner courtyard of the Temple, where there is a large idol that has made the LORD very angry. ⁴Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel was there, just as I had seen it before in the valley.

Notice this idol is at the place of worship.  It seems interesting to me that idolatry can come right into the midst of our place of worship.

⁵Then the LORD said to me, "Son of man, look toward the north." So I looked, and there to the north, beside the entrance to the gate of the altar, stood the idol that had made the LORD so angry.

The altar is where sacrifices were offered.  If we do not rely on God’s Sacrifice, His Son, as our only confidence for being right with God, we may be tempted to think our praying, fasting, Bible reading, or other works righteousness put us in right standing with Him, or at least give us favor with Him.  Our ONLY confidence must be what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us.  We stand in His righteousness and that is our ONLY hope for God’s favor.

⁶"Son of man," he said, "do you see what they are doing? Do you see the great sins the people of Israel are doing to drive me from my Temple? But come, and you will see even greater sins than these!"

Moving from the “large” idol, he will show Ezekiel “even greater sins.”  I don’t know what people do with this verse who believe that all sins are the same.  He has already pointed out how horrible idolatry is.  What could be greater? Read on and “you will see even greater sins than these.”

⁷Then he brought me to the door of the Temple courtyard, where I could see an opening in the wall.

⁸He said to me, "Now, son of man, dig into the wall." So I dug into the wall and uncovered a door to a hidden room. ⁹"Go in," he said, "and see the unspeakable wickedness going on in there!"

Since “The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart,” we will need the revelation from God’s Spirit and His leading us to see “a hidden room” in our heart where subtle idols may lurk or we may never come to know what this “unspeakable wickedness” is.   What sin would God classify as “unspeakable wickedness?”

¹⁰So I went in and saw the walls engraved with all kinds of snakes, lizards, and hideous creatures. I also saw the various idols worshiped by the people of Israel. ¹¹Seventy leaders of Israel were standing there with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan in the middle. Each of them held an incense burner, so there was a thick cloud of incense above their heads.

There it is, MORE IDOLATRY!  This idolatry is subtler.  This idolatry is hidden and when exposed by God’s light can be seen for what it is: “snakes, lizards and hideous creatures.” I wonder how much we see as beautiful and desirable to us that is in reality “unspeakable wickedness” to Him.

¹²Then the LORD said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the leaders of Israel are doing with their idols in dark rooms? They are saying, `The LORD doesn't see us; he has deserted our land!' " ¹³Then he added, "Come, and I will show you greater sins than these!"

What do otherwise “saintly” Christian workers do when no one sees them, when they are away from the people to whom they are normally accountable?  Get ready.  You are about to see “greater sins than these.”  What could that be?

¹⁴He brought me to the north gate of the LORD's Temple, and some women were sitting there, weeping for the god Tammuz (See Spurgeon’s quote on Jeremiah 16:20 in last article about FAMILY as a SUBTLE IDOL). 

Yes!  More idolatry. “Tammuz” answers to the Adonis of the Greeks, a deified mortal, whose death the women annually lamented with idolatrous rites. The Jews write, that this was a prophet of the idols, who after his death was once a year mourned for in the night.

Tammuz signifies hidden or obscure, and hence the worship of his image was in some secret place.  This weeping and show of emotion may look like genuine concern and care when in reality it is idolatry.  It is emotional.  It is harbored in the heart.  It is mere feelings which lead to gross sin. It is subtle.  It is idolatry.

¹⁵"Have you seen this?" he asked. "But I will show you even greater sins than these!"

There is more?  What would He show to be “even greater sins than these”?

¹⁶Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the LORD's Temple. At the entrance, between the foyer and the bronze altar, about twenty-five men were standing with their backs to the LORD's Temple. They were facing eastward, worshiping the sun!

Again, MORE IDOLATRY!  How many Christian men have turned their backs on the Church to serve that place of power, life and security … THEIR JOB.  Men, of all the things in your life that must be dedicated to the Lord, YOUR JOB MUST BE UNTO THE LORD.  Where God has you employed, what He has you doing for a living is to be brought in line with Him.  Your work in reality is UNTO Him and FOR Him.  Your security is IN HIM, not in your job. “Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

¹⁷"Have you seen this, son of man?" he asked. "Is it nothing to the people of Judah that they commit these terrible sins, leading the whole nation into violence, thumbing their noses at me, and rousing my fury against them?

¹⁸Therefore, I will deal with them in fury. I will neither pity nor spare them. And though they scream for mercy, I will not listen."

So the “besetting sin” of Israel was IDOLATRY.  I suggest that idolatry is still the “besetting sin” in the Church and “the ring of wild beasts in the jungle that encircle the camp-fire at night, each ready to pounce upon a careless victim.”

Remember, while there “is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” there are CONSEQUENCES for sin.  God would be less than loving to leave you with your idols, subtle as they may be.  Listen to what He is telling you.  He speaks in you four ways: by His Spirit directly to your spirit, by His Spirit through the Word, by His Spirit in other people, by His Spirit in your circumstances. The Greek word for OBEDIENCE includes the word “to hear”.  You cannot obey what you refuse to hear.  LISTEN to Him.  There are a lot of other voices and they are usually yelling at you.  Listen to only His Voice.  He is always speaking, but His is a “still small voice” and you have to want to hear Him.  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word (Rhema) that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”  “My sheep HEAR my voice and they follow Me.”

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

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