Biblical judgment follows a consistent pattern: we judged on the basis of our idol
Consider the plagues of Egypt. The Pharaoh orders the death of infant boys; one by one they are cast into the river, the Nile, that great god of Egypt. The Nile brings life in the desert: their water, their food, their safety are all bound up in that great god.
But when God sets his eyes upon Egypt, it is the Nile that fails. The blood of the boys wells and the river is blood. The life of Egypt has become a gushing artery of death. The Nile has been killed and kills in turn.
The sun was a great god, the source of life. And so, God in his turns, kills the sun. The sky grows dark at day.
The Pharaoh himself is the issue of the sun. The Pharaoh’s firstborn boy is likewise a god and the son of a god. Rather than turn their worship to the true Creator, the Egyptians gave their praise to the boy in his turn.
And so the Pharaoh who brought death to the son of his slaves finds death in his own home.
There is a pattern here, the idol matches the judgment. One the type, the other the antitype.
Our idols fail precisely in their promise. They promise life, but deliver death.
The judgment need not be the end. When God first struck the Nile, the plea was for Egypt to turn. When God brought night and day, the proof was the Sun was no god. But persistence in rebellion is its own curse. And finally, the child of a lie, the promise which could not deliver, the god who is no God will fail.
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