One tends to consume that for which one hungers and thirsts. If one hungers and thirsts for righteousness and satisfies those desires with more and more Bible study, one eventually finds himself “addicted” to God’s Truth, which is Jesus Christ in written form: “I am the way, the TRUTH and the life” (Jn. 14:6). God’s Truth is addictive for those who crave it. And like any other addiction, relief comes only by satisfying the craving. The craving intensifies with each “fix.” Over time the true God seeker finds himself living for his next fix. GOD’S PEOPLE CRAVE HIS WORD LIKE A NICOTIME ADDICT CRAVES A CIGARETTE. And just as the drug is the only thing that will satisfy the addict’s craving, the Word of God–God in written form–is the only thing that will satisfy the saint’s craving. Nothing–not church meetings, not sermons, not teachings, not revivals, not conferences, not publications from headquarters–nothing else will fill the addict and satisfy his hunger and thirst for righteousness, for “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for (only) they shall be filled.” This filling of righteousness happens when the Lord comes to live within them in the form of His Holy Spirit (Mat. 5:6). This is the meaning of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). If a believer is to have any hope of glory (salvation) Christ must live within him in the form of His Holy Spirit. The true believer is thereafter led by (and obeys) the Spirit: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, (only) they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). The Holy Spirit leads them to obey God’s Holy Word. Those believers who refuse to obey His Word are false sons.

It is to those who hunger and thirst for Him that God sends His Truth in ever increasing measure as their craving for Him increases. And as with any craving, the more one feeds it, the more the craving intensifies. A true saint is never truly satisfied; his desire for more of the Lord is an ever-increasing process. This process is what Isaiah was referring to in 28:9 where he asks: “Whom shall He (the Lord) teach knowledge (about Himself)? And whom shall He cause to understand (His) doctrine?” He then tells us who these people are. These are they who are “weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast,” who crave more of the Lord. Isaiah goes on to explain that one must progress from milk to meat by diligently studying God’s entire Word, which the Apostle Paul refers to as “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). We must remember that Jesus said that (God’s) man “MUST LIVE BY (OBEY) EVERY WORD THAT PROCEDES FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD” (Mat. 4:4). God spoke His Word into the hearts of His prophets and apostles through His Holy Spirit, they then spoke it and recorded it for His people to obey.

The Apostle Paul picks up on Isaiah’s milk-to-meat theme in Hebrews 6:1-6 where he addresses those who, being satisfied to remain on momma’s (the Institutional Church’s) breast, continue to cling to her. He admonishes them to leave the elementary teachings of professing Christendom (church doctrine) and move on into a state of maturity which, if continued until death, will allow one to enter the Kingdom of God. Paul emphasizes the necessity for such maturity by warning that if a believer fails to measure up to God’s standards he will “fall away” from Him. Institutional Church members have done exactly that but have been deceived by Satan into believing that they, like the Laodiceans of Revelation 3:14-20, believe that they are one with him and “have need of nothing.” L.J.