Author: Gary Witcher

Telling God What He is Like

	"Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain," Exodus 32:1-6 records, "the people assembled about Aaron, and said to him, 'Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'  And Aaron said to them, 'Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring {them} to me.'  Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears, and brought {them} to Aaron.  And he took {this} from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it into a molten calf; and they said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.'  Now when Aaron saw {this,} he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, 'Tomorrow {shall be} a feast to the Lord.'  So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play."
	Isn't this amazing?  Isn't it incredible that the Israelites, and especially Aaron, would act this way so soon after experiencing the plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea?  Of course, we would never be guilty of doing anything even remotely related to this.  Or, would we?  You see, the discussion becomes even more interesting when we realize what else is taking place at the same moment.
	"And when He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai," the preceding verse says of God, "He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God."
	At the precise moment when God is revealing to mankind His nature and His will, Aaron is telling the people, "This is what God looks like and this is what He wants us to do."  And the people are believing Aaron.  Would people at any other time in history be guilty of telling God what He wants instead of listening to what He is saying?
	"God," we read in Hebrews 1:1-2, "after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in {His} Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world."
	Regardless of what men may think, God is telling us that He speaks to us through His Son, Jesus.
	"If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual," Paul instructs in 1 Corinthians 14:37, "let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandment."
	Regardless of what men may think, Jesus has spoken to us through the inspired writers of the New Testament.  So how does the Bible feel about those who would presume to make up their own religious practices?
	"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," Romans 1:18-25 warns, "who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.  For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.  Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them.  For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever."
	Is Paul just being a little hard on those who would replace God's will with their own?
	"Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites," Jesus instructs in Mark 7:6-8, "as it is written, 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me.  But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'  Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."
	"You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition," He adds in verse nine.
	While God is revealing to the people who He is and what He wants, they are building a golden calf and saying to God, "This is what You look like and this is what You want."  Could we ever be guilty of the same?

	"So they spoke to the king of Assyria," we find in 2 Kings 17:26-34, "saying, 'The nations whom you have carried away into exile in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the god of the land; so he has sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them because they do not know the custom of the god of the land.'  Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, 'Take there one of the priests whom you carried away into exile, and let him go and live there; and let him teach them the custom of the god of the land.'  So one of the priests whom they had carried away into exile from Samaria came and lived at Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.  But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.  And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.  They also feared the Lord and appointed from among themselves priests of the high places, who acted for them in the houses of the high places.  They feared the Lord and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile.   To this day they do according to the earlier customs: they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law, or the commandments which the Lord commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel."
	"However, they did not listen," verses 40-41 add, "but they did according to their earlier custom.  So while these nations feared the Lord, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day."
	Isn't this an odd situation?  The people come up with a mixture of true and false religion.  Would anyone at any other time be tempted to do the same?
	"But even though we," Galatians 1:8-9 cautions, "or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed. 
	The Israelites develop a mixture of true and false religion.  But we would never do anything like this.  Or, would we?
	A little later in the book of 2 Kings, we find another interesting story.
	"Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe," we find in 2 Kings 22:8-13, "'I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.' And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan who read it.  And Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought back word to the king and said, 'Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.'  Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, 'Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.' And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. And it came about when the king heard the words of the book of the law, that he tore his clothes.  Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant saying,  'Go, inquire of the Lord for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.'"
	While it is encouraging to note the reaction of the people in this passage, we cannot help but wonder about something.  It is the job of the priests, Levites and scribes to educate the people about God's will.  But the priests, Levites and scribes of this time are surprised when this book is found.  They don't even know it exists.  We have to ask, "What have these teachers of God's will been doing all of this time?"  What have they been telling the people?
	"I solemnly charge {you}," Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4:1-5, "in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season {and} out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but {wanting} to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.  But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."
	Would Paul have been very happy about those priests?  We have to wonder how God felt about them.  We also have to wonder what rationalizations those priests might have given. 
	"Lord, are there {just} a few who are being saved?" someone asks Jesus in Luke 13:23.
	"Strive to enter by the narrow door;" the Master replies in verses 24-27, "for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.  Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, 'Lord, open up to us!' then He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know where you are from.'  Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets'; and He will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.'" 
	Could it be that the rationalization of the priests was similar to the excuse given in this passage?  Perhaps they said, "We call ourselves Jews, so we're fine.  We don't know of anything that God wants us to do or how He would want us to do it, so we'll get by if we just call ourselves Jews."
	Friends, you wouldn't be telling God what He wants instead of listening to what He has communicated through Jesus and the inspired writers, would you?  You wouldn't be tolerating a mixture of true and false religion, would you?  And what are your religious instructors telling you?  Are they telling you that it is enough to call yourselves "Christians" while not even seeming to be aware of the existence of New Testament guidelines about Christianity?
	At least some of the people in the Old Testament came to their senses.  When the Israelites were rebuilding Jerusalem, they were approached by some of the people who had mixed true religion with false. 
	"Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel," Ezra 4:1-3 reveals, "they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' {households,} and said to them, 'Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.'  But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers' {households} of Israel said to them, 'You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.'"  
	Finally, here are some smart people!  They are willing to stand up and say, "Enough!"
	"Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ," we learn from 2 John verses 9-11, "does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.  If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into {your} house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds." 
	Friends, when will we say, "Enough!"  When will we say "Enough" of man telling God what God wants instead of listening to inspired revelation?  When will we say "Enough" to mixing true and false religion?  When will we say "Enough" of religious leaders who don't base every thought, word, action and instruction on God's word?  When will we follow only the truth and be set free?

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."