Forsaken

Introduction

 

Many Bible study techniques:

 

Not the same as many different motives: to discover a plan for your life, to prove a doctrine right or wrong, to test new light, to find Yahweh’s character.

 

Techniques:

 

Word study:

 

Sermon title: Forsaken – a word study of the word “Forsaken” in Scripture.

 

A Key Use

 

Variants of the word: Forsake, forsaken, forsaketh, etc.  Total occur 138 times in the King James Version, so clearly an important concept.

 

A key use for present truth: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” (Pro 28:13)

 

Hebrew word is azab, and it means, “to depart from, to leave behind, to let alone, to abandon.”

 

Common objection to the victory message: “It is impossible to cease from sin.  Anyone who claims to have stopped willfully sinning is either deluding himself/herself, or lying.” Attributed to pride, often citing passages like Luke 18:10-14.

 

Common theme in objections to CSDA doctrines: only half of the parable or verse is quoted or emphasized.  In Luke 18, the sinner did not go home the same way he went to the mountain – he was “justified.”  Does not say sanctified; work of grace not completed, but he was converted.  Likewise in Pro 28, first part emphasized as if it were a defense for worldliness, and part about “forsaketh” ignored entirely.

 

Only dry wood burns, only dead things… only confessed sins are consumed – something I remember noticing at first CSDA camp meeting.  Yah will forgive, but sinners make their own hearts hard.

Direct contrast between Yahweh and us and then our sins and us.  Yahweh tells us of Himself:

 

Deu 4:31 – First appearance

 

Then we see something interesting:

 

Deu 12:19 – Second appearance

 

We remember the “most important” part of the Law, as Yahshua taught:

 

Mat 22:37-40

 

So first and second appearance of the word “forsake,” used as a contrast, (i.e., not forsake) has to do with love between Yahweh and man, and love from one human to another.

 

It should be clear, then, that to “not forsake” something is to love it in the divine sense, agape, while to “forsake” something is to demonstrate a lack of love.  This is a simple, but Biblical, application.  We have seen, in previous studies and writings, that the opposite of agape is sin.  This is true.  In Bible, sin is equated with “forsaking” Yahweh and His law.  A few verses:

 

Picture of the last judgment:

Deu 29:21-28

 

Judges 10:10 - 13

 

Old Testament: two most common uses of the word are:

a)      Yahweh’s promise to “not forsake” His people, e.g., 1Kings 6:13

b)      Warnings not to “forsake” Yahweh through idolatry or sin, and bring destruction upon the nation, e.g., 2Chron 34:25

 

The Blessing

 

The blessing revealed by a study of the word “forsaken” is that we shall never be forsaken of Yahweh if we do not forsake His covenant.  He tells us:

 

Isa 49:14–16 – Rebuke to Zion’s fear of being forsaken

 

To Abraham: “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” (Gen 17:7)

 

Many people have a wrong impression of Yahweh, that He plays games with providence, sometimes giving blessings, sometimes withholding.  He desires always to give, but He can only consistently give in the context of a covenant, an agreement to which men are expected to hold, never to forsake – and He, for His part, pledges the same.

 

He says: Zech 8:8

 

This is even compared to the marriage covenant, as we see in the verses:

Hos 2:19, 20

Jer 3:14

 

An extended story of the creation and destruction of the covenant with Israel may be read in Ezekiel 16.  We start with verse 1, and read down to the very end.  This is a long passage, so I will pause at times to give the proper commentary:

 

Look also for several key points that are relevant to this study. If you listen carefully you will hear:

 

Vs. 6 – Conversion (repentance)

 

Vs. 8 – Sanctifying experiences, a growth process until the “time of love” (faith)

 

Vs. 9 – Marriage (baptism)

 

Vs. 14 – An experience of victory, power comes from Yah

 

Vs. 24 – A “tower of Babel,” puffed up with pride – height and a name.  Apostasy always results in a tower, remember that.  That’s important, there’s always height, a name, and then confusion.

 

Vs. 33 – Understand what this is saying! Worse than a prostitute. This is like an apostate Church not only accepting bribes from the kings of the earth, but actually going TO the kings and saying, “Unite with me!”  This is worse, you see, than merely giving in to temptation, it is going after trouble actively, and we certainly see that in the system that we believe was forsaken by Yahweh, and that we in turn forsook.

 

Vs. 47 – She had examples she should have learned from.  She protested when others erred in the faith, but now she also has done according to their works, and worse.

 

Vs. 50 – Divorce

 

Vs. 61 – New covenant.  As we will see, the concept of a “new covenant” is central to both Christianity, and the CSDA position regarding forsaking former systems.

 

In those very words we see not only the blessing, but also the warning to maintain faithfulness, and the curse if the covenant is broken.

 

The Curse

 

Now, Corp. accountability is one thing we discuss often in our doctrines and evangelism work.  There is an application here in this study. We read:

 

Pro 29:12

 

Isa 9:16, 17 (as in last New Moon) leavening involved in following wicked leaders.

 

When a nation, or kingdom, or Church, is forsaken by Yahweh, it is divorced, according to the long passage we read above; it is “not loved.”  It does not mean the people are not loved; but the system becomes hated, and Yah’s people must in turn forsake it for a “new covenant” that He will establish.  This is because, when we have the “mind” of Christ, we make the same decisions as Christ.  We love what He loves: truth, righteousness, peace, etc. We hate what He hates: hypocrisy, sin, corruption.  We see the uniformity.  To have the “mark” of the Beast is to have the mind of the beast, to come to the same decisions as the beast.  Similarly, to have the “mind of Christ,” let’s read verse:

 

1Cor 2:16 – We read that one fairly often, but go back for the context:

 

1Cor 2:12 – 3:2 Spiritual maturity comes from the mind of Christ, deciding as He does, clinging to what He does, forsaking what He does.

 

How do we know what He forsakes?  We saw an example above, but we have further signposts as well.  He tells us:

 

Deu 24:1-4; I know we’re familiar with this, but it’s good to see it in this setting

Again in Revelation 18 we read, 1-4, and notice that the kings grow rich off of her delicacies, it’s not that this unfaithful woman is receiving gifts, she is giving them!  Notice this unique similarity with the “woman” in Ezekiel 16… it’s the same woman.  Gone beyond fornication, to actual remarriage. We read in verse 9 of Rev. 18 (Read it) See how they not only had union with her but “lived deliciously” also, there was cohabitation… an unholy covenant.

 

This is when it is time to leave. Unfortunately, many today do not know this point this difference between what Adventists call “Babylon,” the mere state of being in error and confusion, and “Babylon Fallen,” which is when, in that state, there is an unholy second marriage, and the first covenant is entirely forsaken.

 

Ask a Hebrew today about the “New Covenant,” and he won’t have any idea what you’re talking about… it’s conditional, all the promises made to Israel; it was never really supposed to take place in the way it did, so obviously the Scriptures do not have a verse that says, “Your nation will fail and I will bring another one forth.”  The possibility was always there, and we see warnings in the symbols, such as Esther replacing Vasthi in the Book of Esther, and Daniel seeing the desolation of abomination in his symbolic visions.

 

But we are invited to look deeper, deeper than most today are willing or maybe even able to look… and the truth is plainly revealed. There IS a time when Yahweh forsakes a people, but it is only after a) they have already forsaken their end of the covenant, and b) they have gone so far into their apostasy that they have formed an alternate covenant with another god, whether it be an actual demonic being like Ba’al or Ishtar, or simple worldliness that manifests itself in corrupt policies, ecumenism with fallen churches, and finally lawsuits and litigation.

 

The Victory

 

Finally, on a personal level, on a practical level, there is victory in the word “forsaken.” We have seen a blessing in that Yahweh will not forsake His people.  We have seen a curse, in that if we forsake Him, we forfeit eternal life.  We have seen a warning associated with that curse; that, if we see corruption and apostasy, the last thing we are to do is to stand still.  This isn’t just a “religious” teaching; it is a principle of life.  If you’re working for some big company and you find out their product is killing people, are you innocent if you say nothing?  If you find out your relative is hiding a body in the basement of his house, are you innocent if you do nothing?  Even human laws properly reflect this idea… we must forsake evil at every level, even, and most importantly, at the level of our individual experiences with sin and righteousness.

 

We must protest sin and, if we discover that Yahweh has forsaken an act we have been doing, we must forsake it as surely as if we discover that he’s forsaken a system of which we are a part.  It doesn’t do any good, you see, to protest the Mark of the Beast, or the Trademark law, or any other injustice, if we are not protesting the temptations to sin that come upon us at all times.  In both these cases we must – with the “mind” of Christ – forsake it also.  This is the only safe course, to do just as Christ would do were He in our place.

 

But there is victory in the word “forsaken,” because we are instructed by it how to deal with sin.  What did Christ do with sin?  He forsook it: He abandoned, neglected it, left it behind.  In His case, He was never personally polluted with it, so He “forsook” it at a temptation level. We, who have once been polluted, must first forsake it at a practical level, by repenting of those sins we have committed… and then we are converted.  And afterwards we live as He did, forsaking sins at that temptation level.

 

Let’s go back to that verse, the first one: Pro 28:13

 

By only reading half the verse, this seems like a “defense” against the victory message.  If you don’t believe it, those who claim it must be lying, right?  And this verse, again, if only half-read, seems to confirm the doubter in his or her doubt.  They just have to say, “Oh, if these people were humble, if they were Godly, they would not try to cover up the sins they must be hiding.”  How do you win against that kind of argument?  It is already supposed that men must continue in sin… “forget what the Bible says, this is MY experience!”  (Often used to defend the modern “tongues” doctrine that is demonstrated as false by looking carefully at the actual verses used to describe the spiritual gift).

 

Victory is true: “be perfect even as your Father in Heaven perfect.”

 

"In every command and in every promise of the word of God is the power, the very life of God, by which the command may be fulfilled and the promise realized." [Christ's Object Lessons, page 33]

 

Father: “Let there be light,” and there was light, no power in the darkness to bring forth light.

Son: “Lazarus, come forth,” and He did, no power in the body to produce life.

Father, Son and their Holy Spirit: “Go, and sin no more,” we do, no power in the hearer to cease from sin.

 

You can show them 1 John 3:9, 1John 5:18, the words of Peter, Paul, John, Luke, Jude, every other writer – every other writer.  But it won’t help if they have not “forsaken” the god of their opinions.  That is a wicked kind of idolatry.  You can’t out-doctrine somebody who makes experience the standard by which the Word of God is judged, you just have to pray, and set Christ’s example, and hope to cause enough doubt in the sinner’s mind.  They must learn to doubt their doubts about the perfect Faith of Yahshua… that is the only way they can be saved.

 

We are told to forsake our sins:

2Ch 7:14

Ezek 18:21

Mat 3:1-3, Day of Yahshua’s second Advent draws near, we must be living this message, and speaking it aloud to others.

Ezek 33:14-16

 

Verse 15 of Ezekiel 33 speaks of victory, saying, “without committing iniquity;” but truly all these verses are about victory, because there is not one word in the Bible that men are instructed to fulfill that is impossible to perform.  The same people who read “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me,” can turn around the very next minute and say, “You can’t say we must cease from sin… that’s impossible.”  And they never see the most obvious contradiction in worldly Christianity… their eyes are blind, because they have not forsaken their idolatry, their veil.

 

But we are not of that breed.  We read:

 

1Th 5:4-6.

 

We have forsaken darkness, ignorance, and the works of the flesh.  We have forsaken the world, and all the systems that have been irreversibly corrupted by it.  But we have not forsaken the Word of Yahweh, and because we are faithful to our covenant, we will never find ourselves among those whom Yahweh will, in the Day of Judgment, sadly label “Forsaken.”