godsgrandplan.org

Inquiring of God as Recorded in the Holy Writ

"Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of God, and His Maker:

"Ask Me of thing to come!" Isaiah 45:11

GOD is the fountain of truth. Whosoever shall draw from
it will receive the truth and will be preserved from error.

A knowledge of this led the faithful of olden times to enter into
communion with God when seeking the truth. They did not expect
this communion to come about and to bring conviction by
way of inner illumination, but by way of revelations of the truth
received from without, and sent by the Lord in a manner perceptible

to the human senses. They inquired of God by means of
human expedients, and were answered by Him through the same
channel."They were well aware that the good spirit-world in the service
of God is the agent of His will, and that to consult the spirit-beings
of God's kingdom is equivalent to inquiring of God Himself.

"They were equally well aware that there is such a thing as
an evil spirit-world, and daily experience had taught them the
possibility of communicating with this also.

"At all times before the birth of Christ and in the early days
of His era, the godly made liberal use of the privilege of inquiring
of God, The writings of the Old and the New Testament abound
in instances in which it is related that the faithful, when desirous
of learning the truth, 'inquired of God' and received their answers,
transmitted to them through God's spirits.

"If you will open your Bible and carefully read through its
Books one by one, you will find my statement confirmed.
"You will find mention made of inquiring of God' in one of
its very early chapters, it being related of Rebekah, the wife of
Isaac, who feared that she was barren: 'Twins were struggling in
her womb and she said: 'Why has this befallen me'? So she went
to consult the Lord'. (Genesis 25:22.) The manner in which she
'consulted the Lord' is not recorded, nor yet the way in which
she received the answer which was vouchsafed to her, but the
casual way in which the story is told shows that inquiring of God
was not an unusual practice.

"After the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, the people daily appealed to Moses to 'inquire of God' on their behalf. 'And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he
said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why
sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand about thee from
morning unto even? And Moses said unto his father-in-law,
Because the people come to me to inquire of God: when they have
a matter, they come to me; and I judge between a man and his
neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.
(Exodus 18 : 14-16.)

Here also nothing is said to show the method
by which the inquiries were addressed to God. Not until later,
when Moses at God's command had built the tabernacle, do you
find a more detailed account of the means by which 'inquiries of
God' and the answers thereto were made possible:

'It came to pass, when Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended,
and stood at the door of the Tent and the Lord spoke with Moses.
. . . And the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man
speaks to his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his
minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out
of the Tent'. (Exodus 3i:9-11.)

"The essential parts of this account are already familiar to you
from my former teachings. but now you will probably notice also
that there is a difference between the manner in which Moses inquired
of God, and that in which it was done by the people. To
the solemn inquiries addressed to God as here related, Moses,
as the representative of all the people, is answered by the lord
through the pillar of cloud, whereas when individuals of the people
inquired of God, their answer came, not through the pillar of cloud
but through another channel, which, although not clearly defined
in this passage, is sufficiently well indicated to leave no doubts on
that score in the mind of anyone familiar with the subject. You
learn that Joshua, the servant of Moses, was not allowed to leave
the Tent; evidently therefore, there must have been a reason for
his constant presence there. This reason was directly connected
with the practice of inquiring of God, Joshua having been especially
appointed to act as a medium for those of the people,who desired
to inquire of God concerning their private affairs, It is expressly
stated that 'every one that sought the Lord went out unto the tent
of meeting'. No fixed hours for 'inquiring of God' having been
set, Joshua was obliged to be present in the Tent at all times, so
that he might be available to all as a medium for transmitting the
Lord's answers. He was employed as an instrument by God's
spirits in the same manner in which they employ the mediums of today.

"After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of God:
'Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight
against them? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up: I have delivered
the land into his hand'. (Judges I :1, 2.)

"When the Danites sought an inheritance to dwell in, they sent
five men to spy out the land. These came to the house of Micah
where they met a Levite who lived there as a medium. 'And they
said to him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may
know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. And
the priest said to them, Go in peace. Before the Lord is your way
wherein you go'. (Judges 18 : 5, 6.) In this chapter there is also
a detailed account of the manner in which the Levite inquired of
God. It is related that Micah had caused a founder to make him
a 'graven image' and a 'molten image', as your translators express
it, not knowing the true meaning of the term and even assuming
that these images were 'idols'. As a matter of fact they were
made in imitation of the breastplate of judgment worn on the
garments of the High Priest and so called, as you know, because
it was used for inquiring of God.

"Imitations of the High Priest's breastplate of Judgment were
used whenever the people of Israel consulted the Lord in matters
of private interest. These imitations corresponded perfectly to
what is now called a 'planchette' and consisted of two parts: a
lower, stationary part, generally cast as a plate and engraved with
the letters of the alphabet or other symbols, and an upper part,
light and handsomely carved and provided with a pointer. The
cast plate was either set upon a table or fastened to a base or a
pillar, and was highly polished to allow the upper part to slide
over it with ease. 'Whenever counsel was sought of God, the
movable upper part was sent upon the plate, and the medium, laying
his hand on it, waited for it to be moved by the spirit-beings
to the letters on the plate with the aid of his own odic power. If
this happened, the pointer indicated in the proper order the characters
which, when combined into words and sentences, spelled
out the answer returned by God. It was, therefore, substantially
the same thing as the High Priest's breastplate of judgment.
"The imitation of that breastplate was even carried to the extent
of having precious stones engraved with characters, set into the cast plate by expert jewelers, large sums of money being spent for the purpose. And precisely as the High Priest wore costly robes when seeking counsel of God, similar garments were provided
for the private mediums who attended the breastplate of
judgment. Thus we read of Micah: 'And he made an ephod and
a breastplate of divination, and consecrated one of his sons, who
became his priest'. (Judges 17 : 5.)

"Gideon also made the spoils taken from the Midianites into
an 'oracle' of the kind described, and 'put it in his city, even in
Ophrah', where it could be consulted by all. But before long it
was used by the people to consult evil spirits. (judges 8:27.)
"Gideon had caused it to be made for the use of inquiring of
God only, but it was misused by the people, who employed it to
inquire of the 'dead' or, in other words, to communicate with the
evil spirit-world, and who thereby fell into idolatry.

"However, those among the Israelites who observed God's
commandments made use of private channels for communicating
with Him only in emergencies. In matters of great importance
they still preferred, when inquiring of God, to repair to the spot
which He Himself had appointed for the purpose in the days of
Moses. They used to go to the 'tent of meeting' where the High
Priest inquired of God for them by means of his breastplate of
judgment. Thus when the Israelites went up to Beth-el they
'asked counsel of God: Who shall go up for us first to battle against
the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up
first'. (judges 20: 18.)

"When Saul wanted to pursue the defeated Philistines by night
and to destroy them utterly, and his people were willing to follow
him, the priest said: 'Let us consult God here. So Saul asked
God: Shall I go down after the Philistines? Wilt thou deliver
them into the hand of Israel? But God did not answer him that
day'. (1st Samuel 14 :36, 37.) God did not answer Saul on that
day because Saul's son had violated a command of the Lord, Who
intimated by His silence that He would answer only those who
obey Him. David almost invariably inquired of God through the breastplate
of judgment. His medium was Abiathar, the priest. ' . . .
but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God, and David
said to Abiathar, I pray you, bring me the 'ephod' (breastplate
of judgment). And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And
David inquired of the Lord saying, If I pursue after this troop,
shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue; for you
will surely overtake them, and will without fail recover all'.
( I st Samuel 30 : 7, 8.)

"Only those will God allow to inquire of Him who put their
whole faith in Him and who look to Him for help. But all those
who hold communion with the Evil One and who look for help
to the spirits of the Abyss, God will reject. 'These men have
taken the idols into their heart, and put the stumbling-block of
their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by
them'? (Ezekiel 11 :2.)

"It is not the half-hearted, not those who today turn to God
and tomorrow to Baal, not those who today attend church and
devote tomorrow to wickedness, whose appeals for counsel God will
answer. This was true in olden times and it is true today. Of
such, God has drawn a true picture through the mouth of Isaiah
the Prophet: 'Yet they ask me daily, and delight in knowing my
ways: as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the
ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments; they
delight to draw near God. Is not this the fact that I have
chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of
the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break
every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that
thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou
seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself
from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as
the morning, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily . . . Then
thou shalt ask, and the Lord will answer'. (Isaiah 58:2-9.)

"There were many different ways in which God manifested
Himself to the faithful who sought His counsel in their troubles.
The story of Saul relates the manner in which this prince, the
first of the Kings of.Israel, was answered by the Lord while he was
still an obedient servant of the Lord. On the day before the
battle of Gilboa, Saul, who because of his disobedience had been
deserted by God's spirit, 'inquired of the Lord' but 'the Lord' answered
him not, neither by 'dreams' nor by the 'Urim', nor by the
'prophets'. (lst Samuel 28 :6.) This indicates that on previous
occasions Saul had been answered in one or another of these ways.
What your Bible translators express by the word 'dreams' is spirit sight,
or a vision, in which a person sees the truth in an unmistakable
picture. Such visions are vouchsafed only to those who
have mediumistic powers of clairvoyance. The spirit-world therefore finds it necessary, in selecting the way of delivering its messages,
to take into account the receptivity of those to whom these
messages are directed.
"When use was made of the 'Urim' or 'breastplate of judgment'
God's answers were given in collaboration with a medium, as I
have already explained to you.
"As for the 'prophets' who figure so frequently in the Bible as
bearers of messages from God, they were 'speaking mediums' who
in not a few instances were capable of receiving God's words
either by clairvoyance or by clairaudience, and who then transmitted
them.
"Wherever in the Scriptures you find a reference to 'inquiring
of God', you will also find confirmation of the truth that God will
send His answer in some way that men can understand, to all
those who turn to Him confidingly and who appeal to Him for
counsel.

----------------------------