Isaiah
29:11
11 And the vision [chazuwth] of all is become unto you as the words [dabar] of a book [cepher] that is
sealed [chatham], which men deliver [nathan] to one that is learned [yada`], saying ['amar], Read [qara'] this, I pray thee: and he saith ['amar], I cannot [yakol]; for it
is sealed [chatham]: KJV-Interlinear
11 And the vision of all this has
become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one
who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” ESV
Stubbornness takes many forms, and the worst form is
the resistance toward accepting instruction and learning Bible doctrine. And that stubbornness results in you closing
down your access to knowledge. Remaining
with ones own opinions, refusal to accept teaching, or simply indifference or
apathy toward truth, all of these and more, lead to the deep sleep and ultimate
blackout of the soul.
Even when God presents in the clearest of terms, and the
openness of truth, anything and everything will be shut up and locked up as
though it were totally secret, a mystery that cannot be known by anyone.
And so, Bible doctrine, its message and its purpose, are
withheld, not because they are difficult or privileged in any way, but because
the individual simply has refused to listen, to learn, to keep an open mind.
The spiritually negative persons, in effect, lock themselves
out.
Their prevention is not external, but internal, as the
result of their own doing.
Doctrine is not closed and sealed with a wax seal, not
hidden away where one cannot find the book, not placed under lock and key to prevent
access, the words are there to be read, but the ability to understand them is
blocked by a closed mind.
If you were to look at a page of numbers and letters
that were encrypted such that you could read the numbers and letters, but could
not have any way of understanding their message, then that is how doctrine will
look to the negative individual, even though the Bible is not encrypted in any
way.
The Bible is clear and perspicuous and readily available
to everyone, except those who really do not want to read it, or accept it, or
even care for what is in it.
There are examples of sealed information, which has
been revealed to us but the meaning is withheld. The seven thunders in Revelation for example,
or the identity of the anti-christ. The
revealing of those things is reserved for the people who will actually have to
live in that future time. It is probably
something like having to be there in order to see it. Otherwise everything is only guess work.
But whatever their meaning, that has nothing to do
with our responsibility in learning doctrine and growing and developing in our
own personal spiritual life. That is our
true objective, for preparation for our future.
The terrible and dumbest thing would be to remain
negative toward our greatest opportunity, now, and by our own bad decisions,
closing up the entire Bible for our use now.
It is one thing for God to seal up information, which
is not relevant to us anyway, but it is an entirely different thing for us to
close the book on our self, and in so doing close us out of our own future.
That would be really dumb.
