In Matthew 17, the disciples were allowed to see
Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus:
And, behold, there appeared unto them
Moses and Elias talking with him. v 3
Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus,
Lord, it is good for us to be here:
if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles;
one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. v4
God was quick to chime in here:
While he yet spake, behold,
a bright cloud overshadowed them:
and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said,
This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. v 5
The message is clear
God allowed the disciples to see two characters in the bible
Teachers, profound in word and deed,
in the law and highly favored by God and man, even so, God said,
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, Hear ye Him!”
I have an old friend who is entangled with man’s doctrine
He elevates this doctrine above the word of God
When a discussion arises,
he is quick to pull out his notes so-to-speak
on the doctrine that has become a part of him
If a thought doesn’t fall in line with his specificities
that he believes and has been taught,
he calls it cherry picking
He actually becomes angry when things
do not line up with his doctrine
“It is not my doctrine,
this doctrine is tried and true
and has been validated by many scholars throughout history!”
I believe this friend is putting far too much weight
in the teachings he has learned
He is no longer learning from the hand of God himself,
but is entangled with man’s doctrine
and the teachings he has bowed down to
He has encouraged me to read commentaries
and see what scholars have said about particular subjects
I agree, it is good to study and to hear others’ teachings
We still should not elevate man’s teachings above the word of God
and are encouraged to follow Jesus,
not any man, including his teaching or doctrine
After all, Jesus said many times, “Follow Me!”
In his tabernacles of doctrines,
everything has been decided, by someone else,
from the once saved always saved issue
to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
and he has specific reasonings for what each teaching means
He is quick to point out how much he has studied
under these teachers and how, for many years,
he has learned so much
In his mind, he has received many trophies of biblical knowledge
He and his fellow leaders know all the answers
Between the 5 or so of these fellow leaders,
he believes they keep each other on the right track
with guidance from their teachings
that they have adopted from historical scholars
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things,
and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you. John 14:26
How do we know that we have sound doctrine?
Proverbs 24 says and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.
We also know that the Pharisees and the Sadducees
fought and argued with Jesus on every level of the law
and tried to catch Him in inaccuracies
and disagreed with His stance on everything He taught,
with the exception of a few teachers of the law
We also know these teachers, eventually,
were the ones who had a great responsibility for His crucifixion
Very few of the Pharisees and the Sadducees
had the word of God shining in their hearts
Even Pilate knew better
and did not want the responsibility of killing Jesus,
he washed his hands and the people cried,
“His blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27)
Learning teachings is one thing,
elevating them above Jesus is quite another
He is able to make clear to you what He wants you to know
I encourage you not to rely on any person,
no matter how significant they seem, above Jesus
Follow Jesus and keep Him at the center of everything
Leaning on man’s doctrine can be detrimental
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come,
he will guide you into all truth:
for he shall not speak of himself;
but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak:
and he will shew you things to come. John 16:13
We also have to have sound doctrine
How do we balance the truth in your word
with what you want us to understand,
with what we think in our mortal minds and not get led astray?
To be in the safety of counselors,
but, yet being in the freedom and truth of the Holy Spirit?
But the anointing
which ye have received of him abideth in you,
and ye need not that any man teach you:
but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,
and is truth,
and is no lie,
and even as it hath taught you,
ye shall abide in him. 1 John 2:27
The church, including the tenets that whole denominations have,
as well as those tenets individual leaders and teachers hold
can do us good,
and in some cases harm
Any person, no matter who they are
or no matter how well-meaning they are,
who stands between you and God
is not operating in the Holy Spirit and is not from God
We must not elevate leaders above Jesus
Including not making tabernacles of teachings
“This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased,
hear ye Him!”
We can see this reliance on teaching
from the most popular denominations and doctrines
to those who may follow one person or perhaps two or a few
who hold similar beliefs of scripture
I believe the danger comes in when we allow a doctrine
or a teacher to be set up between us and God,
like tabernacles
The bible is where we learn from God
Ideally, we should be drawing water from our own cisterns
Not from the cisterns of others (Proverbs 5:15)
Every teaching we hear should be weighed
against the truth in the Word of God
before we choose to accept it
and always be willing,
if the Holy Spirit opens to you a new revelation
to allow your chosen teaching to be expounded upon
There is nothing wrong with waiting on the Lord
until He reveals something to you
This is prudent
If you are seeking the Truth, Jesus will make sure you find it
To adopt a teaching
and let it be concretely embedded in your spirit
without having tested it against the Word of God yourself,
in prayer and study,
could lead you astray if you end up following a teaching
and being guided by a philosophy
that might have elements of truth in it,
but is not pure in the truth of the Word of God
For you to accept a teaching,
it is imperative you bring it to the Lord yourself
Jesus is the One to Whom we should hear from and listen to
He is our Lord
Remaining open to the Holy Spirit in all things is vital,
after all, He is our teacher
For the Holy Ghost shall teach you
in the same hour what ye ought to say. Luke 12:12