Isaiah 8:19, commentary and pictures

A living people are to look for help and knowledge to the living God, not to those who claim to speak with the dead, for the living are never to go to the dead. The command stands in a warning not to walk in the way of the people, join their confederacy, fear their fear, or follow their counsel, since human counsels and words against God will be broken in pieces and come to nothing. What appears as communion with the dead is forbidden intercourse with evil angels impersonating the dead, for the dead know nothing and can teach nothing, while Satan works directly and through his agents to gain trust by revealing hidden past things and predicting some future events. Every teaching and prophetic claim must therefore be measured by God's law and testimony, and if it speaks not according to this word there is no light in it, a test that judges both doctrine and the life of the speaker. This is a safeguard for the present and last days against Spiritualism as a masterpiece of deception, calling God's people to refuse alliance with unbelievers and worldly policy, to sanctify the Lord and make Him their fear, and to obey His commandments and remain distinct.

Wording and Historical Setting

The pointed question at the end turns the whole appeal into a contrast between seeking the living God and consulting the dead, rejecting any looking to the dead for help or knowledge. It warns against seeking guidance from mediums and spiritists and wizards who claim to consult the dead, and directs a people instead to seek unto their God. What appears as spirits of the dead is in fact evil angels deceiving the living, not departed human beings, and accepting those false spirits in place of the Holy Spirit leads to mistaking Satan's messengers for God's work and rejecting the evidence and instruction given through God's Word.

The saying belongs to Isaiah 8:11-20, which warns against walking in the way of this people, against saying a confederacy to those who call for a confederacy, against fearing their fear and being afraid, and against following the people's counsel. That section goes with the promise in Isaiah 8:9-10 that human associations and counsels and words spoken against God shall be broken in pieces and come to nothing and to nought because God is with His people. It calls everyone to stand in his lot and place when leaders stand in the way of the work and there is disharmony among workers and work on lines having no connection with the ministry of Christ. God's voice, not the world's counsel, is to guide His people, and He must be sanctified as Lord of hosts and made their fear and their dread.

In its setting, sorcery and witchcraft were founded on the belief that the living could communicate with departed spirits and through them learn future events. The verse exposes consulting mediums and spiritists as seeking guidance from the dead instead of seeking God. Turning to such forbidden sources to discover what God has not revealed, rather than trusting God and using the means He has provided for comfort, shows impatience and lack of faith and leads only to evil.

The verse means the world is not to be the criterion; the Lord's voice is to be heard and the Lord allowed to work rather than making the world the rule. Orders are to be obeyed from above rather than ordering the work after the manner and customs of the world. This forbids entering into alliance or confederacy with unbelievers who know not the truth, adopting worldly policy, gathering a chosen number who think alike to carry things by supposed wisdom, and letting those employed in transforming the world take counsel from those who have no part in deciding what shall or shall not be done. Suggestions from those who know not the character of the work God is doing for this time must be refused, because they weaken the power of God's instrumentalities and set at naught the counsel of Christ while exalting a false counsel.

Call to Seek God

A people are to seek unto their God for guidance instead of turning to those with familiar spirits, wizards, mediums and spiritists who claim to communicate with the dead. The warning rejects consulting the dead and requires seeking God rather than the dead, with the next verse giving the test that claims must agree with the law and the testimony or there is no light in them. Applied in this way it exposes Spiritualism, whose claims and manifestations attributed to the dead are deceptive work, unmasked by the truth about human nature and the state of the dead. That appeal stands alongside the command not to follow the people's way, and calls God's people to wait for and trust in the Lord when these warnings are worked out, with some already visible. Refusal of the truth about human nature and the state of the dead leaves minds open to delusion.

The living must seek knowledge from the living God and must not go to the dead for knowledge. To consult the dead through mediums, manifestations, and the mysterious rapping is to depart from the living God in order to converse with the dead. That rapping and kindred working is the power of Satan, done both directly and through his agents, even though many enveloped in darkness call it the power of God. It cannot give true knowledge or divine instruction, because the dead know nothing.

Turning to mediums is turning away from God as the source of light to those whose knowledge comes from intimacy with the enemy of God. Seeking from forbidden sources what God has not revealed, instead of trusting God and using the means He has provided for comfort, shows impatience and lack of faith. That course leads only to evil.

Test by Law and Testimony

The test that follows requires every teaching and every claim to prophetic guidance to be measured against God's law and testimony, and whatever does not speak according to this word has no light in it. Spiritual claims, including those of mediums, wizards, and spiritists who profess to communicate with the dead, must be brought to this standard, and teaching contrary to Scripture proves the absence of divine light. God's people are therefore to seek their God and not the dead, to wait for and trust in the Lord, and to reject what fails the law and the testimony.

The command to test assumes that true and false spiritual manifestations will exist together in the last days, for no test would be needed if only one kind existed, and it does not rule out genuine prophecy. The law of God is given as the grand test to distinguish true prophesying from false, deciding the case by whether they speak according to this word. That test decides both what is prophesied and the moral character and life of those who prophesy, since fruits are judged by the law. A true prophet both speaks in agreement with God's word and lives in keeping with His law, while teaching or conduct contrary to that standard shows there is no light in him.

The same rule tests explanations of God's law itself. Human traditions and interpretations that obscure the truth fail the standard and have no light in them. By contrast, teaching that restores the law's true meaning stands the test and directs people back to Scripture rather than to human guides or spiritual mediums.

Unmasking Spirit Deception

What appear as messages and powers from the dead, from the early mysterious rappings to modern séances and mediums in newer form, are in fact Satan's deceptive work, carried on both directly and through his agents, though many enveloped in darkness mistake them for the power of God. Understanding the Bible's teaching about human nature and the state of the dead exposes their true source and strips away the disguise. Teachings that claim such an origin are to be measured by God's law and testimony, and where they do not agree with Scripture there is no light in them.

Supposed communion with the dead is forbidden intercourse with evil angels, who impersonate the departed and draw the living into falsehood. By this deception Satan educates souls in error and makes of no effect the lessons of Christ that would give eternal life to those who obey them. His aim is to form a great confederacy of evil by uniting fallen men and fallen angels.

The reason the claim fails is that the dead know nothing and have no divine instruction or true knowledge to give, so seeking to converse with them cannot supply true knowledge. To turn from the living God to the dead for knowledge is to depart from the living God and be turned away from Him. Apparent communication from them is therefore not revelation but a deceptive means by which Satan works through fallen angels.

Part of the snare lies in real-seeming knowledge, for Satan can disclose hidden things of the past and use long experience to foretell some future events, thereby gaining trust in order to lead people captive. Impatience to learn the future that God has not revealed shows lack of faith and opens the way to that captivity. Belief that the dead remain conscious and return to communicate removes a defense against such deception. Supposed messages from dead friends and loved ones lead hearers to revere the spirits and give their words greater authority than God's word, to follow teachings they mistake for God's voice, to accept false spirits in place of the Holy Spirit and mistake Satan's messengers for God's work, and to reject the evidence and instruction given through God's Word, which is spiritualism and a form of heathen superstition.

Present Warning and Obedience

The warning reaches to the present and the last days, for it is directed against Spiritualism as the masterpiece of deception that draws even professed Christians away from God through false supernatural manifestations. It meets those who depart from the faith and are deceived, whose sought-after spirits work miracles associated with demonic powers. It exposes the claim that departed loved ones communicate with the living, a claim that leads its believers to revere the supposed spirits and set their words above God's word.

With the test of the law and the testimony, the verses are a safeguard against devices that draw people from the truth. The biblical truth about human nature and the state of the dead lays bare the true source of Spiritualist claims and manifestations as Satanic deception. Teachings that do not agree with Scripture have no light in them.

God's people must not walk in the way of this people by saying a confederacy when confederacy is called for, by entering alliance with unbelievers who know not the truth, or by adopting worldly policy. They must not gather a chosen number who think alike to carry things by supposed wisdom, nor order the work after the manner and customs of the world, for the world is not to be the criterion. Those employed in transforming the world are to let the Lord work and the Lord's voice be heard, for the world has no business with what shall or shall not be done.

They must not fear their fear nor be afraid, but sanctify the Lord of hosts and let Him be their fear and dread. They are to wait for and trust in the Lord, for these warnings describe events to be worked out, some already visible. When leaders stand in the way of the work and there is disharmony among workers and work on lines having no connection with the ministry of Christ, everyone is to stand in his lot and place, resting in the promise that human associations, counsels and words against God shall be broken in pieces and come to nothing because God is with His people.

Suggestions from those who know not the character of the work for this time must be refused, because they weaken the power of God's instrumentalities and set at naught the counsel of Christ while exalting a false counsel. God's people must obey His commandments and remain distinct from disobedience, keeping a clear separation between obedience and disobedience. Between the church and Satan's side there is to be maintained enmity.