Books

Focus On The Fundamentals Of The Faith

By W. Douglass Harris

Going Down into Egypt for Help

"Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, Who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who walk to go down to Egypt, and have not asked my advice, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Epypt” (Isaiah 30:1,2).

Ancient Egypt is a type of the world. Israel had been separated from Egypt by miraculous power and the leadership of Moses. But Israel’s tendency was to return to things Egyptian. It took Moses forty years to get Israel out of Egypt and in sight of the promised land, but he never did get Egypt out of Israel. Isaiah in his day warned Israel not to seek help from Egypt against Assyria. What were some of the helps that Israel wanted to obtain from Egypt? In principle many congregations may be making the same mistakes today.

1. Egyptian “helps” in their worship. Following their successful crossing of the Red Sea, Miriam and the other women worshiped with instruments brought out of Egypt (Exodus 15:20-23). After they arrived at Sinai and were waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain, they made a golden calf like the sacred cattle of Egypt (Exodus 32:1-6).

Today congregations of the Lord’s people are borrowing helps from the denominational churches. Division in our ranks came around 1850, because there were those who brought mechanical instruments of music into the worship. More recently brethren have brought in the Dobson films, hand clapping, humming, etc. One editor recently contended that we are not limited to five avenues of worship — that we could have some “sharing of experiences” (testimonial services in which women would teach over men in violation of 1 Timothy 2:11,12), solos, tongue speaking, and ended his list by saying “on and on”. That opens the flood gates to bringing anything they want into the worship.

2. Israel sought counsel of the wise men of Egypt. Rather than seeking counsel from God, they sought the counsel of the wise men of Egypt (Isaiah 30:1,2). This amounted to rebellion against God who in their theocracy was their counselor.

Brethren today reject the counsel of God in His word to follow the wisdom of men. Some brethren rely more on denominational books for their procedures in their work than they do the Bible. The Master Plan for Evangelism by Robert E. Coleman, and Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams have become the handbooks of some brethren today. There is nothing wrong in consulting denominational books, but when they become our guides, we are seeking the counsel of man instead of the counsel of God. Brethren are using all kinds of gimmicks to swell the number in attendance, many of which are borrowed from the world and cheapen the gospel.

3. Israel went to Egypt for help in time of trouble. In the sight of man there was no course more prudent for Israel to take at this time. But they were depending on the “arm of flesh”, against which God had pronounced a curse (Jeremiah 17:5), rather than depending on God for help. Their sin was threefold in nature: (1) Desertion of God, (2) Distrust of God, and (3) The spirit of materialism. They preferred the visible nation of Egypt to the invisible God as their security.

Congregations today sometimes go to the world in time of trouble. They shift their responsibilities to the Red Cross or Salvation Army. There may be times when churches and individual Christians can work through the Red Cross (Salvation Army, never. They are a religious body.), but they should not depend on the Red Cross to do their work.

Conclusion: Isaiah warned Israel that going down into Egypt for help would result in fruitless expenditure (Isaiah 30:4-6), bitter disappointment (verse 7), and mortification (verses 3,5). We should take warning from this Old Testament example (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11).