015 Did God Mean What He Said?

The Watchman discusses whether or not God meant what He said and if what God said has any bearing for the modern believer. Did God mean what He said, or was He just pulling our leg?

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Transcript

015 Did God Mean What He Said?

Welcome to The Watchman Speaks! I’m your host, Lonnie Richardson.

Today I want to discuss whether or not when God spoke, did He actually mean all the things He said, or was He just kidding? Was He pulling my leg? Thumping my drum? Having a bit of fun at my expense?

No, I don’t think so. It’s not that I’m implying that God doesn’t have a sense of humor because I believe that He does. If you have difficulty believing that God has a sense of humor, just look at me. Better yet just listen to me. For years I thought that I was speaking clearly. However, when I began this podcast back in January and began editing the audio, I noticed a lot of lip smacking, tongue clicking, and difficulty in getting certain consonant patterns to come out plainly.

I thought to myself, “Surely, I don’t sound like that!” I blamed it on the Rode Procaster Microphone being too sensitive and worked on microphone technique. However, I noticed only marginal results in improvement. 

About two weeks ago my wife, Cheryl, told me that she had made an appointment for me to have my hearing checked. 

My reply was, “What if I don’t want to go and have my hearing checked?”

Her reply was a stern, “You’re going to go have your hearing checked!” Like a good husband, I allowed her to win her one yearly argument and went to have my hearing checked.

To say that I was astonished by the findings would be the understatement of my life. There were massive holes in frequency response in each ear and the difference in the balance of those frequencies,  between the left ear and right ear, was substantial.

As of Wednesday of last week I’ve been wearing hearing aids and I can hear every instance that I smack my lips, click my tongue, and bend consonant sounds attempting to utter certain consonant patterns. I apologize for the assault my speech has been to you, the listener. I’m working on correcting these elements of my speech and, now that I know that they exist, can dial in on editing the noise out of the podcast for your benefit. 

I had to laugh at myself in regard to my vanity and pride for taking so long to experience the benefit that these hearing aids have produced. I believe God had a good laugh too. Not in the fact that I was vain or prideful, but in the fact that I’d always refused to buy hearing aids because of the costs involved while knowing that God provides for our needs. To put it bluntly, I’m a cheapskate.

Which brings me full circle to the crux of this episode. Did God really mean all those things that He said in the Bible or was He just kidding?

The Holy Bible is God’s inspired, infallible, inerrant Word and it is how God reveals Himself to mankind. If we can’t agree on that then it is doubtful that there is much we can agree on. I know that there are some Bible scholars who don’t agree with me on that issue. What do they know? They walk the halls of academia attempting to publish their thoughts and premises so that others will marvel at how brilliant they are. I have no such desires. 

But really, stop and think about it. Did God really mean all those things that He said in the Bible?

I believe that He did. I believe that when God spoke He said what He meant and meant what He said. Nowhere, in the Bible have I ever read that God apologized for what He said or where He said, “Oops! Maybe I shouldn’t have said that in that way.”

You may ask, “Like what?”

Well, for instance. Consider Ezekiel Chapter 33. I am The Old Watchman and I’m partial to old Ezekiel.

 Ezekiel 33:1–6 (NASB95) 

The Watchman’s Duty

    1      And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 

    2      “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, 

    3      and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, 

    4      then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 

    5      ‘He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. 

    6      ‘But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’ 

Now, did God really mean that when He spoke to Ezekiel? I believe that God said what He meant and meant what He said, down to the letter. God goes on to tell Ezekiel that Zeke was appointed a watchman over all of Israel and that the same terms applied to him. God is even more adamant in that if Ezekiel did not issue the warnings Ezekiel would lose his own soul. There was more than just blood in the game. 

Yes, I believe that God meant what He said. That is why I take this watchman thing so seriously. 

John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” I cannot tell you how much joy that brings me. It’s not only for my benefit but for yours as well. Jesus said, when questioned about what the greatest Commandment was:

Mark 12:28-31

28. One of the scribes came and heard them arguing and recognizing that He had answered

well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”

29. Jesus answered, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord;

30. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all

Your mind, and with all your strength.”

31. “And the second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other 

Commandment greater than these.”

That means that I love as my Lord loved. That means, if I take Ezekiel 33 to heart, that I love someone enough to warn them of their sin and tell them the truth in regard to their sin whether they want to hear it or not. Jesus said a lot of things that I suspect a lot of people didn’t want to hear because He loved them enough to tell them the truth! And so it is for my love for others. I love them enough to warn them. And besides, if I take Ezekiel 33 to heart (and I do), then I don’t want the blood of others taken from my hands. 

Now, that does not, by any means, make me popular. But I’m not out to win a popularity contest. I’m out to prove faithful to what God said.  

What are some things that God said? Did He mean those things?

Exodus 15:26

26. And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is 

Right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, The Lord, am your healer.”

Now that’s a promise that God made to Israel. However, if you will notice, it is conditional. God has issued an If/Then statement.

IF you give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord Your God. IF you do what is right in His sight. IF you give ear to His commandments. IF you keep all His statutes. THEN He will not put any disease on you that He put on the Egyptians. He is God. He is the healer. Forgive me if my count is off for I was never that good at even simple math, but there appears to be four criteria that had to be met before God would keep His promise of healing. Did God mean that? Well, They didn’t and He did. I’d say He was true to His word. 

Then, when Israel did not follow instructions for the gathering of the manna for each day’s Portion and for the double portion on the day before the sabbath, God asked Moses in Exodus 16:28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions?” I would say that God was trying to impress upon Moses the fact that He (God) meant what He said.

 You know, I’ve heard people praying, crying to God, “Lord if You would just do this one thing for me, then I would be more than happy to do everything for You.” That’s a lie! Don’t do that! How do I know? Because I used to do the same thing. It doesn’t work that way. That’s asking God to align Himself with you and your agenda. God sets the criteria for His agenda. Align yourself with that and things will work out a lot better.

“How long will you refuse to Keep My Commandments and My Instructions?” That’s what God said to Moses. Sounds like a reasonable question to me.

You see, God has reached down and rescued me on more occasions than I care to recount when I’d hit rock bottom and all I could do was look up. I’m not talking about paying for something that I thought I just had to have. I’m talking about keeping my lights turned on. I’m talking about putting food on the table for my family. I’m talking about slamming death’s door shut when I was knocking hard and loud. I’m thankful for His faithfulness. You’d better believe that I’m searching my Bible attempting to know and understand His commandments and instructions. If I follow His instructions THEN He is faithful to fulfill His promises.

Okay, what else?

2nd Chronicles 7:13-14

13. “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,

14. and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Pretty straight forward I’d say. First, you have to be His people which we are for we are grafted in. Second, we must humble ourselves, third we must pray, fourth we must seek His face and fifth turn from our wicked ways and repent. THEN God will hear from heaven, He will forgive our sin, and heal our land.

Who is doing that? Very few. Yet those are instructions. That’s what God said.

Something else God Said. Joel Chapter 1 God is unleashing great destruction upon the earth. 

Joel 2:1 (NASB95) 

    1      Blow a trumpet in Zion, 

And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! 

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, 

For the day of the Lord is coming; 

Surely it is near, 

Now if you read Joel Chapter 1 you will see that the land is suffering with drought, famine, and swarms of locusts. Just so you get the full picture, that means that the reality of starvation from lack of food and water is a very real thing. It’s not that food couldn’t be purchased. There was no food to be purchased. Chapter 2 tells us to sound the trumpet in Zion. Sound an alarm on the holy mountain. Judgment is at hand. What is the trumpet sound for? What is the alarm on the trumpet?

The trumpet sounding is a form of God speaking on His holy mountain. It represents the voice of God as God spoke to John in Revelation 1:10 and 4:1. The alarm was a cadence of nine short staccato blasts on the shofar to warn people that some serious trouble was near. That alarm is known as Teruah, or great shout.

But even in the direst circumstances, all hope was not lost. God gives instructions and hope as we read further into the 2nd Chapter of Joel.

Joel 2:15–26 (NASB95) 

  15            Blow a trumpet in Zion, 

Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, 

  16            Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, 

Assemble the elders, 

Gather the children and the nursing infants. 

Let the bridegroom come out of his room 

And the bride out of her bridal chamber. 

  17            Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers,

Weep between the porch and the altar, 

And let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, 

And do not make Your inheritance a reproach, 

A byword among the nations. 

Why should they among the peoples say, 

‘Where is their God?’ ” 

Herein, we have a list of instructions. 1. Blow the trumpet. 2. Consecrate a fast 3. proclaim a solemn assembly, 4. Gather the people, 5. Sanctify the congregation, 6. Assemble the elders, 7. Gather the children and nursing infants, 8, Let the groom come out, 9. Let the bride come out, 10. Let the ministers weep between the porch and the altar, 11. And let them say……"

Just a question for you because I’m wondering. Who is doing that? I’ll tell you. No one. But if we follow the instructions hope is renewed.

Deliverance Promised

  18            Then the Lord will be zealous for His land  
And will have pity on His people. 

  19            The Lord will answer and say to His people, 
“Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine and oil,

And you will be satisfied in full with them; 

And I will never again make you a reproach among the nations. 

  20            “But I will remove the northern army far from you, 

And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land, 

And its vanguard into the eastern sea, 

And its rear guard into the western sea. 

And its stench will arise and its foul smell will come up, 

For it has done great things.” 

  21            Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad, 

For the Lord has done great things. 

  22            Do not fear, beasts of the field, 

For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green, 

For the tree has borne its fruit, 

The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full. 

  23            So rejoice, O sons of Zion, 

And be glad in the Lord your God; 

For He has given you the early rain for your vindication. 

And He has poured down for you the rain, 

The early and latter rain as before. 

  24            The threshing floors will be full of grain, 

And the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil. 

  25            “Then I will make up to you for the years 

That the swarming locust has eaten, 

The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, 

My great army which I sent among you. 

  26            “You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied 

And praise the name of the Lord your God, 

Who has dealt wondrously with you; 

Then My people will never be put to shame. " 

Now, does all that sound as if it would be worth it to pay attention to what God Said? I think so. But the church is not following instructions and the world outside the church is certainly not doing so. So, is there no hope for us in this messed up world and society that we live in? 

That depends on us. Did God mean what He said? I’m inclined to think that it would be foolish to think otherwise. God said what He meant and meant what He said. 

Let’s look at it from a father figure perspective. If my daddy said, “Boy, don’t do that!” I knew that if I did what he told me not to do, and he found out about it, then there was going to be a moment of reckoning. I reckoned that he’d lay a belt across my butt. Now I grew up with old school parents and they disciplined me in old school manners. It was not like it is today. When daddy gave instructions and I didn’t follow those instructions life became, difficult. However, when I did follow those instructions I received his praises and rewards. Our Heavenly Father works the same way.

By the way, when those people in Joel followed God’s instructions, He did exactly as He had promised that He would. Something to think about.

No in case some of you are thinking that we’re under a whole new covenant and that there is no need to obey strict instructions, I’d like to point out a few things in the New Covenant. 

John 1:1-5

1.     In the beginning (sound familiar) was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2.     He was in the beginning with God.

3.     All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

4.     In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

5.     The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Then John 1:14

14. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John is talking about Jesus, The Son, who was with God and was God from the very beginning. What did the Son of God say?

John 14:15

“If you love Me, you will keep my commandments.

It’s something to think about. Did God mean what He said? I believe that what God said were commandments. They were not suggestions!

I am The Old Watchman, Ezekiel. You have been warned.

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