Behold, I have told you in advance.

Deuteronomy 13:1-18 from the daily reading in the One year Bible

“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. ⁵ But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.

⁶ “If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, ⁷ of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), ⁸ you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. ⁹ But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. ¹⁰ So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹¹ Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

¹² “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that ¹³ some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known), ¹⁴ then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you, ¹⁵ you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶ Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt. ¹⁷ Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the Lord may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers, ¹⁸ if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Fortunately we no longer live under the law. The penalties for disobedience, rebellion and false teaching were death under the law. We who have received the marvelous grace of God in our own lives are to also show grace to others. James 4:11-12 says:    Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? Jesus paid the price, as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.

John 5:22-23    The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.    

Romans 12:9 says:  Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.       Under the covenant of grace we no longer carry out God’s judgment, we only carry His love. The warnings to believers not to follow false teachings or to worship other gods however still are applicable today. In Matthew 24:21-27, Jesus says:     For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. ²² Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ²³ Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. ²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ Behold, I have told you in advance. ²⁶ So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. ²⁷ For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.     Jesus warns believers, He says: “Behold, I have told you in advance.”  We should not be surprised then that false teachers and false teachings exist. We should not be surprised that there are many philosophies and doctrines of man that ask us to follow other gods, even other Christs.

Many today promote a Christ that embraces and tolerates sin. To be clear, Jesus loves sinners. He gave His life to redeem, reconcile and restore them. Jesus did not redeem or reconcile sin. Sin is irreconcilable to God. Again we are not the ones who carry out God’s judgment on false teachers, still Jesus has a strong warning for them in Matthew 18:3-6.  He says:    “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; ⁶ but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.  

The warning for us is not to follow or be influenced by false teachers. So the question is how do we know for sure who is speaking the truth, if false teachers may be prosperous and even exhibit signs and wonders. The only way we can truly be secure, knowing that it is Jesus that we are following is to focus on Him, not what people say about Him. Jesus says:     My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; ²⁸ and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”      Among all the voices in the world, we need to know the voice of our Lord. We hear His voice when we spend time with Him, time in His word, time in prayer and meditation. Listening to teachers and preachers can be profitable for our spiritual growth, but the only way to know for sure if what they are saying is true is for us to know what God says. God reveals His truth through His written word. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16:   All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.     We need to balance God’s word with God’s word. All scripture confirms itself. Anyone who creates or promotes a doctrine that focuses on only one aspect of God’s truth and does not line up with all of His truth, revealed in scripture, promotes a false doctrine.

With all the voices in the world today it can be difficult to know that we hear and understand God’s voice.  Jesus says: “ I and the Father are one.”  Fortunately for us there is another that is one with Jesus and the Father. Our God is a triune God. The Holy Spirit is also one with them. Jesus says to us: the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.(John 14:26) If we will spend time in God’s word and spend time in God’s presence, if we will submit and yield to the Holy Spirit of God within us, then Jesus says:   “no one will snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”  

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You for Your truth, revealed through Your written word and Your spoken word, heard in Your presence and thank You for Your Holy Spirit, that quiet voice in me, who leads me to all truth. Thank You that in Your truth I am secure. I yield to You. I choose to sit in Your presence that I would know You. Give me revelation as I meditate on the truth of Your Word, all scripture. Father, Son and Holy Spirit You are One and through the cross of Christ I am one with You.    Amen.