“And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”
Genesis 11:5-9
God is the Author of Confusion
He confused the earth’s population at Babel, so they could not communicate and finish their humanitarian project for world unity.
Just imagining the utter chaos and anger at being unable to achieve even the most elementary communication should humble us.
Jehovah had told them to multiply and replenish the earth, and they rebelled with haughty ambitions of unity in their own name.
If some think God would not confuse rebellious men, they stand in the same ignorant wickedness of those confounded souls.
God is Not the Author of Confusion
Paul told Corinth God did not approve the confusion in their assemblies as a result of chaotic speaking in tongues (I Cor 14:33).
He ordered all things be done decently and in order (I Cor 14:40).
God does not want saints confusing the orderly things He ordained, but this does not mean He will not ordain their confusion!
The need to make the division on this page is enough to confuse many who think the Bible should read like a child’s primer.
Why the Study?
So we may learn the true character of God, contrary to the cotton candy caricature taught in most churches (Job 12:16; Ps 50:21-23).
So we will be bound to give thanks to God always for the truth He has revealed, which is His gracious gift (Gen 32:10; II Thess 2:13).
So we will tremble before Him, lest He blind and confuse us, as He has many before us and around us (Isaiah 66:1-2; Prov 28:14).
So we may learn why the vast majority of mankind and Christians are blind and confused (Ps 81:12; Isaiah 29:10; 44:18-20; Acts 28:23-29; Rom 1:18-32; 11:25-28; II Thess 2:9-12; Rev 17:17).
So we may learn that truth is a blessed privilege, not a right, that it is revealed, not discovered (Ps 119:18; Acts 16:14; Eph 1:17-19).
So we may be convicted to read and study more carefully and to apply the things learned more diligently (Jas 1:21-25; John 7:17).
So we may be comforted in reading many verses that lend themselves to supporting false doctrine (II Pet 3:15-16; John 6:60).
So we may be encouraged to the work that is involved in properly interpreting scripture (I Tim 4:13-16; II Tim 2:15; II Chr 19:5-11).
So we may learn that the true God of heaven does not play around with men who disobey or defy Him (Pr 1:20-33; 8:36; 29:1).
So we may with adamant boldness and absolute dogmatism declare the truth, defend the truth, and practice the truth (Job 32:1-10; Ps 119:98-100,128; Isaiah 8:20; Gal 1:6-9; I Tim 6:3-5,20-21).
Why So Important?
Only a sovereign God will reveal truth to some and deceive others.
It boosts the value of each jot and tittle of truth to be very precious.
It crushes the popular ideas of God and scripture taught by others.
It humbles the most intelligent and intellectual men to the ground.
It explains and comforts that only a small minority will have truth.
It adds excitement to Bible study for God to reveal secret wisdom.
It warns against playing with God’s religion for dire consequences.
It exalts Jehovah, Who is known for mind control, good and bad.
It should scare every idol out of your heart, house, family, and life.
It exalts hard verses as God’s rope by which men hang themselves.
It shows the greatest facts in the universe are mysteries given to us.
It crushes man’s rights into nothing and exalts God’s rights over us.
It exalts the Bible as the most incredible, supernatural book of all.
It proves God’s love to us more than anything but Christ’s death.
It destroys the idea of evangelism that methods affect conversions.
It proves God can move you, benefactors, or enemies to anything.
God Does Not Owe Men the Truth
We chose a lie in Eden against His true word, so He is only giving us what we want, when He allows or sends lies (Gen 2:17; 3:1-6).
The human heart has no truth, for men are born liars (Job 15:14-16; Ps 51:5; 58:3; Pr 22:15; Isaiah 48:8; Jer 17:9; Rom 3:13-14).
By our corrupt nature, we follow our moral father the devil, who loves lies (John 8:44-45; Eph 2:1-3; I John 5:19; Rev 12:9).
Men do not want truth; they would rather believe a lie (John 8:45).
It is our incumbent duty to be thankful for any truth, for truth is a gift from God (Gen 32:10; 24:27; Micah 7:20; II Thess 2:13).
God is truth; and because He is truth, He will not let you despise Him or His truth without judging you in kind (I Kings 22:1-40).
He sent His prophet Micaiah to lie first to Ahab (22:14-17).
He sent a lying spirit into all of Ahab’s prophets (22:18-23).
Our glorious Creator deprived the ostrich of wisdom, and He glories in it and expects us to do so as well (Job 39:13-18). Her foolish instincts and lack of understanding are by His holy choice.
He owes more to pigs than to man, for they never rebelled against Him nor chose to believe a lie over His truth; but He did not show their minds or will or instincts any respect at all (Mark 5:13).
A look at the nations shows that God has deprived men of wisdom. Some never had the wheel, a written language, a number system, agricultural knowledge, basic morality, and many other aspects of wisdom, though Noah was the father of us all just 4400 years ago.
Consider sailors (Ps 107:23-32). God commands storms that cause terror and reduce them to their wits’ end. It is His goodness that gets them to their desired haven, and He is to be praised for it!
God allowed men to live ignorantly for thousands of years without giving them much more than the natural creation (Deut 4:5-8; Psalm 19:1-6; Amos 3:2; Acts 14:16; 17:30; Rom 1:18-23).
God can shine the light of truth anywhere, but He chooses not to in the holy exercise of His sovereign power (Psalm 147:19-20; Matt 10:5-6; 11:20-24; Acts 16:6-10,14; Romans 3:1-2; II Cor 4:3-7).
If acknowledging the truth is only by His gift of repentance, why does He not give it to all (II Tim 2:25-26; I Tim 2:4; Matt 13:11)?
When His market survey revealed what men wanted to see and hear, He sent them something foolish and offensive (I Cor 1:17-24; Matt 12:38-45; Is 8:13-16; I Pet 2:6-8). He did not adjust to men.
When eloquence and presentation would win hearts, the apostle of the Gentiles came in fear and weakness (I Cor 2:1-5; 1:17).
His presence was weak; his speech despicable (II Cor 10:10).
Our Lord ordained uneducated, crude fishermen (Acts 4:13).
Does a Creator God, Who laughs at men opposing Him, sound like He owes man (Ps 2:1-12; Prov 1:24-32; Rom 9:14-24; 11:33-36)?
Does our Lord, Who described ripping up Pharisees, Who called those learned doctors of the law blind leaders of the blind, Who desired them and their followers to fall in a ditch, and Who said to leave them alone, sound like He owes them truth (Matt 15:12-14)?
God is Jealous; do not play with Him, for He will deal in fury toward those who provoke Him (Ex 34:14; Josh 24:19; Nah 1:2).
God Judges Men by Confusing Them
He glories in His ability to confuse haughty men as one of His marvelous works (Job 5:8-14; 12:14-25; Is 44:24-25; I Cor 3:19).
He judges men sometimes by giving them their own foolish lusts and requests (Psalm 78:17-33; 81:11-12; 106:15; Prov 1:29-32).
He blinds men to basic natural knowledge, when they disregard and disobey Him. He darkens their understanding and gives them over to a reprobate mind, until they do perverse and inconvenient things greedily and viciously (Rom 1:18-32; Eph 4:17-19).
He darkens their hearts for rejecting creation truth (19-21).
He hates professors of wisdom i.e. intellectual teachers (22).
He perverts their minds for choosing their own gods (22-28).
He rewires their minds to do inconvenient things (24,26-27).
God promised in advance to harden Pharaoh’s heart and get Himself great glory upon Pharaoh and Egypt (Ex 4:21), and then He blinded Pharaoh to take his chariots down into the Red Sea after ten plagues that should have warned him (Ex 9:16; 14:4).
Consider Nebuchadnezzar, the king of kings! God reduced this proud monarch to a grass-eating beast of the field and totally removed his reason from him for seven years (Dan 4:28-37).
God is in the business of mind control … bringing the nations against Israel in battle for their destruction (Deut 2:30; Josh 11:20) … but causing them to overlook all the men leaving their homes to worship God in Jerusalem (Gen 35:5; Ex 34:24; II Chr 17:10).
For further examples of mind control, which God can use for various ends, consider what God did to or for Eli’s sons (I Sam 2:25), Saul (I Sam 16:14-16), David (II Sam 24:1; I Chr 21:1; II Sam 16:10), Solomon (I Kgs 11:14), Rehoboam (I Kgs 12:15), Jehoshaphat (II Chr 18:31), Hezekiah (II Chron 32:31), etc.
God blinds man to miss the most obvious fallacies in thinking, even using the leftover third of a tree for a god. He takes away ability on man’s part to reason and see his folly (Is 44:9-20), and then He mocks them for such stupidity (Ps 115:1-8; 135:15-18).
God judged Egypt’s wise men and princes with blindness and a perverse spirit of madness (Isaiah 19:11-17).
God can help Josiah find the word of God when it is lost and be humbled by it (II Kgs 22:8-11). He can cause a famine of the word of God to the same nation (Amos 8:11-12). He can bring blindness and confusion on those who have His word (Isaiah 29:9-16).
God hates hypocrisy and deceived the hypocrites of Israel into gross wickedness of bad laws and profane religious practices, even offering their children to pagan idols (Ezek 20:1-3,25-26,39).
God blinded His own people to the truth for their sins, which is never mentioned when many use Isaiah 6:8 to call the uncalled to the mission field (Isaiah 6:9-12; 63:17; 66:3-4; Ezek 7:26-27).
God judged those Jews who rejected the Messiah of God with deceived and blinded hearts (Ps 69:20-28; Isaiah 6:9-12; John 12:37-41; Acts 28:23-29; Rom 11:7-10,25-28).
God sends strong delusion and deception to truth-rejecters, so that they will believe lies, and He can damn them with superstition (II Thess 2:9-12; I Kings 22:7-23; II Chron 18:6-22; Jer 4:9-10).
He glorifies Himself by hiding truth from the wise and educated and revealing it to ignorant babes, which exalts revelation over education and rationalization, and which identifies seminaries as actually being cemeteries for truth and wisdom (Matt 11:25-27).
When belly-worshipping Jews tried to make Jesus king, He confused them about bread and eating and drinking Him in a context of God’s sovereignty until they left Him (John 6:60-69)!
He mocks our sciences, or knowledge, and rightly so, describing them as “science falsely so called” (I Tim 6:20). And no wonder!
It is not science in any sense to believe the earth came from an explosion, monkeys from slime, and man from monkeys!
It is a religion of opposition to God and His word, like Babel.
Only a deceived idiot could accept or imagine such asininity!
Consider also sociology, astrology, psychiatry, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, textual criticism!
Anything contrary to the Bible is profane and vain babblings!
A liberal arts college education is almost guaranteed insanity!
When a people rebel, He takes from them wise and honorable men and leaves women and children to oppress them (Isaiah 3:1-15).
In the perilous times of the last days, when men would choose a form of godliness and love pleasures, deception and deceivers would get worse, and truth would be impossible (II Tim 3:6-9,13).
Jesus came into the world for judgment: He gave sight to the blind and blindness to the seeing (John 9:39-41; Luke 8:18; 9:24-26).
Is the Bible Confusing?
Many Christians claim to use the Bible for their faith and practice, but they believe all sort of different things that are contrary one to another even on basic points of doctrine. The so-called church fathers are a great example of unbelievable confusion and disunity.
Note salvation – sacramentalism, Arminianism, Fatalism, etc.
Note prophecy – Preterism, Futurism, Historicism, dates, etc.
Note texts – I Cor 11:24; 15:29; Heb 6:4-6; I John 5:7; etc.
Peter wrote that Paul’s writings contained things hard to understand, which caused men to wrest them to their own destruction (II Pet 3:15-16). If he thought them hard, what of us?
The Bible contains many proverbs, parables, and riddles, which are dark and difficult sayings (Prov 1:5-6; Matt 13:10,34-35; John 16:25,29; Ezek 12:22-23; 17:2).
Consider a few examples of proverbs and riddles (Judges 14:12-18; Prov 20:30; 26:2; 30:15; Ezek 18:2; John 16:16-18; etc.).
Consider a few examples of parables and riddles (Judges 9:7-21; Matt 9:15-17; 13:36; Luke 5:36-39; 16:1-9; 18:1-8; etc.).
Why did the Lord put seven verses in the Bible that surely sound like baptism saves us, though it does not (Mark 16:16; John 3:5; Acts 2:38; 22:16; I Cor 15:29; Gal 3:27; I Peter 3:21)?
Why did the Lord put at least nine verses in the Bible that sound like we can lose salvation, though we cannot (Matt 12:31; 24:13; Gal 4:5; Col 1:23; Heb 3:6; 6:4-6; 10:26-31; Rev 3:5; 22:19)?
Why did the Lord hide the five phases of salvation? Why did He not lay it out plainly like a handbook? By using words and concepts of salvation loosely, there is much confusion of the doctrine of our own redemption. Are there differences between Prov 23:14; Matt 1:21; I Cor 15:2; Titus 3:5; and Rom 13:11?
Did He know Mormons would stumble over I Cor 15:29? William Miller over Daniel 8:14? Arminians over John 3:16? Charismatics over Acts 2:17? Catholics over John 6:53-61? JWs over Matthew 5:33-37? Primitives over Daniel 3:25; John 13:1-17; Acts 18:1-3?
Numerous “contradictions” lead many to deny the integrity of the Bible. There are internal differences that require extensive study to resolve satisfactorily. But they may lead to precious truth, as with Ahaziah’s age (II Kgs 8:26; II Chron 22:2; Matt 1:8).
If the Bible were easy to understand, then it would only take reading it to know the truth. But God must send gifted and called men to study it and give the right sense (Ezra 7:6; Neh 8:8; Mal 2:7; I Tim 4:13-16; II Tim 2:2; 3:16-17; 4:1-2; Titus 1:9-11).
The first rule of Bible interpretation causes many to quit, because they do not want to read the whole thing (II Pet 1:20). The third is not much easier, comparing scripture with scripture (I Cor 2:13).
Ministers must rightly divide the scriptures or be shamed (II Tim 2:15). There are many words and concepts that must be divided, separated, and pulled apart, which appear similar. This rule crushes the practice of quoting mere sound bites from various versions.
The truth of the gospel is a mystery and a great mystery, which can only be revealed by faithful men to faithful men (I Tim 3:16). See the sermon outline “Mysteries of Hidden Wisdom” from Aug 01.
Why did God use the pronoun he in Daniel 9:27, when He knew that unbelieving men would grab Titus the prince from 9:26 as the antecedent, rather than Messiah the Prince from 9:25-26?
Why did God allow the chronologies of the Persian Empire to be destroyed by Alexander and others, so that men would reject the decree of Cyrus as the starting point for the 70-weeks of Daniel?
See the outline for “Understanding the Bible” to have hundreds of examples of confusion resulting from misinterpreting the Bible.
Everyone claims to use the Bible for their faith and practice, but they end up believing all sort of different things that are contrary one to another even on basic points of doctrine.
Satan quoted scripture perfectly … but out of context … applied it wrongly … and overlooked verses that limited it (Matt 4:5-6). But our Lord quoted other scripture to correct his abuse of the Bible and set the matter straight (Matt 4:7). Such misuse of scripture by those deceived by the devil continues to be popular.
The Pharisees and scribes of Israel quoted scripture, but they had put their limitations on God’s intent that Jesus had to restore in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:21,27,33,38,43; 19:1-9).
Could God Write a Plain and Simple Bible?
Yes, of course! He has infinite foreknowledge to know which verses would be misunderstood, why they would be misunderstood, how they would be misunderstood, and what changes would make them more understandable.
Yes, of course! He has infinite wisdom to know how to put difficult things into the fewest and best words possible! He created language, and He knows best how to use it to communicate truth.
Yes, of course! He has infinite power to enable men to write with the plainest use of any language, whether fishermen or kings (Ps 45:1; Jer 36:32; II Pet 1:21).
Yes, of course! He made Balaam’s ass speak wisdom, and Jesus confounded all the doctors of Israel with the shortest of arguments, for God had given Him the tongue of the learned (Isaiah 50:4; Matt 22:46; Mark 12:37; Luke 2:46-47; John 7:46).
Yes, of course! He knows the difference between dark speeches and plain speaking (Num 12:6-8; John 16:25,29; II Cor 3:12-14).
Yes, of course! He promised His apostles immediate inspiration to speak irresistibly before kings without preparation or study (Luke 21:12-15; Acts 6:8 – 7:58).
Yes, of course! His choice and ability to inspire minute accuracy for tight reasoning is very obvious (Matt 22:23-33,41-46; Gal 3:16; 4:9; John 8:58; 10:33-36; Heb 8:13; 12:26-27).
But such a Bible would not accomplish His holy purpose of concealing truth from the proud and revealing it to mere babes. For so it seemed good in His sight!
The Bible is plain to those who fear God, tremble at His word, and approach it obediently with diligent study (Prov 8:8-9; 9:10; 14:6; Matt 24:15; II Tim 2:15; II Pet 1:19-21).
You should love reading and studying the Bible in total faith, even with its challenging design, in light of His literary genius!
Why Is the Bible Hard to Understand?
Because God wrote it in such a way to conceal truth from skeptics, hypocrites, and wicked men, and to reveal truth to those who fear Him, love Him, and want the truth to please Him more perfectly.
Because God will not play with hypocrites, even His own people, who treat Him or His word lightly. He will do a marvelous thing by confounding their religious and spiritual understanding (Is 29:9-16). They will not be able to read and know. They will fall down.
When a man approaches a prophet with an idol in his heart or a stumblingblock of iniquity before his eyes, God will deceive the prophet to tell a lie and/or the hypocritical man to believe a lie and bring His obvious judgment upon them both (Ezek 14:1-11).
Jesus spoke in parables, which even the disciples found so difficult they questioned His methods, to keep the people from knowing the truth, for He did not want to convert them (Matt 13:10-15,34-35; Mark 4:33-34). They had already rejected His word, so He took even what they thought they had to give to others (Luke 8:18).
Because the Lord of heaven and earth designed it to reveal or conceal truth, depending on how men approach it, as it seemed good in His sight (Matt 11:25-27).
God has gloriously chosen in judgment to blind and snare His enemies and preserve His disciples by the same means (Is 8:9-22).
Jesus was chosen to be a stone of stumbling and rock of offence to some and precious to others (Is 53:1-3; I Pet 2:6-8; Rom 9:33).
The gospel, which is the good news of Christ, which is preached by the Bible, is designed to do the same (I Cor 1:17-24; I Pet 1:25).
The same tedious method that teaches sound doctrine to some is the very cause of others seeking unto fables to their own destruction, as in our own day (Isaiah 28:9-13; II Tim 4:2-4).
Because God Himself has chosen to send a famine for true preaching in our land, just as He did to Israel (Amos 8:11-14). So in spite of great literacy, easy publishing, great prosperity, witty Bible study tools, and the great Internet, men are starving to death!
The Situation
There are 6.8 billion people in the world as of September 2009.
There are 4.8 billion confused in pagan religions that worship ancestors, cows, a crescent moon, totem poles, man, nature, etc.
Then there are 1.5 billion that claim Christianity, but they are confused in the darkness of Roman Catholicism and the Orthodox churches, where little or no regard is given to the Bible’s authority.
Of the remaining 500 million that claim Christianity and honor the Bible, over 90% of them are confused in the Bible and by the Bible, such as Mormons, Charismatics, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Protestants, many Baptists, and others.
Of the remaining 50 million that claim Christianity and study the Bible occasionally, over 90% of them do not interpret it or do not know how to interpret it, so they are confused by many passages.
Of the remaining 5 million that claim Christianity and have some understanding of the Bible, over 90% of them hold severe errors in theology, soteriology, eschatology, or other branches of doctrine.
Of the remaining 500,000 that hold the truth or are close to the truth on some points, over 90% of them are confused by passages that they consider to be problems texts without known explanation.
Of the remaining 50,000 that have few problem texts, there is still a selection of passages that they cannot explain, for God has not revealed all the scriptures to any, unless to a very small minority.
What Should We Do?
If the Lord can and does blind men to the truth for His own glory and their sin, then we must glorify Him and leave off our sins!
We should tremble before the great and dreadful God, Who owns the deceived and deceiver (Job 12:16)!
We should tremble before His word with awe and fear, for that is what He requires (Isaiah 66:2)!
We should thank Him greatly for making so much plain and easy to understand (Gen 32:10; Matt 11:25-27; 16:17; II Thess 2:13-17).
Let God be true, but every man a liar; we should never apologize for the truth (Rom 3:4; Isaiah 8:20; Ps 119:98-100; Job 32:6-10).
We must pray for further enlightenment (Ephesians 1:15-19; 3:18; Proverbs 2:1-9; Psalm 119:18,131; Colossians 4:2-4; Jas 1:5).
We must pray for the pastor (Eph 1:15-18; 6:19-20; Col 4:2-4).
We must search the Scriptures (Ac 17:11; I Thess 5:21; Job 23:12).
We must hate pride, and love humility (I Kings 3:7; Psalm 131:1).
Since He is jealous, we must love only Him (Matt 15:8; Ex 34:14).
We must have a holy motive in studying (Jer 9:23-24; Ps 119:11).
We must recall God sees the heart and judges accordingly, which we cannot see (Psalm 44:20-21; Ezek 14:3; John 2:25; Heb 4:12).
We must obey what we hear and learn (John 7:17; Rom 11:19-22; Heb 2:1-3; Prov 1:20-32; 8:32-36; Deut 17:8-13).
We must oppose the false learning of carnal Christianity prevalent in our generation by preaching the word (II Tim 3:1 – 4:4).
We must love the truth (II Thess 2:9-12; I Cor 16:22; II John 1:1).
We must keep that committed to us (I Tim 3:15; 6:20; Jude 1:3).
We must not have any idols or stumblingblocks (Ezek 14:1-11).
Hypocrisy will destroy you (Is 29:13; Matt 15:7-9; Ezek 33:30-33).
We must remember we are as others (Rom 3:9-19; Eph 2:1-3; Tit 3:3), for pride will cause Him to blind us again (Rom 11:18-25; Ps 25:9; Is 66:2; I Cor 10:12; Rev 3:17-18).
We must give thanks for the gospel news and our understanding of it (II Thess 2:13-15; Romans 10:15; Nehemiah 8:8-12; Psalm 119:14,111,162; Jeremiah 15:16; Ps 89:15).
We must not despise sound doctrine and sober preaching (I Thess 5:20; II Tim 4:2-4; Jer 23:25-32; Acts 17:11; Isaiah 30:8-14).
We must obey what we hear and learn to keep it (John 7:17; 8:31-32; Luke 8:15,18; Isaiah 29:9-14; Job 29:1-5).
We should glorify God all saving us wretches (I Cor 1:26-31).
We must walk as children of light (Ep 5:8; I Thes 5:6; Tit 2:11-14).
The mysteries of God are still hidden wisdom, for the form of godliness here today is not true Christianity at all, but a latter attempt of Satan to destroy truth (II Tim 3:1-7,13; 4:3-4).
