In Athens, Paul said that God is not like gold or silver or stone, “something shaped by art and man’s devising” (Acts 17:29). Long before, God gave the prophet Isaiah a word picture that teaches the same thing.
Useless. “Those who make an image, all of them are useless” (Isaiah 44:9). An image here means an idol. Isaiah says idols cannot see and cannot know anything.
The blacksmith. One man shapes an idol out of iron over hot coals. “Even so, he is hungry, and his strength fails” (44:12). The man who makes the god gets tired and hungry. He needs help himself.
The carpenter. Another man marks out a block of wood and carves it. He “makes it like the figure of a man” (44:13). The idol looks like a person, but it has no life.
The tree. “He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it” (44:14). The man could not even make the tree grow. It needed the rain that God sends.
Half of the log. “He burns half of it in the fire; With this half he eats meat” (44:16). He uses part of the wood to cook his dinner and keep warm.
The other half. “And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god!’” (44:17). He asks a piece of wood to save him.
He never stops to think. No one says, “Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” (44:19). A god made from the same log as the firewood cannot help anyone.
The only God. God says, “I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God” (44:6). He made the tree, the rain and the man.
God’s invitation. God showed how empty idols are, but He did not stop there. He called His people Israel to come back to Him. “I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, And like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you” (44:22). Redeemed means bought back.
The Redeemer. We have all sinned against the God who made us. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again. He can wipe our sins away like a cloud that disappears.
What to do. Read Isaiah 44:21-22 this week. Thank God that He made you, trust Jesus, and return to Him.
Paul told the people of Athens that God “made the world and everything in it” (Acts 17:24). Long before, God asked a question through Isaiah.
A question. “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?” (Isaiah 40:18). Liken means compare.
Made by workmen. “The workman molds an image, The goldsmith overspreads it with gold, And the silversmith casts silver chains” (40:19).
So it will not fall. A poor man “Chooses a tree that will not rot” and finds a workman “To prepare a carved image that will not totter” (40:20). Totter means wobble and fall over.
Above the earth. “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth” (40:22). He “stretches out the heavens like a curtain.” An idol has to be held up, but God is over everything.
The Holy One asks. “To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One (40:25). No one and nothing can be compared to Him.
Look up. “Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things” (40:26).
Every star by name. “He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing” (40:26).
A song agrees. “For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised” (Psalm 96:4). “For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens” (96:5).
In Athens. Paul told the people of Athens that God is not like gold or silver or stone (Acts 17:29). The God who made the stars cannot be made by anyone.
The living God came near. Idols cannot speak, but God has spoken to us through His Son. We have all sinned, and Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Then He rose again. A dead idol could never do that.
What to do. Look at the night sky this week. Thank the God who made every star and calls each one by name, and trust Jesus, who rose from the dead.
Complete all sections to finish!
Read each section and answer the questions correctly.