God said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee.” Hosea 4:6. This has been repeated over and over for six thousand years.
In the time of Noah, the people heard the message of the coming flood, but they rejected it, and therefore only one family entered the ark and saved themselves. How many people repeated the words, “If I had only known that the flood will come, I would have entered the ark,” when the waters started to cover the earth?
How many times did Adam say, “If I had only known, I would not have eaten of the forbidden tree?”
Satan must have regretted many times his rebellion against God.
It was lack of knowledge that made Judas betray Jesus.
The Jewish people did not know that Jesus was the Creator, the Son of God, the only One who could have saved them.
The persecuting powers during the Middle Ages did not know that they were fighting against the children of God.
The Seventh-Day Adventists did not know that the two percent of their members whom they disfellowshipped during the First World War were, in reality, the true children of God.
This lack of knowledge will be seen again in the time of the end. Jesus said, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:37-40
Many professed Christians will be lost for the lack of knowledge. Even that knowledge has increased in the last days to the point that the religious leaders say, “I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Revelation 3:17
Something they did not know, something they had neglected to learn, and therefore they are in a lost condition.
God was trying to teach them the saving truth. In the 1888 Conference in Minneapolis, two young men, Jones and Waggoner presented Christ’s righteousness message, which could have brought reformation into the church, but it was not accepted, neither put into practice. Sister White said that not even one accepted the message fully, no one joined in the proclamation to the people. (The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 1068)
The seven billion inhabitants of the world do not know what will happen to them very soon. The two billion professed Christians do not know that Sunday worship is the mark of the beast. More than one billion Catholics do not know that the Pope is the Antichrist.
Old Israel was put to a special school to learn the way of God. For forty years Moses taught them. They were kept away from all worldly influences, yet in the end only two of the adult men learned the lessons, and they were permitted to enter into the Promised Land.
Our salvation depends on the right choices we make in our life. Moses told the people to choose life. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” Deuteronomy 30:19
In order to choose life we need to make right choices daily. We choose what to eat and drink. We choose our companions, we choose how to spend our free time, we choose what to see and to listen. Also, we choose what to think and speak. From the morning until the night we must decide what we will do, and if we choose a wrong thing we will suffer for it. Jeremiah writes, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Jeremiah 10:23
God has given us His word to guide our lives. The Bible gives us counsel on how to direct our steps, how to make right choices in our daily life. Therefore we need to read it carefully, not just once but several times from the beginning to the end. And not only the Bible, but God has given us the Spirit of Prophecy books as additional counsel; especially the nine volumes of the Testimonies for the Church are important. After reading them we will have very few questions in life, in not knowing what to do.
There are people who do not believe that the writings of Ellen White are inspired by God; they commit sin against the Holy Spirit by their rejection of them.
“Yet now when I send you a testimony of warning and reproof, many of you declare it to be merely the opinion of Sister White. You have thereby insulted the Spirit of God.” Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 27
“The testimonies of the Spirit of God are given to direct man to His word, which has been neglected. Now if their messages are not heeded, the Holy Spirit is shut away from the soul.” Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 46
Many people have these testimony books in their possession, but they do not read them. By so doing, they reject them also, and sin against the Holy Spirit. Without reading these testimonies that God has given us we are not able to make right decisions and choices in life.
“Only those who have been diligent students of the Scriptures and who have received the love of the truth will be shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world captive.” The Great Controversy, p. 519
It may be only one thing that we lack knowledge of, and this one thing can destroy our faith and our salvation.
Therefore, let us start reading and studying the Scriptures carefully. Let us attend church meetings where the Word of God is taught, that not one of us will be lost for the lack of knowledge, is my wish and prayer. AMEN
Timo Martin