Blind and Deaf Polytheistic Believers

Joseph was a farmer near Hebron in the hill country of Judea. He heard the prophet Isaiah was traveling through the Judean countryside sharing God's message of judgment and promise.

When Isaiah stopped in Hebron, Joseph invited Isaiah to have dinner with his family in his home. After their meal, they sat together in Joseph's family room to talk.

As Isaiah looked around the room, he noticed the polished stone idol set prominently on the mantle. It had been cut and shaped and polished in the shape of a man. Earlier, Isaiah had noticed there was a wooden statue of a woman that had been carved and sanded and stained out of a wooden log.

Joseph had seen Isaiah's eyes drift toward his stone and wooden idols. Joseph had carefully done the work himself to create these icons for his household. He believed his stone male deity protected his home from disease and enemies. He believed his wooden female deity blessed his crops with productivity and his herds with fertility.

Though Joseph believed in the Lord, he kept his other deities around, too. He prayed to the Lord for salvation, but he prayed to his other gods for good weather and bountiful harvests. He trusted his Creator for everything ... mostly. He reserved some trust for the idols he created out of one of the rocks he picked in his wheat field and out of one of the logs he cut to build his barn. ... Just in case.

But Joseph's prayers and priorities changed as soon as Isaiah began speaking.

Isaiah had never been shy about sharing God's message. He boldly told his host, "Thank you for inviting me into your home and offering me dinner with your family. I couldn't help but notice your wooden and stone icons. You seem very proud of them. ... But God humbles the proud."

Isaiah continued, "You shared your generosity with me. I want to share God's generosity with you. That generosity comes in a gentle, but stern warning. Please take it to heart. The Lord will not give his glory to another or share his praise with idols" (Isaiah 42:8).

Then Isaiah gave a brief history lesson, "God blessed our ancestors by keeping them safe from the famine by bringing them out of Canaan into Egypt. Four hundred years later, he rescued them from slavery in Egypt and brought them back to the Promised Land of Canaan. The Lord expanded Israel's kingdom through David and Solomon. Those blessings were visible to everyone. If that wasn't enough, the Lord spoke clearly his message of judgment and grace through prophets like Elijah, Jeremiah and myself."

"But the people became deaf to the Lord's words. They became blind to his blessings. They didn't see. They didn't listen. Because of this, this is what the Lord says to all Israel, 'You see many things, but you do not observe. He opens his ears, but he does not hear' (Isaiah 42:20). They fashioned their own gods."

Isaiah pointed directly at Joseph and said, "You, Joseph, fashioned your own gods!"

"This is what the Lord says to you and all Israel, 'They will be turned back and be completely disgraced--- those who trust in an idol, those who say to molten images, 'You are our gods.' You deaf ones, listen! You blind ones, watch carefully so you can see' (Isaiah 42:17-18)! With your false gods, you have blinded yourself to the one true God."

Then Isaiah's voice softened, "Still the Lord is gracious. He is merciful. He continues to reveal his salvation in the coming Messiah. Because of his righteousness, the Lord is pleased to share his Word with you, which is always great and glorious" (Isaiah 42:21).

Isaiah paused to take a breath. Joseph used that time to get up and walk around the room. He sheepishly removed the stone statue off the mantle and the wooden carving from the kitchen counter.

After he returned, Isaiah continued speaking, "Blind, deaf Israel will not return to the Lord on his own. So the Lord sends his prophets to open your ears. He renews his promises to open your eyes. The Messiah is coming. He will be the Light of the world that shines salvation in the darkness. He is the Word of the Lord that called the world into existence. The coming Messiah will rescue you, Joseph, the nation of Israel, and all nations. He will rescue you from the dark and deafening dungeon you have created for yourselves."

Isaiah is preaching to blind and deaf polytheistic believers. Joseph and the Old Testament Israelites were polytheists. Polytheism is the worship of many gods. "Poly" means "many." "Theism" is "the worship of a god." The Israelites put their faith in the Lord, plus other deities of their own making. They had faith in the one true God. He was God 1A in their hearts. But they also put their faith in numerous false gods. These became gods 1B, 1C, and so on in their hearts.

Generations later, we are no different. We, too, are blind and deaf polytheistic believers.

Who are these gods? Martin Luther wrote in his Large Catechism: "That to which we look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart."

Sunday mornings we might recline ourselves before the great and comfortable pillow god. On the weekends, we will set up our collapsible thrones before the altar of our children's and grandchildren's athletics. Every day, each of us spends an average of over 3 hours exalting the deity of social media, games, and time-wasting on our phones.

Work, overtime pay, recreation -- wherever we spend our time away from God and his Word -- these can become gods. When things interrupt our time fulfilling our Christian vocations as parents, grandparents, spouses, children, students, citizens, employers or employees, then these things become gods 1B, 1C, and so on in our hearts.

Money, work, video games, TV binging, music, vacations -- these are our gods. These are the deities we have fashioned with our own hands. They are the idols we can hold in our own hands. These are the polytheistic gods we still worship and hold dear.

At our Super Bowl party, one of the Teens asked me, "Pastor, what is your biggest sin?" That's a big question to contemplate. Thankfully, I could concentrate on it since the football game was boring. I told him, "My biggest sin is breaking God's First Commandment. It's not putting God first in my life." Luther says something similar, "Anything on which your heart relies and depends, that is really your God."

God has given us his Ten Commandments. But there is really only one commandment and only one sin. That one commandment is, "You shall have no other gods." That one sin is idolatry. If we could keep this one commandment, if we could fear, love and trust in God above all things -- then we would never break the other commandments. But because we do fear, love and trust in things above God -- because we are blind and deaf idolaters -- we break every other commandment. Because our hearts are idol factories whose doors never close, our lives are full of repercussions from other gods. For they will always bring disappointment.

Isaiah warns that judgment will come on those who have been blind and deaf to the true God. "Those who trust in an idol ... will be turned back and be completely disgraced" (Isaiah 42:17). Because the Israelites had been carried away by their spiritual blindness and deafness, they would be literally carried away by the Babylonians.

Is it possible that things are happening right now as a result of our country's and our world's collective spiritual blindness and deafness? Unrest in our cities' streets, terrorist attacks in New York City, Austin, Old Dominion University, and a Michigan synagogue, plus military strikes on Iran. Could these things be a result of God's judgment on peoples and nations who have forsaken the Lord as the one true God?

Isaiah describes the Lord as a woman in labor. "I have been silent for a long time. I have kept still. I have restrained myself. Like a woman giving birth, I will scream. I will gasp and pant" (Isaiah 42:14). This is bold imagery where the Lord compares himself to a pregnant woman about to give birth. This verse means that God has been silent and patient for a long time. He restrained himself. But there will come a time when he allows the judgment he's been holding back to come upon people in full screaming force.

God allowed his judgment to come upon his people in various times in their history. The Assyrians carried away the ten northern tribes of Israel in a diaspora of the Jews. The Babylonians carried away the remaining two tribes of Judah into captivity for 70 years. The Romans destroyed and dismantled Herod's Temple in 70 A.D. God may allow his judgment to fall upon people who have become blind to his graces and deaf to his mercies.

The Lord may allow calamities like job loss, car accident or health issues. The Lord may permit catastrophes like damage from severe winds, terrorist attacks here in our homeland or war away from our homeland. These may happen to get our attention. So we stop what we are doing. So we break our bad habits. So we reexamine our priorities.

So our spiritual blindness is discovered by us. Our spiritual deafness is heard by us. We see the false gods we have created for ourselves. We hear the praise we have offered to our idols. Our polytheistic tendencies are revealed to us. Our gods 1B, 1C, and so on can be smashed into oblivion. Then we repent of our polytheistic worship. We see the true God with the eyes of faith. We hear God's voice in worship and his Word. We pay attention to the Lord alone.

Imagine hiking the Bridle Trail. That's a tough, steep trail. Now, imagine hiking it while being blind ... and deaf! Could you hike that trail safely without sight or hearing? Not a chance! God steps in to act. God leads you up and down the trail. He does even more for us as we attempt to hike through the trail of life.

The Lord says, "I will lead the blind on a way they do not know. Along paths they do not know I will direct them. Ahead of them I will turn darkness into light and rough places into level ground. These are the promises I will accomplish for them. I will not abandon them" (Isaiah 42:16). God leads his people on a path that is unfamiliar to them because it is a path only God can lead them through. He guides us spiritually blind sinners down the path of salvation using his Word and Sacraments.

God did not remain silent or turn a blind eye to the plight of this world. Nor did he sit in heaven and bark down orders that we must trust him. God entered this dark, noisy world of sin as the Christ.

On a dark, spring Friday afternoon, it appeared as if the darkness had won. It looked like the Light of the world had been extinguished on the cross and buried in the tomb. But the Light of the world defeated the darkness of sin and Satan on that dark cross. The Light of the World shattered the darkness of death when it burst forth from the tomb on Easter dawn.

It seemed as if the Word of the Lord had been silenced on Good Friday. But the voice of the Lord was never stronger or bolder then when Christ comforted the thief, "Today you will be with me in paradise," or when he breathed his last calling out, "It is finished!"

By his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has proven that he is the Light of the world. He is the Word incarnate. He is the one true God. Put him as God 1A in your life. He doesn't want to share any of his glory with any other gods. Destroy them.

Fellow blind and deaf polytheistic believers, open your eyes. See Christ as your only Savior. Open your ears. Hear the voice of the Lord in his Word. Amen.