Man-made gods are stupid, but frightful, things.
At the death of King Solomon the kingdom of Israel divided in two. Two nations, two kings, two capitals, and two places of worship. Though the people of Israel were only to worship in the temple at Jerusalem, King Jeroboam feared that the people would revolt against him. He said, “If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of these people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah” (1 Kings 12:27). So he devised a simple solution—give Israel a new god to worship. Jeroboam made two golden calves and said to his people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt” (12:28). He set one calf in Bethel and the other in a temple in the far north at Dan.
In the mountains of Dan, where God planted lush shade trees watered by cool springs and rivers, Jeroboam led his people into worshiping a god made by man. A stupid thing.
Years later, in 722 BC, Jeroboam and Israel were punished for the sin of idolatry when the Assyrians conquered their land and took the people captive, according to the Word of God: "The Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. And He will give up Israel on account of the sins of Jeroboam, which he committed and with which he made Israel to sin" (1 Kings 14:15–16). A frightful thing.
Centuries later, in the same region of Dan, Jesus took His disciples to Caesarea Philippi, a village filled with idols. There, where pagans worshiped the Greek god Pan by throwing a sacrificial goat from the precipice above the cave thought to be the gates to hell, Jesus asked His disciples: “Who do the people say that the Son of Man is? . . . Who do you say that I am?” And Peter—there in the shadow of the temple to Pan—said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:13, 15–16). And with that great confession, that Jesus is God the deliverer, Jesus made this great promise: “And I say also to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (16:18).
Jesus then explained to His disciples that He must suffer and die, but Peter rebuked his Messiah and God—“God forbid it, Lord! This will never happen to You” (16:22). A stupid thing. Turning, Jesus silenced Peter, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s” (16:23). A frightful thing.
Rejecting the Christ—the God who can save your soul—is a stupid and frightful thing. As Jesus said, “For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul?” (16:26). In the end, he falls from the precipice through the gates of hell and smashes his soul like the others who made their own god according to their interests.
Could anything be more stupid or frightful?
