Trust in the Lord; No Matter What.
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· 11 viewsGod's advice to Isaiah and to the people to seek him and not bother about conspiracies.
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Scripture: Isa 8:16-22
Scripture: Isa 8:16-22
16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.
17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.
18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?
20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward.
22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
Preface
Preface
I expect, your first question is what is the testimony and what is the teaching but let me give you some substance first before we get to that.
It has been said that when America sneezes, Trinidad and Tobago catches a cold; or maybe its the other way around; I don’t know and most times can’ t remember those things word for word. But anyhow you take it I think that time after time it has proven to be true. In saying that, I’m thinking about the recent combine situation of election results and pandemic in the United States and how the decisions of the people were highly affected or fraught with, misinformation, misdirection, fears and anxiety, mainly brought about by conspiracy theories.
Well that was America’s cold, did Trinidad and Tobago sneeze? We sure did. But I don’t want to dwell on the specifics of T&T elections as much because strangely enough, I did not give it the attention that I gave America’s, but I want to focus on the similarity of the situations.
Fallout of the Pandemic
Fallout of the Pandemic
There were people in America that were portending certain things about the Pandemic; that it was short lived, it was like any other perennial flu, it would soon go away, the government was lying about the severeness and manipulating the numbers so that they can in turn take away the rights of citizens or at least control them; that the measure being taken was basically for some unscrupulous outcome that would in some way benefit those in power. Thats the easiest way to explain this because, trust me , it’s way more complex than that. Having said that , let me say this , “boy did we catch a cold or sneeze” down here in Trinidad and Tobago; well, depending on how you look at it. America had people against the preventive measures as directed by the scientists, like social distancing, isolation and masking, we in Trinidad, more-so, followed suit in a manner of speaking. It’s think that was because T&T had the same source or without getting political, the same type of source; people opposed to righteousness and/or people opposed to the teaching of Rom 13:1-4.
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,
4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
I said all that I said to tell you that in the time of the pandemic and the measures given by the government that we Trinidad and Christians, can take the advice that was to sealed up by Isaiah and distributed to his disciples. Let me let scripture tell it; Isa 8:11-15
11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:
12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.
13 But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
Let me say right of the cuff; Christians beware what information you post or share or how and where you express your feelings about the pandemic and how the government is handling things, lest Isaiah be talking about you.
Notice the scripture; God was general and not distinct about whom He will be a sanctuary to and whom He will be a rock of offence to even though the teaching will be for his disciples. and I will tell you why that is important.
Sometimes the wrong information under certain circumstances will make even the faith of the strongest person waver even if just for a time; but regardless of that time, much damage can be done. Thus we must understand why God would give such testimony and such Teaching.
Syro-Ephramite War
Syro-Ephramite War
As it turned out, at the Time of The prophet receiving information from God, Assyria was or was becoming the world power in the region in those days and according to biblical and extra biblical info; Several Syro-Palestinian states and peoples rebelled against Assyria, and of course Assyria attempted to suppress this rebellion between 734–731 bc. These participants include Rezin of Aram/Damascus, Hiram of Tyre, Pekah of Israel, Mitinti of Ashkelon, Samsi queen of the Arabs, and possibly Hanno of Gaza. Other biblical figures are also mentioned , included Jehoahaz of Judah and possibly Hoshea of Israel with Rezin of Damascus apparently as a key leader of the rebellion.
The Egyptian and Ethiopian kingdoms may have actively supported the rebellion. They would have had economic reasons to do so, since Assyrian control of Syria-Palestine would have negatively affected Egyptian and Ethiopian trade interests. The Bible tell us; 2 Ki 15:27
27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twenty years.
2 Ki 15:32
32 In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign.
As king, Pekah became involved in an anti-Assyrian coalition and he and Rezin attempted to coerce Jotham of Judah (2 Kgs 15:37) as well as Jotham’s son and successor, Ahaz (2 Kgs 16:5; 2 Chr 28:5–8; Isa 7:1), into joining this confederacy against the Assyrians. When neither gave in to their demands, Pekah and Rezin resorted to violence.
Isaiah reported their attempt Isa 7:6,
6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,”
The bible does not give more info about Tabeel but we can infer that he was sympathetic to the anti -Assyrian cause. Ahaz, The Judaithe King at the time appealed to Tiglath-Pileser III, the Assyrian King, for protection against Damascus and Samaria.
The Bible was not really clear on whether the Syro-Ephraimite campaign against Judah preceded or followed the 734/3 BC Assyrian campaign into Palestine?
Or, was Ahaz’s payment a bribe for help (as 2 Kgs 16:7–8 claims) or routine tribute paid to Tiglath-pileser after the Assyrians invaded and put down the revolt?
7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”
8 Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king’s house and sent a present to the king of Assyria.
But I can tell you what the Bible said 2 Chr 28:1-4.
1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done,
2 but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals,
3 and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
4 And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
And that is why God sent trouble his way.
Isaiah’s Input
Isaiah’s Input
This will show clearly that the purpose of the testimony and the teaching was that God wanted his disciples to know that that the single most important thing to His people is dependence on Him and Him alone.
What was particularly intriguing is how God used two unborn children to indicate how the testimony will be sealed or used as seals. In Isa 7:14-16 he says to Ahaz, speaking about some virgin’s pregnancy.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
and then in Isa 8:1-4 he said to Isaiah the prophet about his next born son.
1 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’
2 And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”
3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz;
4 for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
What Isaiah had before briefly noted by inscribing Maher-shalal-hash-baz, which means something like “quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil” and prophetically described the imminent destruction to befall Damascus and Samaria by the hand of the Assyrians on a tablet, fixed up in some public place. He afterwards wrote out more in detail in a parchment roll (Is 30:8); He then sealed it, not merely in order that nothing may be added to, or taken from it, as being complete, but to imply that it relates to distant events, and is therefore not to be understood testimony (Is 6:9, 10), that is, by those who are caught up in conspiracy theories and those who did not depend on God. The testimony was to be explained and shared with God’s people; that is, those who “sanctify the Lord” by obedient trust (Ps 25:14).
What I found fit in all this is God’s advice to the prophet and how to contain the situation of fear, anxiety and conspiracy. By it we can tell -
God understands that although there is a proneness in the best of men to be frightened at threatening clouds, especially when fears are, pardon the pun, epidemic, we are not to say as they say nor do as they do, nor entertain the same frightful apprehensions of things nor to approve of their projects of making peace upon any terms, or calling on the help of anyone other than Himself.
He knows sometimes even Christians are all too apt to walk in the way of the people we live among, and that corruption is sometimes so active in the hearts that we need to taught our duty with a strong hand, even as he taught the prophet “with a strong hand.”
Let me bring this lesson home. God understands conspiracies; He understands they are malicious plots or plans to harm or kill; He understands they may be directed at certain people or even Himself; he understands that they may be politically motivated or simply be an outlet for wrong doing. let me give an example Neh 4: 7-8
7 But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry.
8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.
Today in the same way, even in Trinidad and Tobago, people are trying to create confusion, doubt and disorder by asking questions about the pandemic; is it real, is it a plot by governments? is the vaccine really a vaccine or something else? are they trying to stymy our rights? whatever it be, I can tell you, social media is playing a big part of this and to me it seems to me, They are acting out as modern day necromancers and mediums,; they are functioning in the same way as those in Isaiah’s time.
in verse 19 and 20; Isa 8:19-20
19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?
20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
As an example, when Saul, when he was in straits, after the death of Samuel and the Lord abandoned him, he made his application to the witch of Endor (1 Sa. 28:7, 15), and King Ahaziah of Samaria, when he fell through the lattice of his upper chamber sent to inquire to the god of Ekron, 2 Ki. 1:2. These conjurors had strange fantastic gestures and tones: They spoke not with that boldness and plainness which the prophets of the Lord spoke with, but as those who desire to amuse and misinform or misdirect people rather than to instruct them; The same with those in our time, yet there were those who were so wretchedly boldface as to seek them and to court others to do so, even the prophet’s hearers. That can happen to us today and I must reiterate through dark side of social media, and, if you get a chance to interrogate them or really try to find out their agenda, you will find out that no-one has a clear answer as to why they do what they do. And you know what? It does happen; And I do not say this lightly for I see the attention that people pay to their devices even during worship services, and sometimes I imagine that they are saying: say something facebook, say something CNN, say something Youtube, Fox news, whatsapp; I want something to believe in, I want something to pass on, I want to add my two cents worth. This is why God is correct in sealing up the testimony and Isaiah is completely correct about furnishing an answer to temptation.
Good Prophetic Advice
Good Prophetic Advice
Thus we have no choice B&F, the prophet has furnished us with a solution to this temptation, puts words into their mouths. “If any go about thus to ensnare you, give them this reply: Should not a people seek to their God? “Tell them it is a principle of religion that a people ought to seek unto God; and to consult with him, and not with those that have familiar spirits and familiar agenda. All people will thus walk in the name of their God, Mic. 4:5.
I wonder do people know that God is on the internet as well, do they say what is God trying to teach us by allowing this, pandemic and the various political and ungodly side effects. Do they say let me see what Faithlife says, or Bible Gateway or Olive Tree or You Version or Crossway? do they indeed believe That God is there as well? Have they ever consulted these apps or download them on their phone.
I adjure you B&F make God’s statutes our counsellors, and you know what, will be aright. We must make use of the word of God and His testimony; we must speak according to that word, that is, we must make this our standard, conform to it, take advice from it, make our appeals to it, and in every thing be overruled and determined by it, Let us then, consent to those wholesome healing words (1 Tim. 6:3), and speak of the things of God in the words which the Holy Spirit teaches. It is not enough to say nothing against it, but we must speak according to it. lest we be convicted of the greatest folly imaginable if we do not.
Last but not least don’t be distracted by some unusual outcome, like a high death toll, God knows what he is doing and takes the time to temper anything that would seem to interfere with the faith of his people. Case in point; The Israelite army killed 120,000 Judahites, and took 200,000 prisoners and what did God do, he sent the Prophet Oded to them 2 Chr 28:9-11
9 But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven.
10 And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the Lord your God?
11 Now hear me, and send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.”
God takes care of His own. Conspiracies have too many players with too many different agenda and is especially wrought with spiritual warfare. We are not worry about how we will be affected. We cannot believe on the one hand that Christ makes good to those that love him, and yet grieve ourselves about personal losses including death, which we might consider the worse thing to happen to us. We have to live all the words of
oracles of God and especially the one of the apostle, that says “to live is Christ, to die is vain.”