25 20 The Most Destructive Famine that Ever has Been
20 The Most Destructive Famine that Ever has Been
20. The Most Destructive Famine that Ever has Been
INTRODUCTION
ReadingAmos 8:11, we have these words:"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but ofhearingthe words of the Lord."
As to the exact time of this famine, I think there can be no doubt. Prophecies often have the setting or circumstances under which they are to be fulfilled. For instance, take Isaiah 35:3-10 as an example. This looks forward to the time when God would come (in the person of his Son—1 Timothy 3:16) and save his people. Note that it says that then, at his coming blind shall see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, and the tongue of the dumb sing. And what a flood of light this throws on John the Baptist’s seemingly doubting, was recorded in Matthew 11:2-6. From John 1:29-34, you would judge that he had seen enough evidence to convince him that Jesus was the promised Messiah— and he was convinced—and he introduced Jesus to his own disciples as the one he had been telling them would come after him. But John the Baptist knew the old Testament prophecy, and knew that when the Messiah did come these signs would accompany him. Christ performed no miracles before his baptism; John was cast into prison shortly after baptizing Christ; hence, had never. seen these signs. Note thesignificance of our Lord’s answer: "Go and tell John the things which ye have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear," etc. This forever satisfied John. These things were to be done by the Lord, and these very things he was doing.
Reading Luke 7:18-23, you leam that some of these miracles were performed right before the two men John had sent to Jesus with the question: "Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?"
Just so with this prophecy concerning this famine. By reading verses 4-6, you find some of the Jews asking when their Sabbath would be gone, thinking that when the Sabbath was removed they would be left without any law, hence do as they please. Jehovah had declared that he would remove the Sabbath, and they thought if he did this, they would be left without any restrictions thrown about them, and they wanted this, just as many today do not desire to be under rules and regulations. But when you read verse 9, you find God telling them exactly when the Sabbath would be gone —viz., "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day." By reading Luke 23:44-45, you learn that the sun ceased to shine at noon on a perfectly clear day when Christ was dying on the cross. Now read Colossians 2:14-16, and the question is settled that the time the Spirit had in mind when this famine was to be on would be the coming of Christ. And to make this more evident, note what is said in Amos 9:8-12. The Jews were scattered to the four winds of the earth at the destruction of Jerusalem, the tabernacle of David was rebuilt as this prophecy declares would be done at the first coming of Christ. As proof of this read Acts 2:29-36; Acts 15:13-18.
THE FAMINE DEFINED
1. Let us note what it was not to be. "Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water." That is, the prophet here has not in mind a famine that has to do with the needs of the body. And it was not to be a famine of God’s word. They would have all of the word of God then in existence right in their homes and in their places of worship.
2. The kind of famine it would actually be. It was to be a famine "of hearing the words of the Lord." THIS WAS THE CONDITION OFGODSPEOPLE WHEN CHRIST CAME
The Jews had all of the word of God that had been revealed unto men. "For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day." (Acts 15:21). Yes, the Jews had all of the old Testament, beginning with Genesis and ending with Malachi—thirty-nine books.
But there was a
And it will not be amiss to read this from Weymouth’s translation: "Ye search the Scriptures, because you suppose that in them you will find the life of the ages; and it is those Scriptures that yield testimony concerning me; and yet ye are unwilling to come to me that you may have life." So it is easily seen that there is no famine of the word; they have the word, all of it, in their synagogues, and it is read to
them every Sabbath. But they do not hear it, and why? Because the famine is on, the most hurtful famine that any human soul could possibly have—viz., of hearing the word when it is read right into their ears. They have ears hut hear not, and there is a cause for all of this.
WHAT BROUGHT THIS FAMINE ON THEM?
The traditions of the elders, the doctrines and commandments of men. "And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye nay keep your own tradition." (Mark 7:9). The traditions of men had been mixed with their teaching of the law; they had made additions and subtractions, a thing they were positively commanded not to do. (Deuteronomy 4:2). Hence, much of their worship was vain because directed, not by the law, but by the doctrine and commandments of men. "Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Mark 7:7). The study here could be extended, but this will suffice to give one of the causes of this famine of hearing.
Then they were ignorant of their own law. It had been given to them to study, to read, and this they had failed to do. "Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: no one of these shall fail." (Isa. in 16). But they had not done this. fleece, in Hosea 4:6, we have these words: "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." Hence, Peter says to them, in Acts 3:17, "And now, brethren, I know that in ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers"—viz., they put Christ to death in this ignorance and put many of the apostles to death, believing at the time that they were doing God’s service. (John 16:1-2).
EXEMPLIFICATIONS
Christ was born under the law (Galatians 4:4-5), and lived perfectly and taught perfectlythe law. This naturally made his teaching and conduct both sound strange and look strange to the Jews. They had a corrupted and perverted idea of the law. They had been taught a "strange doctrine. " This made the true teaching sound strange to them. Do you see? Though the law was read to them in their synagogues every Sabbath, the true meaning of the words were deflected when they came in contact with their traditions and doctrines and commandments of men, and they could not hear it. They searched their own Scriptures believing correctly that those Scriptures would lead them into the way of life everlasting (2 Timothy 3:15), and yet they could not see the very one whom God had sent in perfect fulfillment of their own Scriptures. How this should drive home to our hearts the importance of studying for ourselves, and the danger of having traditions and the doctrine and commandments of men and being prejudicially wedded to these doctrines.
One of their traditions was that when the Messiah came you could not tell from whence he came. Did they not say: "Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is." (John 7:27). With this tradition in their souls and the fact that they knew where Christ was born and where he grew from boyhood to manhood, this, to them, was proof positive that he could not be the true Messiah. This falsehood produced a famine of hearing.
They also had a false idea of the Sabbath. It was made far man’s good. Hence, when the welfare of man was at stake, the laws of the Sabbath could be set aside to meet this need. Study what our Lord says in Mark 2:23-28. Their doctrines and ideas of men that they had added to the Sabbath teaching made Jesus continually look to them as a Sabbath-breaker, hence he was judged as a false teacher. And go right on through the whole life of Christ among the Jews. Though they had all of God’s word that our Lord came to fulfill, they saw him continually violating it because they heard his teaching through their perverted ideas of its teaching. They were like a man looking at a white piece of paper through green glasses. Of course, the paper looks green. But if only the glasses were removed he could see it then as it indeed is.
CONDITIONS AMONG US TODAY
Is there a famine of God’s word today? Most certainly not. Go to every pulpit and home in our land where you find souls who believe the Bible contains God’s will to man, and you will find a Bible beginning with Genesis and closing with Malachi for the old Testament—thirty-nine books—and you will find this followed by the New Testament, beginning with Matthew and ending with Revelation—twenty-seven books—or sixty-six in all. Is this not true? So there is no famine of the word among us; we have the word.
But what abouthearing this word, The Baptists read it and hear it one way, the Methodists read it and hear it another way, so do the Presbyterians, and all other religious bodies who are governed in their study by their own creeds, confessions of faith, traditions, and doctrines and commandments that their leading men have gotten up. Here is our whole trouble today. A famine of hearing is on, and it has come about exactly as it came about among the Jews.
And think how much we are like them! Did not Christ tell them that they searched the Scriptures because that in these Scriptures they thought they had eternal life, and these very Scriptures revealed him as the true Messiah and they were rejecting him as such? Do not all of these churches search the Scriptures, claiming that these Scriptures contain their doctrines and justify their respective organizations, and those very Scriptures teach as plain as day that our Lord built only one church, his church, and he wants us all to be one as he and the Father are one? (Matthew 16:13-19; John 17:20-21; 1 Corinthians 1:10 : Ephesians 4:1-6; Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 1 Corinthians 12:20, John 10:16).
Perhaps this story will better exemplify the lesson. In a revival in which the oneness of God’s people, the plea for unity, was made the leading thought, a professor who was in attendance, challenged the thought with the contention that we cannot see the Bible alike. Said he: "John 3:8 forever settles this, ’The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. ’" Said the minister to that professor: "Do you really believe exactly what that Scripture says?" "Most certainly I do," was his reply. Then the minister took out his Testament and read it to him slowly, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Said he to the professor: "There it is, just as plain as day; but, professor, I dare say that you have never seen it nor heard it." "The very idea," he exclaimed. "Don’t you think I can read?" "No," said the minister, "with your present ideas on the new birth, you cannot hear that Scripture, you cannot see it. Take this book and read it slowly to me." This he did and at the conclusion the minister quoted it to him slowly and said: "Do you believe this Scripture exactly as you here find it?" "There cannot be any doubt about it," he exclaimed. Then the minister said: "No, you believe that the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is the birth of the Spirit. ” And notwithstanding the fact that the minister had read it to him, and he himself had read it with his own eyes and the minister had quoted it in full twice, the professor grabbed at the Testament and exclaimed: "Does it not say
that? "
He had heard that the birth is like the wind each time because he had been taught it from childhood, when it says nothing about the new birth being like the wind, but that the one born again is like the wind. There is an inward man and an outward man. (See 2 Corinthians 4:16-18). The inward man is like the wind; he can be felt and his effects can be seen, but he is spoken of as one of "the things which are not seen." (2 Corinthians 4:18). There is a tree standing out there in a twenty-acre field. You can see the wind blowing it as though it would be broken at the ground; but you cannot see the wind. Let that tree represent the outward man and the wind the inward man. In every conversion you will see the inward man coming to control and bring the outward man under. See Philip and the eunuch riding along in that chariot? (Acts 8:29-39). You see the chariot stop and the men walk down into the water and the eunuch is buried in the water and resurrected therefrom. Though you see the outward man bending and yielding obedience to the inward or unseen man, yet you cannot see this man. The new birth is for this inward man, this unseen man. This is the man that is born again. This inward man goes out of the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of Christ and his name is written in heaven, but you cannot see this man. You see only the effects of this inward man, guided by God’s word, over the outward man. And not only is this true of such plain Scriptures as those that teach the importance of the new birth and of what it consists, but take baptism and its importance as seen in Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:1-5. The human heart has been filled with traditional ideas about baptism being an outward form of an inward grace, and really has nothing to do with our salvation. They simply cannot hear nor see these plain-as-day Scriptures so long as these errors are in their hearts to deflect the rays of God’s truth.
There is but one way for us to keep from being cursed with the famine of hearing the words of our Lord, and that is to read it as though we had never read it before, to lay aside all preconceived ideas and notions and let the word have its own way in our hearts.
Go back and study again the children of Israel. They were God’s chosen people. They had the word of God entrusted to them. But they allowed their leaders to bring in their own traditions and ideas, and they were believed as though they were the pure word of God. Thus their eyes were so blinded that they could not see. In connection with this statement, study Matthew 15:9; Matthew 15:12-14.
Let us close this study with the following words from Paul, in Galatians 1:6-9 : "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another [that is, not in its entirety; but simply a perversion of the true gospel]; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. [A perverted gospel is tantamount or equivalent to another gospel. ] But though we or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."
Such is stealing God’s word from the people. It is a high crime before God. "I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour." (Jeremiah 23:20, Let us stand with Solomon who said: "Buy the truth; and sell it not." (Proverbs 23:23).
ELEMENTS OF CHURCH STRENGTH
Systematic and liberal giving. The church that gives will get. A liberal church is likely to be strong spiritually and every other way. —Selected.