Isaiah 2:8 Do Not Make Idols
Their land has also been filled with idols; they worship the work of their hands, that which their fingers have made.
Nation Israel is in clear violation of the first two commandments.
1) You shall have no other gods before Me.
2) You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them…
Following the second commandment in Exodus 20:5b-6, there are consequences as to how one responds to God’s word.
for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
If a person rejects these commands, God will deal with the person’s children up to three and four generations later. If one obeys these commandments and loves God, one thousand future generations will be blessed. Some may think it is unfair for future generations, but this is how God works and these are his guidelines.
Dealing with future generations because of actions in the present generation is consistent in God’s word. For example, the generations of Ham were cursed because of his choices regarding his father Noah in Genesis 9. This concept started in the Garden of Eden. Humanity and future generations were subject to the curse due to sin and the fall of man. God’s word is consistent; the choices we make affect future generations.
The consequences of choices do not have to be negative. We can choose to obey God and future generations can be blessed. Blessings can take many forms (health, children, marriage, food, shelter, wealth, etc.). Blessing is not talking about salvation. These passages are not talking about one’s salvation and eternal destination and security.
A reality of idol worship is that the creator of the idol ends up worshipping the works of his hands. Man ends up worshipping himself. Man is worshipping the god of his mind. That idol is a mere image of how man views what god is. How many times do we hear, “My god would not ________…” That god is a figment of man’s mind, not the God of the Bible. The idol is made by man’s hands. This point is emphasized two times in Isaiah 2:8.
Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
God’s observations and logic in excerpts from Jeremiah 10 state the obvious about idols. He does not like this.
For the customs of the peoples are delusion; because it is wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers So that it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good. But they are altogether stupid and foolish in their discipline of delusion—their idol is wood! Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; for his molten images are deceitful, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of mockery; in the time of their punishment they will perish.
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