Knowledge Makes Freedom Possible

Note from today’s Bible reading: Isaiah 1-6

The prophet Isaiah warned that the people of God would be going into captivity. When this happened, everyone would be affected by it: “The common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased, the eyes of the proud also will be abased” (Isaiah 5:15).

Why were they going into captivity? We often emphasize their sin. Because they disobeyed the Lord, He punished them by sending them into exile. Yet notice what the Lord said in this passage: “Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge…” (Isaiah 5:13).

They had become ignorant of God’s law. Because of this, they could not follow it and do those things that would please Him. This meant they would simply be doing whatever seemed best to them, resulting in sin that continued to compound until they were led into captivity.

Sin always comes with consequences. Not only do we become enslaved to it (John 8:34), but there are negative consequences in life when we fail to follow the way God has shown us in His word. This is why the wise man wrote, “The way of the treacherous is hard” (Proverbs 13:15).

So remember that knowledge makes freedom possible. When we know God’s word, we can identify sin and avoid it. This keeps us from becoming the slaves of sin and helps us avoid the pitfalls that plague the wicked.