Tetragrammaton (Photo credit: ideacreamanuelaPps)
On of this blog’s readers (“Morningstar”–but not Don Bailey) posted a comment on another article that read,
“Some scriptures I believe I understand. Some I know I do not understand.. One scripture says, My people are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge. Then, another scripture says, Woe to those who deprive my people of their rights.This last scripture is enough for me to believe that rights come from YHWH. BUT, it seems to me these rights are going to be denied by the oppressors regardless of whether God’s people have “knowledge” or not..I think Christ & other apostles etc.,had knowledge. Also, he,Christ said if they have persecuted me, they will persecute you. So, I am at a loss to understand what the scripture that says my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge means. Except I know what destroyed & being destroyed means.”
“Morningstar” knows God’s people are destroyed for “lack of knowledge” but, so far, he can’t figure out what that “knowledge” is. Is the needed knowledge the Pythagorean Theory? How ’bout how many ounces are in a metric tonne? What’s the Las Vegas “line” on the next Super Bowl? Exactly, what “knowledge” is needed not to “perish”?
It is a puzzlement. I don’t know the answer for sure. But I’ve also wondered about that essential “knowledge” for at least a decade. And, then, about five years ago, an “answer” (or at least a possible answer) came to me.
I started to realize that there are at least two dozen verses in the Bible where God tells his children that eventually “they will know that I am God.” God even warns his enemies that he is about to beat the crap out of them “so they will know [teach them the lesson] that I am God.”
It appears to me that one of God’s great objectives is to make all of His children (and perhaps everyone) “know that He is God”. I believe that’s the “knowledge” that, without which, we tend to “perish”.
A lot of people might say, “Ohh, heck, I already know that He is God.”
But do you? Really?
If you truly and already “know that He is God,” why the hell don’t you obey His laws?
Sure, you’ve heard about God and you might even believe in Him to some degree. But if you really know that He is God, why do you bother obeying anyone else’s laws? Why do you bother “worshiping” Obama, or technology, or the almighty fiat dollar? Why would you dare to take orders from anyone if those orders were contrary to God’s law? Why would you dare to voluntarily violate God’s laws if you really “know” that He is the Creator of the entire universe? Why aren’t you trembling even now?
Disobeying God’s law is not something clever or cute like flipping the bird to Obama or the local IRS agent. God is infinitely bigger and more powerful than all presidents and all IRS agents have ever been or could ever be. If you don’t realize how powerful–and potentially dangerous–God is, you do not really “know” God.
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
If the Bible is true, then a healthy fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge and may be closely associated with the “knowledge” without which God’s people “perish”.
• Here are 25 more verses (there may be more) where our Father YHWH ha Elohiym repeatedly makes clear His intention to make his people “know that He is God“. He acts for or against various people(s) so they can “know” from their blessings (or their destruction) that He is God:
Exo_6:7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
Exo_16:12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.
Exo_29:46 And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.
Lev_23:43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Deu_29:6 Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God.
1Ki_20:28 And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Psa_46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
Isa_43:10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
Isa_45:3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
Jer_24:7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
Eze_13:9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Eze_20:20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
Eze_20:44 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze_23:49 And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Eze_24:24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Eze_28:22 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
Eze_28:24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Eze_28:26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.
Eze_29:16 And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Eze_34:30 Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze_36:23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
Eze_39:22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
Eze_39:28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
Joe_2:27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
Joe_3:17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
• I could be mistaken. Maybe the “knowledge” without which God’s people “perish” is something other than knowing that our Father YHWH ha Elohiym is God.
But for me, that’s the answer. ”My people perish for lack of knowledge that I am the LORD their God.”
