Beginning in September 1940, the German Luftwaffe initiated an aerial bombing campaign against the United Kingdom. The goal of this punishing bombardment was part demoralization, part strategic preparation for what was assumed on both sides to be the inevitable invasion of the British isles. The bombings, which occurred virtually every night, lasted for over a year. They have been variously dubbed “The Battle of Britain,” “the London Blitz,” or simply as “the Blitz.” By the end of campaign, large swaths of London and other major population and industry centers in Britain had been leveled to the ground. In total, some 41,000 Britains died in the raids, and another 139,000 were injured. Amazingly, despite these merciless assaults, Britain survived and endured. This was, of course, partly thanks to the gradual increase of U.S. aid (climaxed by their formal entry into the war in December 1941), and partly because of Hitler’s shift in focus towards his invasion of Soviet Russia. But more than anything, it had to do with the resiliency of the British people and the determined leadership of Winston Churchill.

Nonetheless, one particular night stands out in this campaign. Saturday, May 10, 1941 is known as the hardest night of the the Blitz. On this night, the skies were clear of cloud cover, and a full moon shone brightly over London, illuminating the city and rendering all blackout procedures virtually ineffective. It was the perfect conditions for German bombers to deliver their payloads. Over a six-hour period, 505 German bombers dropped 7,000 incendiaries and 718 tons of high explosive bombs all over London and causing particularly devastating damage to Whitehall, Westminster, and the Tower of London.

One peculiar incident happened on that night which could otherwise go quietly unnoticed amid the dramatic turbulence of this particular raid. Erik Larson, in his brilliant account of the Battle of Britain, writes,

In Regent’s Park, at No. 43 York Terrace, ninety-nine members of the Group for Sacrifice and Service, the English affiliate of a California cult, gathered in an apparently abandoned house for a service held to worship the full moon. The roof was made of glass. A full dinner buffet had been laid out in the central hall of the house. At one forty-five AM a bomb struck, killing many of the worshippers. Rescue workers found victims dressed in white robes that appeared to be the vestments of priests. Against the white cloth, blood appeared black. The group’s archbishop, Bertha Orton, a devotee of the occult, was killed. A gold cross encrusted with diamonds still hung around her neck.

As I read that account, I was immediately hit not only by the irony of the story, but the object lesson is provides for us regarding the danger of idolatry. A group of people gather together to worship the full moon. They look up into the cloudless sky with wonder, hope, and expectancy. They anticipate that their devotion to this magical, other-worldly celestial body will elicit blessing and life and vitality. But what falls from the sky brings the opposite. What they thought would bring life instead brought death.

There’s a reason why God forbids idolatry. There’s a reason why the Old and New Testaments warn God’s people against it. And we as God’s people would be wise to keep a close guard to our own hearts, lest we fall prey to the same kinds of devices the Bible warns about.

“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (1 Cor 10:14). Here are a few reasons why. 

1. Idolatry divides loyalty to God

When God delivered Israel from slavery to Egypt, he brought them out of that land and, as their new master, and they his vassals, established a special covenant with them. Out of all the nations on the earth, they would be especially treasured by him. They would be a nation set apart for his service to be a kingdom that mediated God’s blessings to the world (Exod 19:5-6).

The heart of that covenant relationship between God and Israel can be summarized by the Ten Commandments, and the heart of these ten commandments can be further summarized by the first commandment:

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods besides me” (Exod 20:2-3).

This commandment is all about undivided loyalty. It is the heart of what it means to belong to God, for us to be his people, and he to be our God. Idolatry is so disruptive and antithetical to that intimate, exclusive relationship that any entertainment of a rival is met with divine jealousy. That’s the reason the Bible often describes Israel’s idolatry in terms of adultery. It is nothing less that spiritual adultery against the one to whom you have sworn undivided loyalty.

Why flee idolatry? Because God wants your whole heart, and he will never be content with a divided loyalty.

“No one can serve two masters” (Matt 6:24).

2. Idolatry challenges God’s authority

If the first commandment speaks of the nature of our relationship with God, the second commandment speaks of the nature of the God of our relationship. There is no one like him. We must treat him as such:

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exod 20:4)

If the heart of idolatry is spiritual adultery, then its most common symptom is spiritual confusion. That’s what the second commandment clarifies. To make and worship idols is to exhibit a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the true God.

First, God is transcendent…he is completely other than his creation. Second, God is spirit (John 4:24)…he is not corporeal. Third, God is sovereign…he alone has sole and exclusive authority in how he is represented, and no human being has the freedom to represent him in any other way that how he has revealed himself.

Thus, at the heart of the second commandment is a warning about misunderstanding, and thus misrepresenting, the one true God. Idolatry confuses and limits God’s transcendence. It confuses the Creator with the creation, thus making him appear to be part of his creation rather than sovereign over it (Rom 1:23; Acts 17:29). More than that, it lies to the world and to the self about who God is and what he is like (Rom 1:25; Isa 44:20).

Why does God come down so severely on idolatry? Eugene Merrill summarizes this aptly for us:

To bow down and to worship (lit. “to serve”) such an image constitutes failure to recognize and respond properly to the sovereignty of the Lord…. Those who practice idolatry are the “haters” of Yahweh (v. 5) whereas those who do not are His “lovers” (v. 6). In covenant context these verbs are most instructive, for “to hate” means to reject and “to love” means to choose. Idolators, by their very act of idolatry, reject the true God as He has chosen to disclose Himself and choose instead a figment of their own imagination. (Merrill, “The Pentateuch,” in A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, 37)

Merrill’s words couldn’t be more profoundly helpful to us here. As we consider how God has “chose to disclose himself,” we cannot escape the Christo-centric nature of God’s self-disclosure in the New Testament:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Heb 1:1-3)

Jesus is God’s final self-disclosure. This is what he meant when he said to Philip in John 14:9, “‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?'” (cf. John 12:45; Col 1:15).

At the heart of the gospel and the salvation offered therein rests the recognition, acceptance, embracing, and devotion to the true identity of Jesus as the incarnation and only revealed image of God. He is the only sanctioned physical representation of the invisible, transcendent, sovereign, creator God. The entire book of 1 John revolves around a cyclical argument on this point against those in the early church who were circulating the notion that Jesus was either not fully human or not fully divine. Both denials should be firmly rejected as attempts to raise human ideas above God’s revelation of himself (cf. 1 John 2:15-17).

When understood within this context, it makes John’s seemingly random exhortation at the end of his epistle starkly appropriate: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). This is no random statement. Rather, the word “idolatry” encompasses everything John has been fighting against in his letter. To have any other understanding of Jesus than that which is revealed in the Word of God is to form an image of God according to your own understanding. It is, in the words of the second commandment, to be a “hater” of God.

Why flee idolatry? Because God is passionate about who he is, and he wants his people to know him. We cannot love him and serve him if we do not embrace God as he has revealed himself. It leads only to confusion and thus to spiritual treason.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matt 6:24).

3. Idolatry is a starting place, not an endpoint

Idolatry can be flamboyant and obvious. Think of the epic showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on the summit of Mount Carmel. This was a battle over the identity of the true God. “If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kgs 18:21). Israel was enamored with Baal. He was considered the “hero” of the Canaanite pantheon, the god of heaven who was responsible for bringing rain and storms, and thus the one who provided the land with fertility and production, not just agriculturally, but in every area of life.

Obviously, Baal represented Yahweh’s direct rival. Either Baal was the one who provided the rain which grew crops for food, or Yahweh was. It couldn’t be both. One was a liar and an imposter who needed to be exposed and the events on that mountain top did just that. No matter how passionately these Baalist prophets tried, no matter how tirelessly they raved and cried out, slashing themselves with swords in order to demonstrate the ferocity of their devotion, hoping their overtures would compel Baal to respond, “No one answered; no one paid attention” (1 Kgs 18:29).

But Yahweh, despite the impossible circumstances…wood soaked thoroughly with water, surrounded by a deep moat…consumed the wood and the offering like it was dried kindling. There was no doubt on that mountain top who was God. “Yahweh, he is God; Yahweh, he is God” (1 Kgs 18:39).

Yet Israel continued to worship Baal. Mount Carmel represented a clear victory for Yahweh, yet it failed to permanently persuade the nation and for one clear reason: idolatry isn’t an endpoint but a starting place. Idolatry is the fuel that drives us toward all other kinds of evil, which in turn drives us back to the idol. For Israel, the appeal of Baal over Yahweh was profound. Yahweh was invisible, and he forbid any kind of physical representation. Baal, on the other hand, was often depicted as a triumphant rider atop the back of a bull. More than that, Baal promised to give the people what they desired: productivity, crops, fertility in the fields and among the flocks. But more than anything, Baal offered them the opportunity to worship him while satisfying their flesh. Baal worship was heavily associated with the fertility cult, and Baal temples were swarming with cult prostitutes. Sexual liaisons with these prostitutes were a chief way in which to elicit Baal’s attention and demonstrate one’s devotion to the god who was believed to have the power to grant fertility not just in the fields and flocks, but also in the home as well. No wonder Baalism grew so pervasive throughout the land. It granted them a means of worshipping their god while satisfying their worldly passions.

Isolationism is one of the great lies of idolatry. It purports to be an isolated enterprise, but it never is. Its tendrils reach deep into the nooks and crannies of the heart and cause all kinds of evil to grow. In Romans 1, Paul narrates the decline of humanity. What started as their rejection of the true God in exchange for idolatry devolved into sexual immorality, which led to sexual perversity, which led finally to a debased mind. But what’s so revealing about this process is the list of activities Paul associates with this “exchange” of the truth of God for a lie:

“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Rom 1:28-32)

In Ezekiel 14:3, God says to the prophet, “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces.” In other words, the idols they carried with them internally set up a tripwire to bring them fully into all kinds of iniquity.

Let’s approach this point from the opposite direction: are you struggling with sin in your life? Idolatry may just be at the root of the problem. Sometimes it’s an idolatry devoted to a thing. After all, it was Paul who equated covetousness with idolatry (Col 3:5). The object could be money, power, fame, a spouse, a child, etc. But ultimately, idolatry is an expression of self-authority and self-autonomy. It is about self. At the center of idolatry lies the human heart and the self. The self says, “I deserve, so I should get.” I deserve a spouse. I deserve money. I deserve sex. I deserve credit. It is the starting point into a world of evil actions and attitudes. When we don’t get what we believe we deserve, we become angry (Jas 4:1-4).

We worship either God or self. We embrace Jesus as God’s self-disclosure, or our own understanding of God, which makes us the supreme authority on who God is. Self.

Why flee idolatry? Because the gospel has completely reoriented our perspective. Because we see that we don’t deserve anything good, but we have grace and mercy nonetheless because the one true and living God has granted to us life and joy and peace and forgiveness through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We flee idolatry because we finally recognize that we only need a person: Jesus Christ.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matt 6:24).

4. Idolatry offers no happiness

I’ve written about this before, but I’ll reiterate the point I made in that earlier post. The draw of idolatry is the lie that there is more happiness and satisfaction to be found somewhere else than in Christ. (The underlying lie, as we noted previously, is the insidious deception that you actually deserve to be happy).

Isaiah 44 narrates an idol maker, who works tirelessly to craft an idol. He cuts and prepares wood, grows tired, has to stop and roast meat over the wood scraps in order to fuel his work, only to complete his project, bow down before this block of wood seeking its benevolence and provision, and express his untiring devotion. To this foolishness, Isaiah proclaims,

They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isa 44:18-20)

That last verse is so remarkable. The idolater cannot see that there is a lie. What he sees is hope. But there is no hope. Only a lie.

The gospel calls us to find our sole source of hope and happiness and joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism famously put is, “The chief end of man is the glorify God and enjoy him forever.” That one statement encapsulates the purpose of man, the work of the gospel, and the antidote to idolatry. We were made to glorify God and enjoy him. We failed. But thanks be to God, we have been remade in the gospel to glorify and enjoy him for all eternity.

The ninety-nine who gathered in the building in London, dressed in white robes, staring up through the glass roof in worship and adoration of the full moon believed that such veneration would ultimately be profitable for them. What happened was not what they expected. To anyone on the outside, it was surely expected. The air raids had been occurring with practically daily consistency for months. One could only expect a bomb could likely fall on such a gathering of people. Yet to those inside, the obvious was, well, not so obvious.

Such it is with the idolater. Hope is placed in something that cannot possibly fulfill what is expected. Rather, what it brings is the opposite: destruction. It destroys lives and leads to death.

The call for us as believers is simply this: “Flee idolatry” (1 Cor 10:14). “Keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). We have seen the obvious. We have “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thess 1:9). Let us not turn back to that which we left. Let us find our full devotion in Christ, let us demonstrate our love for him, and let us find enjoyment in the one who is the only true disclosure of the transcendent and eternal God.