'Backsliders of the Bible'
Jeremiah in the third chapter of his
prophecy uses the word 'backsliding' to describe the condition/conduct of the
people of Israel.
The wicked sin of spiritual adultery was openly committed by the ten tribes of
Israel which eventually caused them to be brought into captivity by the
Assyrians in 722 B.C. Judah followed in their idolatrous footsteps and Jeremiah
appealed to Judah: 'Turn thou unto me.
But she returned not.' (Jeremiah 3:7)
On five other occasions he calls for the
return/repentance of backsliding Judah but they would not! The deliberately wicked and wretched sin of
spiritual adultery, they literally 'played
the harlot' by going after strange gods called here in this extended
passage 'stones and stocks' (Jeremiah
3:9) referring to idols and trees where the worship of Baal was commonly
practiced.
Going mightily after other gods,
committing spiritual adultery, and playing the harlot might not be the way the
sins of today's Christian are described, however, the principle of having other
gods replace the God of the Bible in our lives is also just as commonplace as
the Baal worship of Israel and therefore just as much the driving cause for
backsliding in our lives today.
When the child of God 'plays the harlot' by cramming his mind with the devil's doctrine
and displays found in any number of electronic gadgets in the average Christian
home, and adopts ungodly rebellious attitudes, becoming just another mass
consumer of whatever the world has to offer, things move in and take over the
place or priority of our heart, spiritual adultery is committed just as sure as
the nation of Israel and Judah committed the sin of idolatry with strange gods
in their day!!
Backsliding is an Old Testament word with
a modern day application, yes, backsliding is the word used to describe a child
of God who is deeply settled into an ungodly habit of deliberately sinning
against God! Comfortable in practicing idolatry was the sin for which Jeremiah
condemned the Israelites!
They refused to turn to God in repentance
and therefore had to suffer judgment at the hand of a loving God, the one who
had 'married' (Jeremiah 3:14) them,
and continued to call for them to 'return'
(Jeremiah 3:22) but they would not! However, backsliding can also be used
to describe the ways of a child of God who has allowed their ungodly desires to
become the controlling factor in their life, rather than the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible gives many illustrations of
backsliders, one of the most notable being King Saul. Here is a man who was
given great opportunity by God to succeed.
He was anointed king of God's chosen people Israel by the prophet Samuel (I
Samuel 10:1). 'The Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied' (I Samuel
1:10), he was humble in the beginning hiding 'himself among the stuff' (I
Samuel 10:22).
However, he omitted the necessary daily
reading of God's Law as prescribed by Moses for kings (Deuteronomy 17:18-20)
and his ensuing self-will restricted his influence for God (I Samuel 13:12). He
then became proud (I Samuel 15:17) and directly disobedient to God becoming
guilty of rash vows (I Samuel 15:11-23). Jealous of David, he tried to kill him
even though David was loyal to him to the end (I Samuel 18, 19).
Irrational superstition led him to the
forbidden adversary of God, the witch of Endor, an emissary of the devil
himself!
(I
Samuel 28). Wounded in battle with the Philistines he chose to commit suicide,
tragically ending his own life (I Samuel 31).
The
downward slide of Saul came about gradually to be sure, but the steps to his
fatal end are clear. His obvious daily negligence of the Word of God was where
it all began.
Then, he did not keep the commandment of
the Lord. Instead of waiting on the Samuel the Lord's priest to offer sacrifice
to God he 'forced' (I Samuel 13:12) himself intruding into the priest's office
and offered a burnt offering! This total disregard for God's will is a definite
indicator of the condition of Saul's heart.
His open disobedience before all clearly
shows that he was not right with God, he was not in communion with the Lord, he
definitely was not controlled by the Lord as in times past, but instead his
self-will caused him to blatantly sin against God and those under his
authority! Samuel's verdict indicates Saul's disobedience:
'Thou hast done
foolishly; thou hast not kept the
commandment of the Lord thy God, which He commanded thee; for now would
the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.' (I Samuel 13:13)
Secondly, his backsliding intensified as
he continued to plunge into the depths of disobedience by literally rejecting
the Word of the Lord! I Samuel 15:22, 23 Samuel rebukes Saul for disobeying God
for not completely following God's orders to 'utterly destroy' (I Samuel 15:3)
the Amelekites and all their belongings. He instead spared Agag the king 'and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen,
and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not
utterly destroy them'.
'Then came the Word
of the Lord unto Samuel saying, It repents Me that I have set up Saul to be
king: for he is turned back from following Me, and hath not performed My
commandments, And it grieved Samuel: and he cried unto the Lord all night.'
The next morning when Samuel went to meet
Saul, Saul lied to him in an effort to cover the truth about his keeping the
animals of the Amelekites blaming the people when Samuel confronted him! Samuel
gave him God's verdict:
'Hath the Lord as
great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the
Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of
rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubborness is as iniquity
and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected
the Word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.'
Saul confessed his wrongdoing, but Samuel
holds to God's decision and repeats the sentence upon Saul:
'Thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord,
and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.' (I Samuel 15:26)
Saul's backsliding descent continues as
evidenced in a series of irrational acts leading up to his tragic suicidal
death! He tries to kill his loyal servant David, he also attempts to kill his
own son Jonathan, he brutally murders fifty of God's priests, he resorts to the
counsel of the witch of Endor in the process the witch 'by the familiar spirit' brings the prophet Samuel's spirit into
view and Samuel soundly condemns Saul and prophecies Saul's doom which takes
place the next day! (I Samuel 28). Saul's physical suicide on Mt. Gilboa
is the tragic finale of a backslider’s downward slide into the devil's
clutches, totally abandoning his God and succumbing to the direct and fatal
onslaught of the devil!
The next Backslider of the Bible we will
study is the prophet Jonah. Here is the picture of a chosen vessel of the Lord
who exhibits at least ten ways or characteristics of a backslidden child of
God. The first characteristic and the
most likely the source of the others is found in 1:3. Jonah deliberately
refuses to do the will of God!
Here, the prophet 'rose up to flee from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa;
and he found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare thereof, and went
down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.'
This attitude of rebellion against doing
what is clearly known to be the will of God is one of the most common
manifestations of the backslidden child of God. The Lord through His Word gave
Jonah clear instruction to Jonah in 1:2: "Arise,
go to Nineveh,
that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before
Me."
Jonah instead heads in the opposite
direction in an attempt to run away from the omnipresent God of heaven ignoring
the obvious fact of God's ability to know where he was regardless of how far he
went from the place God wanted Him to be. Oftentimes the child of God will do
the exact same thing in an effort to avoid doing what is explicitly known to be
the will of God.
That job, or position, the certain place
God wants to you to move, that church the Lord wants you to be a part of and
serve in are ways many born-again Christians refuse to do the will of God! It
happens every day after day in modern-day Christianity!
The next characteristic that Jonah the
backslider demonstrates is also found in 1:3. He conveniently removes himself
from responsibility. When God gives him
specific orders to go to Nineveh
and 'cry against it' Jonah instead
does a complete about-face and takes off in the opposite direction!
This in principle is what many of God's
children do when given an order to accomplish some undesirable task for God.
Going on in the direction of our own choosing seems to salve the conscience,
pushing the will of God to the back burner, blocking it from the mind, walking
away from anything that even reminds us of God's pointed and clear command.
Jonah, like Abraham before him when he was
told not to go down to Egypt,
chose instead the direct opposite of God's will for his life. He removes
himself from taking on the responsibility God charged him with, and that was to
'go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against
it'.
Jonah's backslidden condition causes him
to go to considerable personal expense in order to run away from God. 'He found a ship going to Tarshish: so he
paid the fare thereof' (1:3). Jonah's foolish attempt to get out of the land of Israel begins to cost him dearly.
The trip to Tarshish was no small journey
and must have been an expensive venture for the prophet. Here again the cost of
refusing to do the will of God can reach deeply into our financial
resources. Spending money to divert our
thinking, our directions, our life goals can exact a heavy price both
financially and spiritually, not to mention the time that we lose as we
continue in our backslidden ways!
Time, the only commodity that we cannot
replace! God only gives us a certain allotted amount of time here on earth to serve
Him. The eternal rewards we earn in this life will determine the level of
blessing we will receive for eternity in heaven!
That's
right, there will be degrees or levels of blessing in heaven for God is a just
God, he will reward each of us to the degree that we have served Him.
And the time we have to do just that is
running down with each tick of the clock, one day it will be over for each of
us, therefore we must 'Redeem the time'
buying up the opportunities God gives us, utilizing each moment in Holy
Spirit-filled service for Him! However the backslider will instead squander the
time, spending their resources foolishly just as Jonah did, buying the ticket
to Tarshish! How many tickets to Tarshish have been purchased by a backslider
in an attempt to divert their mind, will and emotions from doing the will of
God!
The direction of a backslider, just like
Jonah's direction in chapter 1&2, is always down, continually further down
into the depths of sin. 'So he paid the
fare thereof, and went down into it (the ship) (1:3), 'But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship…(1:5).
He eventually went down further into the
sea, and even further into the stomach of the great fish!! 'I went down to the bottoms
of the mountains…(2:6). And it wasn't until he 'came to himself' 'And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited
out Jonah upon the dry land.' (2:10) But until then, Jonah was on a continual downward
slide until he reached the extreme end. And so it is with the backslider today,
this downward direction continues to be the result of the one who runs away
from God.
Prejudice toward a person or group of
people is also one of the signs of the backslidden child of God. Jonah's
attitude toward the revived people of Nineveh
was one of displeasure and anger (4:1). His obvious prejudice for these people
was the reason he ran from God in the first place.
His heart was clouded with anger and
displeasure causing him to be unable to clearly see God and His will. Even
after the horrific incident with the great fish and the revival of Nineveh
Jonah backslides once again displayed through his prejudicial actions and
emotions toward the people of Nineveh.
In our culture today, prejudice is
running at a rampant pace, racial prejudice is the most common, although
prejudice toward people of other ethnic backgrounds is also prevalent.
Religious prejudice toward people of other religions, denominations, or beliefs
can also be found in the backslidden child of God
All prejudice must be rejected and
repented of in order for the love of Christ to have its way in our heart. This
great love is a supernatural phenomenon and can not be accomplished without the
working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives!
God's treatment of the backslider is
always dependent on each individual situation and each individual child of God.
In Jonah's case the chastisement from God was severe! 'So they took up Jonah,
and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from her raging' (1:15)
Jonah's terrifying plight had just begun! Imagine with me the shock of being
thrown into the ocean even though it was at his own request !
Jonah knew he was the cause of this
horrendous storm: 'Take me up, and cast
me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you; for I know that for
my sake this great tempest is upon you.' (1:12) He understood that God was
dealing with him through the ordeal taking place onboard the ship.
Being thrown overboard was only the
beginning of the severe testing he would
soon face. The three days and nights in the stomach of the great fish where he
would undoubtedly be changed both physically and spiritually was the climax to
Jonah's chastisement from God.
He was definitely changed physically,
modern-day marine biologists assert, due to the digestive fluids in the stomach
of the great fish. 72 hours in this environment would certainly have effected
the appearance of Jonah's skin, probably causing it to become discolored,
possibly bleached white!
Whatever the color/condition of Jonah's
skin, it surely was not normal and could well have been peculiarly terrifying
to the residents of Nineveh!
But, his change spiritually, at least for the time being, is definitely seen in
chapter 2 when:
"Jonah prayed
unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly… I cried by reason of mine
affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I,
and Thou heard my voice…I will look again toward Thine holy temple…my prayer
came in unto Thee, into Thine holy temple…But I will sacrifice unto Thee with
the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that I have vowed. Salvation is of the
Lord.' (2:1-9)
Jonah's prayer brought him to the place of
obedience to God and God responds: 'And
the Lord spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.'
(2:10)
During this account of Jonah's ordeal,
another symptom of the severely backslidden child of God is evident. The
tendency to become suicidal is seen in 1:12 & 4:3,8. Jonah's request to be
thrown into the sea is an obvious attempt to commit suicide, for there would be
no hope of anyone surviving in a stormy ocean.
After the revival of Nineveh Jonah's
desire to die surfaces again: "Therefore
now, O Lord, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to
die than live" (4:3). Later Jonah repeats his desire for death: "The sun beat upon the head of Jonah,
that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to
die that to live."
This is not an uncommon attitude in the
backslider that allows themself to fall into deep despair from a Godless
pattern of thinking. King Saul eventually committed suicide after a prolonged
lifestyle of not keeping the commandment of the Lord, rejecting the Word of the
Lord and the resultant commission of heinous sins including attempting to kill
his own son Jonathan & his loyal servant David, mass murdering the priests
of God, consulting the devil's emissary the witch of Endor and finally ending
his life in shameful, cowardly suicide!!
Today, suicide is still the ultimate goal
of Satan for the lives of God's children and he will do anything he can to
bring it about. The number one cause of teen deaths in the USA is in fact
suicide!
In addition, the backslider will always
bring the lost souls around him into great jeopardy. Jonah's negative effect on
the men of the ship he boarded is obvious. He actually brought them into
life-threatening danger through the storm that God used to chastise Jonah.
Instead of being salt and light to these
men, instead of displaying a Godly testimony Jonah revealed his backsliding
attitude and actions. Although the circumstances God created also caused these
men to beg God for mercy (1:14) they knew they were about to perish if God did
not intervene!
In the same manner, the child of God that
is consumed in backsliding can and will jeopardize the eternal souls of those
he comes in contact with, simply because they will not be an effective witness
for the Lord Jesus Christ, in fact the opposite effect occurs just as in the
case of Jonah.
What was it like on board the ship after
Jonah was thrown into the sea? Did these men come to know the God of heaven as
their Saviour because of this terrifying event? We don't know the answers to
these question, but Jonah surely was not an effective witness of the grace of
God that brings salvation, no, these men only witnessed the terror of the Lord
upon a backslidden servant of God. If anything occurred to them, it was the
awesome fear of this God of Jonah, a fear that most likely kept them from
wanting anything to with Him at all!
The experience of the prophet Jonah, the
backslidden servant of God, also reveals
that anger was his primary controlling emotion after he brought revival to the
people of Nineveh.
"But it displeased Jonah
exceedingly, and he was very angry." (4:1) Out of control anger is an
emotion that is usually very prevalent in the life of the backslidden child of
God.
Angry with God for allowing something perceived
by the backslider to be against their good. Perceived to be, not really against
the backslidden one's good, just perceived to be, for 'All things work together for good to them that love God' and
therefore regardless of what is perceived, God will cause all things to work
for good! 'If God be for us who can be against us?' However, anger toward
God, blaming Him for the trouble, the testing, the tribulations that are
experienced is the way of the backslider!
And finally, the backslider is 'unstable in all his ways'. This
instability is caused by the war that rages in the soul for control of the
heart of the child of God. The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh causing the backslider to ride the roller coaster of complete
emotional, mental, and spiritual shakiness!
'He that wavers is like the wave of the
sea driven with the wind and tossed' James tells us in chapter one of his book
describing the backslider 'To a 'T'! Jonah prayed and cried out to God later
preaching a revival message only to become 'very angry' at the result. Then he
became suicidal begging God to take his life, only to later express his
gladness for shade just a short while later.
The last words of Jonah show him again
wishing to die saying 'It is better for
me to die than live' (4:8). The swinging pendulum of the backslider's ways,
one minute angry, the next one glad and the next giving up completely with
desperate thoughts of suicide, paint a vivid picture of someone who has
abandoned the hope that only God can give to His children when their focus is
on His will, His ways, His wisdom. This is what brings the peace of God! The
Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ supplying the believer with the
Spirit-filled joy of knowing He the Lord of Glory and heaven and earth is in
charge, regardless of the outward circumstances!
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