We know that God hates idol worship. Throughout the Old and New Testament, He listed many examples when man worshipped an idol such as a false god or statue. He also gave examples of when an angel and man was being worshipped.
An idol is something we treasure or regard as more important than God. In the Old Testament book of Isiah, God said in chapter 45:20, “Gather together and come assemble, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods who cannot save.” He said as one of His Ten Commandments to not have any god before Him that He is the only One.
Jonah 2:8 says, “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.” And again in Exodus 20:4, He command them to “not make for yourselves an idol, or any likeness that is in Heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water underneath the earth.”
We know by the book of Hebrews that the Old Testament laws did not work and He established a new covenant by only going through Jesus. He warns in the New Testament about idol worship as He had in the Old Testament. 1 John 5:21 says, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” In God’s eyes we are all equal. He says He shows no partiality or favoritism in Romans 2:11 and Acts 10:34 and says in James 2:1-13 that we as well should show no partiality. We might want to regard a movie star or high official as better, but in His eyes and ours, they are not and really we should not either.
In Luke 20:46, Jesus is warning about those teachers who walk about in their flowing robes, who have to be greeted with respect, and who sit in the most important seats in the synagogues. He did not like that. Those who bow down to these teachers are giving in to regarding them as more important. They are giving more praise and worship to them instead of God.
And even the angels are not to be bowed down to or worshipped. In Revelation 22:8-9, the Bible says, “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things and when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God,”. Again in Revelation 19:10 , He was told not to bow before any fellow servant but to worship God.
I have seen where statues have been placed and where some have actually prayed to them by using the statue’s name and I have seen some who bow before leaders praising them and making them a higher regard than themselves, but this is not what God wishes. Nothing or no man is better than another and we are equal in God’s eyes because He says so. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We all have one way to get to Him and we cannot go through any idol, angel, or man but through Christ alone. And because we are all equal to each other, there is no favoritism or special privileges that get us to Him over another.
