"Thus saith the LORD" (Isaiah 48:17a), the "King of righteousness" and "King of peace" (Hebrews 7:2[b],e), Who has said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15), yes, "Hear ye this, O ((you who)) are called by the name of ((the Lord, and who)) make mention of the God of Israel, but not in TRUTH, nor in righteousness. For they call themselves... holy". (Isaiah 48:1a,[b],[c],f-2[a].)

"Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand together.

"All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things?

"The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

"I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

"Come ye near unto me, hear ye this;

"I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

"Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to ((your)) profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

"O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea"! (Isaiah 48:12-18.)

"Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the TRUTH upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD." (Jeremiah 9:1-3.)

"And the LORD saith, ...they have forsaken my law which I set before them" ((and which did)) "put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts", "and ((they)) have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, ...which their fathers taught them". (Jeremiah 9:13a-b, Jeremiah 31:33d-e, Jeremiah 9:13c-14a,c.)

"Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" (Matthew 15:3b.) Is it not written clearly enough that, "this is the love of God, that ((you)) keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous"? (1_John 5:3.)

"Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. ...Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things ye do." (Mark 7:9b-c,13.)

"Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matthew 15:7-9.)

"Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay". (Isaiah 29:15-16a.)

© August 4, 1997, The Standard Bearer
P.O. Box 765, O.O.B., ME 04064

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