Isaiah 58
OGCEXAMINATION Chapter S FIFTY-FOUR THROUGH FIFTY-NINE
DEFINITION
(Define the following words or phrases as they were discussed in the comments.)
enlarge your tent
Moloch
waters of Noah
terebinth
leader and commander
covetousness
foreigners
afflicted our soul
watchmen
adder and viper
rest
peace
sorceress
intercessor
MEMORIZATION
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the ______, and he that hath no ______; come ye, buy, and ______; yea, come, buy wine and ______ without money and without price. Wherefore do ye _____ money for that which is not _____? and your labor for that which ______ not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is _____, and let your _____ delight itself in fatness. Incline your _____, and come unto me; _____, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting _____ with you, even the sure _____ of David. (Isaiah 55:1-3)
EXPLANATION
Explain how Jehovah used marriage to describe His relation to His people.
Explain how unique, in a Hebrew dispensation, it is to speak of all being taught by the Lord. Explain how Jesus quoted this passage in John’s Gospel.
Explain how God could teach salvation by grace in the O.T.
Explain the relationship of God’s everlasting covenant with His promised mercy to David.
Explain how foreigners minister to Jehovah.
Explain why there is no peace to the wicked.
Explain Isaiah’s emphasis on keeping the Sabbath.
Explain how man’s sin separates him from God.
APPLICATION
(In its context every scripture has one meaningthe author’s intended meaning. How may the following be applied in the believer’s life?)
Do people today still need to understand that God offers salvation by grace, not by earned merit?
Is it still necessary today to teach what Isaiah does about God’s word being above man’s thoughts or ways?
Is it necessary today to stress keeping covenant with God as Isaiah did?
May we apply the Hebrew meaning of peace to the Christian experience?
Is there any application of the believer’s marriage to God to human marriage?
What application for the N.T. age may be made concerning the lethargy of the religious leaders of Isaiah’s day?
May we apply the attitude expressed by the sinners of Isaiah’s day of weariness with sin, to any attitudes of sinners today?
Is the admonition of Isaiah against the hypocrisy in fasting and worshiping relevant for the church today? How may his admonition be applied?
**THE WISDOM OF GOD
OBC Chapel Sermon**
by Paul T. Butler
… For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:22-24
He (Christ) is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:30
INTRODUCTION
I.
WHAT IS WISDOM?
A.
Some ancient philosophers believed man was incapable of wisdom that it was only attainable by God (Socrates). In fact, Socrates said the wise man will not seek wisdom.
Yet, most men have continued to seek wisdom; and all of their own.
Many of the ancients were driven to despair, cynicism and hopelessness because they could never find wisdom.
THEY LEARNED A LOT OF THINGS, BUT THEY COULD NEVER FIND WISDOM.
B.
Solomon (in Eccl.) probably tried every human source available and concluded that the hope of finding wisdom was vain!
C.
Because wisdom is, as one modern philosopher has said, Whatever else wisdom may be, it is in some sense an understanding of life. Abraham Kaplan, in The Pursuit of Wisdom, The Scope of Philosophy, pub. Glencoe Press, pg. 16. Wisdom is a matter of seeing thingsbut as they are, not subjectively.
II.
MAN’S TROUBLE WITH WISDOM
A.
He has been deceived by the devil that wisdom may be found in knowing evil as well as good.
B.
God, man’s creator, plainly told man that wisdom was in truth, goodness, humility, righteousness, holiness, purity.
C.
But the devil, Genesis 3, convinced man that if he would partake of the forbidden, he would be as wise as God knowing both good and evil!
D.
The biggest lie of all is, of course, that man is wise if he dispenses with God. Wisdom is found in freedom from any and all divine meddling in man’s attempt to enjoy life.
E.
Modern philosophy (from Nietzsche on) declared the death of God and began to construct Utopia on earth through science, politics, education and economics, and psychology.
F.
But the wisdom of man brought on economic depression, war, illiteracy, exploitation, pollution, and on and on.
H. G. Wells, a believer in the sufficiency of science, had earlier prepared blue prints for Utopia, entitled his last book, Mind at the End of its Tether and said, Homo sapiens, as he has been pleased to call himself, is played out.
Others are saying, Man is a useless passion. Meaning is found in meaninglessness. There is no meaning to life.
DISCUSSION
I.
POWER OF THE WISDOM OF GOD
A.
It destroys false wisdom which enslaves and destroys people and society.
We have seen through Francis Schaeffer’s films the power of the Word and Wisdom of God moving through societies and cultures, redeeming society and individuals.
The wisdom of God redeems, regenerates and transforms men and reunites them with their Creator for the blessed end for which He created them (Hebrews 2).
It converted Pharisees, publicans, harlots, cruel soldiers, pagan philosophers and politicians.
It changed homosexuals, thieves, murderers, drunkards, fornicators and liars in the decadent city of Corinth into people after the image of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
In the late 1700’S the mutineers on the British ship, Bounty, landed on Pitcairn Island in the South Seas. With some of the native women they established a settlement which rivaled Sodom and Gomorrah for its iniquity. Sometime later while rummaging through a sailor’s chest, the sole survivor of the mutineers, Alexander Smith, came across a Bible. He made it the textbook and standard of conduct for the community. When an American whaler landed there in 1808, the crew found an ideal commonwealth governed by Smith. No illiterates, thieves, liars, drunkards, profaners, adulterers, or murderers cast their stigma on the community, but righteousness and its fruits of happiness blossomed everywhere. A single copy of Scripture transformed that tropical cesspool into a moral paradise.
What has human wisdom, separated from God done for the world? It has created a Nietzsche and a Hitler, a Marx and a Stalin. Human wisdom, separated from God, decays, degenerates and destroys! It destroys humanness, socialness and nature! Take all the military force, economic wealth, erudite philosophy, theology aristocracy, cultural refinement and put it all together in one human system and you still do not have power worthy to be compared with the transforming power of the wisdom of God, incarnated in Jesus and inscripturated in the Bible! TAKE IT IN YOUR HAND, LEARN IT WITH YOUR MIND, RECEIVE IT INTO YOUR HEART AND PROCLAIM IT WITH YOUR LIPS AND LIFE!
B.
It builds and sustains Life as God intended Life for man.
It restores man to fellowship with His Creator; puts man in harmony with his fellow man; puts man in harmony with creation.
Man learns where he came from; what his reason for existence is; and what his destiny is.
The wisdom of God explains history; gives purpose and solves the fragmentation of life without God.
All the experiences of human life (suffering, pain, evil, joy, goodness, truth, falsehood, ugliness) are inexplicable, frustrating and maddening without the Word of God. All human experience is epitomized and sanctified and explained in the life of the perfect human, Jesus.
Christ has given us an example that we should follow in His steps (1 Peter 2). He came and partook of our nature to bring many sons to glory (Hebrews 2).
A real note found by a real policeman:
To anyone in the world who cares. Who am I? Why am I living? Where am I going? Life has become stupid and purposeless. Nothing makes sense anymore. The questions I had when I came to college are still unanswered and now I am convinced that there are no answers. There can only be pain and guilt and despair here, My fear of death and the unknown is far less terrifying than the prospect of the unbearable frustrations, futility, and hopelessness of continued existence. Glancing at the lifeless, sheet-draped form on the bed, the officer shrugs his shoulders heavily and turns away. For him it is routinejust another suicide. For the ambulance crew it is routinejust another DOA. And, tragically, it is becoming all too routine all over America, especially on college campuses.
In contrast:
Charlie Powell was student body president of the University of California at Berkeley during the Free Speech Movement and at the height of that crisis made a decision for Christ. Looking back, he said, for the first time in my life I began to see that, if Jesus Christ were really the person He claimed to be, then He had the answers to my problems as student body president as well as in my own personal life.
C.
It produces unity among believers in the kingdom of God.
It is interesting that Paul says it is the wisdom of God alone which brings unity and on the other hand the practice of unity gives evangelistic power to the gospel (Isaiah 1:17).
If ever the world is to be convinced of Christ’s saving power, the unity of believers will have a great deal to do with it!
And yet churchmen and theologians keep insisting on trying everything under the sun to promote unity except the Word of God!
The church at Corinth was trying many things to make the congregation a happy, unified, successful, respected congregationBUT WHAT THEY WERE DOING WAS CAUSING MORE DIVISION THAN UNITY.
a.
Forming parties and groups following famous men
b.
Showing off how much more sanctified they were than others by comparing miraculous gifts
BUILDINGS, BUDGETS AND BANQUETS. PROGRAMS, PROMOTIONAL GIMMICKS AND ENTERTAINMENT ARE NOT UNITY, NOT PROOF OF UNITY, NOR CAN THEY SUSTAIN UNITY. Those things are sometimes good and useful as means, but are also sometimes harmful. I-’ve seen more division and fighting over buildings, budgets and programs than I care to recollect. I-’ve seen church people come to church fellowship dinners and separate themselves from other members and never speak because of unconverted hate and unforgiveness! ONLY THE POWER OF THE CONVERTING WISDOM OF GOD WILL BRING UNITY.
II.
PROPOGATION OF THE WISDOM OF GOD (Its transmission to men)
A.
The wisdom of God cannot be reduced to and bound by human wisdom!
Not in human art, not in human music, not in human sermons!
None of these dare claim the inspiration or verbal inerrancy of the Holy Spirit!
The primary reason for this is that the wisdom of Godthe redemptive program of Godis outside human experience. That a sinless, Incarnate God, should willingly die for a sinful world, is humanly inexplicable.
Not only that, it is moral outrage to human pride. THIS IS THE MAIN CAUSE FOR UNBELIEF. FOR RESISTANCE TO THE WORD AND WISDOM OF GOD.
I-’ve quoted so many times in my class, the little excerpt from Bishop Oxenam in Baker’s Dictionary of Theology article on Atonement, The doctrine of the atonement to me is immoral.. That someone else should atone for my sins is immoral.. they are my sins, I will atone for them.
Of course, through human forms of expression we may point people toward, and motivate them toward the wisdom of God found in His Word, but it is still the plain, uncluttered, Word of God that does the begetting of the Spirit. not our eloquence, or expertise.
HUMAN SERMONS, HUMAN MUSIC, HUMAN ART, HUMAN METHODS, COME AND GO, BUT THE WORD OF GOD ABIDES FOREVER!
B.
The wisdom of God is undiscoverableit has to be revealed.
God is a Person, an objective person, just like I am a person and you are persons, but God is infinite, omnipotent and omniscient, while I am finite.
Now finite man cannot even know the mind of another finite person unless that mind is revealed to him either by directly talking and acting in one another’s presence or by communicating through writing to one another.
If I should want to know what a man’s mind is on some subject, I have to let him tell me. I can-’t ask anyone else; I can-’t guess; I can-’t find it within myself subjectively. Almost every time we say, I just have this feeling that this is what God wants me to do, it is usually what we want to do.. It is presumptuous to say, I just have this feeling that this is what so-and-so would want me to do. How MUCH MORE PRESUMPTUOUS FOR US TO SAY, I HAVEN-‘T REALLY SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES ABOUT THIS, I JUST FEEL LIKE IT HAS GOD’S APPROVAL! NOW THE QUESTION IS, WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD. THE NATURAL MAN DOES NOT RECEIVE THE MIND OF CHRIST. THAT IS, THE NON-APOSTLE, DOES NOT RECEIVE THE MIND OF CHRIST, IN A REVELATORY MANNER.
All Calvinistic commentaries, I know, say 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 to the unconverted man not able to understand spiritual things. that is contextually erroneous as well as unsuited to the teaching of the Bible as a whole.
How can the invitation be to whosoever will if one must wait for the miracle of Holy Spirit quickening of the mind before we can understand the gospel message? What is the point of preaching if we must preach and then hope the Holy Spirit will quicken the mind apart from the Word so the man may understand? THE POINT IS THAT ONLY THE APOSTLES RECEIVED THE REVELATION OF GOD, THE MIND OF GOD, TO TRANSMIT TO ALL MANKIND FOR ALL AGES! David Lipscomb paraphrases: Who of you uninspired hath known the mind of God, so as to be joined together with Him? But we inspired men so understand him that we are united in him in teaching his will, we are laborers together with God. The whole trend and meaning of the chapter is that none could know or teach the will of God by human wisdom. They were dependent upon the revelation made by God’s Spirit through the apostles for a knowledge of His will, and only through receiving this could any become co-workers with Him in saving men.
THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO TEST THAT WHICH CLAIMS TO BE THE MIND OF CHRIST.. DOES IT AGREE WITH APOSTOLIC REVELATION.. 1 John 4:1-6
It is one thing to say, I am persuaded by historico-grammatical study that this is what the biblical author has revealed to be the mind of God.. and quite another thing to say, I-’ve put it before the Lord and He revealed to me that I should do this or that.
C.
The wisdom of God is revealed only through the apostles, but in human terms. in human words
The will, the mind, the Person of God came in flesh. Jesus was the Incarnate God, and the Incarnate Holy Spirit, ALL THE FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD DWELT IN HIM BODILY!
He was the Word of God, John 1:1-18, in human form.
The words He spoke were the words of God, the mind of God, the wisdom of God.
The words He gave the apostles after He ascended back into heaven, through the work of the Holy Spirit, are just as powerful in redeeming and saving and regenerating as they were when He was here in the flesh
John 6:63; 2 Peter 1:3-5. through this word (promises) we are made partakers of the divine nature; 2 Timothy 3:16-17, they may make the man of God complete! 1 John 3:24, they complete our fellowship with Christ.
THE WORD OF THE SPIRIT THROUGH THE APOSTLES IS THE SAME WORD AS THE INCARNATE WORD.. IT HAS THE SAME AUTHORITY. IT HAS THE SAME POWER! WE NEED NO FURTHER REVELATIONS FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT! WE DON-‘T EVEN NEED ANY MORE MIRACLES TO CONFIRM THAT IT IS THE WORD AND WILL AND MIND OF GOD! Some will say, There is no power in the words on this printed page of the Bible, the power is in the Person.. Be careful of such statements. Of course, we do not worship a book, but you can no more separate the words on the Bible’s pages from the Person than you can separate the words of any man from his person! THE WORD OF CHRIST IS THE MIND OF CHRIST, THE WORD IS THE POWERFUL, ENERGIZED AGENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN CONVERSION AND SANCTIFICATION! By the word, Paul begat the Corinthians. The word is the incorruptible seed. The word is implanted. Sanctify them in the truth, thy word is truth. If we abide in His commandments we abide in Him and He in us. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The word that I have spoken to you is Spirit and life. The miracle of regeneration occurs through the Word. WE HAVE LOST RESPECT FOR THE AUTHORITY AND POWER OF THE WORD.. Jesus said, All authority. etc., Go and make disciples. teach them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you. THERE IS AN INSIDIOUS GRASPING FOR HUMAN AUTONOMY IN CHRISTENDOM TODAY THAT IS JUST AS UNBELIEVING AS THAT RATIONALISTIC HUMANISM OF A CENTURY AGO. IT IS SUBJECTIVISM. HOW I FEEL. MY EXPERIENCE. RATHER THAN WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY! YOU see that evaluates the Bible by my feeling or my experience rather than evaluating my feeling-experience by what the Bible actually says.
Full Gospel Business Men’s International lead article claims the whole movement built first on the experiences, testimonies, of alleged, extra-biblical workings of the Holy Spirit. and what the Bible says follows that second in importance.
A missionary’s paper points out how some of the Pentecostals in Chile teach their people that much study of the Bible is a sin. They are opposing the work of Christ and the Bible correspondence work because they declare that the Holy Spirit will teach them without having to read or study the Word of God! This leads some to believe that God does all our thinking and deciding for us. We don-’t even have to decide. But that would keep us immature, moral runts.
III.
PURPOSE OF THE WISDOM OF GOD, 1 Corinthians 3-4
A.
To build the temple of God by begetting Christians through the gospel and by edifying them through the apostolic doctrine.
The purpose of the wisdom of God is NOT:
a.
To erect a brain-washed, psyched, structured, non-thinking American corporation!
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS A COMMUNITY OF OBEDIENT BELIEVERS STRUCTURED ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE, BUT UNSTRUCTURED WHERE THE SCRIPTURES DO NOT SPEAK AND FREE TO THINK AND GROW MORALLY AND SPIRITUALLY INTO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST!
b.
To form a society through which man may build a physical, material Utopia on this present earth! THE GOSPEL IS PRIMARILY TO REGENERATE MINDS AND SAVE SOULS IN SPITE OF PHYSICAL CIRCUMSTANCES.. Of course, Christian love wants to relieve physical suffering and wherever it can it should. But first priority is preaching the Word.
c.
Just to Christianize society to save a human culture. THE WISDOM OF GOD IS TO CALL OUT AND SAVE FROM ALL DYING CULTURES, A PEOPLE OF HIS OWN WHO ARE ZEALOUS FOR GOOD DEEDS.
d.
To make men famous. WHEN MEN USE THE PULPIT TO GAIN PERSONAL FAME AND FOLLOWING, THEY EMPTY THE CROSS OF ITS POWER (1 Corinthians 1:17). HUMAN BEINGS HAVE A TENDENCY TO THINK OF THE CHURCH AND HER LEADERS AS THEY DO HUMAN LEADERS! PAUL FOUGHT THAT IN CORINTH AND EPHESUS, AND ROME, AND COLOSSAE AND THESSALONICA AND EVERYWHERE HE WENT.
B.
To make men truly wise through humility
1 Corinthians 3:18-22. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you think that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
Humility is the queen of virtues.
PRIDE IS THE CAUSE OF UNBELIEF. Unbelief is not because God hasn-’t given enough evidence. We don-’t need more evidence, we need MORE HUMILITY.
IF YOU LEAVE THESE CLASSROOMS KNOWING THE BIBLE AND KNOWING HOW TO PREACH IT. BUT PROUD AND ARROGANT. YOU DO NOT HAVE THE WISDOM OF GOD!
C.
To teach man how to live (1 Corinthians 3:6) according to the scripture
NOT TO GO BEYOND WHAT IS WRITTEN
Dean Seth Wilson has a little printed essay entitled, What the Bible Does Not Say About a Christian’s Life and Conduct.
HE ASKS, IS THERE ANY PART OF LIFE ON WHICH THE BIBLE HAS NO TEACHING? HE ANSWERS, NO! There are precepts and principles in the Bible to cover every aspect of human life.. all things that pertain to life and godliness.
CONCLUSION
I.
THE VILLAGE THAT LIVES BY THE BIBLE
November, 1960, Reader’s Digest:
Soldiers in 1945 found this village which had been formed from two men converted by a missionary who left them a Bible and a hymn book. Picking their way through the Bible, the two converts had found not only a Person on whom to pattern a life, but sound precepts on which to base their society.. Nurtured on this Book a whole generation had drawn from it their ideas. the result was plain to see. Shimabuku for years had had no jail, no brothel, no drunkenness, no divorce; there was a high level of health and happiness.. The soldiers attended a worship service and observed the lives of the people for a few days. A sergeant whispered to his lieutenant, So this is what comes out of only a Bible and couple of old guys who wanted to live like Jesus!. then, with a glance at a shell hole, he murmured, Maybe we-’re using the wrong kind of weapons to make the world over!
II.
THE WISDOM OF GOD IS POWERFUL: THE WORD OF GOD IS POWERFUL BECAUSE IT IS THE REVELATION OF THE WISDOM OF GOD
A.
If you think words and ideas are not powerful, think of what Adolph Hitler did with lies, words. Marx and Lenin have captured more than two-thirds of the total population of the world with false ideas expressed through words.
B.
The gospel is infinitely more powerful than all those put together.
A. Campbell said, The work of redemption is a system of work, or deeds, on the part of Heaven, which constitute the most splendid series of moral facts which man or angel ever saw.. When these facts are understood, or brought into immediate contact with the mind of man, as a moral seal or moral prototype, they delineate or stamp the image of God upon the human soul. Mr. Campbell goes on to point out that it is through the preaching of the gospel and through man’s obedience to the scriptures (the revelation of the works and deeds of God) that the image of God is stamped upon the soul of man and through no other means. The love of God in the death of Christ never drew a tear of gratitude or joy from any eye, or excited a grateful emotion in any heart among the nations of our race to whom the testimony never came. (The Christian System, pg. 90-102. Fact, Testimony, Faith, Feeling.)
III.
BUT THE INFINITE POWER OF THE WISDOM OF GOD IN THE GOSPEL WILL PRODUCE NOTHING IF IT IS NOT PROCLAIMED.. Leaven will not make bread if it is not put into contact with the lump.
THAT IS WHAT OZARK BIBLE COLLEGE WAS FOUNDED TO DO.. FILL MEN AND WOMEN WITH ALL THE FULNESS OF CHRIST IN WHOM ARE HIDDEN ALL THE TREASURES OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE AND SEND THEM FORTH TO DECLARE THE WISDOM OF GOD TO A FOOLISH AND DYING WORLD! THAT IS WHAT FACULTY AND STAFF HAVE DEDICATED THEIR LIVES TO.. THAT IS WHAT PEOPLE SUPPORT THE COLLEGE FOR.. THAT IS WHAT WE HAVE RECRUITED YOU FOR.. IF YOU HAVE COME FOR ANY OTHER REASON THAN THAT, YOU ARE SHORT OF THE MARK. I SAY TO YOU IN THE WORDS OF EDWARD JOHN CARNELL: IF IT IS TRUE THAT JESUS CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS TO SAVE SINNERS, HAVE WE ANY RIGHT TO SAY THAT WE LOVE SINNERS IF WE FAIL TO CONFRONT THEM WITH THIS TRUTH? AND WHERE CAN WE FIND A DIVINELY VALIDATED ACCOUNT OF THIS TRUTH APART FROM SCRIPTURE? IN SUM, WE CAN EXPRESS NO HIGHER LOVE TO LOST HUMANITY THAN TO PREACH THE GOSPEL IN THE PRECISE FORM IN WHICH GOD HAS BEEN PLEASED TO REVEAL IT!
**SPECIAL STUDY
WHAT IS TO BE DONE CONCERNING FALSE TEACHERS AND TEACHING**
Compiled by Paul T. Butler
Beware of them (be on the lookout for). (Matthew 7:15)
Know them (by their fruits, their works and doctrines). (Matthew 7:16)
Beware of their leaven-like doctrines. (Matthew 16:5-12) (cf. Galatians 5:9)
Follow God’s word even when the teachers may be hypocritical or partisan. (Matthew 23:1-3) (cf. Philippians 1:15-18)
Let them alone. (Matthew 15:13-14)
Even if their doctrines are a result of centuries of national heritage, we must follow divinely revealed truth. (John 4:24)
Must not hear the voice of hirelings if we want to remain in the One true fold. (John 10)
We must follow only those who keep the word of the apostles. (John 15:20; John 17:20)
We must follow only those who strive for unity. (John 17:21-23)
We must cautiously resist any teaching lest we be found fighting against God. (Acts 5:38-39)
We have apostolic precedent for debate with false teachers to defend truth. (Acts 6:8-10; Acts 9:28-29; Acts 10:1-18; Acts 11; Acts 13:6-12)
We are not to resist evil opposers to the point of reckless and foolhardy throwing away of our life. (Acts 14:1-7)
Their doctrine must be investigated in the light of revelation by the leaders of the church and the true doctrine preached polemically (Acts 15:1 to Acts 16:5) in churches.
When they oppose and blaspheme the truth we should refuse to continue with them. (Acts 18:6) (cf. Matthew 7:6)
Separate the disciples from those who speak evil of the Way. (Acts 19:9)
Those sincere believers who have not learned and are not teaching the complete revelation need to be taught privately. (Acts 18:24-28; Acts 19:1-7)
Elders are to take heed; feed; watch; admonish with tears night and day; command the flock to God’s word as preventive polemics. (Acts 20:28-32)
Opinions are not necessarily false teaching until someone makes them laws. (Romans 14:1 to Romans 15:7)
Mark themturn away from them in their divisive doctrines. (Romans 16:17)
Those who claim to be prophets or teachers must acknowledge the apostles-’ letters as divine revelation. (1 Corinthians 14:37-38)
We are not to be yoked together with those who teach falsely or live falsely. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
Beware of their abilities to fashion themselves into angels of light and ministers of righteousness. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
They are to be anathematized. (Galatians 1:6-9) (They anathematize themselves.)
Rebuke publicly (to the face) in some instances. (Galatians 2:13-14)
Stand fast in freedom of the gospel (do not be bound by false laws added to it). (Galatians 5:1)
If a brother trespass in false teaching we are to seek his restoration in a spirit of gentleness. (Galatians 6:1-5)
We are to grow up in faith to prevent being carried away by false teaching. (Ephesians 4:11-16)
We are to speak boldly the truth in loveeach member of the body fulfilling his part in this speaking of the truth. (Ephesians 4:15-16)
Not to be partakers (associate) with them (Ephesians 5:6-11) and to prove all things by bringing God’s revelation to shine upon themwe are to expose false teachings.
We are to redeem the time by learning and understanding what the will of the Lord is in order to prepare for combating falsehood. (Ephesians 5:15-18)
We are to recognize that we wrestle against supernatural power (Ephesians 6:10-18)and we must arm ourselves with truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, with prayerwe must be wise as to Satan’s devices. (2 Corinthians 2:11)
We are to pray for knowledge to prove what is excellent. (Philippians 1:9-10)
Mark them and beware of false teachers. (Philippians 3:2; Philippians 3:17-19)
Take heed and beware of philosophies of men. (Colossians 2:8)
Let no man judge us in matters of expediency. (Colossians 2:16)
Train ourselves to answer false teachers. (Colossians 4:6)
Declare the gospel in face of great opposition and beware of those who preach to please men. (1 Thessalonians 2:1-6)
We are not to be ignorant. (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
We are to prove all thingshold fast to the good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
We are to strengthen one another with pure doctrine. (1 Thessalonians 4:18)
Withdraw from every brother that does not abide in apostolic doctrines. (2 Thessalonians 3:6)
Have no company with disobedient (2 Thessalonians 3:14)but admonish like a brother.
Charge false teachers to refrain from their teaching. (1 Timothy 1:3-4)
Paul delivered two unto Satan who, through their blasphemy and apostacy, had shipwrecked the faith. (1 Timothy 1:19-20)
Preachers are to expose the hypocrisy and demonical nature of false doctrines. (1 Timothy 4:1-6)
Refuse profane doctrines. (1 Timothy 4:7)
Evangelists are to train themselves in the Word to withstand these false doctrines. (1 Timothy 4:11-16)
We are to shun those who do not agree with sound doctrine and who have a morbid craving for controversy. (1 Timothy 6:3-11)
We are to fight the good fight and withstand false doctrine. (1 Timothy 6:12)
We are to turn away from false teachings and guard the truth. (1 Timothy 6:20-21)
Charge brethren in the sight of the Lord not to strive about words. (2 Timothy 2:14)
Shun profane babblings. (2 Timothy 2:16-17)
Refuse foolish and ignorant questionings. (2 Timothy 2:23)
Correct in spirit of meekness those that oppose themselves. (2 Timothy 2:25)
Turn away from false teachers. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
We are to imitate the apostles in their dealings with false teachersto teach, correct, reprove, instruct. (2 Timothy 3:10-17)
We are to preach constantly, reproving, rebuking, exhorting. (2 Timothy 4:1-5)
We are to exhort in sound doctrine, convict (show them for what they really are) the gainsayers. (Titus 1:9)
The mouths of false teachers must be stopped. (Titus 1:11)
The false teachers are to be reproved sharply. (Titus 1:13)
Shun foolish questionings, (Titus 1:9)
A factious man is to be refused after a first and second admonition. (Titus 3:10)
We are to exercise our senses to discern good and evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14)
We are to obey elders as those who watch for our souls. (Hebrews 13:17)
We are to pray for divine wisdom to guard against demonical wisdom. (James 1:5)
We are to grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus lest we be carried away. (2 Peter 3:17-18)
We are to remember that God’s word foretells false teachers arising. (2 Peter 3:1-7)
We are to take heed to what the apostles have warned about false teachers. (1 John 2:18-25)
Believe not every spirit but prove (test) each teacher. (1 John 4:1-6)
Test teachers as to how they listen and heed the apostolic doctrine. (1 John 4:5)
We are not to fellowship with false teachers (2 John 1:5-11)we are not to receive them into our home nor give them greeting (those who deny the deity of Jesus Christ).
We are to contend (agonize) earnestly for the faith which is once for all time delivered unto the saints. (Jude 1:3)
Remember that false teachers have been prophesied. (Jude 1:17)
We are to build ourselves up in faith, pray in the Spirit, keep ourselves in love (Jude 1:20-21) as a method of combating false teaching.
On some who are teaching falsely not of perverse nature but out of doubt, we are to convince in an attitude of mercy. (Jude 1:22-23)
Try those who claim apostolic authority to teach. (Revelation 2:2)
Isaiah 58:1-5
E. WHOLENESS TO THE WISE WHO KEEP CONVENANT WITH THE LORD, CHAPTER 58
- HEARKEN
TEXT: Isaiah 58:1-5
1
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2
Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways: as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near unto God.
3
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure, and exact all your labors.
4
Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high.
5
Is such the fast that Ihave chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Jehovah?
QUERIES
a.
Why is the prophet not to spare in his crying?
b.
How could they smite on a fast day?
PARAPHRASE
Shout this message to the whole nation. Do not relent when they try to justify themselves. Shout clearly to the nation this warning so the wise will acknowledge their sin and hypocrisy. Most of the people go right on tramping into the courts of the Temple daily as if they really were sincere in knowing My will. They pretend they are concerned about righteousness and obeying My commandments. On the one hand they say they want Me to give them holy guidelines for living because they enjoy doing them. And on the other hand they say, Why should we afflict our souls in fasting and obedience since it appears Jehovah is not taking notice of our righteousness and rewarding us? Hearken to what I have to say, says the Lord: I know exactly why you fast! The truth is that you are not really afflicting your souls in penitence when you fast. You use your fasts to indulge yourselves in carnal pleasures and to defraud the poor and powerless. You do not prepare your mind and heart to worship God when you fast. Your indulgence and oppression cause you to bicker and fight one another when you are pretending to fast! Do you actually think this is the kind of fasting I have commanded? Is this what you think I call afflicting one’s soul? Do you think by such an outward show of extreme humiliation (bowing yourself double like a reed and lying down on a bed of sackcloth and ashes) that you can hide your hypocrisy? Is this what you call fasting? Do you believe I will accept your hypocrisy?
COMMENTS
Isaiah 58:1-3 a HAUGHTINESS: Isaiah is told to cry a throaty call. The Hebrew words kera-’ vegaron mean literally, call with the throat. The Jerusalem Bible translates, Shout for all you are worth. Apparently the Lord knew there would be a few in Judah who would hearken to the prophet’s call and wisely repent. There were some who would become covenant-keepers. Presently, however, the majority of people were covenant-breakers. Not only so, they were hypocrites as well. The Hebrew word thakhesek, translated spare not, means do not withhold. The point is that Isaiah is not to hold back declaring the hypocrisy of the majority even when they may appear to be righteous by their great show of religiosity or their attempts to justify themselves (as in verse three) or by their threats against the prophet himself. Isaiah is to become a shophar (ram’s horn or trumpet, the instrument used to sound a warning).
For the most part, the nation went right on, day after day, haughtily tramping into the courts of the Temple (cf. Isaiah 1:12 ff), pretending to seek Jehovah and pretending to find satisfaction in obeying His appointed fast days. Publicly they have a finely practiced facade of not being caught disobeying the rituals and ordinances of the Law. They have put on an ostentatious show. Then they reasoned that Jehovah should reciprocate with goodness toward them (material goodness, no doubt) and judgments upon their enemies. It appears they think they have fooled God with their outward show and now expect Him to reward them accordingly. They took pleasure in their religiosity because they had deceived themselves into thinking Jehovah’s righteousness could be compromised by their hypocrisy. They believed they could have their sin and Jehovah’s blessing at the same time. But obviously, Jehovah had not responded to their sham-fasting as they had expected. He had not healed the social depravity of the day; He had not removed the growing threat of Assyrian or Babylonian invasion of their country. They had so thoroughly calloused their own consciences they blamed Jehovah for what was very evidently about to befall them. They accuse God of insensitiveness, of carelessness and unconcern. Usually, the hypocrite plays his part so well, he fools himself more than anyone else. These haughty hypocrites had so deceived themselves they were incredulous that God should not be impressed with their self-righteousness!
Isaiah 58:3b-5 HYPOCRISY: Now Jehovah exposes the hypocrisy of their religiosity. Jehovah makes it plain that He does indeed know what they are doing! They are not fasting to afflict their souls. While they pretend to fast, they are really indulging in their favorite occupationmaking money. The Hebrew words -atzevyekem negoshu are from root words that literally mean, grieve and oppress respectively, but translated labors and exact respectively. Obviously, these people were not gathering at fasts to grieve and oppress their own souls so they must have been plotting business deals that would grieve and oppress one another or the poor.
A word about fasting may be in order here. The Hebrew word used for fast in the Pentateuch is -innah and means literally to afflict (the soul) (cf. Leviticus 16:29). The Hebrew word most often used after the Pentateuch (and not used in the Pentateuch) is tzum meaning literally to abstain. Both words are used in verse three. Actually, fasting was commanded in the Law of Moses only once (Leviticus 16:29) and that on the Day of Atonement. Apparently, the Hebrew people amplified this command and extended it to most any time of sorrow or need for repentance. The nation and individuals were capable of fasting with proper motives (cf. 1 Samuel 7:6; 2 Samuel 1:12; Judges 20:26; 1 Kings 21:12-29; Psalms 109:24; Jeremiah 36:9; Esther 4:1-3; Esther 4:16; Nehemiah 1:4). The Jewish people who came back from the captivities had doubts about the efficacy of so many fasts and inquired of the prophets and priests whether they should keep them all or not (cf. Zechariah 7:1-6; Zechariah 8:13). In Isaiah’s day these fasts were being exploited for mercenary purposes.
The fasts, rather than providing an opportunity for men to abstain from worldly pursuits, afflict their souls and concentrate on God’s holiness, provided opportunities for them to haggle, strive, contend, argue and even physically strike one another over profiteering. Leupold visualizes these verses: The prophet follows them to their place of assembly on a fast day. There, off in a corner, two men are not evaluating their own conduct and that of their nation; they are not seeking the face of God in true repentance. They are carrying on a business transaction. Or. while they are publicly engaged in holy exercises, at home the laborer who is working for them is slaving under heavy burdens and is being oppressed. Rhetorically the Lord asks, Do you think this is the kind of fast I would approve? Their humility was mockery. The long, tender rush-was easily bent double without breaking and furnished a graphic figure for the bent-over false humility of these hypocrites. Jesus described the false humility of the fasting hypocrites of His day as skuthropos (Greek for sad, dejected, sullen, morose). Jesus said the hypocrites of His day made their normal faces to disappear (aphanizousin, Gr.) so they might put on faces (hopos phanosin) of fasting, (Matthew 6:16-18). These men of Isaiah’s day were extreme in their pretentions even to spreading under themselves a bed of sackcloth and ashes. But none of it fooled God! Let every man who reads this be forever impressed with thisGod is not mocked! Religious ritual (no matter how scriptural and orthodox and correct) if it is coerced, psyched, or played-at, if the heart is not right, is an abomination to God! We cannot put on a sad face and fool God; we cannot put on a happy face and fool God; we cannot put on any face and fool God!
QUIZ
How emphatic is Isaiah to be in crying his message to the nation?
What made these people continue to haughtily pretend to worship Jehovah?
What made them criticize God for not being aware of their religiosity?
What was fasting originally instituted for?
How were these people profaning the matter of fasting?
What should we all learn about pretending from this passage?
Isaiah 58:6-12
- HOLINESS
TEXT: Isaiah 58:6-12
6
Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
7
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
8
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of Jehovah shall be thy rearward.
9
Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly;
10
and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noon-day;
11
and Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in dry places, and make strong thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
12
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
QUERIES
a.
Why exhort them not to hide from their own flesh?
b.
What is putting forth of the finger?
c.
How would they raise up foundations of many generations?
PARAPHRASE
To the contrary, I do have standards for the kind of fasting that is acceptable to Me. If you will afflict your souls and truly repent, you will cease to oppress your fellow man and make every effort to free the oppressed from any unfair exploitation they may be under. If you will feed those who are hungry, give shelter to the outcast and the needy stranger, clothe those in need of something to wear and remember to minister to the needs of your own family, then you will be repenting as I wish you to do. When you do these things, the glory of God’s goodness will burst on your nation like the suddenness and brilliance of the morning sun. Your land will be cured of its chaos and wickedness rapidly. The glory of the Lord will completely surround you, protecting and sustaining you as in the days of old. Then you will be able to call upon the Lord and He will be able to answer. No longer will you be rebelling against Him and running from Him, but you will find Him and He will come to you. Let Me repeat for emphasis, If you put an end to all the oppression, stop making contemptuous gestures and slanderous words toward peopleand if you turn in sympathy to the hungry and feed them and help all who are in need, then the darkness around you now will turn to goodness and truth as bright as the noon-day sun. The Lord will guide such a people every day and will bring life and health to them. Such a people will blossom with righteousness and produce the fruit of justice and give life to all about them like an ever flowing spring in an oasis. If you people will do this you will produce offspring that will build back the messianic nation that was once founded and is now in ruins. What you build, as a result of such repentance, will lay a foundation upon which many generations of the future may be able to build the messianic kingdom. You will be known as the people who repaired the ruined walls of God’s redemptive city and as the people who restored the way that leads to man’s salvation.
COMMENTS
Isaiah 58:6-9 a REPENTANCE: God promises wholeness to those who will keep His covenant. But Judah needs to repent before it can meet God’s standards of holiness. That is, the nation must change its direction theologically (repenting of idolatry) and morally (repenting of social transgressions). This has to be done individually, of course. If Judah will keep her covenant with the Lord as He wishes her to she will loose the bonds of wickedness, unto the. yoke., feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc. The word fast in verse six may be used generically to mean the total relationship of man toward God which would be covenant relationship. Micah’s prophecy gives an excellent parallel to Isaiah; they were, after all, contemporaries. Micah, Chapter s 1-3, document the atrocious sins of the powerful against the weak; Chapter s 4-5 promise the messianic destiny of the Jews; Chapter s 6-7 announce to the people of Micah’s day what they must do to cooperate with Jehovah in that destiny. The essence of covenant-keeping, according to Micah, is not spectacular religious ritual or sacrifice but simply being Godlike in the everyday, mundane relationships with both God and man. Micah puts it this way, He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).
It should not be strange to the people of Judah that one of their prophets would exhort them to care for the poor. The Law of Moses was very clear on caring for the poor (cf. Deuteronomy 14:28 to Deuteronomy 15:18). The Law of Moses was also explicit as to responsibilities toward one’s own flesh and blood (family relationships). In such areas as training and discipline of children, levirate law of provision for in-laws, divorce, inheritance laws, etc., the Law is plain. It seems almost incredible that people should have to be reminded to take care of their families, yet even in the New covenant scriptures Christians are admonished, if any one does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8). The Pharisees, rather than honoring their fathers and mothers by financial support in their old age, declared their assets Corban (devoted to God and unavailable for social security support). And the Pharisees were very religious people who were certain that they, above every one else, were covenant people of Jehovah!
If the people will repent (change) and turn back to the instructions of God in the Law of Moses, God promises three distinct changes will take place in their society: (a) Healing of the wounds and sicknesses of society will take place suddenly and brilliantly like the morning sun. In the land of Palestine, the sun seems to come up instantaneously, not gradually, as in lands with an abundance of trees and other things to block the horizon. (b) The righteousness they practice will be a source of safety and security for life and at the same time Jehovah will give His glorious providential safety and security. Judah will be surrounded by a security of righteousness. (c) Repentance will also bring renewed access to God. Jehovah cannot countenance a kingdom in rebellion. Man is created with a free will and the freedom to choose his spiritual Sovereign. If man wishes God to be his Sovereign, man must conform to the Sovereign’s rule. As long as man rebels against the sovereignty of God, he cannot (because he does not want) have access to God. Jehovah will answer all who surrender to His sovereignty and call upon Him.
Isaiah 58:9 b - Isaiah 58:12 RESULTS: There are grander and more gratifying results to add to the nation if it repents. The qualification is restated, but still the same: repentance. Evidently the putting forth of the finger was a kind of derisive, contemptuous pointing of the finger (cf. Proverbs 6:13). It is listed here in connection with speaking wickedly and must have reference to slander or unjust accusations. God says men must repent of that. It is graphic evidence of a hateful heartone that would despise the hungry and have no compassion on the afflicted.
But look at the promised results of repentance: (a) continual guidance of Jehovah who is absolute truth, absolute justice, absolute righteousness. To the individual who repents will come a personal satisfaction of the soul like the desert nomad’s thirst is satisfied when he finds a cool, shady, bubbling spring of water. There will come personal wholeness and spiritual integration like a man feels physically when he is young and strong and in the prime of health. (b) The man who repents and keeps God’s covenant will also produce something for the benefit of others. He will become like a watered garden and a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Jesus said His disciples would become rivers of living water (cf. John 7:37-39). The disciples of Jesus are to become salt of the earth and light of the world (cf. Matthew 5:13-16). (c) The man who repents will build the kingdom of God. Obviously, the rebuilding work of those who repent here is the rebuilding of the people’s covenant relationship to Jehovah in order that they may fulfill their messianic destiny and form the kingdom of God on earth (the church). Repairing literal walls and building literal foundations can in no way be the goal of this prophecy. Its only goal is to encourage the people of Isaiah’s day to be instruments of Jehovah as He reaches toward the establishment of New Israel. And the church was founded on a generation of covenant-keeping Hebrews in the first century A.D. when the gospel was obeyed first in Jerusalem, then in Judea, then in Samaria and then in the uttermost parts of the earth.
QUIZ
What is the word fast used for generically in verse six?
What does the Law of Moses have to say about treatment of the poor?
What does God promise to do for the nation and the individual who repents?
How does covenant-keeping enter into this section?
What may the individual enjoy personally as a result of his repentance?
What may the individual produce for the benefit of others by repentance?
Isaiah 58:13-14
- HERITAGE
TEXT: Isaiah 58:13-14
13
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of Jehovah honorable; and shalt honor it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14
then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah; and I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth; and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken-it.
QUERIES
a.
Why is the sabbath so important?
b.
How will they ride upon the high places?
PARAPHRASE
You people must stop kicking around My sabbath day and wiping your feet on it as something that can be desecrated by exploiting it for your own greedy gain. You must cherish My sabbath as that which is exquisitely precious, that which you delight in and honor. You must honor My sabbath by ceasing to take the day to concentrate on your own indulgence and talking of everything but Me. If you will take this attitude toward My sabbath and cherish Me, then I will exalt you and make you conquerors. I will give you the spiritual birthright which I promised to your ancestor Jacob. That will sustain you for all eternity. These are the words of Jehovah the omnipotent God!
COMMENTS
Isaiah 58:13 DEVOTION: The Hebrew word oneg (Isaiah 58:13) or te -annag (Isaiah 58:14) is translated delight but means literally, delicate, exquisite, luxurious. The Lord is insisting that His people cherish His sabbath. They are presently trampling it under foot, so to speak, as of no more value than something to wipe their feet on. It is being used as a day for planning self-indulgence. They are gathering on God’s holy day, a day set aside to think and talk of Him, to talk of making money and plan ways to circumvent His Law (Amos 8:5).
Why is the Sabbath so significant? It was the one condition or requirement that could provide a covenant-keeping relationship that would bring the Hebrew closer to Jehovah than any other. The Sabbath was instituted and set aside as holy unto the Lord long before the Mosaic law. It was consecrated from the beginning of creation. It was given as a type and symbol of the cessation from labor (or rest) into which one enters when entering into covenant relationship provided by Christ. In other words, the old sabbath was an experience symbolic of the Christian experience. The sabbath rest remaining in Hebrews 4:9-10 was being entered by the ones believing (Gr. oi pisteusantes, present tense) of Hebrews 4:3. In other words, the one who believes Christ and becomes a Christian does (present tense) enter the rest God symbolized by the old sabbath day (cf. also Matthew 11:28-30). Of course, the Christian’s present rest will some day be finally and ultimately consummated in the new heaven and new earth when he will cease from his labors (cf. Revelation 14:13, etc.). That is why proper relationship to God for those of Isaiah’s day be expressed by proper attitude toward God’s sabbath day! It had to do with all that God was going to do in salvation and redemption in the Messiah and His kingdom.
Isaiah 58:14 DOMINION: Proper attitude and action toward God’s revealed will (in this case the Sabbath law) logically results in proper attitude and action toward the personhood of God. If a man cherishes God’s laws (Psalms 119:1 ff), he will cherish God. Actually the relationship is cyclical. We must first cherish God in order to cherish His law, But the more we cherish His law, the more we will cherish Him! The more we luxuriate in God and His will, the higher we will ride! The phrase,… make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth. symbolizes victory, conquest, dominion. If we have faith as a grain of mustard seed (cf. Luke 17:5-6) we can do mighty, victorious, conquering things. The mustard seed means qualitative, not quantitative. It is not a* small* or big faith that counts but a living, producing, working faith (like a seed has life and production in it). To that kind of faith God will fulfill His promises of victory. It may not be the kind of victory measured by worldly standards; it may not be physical victory or dominion in this life. Physical victory in this life was what the majority of the Jews anticipated from the glorious promises of their prophets (e.g., Isa. ch. 60-66). But God intended to give those who were faithful victory and dominion over sin and death through the Messiah. The heritage of Jacob was, of course, the birthright. The birthright was a physical thing that had to do with perpetuation of the Hebrew family’s inheritance of land and goods through the eldest son. But it had as its ultimate goal the preservation of a people whose destiny was messianic! The birthright was really a spiritual thing. It was to result in the redemption of the whole human race through a human family from a particular human nation.
The promises of Isa 58:14 may find a temporary fulfillment in the return of the Jews from the captivities, but like all other promises concerning the Jewish people and their land and their nation, the ultimate fulfillment was in the seed (singular) (cf. Galatians 3:16 ff), the Christ and the New Israel (Galatians 6:16). The redemption of man will be consummated when God restores man to the dominion man was given at creation which Christ earned for man (cf. Hebrews 2:5-18).
QUIZ
What attitude does God want the people to take toward His sabbath?
Why?
What does one’s attitude toward the law of God have to do with one’s attitude toward God?
How will God give man dominion?
What is the heritage of Jacob?