August 25, 2012
"Woe to the obstinate children," declares the Lord , "to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh's protection, to Egypt's shade for refuge. -- Isaiah 30: 1-2 (NIV)
The Bible says that ALL Scripture is useful for teaching us beloved. God does not waste anything in His Word. I know it is in vogue to stick to the happy Gospel and tickle the ears of those who would hear but sometime that needs to be balanced. Sometimes it is important to look at when God may not have been so happy and maybe we can gain insight into avoiding such pitfalls. We find the key verses being written by the Prophet Isaiah during the time when Israel was seeking aid from Egypt against Assyria. God never designed Israel to be just another country. They were the chosen people of God. They were His and He specifically warned them against making treaties with foreign nations, let alone seeking their assistance. Israel was supposed to be theocratic with Jehovah as their King. God wanted Israel to turn to Him in their time of need. Egypt was also one of the worst offenders of all the foreign nations as they represented the place of slavery that God had delivered the Israelites out of in the Book of Exodus. For 400 years the Egyptians enslaved the people of God. For us, the believers today, Egypt is represented by the world. For it was the world that held us captive in sin. We were slaves as well:
Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. -- Romans 6: 17-18 (NLT)
When the Israelites were enslaved the Egyptians were horribly cruel taskmasters. So was sin in our lives when we were enslaved in this world. Even early on in their freedom the Israelites would somehow manage to look back upon their slavery with fondness. They would complain and mutter against Moses and God, wishing they were still in Egypt! The truth is sometimes we can do the same thing. I have talked to many people who still look at the things God has delivered them from as things they had to "give up" for Him. The warnings from today's key verses should be sobering reminders to us all about how God views the world and what our involvement in it should be.
The first offense God lists here is described as heaping sin upon sin. It is when we carry out plans that are not God's plan and form alliances that are not of His Spirit. There are only two choices in this lifetime beloved. It is either of God or it is of the devil. There is no third option. There is no neutral Sweden. So when we carry out plans in our lives or form alliances we have only two choices. They are either of God or they are of this world. I think this speaks very strongly against the recent trend of watering down the church with secularism. The Bible says that a little leaven spoils the whole batch. We see churches that are now forming alliances with outside secular organizations which are devoid of Christ. We see churches carrying out plans that are completely secular in nature. Secular community events, secular support systems, secular leadership, and secular growth theories. Leaven, leaven, leaven. One little compromise here, one little compromise there. Jesus pushed to the back while the people look to Egypt. I understand the difficulty to discern; especially when the Spirit may be dormant in a given institution but this is too important. Getting together every Sunday makes you A church; it doesn't make you THE church. Saying the name of Jesus is not enough -- just ask the Seven Sons of Sceva from the Book of Acts. They had no problem saying the name of Jesus but they had no power in the spirit realm! Saying that your plans are of God is not enough. Saying you are compromising in order to reach more for Jesus does not work. Jesus does not need us to compromise to reach more. His Gospel and His grace are completely sufficient all on their own. Woe to those who carry out plans that claim to be of Him but in reality are nothing more than works of the flesh. Woe to those who form alliances through spirits other than His.
The second set of warnings from the key verses has three inter-connected parts. The first is woe to those who go down to Egypt without consulting God. For us this simply means woe to those who choose to turn to this world instead of to God. For what? The second and third portions reveal that God is specifically speaking about seeking help or refuge. On the surface this may sound like something we would never do but if we were honest with ourselves we would see how we do tend to turn to the world first and God second on so many issues in our lives. In the days of Isaiah Israel sought help and alliance from the country that formerly held them as slaves in their war against Assyria. But they never turned to the Lord. Likewise, we can come up against a major battle in our lives and we can turn to the very world that held us as slaves for so many years before turning to God. We can seek out the solutions of this world or the excuses of this world. We can be depressed and pop pills. We can have marital problems and speak to our co-workers, therapists, or even follow silliness like Oprah and Dr. Phil before turning to God -- who has all of the answers!
There is no protection from Pharaoh beloved-- it is an illusion! The solutions and excuses of this world are fleeting at best and empty lies at worst. There is no refuge in this world. True shelter from the storm is found only in God. He took us out of Egypt because we were slaves there to sin. Now thanks to His grace we have been set free. Yet like the Israelites we have a tendency to look back with fondness that which we should view with contempt. There is no fellowship between light and darkness. No matter what smooth rationale you might hear for it -- it is all high sounding nonsense to God. Jesus does not need us to figure anything out for Him -- just preach the Gospel. No alliances with the world. No plans that are wrapped up in the name of Jesus but actually contain nothing of God. There is nothing we will ever face that should make us want to turn back to the very world system that Jesus saved us out of. Turn to Him today because His protection is invulnerable and His refuge is permanent.
Rev. Anthony
