Purity in Worship

"And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images, and filled their places with the bones of men."

2 Kings 23:14

The two first commands of the 10 Commandments boom from the Creator of All, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" and "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image."  These are commands all people have broken, even those who claim to trust in God.  God's people agreed to a covenant with God on His terms, that they would love and obey Him.  Yet over the passage of time, generations grew up who did not know the LORD or follow Him exclusively.  They began to worship the gods of the native people and their religious activities were devoid of worship as God intended.

Throughout the history of Israel and Judah, the majority of kings did not worship the LORD and led the nation into idolatry.  There were, however, kings raised up by God who sought to destroy the high places and eradicate the gross idolatry that corrupted the worship of the true God of Israel.  Josiah was one such king.  He re-established the covenant before the LORD and destroyed the pillars, altars, and high places used for idolatrous practices.  Then Josiah did something very interesting.  After breaking in pieces the pillars and images, he filled the area with the bones of men.  Under the Law of God, to touch a dead body or bone made the transgressor ceremonially unclean.  These bones sent a clear message to all who intended to offer sacrifice to the demonic entity:  the place was unclean, and to offer a sacrifice in this place meant those bones could just as easily be yours!

This brought an interesting thought to mind.  The bones littering the ground did not make the high place any more unclean than before.  The worship of any god or image other than God Almighty was unclean, yet the people did not see it.  It took the desecration of the pillars and the pollution with dead things to demonstrate to the people how horrible sin and the consequences were.  This display grabbed the attention of the people.  It's possible for people - even God's people - to be engaged in horrendous activities we don't even realise are sinful.  The way we think, speak, and act slip past our guard unnoticed.  It takes the searching power and conviction of the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to see how sinful sin is.  It is a glorious day when the thing we once embraced as fun and wholesome is now as attractive to us as rotting corpses and unclean as bones.  Instead of clearing the carnage and justifying ourselves to continue according to our traditions, may we seek guidance from God in His Word on how we can worship and glorify Him.  Too many times we simply built another altar, erect another image, or seek out another pillar in a shady high place instead of seeking the LORD alone.

What a wonder, that God rejoices in the repentance of His people!  Our sin brought death, but God provides life, grace, and peace through Jesus.  Let us not neglect God's order of things.  It does no good to tear down altars before we have agreed with God's covenant through the Gospel.  We must first repent and be born again!  Once that heavenly transaction has taken place, during our lives we will ever be waging a war against our flesh and the subtle temptations of the devil.  May the pastures where the Good Shepherd leads us to grace be kept free from the pillars and idolatrous images.  God desires and deserves all our worship.