do not add nor take away from the Word of the Lord

of these instructions are repeated, and today I will be talking about one that we have from Moses, through to John in Revelation.

When God was dispensing His covenant to Moses, He asked him to tell the people not to add to nor take away from His commands (Deut 4:2 & 12:32). God’s words are important and stand alone, independent from our own thoughts. His words reveal His nature to us, and if we add to or subtract from them, we do not pass God’s nature along to the hearers.

In the Proverbs we read “Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar,” (Prov 30:6). Sometimes it is hard for a man who has had the Lord’s word to be silent at times when the Lord is silent. It takes great discipline. There was a time in my life of great outpouring of prophetic dreams and visitations from the Lord. One dream, however, showed me walking with the Lord into a whiteout. He was showing me a time of information sequestration, or a literal information whiteout. The years that ensued were difficult. I kept comparing how the Lord used to give me so much information to the current desert experience, information-wise. However, He did not leave me alone in my desert experience. I learned to trust Him when He is silent, and obey Him when He speaks. I also learned that it is pride that makes us want to speak when He is silent.

Paul writes to the Corinthians that they should not go beyond what is written (1 Cor 4:6). We should not let our pride add our surmising to what God is saying. If we want to appear to have secret knowledge, or additional information on something the Lord is saying, and we do not in truth have more from the Lord, we are seeking to have men look up to us as someone special.

In Revelation we have the same instructions from the Lord; do not add to or take away from the words of the prophecy (Rev 22:18-19). It is pride that causes us to add to the Word of God, and fear of men, or man-pleasing, that causes us to take away from what God says. If we want to be received by men, we will be tested to see if we will be true to deliver God’s message, for it may make us unpopular with men.

There are many teachers of the prophetic who instruct their students to speak only what is nice. These students are learning to take away from the Word of God, should God be revealing what they consider “not nice.” They exchange the bitter for sweet, and the truth which could save the listener for a falsehood which abandons his soul to his own devices.

Let everyone who has the Word of the Lord be true to God, the giver of the Word. Let not the listeners become hardened in their hearts against prophecy due to the carelessness of men. In this time, more than ever before, prophecy will lead God’s people. Amen.