Isaiah 29:9-16 – The Lord Has Poured Out Upon You the Spirit of Deep Sleep, and Hath Closed Your Eyes

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Isa 29:9-16 - The Lord Has Poured Out Upon You The Spirit of Deep Sleep, and Hath Closed Your Eyes

Isa 29:9  Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
Isa 29:10  For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
Isa 29:11  And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
Isa 29:12  And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
Isa 29:13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Isa 29:14  Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
Isa 29:15  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?
Isa 29:16  Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

Our study today is addressed to you and to me, and the Lord begins by asking us to simply stop and consider just how foolish and stupid it is when we lean to our own rebellious understanding and our own strength:

Isa 29:9  Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

"Stay yourselves and wonder..." 'Stop for a moment and consider, cry out', but the Truth is we all come into this world spiritually blind as a bat. We are all first born blind before we are given eyes to see or ears that hear the meaning of the words of spirit and life, and it is all so "that the works of God should be manifest[ed] in [us]", because spiritually speaking we are all, as "the first man, Adam", we are this blind man of John 9, and we are all part of "the blind... multitudes" before we are given eyes that see and ears that hear:

Joh 9:1  And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
Joh 9:2  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Christ here tells us very plainly that He spoke in parables to keep the multitudes from seeing with their eyes and hearing with their ears. He tells us that if He had given them understanding of His words they would have been converted, and He would have healed them of that spiritual blindness, and that simply was not what Christ had come to do at that time. What Christ had come to do at that time was to give them eyes which did not see and ears which could not hear "lest they should be converted and [lest He should] heal them". All His physical healings and miracles were just types and shadows of the much "greater [spiritual] things than these" which you and I have been given to do by showing those He gives eyes to see and ears to hear "the things of the spirit".

Joh 14:12  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Even Christ's disciples could not at first see or hear His message or the spirit that is His Words:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

I have stated that these words of Isaiah 29 are for us. How do I know these words are addressed to you and to me? The answer is that I simply believe what Jesus told the adversary:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

The adversary would have us to believe this prophecy must surely be addressed to some foolish and stupid people way back in the days of Isaiah, and surely they have no application to a relatively wise and good person such as you or me.

Gill's commentary is typical of how most commentaries deal with these verses, and there is no hint of understanding the meaning of "man... [must] live by every word of God" as it applies to these words here in Isaiah 29.

Here is what Gill has to say about these verses:

Clark's commentary has the same limited understanding of the audience for whom these words are intended:

Guzik has the same take:

So it is with commentary after commentary. The words of the prophets "were spoken in the times of Ahaz... the people to whom this address is made were as stupid as others" around them "in the time of Ahaz". "The prophet stands amazed at the stupidity of the greatest part of the Jewish nation", and "the spiritual stupor of Jerusalem" is all God has given the commentators of Babylon to get out of these words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God. They simply have not be given the understanding of Christ's doctrine:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

The commentaries for the most part do not believe these words of Isaiah, which we are plainly told are proceeding out of the mouth of God, apply to "man [Greek: anthropos, mankind - who, we are told:] shall... live by... every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God".

Being blinded to these words of Christ, all the words of the Old Testament are therefore, for the most part, nothing more than a mere history lesson to "this people". Yet no one can deny that Christ quoted the prophets as if they were very relevant to His day.

Let's compare these words of Isaiah to Christ's own words:

Isa 29:10  For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

Now notice how Christ applies these very words to the people of His own day. These were the very people to whom He was teaching and preaching until this very day:

Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Christ tells us that Isaiah is prophesying here of His words being hidden from the very multitudes of Christians who come to Him and appropriate His name but have not been given eyes that see or ears that hear His message, and this is not the first time Isaiah has told us of our own natural state. We read this same message in:

Isa 6:9  And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Isa 6:10  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

Christ quoted Isaiah word for word because He knew Isaiah's words apply in every generation of mankind. He knew, as He told the adversary, that it was indeed all men who must "live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Mat 4:4).

John tells us those Jews who believed on Christ but could not "do the things [He said]" (Luk 6:46) were also spiritually blind. It was "those Jews which believed on Him" who "want[ed] to kill [Him]". It had to be so because God Himself had so spiritually blinded them that even all of Christ's miracles were not sufficient to open their eyes or their ears to see or hear what the scriptures had to say about their own Savior:

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

Christ's words "You seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you" are addressed "to those Jews which believed on Him". We first 'believe in Him' while we are yet in Babylon. Those words were written to let you and me know they are speaking of you and me.  If mankind must live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God, and if Christ "[is] the Word", then you and I must live by these words here in John 8, and indeed we all have done so, because we have all denied our Lord in our own time, and in denying Christ, it is we who have helped to crucify Him, fulfilling His word:

Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

It is only in "look[ing] behind [us]", that we see that we have indeed crucified our Lord, and we have all lived by these very words:

Isa 29:11  And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
Isa 29:12  And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

It was only yesterday that you and I thought Christ spoke in parables for the purpose of opening the eyes of the multitudes who "believed on Him" (Joh 8:30-31). It was only yesterday that we were all born into a dying body of rebellious flesh as spiritually blind as a bat. We think we see clearly until the Lord reveals to us, as we look back, just how blind we were and how His words truly were "a book that is sealed" to us at that time.

Then the Lord begins to drag us out of Babylon. God's people all "come out of [Babylon]":

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

Can you remember thinking, "I am so thankful that I came out of Babylon so I do not have to partake of her sins or receive of her plagues? Those words are obviously not for me. Those words are for those who have blasphemed God and who did not repent when the Lord poured out His wrath upon them. These particular words proceeding out of the mouth of God are not to be lived by me. I am so happy that I am not appointed unto wrath, but to salvation."

That is exactly what I once thought, and it is true:

1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

But does 1Thessalonians 5:9 say we have never experienced God's wrath? No, that verse does not say we have never experienced the wrath of God. This is the fact of that question:

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Then there is also this verse in:

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

"The seven last plagues... fill up the wrath of God", and the last two verses of this 15th chapter of Revelation tell us:

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

At what point are we "not appointed... to wrath"? Is there anyone who has never experienced the wrath of God? If it is true that "He that believes not the Son... the wrath of God abides on him", then the wrath of God has been upon all men, as we are all unbelievers by virtue of first being "sinners... in Adam",  who has brought death to all men.

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Rom 5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

The fact is that "no man [can] enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels [are] fulfilled". Clearly the sum of God's Word teaches us that it is we who must live by every word of God and that we must fulfill the seven plagues of the seven angels before we can enter the temple of God, and then it becomes true that "we are not appointed unto wrath".

However, we do not just naturally see ourselves as being in Babylon being ruled by a "great whore". Instead this is what we say of ourselves at that point of our experience:

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Being ruled over by a harlot we are "one flesh" with her:

1Co 6:16  What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

We are all "one flesh" with the great whore for many years of our lives, and we are not even aware of how far from our Lord we are, and this is what we are unwittingly telling ourselves at that time:

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

"That day" is the day of judgment and the day of the Lord's wrath upon the kingdom of our old man, and "that day" is at this very moment "upon the house of God":

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

It is an experience which is "common to all men", and those are words we have all lived as Isaiah continues to tell us just how true it is that the Lord has poured out upon us the spirit of deep sleep and has closed our eyes to this extent:

Isa 29:13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

"Taught by the precept of man" is just another way of saying, "Their fear toward me is taught through the false doctrines of men." Doctrines like the immortality of the soul and its sister doctrine of eternal torment in eternal literal flames of fire name just two of the two hundred million such false blasphemous doctrines of men.

Rev 9:2  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

Rev 9:7  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:7  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

Rev 9:16  And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

The "fear of [God] taught by the precept of men", has always been the prevailing doctrine of the Lord's people, but it will not always be so because:

Isa 29:14  Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

What we are being told is that our deception and our spiritual blindness is a part of "a marvellous work" which the Lord is working within us by causing wisdom to cease and by hiding understanding from us as our Lord told us He is doing:

Rom 11:8  (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear) unto this day.

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: [His "marvellous work among this people", Isa 29:14]
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

The Lord declares to us "His own" sovereignty over "all things", from Genesis to Revelation, yet we seek to hide deep our counsel from the Lord by convincing ourselves that He does not see all we do, and we think that our "darkness", our deception proves He does not exist or that He cannot or will not judge us for all of our evil works:

Isa 29:15  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?

Nevertheless the Truth is still the Truth, and the fact of the matter is:

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

What this tells us is that even our thoughts: "Who sees us? and who knows us" ...are from the Lord. In this same chapter of Proverbs we are even told:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

In case we might think that there is surely some exception to God's sovereign work, we are explicitly told, "Yes, even the wicked [are 'made for Himself'] for the day of evil."

I confess before you today, that I am constantly intrigued by how the teachers and commentators on the payroll of the "great whore" deal with such clear and plain statements, and I find myself uncontrollably searching out how they go about denying such straightforward statements as Proverbs 16:4. So I read one commentator I have often read before, and for a moment I actually thought I had found a Babylonian commentator who acknowledged the Truth of these words. Just listen to Gill's comments on this 4th verse of Proverbs 16:

To which I said, 'Amen brother Gill!' I could hardly believe my eyes as I read how this man seemed to be getting the point which these words clearly convey. It seemed impossible that a man of impeccable Babylonian credentials such as Gill could have such an appreciation for the total sovereignty of God, but here it is before our very eyes, and we all just read it for ourselves. Mr. Gill acknowledges, "all things are appointed by the Lord, respecting the temporal estate of men; their birth, and the time of it, with all the circumstances attending it; the place of their abode, their calling, station of life, and usefulness; all adverse and prosperous dispensations; their death, with all the events leading to it: and so likewise all things respecting their spiritual and eternal estate; the choice of them to salvation; their redemption by Christ; the time of his coming, sufferings, and death, and the circumstances thereof; the conversion of God's elect, the time, place, and means; these are all according to the purpose of God; as are also all their times of affliction, temptation, desertion, and of joy and comfort. In a word, the final state of all men, good and bad, is fixed by the Lord; and all this is "for himself..."

Wow! That is incredible! It appears we have found a man of great integrity who is willing to stand on the Word of God, at least concerning this one doctrine, and this man is in Babylon.

Did not the Lord tell us:

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2  The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3  The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.

Do not these three verses tell us that not one doctrine of Babylon is free from the stain of her unfaithfulness? Do not these three verses tell us that not one mighty man, one man of war, one  judge, one prophet, one prudent man, ancient man, captain, honorable man, counselor, artificer, not one eloquent man and not one Babylonian commentator of the scriptures has any of the stay of bread and stay of water in him? Yes, indeed, that is what we just read. So what are we to make of Mr. Gill's commentary asserting the total sovereignty of God over "all the events... all things respecting their spiritual and eternal estate; the choice of them to salvation; their redemption by Christ; the time of his coming, sufferings, and death, and the circumstances thereof; the conversion of God's elect, the time, place, and means; these are all according to the purpose of God; as are also all their times of affliction, temptation, desertion, and of joy and comfort. In a word, the final state of all men, good and bad, is fixed by the Lord; and all this is "for himself..."? The answer is to be found in how Mr. Gill contradicts himself in his comments on the last half of Proverbs 16:4.

Quoting Gill's Commentary:

1Co 16:22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

"Nor does God make men wicked"? Who will you believe, Mr. Gill, and all of Babylon, or will you believe God who said:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

And who says:

Pro 20:24  Man's goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

Jer 10:23  O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

This is how the holy spirit prepares our hearts to receive the words of Romans 9:

Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

"The creature was made subject to vanity". So I ask, "Is Mr. Gill to be believed when he tells us: "nor did or does God make men wicked; he made man upright, and he [man] has made himself wicked"??? Was man "made subject to vanity" or did God make man upright? Both cannot be true!

The Bible teaches us that Gill was right before he contradicted himself: "all the events... all things respecting their spiritual and eternal estate; the choice of them to salvation; their redemption by Christ; the time of his coming, sufferings, and death, and the circumstances thereof; the conversion of God's elect, the time, place, and means; these are all according to the purpose of God; as are also all their times of affliction, temptation, desertion, and of joy and comfort. In a word, the final state of all men, good and bad, is fixed by the Lord; and all this is "for himself..."?

It seems impossible that any man can make the statement, "In a word, the final state of all men, good and bad, is fixed by the Lord;" and in  the same breath declare: "nor did or does God make men wicked; he made man upright, and he has made himself wicked; and, being so, God may justly appoint him to damnation for his wickedness, in doing which he glorifies his justice."

Such is the forked tongue of our father the devil, whose work by God's design and plan, that we seek to please ourselves and to twist the Lord's words into the idols of our own hearts:

Eze 14:7  For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
Eze 14:8  And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

These verses may appear to say that the Lord deceives that prophet because that prophet has set up his own idols of his heart, but the sum of God's word reveals over and over and over again that the Lord has all of our days "written in His book before there were any of them:"

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.

How possibly does one force the doctrine: "nor did or does God make men wicked; he made man upright, and he has made himself wicked;" into Psalms 139:16? To do so is to turn all the Word of God upside down and backwards, making God's will and the efficacy of the cross subject to our own fabled 'free will'.

The Lord has a solution for the sad state in which He, by His own design, has placed His dying creatures. As we have been told:

Isa 29:14  Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

It is futile to attempt to hide our heart's idols from the Lord and to think He does not see what is in our hearts:

Isa 29:15  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?

This is what will become of all of the "idols of [our] hearts":

Isa 29:16  Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

In other words, we and the whole world can agree with Mr. Gill and ascribe our sins to ourselves all we want, but the Truth will still remain the Truth, which very clearly stated is:

Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

And as "every scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven" will do, we will also take from the New Testament to make His Truth known:

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing [I am made by God "wicked... for the day of evil"]: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Mat 13:52  Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

That is our study for today. Next week, if the Lord wills, we will find that since we, and all men, were "made... wicked... for the day of evil", the Lord will also make us "that erred in spirit [to] come to understanding... and [to] learn doctrine".

Isa 29:17  Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
Isa 29:18  And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
Isa 29:19  The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 29:20  For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
Isa 29:21  That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
Isa 29:22  Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.
Isa 29:23  But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
Isa 29:24  They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.

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