"Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy. Then it was well. Was not his knowing Me?" says the LORD (Jeremiah 22:15-16).

Jeremiah wrote against Shallum (Jehoahaz), Jehoiakim, and Coniah (short for Jeconia and aka Jehoiachin). These two sons and grandson of Josiah did not follow in their father's footsteps. They did not judge equitably nor promote justice for the poor and needy, but they oppressed them and used them for their political and material advantage (cf. Jeremiah 22:13-14, 17). Jeremiah also declared that they had "forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshiped other gods and served them" (Jeremiah 22:9).

Although Josiah suffered an untimely demise in a battle against King Neco of Egypt, Jeremiah told the people of Judah that the one to bemoan was not Josiah but his son Shallum, who would be taken into exile to Egypt. He would never return to Jerusalem. As for wicked Jehoiakim, whom God had warned during his years of prosperity, he too would be taken captive and left for dead outside the gates of Jerusalem without anyone mourning him or a proper burial (cf. Jeremiah 22:18-19). Finally, his son Coniah would also be taken captive to Babylon, never to return, and none of his descendants would sit on David's throne. Even though Jesus the Messiah was a descendant of Coniah, He avoided this curse on Coniah by gaining biological descent through Joseph's wife Mary, which avoided the line of Coniah. 

The text above said that Josiah's righteous acts demonstrated his "knowing God." Jeremiah wrote in an ealier text:

Thus says the LORD, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the righ man glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindess, judgment, and righteousness on earth.
For in these I delight," says the LORD (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

God grants authority and wisdom to us not simply for self-preservation and personal benefit but so that we may bless others, upholding justice, practicing mercy, and defending the weak In these ways the LORD says we glorify Him and please Him. 

The LORD commanded Jeremiah to tell the beseiged people of Judah, "Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death" (21:8). The way of death was to remain in the city, where sword, famine and pestilence would kill them. The way of life was to surrender to the Babylonians. 

King Zedekiah had ssent his servants to the prophet Jeremiah. He was hoping that "perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, tha tthe king [i.e. Nebuchadnezzar] would go away from" (21:2). He would be sorely dissappointed, because Jeremiah would bring him news that God was against him and the people of Judah, so that any who still remained in the besieged city would soon be killed without mercy by Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king (cf. 21:7).

Zedekiah would be captured by the Babylonians, his sons killed, then his eyes put out, so that the death of his children would be the last thing he would remember as he languished in a Babylonian dungeon the rest of his days.

Yet, he had gone to Jeremiah with the hope that the LORD would deliver him! What did he do wrong?!

He did not trust and obey the LORD!

He may have humbled himself. He may have done the right thing by seeking to hear from the LORD through God's prophet. There was nothing wrong with hoping for mercy. But Zedekiah did not listen when God answered him, and finally, God simply left him to be judged.

It is not enough simply to be humble. It is not enough simply to inquire of God. These things are but means to an end, namely, to trust and obey God. As Solomon wrote,

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing,whether it is good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

The fear of God should lead to keeping God's commandments. Again, we read these words from Micah:

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

Here too, humility before God should produce acts of justice and mercy, which are what God requires from His good servants. 

When God has shown us the right thing to do, it does no good to simply hope for God to change His mind. In fact, the Bible says that if we know the right thing to do and choose not to do it, it is sin for us (James 4:17). It would be foolish to think that God would bless us when we sin in this way. On the other hand, James also wrote, 

But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do (James 1:25).

Consequently, as failure to obey will bring certain judgment, obedience will bring promised blessing. 

But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’ (Jeremiah 18:12).

There are different interpretations of what is meant by the response of the people, "It's hopeless!" It is also translated "It's no use!" and "Don't waste your breath!" and "That is in vain!" Some understand this expression as defiance, tantamount to their telling Jeremiah to shut up about judgment and their need for repentance. Others understand this as the people saying Jeremiah's words are hopeless and vain. 

Jeremiah declared God's oracle of judgment and called the people to repent, but they respond, "It's hopeless!" What's interesting here was that they acknowledge that each of them was acting "according to the stubbornness of his evil heart." They did not try to sugar coat their actions. They were addicted to their idolatry and there was no changing them. 

Friends, sometimes I wonder if this level of hopelessness enters into the mind of an addict or even someone suffering clinical depression, where they imagine that they cannot change. They know the wrongness of their course, but they feel helpless to change it. In light of their feeling of entrapment, they devise ways to cope and fight the guilty feelings and frustrating calls to repent.

In Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he reminded them about the stubborn rebellion of the Israelites during their Exodus wanderings in the wilderness. They gave in to temptation and suffered the consequences for their sins. Paul wrote that these Israelites of old were examples for the Corinthian believers to observe and learn:

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Corinthians 10:11-12).

The Corinthians may have indeed observed, but instead of learning, they may have despaired. If such things happened to the great majority of their ancestors, what hope did they have of doing any better? Yet, Paul did not end his exhortation at verse 12. He continued with a most remarkable promise:

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:13-14).

Paul declared that God would not allow them to be so carried away by temptation that they would be completely lost to it. It was not a guarantee that they would not fall into temptation and sin but that they would not be hopelessly caught in it. They could repent. They could escape the idolatry and return to the Lord. 

Friends, are you sometimes weighed down by your powerlessness against temptation and sin? Do you feel hopelessly caught up in feelings and behaviors that do not honor God or express your confidence in Him? Don't despair. Even if you are again at the bottom rung of the ladder of faith, remember that God has put you on the ladder, you will never fall off, and He will enable you to climb up again. 

At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it (Jeremiah 18:7-10).

We have this very interesting explanation of the nature of God's oracles of judgment and blessing under the Old Covenant. Notably, they were not absolute prophecies but pronouncements of judgment pending response. They were not absent the possibility of retraction. When God pronounced judgment on a nation, the nation was given an opportunity to repent. And if they did, the oracle allowed for God to relent of the judgment He pronounced upon them. On the other hand, if God pronounced blessing on a nation, God could retract that blessing if the nation turned away from Him. 

These provisions were always a part of the Old Covenant Law, which consisted not only of commands, but also of curses for disobedience and blessings for obedience.

Notably, we see this dramatically illustrated in the prophecy of Jonah. He simply and solely announced disaster against Nineveh, the dreaded Assyrian enemy of Israel. However, when the king and people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, God relented from the disaster that He pronounced against the city. Now, did God change His mind? In light of what we understand about judgment oracles, we would have to answer "No," because every such oracle leaves room for God to relent if there is repentance. It takes nothing away from God's omniscience and immutability. Rather than thinking that God changed His mind, it would be more accurate to say that He did not reveal His whole mind to Jonah, although Jonah's own words suggest that he knew that that was God's intent:

Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity (Jonah 4:2).

God is not fickle to change His mind on a whim. People do this because they get new information to dissuade their thinking from one course of action to another. But how can One, who knows all things, both the beginning and the end, get new information that He does not already know:

If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything (1 John 3:20).

I make known the end from the beginning,
    from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
    and I will do all that I please’ (Isaiah 46:10).

Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely (Psalm 139:4).

So is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:11).

God is omniscient and always achieves His purposes, therefore, it would be unbiblical to claim that God changes His mind.

God is not human, that he should lie,
    not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
    Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers 23:19).

I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed (Malachi 3:6).

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17).

Let us, therefore, understand: God does not change, and He does not change His mind as to His definite predictions of the future. He knows the end from the beginning, but He does not always let us see everything. Today's passage helps us to understand that with respect to God's oracles of judgment and blessing tied to the Old Covenant, these are not definite predictions of what will be but conditional pronouncements of judgment.

Friends, there are some who use the fact that God has these conditional oracles to argue that prophecies can fail. They use this to justify their failed prophecies or the failed prophecies of other modern-day, self-proclaimed prophets. In doing this, they hope to remove from themselves and their companion false prophets any accountability. After all, if their prophecy does not come true, they can simply say that God changed His mind. They have committed the error of generalization, deining all prophetic pronouncements the same. They are not. The Law was a prophetic pronouncement by Moses with blessings and curses, but it was conditioned on the response of those under the Law. Isaiah's prophecy of the birth, reign and action of Cyrus, the future king of Persia, was not a conditional pronouncement. 

Now, a general note on prophecies. God clearly declared that prophecies that contradict what He has already revealed and prophecies that don't come true are not of Him:

I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.” You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed (Deuteronomy 18:19-22).

Friends, I know of pastors, who are "false prophets," prophesying lies and blaming their failures on the very persons to whom they pronounce their prophecies. There is a school of prophets in Kansas City that even boasts of producing prophets that grow in accuracy over time. There are even theologians that try to redefine "prophecy," arguing that New Testament prophecy can be fallible even though Old Testament prophecy was not. This has no basis in Scripture. What havoc would this kind of thinking do to passages like this:

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).

If prophecies were ever falliable, how can anyone rely on biblical prophecy. If prophecies were fallible, then God's Word would be fallible. And if God's Word is fallible, how can anything it says be trusted. Those that try to claim that biblical prophecy is inerrant while today's spoken prophecies are not stand on very shaky ground. Did God somehow speak infallibly through one group and fallibly through the other? This is simply human invention and has no biblical basis. There are certain gifts from God that do not allow for fallibility because allowing for such would strike at the very integrity of God. Prophecy is definitely one of these gifts. Some try to argue that just because some gifts, like the gift of administration, seems not to require "perfection," we must, therefore, assume that the gift of prophecy does not require perfection. This is a non-sequitur fallacy. Just because there is a shared category ("gifts") does not mean that everything within that category share all the same requirements. And even if they did, why should we assume fallibility as the standard and not infallibility, which is more biblically defensible?

Dear friends, beware of false prophets!

At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it (Jeremiah 18:7-10).

God says that when He pronounces an oracle of judgment, if the nation repents, He would relent from the judgment He pronounced. God demonstrated that He consistently does this, whether it is with respect to an individual (e.g. Manasseh) or a nation city (e.g. Nineveh).

God also says that when He pronounces a blessing, if the nation is disobedient to Him, He would relent from the blessing He pronounced. Again, and particularly with the nation of Israel, God demonstrated that He consistently does this. For example, He brought them into the Promised Land of Canaan and blessed them with prosperity, but they disobeyed His Law; therefore, He judged them and ultimately threw them out of the land.

Now, most of us recognize that He has always worked in this way with respect to His oracles of judgment and promises of blessing in the Old Testament; however, some today have used this to support the very wrong proposition that prophesies from God can fail. The fallacy here is one of taking something particular and making a generalization from it. It is like saying that because John the Baptist wore camel skin and lived off locusts in the desert, everyone should do the same. It is a failure in recognizing that John the Baptist was a special case and not a model for every believer to follow. After all, there is never a command to model our lives after John the Baptist. Certainly, Jesus did not live this way. It is this very generalizing of particular Scriptures that led to the Monastic Movement, along with all the errors it introduced into the Roman Catholic Church. We have this going on even in evangelical churches today.

From the beginning of the giving of the Law, God indicated that oracles of judgment and blessing were conditional, dependent on the obedience of the people. Therefore, we cannot compare this to someone else, who prophecies something and it does not come true. If there is a general truth, it is not that prophecies can fail but that prophecies can never fail:

You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).

Therefore, when someone from Kansas City prophesies that someone will get a particular job, or if a pastor prophecies that a couple will stay together, or another prophecies that there would be rain in a particular day after months of drought or another that Christ would come on a certain day, and these things do not come true, they are false prophets. In the Old Testament such presumptuous prophesying was punishable by death:

But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death (Deuteronomy 18:20).

It is a shameful thing that professing Christians embrace the notion of fallible prophecies or even the distorted idea that prophets can mature into their gift. Where do these unbiblical ideas come from? They originate from the very false prophets, who seek to justify their false prophecies. They diligently search the Scriptures, but not for truth, but for anything that will justify their error. And they do this notoriously by taking verses out of context. 

Friends, some of you know of people that encourage others to "prophecy," as if everyone should prophecy. Some of you know people that say, "God told me..." and when their prophecy does not come true, they make some excuse for it. If you have been studying the Bible carefully, you also recognize those that loosely interpret the Bible, taking verses out of the context in which they were given and immediately applying them to their own experience, or worse to that of others.

But you may say, "We don't hold to what they practice or believe." But, you finance their ministries. You are silent when you hear their errors, even though they are influencing others, who are too immature in the faith to know any better. Are we not called to judge those within the church?

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:12).

If you find yourselves standing idly by, do you think that you will not be held to account? We are called to turn our brothers, even pastors and teachers, from their error:

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins (James 5;19-20).

Jeremiah was a very minority voice of truth among the many false prophets of his day. Yet, he stood on the Word of God, even when it meant that he was alone in doing so. Today, there are many false prophets, who tout this word from the Lord or that word from the Lord, which goes beyond or against God's written and only authoritative Word. They claim the authority for themselves but refuse accountability. I believe that God will judge them most severely. But let us not be duped by them. Instead, let us steadfastly stand solely on God's Word.

Look at what God says to Shallum, the wicked son of the good king Josiah:

"Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor. He says, 'I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.' So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red. "Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the Lord. "But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion." (Jeremiah 22:13-17 NIV)

Wow! What a perspective. King Shallum (or Jehoahaz) chose to grow a greater kingdom than his father Josiah. In Shallum's mind the greatness of a kingdom was defined by the splendor of his palace. But Josiah defined his kingdom by spiritual and moral reform. Shallum was about increasing his own glory, represented by a large and beautifully decorated royal palace. But Josiah led the nation in humbling themselves with fasting and repentance, especially when they rediscovered the Law of God, which they learned that they had been violating for generations. 

God asks Shallum, "Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?" Does it make you a king by making your palace grander? God contrasts Shallum with his father Josiah. God simply says, "Did not your father have food and drink?" In other words, your father was not needy. But in contrast to Shallum, Josiah "did what was right and just" and "defended the cause of the poor and needy." Josiah was just and merciful. Then in a rhetorical flourish God declares, "Is that not what it means to know me?" I am reminded of what God says in the Book of Micah:

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8 NIV)

Shallum would be judged because his eyes and heart were "set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion." He did not folow in his father's good footsteps.

Friends, I don't gather from this that Josiah was a bad father, for the Scriptures do not say so, but we can say that Shallum was a bad son. Even so, I am reminded that I should do all I can to teach and exemplify godliness to my daughter. But I realize that in the course of time she will go her own way, and I can only hope that my influence will be felt in her for the good. 

But there is also a message for us. Let us stop being so concerned with worldly gain and focus more on pleasing God. "To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" is not just an Old Covenant message. It is reaffirmed in the New Covenant, even in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus teaches, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness..." (Matthew 6:33). Jesus illustrated this manner of life in his parable about the sheep and goats:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Matthew 25:34-46 NIV)

Friends, God says, when we do justly, love mercy, and walk in humility, then we come to know our God. I am beginning to understand that in the final analysis, after all has been said and done, what matters is not how many services I attend, how many prayers I pray, nor how much Scripture I know, but whether my life humbly and consistently reflects God's justice and mercy. 

Father in heaven, I confess that I have not understood a large part of what pleases You. While I understand my own sinful helplessness and absolute dependence upon You for salvation, I have not understood that the nature of my daily walk with you needs to be characterized by justice and mercy. I realize that only as my life reflects Your justice and mercy will I come to know you more. Remove from me every jealousy, bitterness or worldly ambition. Teach me instead to focus on upholding Your Name, that is, your reputation, proclaiming and vindicating it by acts of justice and mercy and the declaration of the Good News of Christ. And I pray this not only for myself but also for my family, over whom I have most immediate influence. I also pray this for the larger community here, as well as those at church and in the Youn Wha Organization and everyone far and near, toward whom You have allowed me to have any measure of influence. Amen.

In Jer. 20:7-18 we find Jeremiah complaining to God for the situation that obedience has put him in.  In the middle of his complaint he gives God praise (v. 13)!  What is going on?!  As I thought about this I realized I have recently done something similar.  Earlier this week I felt as if life wasn't fair.  I complained to God because I couldn't hold it in and who better to complain to.  In doing so, I realized my complaining was not just doubting but toeing the line of disbelief.  This brought me to utter the words, "Forgive me LORD, you are the Almighty, you know what is going on and it is I that am insufficient in my understanding.  I trust in you.  I want to trust in you more.  You are my provider."

Rather than leave this passage with the understanding that Jeremiah was a schizophrenic basket case, I realized his faith waivers just like mine.  I also realized that just like Jeremiah I too can praise God in the midst of doubt and self-pity.  In doing so there is comfort and power to live for Christ. In doing so I also was reminded that living for Christ is not a weekly or daily occurrence.  It is in everything we do.  Our faith should not be bound by things that might be considered spiritual - like going to church on Sunday, small group meetings or even our quiet time.  Praising God for who He is and not just what He does is difficult in times of trouble and despair but we can be assured that our obedience has its reward.

"Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be as a prize to him. For I have set My face against this city for adversity and not for good,” says the LORD. “It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.”’ (Jeremiah 21:8-10)

What a message that Jeremiah had to bring to the king and to the people! It was a message of capitulation. It was not, as Isaiah to Hezekiah, "Trust in the LORD and He will deliver you", but rather "Give up!" Why? Because God had determined to do harm to anyone who does not surrender to the Babylonian King. It was like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. The sins of Judah had piled up so high that there was no other recourse than complete destruction. The best anyone could do, as Lot and his family, was to flee the city, or in this case, surrender to Nebuchadnezzar.

Now the people thought that surrender to Nebuchadnezzar was the worst possible fate for them. To allow the city and the temple to be destroyed was the worst thing they could do. What they did not realize was that God's power was not limited to the geography of Jerusalem, nor His presence to the Temple. They still did not see that God was sovereign over all the great rulers throughout the world, including King Nebuchadnezzar. They needed to fear God more than Nebuchadnezzar, and whatever His command, whether to stay, to flee, to fight, or even to surrender, they needed to OBEY God. Abraham understood this when he obeyed God, even when God asked him to do what he knew to be a pagan practice, namely, the sacrificing of children to the gods. God commanded him to sacrifice Isaac to him. And he OBEYED. And God commended Abraham's faith.

Jeremiah had a hard time bringing this message when everyone was against him. He was among the few voices to prophecy destruction rather than peace. He was repudiated and incarcerated for his message. Even so, he OBEYED God.

In times past, dear friends, I argued that there is no good apart from God, even that God, as the Lawmaker, designs what is good, and everything that departs from the standard He sets is evil. Unfortunately, today, even a notable a figure as Dr. Norman Geisler, the great philosopher, debater and theologian has a wrong-headed conception of good and God, making "good" as eternal and essential as God Himself. If this is true, then on what basis do we say that God's command to Abraham to sacrifice his son is "good." Also, how is it essentially "good" that God ordered the Israelites to annihilate the people of Jericho, even their children and animals? How is God hardening Pharaoh's heart good? How is God sending a lying spirit to Ahab good? How is God's punishment of just Job good? How is God raising up Judas to betray the Messiah even before Judas is born good? How is God sending or allowing the tsumani that killed over a hundred thousand people good?

No, dear friends, there is no good apart from God. Things are good because God wills it so. There is no eternal good, but God is eternal, and whatever He chooses, that is good. Hypothetically speaking, if "Thou shalt not murder" was instead "Thou shalt murder," then murdering would be good. This seems like a very shocking statement, but I hope this will keep us from standing in judgment on what God says or does. We do not have this position or right to judge God's Law, as James argues in James 4:11-12, "But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy." God is the only Lawgiver. Only He can judge His law, and even change it as He sees fit. He can do so because He made it. Thus, we see the passing away of the food laws, the sacrificial system, the practicing of special days, etc., as contained in the Law of Moses. Even the whole Law of Moses gets displaced by the New Covenant in Christ. Moreover, He is the only One that is truly above the Law. The Law of Moses was made for man and not for God. Therefore, if God afflicts or kills seemingly indiscrimately, He has every right to do it, for He is the Creator of all things. As He freely brought us into the world, He can just as freely take us out. But praise God that we do not serve an inconsistent and capricious God, but a God who is the "same yesterday, today and forever" (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). Now, this does not mean that He cannot change His laws, but it does suggest that God's ways are completely consistent with Himself.

Therefore, friends, let us follow God's Word. No more. No less. Why look for a revival, a new prophecy, a miraculous healing, or some new experience when you are already complete in Christ (Colossians 1:27-28)? Simply trust God and obey His Word. If you add too many props into your life, these will become like idols in your life, like the bronze snake in Moses' day or Gideon's ephod. And I believe, that in the final analysis, these will be a stumbling block to your faith.