The Bible In Real Time

I truly believe that most people read the Bible as though it is fiction. When we refuse to read the hard things and see them in real time, we may as well be reading a fairy tale. I’ll give you a for instance: “And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it… Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! (Isa. 5:12-14,20,21). Now I don’t know about you friend, but those are some truly bone shaking words if you ask me. And they are not fiction. Not only so, but I assure you that neither God nor man has changed since these sobering words were spoken and written. In fact, the only thing that HAS changed is that our accountability before God under the new covenant is far greater than for those who were under the old covenant. Israel was not in covenant with God by means of the suffering and death of the only begotten Son of God. We are, and if we devalue the suffering of Christ by slackness of spirit, we are far worse than those who devalued the "blood of bulls and of goats," which never took away sin (Heb. 10:4).

The apostle Paul pulled no punches on the fear of God in respect to the greater accountability of new covenant believers: “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him” (Heb. 2:1-3). That statement alone does away with the whimsical mindset that many have today, believing that the God of the old testament was some angry, frustrated God; while the God of the new testament is just a sweet old doting grandfather. No my friend, I can attest to the stark reality that the words of Isaiah which we have seen quoted here, are every bit as true in the case of the body of Christ today. I will also assure you that if we do not repent wholeheartedly and tremble before God, there are bad things on the horizon. May God help us all to realize that the scriptures were written “for our learning,” and that we had better read them in real time (Rom. 15:4). As the great apostle of the Gentiles told us: “Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for OUR admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (I Cor. 10:11,12). If we think that we have eternal salvation signed, sealed, and delivered, simply because we are God’s people; then we have missed the entire point of everything in the Bible, and we are preparing to fall - hard. Amen.