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Showing posts from January, 2024

Direction not destination

One of the most subtle and effective tools he is using among us today is the convincing of some that they have arrived, they have reached their destination, they have earned a rest, they aren’t needed anymore, they are out of danger, they are beyond temptation, and they can take pride in their accomplishments.

What do you idolize?

2 Kings 18: 3-6 And broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made: Numbers 21:1-9 describes how during a time of a plague of fiery serpents upon the whole nation, Moses made a bronze serpent for the nation to look upon and be spared death from the snake bites. This statement in 2 Kings tells us that this particular bronze serpent had been preserved for more than 800 years and had come to be worshipped as Nehushtan. Hezekiah, in his zeal, broke in pieces this bronze artifact and put an end to the idolatrous worship of this object. i. This bronze serpent was a wonderful thing – when the afflicted people of Israel looked upon it, they were saved. It was even a representation of Jesus Christ, as Jesus Himself said in John 3:14-15. At the same time, man could take something so good and so used by God and make a destructive idol out of it. ii. In the same way, sometimes good things become idols and therefore must be destroyed. For example, if the true cross of Jesus or His actual bu

You become what you worship

2 Kings 17:13-15 They followed idols, became idolaters : The NIV translates this, “ They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless .” The NASB has it, “ They followed vanity and became vain .” i. “The original is more accurate at this point: ‘They worshipped emptiness and became empty.’ The word here is  hebel  meaning ‘air,’ ‘delusion,’ or ‘vanity.’ The idea is that they became like the gods they worshipped. They bowed down to nothingness and became nothing.” (Dilday)