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Isaiah 30:20
“Though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.”
Teachers exercise an extraordinary influence on our lives. Beloved teachers get us excited about subjects for which we might have no natural affection. They clarify difficult concepts for us and help us make connections between truths that we might otherwise miss. Good instructors who are masters of their subjects can open up a world of understanding to us. Many a life has been changed for the better because of the influence of an excellent teacher.
As we continue our exploration of the divine attribute of truth, we come today to a title given to God that helps us better understand what it means for Him to be the truth. Isaiah 30:20 tells us that the Lord Himself is our Teacher. In context, the prophet looks forward to the day when the people of God are restored after having sinned in many ways. They had not been following the Lord as Teacher, and so He hid Himself from them, for when men and women do not seek after Him and His Word, He sometimes allows a famine of His Word to exist among them (see Amos 8:11). God had not been teaching them as in days past, but His grace would restore them and He would be their Teacher once again.
In the history of the covenant people of God, there have been many human teachers. Divinely inspired prophets and Apostles taught God’s truth infallibly. Since the end of the Apostolic age, elders, pastors, and other Christian teachers have faithfully expounded the prophetic and Apostolic Word, helping the church grow together into greater maturity and unity (Eph. 4:1–16). Behind all these human teachers, however, is the ultimate Teacher—the Lord God Almighty. We should have a right affection for the teachers whom God has given to the church, but our affection for them must never rise as high as our love for God Himself. In this post-Apostolic age, all human teachers are capable of both doctrinal and moral error.
Sound teachers are the gifts of the Lord to His church, but our final and infallible Teacher is God. He teaches us in and through His inscripturated Word, the Old and New Testaments, which the Holy Spirit illumines for God’s elect to bring us to saving faith and to grow us in the truth (1 Cor. 2:6–16). Lest we miss what He is saying to us, we must always read and hear the Word of God preached with humility, praying that He will show us truths about Himself and about ourselves for the sake of His glory and our good.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The Lord our Teacher instructs us not through mystical experiences or any other extraordinary measures but in and through His Word. To ensure that we hear Him rightly, we must approach His Word with a teachable spirit and frame of mind, being willing to submit to His correction. As we prepare to read the Word or hear it preached, let us pray and ask God to help us follow Him faithfully as our Teacher.
For further study
- Psalm 25:4
- Isaiah 54:13
- Habakkuk 2:18–20
- John 13:13
The bible in a year
- 2 Kings 4–5
- John 4:1–30