And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isaiah 8: 19, 20, NKJV.
Dear God, as we come to Your Word today, we ask that Your Holy Spirit will be at our side to bless us, and to open our eyes to the issues of life and death. In the holy name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
For the past three days we have been meditating on portions of Isaiah, chapter 8. Today we have come to that portion of the passage that I have entitled, the acid test. It is said that during the Gold Rush, in an effort to separate gold from other metals, the miners would test the nuggets they found, in acid. If it did not dissolve (corrode); it had passed the “acid test” – it was pure gold.
We live in an age, where, for the majority of people, the acid test is scientific proof. If it cannot be proven in a “test tube” it is not genuine; it is not trustworthy. While I agree with “science [rightly] so called” (1 Timothy 6: 20), faith is not based on what we can see and appreciate with our senses, “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees” (Romans 8: 24)? Emphasis supplied.
Since we as Christians “walk by faith, not by sight,” (2 Corinthians 5: 7), we need a chart and compass that cannot be tampered with. Do I mean that human beings have not tried to make the Bible say what they want it to say – or given it their own “private interpretation” (2 Peter 1: 20)? Not at all. What I am saying is, that in spite of the limitation of the human vocabulary to adequately express the thoughts of God, and despite human biases – God has found the way to preserve the genuine “Good News” of salvation, intact! And all who want to know the will of God to obey it – it will be revealed to them (John 7: 17).
A lot of false messages had been circulating among God’s people. God had warned his prophet, and “the faithful few,” not to repeat these false messages, so as not to be made afraid, or become troubled, by them. But God not only identifies, and warns, His people of the existing problems – He always provides them with a solution! Praise God!
I am sure that you have heard me repeat the following more than once, perhaps in different terms: The way to identify a counterfeit, is by a perfect knowledge of the genuine. Everything that does not conform to the true – is false! This is the essence of God’s message to the prophet, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Period!
If you observe the first part of the text, you realize that the problem is bigger than what meets the eye. It is not just a matter of listening to the wrong message, it is the source of the message that makes the message so dangerous. Because we know that “the dead know not anything” (Ecclesiastes 9: 5, 6), it is obvious that the “dead” that they were seeking were really “spirits of devils” (Revelation 16: 14)! How fearful is that! And these were God’s people!
Many people today excuse what they are doing by giving as a justification, why they are doing it. For health reasons, they say; for financial reasons, some say; to heal relationships, others say. Brothers and sisters, friends – the end does not, can not, justify the means! “[S]hould not a people seek their God?” Has our God suddenly become too small to solve our problems that we have to seek help elsewhere? Upon the Word of God I tell you today, if God cannot help you, no one can! I repeat, if God cannot help you, no one can! What you consider help today, will tomorrow become your passport to hell, because that is the destiny of your helper – the devil!
Today, as in the days of Joshua, God is calling everyone to decide. There is no middle ground. There is no neutral stand. God will not share our allegiance with another. He will be God of all – or not at all! “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell” (Joshua 24: 15a).
Will your choice stand the acid test?