Purity or Compromise? #3

Sunday, October 17, 2021

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones” (Proverbs 3:5-8 KJV).

Will we be pure and thus purified? Or, will we compromise and thus be compromised?

Like every other sinful nation, ancient Israel was their own authority. Before they entered the Promised Land under Joshua, dying Moses advised: “Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes” (Deuteronomy 12:8). Yet, during the Book of Judges (17:6; 21:25), centuries following Joshua, this was twice said of the Jews: “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Roughly five centuries after Joshua, the Holy Spirit wrote today’s Scripture to Israel through King Solomon: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” They were to avoid any and every path that deviated from the course God had already clearly laid out for them in their Hebrew Bible. Proverbs again warns in chapter 12, verse 15: “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.” (The Book of Proverbs is God’s wisdom for Israel during the end-times, when the Antichrist will employ Satanic wisdom to deceive them. See Proverbs 1:1-9.)

Hundreds of years following Solomon, the Prophet Isaiah’s message to Israel was thus (5:20,21): “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” It is unmistakable. The Jews had compromised. Having thrown aside the Divine revelation they had, they adopted the darkness of the Gentiles around them. We can learn a lesson here too….