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Conscience – A Conscience Void of Offence, Part 12

[Study Aired January 20, 2-24]

Updated January 28, 2024

Act 24:16  And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.

A conscience “void of offence toward God” embodies all the nuances of a pure conscience fearless in standing before God today in judgment. However, its rival negative element is in our genes from our first father, Satan, from birth, and, as always, our first fleshy parents, Adam and Eve, demonstrated for our ultimate good. God made Adam and Eve as perfect as flesh can be, yet with a dreadfully indigenous proclivity to indulge the flesh (Psa 51:5), especially in a challenge to our narcissistic intellect.

A conscience negatively “void of offence” is made void through us believing Satan’s lies that massage our inherently self-centered nature to default to his beguiling ways that titillate our senses to challenge authority. In the positive sense, a conscience void of offence towards God is imbued through the peace of immutably knowing that we have caused the Lord no offence.

“void of offence G677 toward God” is an uncomplicated understanding.

• • having nothing to strike against, not causing to stumble 
  • of a smooth road 
  • metaph. of not leading others to sin by one’s mode of life 
  • not striking against or stumbling 
  • metaph. not led into sin, blameless.

1Pe 2:8  And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed [to not understand His parables designed to hide His truth].

Equally uncomplicated is the meaning of Satan’s machinations described in Genesis 3:1 as “subtil” (subtle), meaning:

“Subtil” H6175

• subtle, shrewd, crafty, sly, sensible 
• crafty 
• shrewd, sensible, prudent

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 
Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 
Gen 3:3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 
Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 
Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 
Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

We are well versed in Adam’s and Eve’s account of having their wisdom passively piqued to the point of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The important point in this exercise is the disorienting new emotion of both the man and his wife attempting to avoid offence. The narrative is profoundly pivotal in the creation of God, and the ‘children’s’ response is wryly funny.

Gen 3:11  And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 
Gen 3:12  And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Gen 3:13  And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

We can imagine them both looking furtive and wide-eyed at their Lord for his response as they shuffle their feet while sporting their suave fig leaf ensembles.

Adam and Eve, at this point, knew that they were not void of offence since they heard the Lord walking in the Garden and hid themselves. They and we learn to sear our conscience by repeatedly shifting blame to the point that our conscience doesn’t blow the trumpet for the approaching enemy. That lamentable condition is stamped on our foreheads while in Babylon. In fact, all mankind on Earth unwittingly wears that incriminating credential to violently deny their identity and always shifts the blame to some other, seemingly more vulgar, ecclesiastical woman.

Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

One of the greatest indictments of a budding Elect is the avoidance of totally giving body and heart to her Husband. The elect is now “void of offence” through avoidance of unity with her Husband in the mind of the elect, and typified by a wife’s inherent avoidance of boudoir intimacies. Enthusiastic unity of mind and body risks a wife losing her most treasured identity: her command of rulership and having to submit to her husband’s headship. It is a severely debilitating spiritual ‘scab’ of affliction on her scalp, marring her glory.

Following is a classic and universal rendition void of offence of the image of the harlot we are escaping.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 
Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 
Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

“I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow” is the nature of all wives in Babylon’s harlot churches who, with outstretched necks, void of offence, haughtily rule their husbands physically and formally we, spiritually, only letting him touch them when it suits her, as we all did with Christ. Jesus was not touched intimately, physically or Christ-spiritually by an unchaste woman or harlot, as taboo as it is for the Christs to fornicate spiritually or physically.

1Co 7:1  Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch [1. to fasten one’s self to, adhere to, cling to a. to touch of carnal intercourse with a women or cohabitation] a woman.
1Co 7:2  Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

Of course, the “queen” spoken of in Revelation 18:7 was us when it never entered our minds that we were an unchaste woman fornicating with the churches of the world, not realising that our harlotry ways placed us on our Lord’s throne in His stead. Having imagined being utterly “void of offence towards God”, we indignantly avoided intimately ‘touching’ Him in case we were indicted and challenged to change our ways and spiritually ‘know’ him daily. So, as did Old Israel to her Lord, they avoided intimate unity with Him as we likewise battle today, spiritually. It takes a determined effort to touch our Husband and subdue that curse from Eden, all the while knowing full well that once we do arouse his spirit, we will be enflamed to not stop ~ as many young concupiscent lovers engaged pre-marriage. Such is the dichotic nature of the wretched curse cast upon not just women but, more shamelessly, the men, the supposed head of the woman.

Isa 3:15  What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
Isa 3:16  Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion [Old Israel, our Lord’s former wife, alive and boastfully standing over her physical and spiritual husband today] are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
Isa 3:17  Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab [H5596 – 1. to join, attach to, join together that H557 notes as 1. eruption, scab, lesion a. either malignant or benign] the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts.

A scab is a generic term for any skin disease in which there are patches of hard crusts on the surface, particularly denoting leprosy (Lev 13:1-59).

A woman’s glory truly is beautiful hair, particularly on young women in the “flower of her age” (1Co 7:36), cascading and mirroring her every unconscious movement for the mostly silent mesmerisation of every young man and (disappearing) melancholic memory of all male and female seniors. Add authentic laughter and sparkling eyes, and most men, being weakened by Eve’s curse from Eden, will abdicate their potential headship and unwittingly worship her ~ and all women innately know this, and most in Babylon use that ruling power for their nefarious lust for attention. When a man marries this woman, he unconsciously now has a ‘scab’ blighting his headship in the marriage. And, even though she may be an outstanding Godly girl, her ‘spiritual genetics’ etched from Eden’s curse guaranteed she resists giving the entirety of her spirit, mind and body to him; that wretched ‘scab’ blemishes her spiritual beauty as it has in past times us, to Christ. Being married in Babylonian unity, they both are ‘joined’ oblivious to their condition but, for the Lord’s intervention, are doomed to be in discord ‘till death do part’, utterly witless for resolution. Being “void of offence”, both are scabbed, particularly for withholding the unity of Christ’s spirit.

1Co 7:3  Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence [Blessing her with the washing of Christ’s word]: and likewise also the wife unto the husband [a glorious un-scabbed unity].
1Co 7:4  The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife [All given to each other in unified purity of Christ’s word].

Eve’s curse on all women and, particularly, men for their abdication of headship is instantly broken when each spouse’s tinkling bells of stubborn self-righteousness are smashed by Christ’s hailstones of truth (Isa 28:17). When that happens at His will, both scabbed scalps are healed for the infusion of the holy spirit’s unity, now positively “void of offence”.

1Co 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1Co 11:13  Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?

As Christ’s wife, the Elect of God have him as their glorious covering.

1Co 11:14  Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
1Co 11:15  But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
1Co 11:16  But if any man seem to be contentious [disagree with that doctrine], we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

The Lord creates all people for his purpose and often uses them in the most humiliating way to ultimately bring all people through their contemporary’s individual fiery examples to him. ALL OF THEM are for the Elect of God to, at some point in their lives, see as themselves “that man”, a chief of sinners doing precisely the same outrageous sin, spiritually (and, God forbid, physically)! Reflect on these very few noted below, both negatively and positively, void of offence; it takes a good bit of quiet, yet, exciting reflection:

Oholah and Oholibah ~ Ezekiel 23.
King David with Bathsheba ~ 2 Samuel 11 and 12.
Judas ~ Luke 22.
Peter denies Christ ~ Luke 22:54-62.
Samson ~ Jude 1:13, 14, 15, 16.
The Great Whore (you and me in our time) ~ Revelation 19:2.
The men raping to death the Levite’s concubine (humiliatingly at various spiritual times in our lives for our dreadful impactful benefit are we; both the men and the concubine! ~ Jude 1:19.
Christ ~ the entire Bible!
You and me… the entire Bible!

In keeping with the sub-theme of a woman denuded of her glory and effectively being ‘scabbed’, having spiritually denounced (mostly unwittingly) a man, particularly a husband’s headship over her, is merely one of the Lord’s prime examples with the young and beautiful Sinéad O’Connor. 

Images of Sinéad:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=601452934&sxsrf=ACQVn0_fP6NCdV6hcyCeZcs8uEdTzmHBcg:1706223082284&q=sinead+o%27connor&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwignOil0PmDAxWVxjgGHUdvCdUQ0pQJegQIDRAB&biw=1440&bih=703&dpr=1.33

Sinéad didn’t choose to shave the glory from her head; the Lord used her as one of the millions of different examples for the observant, bright-eyed Christs quiet consideration of oneself, as he did in the minimal list above. Sinéad, you and I will all fill up behind the very same, yet spiritual afflictions that Christ endured (Col 1:24), hated and despised, jeered and humiliated Son of God naked on the cross as was the custom of Roman crucifixion. (Joh 19:16-27). The world only sees the physically denuded glory of Sinéad and the physically stark naked Jesus without the underlying spiritual connections.

Eph 3:13  Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

Sinéad’s unwitting humiliations void negatively of offence, including our like and seemingly endless abasements that for now sometimes cause us to faint, are ultimately for our and each other’s glory, particularly when we understand and honour the supreme glory of Christ, our spiritual covering.

1Co 11:3  But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. 
1Co 11:4  Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. 
1Co 11:5  But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
1Co 11:6  For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.

Sinéad is guaranteed in the Resurrection to Judgement to eagerly submit to Christ, her and our head, in tears (Php 2:10-11, Rev 5:13-14).

Deu 31:27  For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death? 

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we [becoming] in this world.
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

If our ways cause us to fear, our conscience has already condemned us. It is an odious act toward God and ourselves to avoid our conscience and typically hide. Our sins of nakedness will be revealed by God if we fail to go armed in Christ to take our land within.

Num 32:23  But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out [~ for our baldness and nakedness].

As budding Elects, and if we refuse to hear our Husband in this age and spurn his advances as we did in the Wilderness, our brothers who are the Lake of Fire will, and to our immense humiliation, see our detailed nakedness.

Eze 16:35  Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD: 
Eze 16:36  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;
Eze 16:37  Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

Our ‘lovers whom we have taken pleasure’ is outwardly our delight in pursuing worldly pleasures more than God (2Ti 3:1-9). It is oh so easy to be slithered off by the Serpent to indulge the lust of the flesh by figuratively going to the ‘witch of Endor’, which means that we avoid our Lord’s kisses of truth, knowing full well that his ways will ultimately result in a golden answer. However, our nature is to seek her titillating advice,  sidestepping our Lord’s still, small voice saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it”, and avert the inevitable bitter tears. That self-will is called an idol of the heart, and the classic account can be read in full in 1Sam 28 with King Saul as the star actor. When we utterly refuse to hear our Lord, we are very likely to provoke him to bless an Elect with a curse we ironically desire only to bitterly hate.

1Sa 28:7  Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.

Isa 30:19  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.
Isa 30:20  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: 
Isa 30:21  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.

Absurdly, we fear giving up a few minutes of carnal pleasure above eternally unspeakable pleasure in our Husband and Father, only in the Lake of Fire to be forced to acknowledge our nakedness until obligated conformity with God is uttered with fervent gladness (Php 2:10-11).

Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Heb 12:12  Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 
Heb 12:13  And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

That verse embodies “have[ing] always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men”. 

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 
Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat [a few minutes of pleasure] sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

2Co 2:1  But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness. 
2Co 2:2  For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?
2Co 2:3  And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.
2Co 2:4  For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.

Upon us diligently seeking our Lord with our entire heart, always having swiftly sought the Lord to fight that old Serpent, we will hopefully (Phil 3:14) receive the blessed reward of marriage to our Lord, being positively void of offence towards him and man.

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 
Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.