Isaiah 8:11 (ESV)

For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:

What does it mean to “walk in the way of this people?” It means four things in this chapter. First the people are ignoring the truth that God will judge his people. There is an accountability involved in being the people of God. We answer to God for what we do and how we live. Romans reminds us that we do not judge each other because we will each eventually give account to God himself.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”So then each of us will give an account of himself to God (Rom 14:10-12).

Second, walking in the way of the people means forgetting that God will protect his people. We will certainly give account to God, but we are also under the protection of God. Sometimes it feels like God is hiding from us. Sometimes we experience his discipline in our lives. Yet he never abandons his people. We have an enemy who seeks to destroy us and our faith, but even in the depths and the darkness God is there. To our enemy we can say, “Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us” (Is 8:10).

The people of the world forget both these truths. We will all give account to God, but God is with us and will never abandon us. Third, the world lives in fear. To “walk in the way of this people” means fearing what the rest of the world fears. Too often the church has adapted a mentality of fear. We lost of hope and our faith. We have, instead, circled the wagons and hope to hold out until the cavalry comes to rescue us. In our case the means the rapture or the return of the King. But that is not what God has called us to do. He told Peter, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). I’m not sure we believe that. As the people of God, we have been called to infiltrate the territory of the enemy and spoil him. That is what the Great Commission is all about. As we are going into all the world, we are to be making disciples, and the Gates of Hell will not be able to stand against us.

We act as though we are the fortress and Hell is banging at the gates. We only hope that Jesus comes back before the gates give way. But that is exactly the opposite of Jesus words. Hell is not banging at the gates of the church. The church is banging at the gates of Hell and “Hell shall not prevail.” God has not called us to fear, but to “power and love and self-control” (2 Tim 1:7). The world lives in fear. They are afraid of change. They are afraid of people that are different from them. They are afraid of foreigners. They are afraid of financial collapse. They are afraid of growing old. They are afraid of losing control of their lives. When the barbarians sacked Rome it would have appeared to be a time for appropriate fear. Yet the church used that opportunity to convert Europe. We can live in fear, or we can trust the hand of God.

Fourth, the World ignores the Word and the testimony of God’s people. Isaiah writes in Isaiah 8:16, “Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.” Four verses later he cries out, “To the teaching and to the testimony.” It is the Word of God and the testimony of his people that help to keep us focused on Him. It is the Word of God and the testimony of his people that remind us that even in his discipline he never abandons his people. It is in the Word of God and the testimony of his people that we are reminded to trust him and not allow fear to take control. When we focus our eyes on the threats and difficulties of life we are filled with fear. When we listen to the world and recall the testimony of God’s people, faith grows.

Isaiah warns us not to walk in the way of the people. We must never forget that we will one day give account to God. We must never forget that even in the darkest times of life, he has never abandoned us. We must not buy in to the fear of the world. We must never ignore the Word and the testimony. That is how the world lives. God has called us to something higher. We are his. He is Immanuel, God with us. Let us keep our eyes on Him. To the Enemy we can ever say, “Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us” (Is 8:10).