“He made known His ways to Moses; His works to the sons of Israel” (Psalm 103:7). Knowing His ways and knowing His works or acts are two different things; knowing His ways is knowing His desire and doing it. That is what Moses did and Israel did not.
“Your fathers put me to the test in testing me and they saw my works for forty years. Therefore, I said to this generation; They are always led astray in their hearts and they did not know My ways” (Hebrews 3:9-10).
They saw His works and knew His desire but continued in their own way; they did not, and could not, know His ways because they refused to hear Him speaking.
Israel, God’s people, didn’t want to hear from God directly; His presence frightened them. Instead, they chose only to hear what God had to say indirectly; by the mouth of Moses (Exodus 20:18-19). Thus, they could only know the acts of God, as related by Moses, not His ways, and they perished in the wilderness.
The Church, God’s people, have likewise chosen to hear God’s voice only through men, despite the provision of the Holy Spirit, Who, Jesus said, would teach us all things and guide us into all truth. Despite also, that Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). Despite, once more, that John said we no longer need teachers, since we have the Holy Spirit to teach us (1 John 2:27). Thus the Church, too, only knows the acts of God, not His ways, and they too, are perishing in the wilderness.
The fact is, that only God can reveal His ways – not man – and He must reveal them to each one individually, because we are all on our own narrow way and we only know His ways as we walk in obedience (faith). We are all unique creations and so, too, our particular walk is unique to our circumstances and personality, and designed to bring each one of us by our own narrow way to be like Him. Because I am different to you, the way for me to become like Him is different to the way for you. This can only be the work of God, not man; it is God alone who preserves the ways of the saints (Proverbs 2:8).
It is a deception of Satan to think that we all have to walk together in the same way at the same time, as the Church teaches. Can two walk together lest they be agreed? This is the broad way that leads to destruction. We are each called to be priests to God and priests are meant to offer sacrifice. There is now no longer a sacrifice for sin; that has been accomplished by Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:12). But there is yet a sacrifice that each one of us is to offer; the sacrifice of righteousness, which is to trust in the Lord (Psalm 4). That sacrifice also involves doing the things that please the Father, just as Jesus did. Then, as royal priests, we are able to gather together around the presence of Christ – the Body joined to the Head – to offer Him worship thanksgiving and praise (Hebrews 13:15). But;
“There is a way that seems good to man but its end is destruction” (Proverbs 14:12). This is not the way for us to follow.
Cookie cutter Christianity seeks to make us all after the same pattern; this ignores the fact that there is no formula for identical spiritual experiences; all must be undertaken by God in view of the individual temperament and nature of the believer. Only the Holy Spirit has the authority to work out the details of each one’s experience of God. It is a tragic thing for religious authorities to seek to shape all of their flock after the same pattern; they only have authority to make disciples – to Christ, not man.
Leave a Reply