The Worship of Self, the Wrath of God, and Why Jesus is So Awesome
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“We are told in the history of India, that Mahmoud — who conquered a great portion of India hundreds of years ago destroyed all the idols in every town to which he came. In time he laid siege to the great city of Guzurat. Forcing for himself an entrance into the costliest shrine of the Brahmins, there rose before him the figure of a gigantic idol, fifteen feet high. He instantly ordered it to be destroyed. The Brahmins of the temple prostrated themselves at his feet, and said: ‘Great Mahmoud, spare our god, for the fortunes of this city depend upon him.’
“But Mahmoud, after a moment's pause, said he would rather be known as the breaker than the seller of idols, and struck the image with his battle-axe. His soldiers followed, and in an instant the idol was broken to pieces. It proved to be hollow, and had been used as a receptacle for thousands of precious gems, which, as the image was shattered, fell at the conqueror's feet.
“Such an idol is self, who pleads and promises that ‘if we will but let it stand, it has pleasures, gifts and treasures to enrich us at command.’ This hateful idol will spend years in intriguing to escape from the hand of God. Not in listening to its pleadings, however, but in delivering the idol over to utter destruction, shall we find our true wealth and pleasure, for jewels of priceless worth await those who have learned the secret of losing their life for Christ's sake that they may find it.” J. Gregory Mantle, Beyond Humiliation: The Way of the Cross
We are living through a pandemic. Not Covid-19. A pandemic of narcissism, hyper-individualism, self-absorption, pride. Call it what you will, you could call it self-worship.
The idol of self grows over time. It begins in childhood for everyone with a desire to make my own choices. It lies to me, that I can take care of myself. That I should store up treasure for myself. But this idol grows more demanding over time. It eventually demands treasure for myself at the expense of others. It demands the service of others. It is a root sin that leads me into all other kinds of sin. If I indulge the idol self, I will end up even sacrificing my own flesh and blood.
What does a society in which everyone worships the idol of self? Injustice grows and eventually becomes so natural and commonplace that it can become the law of the land.
What happens in that society when the redeemed people of God have fallen for the same lie and have mixed their worship of God with the sin of idolatry? Is there any hope? Today, as we read the prophet Isaiah, we will see the progressive nature of self-worship. We will see the wrath of God grow as this sin grows, which will leave us hopeless.
In our passage today, Isaiah preaches a four stanza poem of warning, wickedness, wrath, and woe. Each stanza ends with the refrain,
“For all this His anger has not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still.”
But this poem will also lead us to Christ, where our hope is found. Jesus has born the wrath of God for sin, and when we hope in Christ, we can be free of anxiety, and in a society in which everyone is running to gather more for self, we can be free to be generous.
9:8-12 - Warning: Stop Planning Your Life. Listen.
9:8-12 - Warning: Stop Planning Your Life. Listen.
9:8-12 - The nation of Israel, called Jacob in this passage, is living in troubled times. Their world is falling apart. The nations they have relied on, and the gods they worship, aren’t helping. And now the Assyrian Empire is growing more powerful and threatening from the north. When the world is falling apart, God might be trying to get your attention. Isaiah says
Isaiah 9:8 (ESV)
The Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel;
We feel the weight of the burdens of this world. We feel like the world might be falling down all around us during times of war, famine, distress, disease. Do we feel the weight of the word of God during times like these?
God has some words of correction and instruction for Israel. There is something He wants them to know.
Isaiah 9:9 (ESV)
and all the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:
But notice in this verse, it’s hard to hear what your dad is trying to say when you’re doing all the talking. The people can’t know the word of the Lord because they are saying their own thing, in pride and arrogance of heart. God has so much He wants us to know. The idol of self feeds on pride and arrogance. You don’t need God if you can come up with your own plan.
The pride and arrogance of Israel saw the world falling down around them, and instead of turning back to the Lord to listen, they came up with their own plan. They would “build back better” (verse 11).
Isaiah warns the people, your plan, in the end, will backfire. And it did. Their plan to ally with Rezin, King of Syria, fell apart when Assyria showed up and it was every man for himself (verse 12).
What if Israel had heeded this warning and given up their plans to listen to God? We’ll never know because they fed the idol with pride.
[Where does the word of the Lord warn us? Our church? Where do we worship the idol of self? Where have we made plans in our pride? Is there anywhere our arrogance has blinded us to God’s plans?]
Isaiah 9:12 (ESV)
For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
This is Isaiah’s version of , “…but wait, there’s more!” If you think you’ve seen the extent of God’s wrath for idolatry, you haven’t seen anything yet. The next stanza of Isaiah’s poem begins with,
Isaiah 9:13 (ESV)
The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.
When the people would not turn to Him, their sin progresses to the next level. In verse 13-17, we see
9:13-17 - Wickedness: When Your Nation is Godless, Don’t Follow the Leaders
9:13-17 - Wickedness: When Your Nation is Godless, Don’t Follow the Leaders
9:13-17 - We were created to worship. It is innate for us to follow a leader. We were made to worship God and walk in righteousness according to His word. When we give in to the sin of pride and choose to worship self instead, sin progresses by looking to leaders who will not lead us in righteousness, which is hard, but will tell what will make us more comfortable.
God lets Israel have what they want. He gives them godless, evil leaders. The “elder and honored man”, verse 15, are judges and princes, government leaders. The prophet is the religious leader who should be speaking for God. Government and religion are institutions ordained by God to guide a people into justice, righteousness, faithfulness, and steadfast love. But what happens to a people whose guides in both spheres are being consumed by their own self-worship? We follow our leaders...
Isaiah 9:16 (ESV)
for those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
Isaiah says these guides have misguided the people “astray”, down wandering paths into godlessness and evil, to the degree that He has even lost compassion for the orphan and the widow. This is a big deal. Even these people closest to God’s heart have been swallowed up in sin.
The character of our leaders matters. We have seen one leader after another wander into disaster through abusive power, corrupt morals, and wicked godlessness. And that’s just in the church. Let alone our governmental, educational, and financial leaders. What happens when both our civic and our spiritual leaders are leading us astray?
Isaiah 9:17 (ESV)
for everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly.
If you feel like everyone around you is talking foolishness right now, you know the reason. We’ve reached the second stage in our progression. When everyone worships the idol self, we all do what is right in our own eyes.
For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
9:18-21 - Wrath: When Wickedness Creates a Wasteland, Expect Injustice
9:18-21 - Wrath: When Wickedness Creates a Wasteland, Expect Injustice
We think of the wrath of God as hellfire and brimstone raining from heaven. And that did happen once. But the way the wrath of God usually works is more like letting someone bear the consequences of their faithless choices. The worship of self begins with making our own plans apart from the word of the Lord, then it progresses to following guides who won’t challenge you, but will make you more comfortable in your idolatry. The next stage is taking advantage of others. When you worship self, you use others to serve you. When you have a nation full of self-idolaters, it becomes a wasteland of greed and injustice.
Verses 18-21 describe the burning fire of the wickedness of men in verse 18, then links that with the wrath of the LORD of hosts in verse 19. The wickedness of men is the visible manifestation on the human level of the wrath of God. We are clued in to this by verse 19,
Isaiah 9:19 (ESV)
Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is scorched,
and the people are like fuel for the fire; no one spares another.
He is talking about the wrath of the LORD Of hosts, but it looks like, “No one spares another.”
Then verse 20 is graphic. The people devour their own flesh and blood. Fire and greed share a common trait, they consume, but are never satisfied. This is American culture. Hungry for more, our families are consumed in the idolatry of self.
Isaiah 9:21 (ESV)
Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh; together they are against Judah. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
10:1-4 - Woe: When Sin is Legislated, Pray You’re Not in Charge
10:1-4 - Woe: When Sin is Legislated, Pray You’re Not in Charge
The final stage in the growth of self-worship is when evil is being called good and good evil, and darkness light, and light darkness. At this stage sin, oppression, injustice, and depredation are written into law.
The more Isaiah writes, the more pointed His warnings get. When God judges the world, He begins with His own people. When He judges His people, He judges the leaders the most strictly. And in the case of Israel’s leaders, who are unrestrained, ignoring the needy, robbing the poor, using widows and orphans for their own gain, and worse, have protected their injustice behind unjust laws, there is nothing left to say but, “Woe!”
Isaiah 10:1 (ESV)
Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression,
We don’t use this word much. But it’s the word you use when you shouldn’t have to say anything, and there’s really nothing you can say. It’s like “Ah” or “Alas”. There is nothing left to be done. God’s wrath is about to come down. Ruin is at hand. Nothing remains but cower and die. This is what God destines for those who indulge in idolatry of self to this degree.
And this is when we learn the ultimate hatred of God for self-worship, and the infinite fury of His wrath. Even here, when all hope is lost, when His punishment comes,
Isaiah 10:4 (ESV)
For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
Even after He has punished, there is more. The Bible’s best description of God’s wrath for sin is not a rational explanation. It’s a metaphor. The metaphor of an all-consuming, never-dying, blazing fire. Hell is the place, as Jesus says...
‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire.
If you think you fully comprehend God’s wrath for sin and self-worship, you don’t. It is so much more. Your humanity limits the extent you can understand it. The sin in your heart will minimize it to some degree, some more than others. The truth is, there is no hope for the sinner who is consumed by their unrestrained sin of self-worship. It would be better if they had never been born. God’s wrath for sin is eternal, and for the person who dies in their sin, the Bible only tells us that their eternal destiny is the judgment of hell, eternal, conscious torment, living in the full blaze of the presence of God’s power, but never experiencing the smile of His face or the relief of His healing touch.
But it’s exactly here, at the height of God’s wrath, that we meet Jesus.
In 10:3, we read Isaiah saying,
Isaiah 10:3 (ESV)
What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?
We see Jesus using these words in His own preaching. He says at any moment it could be the day of punishment. He tells a short parable about a rich man who plans in his pride to store up treasure for himself to live comfortably,
But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
What does it mean to be rich toward God? Jesus goes on to describe it as being free from anxiety, trusting that God cares for me. He knows what I need before I even ask Him. So instead of running around gathering things for myself, or taking them from others, I can seek His kingdom, and His righteousness, and all those things will be added to me. Jesus adds this,
Luke 12:32–34 (ESV)
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy.
Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
What a different picture. A healed heart, giving more than I take, receiving the kingdom of God, His rule and reign. A far cry from self-worship.
But that brings up one last question. What happens with all that wrath of God for my sin of worshipping the idol of self? Does He just pretend it didn’t happen? How do I go from hopeless under His wrath, to seeking His kingdom and His righteousness, free from anxiety and living generously?
Isaiah could only see God’s wrath in the form of Assyrian conquerors. And even after they had killed and pillaged and enslaved idolatrous Israel,
Isaiah 10:4 (ESV)
Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
God’s wrath was still pent up.
Until Jesus came. His hand finally came down, once and for all, and expelled all of His wrath for sin on one human being in one moment on the cross, so that we might live.