Isaiah 46:1-4 "Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. They stoop; they bow down together; they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity. "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.""There is a sister at the Church that I attend who became a Christian after her boyfriend introduced her to the faith. When I first heard it, I thought that it was great, since she was from a country where Christianity is illegal, and praised God for His providence. Naturally, I thought that this man was a man of great faith, to be able share his faith to his girlfriend and convince her to become Christian. But after a while later, I found out that one day this boyfriend suddenly told her that he is no longer Christian, throwing the sister into confusion no doubt. I was also shocked at this boyfriend's sudden announcement.
Why do some professing Christians give up so easily from following Jesus Christ? Is it because there was not enough discipleship or counselling? Is it because they did not try enough? Is it because the environement around them made them difficult to continue believing? There may be many reasons, but the above scriptures tells us one of the main reasons why professing Christians give up believing in Christ: It is because they never believed in Christ.
Bel and Nebo were famous idols during the times of Isaiah, and God teaches children of Israel the main difference between idols and the only true God. He says "their idols are on beasts and livestock, these things are borne as burdens on weary beasts". He is saying, 'Look at these idols. You need to carry them on your beasts, like burdens". Idols are a heavy burden to carry to its believers. Look at all the religions of the world. What heavy burdens do they have to carry around their gods with them. Their gods do not do anything for them, but they need to do everything for their gods. They need to sacrifice so much and do so much for their gods to be with them, that they may carry them in their pockets like heavy stones. The laws they need to keep, the rituals they need to follow are like burdens that crush them. And they do these for their gods, that their gods may have favour for them. They need to build houses and temples for their gods to dwell in, for they themselves are homeless, and have no arms or hands to build houses for them. Their worshippers must do everything for them. Their gods are like their babies, having to be carried by them, to be fed by them! What an abomination are these things to the eyes of the One true God who needs NOTHING from men:
Psalm 50:9-12 "I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine."
But how many professing Christians carry around Jesus Christ like an idol, as a burden upon them too hard to carry? It is no wonder that they give up Christ, for they try to carry this Rock around in their pockets. Jesus Christ cannot be carried by any man, for it is like carrying a great mountain that fills the whole earth:
Daniel 2:35 "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth."
Try carrying Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ will end up crushing you and grounding you into powder. You cannot carry God, who is larger than the heavens and the heavens of the heavens. The one who thinks he can carry Christ is one who has never felt the weight of the glory of God. He is one who knows not God. No wonder people stop following Christ, because they become crushed under the burden that is Christ. It is like a gazelle trying to carry a lion. Likewise he who tries to carry his Christianity by his own strength will torn apart and eaten alive by the Lion of the tribe of Judah. We have forgotten the greatness and the terror of our great God. Let us pray that we may have revelation of both.
What is then the difference between Jesus Christ and the gods of other religions? Jesus Christ is the one carrying us. Read what God says: "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you." What God is saying is that He will carry His people like a baby, unto the old age, even unto our death. Read what He says in another place:
Deuteronomy 1:31 "and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.'"
He carried Israel all the way from Egypt, through the wilderness, and carried them all the way into the promised land. Likewise, Jesus Christ will carry His people all the way to the end.
Remeber when Christ said:
Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
And when He said:
Matthew 11:30 "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Jesus Christ's burden is light because He is carrying the whole load. Have you ever carried a heavy load with another person, but the other person was doing all the carrying, and the burden was so light on your arms? That is how it is with Jesus Christ. He not only carries our burdens, but He carries our whole self. Our job is to be carried by Jesus Christ all the way. This is what it means to believe in Jesus Christ. To believe in Jesus Christ is to throw our whole burden of our weight into His arms, and continue to be carried until He carries us to heaven. This is what faith is. It is to give ourselves away into the His arms, and just letting God carry us as a father carries a baby. It is to throw ourselves unto His shoulders as heavy loads unto His strong shoulders.
Why do some professing Christians give up on Christ? Because they never became converted and became little chilren, that they may throw themselves upon Christ. They never trusted in Christ. They never believed in Christ. They try for a season to do this 'Christian thing' with all their might and all their strength, but they become tired and burdened and sick of it, because they realized not that it is not by strenght, nor by might, but by the Holy Spirit. They never leaned with their whole weight unto Christ. Their trust is in themselves, in their own strength of following Christ. These are those who try to be a believer for a while, but realize that it is too difficult to continuously keep up with the boundaries and the high standards. They are those who burn away after a season, as Jesus described:
Matthew 13: 20-21 "As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away"
They receive the word of God at first joyfully, but when trouble comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. They feel like Christianity is a restriction to their life. They try to endure for a while in the name of piety, but further trials reveal that they never believed in the first place. Why is this? They have "no root in themselves". They have no root to uphold them. Their roots have not launched deep into the ground to get the nutrients from the earth. They have no Root to help them, who is Christ. They never trusted in Christ, but their trust was actually in themselves. These were not believers of Christ, but believers of themselves. And they fall away.
Let us pray that we believers may see what our faith is in. Is our faith in our own strength? Is our faith in our own faith? Or is our faith in Jesus Christ? Only completely entrusting of self to Christ like a child is what will save a sinner. WE are the images made in the likeness of God, who are to be carried by Christ. Here what God says: "I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save." He is the one who made us as His images, and He is the one who will bear us. He is the one who will save us. No other God is so alive and powerful to do this. There is nothing we can do for God to help God. He must help us, or we will all be forever lost. It is He who does everything, and the best thing we can ever do as human beings is to trust in Him. Let us pray that we would trust in Him, and not even in our own faith.
Sean Kong
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