Randy Green's Blog, page 470
August 12, 2012
A Clarion Call – Part 2
In the last days…men will be lovers of self, lovers of money…disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy…without self-control…haters of good, treacherous…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these…who…captivate weak women weighed down with sins…always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth [2 Timothy 3:1-7].
Time alone with Jesus, as He speaks to us in His Word and we speak to Him in prayer, is the lifeblood of the new life. We Christians cannot survive spiritually apart from personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
The Bible is the Word of God, the words of Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit inside the Christian leads us in reading the Bible, so that we understand what God is telling us. With the natural mind alone we will understand the Bible only in terms of our own experiences and learning. We will miss a good deal of teaching because the Bible is Spirit and it is truth. It is not the natural man and the flesh.
As we spend time alone with Jesus every day, reading His Word and talking to Him in prayer, we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His worldview becomes ours. Our understanding of reality is viewed through the eyes of eternity, as seen from the very throne of God Himself. We are transformed by the renewing of the mind, you see.
I had the pleasure, the blessing, the marvelous grace of God, to be born again in 1978, thirty-four years ago now. When I was born again, fellow saints volunteered their advice. It went like this: “Read this book. It’ll help you.” “Listen to this tape. It rocks!” “Go see this evangelist. He’ll open your eyes big time!” etc. etc. ad nauseum.
I was brought up churched and walked away from all that “religious stuff”. It took the Lord ten years into my adult life to get me to where I could actually turn to Him again. I’m to blame, not my parents or the neighbors or the church or the dog. But when I did turn to Him, the last thing I wanted was to choose a denomination or other group to join sides with in the fight for who’s right.
So I politely declined those well-meaning saints with their advice. I simply told them the truth. I didn’t want to read man’s words. Everybody insists he has the truth about the Bible. But the truth about the Bible comes from only one source, viz., the Bible!
This is why I now teach Rule #2 for Bible study: “The Bible is our sole and final authority in all matters of faith and practice.” So I explained that I didn’t want to read man’s books at all, until after I read the Bible all the way through first to see what it actually had to say.
And that is where we will stop today. A time alone with Jesus is in order now. See you tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Time alone with Jesus, as He speaks to us in His Word and we speak to Him in prayer, is the lifeblood of the new life. We Christians cannot survive spiritually apart from personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
The Bible is the Word of God, the words of Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit inside the Christian leads us in reading the Bible, so that we understand what God is telling us. With the natural mind alone we will understand the Bible only in terms of our own experiences and learning. We will miss a good deal of teaching because the Bible is Spirit and it is truth. It is not the natural man and the flesh.
As we spend time alone with Jesus every day, reading His Word and talking to Him in prayer, we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His worldview becomes ours. Our understanding of reality is viewed through the eyes of eternity, as seen from the very throne of God Himself. We are transformed by the renewing of the mind, you see.
I had the pleasure, the blessing, the marvelous grace of God, to be born again in 1978, thirty-four years ago now. When I was born again, fellow saints volunteered their advice. It went like this: “Read this book. It’ll help you.” “Listen to this tape. It rocks!” “Go see this evangelist. He’ll open your eyes big time!” etc. etc. ad nauseum.
I was brought up churched and walked away from all that “religious stuff”. It took the Lord ten years into my adult life to get me to where I could actually turn to Him again. I’m to blame, not my parents or the neighbors or the church or the dog. But when I did turn to Him, the last thing I wanted was to choose a denomination or other group to join sides with in the fight for who’s right.
So I politely declined those well-meaning saints with their advice. I simply told them the truth. I didn’t want to read man’s words. Everybody insists he has the truth about the Bible. But the truth about the Bible comes from only one source, viz., the Bible!
This is why I now teach Rule #2 for Bible study: “The Bible is our sole and final authority in all matters of faith and practice.” So I explained that I didn’t want to read man’s books at all, until after I read the Bible all the way through first to see what it actually had to say.
And that is where we will stop today. A time alone with Jesus is in order now. See you tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
August 11, 2012
A Clarion Call – Part 1
In the last days…men will be lovers of self, lovers of money…disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy…without self-control…haters of good, treacherous…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these…who…captivate weak women weighed down with sins…always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth [2 Timothy 3:1-7].
Have you seen the evening news of late? Even worse, have you noticed the reality of the world we live in today? And I’m not just referring to the third world nations or, for that matter, to any foreign land. I mean the reality we face when we walk out of the house each day and go to work, to church, to school, to the market, anywhere.
The quoted text which kicked off our study begins with a mention of “the last days”. What is that? Well, we are living in “the last days”, dear friends. Ever since Jesus ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to give birth to the Church, the last days has been and continues to be. They will end when Jesus comes again to rule the earth at the termination of the Great Tribulation.
The Bible makes many references to “the last days”, or “the end times”, or “the last hour”, etc. For our purposes today it suffices for us to understand that now is the last days. It is generally recognized that, the closer we get to Jesus’ Second Coming, the more striking will be the signs of the last days or the end times.
Considering the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3, we mustn’t grow lax in watching and waiting for Jesus’ return at any moment. In theology textbooks this concept goes by the title “imminence”. Nothing needs to happen first, before Jesus can return. He can appear at any moment. His appearance is “imminent”.
You will notice there are a lot of sets of three periods (…) in the quote from 2 Timothy 3 above. This means that I left off some words where the sets of periods occur. The quotation is already excessive, so I eliminated some of the words to keep it from being even longer. I highly recommend that you read all of verses 1-7 straight from the Bible. You’ll see that I’m not trying to make it say something it really doesn’t say, and you’ll also be blessed to enjoy all the words.
Here’s the thing. In the course of my daily activities, I repeatedly encounter the reality of existence today, even as each of you do. The more we read our Bibles and pray, the more we become transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). This means that we stop thinking like the world thinks and instead think with the mind of Christ.
Hold that thought. We’ll return to it tomorrow. Jesus is waiting for us now. Let’s enjoy His company.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Have you seen the evening news of late? Even worse, have you noticed the reality of the world we live in today? And I’m not just referring to the third world nations or, for that matter, to any foreign land. I mean the reality we face when we walk out of the house each day and go to work, to church, to school, to the market, anywhere.
The quoted text which kicked off our study begins with a mention of “the last days”. What is that? Well, we are living in “the last days”, dear friends. Ever since Jesus ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to give birth to the Church, the last days has been and continues to be. They will end when Jesus comes again to rule the earth at the termination of the Great Tribulation.
The Bible makes many references to “the last days”, or “the end times”, or “the last hour”, etc. For our purposes today it suffices for us to understand that now is the last days. It is generally recognized that, the closer we get to Jesus’ Second Coming, the more striking will be the signs of the last days or the end times.
Considering the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3, we mustn’t grow lax in watching and waiting for Jesus’ return at any moment. In theology textbooks this concept goes by the title “imminence”. Nothing needs to happen first, before Jesus can return. He can appear at any moment. His appearance is “imminent”.
You will notice there are a lot of sets of three periods (…) in the quote from 2 Timothy 3 above. This means that I left off some words where the sets of periods occur. The quotation is already excessive, so I eliminated some of the words to keep it from being even longer. I highly recommend that you read all of verses 1-7 straight from the Bible. You’ll see that I’m not trying to make it say something it really doesn’t say, and you’ll also be blessed to enjoy all the words.
Here’s the thing. In the course of my daily activities, I repeatedly encounter the reality of existence today, even as each of you do. The more we read our Bibles and pray, the more we become transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). This means that we stop thinking like the world thinks and instead think with the mind of Christ.
Hold that thought. We’ll return to it tomorrow. Jesus is waiting for us now. Let’s enjoy His company.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
August 10, 2012
An Army of Phinehases – Part 6
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “ Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say, ‘ Behold, I give him My covenant of peace...because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’” [Numbers 25:10-12]
The Lord is holy. If man is to be in a relationship with Him, we have to be holy also. This means we cannot live to please self and do our own thing. We cannot worship and serve other gods…or money…or sex…or fame. We have to worship and serve the Lord alone. We have to practice fidelity to one Spouse, the Lord.
The pubescent Israelites didn’t do this. The only alternatives then were either for the Lord to leave and give man his way, or else for the Lord to stay and send man away. Putting sinful man to death removed the sin and maintained God’s holiness. It sent sinful man away so that the Lord could stay (answer to question 4).
The final question (#5) is, “How can a mere man make atonement for other men?” Answer: in just the way Phinehas did, viz., by following the Word of God and judging sin accordingly. The sin wasn’t atoned for in the case of the sinners. They weren’t atoned for: they were judged and condemned! The sin was atoned for in the case of the Israelites who weren’t committing the sin.
Sin in the camp of Israel required that the camp of Israel be judged. So the plague from the Lord struck the camp of Israel. So long as this fraternizing with the enemy continued, the rest of the Israelites were susceptible to being entangled in the devilish web. Phinehas put an end to the fraternizing by his bold act. No other Israelites volunteered to fraternize any longer, considering the consequences!
Ergo, Phinehas atoned for the sin by terminating its practice, as well as by judging the offenders according to the Word of God. The operative phrase is “according to the Word of God”. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the Israelites while they inhabited the Promised Land. It was given at Mount Sinai and went into effect forthwith. God gave them His Law in preparation for having their own country. He was the King of Israel.
We Christians today are not Israel in the Promised Land. The Law of Moses wasn’t given to govern us: the New Testament was. However, we still learn spiritual truths about God from the Lord’s picture stories in the Old Testament, so we continue to study it. However, let’s not be overly eager and go to executing sinners!
In the Church today we need an army of valiant Phinehases to combat the Gospel of Affluence which pervades the Christian community. Alas, but what we have seems to be a nursery full of wimpy Zimris. If you want to know what a Zimri is, read Numbers 25 and see. If you want to enlist in the army of Phinehases, report to the Lord in prayer. Think I’ll do so now. Want to join?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The Lord is holy. If man is to be in a relationship with Him, we have to be holy also. This means we cannot live to please self and do our own thing. We cannot worship and serve other gods…or money…or sex…or fame. We have to worship and serve the Lord alone. We have to practice fidelity to one Spouse, the Lord.
The pubescent Israelites didn’t do this. The only alternatives then were either for the Lord to leave and give man his way, or else for the Lord to stay and send man away. Putting sinful man to death removed the sin and maintained God’s holiness. It sent sinful man away so that the Lord could stay (answer to question 4).
The final question (#5) is, “How can a mere man make atonement for other men?” Answer: in just the way Phinehas did, viz., by following the Word of God and judging sin accordingly. The sin wasn’t atoned for in the case of the sinners. They weren’t atoned for: they were judged and condemned! The sin was atoned for in the case of the Israelites who weren’t committing the sin.
Sin in the camp of Israel required that the camp of Israel be judged. So the plague from the Lord struck the camp of Israel. So long as this fraternizing with the enemy continued, the rest of the Israelites were susceptible to being entangled in the devilish web. Phinehas put an end to the fraternizing by his bold act. No other Israelites volunteered to fraternize any longer, considering the consequences!
Ergo, Phinehas atoned for the sin by terminating its practice, as well as by judging the offenders according to the Word of God. The operative phrase is “according to the Word of God”. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the Israelites while they inhabited the Promised Land. It was given at Mount Sinai and went into effect forthwith. God gave them His Law in preparation for having their own country. He was the King of Israel.
We Christians today are not Israel in the Promised Land. The Law of Moses wasn’t given to govern us: the New Testament was. However, we still learn spiritual truths about God from the Lord’s picture stories in the Old Testament, so we continue to study it. However, let’s not be overly eager and go to executing sinners!
In the Church today we need an army of valiant Phinehases to combat the Gospel of Affluence which pervades the Christian community. Alas, but what we have seems to be a nursery full of wimpy Zimris. If you want to know what a Zimri is, read Numbers 25 and see. If you want to enlist in the army of Phinehases, report to the Lord in prayer. Think I’ll do so now. Want to join?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
August 9, 2012
An Army of Phinehases – Part 5
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “ Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say, ‘ Behold, I give him My covenant of peace...because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’” [Numbers 25:10-12]
So how was the sin of the pubescent Israelites atoned for? It happened like this:
Phinehas grabbed his spear and followed the dufus Israelite into his tent. Inside the tent Phinehas pinned both the Israelite boy and the Midianite girl to the desert floor with his spear, like a shish kabob. Then the plague on the Israelites was stayed.
You see, the Israelites judged the sin in their camp, so the Lord no longer had to do so. If we judge our own sins, we won’t have to be judged.
And this brings us back to the five questions we itemized at the start of this study. We just narrated how a mere man can turn away God’s wrath (answer to question #1). The mere man simply did what the Word of God commanded to be done. The Law of Moses was already given to the Israelites to govern their national existence. It afforded the answers for holy living and judging society accordingly.
This Law commanded the Israelites to follow the doctrine of separation: no intermingling with the heathen peoples of the world. The Law also forbade idolatry: no worshiping other gods. The priests were assigned to be God’s judges in Israel. Phinehas the priest judged the lawbreaker guilty and executed him according to the Law.
How can a mere man have God’s jealousy? Just the way Phinehas did. He didn’t get mad at the dufus Israelite for personal reasons and exact his personal revenge. Rather, Phinehas recognized from the Law that the Lord loved the Israelites as His own bride.
The Lord was betrayed by His bride, when the Israelites slept with the daughters of foreign gods and then worshiped those gods. This aroused the Lord’s righteous jealousy. So that is what God’s jealousy is (answer to question #3). When Phinehas acted on behalf of God’s jealousy, he displayed God’s jealousy (answer to question #2).
Because the Lord is always faithful, He never steps out on those with whom He is in covenantal relationship. The Lord expects the same in return. When His people play spouse-swapping and intermingle with the heathen gods, they forfeit any claims to being God’s people and willingly join the camp of the enemy.
The word “holy” means that God is the one and only. For a man to be holy means that he sides with God against all other gods or anything else. When a man doesn’t do so, then he is no longer holy and God cannot abide with him.
Yikes! That didn’t spell good news for those pubescent Israelites, did it? We’ll learn the specifics in our next study. Off to the Lord I’m going now.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
So how was the sin of the pubescent Israelites atoned for? It happened like this:
Phinehas grabbed his spear and followed the dufus Israelite into his tent. Inside the tent Phinehas pinned both the Israelite boy and the Midianite girl to the desert floor with his spear, like a shish kabob. Then the plague on the Israelites was stayed.
You see, the Israelites judged the sin in their camp, so the Lord no longer had to do so. If we judge our own sins, we won’t have to be judged.
And this brings us back to the five questions we itemized at the start of this study. We just narrated how a mere man can turn away God’s wrath (answer to question #1). The mere man simply did what the Word of God commanded to be done. The Law of Moses was already given to the Israelites to govern their national existence. It afforded the answers for holy living and judging society accordingly.
This Law commanded the Israelites to follow the doctrine of separation: no intermingling with the heathen peoples of the world. The Law also forbade idolatry: no worshiping other gods. The priests were assigned to be God’s judges in Israel. Phinehas the priest judged the lawbreaker guilty and executed him according to the Law.
How can a mere man have God’s jealousy? Just the way Phinehas did. He didn’t get mad at the dufus Israelite for personal reasons and exact his personal revenge. Rather, Phinehas recognized from the Law that the Lord loved the Israelites as His own bride.
The Lord was betrayed by His bride, when the Israelites slept with the daughters of foreign gods and then worshiped those gods. This aroused the Lord’s righteous jealousy. So that is what God’s jealousy is (answer to question #3). When Phinehas acted on behalf of God’s jealousy, he displayed God’s jealousy (answer to question #2).
Because the Lord is always faithful, He never steps out on those with whom He is in covenantal relationship. The Lord expects the same in return. When His people play spouse-swapping and intermingle with the heathen gods, they forfeit any claims to being God’s people and willingly join the camp of the enemy.
The word “holy” means that God is the one and only. For a man to be holy means that he sides with God against all other gods or anything else. When a man doesn’t do so, then he is no longer holy and God cannot abide with him.
Yikes! That didn’t spell good news for those pubescent Israelites, did it? We’ll learn the specifics in our next study. Off to the Lord I’m going now.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
August 8, 2012
An Army of Phinehases – Part 4
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “ Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say, ‘ Behold, I give him My covenant of peace...because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’” [Numbers 25:10-12]
Balaam squeezed some demon juice from his brain and fed it to the Moabites and Midianites. Let them bedeck their lovely lasses in alluring attire, then dispatch them to the camp of Israel to seduce the puberty-afflicted Israelite boys…of all ages! That’ll get them worshiping Baal, and force the Lord to kill them.
So bedecked became the Midianite femme fatales, and off to the camp of Israel they went. Straightway the camp was filled with pubescent Israelites, ambling along with Midianite sirens on their arms…and into the tents they went.
No sooner were they in the tents than a plague from the Lord struck and killed 24,000 Israelites. Balaam’s plan seemed to be working to a T. Why, even after all this, some clueless dufus Israelite actually walked out in front of Moses and the leaders of Israel, as they were praying to the Lord at the tent of meeting on behalf of the Israelites.
This dufus had a Midianite lassie on his arm, and he was the son of an Israelite leader! He called out to dad in front of all Israel’s leaders,
Hey, Dad. I’m taking my new girlfriend back to the tent to play and have fun. So stay away a while, okay?
Then off to the camp on the south side the two went. Moses and the leaders had to place an order for a crane to come and lift their jaws off the desert floor! Such temerity, such chutzpah was beyond belief. No one could be that anile…could he?
The son of the high priest, Phinehas by name, knew what the situation demanded. Thousands of Israelites were dying by the minute from the Lord’s plague, and all because dufuses like this boy sinned with heathen women.
The job of the priest was to intercede with the Lord on behalf of the Israelites. The Lord was in the process of judging the Israelites for their sin. In order for the priest to petition the Lord to cease and desist, first the sin had to be atoned for.
So how was sin to be atoned for? Well, the wages of sin is death, so the Lord put them to death. To stop the plague, first the Israelites needed to stop sinning, and secondly those who sinned needed to be put to death.
We’ll find out tomorrow how this was accomplished. For today let’s muse on what we’ve already learned. The prayer closet is a good place to do so. See you there.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Balaam squeezed some demon juice from his brain and fed it to the Moabites and Midianites. Let them bedeck their lovely lasses in alluring attire, then dispatch them to the camp of Israel to seduce the puberty-afflicted Israelite boys…of all ages! That’ll get them worshiping Baal, and force the Lord to kill them.
So bedecked became the Midianite femme fatales, and off to the camp of Israel they went. Straightway the camp was filled with pubescent Israelites, ambling along with Midianite sirens on their arms…and into the tents they went.
No sooner were they in the tents than a plague from the Lord struck and killed 24,000 Israelites. Balaam’s plan seemed to be working to a T. Why, even after all this, some clueless dufus Israelite actually walked out in front of Moses and the leaders of Israel, as they were praying to the Lord at the tent of meeting on behalf of the Israelites.
This dufus had a Midianite lassie on his arm, and he was the son of an Israelite leader! He called out to dad in front of all Israel’s leaders,
Hey, Dad. I’m taking my new girlfriend back to the tent to play and have fun. So stay away a while, okay?
Then off to the camp on the south side the two went. Moses and the leaders had to place an order for a crane to come and lift their jaws off the desert floor! Such temerity, such chutzpah was beyond belief. No one could be that anile…could he?
The son of the high priest, Phinehas by name, knew what the situation demanded. Thousands of Israelites were dying by the minute from the Lord’s plague, and all because dufuses like this boy sinned with heathen women.
The job of the priest was to intercede with the Lord on behalf of the Israelites. The Lord was in the process of judging the Israelites for their sin. In order for the priest to petition the Lord to cease and desist, first the sin had to be atoned for.
So how was sin to be atoned for? Well, the wages of sin is death, so the Lord put them to death. To stop the plague, first the Israelites needed to stop sinning, and secondly those who sinned needed to be put to death.
We’ll find out tomorrow how this was accomplished. For today let’s muse on what we’ve already learned. The prayer closet is a good place to do so. See you there.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
August 7, 2012
An Army of Phinehases – Part 3
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “ Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say, ‘ Behold, I give him My covenant of peace...because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’” [Numbers 25:10-12]
If only we puny humans would submit to the Holy Spirit, we would be Johnny #2 and simply come clean with our sins. Instead we have a doctorate in rationalizations. We are Johnny #1. We make excuses and wheedle in an effort to gain pity for ourselves.
In 1 Corinthians 11:31 the Apostle Paul explained to the troublesome Christians in the church of Corinth that, if they judged their own sins, the Lord wouldn’t have to judge them. This concept is quite apposite to the situation in Numbers 25, dear friends.
The Israelites were on the east bank of the Jordan River opposite Jericho. They were delivered from Egyptian slavery by the Lord their God. The Lord led them through the wilderness for forty years and brought them to the plains of Moab on the east bank. They were on the verge of crossing the Jordan to the west bank and receiving their landed inheritance, the Promised Land.
Well, the folks who lived on the west bank weren’t too keen on the thought of this happening. Neither were the folks on the east bank who attacked the Israelites and were exterminated in the doing. Israel now owned all their lands.
Israel’s neighbors on the east bank weren’t much enthused with the new tenants either. These neighbors included the Moabites and their partners the Midianites. So those two folks wanted to evict the Israelites, preferring them dead over expelled.
First they tried to arrange a military conquest of the Israelites. The first step in doing this was to hire a false prophet named Balaam to curse Israel. That way the Israelites would be too weak to stand their ground against the enemy coalition. But the Lord blessed Israel and repulsed Balaam’s attempts, forcing him instead to acknowledge the blessing of God upon Israel.
So Balaam concocted another scheme: if attacks from the outside failed, try attacks from the inside. Balaam directed the Midianites to bedeck their loveliest honeys in alluring attire. Then dispatch them to the camp of Israel to seduce the pubescent Israelite boys.
Once in the embrace of the Midianite babes, those boys would worship the Midianite gods without even knowing it. Then the Lord God of Israel would be furious and kill the Israelite men. What a plan! The Moabites and Midianites wouldn’t even have to kill the Israelites. Their own God would do the job for them!
Oh, dear. Outta time again! I can’t wait to find out how Balaam’s devilish machination came out. But we’ll have to…until tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
If only we puny humans would submit to the Holy Spirit, we would be Johnny #2 and simply come clean with our sins. Instead we have a doctorate in rationalizations. We are Johnny #1. We make excuses and wheedle in an effort to gain pity for ourselves.
In 1 Corinthians 11:31 the Apostle Paul explained to the troublesome Christians in the church of Corinth that, if they judged their own sins, the Lord wouldn’t have to judge them. This concept is quite apposite to the situation in Numbers 25, dear friends.
The Israelites were on the east bank of the Jordan River opposite Jericho. They were delivered from Egyptian slavery by the Lord their God. The Lord led them through the wilderness for forty years and brought them to the plains of Moab on the east bank. They were on the verge of crossing the Jordan to the west bank and receiving their landed inheritance, the Promised Land.
Well, the folks who lived on the west bank weren’t too keen on the thought of this happening. Neither were the folks on the east bank who attacked the Israelites and were exterminated in the doing. Israel now owned all their lands.
Israel’s neighbors on the east bank weren’t much enthused with the new tenants either. These neighbors included the Moabites and their partners the Midianites. So those two folks wanted to evict the Israelites, preferring them dead over expelled.
First they tried to arrange a military conquest of the Israelites. The first step in doing this was to hire a false prophet named Balaam to curse Israel. That way the Israelites would be too weak to stand their ground against the enemy coalition. But the Lord blessed Israel and repulsed Balaam’s attempts, forcing him instead to acknowledge the blessing of God upon Israel.
So Balaam concocted another scheme: if attacks from the outside failed, try attacks from the inside. Balaam directed the Midianites to bedeck their loveliest honeys in alluring attire. Then dispatch them to the camp of Israel to seduce the pubescent Israelite boys.
Once in the embrace of the Midianite babes, those boys would worship the Midianite gods without even knowing it. Then the Lord God of Israel would be furious and kill the Israelite men. What a plan! The Moabites and Midianites wouldn’t even have to kill the Israelites. Their own God would do the job for them!
Oh, dear. Outta time again! I can’t wait to find out how Balaam’s devilish machination came out. But we’ll have to…until tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
August 6, 2012
An Army of Phinehases – Part 2
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “ Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say, ‘ Behold, I give him My covenant of peace...because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel’” [Numbers 25:10-12]
Johnny boy was caught red-handed, his hand still in the cookie jar. Straightway he went on the offense, feigning contrition in an attempt to wring pity from Mom.
Yep. Been there, done that. You too, right? That’s me personally and that’s my kids too. It comes from the sin nature inside each of us. We won’t tolerate any outside right and wrong. What we feel inside is right for us, so it is right! Begone with morality then and let us be.
Now let’s hear the way the story should be played out—no doubt occasionally it actually does happen this way. Johnny is a real kid, so in this story he’s still on the step ladder with his hand in the cookie jar. Mom is a real mom, so she by happenstance makes her way into the kitchen at just the right moment to bust Johnny in the act of cookie filching.
From the floor Johnny hangs his head in shame, unable to even look Mom in the face. This time more than a couple of tears drop from one eye. Too many to count pour out of both eyes. He tries to apologize, but his emotions run amuck and his cries are too copious to allow speech to flow smoothly. In broken words and sentences Johnny thinks and tries to say,
I’m sorry, Mommy. You told me to leave the cookies alone until after supper, but I didn’t obey you. All the love you show me, always being there when I need you. You never do me wrong. You help me make it in school and in life. I never have to worry about being rejected or deserted. You never give up on me, call it quits, and walk out.
And here I go and do the one thing you told me not to do. I have no excuse, Mommy. I did wrong. Will you please forgive me? I know I must be punished, but I need your forgiveness first. Please forgive me, Mommy.
I embellished Johnny’s lament a bit…no, quite a bit! I know it’s too adult for a preschooler. But to whatever extent the kid could reason about right and wrong, that is what he would say, if he was truly sorry for doing wrong and not just sorry because he got caught and had to pay the piper.
Time to call it a day. I’m going to meditate on what we’ve been taught today, as I sit at the feet of Jesus. See you tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Johnny boy was caught red-handed, his hand still in the cookie jar. Straightway he went on the offense, feigning contrition in an attempt to wring pity from Mom.
Yep. Been there, done that. You too, right? That’s me personally and that’s my kids too. It comes from the sin nature inside each of us. We won’t tolerate any outside right and wrong. What we feel inside is right for us, so it is right! Begone with morality then and let us be.
Now let’s hear the way the story should be played out—no doubt occasionally it actually does happen this way. Johnny is a real kid, so in this story he’s still on the step ladder with his hand in the cookie jar. Mom is a real mom, so she by happenstance makes her way into the kitchen at just the right moment to bust Johnny in the act of cookie filching.
From the floor Johnny hangs his head in shame, unable to even look Mom in the face. This time more than a couple of tears drop from one eye. Too many to count pour out of both eyes. He tries to apologize, but his emotions run amuck and his cries are too copious to allow speech to flow smoothly. In broken words and sentences Johnny thinks and tries to say,
I’m sorry, Mommy. You told me to leave the cookies alone until after supper, but I didn’t obey you. All the love you show me, always being there when I need you. You never do me wrong. You help me make it in school and in life. I never have to worry about being rejected or deserted. You never give up on me, call it quits, and walk out.
And here I go and do the one thing you told me not to do. I have no excuse, Mommy. I did wrong. Will you please forgive me? I know I must be punished, but I need your forgiveness first. Please forgive me, Mommy.
I embellished Johnny’s lament a bit…no, quite a bit! I know it’s too adult for a preschooler. But to whatever extent the kid could reason about right and wrong, that is what he would say, if he was truly sorry for doing wrong and not just sorry because he got caught and had to pay the piper.
Time to call it a day. I’m going to meditate on what we’ve been taught today, as I sit at the feet of Jesus. See you tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
August 5, 2012
An Army of Phinehases – Part 1
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “ Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say, ‘ Behold, I give him My covenant of peace...because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’” [Numbers 25:10-13]
Have you ever read those words before? I’m not being sarcastic. Honest! Most Christians have yet to read the Bible. Oh, many read parts of the Bible—favorite verses, chapters on the Christmas story, Psalms and Proverbs. But read Genesis through Revelation, an entire Bible book at a time? Sadly, but not too many do so.
This is why I asked you whether you ever read the words of our text before. Well, it makes for a never you mind for our purpose today. Whether you did or didn’t, when you read them now, what questions pass through your mind…aside from the foreign names, that is? I’ll suggest a few for you.
1. How can a mere man turn away God’s wrath?
2. How can a mere man have God’s jealousy?
3. What is God’s jealousy anyway?
4. How can a holy God kill people in jealousy and still be holy?
5. How can a mere man make atonement for other men?
Hmm. Those are some stimulating inquiries. I bet we’re in for a smorgasbord of spiritual victuals today. I hear the dinner bell, so we mustn’t dawdle. Let’s wash our hands, recline at the table, and get to eating!
To help us get a handle on the issue involved, perhaps a story or two for illustration purposes will benefit us. We all know the one about the preschooler and the cookie jar, don’t we? It goes like this.
Mom walks into the kitchen and discovers little Johnny boy on the step ladder, his hand deep in the cookie jar which reclines atop the kitchen cabinet. Mom grabs Johnny off the ladder, before he is startled by her presence and winds up falling off. As she places him on the floor, Johnny looks up in her face wearing a whimper sort of expression. A tear or two drops out of the corner of his eye as he whines, “I’m sorry, Mommy.”
Well, if we could play Johnny’s private thoughts on the TV screen at that moment, we’d be cut to the quick by his real mindset. He was sorry all right, but not because he disobeyed Mom by invading the domain of the cookie against her express instructions. No! We’d hear this:
I’m sorry, Mommy, that you came in when you did. If you’d only have been a few seconds slower, I’d have a handful of cookies out back, chowing down and having the time of my life! Why couldn’t you have just waited a few moments, Mommy? Why’d you have to go and spoil my life again? I never get to have any fun. Wish you’d chill and let me be for once.
We will continue the tale on the morrow. Let’s pause a while and spend time with the Lord now.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Have you ever read those words before? I’m not being sarcastic. Honest! Most Christians have yet to read the Bible. Oh, many read parts of the Bible—favorite verses, chapters on the Christmas story, Psalms and Proverbs. But read Genesis through Revelation, an entire Bible book at a time? Sadly, but not too many do so.
This is why I asked you whether you ever read the words of our text before. Well, it makes for a never you mind for our purpose today. Whether you did or didn’t, when you read them now, what questions pass through your mind…aside from the foreign names, that is? I’ll suggest a few for you.
1. How can a mere man turn away God’s wrath?
2. How can a mere man have God’s jealousy?
3. What is God’s jealousy anyway?
4. How can a holy God kill people in jealousy and still be holy?
5. How can a mere man make atonement for other men?
Hmm. Those are some stimulating inquiries. I bet we’re in for a smorgasbord of spiritual victuals today. I hear the dinner bell, so we mustn’t dawdle. Let’s wash our hands, recline at the table, and get to eating!
To help us get a handle on the issue involved, perhaps a story or two for illustration purposes will benefit us. We all know the one about the preschooler and the cookie jar, don’t we? It goes like this.
Mom walks into the kitchen and discovers little Johnny boy on the step ladder, his hand deep in the cookie jar which reclines atop the kitchen cabinet. Mom grabs Johnny off the ladder, before he is startled by her presence and winds up falling off. As she places him on the floor, Johnny looks up in her face wearing a whimper sort of expression. A tear or two drops out of the corner of his eye as he whines, “I’m sorry, Mommy.”
Well, if we could play Johnny’s private thoughts on the TV screen at that moment, we’d be cut to the quick by his real mindset. He was sorry all right, but not because he disobeyed Mom by invading the domain of the cookie against her express instructions. No! We’d hear this:
I’m sorry, Mommy, that you came in when you did. If you’d only have been a few seconds slower, I’d have a handful of cookies out back, chowing down and having the time of my life! Why couldn’t you have just waited a few moments, Mommy? Why’d you have to go and spoil my life again? I never get to have any fun. Wish you’d chill and let me be for once.
We will continue the tale on the morrow. Let’s pause a while and spend time with the Lord now.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
August 4, 2012
Curtain of Eternity – Part 5
(God) who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel [2 Timothy 1:9-10].
In order to fulfill the eternal plan of God, God needed to enter time as a creature of time. This was why the eternal Son of God at a point in time (circa 3 B.C.) willingly took upon human nature. This is known as the “incarnation”.
The Son of God’s human nature was not sinful human nature but sinless human nature. God originally created man sinless. Man acquired his sin nature by disobeying the Word of God in the garden. The virgin birth of Jesus was the means by which real human nature was acquired without sin.
We already descanted upon the cross and empty tomb. The eternal Son of God exists simultaneously as a creature of time and space and matter because at a point in time He became a creature of time. He became a man. He didn’t stop being the eternal Son of God. Rather, He became a man simultaneously with being the eternal Son of God. Jesus Christ is the God-man, two natures existing simultaneously in one Person.
The duality which exists between time and eternity is intimated at by the Holy Spirit in our text. From God’s perspective my salvation and calling occurred in eternity, and He is the source. But such a concept is incomprehensible to me. Now that the Word of God reveals it to me, I know its veracity and believe it. But I believe it by faith, not by intellect.
This doesn’t mean I stop being intellectual and become a blind dote, gullible and swallowing any blather I hear. It means I know the Lord Jesus personally and have learned by experience as well as His Word that He is utterly trustworthy and never lies or makes mistakes. Consequently I know that what He teaches me about this duality is true, though I am incapable of understanding it because it is too deep for my intellect to fathom.
Having learned all of this spiritual truth today, I am strengthened in the inner man to love Jesus all the more and live His holy calling. “Why so?” you ask. Because I realize even more why He bothered to become a human being forevermore. I recognize more deeply how much He truly loves me because He did so.
His appearance in time so as to fulfill God’s plan of eternity was for my benefit, not for His. He wants me to know His love for me, so He came into time in a manner I could comprehend. This is how God reveals Himself to me and to you and to every Christian.
Can you relate to the love of God for you personally? Does this not strum your heart strings and play a love song for God? If so, then the duality between time and eternity as we read it in 2 Timothy 1 has achieved its goal. Works for me. Hope so for you too.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
In order to fulfill the eternal plan of God, God needed to enter time as a creature of time. This was why the eternal Son of God at a point in time (circa 3 B.C.) willingly took upon human nature. This is known as the “incarnation”.
The Son of God’s human nature was not sinful human nature but sinless human nature. God originally created man sinless. Man acquired his sin nature by disobeying the Word of God in the garden. The virgin birth of Jesus was the means by which real human nature was acquired without sin.
We already descanted upon the cross and empty tomb. The eternal Son of God exists simultaneously as a creature of time and space and matter because at a point in time He became a creature of time. He became a man. He didn’t stop being the eternal Son of God. Rather, He became a man simultaneously with being the eternal Son of God. Jesus Christ is the God-man, two natures existing simultaneously in one Person.
The duality which exists between time and eternity is intimated at by the Holy Spirit in our text. From God’s perspective my salvation and calling occurred in eternity, and He is the source. But such a concept is incomprehensible to me. Now that the Word of God reveals it to me, I know its veracity and believe it. But I believe it by faith, not by intellect.
This doesn’t mean I stop being intellectual and become a blind dote, gullible and swallowing any blather I hear. It means I know the Lord Jesus personally and have learned by experience as well as His Word that He is utterly trustworthy and never lies or makes mistakes. Consequently I know that what He teaches me about this duality is true, though I am incapable of understanding it because it is too deep for my intellect to fathom.
Having learned all of this spiritual truth today, I am strengthened in the inner man to love Jesus all the more and live His holy calling. “Why so?” you ask. Because I realize even more why He bothered to become a human being forevermore. I recognize more deeply how much He truly loves me because He did so.
His appearance in time so as to fulfill God’s plan of eternity was for my benefit, not for His. He wants me to know His love for me, so He came into time in a manner I could comprehend. This is how God reveals Himself to me and to you and to every Christian.
Can you relate to the love of God for you personally? Does this not strum your heart strings and play a love song for God? If so, then the duality between time and eternity as we read it in 2 Timothy 1 has achieved its goal. Works for me. Hope so for you too.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
August 3, 2012
Curtain of Eternity – Part 4
(God) who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel [2 Timothy 1:9-10].
Jesus saved us and called us with a holy calling. Hallelujah! This is spelled c-r-o-s-s and e-m-p-t-y--t-o-m-b.
The cross was where the penalty for my sins was paid, where I was saved from sin and death. The empty tomb demonstrated this to be true. Death could not hold Jesus because He had no sin, and death comes as the wages of sin. Having died bearing the sins of all mankind, Jesus rose out of death with the bill for all those sins marked “Paid in Full!” Now the new resurrection life of Jesus is available to whoever will receive it.
The cross paid the penalty for sins. This is salvation. We are “saved” from sin. The empty tomb extends the benefits of the cross to include “a holy calling”. We are saved from sin for the purpose of living a holy life. To live a holy life requires power and ability within us which is not corrupted by sin. That is the definition of a new, holy nature.
That completes our diagnosis of the context for the duality between time and eternity, as presented in 2 Timothy 1. In that context we are able to rightly grasp what the Holy Spirit reveals to us by this duality. So let’s begin by repeating the duality, so that we have it fresh on our minds:
1. which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity
2. but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus
The word in point #1, “which”, refers to God’s salvation and holy calling combined. Remember, God never merely saved anyone. He saves for a purpose, and His purpose is that every person he saves stop living for sin and thenceforth live in the power of the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God. That is the definition of “a holy calling”.
Ergo, the duality has to do with God’s salvation and calling as they are joined together in holy matrimony for all eternity, beginning from the moment a person is saved. God didn’t plan His salvation and calling of each Christian at the moment he was born, nor even at the instant he was conceived, neither from the first thought mom and dad had of conceiving a baby together.
No, indeed! God’s plan to save me and call me with a holy calling occurred in eternity, dear friends! And the same applies to His plan for you guys and gals too. Eternity isn’t dependent on time, you see. We puny creatures of time had no existence until we were conceived and then born, but God’s plan for us existed even before time began! Explain that one to me, I dare you!
Still, eternal plans for creatures of time and space and matter don’t go very far, unless time actually exists along with those creatures. This brings in point #2 of the duality we are vetting from 2 Timothy 1. In order to fulfill the eternal plan of God, God needed to enter time as a creature of time.
Hold that thought. It is much too steep for us to wander into it willy-nilly at this late hour. We will explore that terrain on the morrow. Enjoy time with the Lord Jesus now.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Jesus saved us and called us with a holy calling. Hallelujah! This is spelled c-r-o-s-s and e-m-p-t-y--t-o-m-b.
The cross was where the penalty for my sins was paid, where I was saved from sin and death. The empty tomb demonstrated this to be true. Death could not hold Jesus because He had no sin, and death comes as the wages of sin. Having died bearing the sins of all mankind, Jesus rose out of death with the bill for all those sins marked “Paid in Full!” Now the new resurrection life of Jesus is available to whoever will receive it.
The cross paid the penalty for sins. This is salvation. We are “saved” from sin. The empty tomb extends the benefits of the cross to include “a holy calling”. We are saved from sin for the purpose of living a holy life. To live a holy life requires power and ability within us which is not corrupted by sin. That is the definition of a new, holy nature.
That completes our diagnosis of the context for the duality between time and eternity, as presented in 2 Timothy 1. In that context we are able to rightly grasp what the Holy Spirit reveals to us by this duality. So let’s begin by repeating the duality, so that we have it fresh on our minds:
1. which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity
2. but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus
The word in point #1, “which”, refers to God’s salvation and holy calling combined. Remember, God never merely saved anyone. He saves for a purpose, and His purpose is that every person he saves stop living for sin and thenceforth live in the power of the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God. That is the definition of “a holy calling”.
Ergo, the duality has to do with God’s salvation and calling as they are joined together in holy matrimony for all eternity, beginning from the moment a person is saved. God didn’t plan His salvation and calling of each Christian at the moment he was born, nor even at the instant he was conceived, neither from the first thought mom and dad had of conceiving a baby together.
No, indeed! God’s plan to save me and call me with a holy calling occurred in eternity, dear friends! And the same applies to His plan for you guys and gals too. Eternity isn’t dependent on time, you see. We puny creatures of time had no existence until we were conceived and then born, but God’s plan for us existed even before time began! Explain that one to me, I dare you!
Still, eternal plans for creatures of time and space and matter don’t go very far, unless time actually exists along with those creatures. This brings in point #2 of the duality we are vetting from 2 Timothy 1. In order to fulfill the eternal plan of God, God needed to enter time as a creature of time.
Hold that thought. It is much too steep for us to wander into it willy-nilly at this late hour. We will explore that terrain on the morrow. Enjoy time with the Lord Jesus now.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
