Wisdom, Fear and Stability

In Isaiah, the LORD is warning the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel (Ephraim and Judah) through the prophet Isaiah. The LORD is warning of discipline to Judah and its capital of Jerusalem because they had turned away from the Lord. His main reason for the discipline is stated in Isaiah 29:13-14.

“Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: 14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”
Isaiah 29:13-14

The concern that the Lord expresses here is that although the people were still praising God and speaking of Him, their hearts were not following Him. Just as in Jesus’s day, men were coming up with ways of fearing God that were not the ways that God intended; thus, the fear of the Lord was being taught by men incorrectly. God told the people that he was going to do a work among the people so that the “wisdom of their wise men” would perish. In other words, their wise men would not be able to explain this wonder, and they would not be able to understand.

As I ponder this, I realize many people do not believe in God. Many are so-called wise. But, I wonder with what definition we are using to label them as wise. In Webster’s 1828 dictionary, wisdom and knowledge are defined as follows:

Wisdom – “the right use or exercise of knowledge.”
Knowledge – “a clear and certain perception of that which exists, or of truth and fact”.

So, in essence, God is saying in Isaiah 29:14 that the wisdom (the right use of knowledge) will be gone and they will not understand what they are seeing. They will not understand? Why?

As I continued to read in Isaiah, I found that God continues to warn Judah not to seek Egypt for help but to trust in God when things begin looking bleak. The enemy of the Assyrian was prevalent in all of the lands at this time, and, yet, God kept telling Judah to trust Him. Human wisdom would dictate that they had this knowledge about the Assyrians coming toward them so they should seek a mightier kingdom than they to protect themselves — they should send for the Egyptians. But, God continued to tell them to NOT go to the Egyptians. The Israelites also had the knowledge of how God had saved them from the Egyptians hundreds of years earlier. It is interesting to note that, in Scripture, often times, Egypt is a picture of the world. In essence, God was telling the Israelites not to look to the world for their protection. Instead, they were to look to him.

In the midst of the warnings throughout these passages, God continues to provide promises to the Israelites. He promised His provision, if they would trust Him and do things his way… in righteousness. As I read through to Isaiah 33:5-6, I noticed again the word “wisdom” again.

“The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. 6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.”
Isaiah 33:5-6

Look at what these verses say about wisdom and knowledge. It states that these will be the “stability of their times and the strength of their salvation.” In other words, understanding the things of God (having the knowledge of God and from God) will make us understand His ways (wisdom) and we will be stable… peaceful, not confused, not shifting in our stance, etc. In other words, Hezekiah, the King of Israel at the time of the siege of the Assyrians, told his people to trust in God. The enemy was trying to convince the Israelites to not trust in anyone because it was hopeless. The enemy stated that the Israelites should not go to Egypt for help as it was useless (as the world’s help often is) and not to trust in God either. The Assyrians mocked the God of Israel. Yet, God says in Isaiah 33:5-6 that the people will be stable IF they trust in God. They needed to fear the LORD more than they feared the enemy. Notice in Isaiah 33:6 that it states, “the fear of the LORD is his treasure.” When we see that word fear, we should think a couple of things. First, God can do whatever He wants; He is God. We should fear Him, but, we should also think “trust.” When we fear God, and understand that He can do whatever He wants, then, when He tells us that He will save us, we need to TRUST! We need to trust more in His Words of promise than in any help we could seek from the world and more than any threat from the enemy. If we do, we will have wisdom and understanding of the Lord’s ways and it will bring stability to our lives.

Practical applications of this principle occur in our lives many times over. For instance, we can be afraid of the wars and rumors of wars in the world. We may set about, as a country, to increase our weapons arsenal and make leagues with other countries for our protection. We may even think this is what God would want. Isn’t this like the statement in Isaiah 29 where it says that people draw near Him with their lips (our country asks the nation to pray and say, “God bless our country”), but our hearts are far from Him? Just watch the news and see the violence and evil in the United States right now… every day, new murders, violence of all types, horrible tragedies created by evil people. It does not stop there. We see the morals and values that our country holds in our country’s laws including assisted suicide, abortion, defending any type of sexual relationships outside of a one man, one woman marriage, and so on. Even our laws allow for behaviors against the Lord’s teachings, not just individuals who walk in the ways against God. Add to this the fact that people are taught to fear God by men… just pray to Him, do not worry about truly believing in Him or worshipping Him or bowing to His ways. Another precept taught by men is just think positive thoughts and God will bless us, or, God will answer our prayers if we pray… not even thinking that maybe He won’t answer in a way we want because we do not follow His ways!

Other practical applications happen in our personal lives as well. We say that we believe in God and we go to church and even pray. We may read His Word, occasionally. But, we believe that our relationship is just between us and God and it doesn’t matter if it “looks” like we are Christians or not to those around us. We say we are Christians and we are not even sure what that means. We are taught by the precept of man that it means you believe there is a god, that you go to church at least twice a year, that you pray every time you need something, and you memorize those verses in the Bible that promise good things to you. That is honoring God with our lips, but not following Him with our hearts. There is a very big difference. In Isaiah 29:13-14, it tells us that God is going to do wonders, but that we will not understand because our wisdom perishes if we do not know God. However, in Isaiah 33:5-6, God tells us that if we fear Him, He will bring stability to our lives through wisdom and knowledge. In other words, we will have His wisdom and understand His ways. For instance, when bad things happen in our lives (and this happens to everyone… EVERY ONE!), those that know the Lord and fear Him do not panic. Yes, we may struggle to understand; we may be hurt or scared in our flesh; but there is an underlying peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:6-7). We feel “stable”, sort of like there is a firm rock to stand on in the storms of life. We have the wisdom to understand God’s ways.

God promises that He will not leave us or forsake us. He tells us that He walks with us through our difficulties. He promises that we will one day not suffer anymore if we choose to follow Him. It is as if He is extending His hand and asking us to take it. He is providing us the understanding of how to walk through these storms of life. He is providing us the knowledge of His ways and the strength of His salvation. Knowing God, and His ways, makes us strong. In other words, stability for our lives exists through that wonderful treasure of “the fear of the Lord.” (That is a whole study all on its own!)

If you do not know Jesus personally as your Lord and your Savior, if you do not fear God above all else, meaning to stand in awe of Him and trust Him and follow His ways in relationship to Him, then ask me. I would love to share the “stability” of my life with you!

The Truth (Part 3) (or rather, The Rejection of the Truth)

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From Part 2 of “The Truth”, we were left with the question that Pilate had of Jesus, “What is truth?” As the disciples learned of Jesus while they walked with him on the earth, and after He was resurrected, they wrote of what they learned of truth. They wrote these things for our learning as well. Let’s see what they teach us about truth.

In Ephesians, we are told that the word of truth is the gospel of our salvation which seals us with the Holy Spirit of promise. (Ephesians 1:13) The word gospel means good news. Thus, the Word of Truth, from God our Father is the good news of our salvation. Of a truth, we are saved by God’s grace, and not by what we think is to be true (Ephesians 2:8-9). He alone made the way for our salvation and then tells us (through words) of how that salvation occurs. It was only by the death of Jesus Christ.

Also, we are told in Ephesians 6:14 to “gird our loins with truth.” Why should we “gird our loins with truth” when we are in a spiritual battle? Because when we know the truth, the truth helps us to fight the lies of the enemy. Sometimes we hear voices that tell us that we are worth nothing, that we are on earth for the purposes of pleasing others, or that we don’t measure up. However, the word of the truth tells us differently. God created us in His image and He loves us very much, and He has a purpose for our lives.

Wow! Ponder what we have learned so far. We have seen in Parts 1 and 2 of The Truth that: God tells us the truth. God gives us the truth. God is the truth. Jesus is God. Thus, Jesus is the truth! We are also told that this truth is our salvation and that we are protected by this truth. If this is all true, why would anyone want to reject this truth?

In Romans, we are told that there are people who hold the truth in unrighteousness and change the truth of God into a lie. We are also told that that which may be known of God is made clear because God showed it to us (Romans 1:19). Everything in creation testifies to the fact that there is a God (Romans 1:20) and therefore, we are all without excuse when we reject the truth. There are those who do not want to follow God “do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath.” (Romans 2:8) Why?

In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul states that the Thessalonians received the “word of God” which they heard Paul teach, and they “received it not as the word of men, but as it is in TRUTH, the word of God.” Others, however, (2 Thessalonians 2:10) would not receive the love of the truth. It isn’t that they could not receive it, but they WOULD not receive it. This truth is that truth which brings salvation. Paul even goes on to say that those who believe not the truth take pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:12) Therein is the answer to the question: Why would anyone reject the truth of the gospel, the good news, of our salvation? It is because some people do NOT want to be accountable for their actions.

If we know there is a God, and that He saves us, then we also understand that there may be some requirements placed on our lives. There are commands given to us, for our protection of course, that we will need to follow. Some people do not like to obey or submit to anyone. Thus, they cast off all restraint. So, if they make the conscious choice not to believe the truth, and call it anything but the truth, they can justify in their minds living their lives in any way they please. According to Paul this is their way of having pleasure in unrighteousness. There is pleasure in not living our lives with rules. However, we are also in danger of hurting ourselves or others when we don’t live by rules.

The result of some people rejecting truth because they want to throw off all constraints is that they attempt to make others doubt the truth. Romans 1:18 tells us that there are those that hold the truth in unrighteousness. In other words, they know the truth, but they act against it. Think about it. If I want to justify my actions and make them seem good to you, wouldn’t I have to convince you that they are good? So, if I am acting against the truth and I want to continue to do so without you judging me or trying to tell me what to do, I would need to make you think like me. Isn’t this what Tom Sawyer did when he didn’t want to do the whitewashing of the fence? He made everyone else believe that it was a great thing to do so that he could get out of doing it himself. We see this same thing happening today where evil is called good and good is called evil. Some of these evil things do not even make sense. However, we have enough voices telling us that these things are good so that some of us are swayed into believing it, even when we know it isn’t true.

Paul states that we are sanctified (made clean before the Lord) of the Spirit AND belief of the TRUTH. It is the Spirit that sanctifies us, but we have to believe the truth… that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died and was raised again on the third day. This is the heart of the gospel message. Jesus saves us, but we have to accept that gift of salvation through belief in it, and this is called the TRUTH! God wants us all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). When we do come to this knowledge, we obtain the abundant life promised to us, and a peace that surpasses all understanding, and the Lord’s joy, and contentment even in difficult circumstances, comfort in our times of need, wisdom when we need it, and blessings beyond measure. No, not always physical blessings, but the important things in life that provide for wonder and awe.

People of corrupt minds, are “destitute of the truth” (1 Timothy 6:5). In 2 Timothy 2:15, we are told to study to show ourselves approved unto God, rightly dividing the word of truth. In other words, God gives us His truth, and we are to come to know it by studying it. We are to avoid being like those led away by a form of godliness, but they deny the power of God… because people who are led away in this way are ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. In fact, people actually “resist the truth” (2 Timothy 3:8)

Peter warns us that in the end times, many will follow their “pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.” Don’t we see this today? If we tell the truth about a situation from God’s Word, we are evil spoken of because we believe archaic beliefs.

John stated that “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” Since the Apostle John heard Jesus speak of truth and explain truth, He was excited to tell others about Jesus (that he saw Jesus and heard Him and touched Him as Jesus manifested Himself to him), and he wanted people to “walk” in that “truth”.

There is so much more to the depth of the study of God’s Word and the truth that He proclaims, but that needs to be left to each of you. Pick up God’s Word and discover the truth that God has for each of us. Don’t relish in unrighteous ways and miss the blessings that God has for you when you act in accordance with the truth of His Word. My prayer is that I have at least given you a start and made you think or ponder what truth is. Remember, if it is really true, it is not based on personal opinion. So, find the facts for yourself. Know the truth because it can be known.

The Truth (Part 2)

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In Part 1 of “The Truth”, I shared that Jesus stated in John 14:6 “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me.” I also shared that my take away from the story of Abraham’s servant seeking a bride for Isaac was that God told Abraham the “truth” and then God followed through on His promises to Abraham. As I continued studying the Scriptures about truth in the New Testament, I found some other interesting facts.

First, in John 4, Jesus told the woman at the well that the hour was coming when the “true worshippers” of God will worship the Father in “spirit and in truth.” This means that we don’t just have a “feeling” about God, but that we worship knowing the “truth”. We are told in John 4:24 that “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit AND in TRUTH.” So, again, we would have to know the “truth” to worship correctly. If Jesus is the TRUTH, then we have to know Jesus to worship God correctly. Yes, this seems like a narrow way, but didn’t Jesus tell us that the way was narrow and that He was that way (again, John 14:6)?

Jesus stated some pretty bold things, and some things that may be hard to accept. This leads me to ask a question? Why should we trust what Jesus said? He could have been a madman, in which case we shouldn’t believe him. He also could have been an outright liar. However, when reading Scripture, it does not appear that even his enemies could find fault with him, nor did they believe he was mad; so this conclusion (Jesus being a madman or a liar) does not seem possible. That leaves us with only one conclusion: Jesus was who He said He was… The Son of God. Thus, if Jesus tells us something, we should believe it as if God is saying it.

Jesus’ position was proven through His resurrection, which was not only predicted by himself but also by Old Testament prophecies; and then it came to pass. So, if Jesus states that we need to worship in Spirit and Truth and that He is the Truth, it seems pretty obvious that we are to worship God through Jesus Christ making us “TRUE worshippers.” Ponder this for a moment. I have to ask myself, “Am I a ‘True worshipper’ of God through His Son Jesus Christ?”

Later in John 8, Jesus uses the word ‘truth’ multiple times. He says, “If you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall KNOW the TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall make you free.” Somehow, just knowing this ‘truth’ will bring us freedom.

Jesus goes on to tell those who are listening to him that he is telling them the ‘truth’ and that those who do not believe in Jesus Christ are not abiding “in the truth”. Later Jesus makes His famous statement, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He also told his disciples that after Jesus died, the Father would give them the “Spirit of truth, which is the Comforter”. So, Jesus is the truth, but the Holy Spirit is also the truth. In believing in a triune God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, this statement about Jesus being the truth and the Holy Spirit being the truth implies (With all of the other evidence that the Bible supplies) that God is also truth. Doesn’t this just speak to how important truth should be for us as those created in His image?

In John 15, Jesus tells us that this Spirit of truth will testify of Jesus Himself and that when the Spirit of truth comes, He (the Spirit which is a personal being) will guide you into ALL TRUTH.” Jesus finishes speaking to His disciples in John 17 and prays for them and then for those who will later believe on Him. He prays that God will “sanctify them [those believers] through God’s truth” stating that “God’s Word is truth.” Remember in John 1, John stated “We saw that Jesus was the Word made flesh.” Again, we see that Jesus is truth!

When Jesus was taken before Pilate, this notion of truth became a point of confusion for Pilate. Pilate asked Jesus if he were a king. Jesus replied, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.” At this statement, Pilate asked that question that we all want to know, “What is truth?”

This is a question that we all must answer for ourselves. It is my firm belief, based on the evidence given in the Scriptures, that we can know the answer to this question when asking about the truth of our origin, our purpose for life, our morality, and our destiny. However, we first must ask ourselves, do we believe in the God who gives us the truth. Jesus stated to Pilate, “Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.” That is a very bold statement and definitely worth pondering; thus, I will leave this thought to be pondered today. Do you hear the voice of Jesus Christ? Do you want to hear the voice of God? Do you want to be “of the truth?”

Look for Part 3 of “The Truth” for more insight from the Scriptures about what God says about “truth”.

The Truth (Part 1)

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I have not written in a while as I organized an event for Teens called a Teen Apologetics Conference. Why would I do this? The message that the Lord gave me to share with these teens is TRUTH. As Christians, we need to know what we believe and why we believe it. However, if what we believe is not the truth, why would we believe it? This quest for truth became my mission for a few years now. We know that Jesus tells us, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6) However, how does one define truth?

The answer to this question gets very complicated in our American culture today. Many will say, “Well, your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth.” Others will say, “Truth is relative.” Others will say, “No one can know the truth.” And, yet, others will say, “I have all of the truth.” Some say that we live in a post-truth society now.

When I ask this question, as with any question pertaining to life, I have to ask, “What does God say about truth?” I want to hold forth the Word of Life and let God speak for Himself. I began studying this subject by doing a word search on the word “truth” in the entire Bible. I found that in Matthew 22,the Pharisees were questioning Jesus and they said, “We know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth.” However, from the conversation, it seems apparent that these Pharisees did not truly believe this and were out to tempt Jesus, to entangle Him in His speech. Jesus did not fall into their trap. Later in that same chapter of Matthew, Jesus tells these Pharisees that the greatest commandment in the law is to “…Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matthew 22:37) Isn’t that interesting? Jesus told them to love God with their minds. That means they have to “think” about what Jesus is saying. This love of Jesus is not just heartfelt, but it is an intelligent love. If this love is to be intelligent, it would seem that the truth would be important.

The next major find when studying the word “truth” from Scriptures is in the book of John. The word “truth” is used in 22 verses. The first occurrence is in John 1:14 when John tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among the disciples, and that this Word was full of grace and truth. It is interesting that grace and truth are combined in this phrase. A few verses later, in verse 17, John tells us that the “law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” In other words, TRUTH came by Jesus Christ. What does this mean? We are then told by Jesus Himself in John 3:21 that “He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” So, if we “do” the truth, we will come to some understanding.

I have so much more to share from John, but this thought came to mind in my reading at this point. I wondered what the Old Testament had to say about truth. The first use of the word truth occurs in Genesis 24. Abraham was getting very old. He wanted a wife for his son Isaac, the Son of promise. Since Abraham did not want his son to marry the Canaanite women, he sent his servant, who is unnamed in this chapter, to Abraham’s own family in the land of Ur to take a wife from Abraham’s own kindred for Isaac. When the servant asked if he should take Isaac to this land if he could not find a wife, Abraham told him to promise that he would not do this. The promised land (the Canaanite land) was promised to Abraham, and although he did not yet own the land, Abraham acted on faith that this was his land. Isaac was to stay on this land promised to Abraham’s seed. So, the servant went to look for a wife for Isaac.

Abraham’s servant arrived at the land of Ur and he asked God for kindness for Abraham. He prayed very specifically about how to know which “damsel” would be the wife for Isaac. The servant asked God to show him the woman to be Isaac’s wife by having the damsel let down her pitcher of water to the servant and offering him a drink and then offering drink to the camels as well, if she were the one to be Isaac’s wife. Immediately after his very specific prayer, the servant ran to where he saw a damsel and asked her for a little water. This damsel (whose name was Rebekah) did exactly what the servant prayed, nothing lacking. She offered the servant water AND offered to give the camels drink, and kept drawing water for the camels until they were finished drinking. Then the servant asked this damsel whose daughter she was. She told him that she was from Abraham’s family. The servant was awestruck. Genesis 24:26-27a says, “And the man [this servant] bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his MERCY and his TRUTH…”

Genesis 24:27 has the first use of the word TRUTH in it in the Old Testament and this word is tied directly to the word MERCY. God provides both mercy and truth. God’s truth that He would give the promised land to Abraham’s and then his son Isaac’s seed. Isaac needed a wife for this to happen. Abraham knew that God had promised the land of Canaan to him, not to the descendants of Canaan. Abraham walked by faith in following God, even if in his lifetime he did not inherit the land from the Canaanites. Still, Abraham walked in faith that what God spoke to him was the truth. God had promised Abraham the land and many seed, in fact, so many that his seed would be like the number of stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5). Since Abraham believed God (and this was counted unto him for righteousness (Romans 4:3)), Abraham sent to find a wife for his son Isaac that would carry on the family line. He also took measures to be sure that the son remained in the land promised to him. So, we see that Abraham’s servant understood all of this and then declared that the LORD God did not let Abraham down, but He provided Abraham both mercy and truth.

This is the takeaway for me: God told Abraham the truth and He brought what He promised to pass. This scene of Abraham sending the servant to get a bride for Isaac the son is exactly a picture of what the Holy Spirit does on God’s behalf for Jesus in the New Testament. God sent Jesus here to show the way, but then Jesus was resurrected to be seated at the right hand of His Father forever. Jesus told us in John 14-17 that when He would return to His Father, God would send the Holy Spirit to lead people to the truth, the truth of Jesus Christ and God’s promises. He also told us that the truth would set us free. (John 8:32) In Ephesians 5 we are told that marriage is a picture of Christ and the church, with Christ being the groom and the church being the bride. So, the Holy Spirit is sent to draw us to Jesus Christ, and ultimately to God the Father. Jesus is not meant to come back here forever. Rather, we are to be taken to live in His kingdom, whatever that may look like.

The truth is, God loves us and He desires that we fellowship with Him forever. He won’t force us, just as Abraham’s servant didn’t force Rebekah (read the rest of the story for yourself and see the beautiful ending to this story). However, the Holy Spirit guides us to the truth of God’s love. The Holy Spirit, called the Spirit of Truth, shows us the truth of Jesus Christ and His purpose on the earth. The truth is Jesus Christ Himself. There is so much more to say about this in the Scriptures, but I will leave it with this for now… seek the Truth, and God will reveal it to you. Jesus said, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6) So, when you are trying to find the meaning of truth, be sure to take into account the one who was bold enough to call Himself TRUTH.

In Part 2 “The Truth” more of the New Testament passages on the subject of truth will be explored. Look for it soon.