The Idol, the Golden Calf

Yesterday, I said God was the original idol. When you think about an idol, you associate it with something that is false. But the false is only an imitation of the real.

Idols make people naked

The only difference between the God of heaven and earth and idols on earth is that when you worship God, you can be naked and not ashamed. Simply because walking in the glory of God makes unable to see anything else.

Genesis 3, the Serpent was able to distract Eve long enough to get her to focus on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Once he deceived her into the merits of eating its fruit. she was…

1. That the tree was good for food

2. That it was pleasant to look on

3. That it was good to make one wise

She took the fruit and ate it and gave it unto her husband and he ate it.

From this point, their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked and hid themselves among the trees of the Garden.

The death process began to break out in their bodies. They took leaves from the trees of the Garden to make bandages to heal their sores. The bandages, also called Aprons, were not enough to heal their sin. God gave them skins of an animal as a temporary covering, which we now know was a blood sacrifice.

Side note: Ezekiel 47:1-12, is a prophetic vision of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that would cause a great harvest of fruit which was good for meat and whose leaves are for medicine or the healing of bruises and sores (Ezekiel 47:12). That same thought is picked up in Revelation 22:1-2. You have the throne of God and the Lamb, the river of life feeding into the tree of Life, which produces fruit, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.

The Golden Calf

History is repeating itself. In Exodus 32:1-35, Moses goes up to the mountain to receive the Law from God. He takes too long, and the people persuaded Aaron to make them gods to go before them. Aaron collects golden earrings from their wives, sons, and daughters. Aaron fashioned the earrings into a golden calf and proclaimed, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” Aaron built an altar before it and proclaimed a feast. The people sat down to eat and rose up to play.

When Moses came down from the mountain, he heard shouting and music. He also saw that Aaron had made them NAKED to their shame among their enemies (Exodus 32:25).

Again, Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed until they ate the fruit. Their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked. They hid from the presence of God. In the days of Moses, they made a golden calf worshipped it and were naked to their shame.

Lamb of God

The system that God created began with a sacrifice, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. According to Revelation 22:1-2, we will go over into eternity with a sacrifice, the Lamb of God, seated on the throne of God.

Sacrifice is a really big thing with God. You see, the Lamb of God in Revelation 5:6, in the midst of the throne, is the image of a Lamb that has been slain, having seven eyes and seven horns. The seven eyes represent the fullness of revelation of the goodness and grace of God. The seven horns represent the fullness of power to deliver people from the bondage of sin.

The present reality

According to Hebrews 6:4-5, We get to taste the heavenly gift, the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come now. History is repeating itself. God has put the Gift of Life back into our hands. According to Colossians 3:1-3

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (KJV)

To set ones affection on things above means to put your mind and focus on the things of God. Your life is hidden in Christ, who is our life.

God is simply taking us back to the Garden of Eden before Adam sinned.

Grace & peace!

The Idol, is it really that way?

The God of heaven and earth, the One who is called creator, is the first and will be the last idol.

The first idol existed in the Garden of Eden. The Garden was a sanctuary, a meeting place where God and Adam fellowshipped.

The secret of this revelation is that it started in a garden, and it will end in a garden, and it is here where one of the grand secrets of the Garden of Eden unfolds. To understand the beginning, go to the end.

Revelation 22:3-4,

“And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: and they shall see his face and his NAME SHALL BE IN THEIR FOREHEADS.”

Notice that God’s name shall be in their foreheads, meaning that every thought of the imagination will be on God. The next verse (Revelation 22:5) says there will be no night, no need for artificial light. No need for the light of the sun, for God gives them light, and they shall REIGN forever and ever.

There will be no more darkness, lack, sickness, disease, war, pain, or sorrow. There is no need for doctors, lawyers, and bankers. There is no need for insurance of any kind. The promise is that you will reign. You will be at the top, not the bottom. Why? The relationship has been restored.

An idol is something that is worshipped. An idol occupies a person’s every waking moment. The idol takes over consumes a person. When Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their focus was changed from God to the tree! They saw that the tree was good for food, pleasant to the eye, and good to make one wise!

They ate the fruit, and the curse was born. True worship was perverted.

ALTHOUGH, in the beginning, God gave Adam was described as “very good” has now become a curse. What he gives us now is very good; BUT still, by choice becomes a curse.

Although God paid for our sins in full and gives us access to the tree of life, the idol still reaches its hands out to us. The idol promises wisdom, power, and pleasure!

The idol takes many shapes and forms: money, sex, drugs, relationships, people, places, things… (Fentanyl, sex trafficking, gaming, education…)

The Lamb of God, the sacrifice, gives life. There was a sacrifice in the beginning in the Garden of Eden. It was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The sacrifice of eternity is called the Lamb of God! This sacrifice can be eaten as in Communion, John 6:54

“Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Eternal Life; the breath of God, the Spirit of Life, the Tree of Life; rivers of living waters are descriptive terminologies of the stuff we call “life”.

“He that hath the Son hath life.”

The river of life flows from the inside out, John 7:38

The Gift of Life gives life, and it was originally designed to touch all creation, Genesis 2:10, originally called the river of God. In Revelation 22:1, it is called a pure river of water of life coming out the throne of God flowing in the midst of the street of it.

God put the river of life inside of us. See John 4:13-13. It is and was designed to spring up into every area of our life satisfying every need. Life touches death and heals it. It flows out of you.

I had an interesting thought today. I went to Home Depot this morning, and a thought about traffic flow came up in my heart. Thank God for streets and traffic laws because without them, life would be very complicated, and we couldn’t get anything done. Well, there are streets in heaven, and the Bibles says the streets are made of gold. Streets in heaven and earth are designed for traffic flow. Seeing God created all things, and without him, nothing was made. God created streets to facilitate flows.

God of heaven is desperately wanting to get the heavenly flow of life to you. See John 7:37-38, ‘in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out… If any man thirst come to me and drink. If any man believes out if his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water!

In my upcoming post, I want to look deeper into the idol. It impacts us in so many areas of our lives. The idol promises life, but it doesn’t have the power to sustain it!

Grace & peace!

Embedded phone in your hand