ITS ALL ABOUT GOD’S SPOKEN WORD
There is a doctrine in Christianity called sola scriptura that places all of the weight of religion on the written Bible. This is a fine-sounding doctrine but it falls way short of what God really wants.

In one way or another all scripture says or implies that God wants people to listen to his voice and be led by his Spirit. That sounds simple enough to man, so what man does is read the Bible and then does what they see Bible characters doing. This makes sense to the natural mind, but it is not what God wants. The problem is that God speaks in parables and in other mysterious language that is impossible for man to interpret with his natural mind and to do with his natural body. The other problem is that it is wrong to assume that just because any Bible character did something it is an OK thing to do. Some characters listened to God’s voice and some did not. The challenge is to discern which ones listened to God’s voice. Those who do not understand this are deceptively led into “monkey see monkey do” religion.

Being strongly motivated to please God, man does not let the mystery and symbolism of the Bible stop him from trying to reach out to God through religious works.  Defaulting to his fleshly, human nature, man interprets the Bible literally and does his best to accomplish those literal, Biblical prescriptions and proscriptions in order to understand God with his natural mind. When he does this, he stumbles. Using the natural mind and intellect is how man operates, but it is not how God works. God’s thoughts and ways are not like man’s ways. Man functions in the flesh and God functions in the Spirit.

The sooner we accept that fact, the sooner we will stop using our natural minds (i.e. flesh) to understand God by reading the Bible literally. And we should want to do that because use of our fleshly minds alone counts for nothing. Only then will we be able to start applying faith to hear his spiritual voice.

The following is a small sample of scriptures that tell us to listen to God’s voice. Notice that they are buried in other scriptures and that they do not easily jump out for us to recognize. That is why we must read to listen for what God is saying, not just what is written:

Exodus 15:22-26: Then Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur; they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he proved them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I put upon the Egyptians; for I am the LORD, your healer.”

COMMENTARY: This incident was a test to see if Israel would listen to God’s voice and obey it. If Israel would obey, it would not be afflicted with any of the diseases (i.e. religious practices) that they had learned while slaves in Egypt.

The bitter water is the equivalent of a spiritual famine that God had created. It is in times of famine that people are more inclined to resort to religious activity to gain some sense of being connected to God. The only way to stay connected to God, however, is by listening to and obeying his voice. Thus, if people will listen for God’s voice, even when they are not hearing it, they will not fall into the trap of getting religious.

Deuteronomy 4:25-35: “When you beget children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a graven image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess; you will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of men’s hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice, 31 for the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers which he swore to them. 32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.

COMMENTARY: This is a promise of redemption for people who have served other gods and not listened to God’s voice. He will remember his covenant with them when they search for him with all their heart and soul (i.e. listen for his voice with faith that he will speak.

Deuteronomy 13:1-5: “If a prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder which he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him, and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and cleave to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.

COMMENTARY: This is a warning that God will test people with opportunities to follow other gods by listening to and following false prophets who promise signs and wonders. The test is to obey God’s voice instead of the prophets or dreamers and purge them from the midst of God’s people.

Deuteronomy 15:5-6: If nevertheless thou shalt hear the voice of thy Lord God, and shalt keep all things which he commanded, and which I command today to thee, (if only thou shalt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and shalt obey all the things which he commanded, and which I command to thee today,) 6 he shall bless thee, as he promised. Thou shalt lend to many folks, and thou shalt not take borrowing of any man; thou shalt be lord of full many nations, and no man shall be lord of thee. (yea, then he shall bless thee, as he promised. Thou shalt lend to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow from anyone; thou shalt be lord of a great many nations, but no one shall be thy lord.)

Deuteronomy 28: “And if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments which I command you this day, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.

COMMENTARY: These verses say that all the blessing in following verses are conditional on obeying God’s voice — not the literal, written word of the Bible.

3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your beasts, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading-trough. 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. 7 “The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. 8 The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; and he will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you. 9 The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and walk in his ways. 10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of you. 11 And the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, within the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The LORD will open to you his good treasury the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the LORD will make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall tend upward only, and not downward; if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day, being careful to do them, 14 and if you do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. 15 “But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. 16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading-trough. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. 20 “The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and frustration, in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your doings, because you have forsaken me. 21 The LORD will make the pestilence cleave to you until he has consumed you off the land which you are entering to take possession of it. 22 The LORD will smite you with consumption, and with fever, inflammation, and fiery heat, and with drought, and with blasting, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. 23 And the heavens over your head shall be brass, and the earth under you shall be iron. 24 The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down upon you until you are destroyed. 25 “The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; and you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and there shall be no one to frighten them away. 27 The LORD will smite you with the boils of Egypt, and with the ulcers and the scurvy and the itch, of which you cannot be healed. 28 The LORD will smite you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind; 29 and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways; and you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. 30 You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and you shall not use the fruit of it. 31 Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it; your ass shall be violently taken away before your face, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and there shall be no one to help you. 32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all the day; and it shall not be in the power of your hand to prevent it. 33 A nation which you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually; 34 so that you shall be driven mad by the sight which your eyes shall see. 35 The LORD will smite you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. 36 “The LORD will bring you, and your king whom you set over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone. 37 And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away. 38 You shall carry much seed into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it. 39 You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them. 40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. 41 You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. 42 All your trees and the fruit of your ground the locust shall possess. 43 The sojourner who is among you shall mount above you higher and higher; and you shall come down lower and lower. 44 He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. 45 All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you, till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you.

COMMENTARY: All the curses mentioned in these scriptures will come upon people who do not obey the spoken voice of God — even though they may try very hard to obey the written, literal word of God as it is represented in the Bible.

46 They shall be upon you as a sign and a wonder, and upon your descendants for ever. 47 “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and in want of all things; and he will put a yoke of iron upon your neck, until he has destroyed you. 49 The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you do not understand, 50 a nation of stern countenance, who shall not regard the person of the old or show favor to the young, 51 and shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; who also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your cattle or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. 52 They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the LORD your God has given you. 53 And you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. 54 The man who is the most tender and delicately bred among you will grudge food to his brother, to the wife of his bosom, and to the last of the children who remain to him; 55 so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. 56 The most tender and delicately bred woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will grudge to the husband of her bosom, to her son and to her daughter, 57 her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because she will eat them secretly, for want of all things, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns. 58 “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awful name, the LORD your God, 59 then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. 60 And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they shall cleave to you. 61 Every sickness also, and every affliction which is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. 62 Whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude, you shall be left few in number; because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God. 63 And as the LORD took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the LORD will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you; and you shall be plucked off the land which you are entering to take possession of it. 64 And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. 65 And among these nations you shall find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot; but the LORD will give you there a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and a languishing soul; 66 your life shall hang in doubt before you; night and day you shall be in dread, and have no assurance of your life. 67 In the morning you shall say, ‘Would it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘Would it were morning!’ because of the dread which your heart shall fear, and the sights which your eyes shall see. 68 And the LORD will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey which I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no man will buy you.”

COMMENTARY: Verses 62 and 63 refer to God’s original promise to Abraham. Because of failure to obey God’s voice (i.e. break covenant), therefore, God withholds his promises to his people. And instead of good things from God, they will be scattered and languish in foreign lands where they will become slaves.

Psalm 81:8-13:  Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me! 9 There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god. 10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11 “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would have none of me. 12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. 13 O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!

COMMENTARY: We read here that failure to listen to God’s voice is compared to having a stubborn heart. He says further that he will allow people who refuse to listen to his voice essentially bow down to foreign gods and that he will allow them to do it even though it is not what he wants.

Jeremiah 11:1-8: The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not heed the words of this covenant 4 which I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you.

COMMENTARY: We see here that people who do not listen to God’s voice and do what he says are cursed.

So shall you be my people, and I will be your God, 5 that I may perform the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.” Then I answered, “So be it, LORD.” 6 And the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice. 8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but every one walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

Jeremiah 22:21: I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth, that you have not obeyed my voice.

COMMENTARY: The corollary to “I will not listen” is “I will read and understand the literal word with my natural mind.” God is saying that this is how it has always been for his people — both Jews and Christians. Both religions pride themselves on their ability to read and interpret the Bible literally. The prosperity mentioned is the pride that both religions have in this ability.

Despite the fact that God does not live in a temple made with human hands and is not served by human hands, and despite the fact that man’s religious works, are nothing more than rubbish, Old/First Covenant religionists insist on worshiping in physical temples and insist on doing all manner of religious activities with their physical bodies. It follows, therefore, that obeying the literal, religious do’s and don’ts does not qualify as the law written on the heart and are not the same as worshiping in spirit and truth. The commandments that religious people follow are rules and traditions made by men. They are all works of the flesh — not of the spirit.

Since God knows the hearts of his people well, and since he knows the beginning from the end and makes his purposes happen, we can assume that he was not surprised that Israel responded to his laws with religious zeal that caused them to want to obey every word of the written law. Nor is he surprised that Christians would display the same kind of zeal for their interpretations of the written word in the New Testament. He knows that because that men are made of flesh and will follow their fleshly inclinations. 

Zeal for obedience to the letter of the law continues in modern Judaism and in Christianity. But neither religion understands that there are significant differences between the letter of The Law and the Spirit of The Law. Lacking that understanding, they fail to interpret both Old Testament and New Testament scriptures properly. Unable to differentiate between letter and spirit, they default to religious zealousness for performing the letter of the law because it speaks to them in natural terms which they understand. In doing this, they have stumbled over the law.

STUDY TIP: See these links for discussion about the differences between the letter and spirit of the law:

Although perfect obedience to the letter of the written law is impossible, both Jews and Christians work very hard to satisfy themselves that they are doing what God wants. By carefully designing their religions according to the details of the literal Bible, they are satisfied with their righteousness, but they do not know that what God really wants is their hearts — not religious work based on traditions. They do not understand because they don’t know that all the details that they are so careful to observe are only natural Symbols, Signs, Types, Copies and Shadows of spiritual faith which cannot be seen.