GOD KNOWS THAT MOST CANNOT HANDLE THE PRESSURE IN SATAN'S AGE
Often people ask, “Why would God make the Bible hard to understand?” A good deal of the word of God is not so clear that one cannot misunderstand it. This is obvious. Most of the prophets will somewhat alter their topics every fifteen verses or so. Why? Note what God said to Israel:
Isaiah 28:13, “But the word of the LORD was to them, ‘Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little,’ That they might go and fallbackward, and be broken And snared and caught.” (NKJV)
Christ gives us a clue to why God has allowed people to be exposed to the truth of the word and yet not allowed to fully understand it.
Matthew 13:13-14, “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive;’”
Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9-10 verbatim wherein God is telling the people before Judah fell into captivity that they did not want to really hear the truthful warning being given by His prophet. Note what the Messiah also tells the people of Jerusalem:
Matthew 13:15-16, “For the hearts of this people have grown dull.Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;”
God knew that they did not want the truth at that time. They would then have been fully responsible for rejecting it if they did not hold on to God. So to save them for later salvation, God allowed them to be deceived during this lifetime. What was the real problem? Their HEARTS were not right.
THREE GENERATIONS OF PAMPERED SPOILED ONES NOT READY TO SEE
The first pampered generation covered by the Bible, those who werenot ready to receive the full truth in the age of Satan, were the Israelites –– prior to their falling hopelessly into paganism and thereby losing God's protection and going into captivity. The prophets warned them but God knew that most were not ready to stand up for truth and they were swept along with the world.
Isaiah 29:9-11, “Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind!
They are drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. 10 For the Lord has poured out on you The spirit of deep sleep, And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers.
“11 The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, ‘Read this, please.’ And he says, ‘I cannot, for it is sealed.’”
Jeremiah 9:5-6, “‘Everyone will deceive his neighbor, And will not speak the truth; They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves to commit iniquity. 6 Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,’ says the LORD.”
God sealed the truth so their seers could not really understand the truth. Why?
Isaiah 29:13, “Therefore the Lord said: "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,”
The second pampered generation was in the time of Jesus and the disciples. Their eyes were sealed closed because they had the wrong hearts. They appeared Godly but most of the leadership especially was evil and corrupt. They rebelled against Rome and were crushed in 70AD. God thereby allowed them to make foolish decisions.
Matthew 23:27-28, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
“28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
2 Corinthians 3:13-15, “unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.”
The third pampered and deceived generation is the end-of-the-age population. Note the attitude that is predicted to exists at the end time.
2 Timothy 3:1-5, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”
2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
Can you imagine how open their hearts are to the truthful message of God to repent? In no way are the hearts of most of those at the end of the age open to God's messages.
GOD, OUT OF KINDNESS, HAS LIMITED THE TRUTH TO A FEW
God has allowed the world to learn the hard way that His ways are better than Satan’s ways and the selfish side of our human nature. This is often called tough love. The upside of being in God's family must be so great that all this suffering and deception is worth it!
Romans 8:18-19, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”
Tough love means allowing people to lead themselves astray even when hearing the truth. Can those whose hearts are ready to receive the truth take credit for it? No! Christ is the one who prepares or opens our hearts to receive the truth in a world drunk on deception.
Philippians 2:12-13, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
It is Jesus who opens our hearts to want to listen to God and helps so we can obey, both to will and do. How can one know if he is called? If one learns to read the code which is “here a little there a little.” It means focusing on the totality of all the bible message. If one can do that then God has opened your mind and expects you to repent and become converted. Test yourself to see if you have been called.
2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?”
If you find that you are no longer deceived, then God is calling you to repent. God evaluated the Israelites as being dishonest in their hearts but He would eventually save them anyway in the future. This would also apply to all mankind.
Isaiah 48:8-10, “Surely you did not hear, Surely you did not know; Surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, And were called a transgressor from the womb. 9 For My name's sake I will defer My anger, And for My praise I will restrain it from you, So that I do not cut you off. 10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.”
Making the Bible difficult to understand is part of God's tough love process of salvation.
REMEMBER THAT ULTIMATELY GOD WILL WIN, NOT THE ADVERSARY.
In the end God wins! The vast majority of mankind will be saved and learn the tough lessons as they compare life in this age with the future paradise of God. All will learn that God's Laws are good for us.
ISSUES : ARE A LOT PEOPLE RESISTING THE CALLING OF GOD?
