Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
The verse pictures a rebellious and lying people who refuse to hear the law of the Lord, telling the seers to see not and the prophets to speak not right things but smooth things and deceits. To demand that the Holy One of Israel cease from before them is to reject His messengers and silence their warnings and reproof so He will no longer confront them, refusing His presence and authority in favor of agreeable falsehoods. It is choosing a way of one's own and finite human counsel instead of the way God has shown, despising His word while trusting in oppression and in men. Such rejection brings sudden ruin like a swelling breach in a high wall, while strength lies only in returning and rest in God, and the warning was written in a book for time to come because that same rebellion would increase in after ages. It was fulfilled when the Jews rejected Christ's final mercy and were left to the destroyer they had chosen, and it is fulfilled again by God's professed people who despise reproof, hush the admonitory voice, and demand soothing words that encourage presumption and false peace.
Meaning of the Demand
The demand comes from a rebellious and lying people who will not hear the law of the Lord. They tell the seers to see not and the prophets to prophesy not right things, but to speak smooth things and prophesy deceits. They command the messengers to get out of the way and turn aside out of the path, and to cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before them. In this they want true messengers silenced so they will no longer be annoyed by reproof, and want the presence of the Holy One withdrawn from view.
To demand that the Holy One cease from before them is to reject His messengers and silence their warnings and reproof so He will no longer confront them. It is refusal of His presence and authority and of the right counsel that exposes sin. It is hostility toward the pure testimony and disdain for the message, with preference for agreeable falsehoods and pleasing, deceitful words that suit those who hear them.
The demand means choosing a way of one's own instead of the way God has shown. It means choosing finite, erring human counsel and practicing principles He warned against, despising His word while trusting in oppression and perverseness and staying thereon. It means putting trust in men and making flesh the arm, putting trust in disobedient men whose voices turn things upside down. Choosing such independent judgment despite light received brings the soul into peril.
Even those who have received great light and opportunity can thus oppose righteousness by refusing to hear and obey. They brace themselves against God's will and way. They hate the message and its messengers, refuse warnings and reproof, resist truth when it challenges conduct, and insist on words that suit their own wishes and please them.
Judgment and Past Fulfillment
To turn from the right word and lean on crooked ways brings sudden collapse like a bulging break in a high wall that shatters in an instant, while safety and strength are found in turning back to God and in quiet rest and trust, a remedy the rebellious refuse. The demand to be left alone is hostility to plain testimony and a choice for pleasing falsehoods and deceits over right counsel that exposes sin, a refusal of divine presence and authority in favor of finite, erring human counsel and of oppression and perverseness leaned upon. In the latter-day setting this same spirit appears against those who uphold the commandments and the prophetic gift, and despising the word in this way leads to sudden destruction.
The command to write the rebuke on a tablet and record it in a book for the time to come for ever and ever shows the warning was not for ancient Israel alone but for all who live on earth as an enduring testimony against rebellion. The defiance shown then was to increase in later ages, with seers told not to see and prophets told not to speak right things but to speak smooth things, to step out of the way and withdraw the Holy One of Israel from view.
The Jews had long pressed this demand that the Holy One cease confronting them, and when they rejected Christ's final offer of mercy and persecuted His disciples, divine protection and restraint were withdrawn and they were left to Satan's control and to the destructive power they had chosen. In this their wish was granted, that the fear of God should trouble them no more.
The same warning declares that those who cling to impurity and uncleanness and will not repent and forsake it will fall with the wicked when judgment is executed. Those who belong to God's kingdom in the earth made new will be saints and not sinners.
Warning for Last Days
The demand is fulfilled in the last days by God's professed people when they use their influence against what He sends through His chosen agencies, link with the world in spirit and practice, and endeavor to turn others from truth and righteousness. They despise messages that reprove backslidings and warn of false security, and use every device to hush the admonitory voice so that words will be spoken that foster pride, encourage presumption, and soothe the conscience into false peace. Those who take this course are permitted to go on in the way of their own choosing, with the privilege of having their errors pointed out taken from them. Then no prophecy awakens them from carnal security and no warning puts them to shame or leads them to repentance, which makes it impossible to accept the gospel of Christ.
In this latter-day setting the same spirit is manifested against those who uphold God's commandments and prophetic gifts, expressing hostility toward the pure testimony and a preference for smooth, deceitful messages. It is repeated among those who have had privileges and opportunities and have seen the Lord work in a marked manner, yet oppose righteousness. The demand describes professed teachers and men in responsible positions who have great light from the Word yet are not converted in heart and soul. They keep old hereditary and cultivated character while acting as counsellors and wise men, mingling their own spirit with counsel and perverting principle, joining together to do what God has expressly forbidden, walking contrary to God, misrepresenting and insulting Him and abusing His honor until justice and mercy and love fall in the streets, demanding that the Holy One cease from before them rather than obey plain directions. It will be fulfilled in all who claim to be teachers while acting out this rebellion in principle, whose eyes are blinded so that they weaken the Lord's work and dishonor truth of heavenly origin, in contrast to the remnant who will be purified, made white, and tried and who will see their teachers and hear the way to walk.
The demand also applies to medical workers who are not under heavenly influence, who put trust in men and make flesh their arm and exalt another doing a work God has not assigned. It marks those who seek to make of none effect the messages of reproof and warning God has sent and who brace themselves against His will and His way, refusing to hear and obey. To make this demand is to despise God's reproof and warnings while putting trust in disobedient men whose voices turn things upside down. God's people are now warned to cease trusting such men, for destruction has gone forth upon cities and the day of the Lord is right upon the world when evidence shall be made sure. Those who have followed those perverting voices will themselves be turned where they cannot see and will be as blind men facing coming judgment.
The demand is the heart wish of many worldly professed Christians who, led by Satan, lead souls away from the simplicity of the gospel through worldly company and amusements that plant doubt and skepticism. They want God put out of sight and want only smooth, deceitful preaching, holding a form of godliness without its power while daily cheating their own souls. The Lord answers with displeasure at their evil deeds, withdrawing His favor and the inspiration of His Spirit. He demands decided change of life and character, since good intentions, resolutions, and acts cannot take the place of repentance, faith, and willing obedience. The same attitude is shown by both worldlings and church members toward God's warnings that the Lord is coming in judgment. Though the judgments soon to fall cannot be stood against or warded off by kings or rulers, wealth or influence, and though in many places these judgments are already falling, they say plainly by their attitude that they want none of these rebukes, want none of the warnings, and will not hear. Choosing independent judgment despite the light received brings the soul into peril.
The verse pictures a rebellious and lying people who refuse to hear the law of the Lord, telling the seers to see not and the prophets to speak not right things but smooth things and deceits. To demand that the Holy One of Israel cease from before them is to reject His messengers and silence their warnings and reproof so He will no longer confront them, refusing His presence and authority in favor of agreeable falsehoods. It is choosing a way of one's own and finite human counsel instead of the way God has shown, despising His word while trusting in oppression and in men. Such rejection brings sudden ruin like a swelling breach in a high wall, while strength lies only in returning and rest in God, and the warning was written in a book for time to come because that same rebellion would increase in after ages. It was fulfilled when the Jews rejected Christ's final mercy and were left to the destroyer they had chosen, and it is fulfilled again by God's professed people who despise reproof, hush the admonitory voice, and demand soothing words that encourage presumption and false peace.
Meaning of the Demand
The demand comes from a rebellious and lying people who will not hear the law of the Lord. They tell the seers to see not and the prophets to prophesy not right things, but to speak smooth things and prophesy deceits. They command the messengers to get out of the way and turn aside out of the path, and to cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before them. In this they want true messengers silenced so they will no longer be annoyed by reproof, and want the presence of the Holy One withdrawn from view.
To demand that the Holy One cease from before them is to reject His messengers and silence their warnings and reproof so He will no longer confront them. It is refusal of His presence and authority and of the right counsel that exposes sin. It is hostility toward the pure testimony and disdain for the message, with preference for agreeable falsehoods and pleasing, deceitful words that suit those who hear them.
The demand means choosing a way of one's own instead of the way God has shown. It means choosing finite, erring human counsel and practicing principles He warned against, despising His word while trusting in oppression and perverseness and staying thereon. It means putting trust in men and making flesh the arm, putting trust in disobedient men whose voices turn things upside down. Choosing such independent judgment despite light received brings the soul into peril.
Even those who have received great light and opportunity can thus oppose righteousness by refusing to hear and obey. They brace themselves against God's will and way. They hate the message and its messengers, refuse warnings and reproof, resist truth when it challenges conduct, and insist on words that suit their own wishes and please them.
Judgment and Past Fulfillment
To turn from the right word and lean on crooked ways brings sudden collapse like a bulging break in a high wall that shatters in an instant, while safety and strength are found in turning back to God and in quiet rest and trust, a remedy the rebellious refuse. The demand to be left alone is hostility to plain testimony and a choice for pleasing falsehoods and deceits over right counsel that exposes sin, a refusal of divine presence and authority in favor of finite, erring human counsel and of oppression and perverseness leaned upon. In the latter-day setting this same spirit appears against those who uphold the commandments and the prophetic gift, and despising the word in this way leads to sudden destruction.
The command to write the rebuke on a tablet and record it in a book for the time to come for ever and ever shows the warning was not for ancient Israel alone but for all who live on earth as an enduring testimony against rebellion. The defiance shown then was to increase in later ages, with seers told not to see and prophets told not to speak right things but to speak smooth things, to step out of the way and withdraw the Holy One of Israel from view.
The Jews had long pressed this demand that the Holy One cease confronting them, and when they rejected Christ's final offer of mercy and persecuted His disciples, divine protection and restraint were withdrawn and they were left to Satan's control and to the destructive power they had chosen. In this their wish was granted, that the fear of God should trouble them no more.
The same warning declares that those who cling to impurity and uncleanness and will not repent and forsake it will fall with the wicked when judgment is executed. Those who belong to God's kingdom in the earth made new will be saints and not sinners.
Warning for Last Days
The demand is fulfilled in the last days by God's professed people when they use their influence against what He sends through His chosen agencies, link with the world in spirit and practice, and endeavor to turn others from truth and righteousness. They despise messages that reprove backslidings and warn of false security, and use every device to hush the admonitory voice so that words will be spoken that foster pride, encourage presumption, and soothe the conscience into false peace. Those who take this course are permitted to go on in the way of their own choosing, with the privilege of having their errors pointed out taken from them. Then no prophecy awakens them from carnal security and no warning puts them to shame or leads them to repentance, which makes it impossible to accept the gospel of Christ.
In this latter-day setting the same spirit is manifested against those who uphold God's commandments and prophetic gifts, expressing hostility toward the pure testimony and a preference for smooth, deceitful messages. It is repeated among those who have had privileges and opportunities and have seen the Lord work in a marked manner, yet oppose righteousness. The demand describes professed teachers and men in responsible positions who have great light from the Word yet are not converted in heart and soul. They keep old hereditary and cultivated character while acting as counsellors and wise men, mingling their own spirit with counsel and perverting principle, joining together to do what God has expressly forbidden, walking contrary to God, misrepresenting and insulting Him and abusing His honor until justice and mercy and love fall in the streets, demanding that the Holy One cease from before them rather than obey plain directions. It will be fulfilled in all who claim to be teachers while acting out this rebellion in principle, whose eyes are blinded so that they weaken the Lord's work and dishonor truth of heavenly origin, in contrast to the remnant who will be purified, made white, and tried and who will see their teachers and hear the way to walk.
The demand also applies to medical workers who are not under heavenly influence, who put trust in men and make flesh their arm and exalt another doing a work God has not assigned. It marks those who seek to make of none effect the messages of reproof and warning God has sent and who brace themselves against His will and His way, refusing to hear and obey. To make this demand is to despise God's reproof and warnings while putting trust in disobedient men whose voices turn things upside down. God's people are now warned to cease trusting such men, for destruction has gone forth upon cities and the day of the Lord is right upon the world when evidence shall be made sure. Those who have followed those perverting voices will themselves be turned where they cannot see and will be as blind men facing coming judgment.
The demand is the heart wish of many worldly professed Christians who, led by Satan, lead souls away from the simplicity of the gospel through worldly company and amusements that plant doubt and skepticism. They want God put out of sight and want only smooth, deceitful preaching, holding a form of godliness without its power while daily cheating their own souls. The Lord answers with displeasure at their evil deeds, withdrawing His favor and the inspiration of His Spirit. He demands decided change of life and character, since good intentions, resolutions, and acts cannot take the place of repentance, faith, and willing obedience. The same attitude is shown by both worldlings and church members toward God's warnings that the Lord is coming in judgment. Though the judgments soon to fall cannot be stood against or warded off by kings or rulers, wealth or influence, and though in many places these judgments are already falling, they say plainly by their attitude that they want none of these rebukes, want none of the warnings, and will not hear. Choosing independent judgment despite the light received brings the soul into peril.