Promises and Threats
Isaiah 58:8-14; Matthew 15:1-31 / Psalm 63:1-11
Dr. Edwin P. Elliott
I. When God Commands, He Also Prohibits
A. Consider the Sabbath. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy
daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8-11)
B. Just as a pebble dropping in a pond sends ripples in all directions, God’s commands reach in all directions. “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:” (Isaiah 58:13) “Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” (Isaiah 58:14)
C. When God demands priority, He implicitly forbids acknowledging any other authority on His level; this was the starting struggle of Jesus’ ministry. “Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.” (Deuteronomy 6:13) “And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Matthew 4:9-10)
D. Similarly, God regulates the social order through respect for parents, but people seek ways to negotiate around the law with philosophical and legal
constructions. “For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.” (Matthew 15:4-6)
II. When God Forbids, He Also Commands
A. God forbids theft and even wanting to steal. “Thou shalt not steal.” (Exodus 20:15) “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” (Exodus 20:17)
B. Notice that as God forbids theft and avaricious discontent, He is implicitly commanding charity. “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” (Ephesians 4:28)
C. The blessing for honoring parents is connected to a curse for being disrespectful to them. “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” (Exodus 20:12) “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.”
(Proverbs 30:17)
III. Grace Always Stands in the Background
A. Grace is the context for all encounters with God; with heaven there is hope. “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.” (Jeremiah 18:7-8)
B. All the blessings, curses, warnings, and promises are points of contact with God; that contact is far more important than the incident which caused it. “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:” (Isaiah 1:16-19)
C. God is willing to work with people who come to Him, but He demands that they think through what they need and come to Him on His terms. “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.” (Isaiah 43:25-26)
D. A personal encounter with the God Who calls Himself The Word, will lead to the inevitable conclusion that God is the ultimate expression of mercy. “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:18-19)
