Thursday, October 11, 2007

God's Love vs. Idols

Jim:

2 Kings 23:4-25
Reading this passage one can begin to grasp just how far the kings of Judah had turned from God’s will. The list of reforms that King Josiah undertook is amazing, with all the idols he had burned and all the high places he had defiled. No wonder God was angry! But the really amazing thing to me is what we read in verse 22. “No such passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, even during all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah.” So while the worship if foreign gods had steadily gained a foothold among the people of Israel and Judah, the celebration of Passover, in many ways the defining event of their history, had ceased. Amazing.

1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Paul also wants his readers to turn their backs on idols and focus instead on worshiping God. Paul is talking about spiritual gifts. So when, in verse 2, he writes, “You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols…”, he is talking about those who reached a highly emotional state in their pagan worship. This does not prove anything, he says. It is easy to become emotional. But it is only by the Holy Spirit that one can say Jesus is Lord.

Matthew 9:18-26
Matthew does not put as much detail into recounting these stories as Luke does. But the point is made. In healing a little girl and a woman with a flow of blood, Jesus demonstrated God’s concern for the lowest members of society, and even those who were considered ritually unclean (as the woman would have been because of her bleeding).

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