They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
The voice is divine Wisdom Himself, God in Christ the Redeemer and Saviour, lamenting in yearning, rejected love over those who will not have Him. To want none of His counsel and despise all His reproof is to refuse His call and His outstretched hand, to set at nought His counsel, hate knowledge, refuse the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom, and despise the great salvation offered. That refusal is willful and deliberate rebellion, refusing to repent when rebuked, mocking warning, reshaping reproof to suit self, until evil chosen little by little hardens character. It was fulfilled by the Jewish nation when Jesus was in their midst, refusing their Redeemer though He diffused light and showered mercies as the only one with power to save, and it is fulfilled still by all who in this day of light despise rebuke, entreaty and warning. Then long love gives place to retributive justice, He laughs at calamity and mocks when fear comes as desolation and as a whirlwind with distress and anguish. When they call He will not answer and though they seek early they shall not find Him, but they eat of the fruit of their own way and are filled with their own devices, reaping what was sown.
Voice and Refusal Explained
The voice in the verse is divine Wisdom itself, God and Christ the Redeemer and Saviour speaking, pouring out abused and rejected yet yearning love in lamentation over those who refuse Him. It is His farewell pleading after every resource of long-suffering has been exhausted, the separation struggle of Deity with those who will not come for life. To have none of His counsel and despise His reproof is to refuse when He calls and pay no regard to His outstretched hand. It is to set at nought all His counsel, to hate knowledge, to refuse to choose the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom, and to despise the great salvation He bought and offers.
That counsel and reproof reach men through the light and evidence He gives, and through warnings sent to turn them from error and give opportunity to repent and reform. They come through lessons taught by mercies, by blessings bestowed and by blessings removed, and by threatened judgments meant to lead to needed change. They come through visions chosen to teach and correct, and through ministering brethren and ambassadors and the words given them to speak, so that faultfinding and murmuring against them and contempt for repeated messages is contempt for Him. Refusing that light spurns His efforts to save and strengthens unbelief, leading into deeper moral darkness where further evidence is misunderstood and truth is mistaken for error.
The refusal is not ignorance but willful, deliberate rejection of wisdom. It is rebellion against His voice, trusting in self, refusing to repent when rebuked, and mocking His warnings. Those who refuse reinterpret reproof to suit themselves, sow doubt, and let unbelief become habitual, choosing evil little by little until character is corrupted and hardened. So sown, the course ripens into reaping what was sown, leaving the refuser to his own way and its fruit.
Those Who Despised Reproof
The Jewish nation in the generation when Jesus was in their midst fulfilled the refusal of counsel and contempt for reproof by refusing to listen not only to delegates, servants and prophets but to their Redeemer Himself when He was among them working the works of God. He was in their midst as the only one with power to save, diffusing light and showering mercies on the unthankful and evil, yet His mercies were unacknowledged and He as Light, Way and Truth was rejected. Their unbelief and resistance brought hardness of heart and impenitence and filled them with stubbornness and rebellion, and by refusing to come to Him that they might have life they had none to blame but themselves if they perished in their sins. Rejecting His pleading counsel and reproof despite clear evidence of His works was refusal of the light and invitation He gives, making those who reject truth today likewise responsible for refusing the life He offers.
That time was their most solemn period of responsibility and the most momentous period of their history, when they were honored and favored above all people on earth. Because they had the Word of God they stood as the most guilty, condemned and rejected for spurning His offered mercy. Their destruction lay at their own door, their house was left desolate, and as a nation they were divorced from God and cut off to receive eternal retribution for refusing Christ. If Jerusalem was destroyed she alone would be responsible, with her brief space of trial to close and the mandate to cut down the unfruitful tree to follow.
Mankind at large and the present nation in this day of light and privileges act the same toward Jesus as the Jews did. They despise His messages of rebuke, entreaty and warning, treat His ambassadors with contempt, harden the heart in unbelief and impenitence, and desecrate the temple courts of the soul with selfishness and sin. For this rejection they are arraigned as before the bar of God. Corrupt-hearted men esteemed wise like Ahithophel likewise fulfill the refusal, destitute of the enlightenment that comes from God because they lack the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom, plotting wickedness as if no overruling Providence could cross their designs.
Saul fulfilled the refusal by slighting the reproofs and warnings of the word and Spirit, yielding to temptation until blind to the true character of sin and flattering himself that he had a good object in view and did no wrong in departing from the requirements. The rulers in opposition to Christ fulfilled it by rejecting counsel and reproof, yet they could not impose their will on Him or keep His tomb sealed against divine power. A youth who will not come to Christ for life, people in the last days, and people today who reject truth despite clear evidence fulfill it and are themselves responsible if unsaved and if punishment comes, for the loss of the precious soul is their own fault and such disregard for divine counsel brings punishment.
The Sanitarium managers fulfilled it by not taking heed of repeated messages calling them to review their plans and make needed changes. God had sought to lead them through both mercies and threatened judgments, including blessings bestowed and blessings removed, yet repeated warnings had not led them to change. Failing to heed messages sent to bring about needed change leaves hearers unwilling to turn to Him for life. The self-serving, intemperate man who makes a god of appetite, abuses bodily organs to gratify lustful passion in married or unmarried life, and the licentious slave to passion who will not break its chains fulfill it by sowing to fleshly lusts.
Those absorbed in worldly cares, follies, idols, pleasures, frivolous amusements, pride of dress, indulgence of appetite, idle talk and foolish amusement fulfill it, robbing God of the purchased service He bought with His own blood and spending time, means and intellect given by God to serve the gods of this world. They forsook their true and loving Friend to follow convenience and worldly pleasure while intending sometime to return to God, letting the world with its follies and deceptions absorb their attention. Frivolous amusements, pride of dress and indulgence of appetite hardened the heart and benumbed the conscience so the voice of truth was not heard, duty was despised, things of infinite value were lightly esteemed, and the heart lost all desire to sacrifice for Him who gave so much. If the Lord came today they would not be ready to meet Him, having not made peace with Him.
Judgment That Follows Refusal
Long, untiring love exhausted gives place to retributive justice, and calamity is answered with laughter and fear with mocking, with fear coming as desolation and destruction as a whirlwind, with distress and anguish upon the refusers, while He who sits in the heavens holds the plotters in derision. This is the portion of those who would have none of counsel and despised all reproof because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, and it stands as warning to kings and judges of the earth who reject the Son set as King upon His holy hill of Zion to be wise and instructed, to serve with fear and submit to the Son lest wrath kindled but a little cause them to perish in the way. It is the end of those absorbed in worldly cares, follies and deceptions, in frivolous amusements, pride of dress, indulgence of appetite, idle talk and foolish amusement, who devote time, means and intellect to the gods of this world and rob Him of service purchased with His own blood while intending sometime to return.
When calamity comes they will call and He will not answer, and though they seek early they shall not find Him, for God will not be refuge or consolation to those who refused the call of mercy and salvation. Tender pity will not bear always, and if counsel to be zealous and repent and obtain true riches is refused, His Spirit can be grieved away for the last time, mercy's voice will cease, and the refusers will be rejected and thrust from Him as disgusting, left to their own ways to be filled with their own doings. Probation thus ends, so that later cries in calamity and in the time of trouble cannot undo the refusal, and those who failed to use present moments of mercy suffer the consequences of their own choices.
They eat of the fruit of their own way and are filled with their own devices, reaping what was sown, and this sure reaping explains the misery and suffering in the world falsely charged upon God. Transgressed laws of nature become tormentors that ruin the living machinery, as seen when self is served and appetite made a god and bodily organs are abused to gratify lustful passion in married or unmarried life, sowing to fleshly lusts until the licentious slave to passion who will not break its chains is left without conviction, mercy or hope to destroy self by corrupting practices that degrade beneath the brute creation. In the reaping time those who forsook their true and loving Friend for convenience and worldly pleasure gather what they sowed, with fear as desolation and destruction as a whirlwind and distress and anguish upon them, when they shall call and not be answered and seek early and not find.
Rejecting the light and evidence given to turn from error spurns efforts to save and strengthens unbelief, leading to deeper moral darkness where further evidence is misunderstood and truth is mistaken for error. Repeatedly disregarded corrections make men more ready to reject again, until refusal of knowledge and reverence is settled and opportunity to repent and reform is lost. It is perilous to slight reproofs and warnings of word and Spirit, for as with Saul yielding to temptation until blind to the true character of sin and flattering himself that he had a good object and did no wrong in departing from requirements, doing despite to the Spirit of grace causes its voice to be no longer heard and leaves men to delusions chosen, hardened against counsel, taking their own way in error thinking they are right until too late.
Those who persist must bear the consequences of their own choices when mercy and forbearance end. Left of God without conviction, mercy or hope, they destroy self, while those who trust in self, do not repent when rebuked and rebel against His voice are surprised, fall and are taken by the enemy, and their turning away slays them and their prosperity destroys them. Responsibility for destruction lies at their own door when they refuse lessons taught even through blessings bestowed and removed and fail to respond to love.
At the great day of final judgment the rejecters of mercy and despisers of grace are brought face to face with justice and arraigned as before the bar of God. If unready when the Lord comes, having not made peace with Him, they lose heaven and are sent away from His presence to share the humiliation and punishment of Satan and his angels. Yet the call remains to now come to Jesus, look to Him and be saved, to repent wholeheartedly and choose eternal life, for when the sinner repents God will pardon, and those who heed wisdom dwell safely and are free from fear of evil.
The voice is divine Wisdom Himself, God in Christ the Redeemer and Saviour, lamenting in yearning, rejected love over those who will not have Him.
To want none of His counsel and despise all His reproof is to refuse His call and His outstretched hand, to set at nought His counsel, hate knowledge, refuse the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom, and despise the great salvation offered.
That refusal is willful and deliberate rebellion, refusing to repent when rebuked, mocking warning, reshaping reproof to suit self, until evil chosen little by little hardens character.
It was fulfilled by the Jewish nation when Jesus was in their midst, refusing their Redeemer though He diffused light and showered mercies as the only one with power to save, and it is fulfilled still by all who in this day of light despise rebuke, entreaty and warning.
Then long love gives place to retributive justice, He laughs at calamity and mocks when fear comes as desolation and as a whirlwind with distress and anguish.
When they call He will not answer and though they seek early they shall not find Him, but they eat of the fruit of their own way and are filled with their own devices, reaping what was sown.
Voice and Refusal Explained
The voice in the verse is divine Wisdom itself, God and Christ the Redeemer and Saviour speaking, pouring out abused and rejected yet yearning love in lamentation over those who refuse Him. It is His farewell pleading after every resource of long-suffering has been exhausted, the separation struggle of Deity with those who will not come for life. To have none of His counsel and despise His reproof is to refuse when He calls and pay no regard to His outstretched hand. It is to set at nought all His counsel, to hate knowledge, to refuse to choose the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom, and to despise the great salvation He bought and offers.
That counsel and reproof reach men through the light and evidence He gives, and through warnings sent to turn them from error and give opportunity to repent and reform. They come through lessons taught by mercies, by blessings bestowed and by blessings removed, and by threatened judgments meant to lead to needed change. They come through visions chosen to teach and correct, and through ministering brethren and ambassadors and the words given them to speak, so that faultfinding and murmuring against them and contempt for repeated messages is contempt for Him. Refusing that light spurns His efforts to save and strengthens unbelief, leading into deeper moral darkness where further evidence is misunderstood and truth is mistaken for error.
The refusal is not ignorance but willful, deliberate rejection of wisdom. It is rebellion against His voice, trusting in self, refusing to repent when rebuked, and mocking His warnings. Those who refuse reinterpret reproof to suit themselves, sow doubt, and let unbelief become habitual, choosing evil little by little until character is corrupted and hardened. So sown, the course ripens into reaping what was sown, leaving the refuser to his own way and its fruit.
Those Who Despised Reproof
The Jewish nation in the generation when Jesus was in their midst fulfilled the refusal of counsel and contempt for reproof by refusing to listen not only to delegates, servants and prophets but to their Redeemer Himself when He was among them working the works of God. He was in their midst as the only one with power to save, diffusing light and showering mercies on the unthankful and evil, yet His mercies were unacknowledged and He as Light, Way and Truth was rejected. Their unbelief and resistance brought hardness of heart and impenitence and filled them with stubbornness and rebellion, and by refusing to come to Him that they might have life they had none to blame but themselves if they perished in their sins. Rejecting His pleading counsel and reproof despite clear evidence of His works was refusal of the light and invitation He gives, making those who reject truth today likewise responsible for refusing the life He offers.
That time was their most solemn period of responsibility and the most momentous period of their history, when they were honored and favored above all people on earth. Because they had the Word of God they stood as the most guilty, condemned and rejected for spurning His offered mercy. Their destruction lay at their own door, their house was left desolate, and as a nation they were divorced from God and cut off to receive eternal retribution for refusing Christ. If Jerusalem was destroyed she alone would be responsible, with her brief space of trial to close and the mandate to cut down the unfruitful tree to follow.
Mankind at large and the present nation in this day of light and privileges act the same toward Jesus as the Jews did. They despise His messages of rebuke, entreaty and warning, treat His ambassadors with contempt, harden the heart in unbelief and impenitence, and desecrate the temple courts of the soul with selfishness and sin. For this rejection they are arraigned as before the bar of God. Corrupt-hearted men esteemed wise like Ahithophel likewise fulfill the refusal, destitute of the enlightenment that comes from God because they lack the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom, plotting wickedness as if no overruling Providence could cross their designs.
Saul fulfilled the refusal by slighting the reproofs and warnings of the word and Spirit, yielding to temptation until blind to the true character of sin and flattering himself that he had a good object in view and did no wrong in departing from the requirements. The rulers in opposition to Christ fulfilled it by rejecting counsel and reproof, yet they could not impose their will on Him or keep His tomb sealed against divine power. A youth who will not come to Christ for life, people in the last days, and people today who reject truth despite clear evidence fulfill it and are themselves responsible if unsaved and if punishment comes, for the loss of the precious soul is their own fault and such disregard for divine counsel brings punishment.
The Sanitarium managers fulfilled it by not taking heed of repeated messages calling them to review their plans and make needed changes. God had sought to lead them through both mercies and threatened judgments, including blessings bestowed and blessings removed, yet repeated warnings had not led them to change. Failing to heed messages sent to bring about needed change leaves hearers unwilling to turn to Him for life. The self-serving, intemperate man who makes a god of appetite, abuses bodily organs to gratify lustful passion in married or unmarried life, and the licentious slave to passion who will not break its chains fulfill it by sowing to fleshly lusts.
Those absorbed in worldly cares, follies, idols, pleasures, frivolous amusements, pride of dress, indulgence of appetite, idle talk and foolish amusement fulfill it, robbing God of the purchased service He bought with His own blood and spending time, means and intellect given by God to serve the gods of this world. They forsook their true and loving Friend to follow convenience and worldly pleasure while intending sometime to return to God, letting the world with its follies and deceptions absorb their attention. Frivolous amusements, pride of dress and indulgence of appetite hardened the heart and benumbed the conscience so the voice of truth was not heard, duty was despised, things of infinite value were lightly esteemed, and the heart lost all desire to sacrifice for Him who gave so much. If the Lord came today they would not be ready to meet Him, having not made peace with Him.
Judgment That Follows Refusal
Long, untiring love exhausted gives place to retributive justice, and calamity is answered with laughter and fear with mocking, with fear coming as desolation and destruction as a whirlwind, with distress and anguish upon the refusers, while He who sits in the heavens holds the plotters in derision. This is the portion of those who would have none of counsel and despised all reproof because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, and it stands as warning to kings and judges of the earth who reject the Son set as King upon His holy hill of Zion to be wise and instructed, to serve with fear and submit to the Son lest wrath kindled but a little cause them to perish in the way. It is the end of those absorbed in worldly cares, follies and deceptions, in frivolous amusements, pride of dress, indulgence of appetite, idle talk and foolish amusement, who devote time, means and intellect to the gods of this world and rob Him of service purchased with His own blood while intending sometime to return.
When calamity comes they will call and He will not answer, and though they seek early they shall not find Him, for God will not be refuge or consolation to those who refused the call of mercy and salvation. Tender pity will not bear always, and if counsel to be zealous and repent and obtain true riches is refused, His Spirit can be grieved away for the last time, mercy's voice will cease, and the refusers will be rejected and thrust from Him as disgusting, left to their own ways to be filled with their own doings. Probation thus ends, so that later cries in calamity and in the time of trouble cannot undo the refusal, and those who failed to use present moments of mercy suffer the consequences of their own choices.
They eat of the fruit of their own way and are filled with their own devices, reaping what was sown, and this sure reaping explains the misery and suffering in the world falsely charged upon God. Transgressed laws of nature become tormentors that ruin the living machinery, as seen when self is served and appetite made a god and bodily organs are abused to gratify lustful passion in married or unmarried life, sowing to fleshly lusts until the licentious slave to passion who will not break its chains is left without conviction, mercy or hope to destroy self by corrupting practices that degrade beneath the brute creation. In the reaping time those who forsook their true and loving Friend for convenience and worldly pleasure gather what they sowed, with fear as desolation and destruction as a whirlwind and distress and anguish upon them, when they shall call and not be answered and seek early and not find.
Rejecting the light and evidence given to turn from error spurns efforts to save and strengthens unbelief, leading to deeper moral darkness where further evidence is misunderstood and truth is mistaken for error. Repeatedly disregarded corrections make men more ready to reject again, until refusal of knowledge and reverence is settled and opportunity to repent and reform is lost. It is perilous to slight reproofs and warnings of word and Spirit, for as with Saul yielding to temptation until blind to the true character of sin and flattering himself that he had a good object and did no wrong in departing from requirements, doing despite to the Spirit of grace causes its voice to be no longer heard and leaves men to delusions chosen, hardened against counsel, taking their own way in error thinking they are right until too late.
Those who persist must bear the consequences of their own choices when mercy and forbearance end. Left of God without conviction, mercy or hope, they destroy self, while those who trust in self, do not repent when rebuked and rebel against His voice are surprised, fall and are taken by the enemy, and their turning away slays them and their prosperity destroys them. Responsibility for destruction lies at their own door when they refuse lessons taught even through blessings bestowed and removed and fail to respond to love.
At the great day of final judgment the rejecters of mercy and despisers of grace are brought face to face with justice and arraigned as before the bar of God. If unready when the Lord comes, having not made peace with Him, they lose heaven and are sent away from His presence to share the humiliation and punishment of Satan and his angels. Yet the call remains to now come to Jesus, look to Him and be saved, to repent wholeheartedly and choose eternal life, for when the sinner repents God will pardon, and those who heed wisdom dwell safely and are free from fear of evil.