100 spiritual walking steps – 26 – an inconvenient truth

~I apologize, before hand, for the inconsistencies in this post, as I am using a speech to text program, and have only one hand with which to type. please give me grace for the mistakes.

Isaiah 28.9-10
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? [them that are] weaned from the milk, [and] drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little:

For many many years we have looked at this as the process for learning God’s will. Oddly, we had never paid attention to the context of Isaiah 28.
In verses 1-8, God condemns the pride of Ephraim. In the previous chapter, God condemns the iniquity of Jacob. Yet one chapter previous, in chapter 26, He called out those who are His people:

Isaiah 26.20-21 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

The very verse that we have chosen and understood for learning the ways of God and His path for our life is surrounded with the context of God destroying the wicked.

Isaiah 28.13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

Really? Would a loving God send His word out to judge people?

Isaiah 55.11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.

this sounds like a good thing

Hebrews 11.7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

how many of us teach our children that Noah’s Ark, that Noah’s life, that Noah’s faith condemned the world?

Barnes notes on the Bible,
He condemned the world – That is, the wicked world around him. The meaning is, that by his confidence in God, and his preparation for the flood, he showed the wisdom of his own course and the folly of theirs. We have the same phrase now in common use where one who sets a good example is said to “condemn others.” He shows the guilt and folly of their lives by the contrast between his conduct; and theirs. The wickedness of the sinner is condemned not only by preaching, and by the admonitions and threatenings of the Law of God, but by the conduct of every good man. The language of such a life is as plain a rebuke of the sinner as the most fearful denunciations of divine wrath.

The fault was not Noah’s, but those that chose otherwise:

Ez 33.5 They heard the sound of the horn but ignored its warning. So they are responsible for their own deaths. If they had taken the warning, they would have saved themselves.

so the danger in hearing the word and not obeying is this:

FALL BACKWARDS

Luke 9.62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Luke 17.32 Remember Lot’s wife!

what a set of warnings! And if that’s not enough, read James 1.6-8; 2Peter 2.20-22

BE BROKEN
by being in this curse, this is obviously not talking about a broken and contrite heart, as in:

Psalm 34.18 The LORD [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Psalm 51.17 The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

this word broken is not attached to the word heart or spirit.

Matthew 21.44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

I have always understood Matt 21.44 to mean that if we fall upon the chief cornerstone we will have the broken and contrite heart that produces change. If we do not, that stone will fall upon us and “grind us to powder.” The Pharisees, whom Jesus was talking with, apparently felt the same way in the verses that followed.( Matt 21:45-46)

Isaiah said it this way, in a prior chapter:

Isaiah 8.13-15 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and [let] him [be] your fear, and [let] him [be] your dread.
14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

SNARED AND TAKEN
Strong words, scary results.
Moses taught to separate yourself from the ways of the world to not be snared by them.

Deuteronomy 7.25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold [that is] on them, nor take [it] unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it [is] an abomination to the LORD thy God.

Deuteronomy 12.30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, “How did these nations serve their gods?” even so will I do likewise.

Psalm 9.16The LORD is known [by] the judgment [which] he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.

Solomon warns us about being snared by our mouth:Proverbs 6.2; Proverbs 12.13

but the evidence of the greatest snare was Eve in the garden.

Genesis 2.17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

personally, I would like to point out verse 17 comes before verse 22, in which the woman was presented to Adam. I would love to believe that Eve if was just weaker, and therefore the whole responsibility for this great catastrophe falls on Adam. He was the one that got the word from the Lord!

But, and there is a huge but…. Her answer to the snake shows she was aware of the word of God.
Genesis 3.1-3

  1. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
  2. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
  3. But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 

Eve was aware of the word of God.
She stopped moving forward in her obedience, and fell backwards. There is no standing still in God’s walk.
She was snared by the very things that snare us all;

1John 2.16 For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

She was taken – not only in the definition of being taken, like tricked, but in the definition of being taken as an taken captive.

She knew the word.
She had walked with God.
She let go of the truth long enough to have it twisted by the father of lies.
She let down her guard. (she did not take advantage of the covering God gave her)
She was taken by the thought of fulfilling her pleasure rather than honoring her God.

Our lives are judged by the word of God.
Every person will stand before Him in judgment.
This is an inconvenient truth to those who choose not to walk in the path of righteousness.

Romans 1.18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed [it] unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

The verses that follow in Romans 1 are quite sobering.
but what about those who have never heard?

Psalm 19
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 [There is] no speech nor language, [where] their voice is not heard.
4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,

There it is!” their line…” God speaks His word through His creation even if the written word is not available. I’m not going to go into how creation declares the glory of God, but no one will stand before God and say “I did not know.” Christian apologetics has some pages about proving the existence of God.

Romans 1.16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

If anyone reading this does not know how to fall upon the chief cornerstone so that they will not be crushed and judged harshly, I have great news! THE loving God provided a way, an ark, a path for deliverance.
God, in his great mercy, Who provided the sacrifice for Adam and Eve, Who provided the plans for the ark for Noah and his family, has provided the Lamb to pay the price for our sins.

Here are a few places to go for more information on how to get right with Jesus:

Fit 4 Heaven?
God’s simple plan
God’s plan of salvation by Chick

My desire with this study is that we will all study to show ourselves approved.

2 Tim 2.15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

As for me, I need to move from milk to meat:

1 Corinthians 3.2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are ye able.

Why couldn’t Paul give them meat? they were still carnal(1 cor 3:3)

Hebrews 5.12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

I’m an older woman, mother of five, wife of 31 years, Christian of 42 years. By this time, I should be able to “eat strong meat”, and I am called by Scripture to teach younger women. Therefore, I have no business needing to go back to the first principles, but I should be walking in the meatier things of God. The first principles, of walking with God, should be habit, my first love should burn brightly and my life should be declaring the glory of God, just as Noah’s life judged the world.

Acknowledging and declaring God’s judgment against sin in the face of the “peace, peace” doctrine of today can make people angry. In the face of diversity and tolerance, and at the risk of being flagged as hate speech, I will declare that God hates sin, and if the sinner does not turn, judgment in the end, eternal hell will be their reward. Sadly, in our day, it is now illegal to preach God’s word against sins that can, that will, deliver people into eternal hell. In America, Christians no longer have free speech.

Romans 1.16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Hi!
My hope in the midst of despair and my joy in the face of depression is because of my relationship with Jesus Christ. If you do not have one, or are not sure you will join him in heaven, please check out these links.

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

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