1 Corinthians 10:14, Flee From Idolatry
1 Corinthians 10:14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
God’s people are exhorted by a loving entreaty to put Him first in their lives, to put God first in their hearts, to put God first in their actions. An idol is that which displace the due honour and worship accorded to our God. All that we have and are comes from Him. By seeking other affections, we forfeit God’s blessing in our lives. The word “flee” is given as a command for habital action.
The nation of Israel forfeited their inheritance in the Promised Land when they sought other gods. God sent the Babylonians to deport them out of their land for 70 long years. Those were painful years of chastisement. This was given as a warning to Israel even before they entered the Promised Land.
Deuteronomy 28:49-58 The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;
After they were restored to the land, Israel again rejected their Messiah, Jesus. This time Israel was deported and scattered through the earth for nearly 2000 years. It’s like the children refusing to acknowledge the life that they owed to their parents.
May God’s people flee idolatry! Amen.