Isaiah chapter 29 starts with woe, but ends in an awesome WOW! God is speaking to His rebellious children of judgment in the first thirteen verses, but speaks of revival and restoration in the remainder of the chapter. I find it profound that the switch from judgment to blessing starts after verse 13 where God condemns His people for their shallow form of godliness and that the fear they have of Him is not from the heart but by the rote, rituals or precepts of man.
The marvelous work He does starts with dumping all those human precepts by taking out the wisdom of man. He brings His counsel to light and reminds the prophets, seers and the people that He is the potter and they are clay, not the other way around like they have been practicing. They wanted to mold God to their desires not be molded to His desires. They did not think God saw what they were doing or that by lauding their thoughts above His that He would not care or correct them. How wrong we are so much of the time. We forget that the most profound thought that men will ever have will be as if it were the first thought God ever thought in comparison albeit it is likely our most profound thought will most likely be wrong whereas He is never wrong.
Professing ourselves wise we become fools because He is the source of truth and wisdom. Adam and Eve listened to the wrong source and here we are with a mess sometimes beyond comprehension. The reason the world is so bizarre is because we are full of ourselves. We fail to understand that by rejecting the the light and wisdom of God we are left with darkness and deceit from satan. Therefore we need not wonder why it looks like the inmates are running the asylum because to turn from the source of wisdom is insanity. Therefore insanity is rampant from the top down in our world.
That is why those who seek true wisdom are reviled because in the land of the insane the sane will be considered insane. They will reject sane or sound truth/doctrine because it will be foolishness to the foolish for they cannot understand they hate and fight it. Jesus warned about casting pearls before swine for they will turn and rend you.Paul speaks of the inability of the carnal man to understand spiritual things. (I Cor 2:10-16)
Real revival will come when Christians reexamine their faith and return to the Word of God without their cultural, ritual and denomination/non-denominational glasses to find the truth of God from God, by God, the Holy Spirit.
We have had some great teachers/mentors in our life, but they may not have had everything correct because they were taught by humans and humans err. God gave us pastors-teachers, but we need to take great care in who we sit under for many false prophets have been in the world since the 1st Century as John warns in 1 John. Just as the truth got shanghaied and corrupted after the Flood requiring God to send Moses to His people to lay down the Law and then Jesus to also tell people, “you have heard it said..” we need the Holy Spirit to help us discern what people are teaching. I have often told those I have taught to be like the Bereans and search the Scriptures to see if I am right not create a little red book with the thoughts of Pastor Ron. Indeed, if I am wrong bring Scripture, in context, and let's make sure we are both right rather than leave either one or both of us in ignorance or error.
God rebukes rebukes His people in Isa 30:1 for covering with a covering, but not of His Spirit, which only adds sin to sin. If that was true of them going to Egypt for physical safety, how much more would it be true of those who “have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof” seeking safety in that form? The Pharisees trusted in their genealogy and that they had the Law. Instead of following it without adding to and subtracting from it they had it in their academic mind rather then in their soul. They had a rough time dealing with the Truth when He arrived. If you are like them or the Sadducees who basically believed nothing when Truth shows up you will be doing hard time for eternity. The folks in Matthew 7:21-25 seemed to have a great relationship with Jesus and a fruitful ministry. Yet, they were covering with a covering but not of His Spirit for Jesus said that He NEVER knew them and they ended up in Hell. They had the right lingo, used the right names, but they did not have the right Jesus. They had a Jesus molded in their image.
Isa 29:24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.
We live in an age where doctrine is not important to many who name the name of Christ. They are willing to sacrifice truth in the name of unity and yet there can be no unity without truth. Others say doctrine needs to be put aside in the name of love. Can there be real love without truth? Others want to major on experiences and as we saw in Matthew 7 experiences can be deceiving. John wants us to try the spirits. How can we do that if we do not have a solid basis to judge them? That is why God gave us His word in the Scriptures that we might have a sure foundation in a world where people are tossed to and fro by every slight of hand and wind of doctrine.
Therefore we can see the fruit of revival; spiritual understanding and sound doctrine. If we ever had a real Holy Ghost tear down the walls, take names and change lives revival we would see fewer denominations and the end of non-denominationalism. Jesus only has one Bride and one Body and there is only one truth for any given issue. Mark Lowry, at one of his performances, asked if there were people from various denominations there and he also included non-denoms. At the end of the questioning he remarks how wonderful it is that they are all there sitting together in the same building but says you know what this means, “Somebody's wrong!”
Indeed, many are covering with a covering that is not of God or His Spirit, but if they will seek truth from Him then God will give understanding to those who erred or strayed in spirit and will let the rebelling murmurers learn doctrine to have the right covering of their souls for they shall learn of Jesus and not about some other Jesus and the platitudes and rituals of men. Maranatha!
