It is undoubtedly the case that the period from at least the latter part of the 20th Century through to the beginning of the 21st is an age of increased knowledge and learning. It is, as some have styled it, an “information revolution.” With the advancement of communication technology, bringing advanced knowledge of many matters within the grasp of increasing numbers of men and women, there is encouragement – and pressure like never before – for men to learn. In almost every area of employment changes are evident as a direct consequence of product ‘improvement’, new technology or some other innovative ‘advancement’, requiring employees to undergo training of some form or another. In order to obtain employment at the very beginning of working life, recognised certificates of learning are required, even if only at the basic level. More and more students are pursuing university courses in order to obtain jobs that can offer them the high standards of living that their peers induce them to expect—with all the pressure that the examination system brings, and the distress and bitter disappointment that comes when the labours of the past years appear to be wasted, with the failure to meet the required standard.
So it is, that much time, energy and enterprise is expended in the pursuit of education, to learn the wisdom of this world in order to ‘succeed’ in this life, and build a lasting career. But how is ‘success’ in this life measured? Generally speaking, by the types of car people drive, the kinds of houses they live in, the goods found in those houses, and how much their annual salary is. A man with a large expensive house filled with the fruits of his labour, is generally considered to have made a success of this life. In business terms, men are considered “successful” who have growing companies, and expanding warehouses to accommodate their increasing assets. They are certainly considered to have “done well” for themselves. But what is the true value of these things? What are the true fruits of this world’s wisdom? A “certain rich man” of the Master’s parable was ‘successful’ in business, building bigger barns to accommodate his wares; yet “God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:20,21).
Solomon was a man who, in the terms of this world, was very successful in life:
“I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards; I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: I made me pools of water, to water the wood that bringeth forth trees; I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments and that of all sorts. So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy …” (Eccl 2:4-10).
Solomon had the material pleasures which so many seek after. He had silver and gold, servants, a private estate of considerable magnitude – and whatsoever his eyes could desire. Yet in his mature years, he recognised the futility of it all: “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.” (Eccl 2:11). But why? He considered the ultimate end of things. How the fruits of this world’s wisdom are temporary; being enjoyed only this side of the grave – they cannot deliver from death: “Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. And who knoweth whether he be a wise man or a fool?” (Eccl 2:18,19).
THE VANITY OF FAITHLESS LABOUR
So it is, that men exert their energies in obtaining the meat that perisheth (Jno 6:27), spending their labour for that which, in the ultimate end, is not life-sustaining bread (Is 55:2), obtaining temporary pleasures that cannot extend beyond the duration of a man’s life—yea, and pleasures that so often hasten that day for the vexation of spirit they bring. Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools; bowing before the Altar of Mammon and doing whatever is necessary to earn the wages of unrighteousness, that they might delight in the material prosperity of this life, giving little thought to their latter end. So it is, that by contrast to the life-giving, and salvation bringing word of the Deity, the wisdom of wise men of the flesh becomes exposed as being mere foolishness due to its inability to save the blind from falling into the pit. As it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor 1:19,21).
THE WISDOM OF GOD
It is by the Wisdom of God that man cannot come to know Him through the principles of man’s wisdom, but rather through the foolishness of preaching – foolishness that is, to men of the flesh. Men’s ways are not Yahweh’s ways; their thoughts are not his thoughts (Is 55:8), for although He made man upright, they have corrupted themselves and devised many evil devices (Eccl 7:29). They have therefore a natural inability to find out the things of the Most High by searching along the principles of fleshly wisdom: “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14). Only by giving heed to the Word of the Most High being preached can a man learn to hear, or understand, the things of the Spirit (Rom 10:17). Those who seek in the wrong place shall not find (Amos 8:12); and those who permit the god of this world to blind their hearts to the Word will never understand or discern the Wisdom of Yahweh – it will remain ‘foolishness’ to them.
Being “the Word made flesh,” the Master Christ Jesus is the very embodiment of the Father’s Wisdom. He is, “unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” He is “made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Cor 1:24,30-31). Seeing that the world’s wisdom cannot save, whereas Christ, the Wisdom of Yahweh can, why should the wise of this world glory in their wisdom (Jer 9:23) – what is there to glory in? Far better to glory in the wisdom of the Most High, the wisdom which is from above, which is able to save.
The general disposition of the world towards the things concerning the name of Jesus Christ is proof that man’s wisdom cannot accommodate him. The princes of the world were compelled to reject him two thousand years ago, such was the incompatibility between him and them: “we speak wisdom among them that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to nought: but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery … which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor 2:6-8).
Even those who profess to acknowledge him do not believe the things taught by the Apostle Paul. Professing themselves to be wise with their theological degrees and PhD’s, the doctors of divinity prove themselves to be no more enlightened than their historical counterparts of ancient Israel, of which it was said: “they have seen vanity and lying divination, saying Yahweh saith: and Yahweh hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word … therefore thus saith Adonai Yahweh; because ye have spoken vanity and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith Adonai Yahweh” (Ezek 13:6-8). These were the divines of old, divining lies, claiming to have been sent by the Holy One of Jacob, seeing visions. And is there any difference between this, and modern clerics who pretend to receive visions, and speak with apostolic authority – and yet cannot receive the wisdom that Paul preached?
THE VANITY OF MENS’ RELIGION
But one example of how the divines of today speak vanity is a Roman Catholic tract recently received, entitled “How to Pray the Holy Rosary,” which details words to be uttered to the departed ghost of Mary, “the Mother of God”, by those who desire to benefit from the magical properties of this device:
“HAIL HOLY QUEEN, mother of mercy; our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us. And after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen” (emphasis in Italics ours—CAM)
Here then, is proof, in their own words that the clerics of today are not among the congregation of Christ’s brethren. By their own admission, rather than having been “reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom 5:10, Col 1:20,21), they are still in “exile”. Rather than being “children of God” (1 Jno 3:10), “children walking in the truth” (2 Jno 1:4), having been begotten of the word (1 Pet 1:23), walking “worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col 1:10), they proclaim themselves to be mere “poor banished children of Eve” still needing to be “made worthy” by her – as if the sacrifice of Christ alone is inadequate for the purpose. They do not “look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb 12:2), but rather beseech the imagined phantom of his deceased mother to reveal him to them. And they let out “sighs, mourning and weeping” at the misery of their situation, not having received joy and peace in believing the true Gospel (Rom 15:13). By their own admission therefore, the religion of Catholicism does not bring them the benefits of belief in the Gospel, and is thus proved to be fraudulent.
THE CRY OF WISDOM
The book of Proverbs describes the crying out of Divine Wisdom, that sinners might hear, and the simple be given understanding:
“Wisdom crieth without; She uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse; in the openings of the gates: In the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.” (Prov 1:20-23).
In fulfilment, Christ, who is made unto us the Wisdom of the Deity, taught in the streets and concourses of Jerusalem. He cried out in the gates, and in so doing spoke of the pouring out of Holy Spirit to those who would turn to him at his reproof:
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scriptures hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (but this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified” (Jno 7:37-39).
Here, the Lord Jesus spake like no other man (verse 46), for he spoke of how that those who thirsted after righteousness, not being satisfied with that which the wisdom of the world provides, might drink deeply of the living water he would give. Yea, he spoke of how the Holy Spirit would be poured out to the disciples who believed in his name; as it duly was at Pentecost. Yet, for the most part, they refused his words, and despised his commands.
A WARNING TO REJECTORS
The cry of wisdom continues in the Proverbs, to issue a warning to those who refused to heed the words proclaimed to them:
“Ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me” (Prov 1:25-28; cp 2 Sam 22:38-44).
So it was, that following the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, and the apostolic proclamation throughout the streets of the land (Luke 14:21), the events of AD 70 brought the greatest desolation that Jerusalem has ever experienced. The people of Israel rejected the wisdom of Christ being proclaimed in their cities; they set him at nought (Mark 9:12; Acts 4:11), and sought to remove him from the land of the living, so ridding themselves of the discomfort of his teachings. Accordingly, they were to reap the consequences – and the judgement of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
THE REJECTION OF TRUTH
The rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ at the hands of wicked men, albeit princes of this world, gives ample illustration of how the natural man cannot receive the things of God, whether they be His words, or His Word made flesh. The ways of Truth are not palatable to the flesh, for they are far too restrictive for the liking of most men. Those who walk down the paths of wisdom follow their Lord in crucifying the flesh, in denying the lusts thereof, seeking to do only that which their Master would have them do. There is no provision made for the flesh, and the fulfilment of its carnal desires; and because of this, those who enjoy the ways of the flesh, and the seeming prosperity that such ways bring, cannot bring themselves under the discipline of the Lord, that they might learn to please their Maker. Especially, when to do so will quite possibly interfere with the vested interests they have with communion with the world.
Just as men rejected the Christ so many years ago, even so are those who follow in his steps despised and rejected of men. They think it strange that his brethren run not with them to the same excesses (1 Pet 4:4), and seek to bring every pressure to bear in order to make them conform. In our day, for the most part in the western world at least, the threat of open persecution is passed, yet the pressures remain, albeit in a changed, and more insidious form.
THE INFLUENCE OF WORLDLY WISDOM
The system of this world’s wisdom rejects religious devotions as mere fanaticism, and blind worship, relics from the Victorian era to be cast aside in a new age of learnedness and enlightenment. It encourages the young and inexperienced to question the wisdom of their elders, and believe what they will, rather than what Yahweh has revealed. It induces ‘freedom of expression’ as opposed to the abstention from vain and profane babblings (2 Tim 2:16). It promises ‘liberty’ from the shackles of old-fashioned values, encouraging men and women to break from the past, and ‘progress’ forward. And lest any escape from its pernicious influence, it is compulsory for any who wish to ‘succeed’ in this life to attend its colleges and universities, for intensive courses in its ways. Such are the subtle and insidious ways of the Serpent’s modern-day centres of learning – and those who desire to be partakers of the glory yet to be revealed must beware, for these influences have permeated even the household of faith, to the extent that it has become an accepted and expected part of life for brethren and sisters to send their children to be taught by the Serpent for a period of years. And of this class of serpentine philosophers, who promise liberty from the shackles of the past, the Spirit testifies that they remain in bondage to the flesh: “while they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” (2Pet 2:19,20). If it be deemed vital for the sons and daughters of the saints to learn knowledge in order to pursue a particular working life until the Master comes, great care must be taken to ensue the spiritual diet is not lacking, that the serpent’s philosophisings do not gain a foothold.
SIMPLICITY OR WISDOM?
It is part of the perversity of man’s wisdom, that whilst many attend universities and the like to learn the advanced intricacies of a particular topic; it has become most widely taught – and believed – that studying the Scriptures ought not be done to the same advanced level. “A simple faith is all that is required” is the cry of man’s wisdom, when speaking of religious matters. Indeed, such a disposition has permeated the household to such an extent that we infrequently encounter those who are among the learned in particular skilled occupations, yet who have very little idea of how to understand the symbols of the Apocalypse! These are dismissed as being things “we cannot be certain about,” or even “things we are not meant to know.” A Revelation of Jesus Christ is about things we are not meant to have revealed to us? Such is the absurdity of the flesh, brought out by education from the Serpent. Those who have intellectual ability enough to attend the Serpent’s centres of learning have more than enough intellectual ability to unravel the mysteries of Christ, revealed to that class of men who, for the most part, are not many mighty, not many noble, but are “the foolish things of the world” whom God hath chosen to confound the wise (1Cor 1:26,27). “We find Bible Study difficult,” they say. “We find it too difficult to understand,” and conclude that it is not meant to be understood, or if it can be unravelled, they do not have the time to do it. But the difficulty lies not in their mental capacity, which is more than adequate for the intricacies of fleshly learning; rather it is in the Mind of the Flesh which they have permitted their serpentine instructors to cultivate – which cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. Serving Mammon occupies too much time for such men, to permit labouring in the Word to discover the hidden truths of the Most High El.
But what saith the Scripture about the “simple faith” that men enjoy speaking of, in order to justify their neglect of the Word, and attendance of fleshly things? The cry of wisdom is very different. Whilst it is true that men must embrace and accept the “simplicity that is in Christ,” (2 Cor 11:3), it is not true that therefore they must not move from a state of simplicity to become wise in Christ:
“Wisdom crieth without … how long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge” (Prov 1:20-22).
This is the prevailing serpentine wisdom that permeates all things extant in this world. A “head-knowledge,” or an “academic knowledge,” of the Word, as they put it, is something to be avoided at all costs. Simplicity is advanced, whilst those who desire to search diligently for wisdom as hid treasures (Prov 2:4) are discouraged. But such are pronounced to be fools by the spirit of true Wisdom, for how can those who eschew searching out wisdom become “wise unto salvation?” (2Tim 3:15). Where else can a spiritual mind be developed but in the “head”? And how can such a mind be developed, but by the assimilation into the mind of divine principles? And where else can those principles be found but in the Word? And how therefore, can those principles be learned but by searching the Scriptures? Even so it is written that men must labour in the word and in the doctrine to become approved by God: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of Truth” (2 Tim 2:15). The converse is true also; a man who does not study will therefore not be approved by God, and will need to be ashamed before the coming bema of Christ.
LABOURING IN THE RIGHT THINGS
So it is, that a man cannot be enlightened of divine things by all of his time and energy on the things of the flesh. True it is, that there are other activities to attend to, for to labour for daily bread is part of the Curse which all men are under: “in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen 3:19). But men who devote their energies into refining their participation in this curse, to obtain as much of this world’s goods as possible, are merely attending to the curse itself, whilst giving no thought to the cure. In order to be redeemed from it in the coming age of glory, men must become wise in divine things. In order to shine with the brilliance of Yahweh’s glory in immortality, men must seek after the wisdom that gives life, devoting themselves to the reflection, and enaction of, the ways of the Most High. Then, “they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Dan 12:3), or as the Master expressed it in alluding to this place: “then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mat 13:43). Those who shine in the age to come are “the righteous”. They are also “the wise”, which teaches that a man cannot be “righteous” without being “wise”. “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” indeed.
Christopher Maddocks
