Originally posted: 9/11/2021
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge… (4:6).
Three times God repeats Himself as He lays out His case against His people. And we definitely know what that means. Due to the nature of God’s complaints and the ensuing outcome, we know it will serve us well if we sit up and pay careful attention. For as He brings His judgment against a disobedient and rebellious nation, He also delivers His Decided Defense Against Destruction.
God’s case all came down to this: how His people had regarded the Knowledge of Him.
Because they did not listen to the word of the Lord, there was no Knowledge of God; resulting in a lifestyle that was adamantly opposed to the way He had commanded His people to conduct their lives.
Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel,
For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land,
Because there is no faithfulness or kindness
Or knowledge of God in the land, (4:1).
And because they flat out rejected Knowledge, they themselves would be rejected and Destroyed; they would reap what they had sown.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being My priest.
Since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children, (4:6).
And this chapter goes into great lengths to describe the details of their reaping, the punishment and Destruction they would suffer resulting from their indifference and negligence toward seeking the Knowledge of God.
And the Lord had repeatedly told His people then, as He repeatedly tells us now: Destruction comes upon those who reject and disregard His Decided Defense He has so graciously provided through the Knowledge of Him, declared in His Holy Works and revealed in His God-Breathed Word, inspired by His Holy Spirit.
Consider His Decided Defense Against Destruction
- His Decided Defense Against Destruction is in the Enduring Knowledge of Him that warns and rewards.
- The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple…
11 Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great reward, (Psalm 19:7, 11).
- The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
- His Decided Defense Against Destruction is in keeping and treasuring the Knowledge of Him in our hearts.
- How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word…
11 Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You, (Psalm 119:9, 11).
- How can a young man keep his way pure?
- His Decided Defense Against Destruction is in our understanding the Knowledge of Him.
- Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord, (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
- His Decided Defense Against Destruction is in living our life by the Knowledge of Him.
- But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God,’” (Matthew 4:4)
- His Decided Defense Against Destruction is in the Knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Eternal Life.
- This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent, (John 17:3).
- His Decided Defense Against Destruction is in the encouragement and hope we have in the Knowledge of Him.
- For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope, (Romans 15:4).
- His Decided Defense Against Destruction is in the Knowledge of Him given in His God-Breathed, Inspired Word.
- All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work, (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
How do we respond to His Decided Defense Against Destruction?
Oh, His Heart, desiring that all men be saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth.
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
The place to begin in our response is in making sure we have come to the Knowledge and Love of the Truth through Jesus Christ, for it is His Decided Defense Against Destruction, fully revealed in the last days.
that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved, (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).
He has not required that we merely learn facts; His Decided Defense Against Destruction is that we come in faith to the Knowledge of the Truth that we would Know Him.
always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, (2 Timothy 3:7).
Knowing Christ as our Savior is His ultimate Decided Defense Against Eternal Destruction. But as believers, we must continue to come to the Knowledge of the Truth, committing our time to meditate on His Word so as to be enabled to walk in obedience in this life and thus avoid the Destruction that sin always brings.
“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success,” (Joshua 1:8).
Let us seek His Decided Defense Against Destruction with all our heart.
With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments, (Psalm 119:10).
Let us ask Him to open our eyes to the Knowledge of Him that we would behold the wonderful Truth of His Decided Defense Against Destruction.
Open my eyes, that I may behold
Wonderful things from Your law, (Psalm 119:18).
And let us ask Him to grow us by His grace in the Knowledge of our Savior, that we would walk in His Decided Defense Against Destruction and bring Him glory every day until eternity.
but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen, (2 Peter 3:18).
Oh, that we would learn well from the people of Israel; and even more from the apostle Paul.
Let us pray we would so value the privilege of Knowing Christ Jesus, our Lord; that even when it requires suffering or loss, we would truly grasp His far-surpassing worth above all else, that we would daily live in the confident hope we have in His Decided Defense Against Destruction.
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, (Philippians 3:7-8).
Jesus has guaranteed our freedom from Destruction. It is as we continue in His Word. Let us continue then, as His disciples who have placed our faith in His Decided Defense Against Destruction, set free from the penalty and power of sin, that we would truly and continually follow Him.
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free,” (John 8:31-32).