In Isaiah 30:1-13 we find the Almighty speaking to the rebellious nation of Israel. In verse eight He tells them for whom His Words were being recorded by the prophet “on a table and in a book” according to His directions. The Lord makes clear the fact that what He is saying is directed to both ancient Israel and to the last days Israel (His modern church–Gal. 6:16) and every age in-between. The Lord states that Isaiah would be recording His Words not only for the Israel of that day, but also for “them” who would be alive in “… the time to come, for ever and ever.” GOD’S WORD IS ETERNAL. HIS WORD WAS HIS LAW IN EDEN AND WILL BE HIS LAW DURING “THE TIME TO COME FOREVER AND EVER.”

“Forever” includes today. According to the signs that would identify the end of this world as we know it, we are living at the end of that era. God is speaking to those whom He identifies as “My people, who are called by My name.” Read “Who are God’s People?” and “All That Glitters.” Key words–People and Glitters respectively. Notice how He describes “His people” in the focal passage. Beginning with verse one He verbally assaults His chosen people and their modern day descendants known as “the church,” pronouncing upon both groups a “woe” for their rebellion against Him (vs 1). Notice that those in both groups “added sin to sin”–a perfect description of the attitude exhibited by “sinners saved by grace” as they boast of their ability to sin and get away with it–their right to re-crucify Christ with each sin (Heb. 6:6). These people “cover” (spiritually protect) themselves with their own version of the Holy Spirit while rejecting His Holy Spirit which could empower them to resist Satan’s temptations to sin.

Recall God’s Words to Cain after he had sinned as recorded in Genesis 4:3-7. God said to him that he would be accepted (forgiven) “IF YOU DO WELL.” However, if he did not do well (obey Him), “SIN WAITS AT THE DOOR.” Sin (Satan) is always at the “door” of everyone who obeys God. Sin is always just a thought, a word, and act away. Jesus was no exception. “He was tempted in every way as we are, YET WITHOUT SIN” (Heb. 4:15). God (Who became Jesus of Nazareth) continues to instruct and warn us that: “… his (Satan’s) desire is to have you, BUT YOU MUST RULE OVER HIM.” If Cain failed to rule over Satan, Satan would rule over him. The same holds true for all people, including God’s people. History reveals that what happened in Eden is still happening. Those within “the church” are ruled by Satan exactly as are those outside church.

The primary difference between the chuched and the nonchuched is that the churched repent for each sin which, they proclaim, is inevitable because of Adam’s sin-transferal miracle. Their repentance is false because they have no intention (actually no possibility) of “sinning no more” as Jesus commanded the prostitute and the sick may whom He had healed and forgiven (Jn. 5:14; 8:11). Being supposedly “saved by grace,” churchites remain in a sin-and-repent cycle until death. Then Jesus supposedly cleans them up on their way to heaven. The church sees no need to overcome Satan’s temptations in that the fix is in. However, Jesus tells us in Revelation 3:21 that we will join Him in paradise ONLY IF WE “… OVERCOME (SATAN) EVEN AS I OVERCAME (HIM).” The church disagrees

In Genesis we find the Lord offering Cain His help in defeating Satan. All he had to do was to copy the life of Abel by obeying Him (God). Cain rejected God and embraced Satan, thereby following in the footsteps of his parents. Question: If Adam’s sin gene sinizes everyone descending from Adam and Eve, why did Abel not sin? Nothing has changed. History reveals that 99.99% of mankind has followed their lead, just as Jesus prophesied would be the case (Mat. 7:13,14; 22:14). But God has always had a tiny, mustard seed-sized remnant who have clung to Him when the rest of the world turned away from Him. This tiny congregation will rise to meet Him during the first resurrection. Let us be among them. Read about the three resurrections using the key word–Resurrections.

In Isaiah 30:9-13 the Lord described His “rebellious children” then and now (vs 1). Here He calls them “rebellious people, lying children WHO WILL NOT HEAR THE LAW OF THE LORD.” This is the Law that will be in effect “forever and ever.” That includes NOW? And it includes the FOURTH COMMANDMENT. Sinners saved by grace disagree.

God goes on to tell us more about His rebellious, lying children who refused to hear His “forever” Law then and is still spiritually deaf, as well as blind. In verse 10 He accuses them of telling their “seers” (church leaders), “Do not hold us accountable for our sins; do not prophesy punishment for our rebellion against God’s Law. Do not tell us right things; speak to us “smooth things; deceive us by telling us what pleases us. Get out of our way; take God’s Words away so that we do not have to hear Him. Get off of His path; REMOVE THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL FROM BEFORE US.” Those who were called God’s people anciently told His prophets, “DO NOT SPEAK HIS (GOD’S) WORDS TO US.” Nothing has changed. If you want to make enemies among church people, speak God’s Truth. As Jesus said, “The world will hate you.” The church is part of that world.

The above is exactly the response I get when I tell church people what God says in the Book they claim to believe. In verses 11 and 12 God calls their rejection of His Law “iniquity” and “perversion” and “oppression” of His Truth. Because of this rebellion, His wrath will come upon them unexpectedly. In other words, His “voice” (“woes”) will be “heard” by them when they least expect it. And because of their rejection of the Old Testament (“the Law”), they will remain ignorant of the cause of their punishment. Read The “Voices” of God. Key word–Voices. Read Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28 and First Corinthians 10:11. Only a few salvation seekers hear God today as He speaks through His apostles and His various “voices.” Of those who bother to listen, only a small percentage believe and obey His messages. And those who do hear, believe and obey Him are invariably those on the lower part of the importance list.

Isaiah was certainly not alone among the early prophets whose parishioners rejected God’s strict, no exceptions Law while embracing the blessings He promised for obeying that Law. They wanted to make their own rules and receive the promised blessings, which is exactly what the Serpent promised Adam and Eve. The Lord’s Prophet Samuel had to deal with the same attitude when he told the people what God said and judged them accordingly. Their response was to reject both God and Samuel. They announced that they did not want Samuel–a godly prophet–to rule over them as God’s representative. They announced that they wanted a king to rule over them. They rejected Samuel because he was God’s man, not their man. When Samuel spoke, God was speaking through Him and they knew it. The Israelites did not like taking orders from such a man as Samuel in whom there was no weakness–he was not like them, rather, he was like God. God’s chosen people wanted to be like the Gentiles whose leaders were like themselves. They wanted to be led (not ruled) by one of their own–someone who could be manipulated. God gave them Saul, and we know how that worked out. The Lord would later save Israel through King David–a man after His own heart.

God told a saddened Samuel not to think that the people were rejecting him (Samuel), that they were in fact rejecting God Himself. God’s true prophets and apostles are His AGENTS IN PLACE. When they speak and act it is God speaking through them and manifesting Himself in them, Jesus being the perfect example. For this reason He noted that when people saw Him, they saw God the Father. Jesus said that He could do nothing on His own power. As a man He was always dependent on His Father who resided within Him in the form of His Holy Spirit. God is no respecter of persons. His true messengers have His Holy Spirit within them so that they can “walk as He walked” during His earthly life (1 Jn. 2:6). They are commanded to follow the lead of the Spirit and to use that Spirit power as did the man Jesus while doing God’s work. Read John 14:12.

Jesus Himself faced resistance from the religious hierarchy while He walked this earth. Recall that a Pharisee named Nicodemus came to Him at night (secretly) in order to pick His brain and to find out what He was up to. Notice what he said to the Lord: “WE (PHARISEES, PRIESTS, ETC.) KNOW THAT YOU ARE A MAN SENT FROM GOD.” They knew that God had sent Him to the Jewish nation TO TELL THEM HIS TRUTH. And yet they killed Him. However, “The common people heard Him gladly.” It was the religious leaders who persuaded the Romans to crucify Him. Nothing has changed. Today it is the religious higher-ups who reject His Words and lead the vast majority within professing Christendom to follow their lead. The Apostle Paul said about those who led church people astray, they “took pleasure in those who followed them” (Rom. 1:32). The “soul-winners” in the church are winning souls for their god–Satan.

As I noted earlier, through a series of miracles God sent me here (Athens, Texas) in 1985. I was welcomed by a group of people who, they told me, had been praying that God would send them an apostle who would teach them His Word. However, when I refused to deviate from Scriptures they disagreed with, they left en masse. They wanted someone who would teach them what they wanted to hear–smooth things, deceits and lies. Anciently, it was the Jewish king and the members of the priesthood who had Jeremiah thrown into a well where he would starve to death. Why? Because he told them God’s Truth, which was not what they wanted to hear. The ancient prophets were tortured, and some of them killed, for speaking His Truth. Later, Jesus and His apostles would suffer the same fate and for the same reason. In every case it was the religious leaders who brought about their deaths. Nothing has changed. Led by their false prophets, church people reject God’s loving message to them. Satan has blinded their eyes and deafened their ears to God’s Truth (2 Cor. 4:4/ Acts 28:26,27).

As the Scriptures tell us, God has always has a remnant. As prophesied would be the case, that remnant is quite small. For this reason Jesus promised that: “… where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I will be in their midst.” Wherever you may be in this world, if you are obeying the Lord, He is with you, even if you are alone. Holiness separates us from the unholy just as light is separated from darkness. They do not mix, so do not try to mix them. Leaven, as the Lord warned, always leavens the loaf. The loaf does not unleaven the leaven. And always remember, God’s true saints will always be the tiny minority. Though oneness with Christ is usually a solitary venture, God’s true saints are never alone. L.J.