The Golden Calves and the Lamb of God
'The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,' says the Lord of Hosts. — Haggai 2:8
For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ and will lead many astray.' — Mark 13:6
Author
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
Summary: God calls us to examine ourselves in prayer and correct our course so that we do not drift away from Him. Although Christ has given us freedom and God sustains us through trials, we may take credit for His work or rely on golden calves. The promise of easy gain can lead us to seek in gambling the provision we expect from God. We must also reject divination and false revelations that serve personal interests instead of honoring His word. In the face of temptation and persecution, let us cast off our idols and give glory to God. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is our way and our sustenance; let us trust in Him, not in what we try to put in His place.
God constantly invites us to examine the direction we are taking in life and, with that and the necessary prayer (as a way of remembering our identity), to redirect our steps so that we do not drift away from Him. We are prone to cast golden calves and attribute to them powers that only God possesses. Our loving and merciful God longs for complete devotion.
In this sense, God is totalitarian for our good, omnipotent, and without rival. He gave us freedom through Christ, yet at times we seem like slaves, as though we had not yet been freed from spiritual Egypt. Pharaoh pursues us, and God continues to part the waters; we cross the sea of trials (from God) and temptations on dry ground, then attribute the miracle to the skill of our feet as we run to save ourselves from destruction. Or perhaps to the golden calf.
Find the golden calf you have cast in search of direction for your life, and crush it as Moses did. Grind it to powder (Exodus 32:10) and give God the glory. Look carefully around you, because Pharaoh will try to pursue you once more, not to hurt you but to intoxicate you with his promises of easy gain if you build altars to your golden calf. The Christian who feels persecuted has the opportunity to glory in the Lord. And indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:12).
Jesus is the way and the direction (there are no others), but Pharaoh still hopes to bring us under his power with a plan that seems attractive, innocent, and even legitimate for the children of God: to cast a golden calf so that we depend on it and not on God; to worship it, long for it, and enthrone it as though it were our true provider.
This game can be fatal for those who say they love God but look to the lottery or the “bolita” (as they call it in my country) for an immediate solution in the face of God’s “delay” in fulfilling His promise to provide for His children’s needs. Sadly, many Christians have made gambling their golden calf. Warning: games of chance will inevitably draw you away from God. If you decide to obey your emotions, you will miss seeing the glory of God.
Others may seek their golden calf in practices that the one true God abhors. God warned His people through Moses: “Let no one be found among you…who practices divination or sorcery, who interprets omens, or is a sorcerer, a spell caster, a diviner, or a spiritist, or who consults the dead” (Deut. 18:10–11). In the world we call evangelical, misguided and fraudulent subcultures have developed around “prophets” whose revelations serve only their own fleshly passions and do nothing to honor the eternal word of God. The church of the living God must warn people about these twenty-first-century Pharaohs. They have set themselves up as golden calves for humble people who come to the feet of Christ bearing the inevitable weight of centuries-old traditions and the theological confusions of popular piety.
Beloved brothers and sisters, Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:36) who takes away the sin of the world. He is not the golden calf. Examine yourself continually before God. It will not be time wasted. With God’s help, you can still correct your course. We must stay alert to the Pharaohs who beset us with their chariots and horses and place our trust in Jesus. The psalmist said it: “Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Ps. 20:7). Flee the temptation to cast golden calves for yourself (to seek, amid your cares, what can only be found in God) so that you may live an abundant life. Either the golden calf or the Lamb who provides. God does not play the lottery. He owns the gold and the silver (Haggai 2:8) and knows what we need.
God bless you!