God showed great signs to the children of Israel when He brought them out of Egyptian bondage. For an Israelite of that generation there had been plenty of demonstrations of God’s power over the false gods of Egypt. With this history it is interesting to see the idolatry that they fell into in Exodus 32. When Moses was receiving the law on the mount, the people came to Aaron and said, “Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.” The next few verses reveal that Aaron buckled under the pressure and obeyed them by making a molten calf. How could they do this? Did they not remember what God had done for them? What was the appeal of making a false god to worship? If they didn’t want to be governed by a higher authority, why make up a false higher authority?
Idolatry was often a temptation to people in Bible times because it afforded them luxury of doing what they pleased and still claiming to believe in a higher power. In the example just mentioned in Exodus 32, it should be noticed that verse 6 says, “And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.” The “play” here may indicate sexual sin. Thus, the people involved themselves in any sort of pleasure they wanted but could still soothe their conscience by believing in some sort of higher power.
Is this not what people do today? The great majority of people believe in God, but if “God” is defined by the way the Bible defines it, far less believe in Him. They don’t believe in a God who punishes for sin or requires obedience from people. People do this with the Bible as well. Instead of reading to find out what the Bible means, they say, “this is what it means to me.” They change the Bible rather than letting it change them. When it comes to the church, the story is same. If people will change God and His word to fit what they want, what is to stop them from changing His church? If they think the church should be a social club, then they will try to change it into that. If they think the church should be an entertainment center, then they will try to mold it into that. People fashion God, the Bible, His church and everything else in their religion into an image they desire just like Aaron fashioned the metal into a calf to worship.
So, the next time you wonder why those in the Bible were so tempted by idolatry consider all the false religion that is fashioned to please man in our day. Those who are saved are the ones who conform to the image of Jesus the Son of God (Romans 8:29), not those who try to conform Jesus into their own preferred image.
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