1 Corinthians 10:11 “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
Around a year after Israel’s exodus from Egypt, God brought them to the edge of their promise. Soon, they were going to cross into Canaan and begin to possess the land that God gave them for their own. Twelve scouts were sent into the land first to gather information. While spying on the Canaanites, they saw some things that were tough for the natural mind to take in. Powerful fortified cities inhabited by 10-12 foot tall warriors were not at all what they were expecting! When they came back, ten scouts had moved from trust in God to fear for their lives. Only two of the men (Joshua and Caleb) maintained an attitude of faith in God.
As if losing their own faith in God’s promise wasn’t enough, the ten scouts began to plant seeds of unbelief in the people of Israel. In a very little amount of time, only three people still believed in God’s promise to give them Canaan - Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. What should’ve been a simple information-gathering mission turned into a showdown between three leaders and three and one-half million people.
Numbers 14:2-4 “And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, ‘If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?’ So they said to one another, ‘Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.’”
If got so bad that the people actually planned to stone Moses, Joshua, and Caleb to death. Just before they could, though, God showed up at the Tabernacle. He was not at all happy with the people. He told them that only the ones who believed His promise were going to enter Canaan - not one of the millions of unbelievers were going to see the good land. Instead of leading them further into the land of promise, God turned them around and brought them back into the wilderness. For thirty-nine more years, that generation died one-by-one.
1 Corinthians 10:11 tells us that we can learn what we should do from these people. Hebrews 3:16-19 says “For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” Can you see this? Israel moved in fear and unbelief, but God called what they did rebellion and sin. A moment of hesitation and fear equals rebellion in God’s eyes.
We all come to this place. As we progress in our spiritual walk, we come to the edge of what God has called us to do. When we get a glimpse of where He’s taking us, that thing that He’s been leading us to all along, it is too much for our natural mind to process. It’s then that we have a choice. Do we progress in God’s kingdom and His calling? Or do we refuse to do what makes us uncomfortable and try to stay where we are? If that’s what you want to do, let me warn you - Israel didn’t stay put, they went backwards. The moment you refuse to obey God - whether it’s because of convenience or fear - you will regress backwards in your spiritual walk.
Denominations are famous for this. To begin with, a man or woman gets a “new” revelation from God that takes them further on their journey. They teach this to other men and women and then they move forward together - this becomes a new movement in the church. The churches they came from refuse to move forward with this revelation, so they come out of those places and start a new church organization. This new organization continues to move forward into God’s promises and grows rapidly. Then, all of a sudden, they learn where God wants them to go next - and it makes them uncomfortable. Instead of progressing into what God has called them to, they try to stay put. Sadly, that cannot happen.
In our Christian walk, we are either progressing or regressing. Before long, that organization that was alive and growing in the things of God begins to regress into passivity, worldliness, and ultimately rebellion. How could a once-godly denomination endorse homosexuality? How could an organization that was once on fire for God and burning with the Holy Spirit be reduced to “seeker-friendly” messages with no depth? It’s because they encountered their Canaan, and instead of moving forward, they tried to keep things as they were.
Have you encountered this in your own life? Have you been led into something that made your natural mind uncomfortable? The only answer is faith! Trust in God’s plan for your life and move into His next stage for you. Don’t hesitate when He calls. Don’t try to compromise with God and stay where you are. Remember, always move forward!!
Hebrews 4:11 “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.”
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
The Life Of A Believer - Don't Call That Thing "Yahweh"!
After three months of wilderness living, the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai. On third day of being camped at the base of the mountain, this congregation had what was probably the greatest church service ever recorded. It started in the morning with thunder and lightning, a thick cloud of dark smoke at the top of the mountain, and the loud sounding of a trumpet coming from the cloud. When they heard the sound, Moses brought the people out of the camp to the base of the mountain. At the base of the mountain, the Israelites could see God’s glory in the cloud like fire! Then the trumpet started to sound louder and louder while the mountain began to shake. Soon the trumpet sound was almost earsplitting!
After all of that, Moses would speak to God in front of the Israelites, and God would answer him audibly! Can you imagine the amount of respect the Israelites had for Moses, watching him carry a conversation with God like that? Finally, God spoke to the entire congregation and personally gave them the ten commandments. After that, He called Moses up to the top of the mountain and began an intense, 40-day session - teaching Moses all about ceremonial and civil laws and the correct ways to worship Him.
One would think this event would foster the fear of God in the Israelites, right? Wrong! Around a month later, the Israelites disregarded everything God had said to them! As a group, they came to Aaron and demanded, “Make us a god that will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don't know what has happened to him.” Understand this, they didn’t come to Aaron because they lacked the knowledge of how to make an idol. They picked Aaron because he was in charge and they wanted him to validate what they were about to do.
Aaron gave in! He told them to bring their earrings, melted them down and formed a golden calf This wasn’t a bull, it was a statue of a baby cow. These people traded and turned their backs on the God who thundered - Whose glory was still on the mountain as a fire and smoke - and declared this concerning that golden baby cow, “Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.” As if that weren’t brassy enough, Aaron declared the following day to be a feast to worship this calf; listen to how he announced it. “Tomorrow will be a feast day in the Yahweh’s honor.” He called this gold statue of a baby cow “Yahweh”!
Well, obviously God wasn’t thrilled with these people. He cut His session with Moses short and sent him back down to deal with this situation. By the time Moses returned, the people were involved with far more than idol worship. Aaron never confronted them about their sin, so they spiraled down deeper and deeper. When Moses walked into the camp, they were involved in some of the most perverted, most lewd acts humanity is capable of. Can you imagine what Aaron must’ve felt when Moses walked up to him and sarcastically asked, “What did these people do to you? How did they make you lead them into such terrible sin?”
Moses tried to get these people under control again, but they refused. So, with the help of the Levite tribe, Moses put three thousand of the most unrepentant of them to death. After that, the rest realized they were wrong and entered into serious repentance.
Hebrews 10:1-7 “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’”
Why would Paul have to warn us not to follow their example? Why would he have to warn the New Testament church to avoid immorality and idol-worship? It’s not like we would ever set up a gold statue in our churches to worship, right? This terrible incident must still apply to us on this side of the cross, otherwise Paul wouldn’t have brought it up!
Remember, these examples are natural pictures of our spiritual walk. So if we’re going to learn the right lessons from this story we have to get to the heart of the issue. These people didn’t really like having an encounter with an uncontrollable God. We know they didn’t because, after God appeared to them and gave them the ten commandments, they begged Moses to meet with Him alone. They were terrified of God telling them what to do. At their earliest opportunity, they made their own god - something they could lead around and control - and called it Yahweh. That’s the heart of the issue: they created their own religious system, one that gave them all the “freedom” they could ever ask for, and they called that system God.
We’ve done the same thing in our churches! We’ve taken God’s crystal clear commands and His absolute authority to govern His church the way He wants, and exchanged it for a new system. Now we don’t confront sinning brothers about their sin. Now we don’t preach the grace that can change and empower us, we preach grace that enables us to stay in sin. Now we don’t allow God the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself in His church - for fear of offending....who? The believers who are too proud to be extravagant and undignified in worship? The sinners we’ve tricked into attending our services? Why have so many churches struggled to be tolerant and inclusive, only to become exclusive toward the God whose name they carry?
Too many churches have fallen into this wishy-washy, fake grace, feel-good, church-growth system. It’s time we turn back to the One Who first appeared to us. It’s time to realize this: while we’ve been calling this system that we made “Yahweh”, we’ve had our backs to the real glory and presence of the true God. We need to turn around and embrace His way of doing things once again.
After all of that, Moses would speak to God in front of the Israelites, and God would answer him audibly! Can you imagine the amount of respect the Israelites had for Moses, watching him carry a conversation with God like that? Finally, God spoke to the entire congregation and personally gave them the ten commandments. After that, He called Moses up to the top of the mountain and began an intense, 40-day session - teaching Moses all about ceremonial and civil laws and the correct ways to worship Him.
One would think this event would foster the fear of God in the Israelites, right? Wrong! Around a month later, the Israelites disregarded everything God had said to them! As a group, they came to Aaron and demanded, “Make us a god that will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don't know what has happened to him.” Understand this, they didn’t come to Aaron because they lacked the knowledge of how to make an idol. They picked Aaron because he was in charge and they wanted him to validate what they were about to do.
Aaron gave in! He told them to bring their earrings, melted them down and formed a golden calf This wasn’t a bull, it was a statue of a baby cow. These people traded and turned their backs on the God who thundered - Whose glory was still on the mountain as a fire and smoke - and declared this concerning that golden baby cow, “Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.” As if that weren’t brassy enough, Aaron declared the following day to be a feast to worship this calf; listen to how he announced it. “Tomorrow will be a feast day in the Yahweh’s honor.” He called this gold statue of a baby cow “Yahweh”!
Well, obviously God wasn’t thrilled with these people. He cut His session with Moses short and sent him back down to deal with this situation. By the time Moses returned, the people were involved with far more than idol worship. Aaron never confronted them about their sin, so they spiraled down deeper and deeper. When Moses walked into the camp, they were involved in some of the most perverted, most lewd acts humanity is capable of. Can you imagine what Aaron must’ve felt when Moses walked up to him and sarcastically asked, “What did these people do to you? How did they make you lead them into such terrible sin?”
Moses tried to get these people under control again, but they refused. So, with the help of the Levite tribe, Moses put three thousand of the most unrepentant of them to death. After that, the rest realized they were wrong and entered into serious repentance.
Hebrews 10:1-7 “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’”
Why would Paul have to warn us not to follow their example? Why would he have to warn the New Testament church to avoid immorality and idol-worship? It’s not like we would ever set up a gold statue in our churches to worship, right? This terrible incident must still apply to us on this side of the cross, otherwise Paul wouldn’t have brought it up!
Remember, these examples are natural pictures of our spiritual walk. So if we’re going to learn the right lessons from this story we have to get to the heart of the issue. These people didn’t really like having an encounter with an uncontrollable God. We know they didn’t because, after God appeared to them and gave them the ten commandments, they begged Moses to meet with Him alone. They were terrified of God telling them what to do. At their earliest opportunity, they made their own god - something they could lead around and control - and called it Yahweh. That’s the heart of the issue: they created their own religious system, one that gave them all the “freedom” they could ever ask for, and they called that system God.
We’ve done the same thing in our churches! We’ve taken God’s crystal clear commands and His absolute authority to govern His church the way He wants, and exchanged it for a new system. Now we don’t confront sinning brothers about their sin. Now we don’t preach the grace that can change and empower us, we preach grace that enables us to stay in sin. Now we don’t allow God the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself in His church - for fear of offending....who? The believers who are too proud to be extravagant and undignified in worship? The sinners we’ve tricked into attending our services? Why have so many churches struggled to be tolerant and inclusive, only to become exclusive toward the God whose name they carry?
Too many churches have fallen into this wishy-washy, fake grace, feel-good, church-growth system. It’s time we turn back to the One Who first appeared to us. It’s time to realize this: while we’ve been calling this system that we made “Yahweh”, we’ve had our backs to the real glory and presence of the true God. We need to turn around and embrace His way of doing things once again.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The Life Of A Believer - The Exodus
Have you ever tried to teach someone what not to do by telling them your mistakes? Your hope is that by telling them where it went wrong for you, you could help them avoid the same problems. We would be more likely to avoid major problems in life if we would just listen to how other people got into those problems. I believe this is why - speaking of the nation of Israel - Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:11, “These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.” Everything that happened to the Israelites in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua were recorded and given to us as a pattern for our spiritual life. Some of the examples in those books are for us to follow, some of them are there to avoid.
1 Corinthians 10:1-2 “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea...” Did you know that the Israelite exodus is a type of salvation? It’s a picture of what everyone of us goes through in our spiritual life. And this story begins with Pharaoh.
Pharaoh was the king of Egypt. He was a wicked man; a brutal tyrant that feared and hated the Hebrews. He tried everything he could to oppress and destroy the Hebrews. But even when these people were a part of his kingdom, he simply couldn’t wipe them out - God was watching over them!
Egypt is a picture of this world’s system. In the same way that Pharaoh was king over Egypt, Satan is king over this world’s system. Before we were saved, we were bound as slaves under his control. While we were in His kingdom, Satan tried everything he could to destroy us. But even though we legally belonged to Satan, God was still watching over us! Most of us could tell stories of times we should have died before we got saved. God’s mercy was stretched out to us long before we gave our lives to Jesus!
Enter Moses. Moses was by nature a Hebrew, but raised as an Egyptian. His name means “to draw out” - describing the way he escaped Pharaoh’s infanticide. This proved to be a play on words, since God used Moses to “draw out” His people from Egypt. Moses was the savior that God sent to rescue His people.
Moses is a picture to us of Jesus. Although He was God by nature, Jesus was raised in this world as a man. Just like he did with Moses, Satan tried his hardest to kill Jesus as a child - and failed! God sent Jesus into this world to draw us out; to be our Savior.
Fast forward to the final plague on Egypt, the death of the firstborn. This was the first Passover for the Israelites. Each family was to take a perfect lamb, kill it, and put its blood over their doorposts. The blood of that lamb did two things: it separated the Hebrews from the Egyptians and it exempted them from the punishment that was poured out on the Egyptians. In a very real sense, the blood from those lambs saved the Hebrews from Egypt - that very night they were set free.
The Passover is yet another picture of Jesus. In the same way that the lamb was killed, Jesus was sacrificed for us. His blood was poured out for our separation and salvation. Jesus’ sacrifice broke Satan’s hold on our life and set us free to serve God. But remember, the Passover sacrifice had to be applied to each person - if they didn’t, they would face the same judgement as Egypt. In the same way, the salvation that Jesus purchased for us only applies if we receive it!
Finally, Pharaoh let the Hebrews leave. He really didn’t have a choice, his own people came to him and said, “How long will you let this man hold us hostage? Let the men go to worship the Lord their God! Don’t you realize that Egypt lies in ruins?” Egypt was never the same after God delivered His people!
The Hebrews left Egypt and walked right into their first obstacle - do you remember what it was? The Red Sea! Now they were trapped between an enormous body of water and the army of an enraged king. Because Pharaoh still viewed the Israelites as his property, he was completely unwilling to release his hold on them. He mustered his entire military and set out after them. The Israelites were sure that they were going to be killed. But once again, God showed His power for deliverance. With a breath from His nose, God split the sea in two - drying out a path through the center. The Israelites passed through safely, the Egyptian army - led by Pharaoh himself - drowned.
According to what Paul has already said, the Red Sea crossing is a picture of Baptism. Even though the people were free, their freedom had to be openly confirmed. You see, even after salvation, Satan is convinced that he still owns us. Water baptism is an open confession of our salvation. We’re publicly confirming the freedom that Jesus gave us. We’re also making a statement to our former ruler that he has no place in us any longer! This is the beginning of our spiritual life!
The story of the exodus is important to us - it walks us through our own salvation. It’s also important because, as we’ll see later, everything from the Red Sea until Joshua happened after salvation...
1 Corinthians 10:1-2 “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea...” Did you know that the Israelite exodus is a type of salvation? It’s a picture of what everyone of us goes through in our spiritual life. And this story begins with Pharaoh.
Pharaoh was the king of Egypt. He was a wicked man; a brutal tyrant that feared and hated the Hebrews. He tried everything he could to oppress and destroy the Hebrews. But even when these people were a part of his kingdom, he simply couldn’t wipe them out - God was watching over them!
Egypt is a picture of this world’s system. In the same way that Pharaoh was king over Egypt, Satan is king over this world’s system. Before we were saved, we were bound as slaves under his control. While we were in His kingdom, Satan tried everything he could to destroy us. But even though we legally belonged to Satan, God was still watching over us! Most of us could tell stories of times we should have died before we got saved. God’s mercy was stretched out to us long before we gave our lives to Jesus!
Enter Moses. Moses was by nature a Hebrew, but raised as an Egyptian. His name means “to draw out” - describing the way he escaped Pharaoh’s infanticide. This proved to be a play on words, since God used Moses to “draw out” His people from Egypt. Moses was the savior that God sent to rescue His people.
Moses is a picture to us of Jesus. Although He was God by nature, Jesus was raised in this world as a man. Just like he did with Moses, Satan tried his hardest to kill Jesus as a child - and failed! God sent Jesus into this world to draw us out; to be our Savior.
Fast forward to the final plague on Egypt, the death of the firstborn. This was the first Passover for the Israelites. Each family was to take a perfect lamb, kill it, and put its blood over their doorposts. The blood of that lamb did two things: it separated the Hebrews from the Egyptians and it exempted them from the punishment that was poured out on the Egyptians. In a very real sense, the blood from those lambs saved the Hebrews from Egypt - that very night they were set free.
The Passover is yet another picture of Jesus. In the same way that the lamb was killed, Jesus was sacrificed for us. His blood was poured out for our separation and salvation. Jesus’ sacrifice broke Satan’s hold on our life and set us free to serve God. But remember, the Passover sacrifice had to be applied to each person - if they didn’t, they would face the same judgement as Egypt. In the same way, the salvation that Jesus purchased for us only applies if we receive it!
Finally, Pharaoh let the Hebrews leave. He really didn’t have a choice, his own people came to him and said, “How long will you let this man hold us hostage? Let the men go to worship the Lord their God! Don’t you realize that Egypt lies in ruins?” Egypt was never the same after God delivered His people!
The Hebrews left Egypt and walked right into their first obstacle - do you remember what it was? The Red Sea! Now they were trapped between an enormous body of water and the army of an enraged king. Because Pharaoh still viewed the Israelites as his property, he was completely unwilling to release his hold on them. He mustered his entire military and set out after them. The Israelites were sure that they were going to be killed. But once again, God showed His power for deliverance. With a breath from His nose, God split the sea in two - drying out a path through the center. The Israelites passed through safely, the Egyptian army - led by Pharaoh himself - drowned.
According to what Paul has already said, the Red Sea crossing is a picture of Baptism. Even though the people were free, their freedom had to be openly confirmed. You see, even after salvation, Satan is convinced that he still owns us. Water baptism is an open confession of our salvation. We’re publicly confirming the freedom that Jesus gave us. We’re also making a statement to our former ruler that he has no place in us any longer! This is the beginning of our spiritual life!
The story of the exodus is important to us - it walks us through our own salvation. It’s also important because, as we’ll see later, everything from the Red Sea until Joshua happened after salvation...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)