Let The Towers Fall Down!

In the Bible, we see many mentions of towers. They are used as sources and symbols of protection, strength and provision.

“The name of the LORD is a strong tower. A righteous person runs to it and is safe.” (Proverbs 18:10)

However, not every tower is good, and not every tower is of God. This week, at the Body of Christ, Inc., Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn taught from Isaiah 30, and broke down for us how the Children of Israel had turned from God with a resounding "No," when God asked them to repent and return to him.

They did not want to meet God's conditions. They had left his safety, his care, his protection, and his provision for the world instead. They wanted what Egypt had to offer more than what God had already promised because it did not require them to change their ways. They didn't want to wait or do what God commanded. Instead, they wanted to be their own gods, to lift up and serve idols that could not correct them or hold them accountable because they were wood and metal. In essence, they wanted to trust in the towers of the world, instead of the power of God. Towers can also represent arrogance and a false sense of security because anything we build can come crashing down on us without God holding it up.

When you think of the literal definition of towers, they are usually tall or isolated. What towers are standing up in your life that are blocking your view of God and causing you to be far off from him?

We build up towers of arrogance and rebellion in our life when we think we know better than God, better than our pastor and better than the people God sent to help us. We don't want to listen because it's not what we want to hear. Yet, we still want to be blessed, so we bootleg our lives and try to build up a simulation of God's blessing that doesn't require us to be accountable or obedient, which always ends up being a curse and our demise. When we want things to go our way and we want to outsmart God, we build up towers -- only to find ourselves buried underneath the bricks when they fall, because without God what we build has no sure foundation.

Think of the Tower of Babel.

Genesis 11: "3: They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly. They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves...."

In Isaiah 30, Verses 1-3, God begins to warn the people: "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion."

God knows they are headed for destruction and urges them to repent, but they still don't listen.

Isaiah 30: "12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: 13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. 14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit. 15 For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. 16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift."

Their own towers and their pride were about to come crashing down on them. God wanted them to turn from their ways and allow him to lead and provide for them as he promised. I can see myself in this word? Can you?

God is giving us a chance to repent and tear down the idols and towers in our lives now so that he doesn't have to do it. The worse thing we can do is fall into the hands of God and be left unto our reprobate minds.

What is mind-blowing is God's grace in all of this. Chief Apostle Gunn showed us how even in their rebellion, God told them he was willing to wait for them to turn back to him, just like the father in the story of the prodigal son. But how long did it take for them to get back? Why should we leave God waiting when he is ready to receive us right now! We can turn right now! We can tear down and remove every high thing in our lives that stand between us and God. No one or nothing can take care of us as God can. Chief said one of the greatest blessings God gives is peace. And I know that to be true!

Wouldn't life be so much better if we just rested in God by surrendering and submitting to his way and will, which allows him to take care of us and gives us true peace of mind?

Isaiah 30; "18 And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.

20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.

24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall."

Let The Towers Fall Down!

Be sure to check out this weekend's FORREAL RADIO BROADCAST message "Love is a Job (Loving God is Our No. 1 Job)" with Chief Apostle Gunn here: https://www.thebodyofchristinc.com/listen-in?wix-music-track-id=7532058818305595&wix-music-comp-id=comp-kjfzbgmx.

Read our recent youth blog post from Youth Pastor Amaya, "This is Our Testimony: A Choice of Commitment" here, which tells the testimony of our youth receiving the Holy Spirit (Praise God!): https://www.thebodyofchristinc.com/news/this-is-our-testimony%3A-a-choice-of-commitment