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Revelation 22:8-9 – The Seduction of Idolatry – Sincerity
Sincere sins, how’s that for an oxymoron? Just because a sin is blatantly wrong, does not mean its motive is obviously mistaken. We can sincerely sin. That’s one of the paradoxes of sin. We assume wrongly that the means justifies the end.
Romans 3:8 ESV And why not do evil that good may come?–as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
We assume wrongly because of our wrong concept of God. We assume that God will accept any and everything we offer in worship.
Ezekiel 23:39 ESV For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house.
I am positive the idolaters slaughtering their own children were sincerely worshipping their false gods. And then magnanimously – sarcasm intended – they turned to worship God. Again I am sure they were sincere in their hopes of what worshipping God would accomplish – His satisfaction. It seems ironic to me that their motions of worship were not sincere although their motives of worship were. Being self-interested themselves, they wrongly viewed God as self-interested. Often our worship imitates us instead of God. We become what we worship. Our own ideas become idols.
But sincerity is not the only qualifier for scriptural worship – whether in motion or motive – even when worshipping the true God. Today, sincerely wrong worship is not usually blatantly wrong among those claiming to be Christians. But we commit another sin despite our sincerity and even because of our sincerity. Too often, and we do not realize that we end up worshiping ourselves instead of God because we offer what we want, not what God demands. We become our own gods. We become our own idols.
And this sin can start sincerely. Any and all sins of idolatry can begin sincerely. Idolatry is not always obviously wrong. John confused the messenger for the divine sender. Look at the following verses:
Revelation 19:4-10 NASB (4) And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” (5) And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” (6) Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. (7) “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” (8) It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (9) Then he *said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'” And he *said to me, “These are true words of God.” (10) Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he *said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Revelation 22:8-9 NASB I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. (9) But he *said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.”
Twice, John records that he fell down and worshipped an angel. No doubt sincerely out of respect for the angel’s representing God.
“John (by including this angel worship twice) is recognizing that idolatry can infiltrate into the life and worship of the church by other means than the seductions of the whore, the coercions of the monster, or the Quisling behavior of the Nicolaitans. Even such a fanatical upholder of pure religion as he himself was could be so impressed by the revelation that came to him and the scriptures which were its principle stimulus, by the liturgical forms and the imagery in which it found expression, and by the religious experience that it evoked, that in the midst of his passionate appeal against idolatry, he found himself worshipping that which is not God. Idolatry is more than burning incense before a man‑made statue. It is to accord to anyone or anything other than God an absolute worth and a controlling significance in the life of man. The angels’ protest is a salutary warning to all crusaders not to mistake the cause they champion for the one true God.” Caird, REVELATION, p.237.
If John can sin sincerely, and sin so blatantly, who am I to suggest that I cannot? Can how I want to worship become my idol? Can another person representing God become my idol? Now it is up to me to examine my religious practices to make sure that I do not give to any man, or any practice, or anything, the glory that belongs only to God. Including myself. Even if I do so sincerely.
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