Evil: Where Idolatry Leads

 

"Where Idolatry Leads"

Text: Exodus 32:6

“So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” (Exodus 32:6, NIV)

 

Idolatry never stays in one place. It always progresses—quickly pulling people from devotion to the living God into practices that degrade both worship and human dignity. In Exodus 32:6, after fashioning the golden calf, Israel moved rapidly from offering sacrifices to wild feasting and immoral behavior. This one verse shows how quickly the human heart, once turned from God, spirals into confusion, corruption, and chaos.

The Path of Idolatry

The psalmist warns:

• “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see... Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” (Psalm 115:4–8)

• Likewise, Psalm 135:15–18 echoes the same truth: lifeless idols produce lifeless worshippers.

When Israel bowed before the golden calf, they began to mirror the blind, powerless image they had made. The result was not holiness but disorder. As Isaiah 44:9–10 teaches, those who form idols are themselves “nothing,” and what they treasure “profits them nothing.” Idolatry diminishes the worshipper.

The Golden Calf and Egypt

The golden calf may have been modeled after the Egyptian god Apis, the sacred bull worshiped in Egypt. For generations, Israel had seen Egypt’s religion, and though God had delivered them, traces of Egypt lingered in their hearts. By shaping a calf, they were not only rebelling against God’s covenant but also retreating into the false gods of their past.

Here lies the irony: created beings took their own hands, melted down gold, and shaped a “god.” This is creation in reverse. Instead of the Creator making man in His image, man attempted to make a creator in his own image. What a grave apostasy! To worship what your own hands have formed is to deny the living God who formed you.

Caution found in Romans 1

Paul writes of this same downward spiral in Romans 1:22–27:

• “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (vv. 22–23)

• This rejection of God leads to disordered desires, dishonorable passions, and broken relationships.

The story of Israel at Sinai and Paul’s warning in Romans both show us this sobering truth: when we replace the true God with idols—whether golden calves, possessions, power, pleasure, or self—our worship collapses, our thinking darkens, and our lives disintegrate.

Avoiding Idolatry Today

Idolatry today may not look like a golden calf, but it often takes subtler forms—career, wealth, technology, relationships, or even self-image. Whenever we give ultimate devotion to what is created instead of the Creator, we fall into the same trap as Israel.

How do we avoid it? By fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ. He is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), the only One worthy of our worship. As we follow Him, we are transformed into His likeness, not into the lifelessness of idols.

Reject False Gods

Exodus 32:6 reminds us that idolatry never stands still. It drags us downward—fast. But Romans 1 reminds us, too, of the glory of God’s gospel, which rescues us from this spiral. May we reject the false gods of this world and worship the true and living God in Christ.

Let us examine our hearts. Are there golden calves, however subtle, that we are tempted to bow before? Let us cast them aside and cling to Christ, who alone gives life, truth, and salvation.

More: Apostasy and Intercession - Lesson 11 - Exodus - Sabbath School