The Official Journal of the Ensign Trust, London

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THE ENSIGN MESSAGE

WHY ARE PEOPLE BLIND TO TRUTH

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Answer:

The Prophet  Isaiah commented on the blindness of Israel. A key Scripture passage on this is in Isaiah 42:19, which  asks, Who  is blind  but  my servant?’ There is much theological dispute over who the Lord’s servant is, but the alternate translation of this verse makes it clear ‘In all the world, no one is more blind than my servant. No one  is more deaf  than  my messenger. No one  is more  blind  than  my chosen people,  the  servant  of the  LORD:’ In contrast, the Biblical  Illustrator Bible  Commentary takes the “servant” here as Christ, and therefore extemporizes on “Christ’s blindness” to fame and fortune,  etc. No, our  Lord’s ministry was not  characterized  by blindness!  The servant here  is Israel,  God’s  chosen people. Why are they so blind?

We read in Hosea 4:6-7, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou  hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou  shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou  hast  forgotten the law of thy God, I will also  forget thy children. As they were increased, so they  sinned  against me: therefore will I change  their  glory into  shame.”

Here we see problems as a people stem from “lack of knowledge” of God’s Word, and because we have “forgotten” the  moral  teachings contained therein. Israel was  called  to be a light and  example to the world, and if we cease to perform our calling we cease to be recognized as that people! The sin, crime,  and immorality we  see  all across our land  are  not  the covenant marks of Israel!

Is it any wonder that some  of the fundamentalist Christians I  talk to are convinced that America  is prophetic Babylon? Just as ancient Israel descended into sin and degeneracy, and subsequently lost their identity in Assyria and  Babylon as lost tribes,  so we today are fast losing our identity as we in parallel descend into a modern moral Babylon.

Forgetting and not upholding  the Word of God has consequences, only one of which is the denial of our high calling as God’s chosen people. Immorality, the rejection of Biblical morality, is a slippery  slope  that leads  into bondage. The fact that ancient Israel did not uphold  their Holy Calling meant that they were rejected and divorced  by God for their sins. Yet they were  still the covenant people Israel,  although they could  not be recognized as such  until God purified and prepared them for service through the experience of tribulation and suffering. Will we as a people  go through that again? Absolutely! In fact, we already are.

The Prophet  Jeremiah foretold  that the end-time period was to be called “the time of Jacob’s trouble:’ The good news for us, in the prophet’s words,  is “but he shall be saved  out of it.” (Jer. 30:7)

AMEN

 

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