Isaiah 8:11, commentary and pictures

The Lord laid a firm, powerful hand upon His servant to instruct him not to walk in the way of this people. That means saying no confederacy to all to whom the people say a confederacy, forming no alliance or intimate association with unbelievers, including secret societies, and forming no closed, exclusive confederacy among God's own people that carries things by its own supposed wisdom. His people are not to fear their fear nor be afraid of ridicule, rejection, or want, but to sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself and let Him be their fear and dread, and to the obedient He will be a sanctuary. All teaching is to be tested by the law and to the testimony, and if men speak not according to this word there is no light in them. To those who obey He is a sanctuary, but to both ancient and modern Israel who resist His will He is a stone of stumbling and rock of offense in Christ, over His self-denying life and perfect obedience to God's law, and in the last days the confederacy against the saints will be broken in pieces because God is with His people.

Warning in Its Setting

The Lord spoke to His servant with a strong hand, laying a firm and powerful instruction upon him not to walk in the way of this people. That strong instruction was a refusal to follow the people's way and to join their fears and alliances. It belongs to a warning that human alliances formed against God will fail.

The verse is to be read with what surrounds it, with verses 9 and 10 opening a further word that charges each one to stand in his lot and place and not to walk in the way of those who stand in the way of the work. It is to be read with verses 11-12 as direct guidance from the Lord carrying the warning that follows. It is to be read as part of Isaiah 8:9-22 as a warning against following one's own wisdom and choosing a course God has forbidden.

Not walking in that way means saying no confederacy to all to whom the people say a confederacy. It means forming no confederacy or alliance with unbelievers, with those who know not the truth and know not the Father and the Son. It means refusing all intimate associations that require harmony in spirit and action, including membership in the Free Masons or other secret societies. Those employed in God's work must not adopt the world's alliances or measures.

It also forbids a closed confederacy among God's own people formed after the manner and customs of the world. That is the gathering of a chosen, like-minded circle who think alike and approve every plan. It is saying Amen to proposed plans and carrying things by supposed wisdom while excluding others.

The world is not to be the criterion for deciding what to do or not do. God's workers are not to hear the counsel or follow the plans suggested by unbelievers. They are to obey orders from above, let the Lord work, and let the Lord's voice be heard. That warning is applied to refusing confederacies with unbelievers and taking the Lord rather than the world as guide.

Fearing God Holding Standard

God's people are charged not to share the fear of the surrounding people nor to be afraid of what they fear. That includes fear of ridicule and rejection and want for obeying God's commandments and separating from the world, which betrays unbelief in His care and provision, and it forbids joining the confederacy of evil or echoing its talk out of fear. The warning rejects both the people's alliances and their anxieties as a rule for action.

Instead they are to sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself, regarding Him as holy and letting Him be their fear and their dread. They are to honor and fear and trust Him alone rather than follow human counsel and fear. To those who obey in this way He will be a sanctuary.

All teaching is to be tested by the law and to the testimony, with the testimony bound up and the law sealed among disciples, for if men speak not according to this word there is no light in them. Those bearing responsibility need the heavenly anointing of the Spirit to quicken their discernment of sacred realities. Their work is to give precious, pure, winnowed instruction that accords with God's law and testimony, and to bear the clear-cut first, second, and third angels' messages with pen and voice, not in a tame, indistinct whisper. God's disciples are thus charged to preserve the testimony and keep the law even when a once-united company divides and resisters fall.

To the obedient He is a sanctuary, but to both houses of Israel He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and a gin and a snare to Jerusalem. Both ancient and modern Israel have stumbled over that Rock, which is Christ. Christ offends by His life of self-denial and self-sacrifice, by His purity, by His exalted standard, and by His perfect obedience to God's law. Men turn the great sacrifice made to redeem man from Satan's power and the curse of the law into the claim that Christ abolished God's law, so that through Satan's devices God's great standard of righteousness, the representation of His character, is made a rock of offense, setting the Christ of the Old Testament to oppose and contradict the Christ of the New, Christ arrayed against Christ.

Faithful Separation Today

To refuse that way is to refuse to live independent of God's will, providences, plans and Spirit, for supposed independence is slavery to a power in rebellion against God. It is to do duty with an eye single to God's glory, to fill time working out God's plan, to be Christians everywhere according to God's Word, and to trust Him to add all needed things. It is to keep distinct from unbelievers and to refuse all alliances that bring into intimate association requiring harmony in spirit and action, including membership in the Free Masons or other secret societies.

The Lord's work must be kept distinguished from the common affairs of life and must not follow worldly ways, alliances, or measures. Especially those in the editorial chair and in publishing institutions must refuse counsel contrary to God's word and follow His word instead, giving precious, pure, winnowed instruction that accords with law and testimony.

The warning reaches professed believers who depart from obedience for human theories, worldly motives, and resistance to God's warnings. It reaches practices and counsels that may seem right but are deceptive and become a snare. It forbids heeding counsels to make less prominent the special vital truths that separated God's people from the world and made them what they are, calling instead for bearing the clear-cut first, second, and third angels' messages with pen and voice and not in a tame indistinct whisper.

In the last days Satan will use human agencies to overpower the saints as Rome was once used to hinder Protestantism. Yet God's people can look calmly on the whole array because Christ lives and they shall live also, the evil advance can go only where Christ permits and every step brings the saints nearer the great white throne and the successful end of warfare. The confederacy will be broken in pieces and finally destroyed because God is with His people, its counsel coming to nothing. A once-united company divides, the obedient trusting God as sanctuary while those resisting His will and the Spirit's warnings stumble, fall, and are caught in a snare despite knowledge of Scripture and work as teachers of Bible truth, and their ruin is certain.

As perils thicken, self-sacrificing workers who founded God's institutions in sacrifice must keep their special interest, pray more earnestly for prosperity, and keep a part in important councils. This is because suggestions from those who do not know the character of God's work for this time weaken God's instrumentalities and set aside the counsel of Christ for pagan counsel.