WHEN WE AWAKE

(C) 2015 by Glenn Hall

Chapter 3

WITHDRAWN FROM THE BREASTS

{9} Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. (Isa 28:9 KJV)

“Need you ask?” said the King with one of his great laughs, jerking his thumb in my direction. “Do you think I want my queen frightened out of her senses? Veils of course. And good thick veils too.” One of the other girls tittered, and I think that was the first time I clearly understood that I am ugly. Faces, 11

Then there was a time (for in this book I must hide none of my shames or follies) when I believed, as girls do … that I could make it more tolerable by this or that done to my clothes or my hair. Now, I chose to be veiled. Faces, 181

Orual, the main character of Till We Have Faces, was extremely ugly. Everyone thought so. Even her own father called her such wicked names as “goblin” and made her veil her face when she sang at his and his new Queen’s wedding. When Orual became an adult she kept her face forever hidden behind a shroud. In time she became known as a mysterious queen and, later, even as a beautiful, mysterious queen. She found a strange power over others by keeping herself masked from their view. Handsome princes finally begged to see her face, but she never let them.

Similarly do men mask their true identity from others, from God, and even from themselves. We pretend to be someone we are not. And why? So people will “beg,” or want, to be with us, or lavishly praise us in the presence of others, or for some other vain reason. To achieve this glory we might want others to think that we are rich, popular, or well versed in the world’s latest fashions, styles, music, or movies. We want other Christians to believe that we live perfect lives, never sinning. Thus, we “veil” our true selves with “fig” leaves, just as Adam did when he disobeyed God. But, unless we take care to remove our own mask of fig leaves, we will forget what we look like inside. Thus we may not even know or recognize our own true faces. We can’t see them because we so successfully hide ourselves behind so many facades. We will never be prepared to meet God so long as these shrouds cover us.

The truth is that a shroud, or mask, prevents true communion with man and God. The veil over our soul precludes fellowship with one another, with a husband and his wife, and with a believer and his God. This is the truth that Paul sets out to explain in 1 Corinthians 8, but couches in the mystery called “food sacrificed to idols.” Paul sets forth several doctrinal examples of food sacrificed to idols in chapters 8 through 11 here.

Now it certainly is true and a matter of history that particular cultures did offer natural food to idols on pagan altars. It is also true that Israel itself at one time offered “food” to God in the form of its sacrifices at the Tabernacle and the Temple. Of course, God mandated these animal sacrifices, but these offerings were not meant for God’s literal consumption as in some pagan worship. They symbolized religious and prophetic truth. Today it may be that some cultures still do offer actual meat to their god (idol) because they remain ignorant of the one true God and His ways. In Biblical times food sacrificed to God (or a “god”) was eaten by both Israelite and heathen priests. Sometimes it was sold in the market. Paul’s teaching, on the natural level, clearly deals with the obvious, literal aspect of such offerings. He was following God’s established order with mankind of presenting things first in the natural, and then in the spiritual. It is very fitting, then, that C. S. Lewis in Till We Have Faces chose to illustrate the doctrine of food sacrificed to idols by telling the story of a primitive, idol-worshiping culture that offered literal animal and human sacrifices to their gods. He used the natural to portray a spiritual truth.

Paul also discussed the mystery of communion within this passage from 1 Corinthians dealing with food sacrificed to idols. We clearly see that food sacrificed to idols directly relates to communion in 1 Corinthians 10:21, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.” Previous verses in chapters 8 through 10 show the relationship between food sacrificed to idols and the table of demons. Have you ever thought of the doctrine of communion as a mystery? Isn’t communion just sharing bread and wine with other believers and recognizing them as your brothers and sisters in Christ? Our understanding of communion my begin with this simple understanding, but God’s thoughts go way beyond this. True communion, or true fellowship with man and God, prepares us to see God’s face, that is, it prepares us for what many call “the rapture.” Some call this event our regeneration; I use the Biblical term “glorification” to describe it. Most Christians believe that all who believe in Christ will be “raptured” at a certain point in history. This false doctrine has lulled many to sleep. The purpose of this book is awaken these from their slumber and to prepare them to meet God face to face when they awake at the time of their glorification or resurrection from the dead.

Let’s Wean Ourselves From the Milk

{7} But they also have erred through wine, And through intoxicating drink are out of the way; The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, They are swallowed up by wine, They are out of the way through intoxicating drink; They err in vision, they stumble in judgment. {8} For all tables are full of vomit and filth; No place is clean. {9} “Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? (Isa 28:7-9 NKJV)

In the last chapter we learned that we understand the things of God by knowing them “first in the natural, and then in the spiritual.” (1 Cor. 15:46) This means that God first teaches us by natural means in order to prepare us for spiritual realities. We must build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ and His apostles and prophets a little at a time, as God gives growth. Like the drunken prophets and priests of Isaiah’s day, we ourselves are stubborn and rebellious children who hide behind our masks. We Christians often respond to God’s Word the very same way that these drunkards did in Isaiah 28:9 when they mocked the prophet. The question we now face is this, will we “go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken,” as Isaiah warned the Israelite leaders of his day? (Is. 28:13b) We live in very precarious, troubling times. We live in the days when God will shake all things that can be shaken. Can you and I be shaken in our faith in this evil hour?

First let’s look at the passage of Isaiah 28:7-9 in a little more detail. There we see God’s priests and prophets drunk upon intoxicating drink. That is the natural scene in view, but what is the spiritual message God intends to convey here? How many of us have attended exciting church services where the music itself seemed to bring us into the presence of God? Or, who of us have been to big spiritual events or conferences where nationally or internationally acclaimed pastors, prophets, or teachers recounted their angelic visitations and their tales of roaming the heavens with those angels? Those were “intoxicating” events, were they not? I have been to my share of them. Many times I really felt that I had been in the presence of God. But, had I been? What was the real spirit behind that music. Who was the real spirit that took that mystic on a spiritual journey to “heaven?” What, really, were the voices that the prophet listened to when he was all alone?

So, who may receive the spiritual and secret knowledge of God’s Word? To whom will He teach knowledge? To whom will He make to understand His message? God will teach and make to understand only those weaned from the milk (of the simple things of God’s Word) and drawn from the breasts (of ministers of Christ who only teach the milk of the Word). And if we become willing to withdraw from the breasts of our spiritual teachers, then God will grant us the wisdom to withdraw from the tables of demons at which so many of them, and consequently us, eat. This is the spiritual message of Isaiah’s words, “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.” (Isaiah 28:9 KJV) Will we listen to him?