Finally I want to briefly deal with the Lord’s leading of His children today, through signs. You will recall that we saw that under the old covenant, that our Lord Jesus from time to time, led those saints by that method. The reason that I will only deal briefly with that method under the new covenant, is because that method is non-existent in the church age. There is not one place in the New Testament given as an example, of one of the Lord’s children seeking guidance from the Lord by this method. Also, there is no place in the new testament where the saints are taught to seek guidance from the Lord through this method. The reason for that is simple. As we have stated numerous times before in this teaching, the saints under the old covenant were spiritually dead and had no contact with the Holy Spirit. Under the new covenant all saints are spiritually alive and have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of them. For the saints under the new covenant, to ignore the Holy Spirit on the inside of them, and rather look at external signs around them to give them guidance, is an insult to the Holy Spirit. All believers today, who “put out fleeces” as Gideon did, are being completely foolish and will not walk in the Lord’s will for their lives. They will be misled by the god of this world, as he will accommodate them with their requested signs. Jesus certainly will not accommodate them, as that would be in violation of His word under the new covenant, and our Lord cannot go against His word. As far as the church is concerned, the old covenant is over, so do not try to go back to it. Some of the worst mistakes I have made in my Christian walk, is when I have looked at external circumstances to try to determine what the Lord’s leading is. I have seen circumstances lining up ever so neatly, where it just looked like God must be in it. All the time however, knowing on the inside of me that I was missing God. And instead of following the guide of the inward witness, I followed the “signs” and got into trouble every time.
Jeremiah 42:1-7 “Now all the captains of the forces, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near (2) and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Please, let our petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to the Lord your God, for all this remnant (since we are left but a few of many, as you can see), (3) that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do." (4) Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard. Indeed, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words, and it shall be that whatever the Lord answers you; I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you." (5) So, they said to Jeremiah, "Let the Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the Lord your God sends us by you. (6) Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send you that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God." (7) And it happened after ten days that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.”
There is another point that we need to recognise when we seek the Lord’s counsel, which is that there are going to be times when we must wait upon the Lord, for not always does the Lord answer straight away. In the above quoted account the remnant of those in Israel, who had not been taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, were seeking guidance from the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet. Although on the surface it looks like they were genuinely seeking the Lord’s counsel, God knew their heart. And if you read the full account you will see that they rebelled against the Lord’s counsel after it was given. The point that I wanted to make from this passage of scripture however, is that when Jeremiah sought the Lord’s guidance, that the Lord did not answer him straight away. The Lord took ten days before He gave Jeremiah an answer. In this case it may have been because those seeking guidance were not genuine that God delayed His answer to the prophet. Nevertheless, the point remains that there were times when those seeking the Lord’s guidance, had to wait upon Him in order to receive His guidance. And we saw earlier, that Paul prayed three times about the same issue, before God finally answered him. There are going to be times when we will have to wait upon the Lord, until we get our answer from Him. God is God, and we are to wait on Him.
1 Samuel 28:6 “And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.”
Under the old covenant when the saints were walking in sin, God would not give them guidance. In other words not everyone who went to the prophet of the Lord for guidance received guidance from the Lord. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see clearly that God would not speak to Saul, even though he sought the Lord’s guidance. The background to this passage is that the Philistines had invaded Israel and Saul was seeking the Lord’s counsel as to how he should respond. A number of years before this incident, the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul because of his disobedience (1 Samuel 16:14). From the time that the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, we have no record of Saul ever seeking the Lord’s guidance again, until this account when he sought the Lord’s guidance regarding the Philistine invasion. But the Lord did not answer him. And so we see that because of Saul’s sin that the Lord would not speak to him. This is just one example of many in the Old Testament, of the Lord not speaking to those who had sinned.
Ezekiel 20:30-31 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers, and committing harlotry according to their abominations? (31) For when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So, shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live," says the Lord God, "I will not be inquired of by you.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Lord plainly states that He will not give guidance to those who are walking in sin. The context to this passage is that the elders of Israel had come to the prophet Ezekiel to seek guidance from the Lord and this was the Lord’s response to them.
1 John 1:6 “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”
Under the new covenant it is no different, for the Lord is same yesterday, today and forever. And so if we are walking in sin then we will not receive guidance from the Lord. I am not talking about unintentional sin or sins of ignorance that we commit. I am referring to us walking in known sin, where we are knowingly sinning against the Lord and against our brothers in the Lord. The above quoted passage of scripture clearly states that if we are walking in sin, then we no longer enjoy fellowship with the Lord Jesus. It is only through having fellowship with the Lord Jesus, that we can expect to receive His guidance in life. This is another reason that “prophets” who freely give words from the Lord to whoever asks them, are missing it. Because I can guarantee you that there are those seeking words from the Lord who are walking in sin, and the Lord answers their requests with silence.
Michael E.B. Maher
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