God made sure that every generation would know that the children of Issachar had understanding of the times. Those who are saved and read their Bible faithfully, will know that in every generation, God has given His children the opportunity to understand the times. God does not want His children to be ignorant of that which is important.
Seventeen times we find the word “ignorant” used in the KJV. It is found three times in the Old Testament and fourteen times in the New Testament. There are three different original language words used and translated as “ignorant”. The same Hebrew word is used for all three of the Old Testament times when we find the word “ignorant”. They are found in Psalm 73:22; Isaiah 56:10 and Isaiah 63:16.
Not to make things too confusing, but the Hebrew word that is translated three times as “ignorant” is found 946 times in the Old Testament. It is translated differently in different places. This particular Hebrew word has several different meanings and the context was used by the translators to give it the right English word. There was much work that went into translating the Scriptures into the English language. There was far more work that went into translating the Scriptures in the English of the KJV than that which went into the perversions. The men God protected to translate the Scriptures into the KJV were men who had a great reverence for God that is lacking in those who worked on the perversions.
It is important for us to appreciate the work that went into giving the world an accurate English translation of the Scriptures. It is important to note that the translators of the KJV were not inspired. I believe that the inspiration transferred over into the English language because these men did their work judiciously. God blessed the KJV English translation for well over 400 years now already. That cannot be said of any of the perversions.
There are 2 Greek words used to give us the 14 uses of the word “ignorant” in the New Testament. God does not want His children to lack the understanding needed to walk humbly and faithfully with Him in any generation. The only way we can know how to walk is if we are saved first of all, but then also that we are spending quality time in the Word of God. We cannot take five minutes a day to quickly rush through some Bible verses, and expect to know the Word of God. (The 2 Greek words are found a total of 28x in the New Testament. They too are translated differently at times, depending on the context.)
God tells us in His Word that we will never understand all that He wants us to know if we limit ourselves to personal Bible reading and study. The local church is essential. We put an article into our local newspaper almost every week and in the article we always remind the readers that all of our services are essential. We are not simply running a baby sitting service. We are not trying to entertain people. We believe God raised our work up for the purpose of giving, those who listen, the whole counsel of God. That is a big task that I do not expect to accomplish in the few short years I have left. However, by God’s grace I will do my best to obey Him in my study and teaching ministry.
As those who read these devotionals know, I take an interest in current affairs in our country and around the world. I believe it is important to take note of what God is doing across the globe. Nothing happens without His knowledge. We need to understand where we are at in God’s timetable. We also need to know what is coming, as much as God gives us information about the future. We are currently studying the book of Daniel and the book of the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ in our Sunday services. These two books were given to us by God to help us to look at what is in the past and what is ahead.
For the past while our country has been embroiled in a scandal that should have taken the government down already. It is the matter of foreign interference in our elections. However, it is not just foreign interference in our elections, but also in how our government functions on a daily basis. We have seen that our P.M. is deeply beholden to the communist Chinese government. That is beyond question. He stated a few years back that he admires the basic Chinese dictatorship. No one called him out on that when he stated it. He finally kicked out a Chinese diplomat who has been caught seeking to intimidate Canadian politicians. His government admitted they were reluctant to do this because they feared the repercussions that would follow. Those repercussions do not just affect diplomatic efforts, but they also affect our debt, which is way out of control.
The Bible tells us there will be a massive army coming from the east one day that will impact the world stage. It is generally understood that this army is from China. China has a large military and they are flexing their muscles on several different fronts at this time. They have been involved in the current Ukrainian/Russian war as well. Taiwan is constantly needing to be on guard for an attack from China. The Philippines is also heavily influenced by the Chinese government.
Born again Christians need to be aware of what is going on. If we pay attention to the Word of God and to what is happening in our world, we can help lost people to see the importance of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. Christians do not live in fear. Christians live with the hope of glory. We know we are in the last days and that the last days are perilous times. Things are very unstable on this earth. However, for those who are saved, our lives need not be unstable at all. We can pray intelligently and we can also speak intelligently to the situation we face. We need to guard against speculation and going out on a limb. If we stick to what God has declared, we will be safe.
In our text we read that the children of Issachar had an understanding of the times, and because of that, they knew what Israel needed to be doing. You notice that the number of the heads of this tribe was 200. This is not a massive number. However, it was enough to be able to state the facts in context and help the people to know what they should be doing.
God is still on His throne. We are not the children of Israel. There may be some Jews who read these devotionals and that would be good if there were some. God also wants Gentile saints to know what we should be doing. We know we are to be witnessing to all that God sends our way. We know we are to walk by faith and to trust God for all things. We know we are to be busy encouraging others to know the true God and also encouraging the saints to walk faithfully with the Lord. Everything we do should be to point people to Christ. He is the one that every person needs to know personally. We are called to be ambassadors for Christ. The ambassador is not the main thing. Who the ambassador represents is the important factor. Those who are saved are called to speak God’s truth to others. We need to live it as well. We can do this because God has blessed each of His children with the gift of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. We do not need to pray and wait for Him to come. Romans 8:9 tells us that every born again Christian has the Holy Spirit indwelling him from the moment of salvation.
Now let us see to it that those of us who are saved, are obediently following God’s leading so that we can help others to know Him.
Pastor Bartel