(2 Ki 17:23 KJV) "Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets.  So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day."

As we start off July, we come across this verse which teaches us that there is a cut-off point of warning.  How many times when we were young, we heard our parents say something to the effect of, "The next time you do that, you are going to get it!"  The problem is that when we first hear it, we take it to heart.  But when our parents continued to use it and never delivered the punishment, after awhile, it just became a rote saying, and the fear of reprisal was removed.  Those in ancient Israel must have taken that same approach, because God had sent many prophets to the northern kingdom warning them that there was impending judgment coming if they did not repent of their ways.  

(2 Ki 17:13 KJV) "Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets."  

So they received warning after warning and chose not to heed any of them.  Finally, the day arrived when the warnings ceased, and they finally received the reward of their disobedience, which was their removal from the Promised Land into a land of idolatry and false gods.  Then the King of Assyria does something startling.  He tells his subjects to find a priest from the captivity to send back to Samaria so he may teach the people of the land what God requires of them.  It is amazing that a pagan king seems to have more respect for God than the people who were supposed to belong to God.

We see the same situation today.  The unbelieving world has been hearing the message of the impending Judgment of God for nearly 2,000 years, and they laugh at it.  Hollywood makes fun of it, and even God's own people have begun to question as to whether there is going to be a Judgment Day or not.  The message has been around a lot longer than the period of time the prophets warned Israel and Judah.  The difference is that it was a temporary judgment, as Judah and Israel went back to the land and even rebuilt the Temple and picked up the ceremonial system again.  The judgment that the church has been teaching for 2,000 years is the permanent Judgment.  The arrogance of the unbelievers who oppose the judgment message shows through that they are not taking into effect the fact that even if they do not live to see the Last Day and the end of the world, when they die, it is all over for them until the Final Judgment.  According to Acts 17:31, God has already set the day that He is going to judge the world, which means that in Scripture, we have a set appointment with the Lord.  Now, we do not know exactly when that day is, but we can be sure that with the world becoming more wicked, it seems God is setting the stage for the Judgment of the world.  We can do nothing to stop it or delay it, so the only thing that we, as believers, can do is to be faithful in our evangelistic efforts, both individual and corporate.

(Hosea 4:6 KJV) "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children."

In today's reading, we come across this verse which has been a good insight not only into why the northern Kingdom was judged for their sins, but also why many Christians seem to be having problems in their lives.  If you notice in this verse, the Israelites were being accused by God for having lack of knowledge.  Now, this verse also exposes the reason why they were having this lack of knowledge.  It was not because God did not send His prophets to warn them that if they did not return to Him, they would be judged.  It was not because they did not possess the Scriptures.  Even though they did not have the entire Bible as we have it today, yet they had a major portion of Scripture, plus the true prophets of God to guide them.  Hosea began his ministry about 760-750 BC, which means Israel had a great portion of Scripture.  In fact, they definitely had Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 with the blessings and curses.  So the problem was not a lack of knowledge because of lack of sources.  Their lack came from the rejection of knowledge, thereby, knowledge was vanishing because of their refusal of the knowledge of God --which was the sin of rejection.

Let us apply this situation to today.  We are hearing many voices coming into Christianity today, and many of them are smothering the Word of God by means of twisting the meaning of Scripture.  God did not write two books; instead, He gave us one copy of the Scriptures.  As the Israelites of old who had copies of the Scriptures, we, too, have the Scriptures in their completed form.  Yet, many are listening to the voices around them and are following the embellished gospel, which draws us away from the truths of Scripture.  The farther we go from the core of Scripture, the more we become like the Israelites of old who sinned by reason of the lack of knowledge.  Whenever we adapt ourselves to the thoughts of man, even if it sounds like we are following God in the process, we are in essence rejecting the knowledge of God from the Scriptures and following after those voices.  Then what happens?  We see in the verse that we will be forgetting the law or the Scriptures.  When anyone forgets the Scriptures, it is to their own destruction.  

Now, as Christians, we will not lose our salvation, but we can make shipwreck of our Christian lives.  As Christians, we must order our lives according to the Scriptures, no matter how old-fashioned it seems.  Obedience to the Lord is not old-fashioned, it is commanded.  

(2 Cor 5:7 KJV) "(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)"  And how do we walk by faith?

(Rom 10:17 KJV) "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

Don't let anyone derail you by "new beliefs" or by embellished beliefs. God wants us to stay with the old paths, namely His Word.

(Jer 6:16 KJV) "Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein."  

Let us not be like the Israelites and suffer because of rejection of knowledge.  If it has been awhile since you read your Bible, then read it again for the first time.

(Hosea 7:9 KJV) "Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not."

In today's reading, we come across this verse, which shows how we can cross the line of disobedience and not know it.  Here God is telling Israel that because they had mixed themselves with the foreign gods and religions, their strength had been sapped, but the worse part about it is that they did not know it.  They thought that since they had the Ark and the Ten Commandments, plus their history, they would never have troubles.  The problem is that the history of a person or a country is not a determining factor for God to dole out or withhold judgment when either go apostate in the present.  A person or a nation can have the most solidly biblical history, but if they choose to start going the ways of the world, then God has to step in, and it doesn't matter what that nation was or what that person accomplished, or who they are, they must suffer the consequences of their erroneous actions.

Tomorrow is Independence Day here in the United States, and we have seen the false gospels coming into this country and are devouring its strength.  Yet, the people in this country think that we are so strong and invulnerable.  September 11, 2001 showed us we were not!  God tried to get our attention, and what was the outcome?  Instead of people seeking the Glory of God, there is a great campaign for the glorification of Islam. To me, that is akin to a scenario like at the beginning of World War 2, when England was being bombed by the Nazis, Winston Churchill would make a pronouncement that Nazism was a peaceful movement.

(Hosea 8:2 KJV) "Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee."

In today's reading, we come across this verse, which was the cry of the nation of Israel. Yesterday, we looked at the verse, which showed us that the false religions had sapped the strength of Israel and in their haughtiness, they did not even know that they were setting themselves up for judgment.  Today's verse tells us why they were deceived.  They thought that they were in good with the Lord.  Their cry was that they knew God.  The problem was, at that point they only knew of Him because if they truly knew Him and His character, they would have removed ALL the false religions from their land in obedience to Him.  This is the problem with many people today.  They have a false notion of God that He sits in the heavens as a white-haired grandpa, that He is going to overlook all the sins of the people, and that everyone is going to go to heaven. --WRONG!  God's salvation plan extends to those He has written in His Book of Life, before the foundations of the world.  (Rev. 13:8 & 17:8).  We also tend to forget that God is a Holy God, and He will not tolerate sin.  For someone to say they know Him and intentionally commit sin or serve a false gospel, then the evidence exists that they do not know Him, no matter what picture of God they conjure up.

As we see in the judgments of both Judah and Israel, God will not tolerate sin in the lives of His People for very long.  He kept sending them prophets, and they kept ignoring and killing them.  Then in a hypocritical note, they claimed that they knew Him.  Those who know God try to live an obedient life.  They tend to take the things out of their life, which would become a stumbling block, so they will not wind up sinning against God.  I am sure there are things in all our lives, which could eventually cause us to stumble in our Christian Walk.  This is why God commanded Israel to drive out the false nations when they went into the land, so the land would be pure with only the true religion of the Lord.  When Israel failed to do that, the Canaanites became a stumbling block to them and their false religion always left a remnant of followers until all of Israel and Judah were polluted by the false religions, which ultimately led to their judgment.  If we identify things in our life that is contrary to the Lord, we can take those things to the Lord and ask Him to give us the strength to avoid those things in our life, so we may clean up our act.  We want to project a good testimony to the unbelieving world.  If we say we know Him, we better make sure our outward actions reflect our inward testimony.  When those two match, we can definitely say that, "We Know Him."

(Hosea 14:3 KJV) "Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy."

In today's reading, we come across this verse, which shows us that there was a sense of reality in the awareness that nothing in this world can save a nation from going into judgment.  There seems to be a confession of the sins that so entwined the Northern Kingdom.  They realized that Asshur cannot save them.  Asshur is Assyria (Gen. 10:11) with whom they will eventually go into captivity with.  However, a verbal confession without any substance to it makes it a meaningless confession.  God was calling Israel to repentance, because they had fallen into their iniquity by means of their national backsliding.  They had seen the power of the surrounding nations and had desired to be like them.  God wanted them to come back to Him so that He would heal their nation and make them a great nation under Him once again.  Our verse shows us that they had looked at the idols as mere works of man's hands and his own creation.  Idols were unable to save any nation.  (Psa 135:15 KJV) "The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands."  Idols brought the judgment of God against Israel and personal idols set up in the hearts of God's people will bring the chastisement of God.  When the Lord speaks of the "fatherless," He is speaking of those who are unsaved in that when they become saved, God will have mercy on them and become their Father.  Being a physical orphan does not guarantee that one will be saved.  But it does seem that those who have it the toughest on earth are more open to the message of the Gospel.  Whether those poor become saved is up to the Lord.

Hosea is a tough book as its main message is a stern denunciation of sin and the punishment of those who choose to live in its path.  Yet we see tucked within its 14 chapters, the mercy of God, if the nation were to come back to Him.  Yet, as we look at our verse today, we see there may have been a verbal confession of the national sins, but there was no attempt to put those confessions into action.  We know this because Israel eventually went into captivity in 721 BC.  In our own personal lives, how many times do we acknowledge a sin or a sinful pattern, yet we do nothing about it.  Sometimes we may enjoy that sin, and we don't want to give it up.  This is when the chastising Hand of God comes on us.  He is not chastising to be mean, but to prevent us from experiencing the fullness of sin.  (James 1:15 KJV) "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Sometimes our sinful patterns may not bring forth physical death, but they can sure bring about the death of our testimony.  Israel was supposed to be the light to the surrounding nations, but because of her sinful patterns, God had to make a judgment on her.  She would never again experience the spiritual times like under Solomon when even the Queen of Sheba came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, or when the surrounding nations feared Israel because of the wonders God did to the Egyptians.  Whenever we too follow that pattern, some of our testimony will also be done away with.  Let us remain steadfast in the faith and forsake the things of the world, which could entangle us in the depths of sin.

(2 Ki 18:33 KJV) "Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?"

In today's reading, we come across this verse, which shows the height of arrogance of a very aggressive nation.  At the time these representatives of Assyria came to King Hezekiah in Judah, the northern Kingdom had already been taken into captivity, so the Assyrian monarch had thought that he would make an attempt to capture the southern Kingdom or Judah.  Assyria was banking on using the fear tactic by telling those of Judah that no one was able to stop the armies of the Assyrians.  Then they brought into the conversation the tactic that none of the gods of the countries that they attacked were able to stop their onslaught.  They thought this intimidation technique would be effective in capturing Judah.  However, there was one major detail they did not factor into their air of superiority.  All the other countries that they attacked and took were ruled by false gods, but now they were up against the real God.  Hezekiah was a godly king, and he even went so far as to destroy the brazen serpent, which became a stumbling block to the people because they began to worship it.  This is why God, in His Wisdom, has not allowed any pieces of the Cross, the burial cloth of Christ, the Ark of the Covenant, or anything of like manner to remain.  If there were original items left to us from the Bible times, they would become objects of worship, because yes, in 2002, people still remain a religious people.

Today, the Christian faces the same onslaught from the unbelieving world.  They laugh at us and scorn us for following the same God that defeated the mighty Assyrians.  The unbelievers today do not realize they are toying with the God of this universe.  They, like the Assyrians, think that they have all the wisdom and strength going for them, and that Christians are just a bunch of superstitious people who need religion as a crutch.  As the Assyrians faced destruction being servers of false gods, the unbeliever will also meet that same fate.  When Assyria was done being used of God to bring judgment against Israel, she too faced demise.  

Christians must remain godly, so they too will have power to face the charges that the unbelieving world levels against us.  If we are compromising Christians, then we will lose the power to be a strong witness for the Gospel.  It seems those believers who choose to compromise with the world, or allow themselves to be diverted, lose the strength of testimony that many of the martyrs possessed while facing the fagots of glory.   If Hezekiah would have compromised with the King of Assyria, it would not have brought him the safety he sought.  Instead, it would have brought the demise of Judah sooner than 135 years later.  Hezekiah was wise.  In a very dark situation, he sought the counsel and leading of the Lord.  He did not take matters into his own hands.  He trusted in the Lord.  The result was that the Lord smote 185,000 of the Assyrian army.  Then it probably hit home with Sennacherib, that he was not dealing with false gods, so he withdrew.  In fact, his own children slew him in the house of his false gods.  Maybe he was in there to seek his false god for strength so he could go against Judah again.  It doesn't matter, he stood before a false god and the real God of the universe judged him, and he died.  This is why we must hold forth our testimony.  Things may be tough right now, but if we continue to walk in the ways of the Lord and continue to trust Him, in His timing, we shall be victorious, no matter what the enemy yells at our gates.

(Isa 1:18 KJV) "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

In today's reading, we come across one of the most misunderstood passages in Scripture.  We have all heard it said that if a person becomes saved, their sins will become white as snow and like wool.  However, that does not fit into what the Bible teaches for the believer.  When the Lord Jesus Christ went to the Cross, He removed our sins, not colored them white.

"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."

These two verses teach us that our sins are gone, not covered.  So what is in view in Isaiah 1:18?  Why is God saying that their sins will be as white as snow, if they are scarlet at present?  The answer is found in understanding leprosy.  God uses leprosy in Scripture as a picture of sin.  Leprosy starts as small red spots and when it has spread fully, it makes the body white.  Here He is telling the Israelites if they do not repent, their sins will go from small sins to large sins.  In other words, their sin will grow and become infectious as leprosy is to the body.  If you look at the following two verses, God is telling them to obey Him and you will live, but if Judah does not obey Him, they will be devoured.  Judah, of course, became very disobedient and followed in the footsteps of the Northern Kingdom and went into captivity.  What is this telling us?  It tells us that if we have a small pet sin in our life, if we do not check it and stop it, it can become a consuming sin.  

This principle can be carried over into the national realm too.  If our country has a sin that is not checked, it too can become a national sin.  In 1973, when abortion became legal, very few women went, but at the beginning of 2002, 44 million babies have been slaughtered.  The sin became as white as snow.  Many years ago, gambling was limited to Las Vegas and the Mob.  Now, because the government couldn't win against the mob, they decided to take a piece of their action by legalizing lotteries.  In the United States, the majority of states have lotteries.  The sin became as white as snow.  Pornography used to be sold in back of stores or in alley ways.  There were very few "adult book stores."  Now it is pandemic because of the Internet, and here in New Jersey, almost all corner convenience stores sell hard core porno right out in the open.  The sin became as white as snow.  God is warning us in this verse that we are to inspect our lives, so there is no sin that can become white as snow.

(Isa 6:6-7 KJV) "Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: {7} And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

In today's reading, we come across this very beautiful picture of the Gospel.  Isaiah 6 contains the commission of Isaiah to the nation of Judah.  Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on His throne in Heaven, and because of the holiness of God, Isaiah knew that he was a sinful man and while he stood in the presence of God, he was convicted because of his iniquity.  God will never send an unbeliever to preach the Gospel, so we see in this sequence that Isaiah who said he was a man of unclean lips, experiences the cleansing of God.  One of the Seraphim takes a live coal from the altar and touched Isaiah's mouth with it.  The Seraphim tells Isaiah that his iniquities have been taken away and his sins purged.  There is only one thing in this world that can remove a person's sin from them, and that is, the Gospel of Christ.  Here we see God saving Isaiah before he was able to go into the nation of Judah and bring the message God would have him preach.  Once Isaiah became saved, he was then able to understand the Truth and then proclaim it.

(Rom 12:20 KJV) "Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head."

I have heard many interpret the coals to mean that if you give them the Gospel, that you are making them angry like having coals on their head.  However, this does not hold water because as we have seen, the live coals represent the True Gospel as we see in Isaiah 6.  In Romans 12:20, we see what post-salvation works are in view.  The two works in view are feeding the hungry and giving them drink.  Now, if someone is physically hungry, that would not make them mad as having hot coals on their head.  The food and drink we give is the Gospel, and when we give the Gospel and the person becomes saved, then those coals, like those on the altar with Isaiah, will purge their sins and remove their iniquities.  We must define who the enemy is.  The enemy of the true believer is every single unbeliever.  The worst ones are the religious unbelievers, because they think they do not need any hot coals of the Gospel.

(Prov 25:21-22 KJV)  "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: {22} For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee."

Here is another passage, which carries with it the same message.  The coals represent the True Gospel.  So we see in these three passages of Scripture, we must give the burning Gospel of Christ.  The live coals represent the living Word, and not a dead orthodoxy or a ritual-based religion.  In reading Isaiah's conversion and commission, we must strive to bring the same type of gospel.  We must not water it down.  What happens if you pour water on a hot coal?  It goes out!  This is what is happening in many instances.  Are unbelievers going to get hot when you pour the hot coals of the True Gospel on them?  You can count on it!  But as God sent Isaiah to a people who were not going to listen to him, we must realize that we are in the same situation Isaiah was in, and we are to remain as faithful as he was.

(Isa 8:20 KJV) "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

In today's reading, we come across this verse, which gives us a little insight into identifying the spirit of a person by the means of their speech.  Isaiah was giving a small two-verse indictment of those who were using the satanic magical arts to try and divert the people from listening to the real God of Israel.  Satan will always try to bring in a counterfeit to divert God's people and the unsuspecting unbeliever.  This verse gives a good insight that whenever we are seeking spiritual counsel, we must be knowledgeable of what source the person we are asking the advice from is drawing.  The verse in Isaiah tells us that if they are not speaking from the law and the testimony --which are two synonyms for the Word of God-- then there is no light in them.  If a person does not have light in them, then God is saying they are not saved, and we must be careful from where we draw principles for living.  There are many sources out in the world where people tend to try and draw spiritual principles for life.  Whenever we seek spiritual principles, we must be careful of using the word "spiritual."  Even though it is a good Christian term, it has been used by many different cults to define their sources and to describe their adherents.  Whenever we speak of a spiritually-minded person, we must be careful because in today's religious economy, the term "spiritual" can apply to those in the New Age Movement or in any cult.  

In our own lives, we must be careful that our own speech is according to the Scriptures.  We would never want to witness to someone or give advice outside of the Scriptures, or else there might not be any light in our testimony.  How many today speak from the radio or the pulpit and have no light in them?  A few verses ahead in this chapter shows that those who have no light in them will go through this life very hungry.  This refers to spiritual hunger because without knowing the Word of God, a person cannot be spiritually quenched unto salvation.  We must be careful what we fill our minds with so it does not negate or compromise the Scriptures that we have learned.  The light that burns within a Christian is eternal and bright, and we do not want to lessen that light by accepting teachings, which are contrary to Scripture.  We are to be the lights of this fast fading world, and this is why we must do our part to educate many with the teachings of Scripture, minus those additives, which darken the light.  Let us take an inventory on this day to see if our light still shines bright as it did the day we became saved.

(Isa 11:9 KJV) "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."

In today's reading, we come across Chapter 11 in Isaiah, which is so rich in meaning and so pregnant with the Gospel of Grace.  If you have had to file Chapter 11 in your life, then claim this Chapter 11 for the rest of your life.  Here is a beautiful picture in symbolic language of the New Heavens and the New Earth when sin will have been judged and eradicated.  Let us look at the list of animals in this chapter, especially the children who will be playing by the dens of the asps and cockatrice.  The asps have been identified as the Black Cobra, which is a deadly snake.  So when we see children playing near one of these deadly serpents, but without any chance of being bitten and killed, we see that the curse of sin is gone.  God is giving us a little insight into the nature of the New Creation.  There will be absolute harmony and peace in the New Creation.  I guess one of the questions that many have is will there be animals in the New Creation?  I have no idea, since God is using the symbolism to show that there will be no enmity in the New Creation.  God also tells us that the whole earth shall be full of the knowledge of God.  In today's earth, that knowledge is suppressed by individuals who do not believe that God exists, and it is limited by those who are steeped in false religions, especially animistic religions in remote places around the world.

The only way for the entire earth to be filled with the knowledge of God is to have all of the hindrances removed.  This will take place on Judgment Day when Satan and all his followers will have been judged and cast into eternal damnation.  With sin totally out of the way, only God's Redeemed Children will be on the renewed earth.  And that earth will have the knowledge of the Lord, since it will only be the Lord's Children who will inherit it.  All the pain, all the suffering, will be in the past.  We will be reunited with all our loved ones around whose graves we cried when the Lord took them.  The Lord Himself will be among us, and there shall be such a happy time of reunion.  We will also get to meet all the Redeemed brethren from Abel on.  Sometimes the question is asked, will we know each other in Heaven?  My response is, would it be Heaven if we didn't?  It is sin that sets up barriers and causes division in the Body of Christ.  It is sin that tells us we don't belong with that group, or this group.  Remember the Mount of Transfiguration where Moses and Elijah met the Lord Jesus?  How did Peter know that it was Moses and Elijah?  Moses lived about 1,500 years before him, and Elijah lived about 700 years before him.  Now, if Peter can recognize someone he never personally met, do you not think that you will recognize your loved ones and friends in Heaven?  When we get to Heaven, there will also be different relationships.  We will no longer see each other as mother, or cousin, or friend, but we will all be Children of God.  We will definitely know each other, because what kind of a place would it be if we all had to wear name tags? Thank God today for the wonderful inheritance He has planned for all His Redeemed Children.