But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.
Isaiah 63 belongs among the urgent appeals for God's people to heed His messages after disregarding His reproofs, calling them to stop complaining and doing evil and to repent and be converted. Accepting those words is the way the Lord manifests His power to bring conviction and conversion to souls.
Christ has been with His people from the beginning of sin to dispute Satan's authority on earth, with Satan withstanding the Son of God in every effort to redeem them. The Angel of His presence is Christ, who in love and pity redeemed Israel and bore and carried them. Enshrouded in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, He directed, guided, and counseled them on the journey from Egypt to Canaan. Yet Israel repeatedly rebelled against God and grieved His Holy Spirit.
Their rebellion and vexing of His Holy Spirit was unwillingness to be led and controlled by the voice of the Angel of the Lord, eagerness to vindicate their own course and justify their rebellious feelings, and following their own ideas and plans. They rebelled and vexed His Spirit by casting contempt upon His commandments and despising their requirements. That contempt turned even worship centered on the ark into formalism, hypocrisy, and idolatry, looking to the ark itself for power and salvation as idolatrous nations looked to their gods, instead of associating it with God and honoring His revealed will by obedience to the law it contained. Vexing the Holy Spirit means being averse to reproof and rising up against the words God gives His servants about a person's course. It involves disaffection and murmuring in the heart against God as the best Friend who seeks to do good, separating from Him, refusing His admonitions, and rejecting His Spirit from the heart, which leaves a person careless and indifferent in conduct.
Faint views of God's holiness as the great and terrible God lead to taking His holy name in vain. Using careless and irreverent expressions in prayer vexes and grieves His tender Holy Spirit, so that the grieved Spirit shuts their petitions out of heaven. Grieving God's Spirit through perversity turns Him to be in opposition to His people and to fight against them. Then sin separates them from God so He cannot give them victory, the ark avails little more than a common box with no victory or defense, and the glory of His abiding presence departs, bringing mourning.
Despite that history, God mercifully stretches out His hand to save and restore those who cooperate with His purpose, renewing His covenant that His Spirit will remain among them and telling them not to fear. Those who have grieved His Spirit can turn to Him and He will accept their repentance. When people accept these words and repent of and forsake their iniquity, the Lord manifests His power to bring conviction and conversion to souls and is again present to work by His infinite power.
Isaiah 63 belongs among the urgent appeals for God's people to heed His messages after disregarding His reproofs, calling them to stop complaining and doing evil and to repent and be converted. Accepting those words is the way the Lord manifests His power to bring conviction and conversion to souls.
Christ has been with His people from the beginning of sin to dispute Satan's authority on earth, with Satan withstanding the Son of God in every effort to redeem them. The Angel of His presence is Christ, who in love and pity redeemed Israel and bore and carried them. Enshrouded in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, He directed, guided, and counseled them on the journey from Egypt to Canaan. Yet Israel repeatedly rebelled against God and grieved His Holy Spirit.
Their rebellion and vexing of His Holy Spirit was unwillingness to be led and controlled by the voice of the Angel of the Lord, eagerness to vindicate their own course and justify their rebellious feelings, and following their own ideas and plans. They rebelled and vexed His Spirit by casting contempt upon His commandments and despising their requirements. That contempt turned even worship centered on the ark into formalism, hypocrisy, and idolatry, looking to the ark itself for power and salvation as idolatrous nations looked to their gods, instead of associating it with God and honoring His revealed will by obedience to the law it contained. Vexing the Holy Spirit means being averse to reproof and rising up against the words God gives His servants about a person's course. It involves disaffection and murmuring in the heart against God as the best Friend who seeks to do good, separating from Him, refusing His admonitions, and rejecting His Spirit from the heart, which leaves a person careless and indifferent in conduct.
Faint views of God's holiness as the great and terrible God lead to taking His holy name in vain. Using careless and irreverent expressions in prayer vexes and grieves His tender Holy Spirit, so that the grieved Spirit shuts their petitions out of heaven. Grieving God's Spirit through perversity turns Him to be in opposition to His people and to fight against them. Then sin separates them from God so He cannot give them victory, the ark avails little more than a common box with no victory or defense, and the glory of His abiding presence departs, bringing mourning.
Despite that history, God mercifully stretches out His hand to save and restore those who cooperate with His purpose, renewing His covenant that His Spirit will remain among them and telling them not to fear. Those who have grieved His Spirit can turn to Him and He will accept their repentance. When people accept these words and repent of and forsake their iniquity, the Lord manifests His power to bring conviction and conversion to souls and is again present to work by His infinite power.