Turning People Away from God - II Kings 17-18 and John 3 :19-38
There are many things that lead people away from God. Sometimes, we are led away by our own flesh or the sinful nature. At other times, we are influenced by other people. Of course, Satan is always there behind the scenes to act when he can to give people an extra push away from God. We need to watch out for anything that leads us away from God and stand against it.
The kings of Israel led the people away from God because of their fear of losing power, if the people went back to worship in the Temple. Therefore, they created a false religion for them in their own country. That still happens today when countries want to use religion for their own purposes. It is never true Christianity. Most of the time, it is either outright idolatry or some terrible distortion of the truth. We must not let government dictate our religion, or we will be led from God. Once the Assyrians took the people of Israel into Exile, they sent a priest to instruct the people they brought into the land, so they would know the former religion of the land. The people did not turn to God, but they made a combination of God's ways and their own religion. This type of syncretism has always been a temptation, too. Look at all of the things we do that were adopted from pagan religions and added to our worship traditions. The Easter Bunny is a good example. A Rabbit has nothing to do with the resurrection, but most people think more about rabbits and eggs at Easter than they do about Jesus. This syncretism always leads people from God.
Then, when Hezekiah did do the right things and call people back to God, Satan sent a strong deception to the people. The Assyrian representation spoke directly to the people to discourage them and to point out all of the reasons they should not listen to Hezekiah when he told them to trust the Lord. We see that all of the time today with scientists, philosophers, psychologists, and others laying out their theories as truth. I am glad Hezekiah stood up for the Lord in the face of such opposition. We must do the same.
In John 3 we have a more subtle way of leading people from God. We are told that sin makes it easy for people to follow the darkness, instead of the light of the Lord. Then, we see the disciples of John having a hard time trusting Jesus. They had been following John, but now they did not want to change to following Jesus. It is easy to follow a person, instead of Jesus. It is easy to get comfortable in what we are doing and not see the truth. Both of these things will lead people from God. We must not put our eyes on people, and we must not be complacent.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Kings 19-21 and John 4:1-30.
The kings of Israel led the people away from God because of their fear of losing power, if the people went back to worship in the Temple. Therefore, they created a false religion for them in their own country. That still happens today when countries want to use religion for their own purposes. It is never true Christianity. Most of the time, it is either outright idolatry or some terrible distortion of the truth. We must not let government dictate our religion, or we will be led from God. Once the Assyrians took the people of Israel into Exile, they sent a priest to instruct the people they brought into the land, so they would know the former religion of the land. The people did not turn to God, but they made a combination of God's ways and their own religion. This type of syncretism has always been a temptation, too. Look at all of the things we do that were adopted from pagan religions and added to our worship traditions. The Easter Bunny is a good example. A Rabbit has nothing to do with the resurrection, but most people think more about rabbits and eggs at Easter than they do about Jesus. This syncretism always leads people from God.
Then, when Hezekiah did do the right things and call people back to God, Satan sent a strong deception to the people. The Assyrian representation spoke directly to the people to discourage them and to point out all of the reasons they should not listen to Hezekiah when he told them to trust the Lord. We see that all of the time today with scientists, philosophers, psychologists, and others laying out their theories as truth. I am glad Hezekiah stood up for the Lord in the face of such opposition. We must do the same.
In John 3 we have a more subtle way of leading people from God. We are told that sin makes it easy for people to follow the darkness, instead of the light of the Lord. Then, we see the disciples of John having a hard time trusting Jesus. They had been following John, but now they did not want to change to following Jesus. It is easy to follow a person, instead of Jesus. It is easy to get comfortable in what we are doing and not see the truth. Both of these things will lead people from God. We must not put our eyes on people, and we must not be complacent.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Kings 19-21 and John 4:1-30.