Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.
Together with the verse before it this is one united word, in which girding and associating mean binding up in companies and forming a ring that voices one another's words, and it assured the faithful in Judah that hostile plans and words against them would fail because God was with them, even when the sanctuary was closed and apostasy and distress spread. As a general rule, human counsel formed without God's aid and against Him, His cause, His people and His purpose comes to nothing and does not stand, for God is with His people and He who is mighty in counsel can bring it to nothing. So also inside God's cause the confederacies and close rings of unconsecrated workers and leading men who leave Christ out, neglect His counsel, set up false waymarks and repeat one another's words to sustain wrong principles and turn souls aside will be broken in pieces and come to confusion, for God is with those who hold present truth and will guard His work and save souls. In the same way the confederacy of evil and the threats, schemes and declarations of evil powers, with their fallacies, human theories and corrupt plans for worldly gain, cannot defeat God's purpose but can advance only in the course marked out for them until they are exposed and finally destroyed. Therefore God's people are not to walk in the way of unbelievers by joining wrong alliances and secret associations or accepting counsel contrary to God, nor to say a confederacy or fear what fearful people fear, but to sanctify the Lord of hosts as holy and their fear and dread, and to stand each in his own lot with firmness and calm courage because Christ lives.
Text and Ancient Assurance
This word belongs together with the preceding verse as one united utterance. To gird is to bind up in companies, and to associate is to form a ring in which members echo one another's words.
The assurance was given to the faithful people of Judah that hostile plans and hostile words against them would fail because God was with them. In a time of apostasy and national distress, even when the sanctuary was closed and idolatry spread, they could still trust His presence and protection. They were to regard the Lord Himself as their sanctuary.
As a general principle, human counsel formed without God's aid and set against God, His cause, His people, and His purpose comes to nothing and does not stand, for God is with His people. The One who is mighty in counsel can bring such counsel to nothing. The lesson is therefore not to depend on human alliances or to act independently of God, but to trust Him and make Him the one to fear. Joining in wrong alliances or accepting counsel contrary to God is deception and a snare.
Opposition Inside God's Cause
Isaiah 8:10 condemns unconsecrated workers, especially in the publishing work, who form confederacies and rings among themselves to sustain one another in wrong principles and wrong courses. To gird themselves is to bind up in companies, and to associate themselves is to form a ring where members voice and echo one another's words. In that setting they set up false waymarks, lead unstable minds into strange paths, and uphold one another in rejecting what God sends, and their united counsel shall come to nought and their word shall not stand. Every such confederacy shall be broken in pieces, for God is with those who hold present truth and seek His counsel and hold to right principles. Those who join or follow such schemes risk losing their integrity.
The same word applies to leading men in responsible councils and institutions connected with God's work who leave Christ out of their councils and neglect to seek God's earnest counsel. They give a wrong mold to the work that causes loss of souls and leads away from safe paths and from safety, rejecting, ridiculing, and strengthening one another in rejecting God's truth, heaven-sent message, and messengers because the message does not coincide with or agree with their ideas. When they bind themselves together in companies against God's work and form a close ring to echo the sentiments and opinions of the most influential man, repeating one another's words while setting up false waymarks and signboards pointing in the wrong direction and endangering souls, their united planning amounts to nothing. Their taking counsel together shall come to nought and their word, decisions, and commands shall not stand or endure but come to confusion and be broken in pieces. For God is with us — with His faithful people, His own cause, His truth and His messengers — to guard His sacred work, overrule opposing plans, save souls from being led away, and carry forward a purpose that will not be turned aside by their ideas. Yet while they stand together their influence causes the loss of many souls and disappoints those who come expecting reverence for the light.
The word also applies to counsellors who meet in a spirit of strife to criticize and censor the American Sentinel, cutting out and changing its articles. The Lord has not presided over their council and their minds and hearts are not under the Spirit of God, so plans laid without Him who is mighty in counsel cannot be sustained by the Lord or followed by the remnant people of God. God will work in spite of them by binding the arm of the mighty who feel strong in themselves and bringing the counsels of the prudent to nothing. In the same way human plans and efforts to control others and bind colleagues to one person's terms will fail when they oppose God, producing dissension instead of love.
Counsel and combinations formed to sustain wrong principles and wrong courses will come to nothing because God is with those who seek His counsel and hold to right principles. Safety requires men of sterling principle who look to God daily, maintain eternal vigilance, refuse trust in pretended purity and false piety, and work in accordance with gospel principles without swerving, even when standing for right is exceedingly difficult.
Final Conflict and Faithfulness
The confederacy of evil, with all its plans, threats, schemes and declarations against God's people, will come to nothing and be broken in pieces because God is with His people. Satan will use his agencies and earthly powers to carry out diabolical devices to overpower the saints and stay the course of truth, as he once used the Roman power against Protestantism, yet their advance cannot defeat God's purpose. That advance can proceed only in the course marked out before it, and every step brings the saints nearer the great white throne and nearer the successful termination of their warfare, until the confederacy is finally destroyed.
The same promise that opposing counsel and word shall not stand applies in the last days to strange fallacies and human-made theories, and to corrupt plans and schemes for worldly gain through deceit, extortion and robbery. God will expose their deceit and wicked works through the consequences of their own actions, and His judgments have already fallen on some cities.
God's people are warned not to walk in the way of unbelievers by joining in wrong alliances, accepting counsel contrary to God, depending on human alliances, or entering intimate associations requiring harmony in spirit and action. This applies not only to marriage of Christians with the ungodly but to all such alliances, including connection with Free Masons and other secret societies, because Christians must be Christians everywhere by the standard of God's Word and keep themselves distinct from idolaters. Such practices are deception and a snare.
They are forbidden to say a confederacy or to fear the fear of fearful people, and are called instead not to fear threats but to sanctify the Lord of hosts, set Him apart as holy, let Him be their fear and dread, and trust Him as the one to fear. He shall be for a sanctuary to them rather than their acting independently of Him.
Each one is called to stand in his own lot and place with firmness even when meeting settled determination and obstruction from leaders, disharmony among workers, and things contrary to the Spirit of God. God's people can look calmly at the whole array of evil and face the conflict without fear because Christ lives and they shall live also. They are to advance in the same spirit in which Jesus met the assaults of the prince of darkness.
Together with the verse before it this is one united word, in which girding and associating mean binding up in companies and forming a ring that voices one another's words, and it assured the faithful in Judah that hostile plans and words against them would fail because God was with them, even when the sanctuary was closed and apostasy and distress spread.
As a general rule, human counsel formed without God's aid and against Him, His cause, His people and His purpose comes to nothing and does not stand, for God is with His people and He who is mighty in counsel can bring it to nothing.
So also inside God's cause the confederacies and close rings of unconsecrated workers and leading men who leave Christ out, neglect His counsel, set up false waymarks and repeat one another's words to sustain wrong principles and turn souls aside will be broken in pieces and come to confusion, for God is with those who hold present truth and will guard His work and save souls.
In the same way the confederacy of evil and the threats, schemes and declarations of evil powers, with their fallacies, human theories and corrupt plans for worldly gain, cannot defeat God's purpose but can advance only in the course marked out for them until they are exposed and finally destroyed.
Therefore God's people are not to walk in the way of unbelievers by joining wrong alliances and secret associations or accepting counsel contrary to God, nor to say a confederacy or fear what fearful people fear, but to sanctify the Lord of hosts as holy and their fear and dread, and to stand each in his own lot with firmness and calm courage because Christ lives.
Text and Ancient Assurance
This word belongs together with the preceding verse as one united utterance. To gird is to bind up in companies, and to associate is to form a ring in which members echo one another's words.
The assurance was given to the faithful people of Judah that hostile plans and hostile words against them would fail because God was with them. In a time of apostasy and national distress, even when the sanctuary was closed and idolatry spread, they could still trust His presence and protection. They were to regard the Lord Himself as their sanctuary.
As a general principle, human counsel formed without God's aid and set against God, His cause, His people, and His purpose comes to nothing and does not stand, for God is with His people. The One who is mighty in counsel can bring such counsel to nothing. The lesson is therefore not to depend on human alliances or to act independently of God, but to trust Him and make Him the one to fear. Joining in wrong alliances or accepting counsel contrary to God is deception and a snare.
Opposition Inside God's Cause
Isaiah 8:10 condemns unconsecrated workers, especially in the publishing work, who form confederacies and rings among themselves to sustain one another in wrong principles and wrong courses. To gird themselves is to bind up in companies, and to associate themselves is to form a ring where members voice and echo one another's words. In that setting they set up false waymarks, lead unstable minds into strange paths, and uphold one another in rejecting what God sends, and their united counsel shall come to nought and their word shall not stand. Every such confederacy shall be broken in pieces, for God is with those who hold present truth and seek His counsel and hold to right principles. Those who join or follow such schemes risk losing their integrity.
The same word applies to leading men in responsible councils and institutions connected with God's work who leave Christ out of their councils and neglect to seek God's earnest counsel. They give a wrong mold to the work that causes loss of souls and leads away from safe paths and from safety, rejecting, ridiculing, and strengthening one another in rejecting God's truth, heaven-sent message, and messengers because the message does not coincide with or agree with their ideas. When they bind themselves together in companies against God's work and form a close ring to echo the sentiments and opinions of the most influential man, repeating one another's words while setting up false waymarks and signboards pointing in the wrong direction and endangering souls, their united planning amounts to nothing. Their taking counsel together shall come to nought and their word, decisions, and commands shall not stand or endure but come to confusion and be broken in pieces. For God is with us — with His faithful people, His own cause, His truth and His messengers — to guard His sacred work, overrule opposing plans, save souls from being led away, and carry forward a purpose that will not be turned aside by their ideas. Yet while they stand together their influence causes the loss of many souls and disappoints those who come expecting reverence for the light.
The word also applies to counsellors who meet in a spirit of strife to criticize and censor the American Sentinel, cutting out and changing its articles. The Lord has not presided over their council and their minds and hearts are not under the Spirit of God, so plans laid without Him who is mighty in counsel cannot be sustained by the Lord or followed by the remnant people of God. God will work in spite of them by binding the arm of the mighty who feel strong in themselves and bringing the counsels of the prudent to nothing. In the same way human plans and efforts to control others and bind colleagues to one person's terms will fail when they oppose God, producing dissension instead of love.
Counsel and combinations formed to sustain wrong principles and wrong courses will come to nothing because God is with those who seek His counsel and hold to right principles. Safety requires men of sterling principle who look to God daily, maintain eternal vigilance, refuse trust in pretended purity and false piety, and work in accordance with gospel principles without swerving, even when standing for right is exceedingly difficult.
Final Conflict and Faithfulness
The confederacy of evil, with all its plans, threats, schemes and declarations against God's people, will come to nothing and be broken in pieces because God is with His people. Satan will use his agencies and earthly powers to carry out diabolical devices to overpower the saints and stay the course of truth, as he once used the Roman power against Protestantism, yet their advance cannot defeat God's purpose. That advance can proceed only in the course marked out before it, and every step brings the saints nearer the great white throne and nearer the successful termination of their warfare, until the confederacy is finally destroyed.
The same promise that opposing counsel and word shall not stand applies in the last days to strange fallacies and human-made theories, and to corrupt plans and schemes for worldly gain through deceit, extortion and robbery. God will expose their deceit and wicked works through the consequences of their own actions, and His judgments have already fallen on some cities.
God's people are warned not to walk in the way of unbelievers by joining in wrong alliances, accepting counsel contrary to God, depending on human alliances, or entering intimate associations requiring harmony in spirit and action. This applies not only to marriage of Christians with the ungodly but to all such alliances, including connection with Free Masons and other secret societies, because Christians must be Christians everywhere by the standard of God's Word and keep themselves distinct from idolaters. Such practices are deception and a snare.
They are forbidden to say a confederacy or to fear the fear of fearful people, and are called instead not to fear threats but to sanctify the Lord of hosts, set Him apart as holy, let Him be their fear and dread, and trust Him as the one to fear. He shall be for a sanctuary to them rather than their acting independently of Him.
Each one is called to stand in his own lot and place with firmness even when meeting settled determination and obstruction from leaders, disharmony among workers, and things contrary to the Spirit of God. God's people can look calmly at the whole array of evil and face the conflict without fear because Christ lives and they shall live also. They are to advance in the same spirit in which Jesus met the assaults of the prince of darkness.