Sun 9:30a Class; 10:30a Worship; 11:35a Communion
Bible Bites
Unvarnished Faith
“But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?” (Isaiah 36:7)
A little context will be helpful with this passage. When Rabshakeh, emissary for Assyria, shouted these words to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, he was issuing them an ultimatum – surrender to Assyria or die.
When he sneeringly mentions that Hezekiah had torn down all the altars and high places of worship from the nation and forced everyone to make their sacrifices at the temple, he misunderstands Hezekiah’s position. Hezekiah isn’t destroying God’s religious service; he is renewing it to its former glory. When Hezekiah removed all the extra frills, traditions, and pageantry from the Jewish religious world, he was removing the corruption and returning to pure and undefiled observance of God’s teachings. Rabshakeh thought Hezekiah was tearing down God’s will… when the opposite was true – Hezekiah was tearing down man’s will.
So it is today; if you want to please God, you are going to have to get rid of all the manmade devices and denominational traditions. We must shed the skin of human tradition and restore simple, New Testament worship and service to God. We must remove the idols to return to the King.
“For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you [as] a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:2-3)
Notice Paul’s warning to the church of Corinth – we must not stray from the simplicity and purity of Christian devotion. To worship, serve, and glorify God in the ancient ways is to do so in a timeless and unadorned fashion that will never enamor the masses… it isn’t meant to. We must not confuse filigree with faithfulness.
The unpretentious act of a cappella singing, fervent praying, meaningful heartfelt studying of God’s Word, and the solemn remembrance of Jesus’ death are pure and simple acts. They are also timeless. It worked for the first-century saints, and it will work for us as well. Don’t be led astray by another gospel.
