A Return to Joy

There are days when the daily hustle and bustle distracts me enough that I forget to be excited about the gift of God to me: His grace that saved me. On those days, I forget that I am eternally secured. It seems that when the distractions are so many, and there is little time for the Lord in that day, my thoughts tend to lose their grasp on faith a bit, and tend to rely more on what is seen that what is known to be true.

So that by the end of the day, especially if it has been a difficult day of warring against the flesh, and the flesh seems to have won, my thoughts want to take me to despair that I am even saved.

Thankfully, when I am quiet in bed, before I fall into exhausted sleep (that's how busy those days are!), I make a simple choice to believe that I AM saved (I have a new spirit), that I WILL be saved (my body will be changed to immortal in the twinkle of an eye), and that through it all I am BEING saved even now (my mind is being renewed). And I tell God that, no matter what, I am clinging to the promise that He is going to keep me as His Word promises.

That's called faith. And my faith is in God; but even more than that, my faith is in the LOVE of God. It isn't by faith that I am saved. It is by God's grace that I am saved. Faith only brings me to RECEIVE the gift of God's grace that saves me so that is is BY GRACE through FAITH that we are saved.

The magnitude of God's love for us is what our faith is in, for it is because of His great love for us that He provided us with the means (through Jesus Christ) to have that blessed assurance of life everlasting, rather than death. He knew we would need something to cling to in this whirlwind life we live. And it is the promise of His grace that (once received) keeps me in His hand (no matter what) that returns me to joy, and cause me to continue on faithfully, even though I stumble (better known as sin).

The thing that my flesh tries to deceive me with is in believing the lie that I have to somehow KEEP my salvation. It is when I stumble that those thoughts occur, for I so DO NOT WANT TO STUMBLE! But when I do, the enemy is quick to latch onto that old refrain of "Someone SAVED would never do THAT!" That's when, eventually (and I think I AM getting quicker on the rebound), I say to the devil "Too bad! I AM going to the kingdom of heaven and if God decides I don't belong there, He will have to throw me out! But it's for HIM to decide – NOT YOU and NOT ME!"

Well, that might not be the best way to attack it, but that's what works for me. In the face of those attacks of the enemy that I have come to easily recognize after all these years, I tighten my jaw in a bulldog sort of way, and I place my eternal security in God's hands, not my own, and certainly not the devil's. After all, that's where it belongs. I can't obtain my eternal security, only God can. Only Jesus DID. I can only receive it as the truth….by faith….not by what I see.

Sometimes I don't LOOK saved to me; but that's only when my thoughts stray from the truth of God's Word. When my thoughts are on His Word, and I am surrendered to it, which must be done daily, then His promise, His GRACE, is confirmed in me.

But what is important to remember, is that no matter what I look like, I have been justified by grace and given new everlasting life, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All of that was done by God Himself. I cannot undo it! What I CAN undo is my sanctification. And that fact actually makes my rebuttal to the devil more true than I realized, but that's another posting.

Today I just want to rejoice in the goodness of God and His love towards me!

And just as it did for the early disciples, Jesus, the gracious gift of God who loves me, is the Word that brings my return to joy today!

The Road to Life, Part 2

Now for some potentially bad news: there are obstacles on the road, and even a road-block that will prevent one from even getting onto the road to begin the journey.

Let's talk about the road-block first: it is the lie of Satan that denies there is a loving and just God and denies that Jesus Christ is His Son raised from the dead by the power of God; for those who believe this lie and reject God's plan for us through Jesus Christ, a fatal detour will occur.

If we reject God's merciful and gracious gift, then we reject our pardon and release from the penalties of our sin; leaving us to perish in a second and everlasting death (Proverbs 2:13 & Rev. 20:11-15). And until we die, we continue to live in darkness and in fear of death and what lies beyond the grave all the days of our lives. Fear and peace are like oil and water, they will not mix. Where there is fear, there can be no peace, no joy, because there is no assurance of salvation such as the early disciples had.

And such fear will bring us, finally, to the day when we find ourselves standing before Jesus (actually we will be kneeling for every knee WILL bow to Him: "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." Phil. 2:9-10). God has designated Jesus to be our Judge, as He alone has suffered all that we have suffered and knows our infirmities and yet was able to overcome the flesh and live in righteousness and obedience to God., Jesus has been given the right to pronounce judgment on those who have chosen to reject Him. The punishment for rejecting that freely given gift of pardon from death, the great penalty for rejecting the Son of God, has already been made clear in His Word.

It is everlasting fire:

"Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." (Jude 1:7).

And it is torment:

"And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth |Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." (Luke 16:23-24)

Something reserved only for those who would dare to reject the gift of the MOST HIGH GOD….the gift known as JESUS CHRIST (John 3:16-19). Something that only extreme arrogance and pride would reject; pride and arrogance such as Satan had:

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the height of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." (Isaiah 14:12-15)

Pride and arrogance in man ranges all the way from those who believe they are divine "gods" themselves (utilizing what they call the power of the mind and self, dependent only upon themselves and not God) to those who don't believe they are gods and have even been to a church sometime in their lives, but have imagined God to be what they want Him to be (never reading His Word, never becoming intimate with Him as He desires us to be according to His Word), keeping themselves at a distance from God, and calling it respect.

"Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." (Romans 1:21-22)

It is arrogance and pride that speaks for God and makes Him what they think He should be, rather than heeding the words God has already spoken and coming to know Him as He has revealed Himself through His Word and through Jesus whose mission was to reveal God fully to man. Thus their lot will be cast with that of Satan (2 Peter 2:4), into the lake of fire that is reserved for all that would follow Satan's path, instead of the Lord's.

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."(Rev. 20:10)

"And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it…and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God…and the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev. 20:11-15)

Each one will be judged according to their works. The height of pride and arrogance is found in those who believe that the works they have done, as viewed by an immeasurably holy God, can somehow measure up to His standards without any help from Him, having no need for the gifts that He has provided in the form of Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit as their Comforter and Teacher of righteousness, and His Word, better known as the Bible, by which we come to know and understand God and His plan for us.

 

 

 

The Road to Life, Part 1

Three of our five house guests departed yesterday, one on an airplane back to Wyoming (our daughter) and the other two taking a leisurely scenic drive through some of the beautiful mountains and canyons of Utah on their way home to Michigan (my husband's sister and her husband.) My sister-in-law was excited about seeing new places on this trip home; my brother-in-law was a little concerned about the high winding mountain roads he is sure to encounter. Since this is all new territory to them, they were well-armed with both GPS and Road Atlas, their path clearly highlighted on the latter….modern-day pilgrims.

All of this reminded me of the road trip that we are all on, whether we realize it or not….a road trip that leads us from this life to the next and final everlasting life…into a new territory where death is never to be found again….at least for some. It's all a matter of taking the right road.

The early disciples found their path clearly illuminated for them: when Jesus, who had died a torturous death on the cross and been buried in a sealed tomb (John chapter 19), appeared in physical bodily form – alive! - three days later (John chapter 20); He walked and talked with them for 40 days, cooked breakfast for them on the Tiberian shore of the Sea of Galilee, and ate with them (John chapter 21), verifying for them that His was indeed a physical body needing nourishment as did their own bodies. A body that the disciples could touch, even though He was able to appear and disappear in ways not possible to mere men! (John 20:19 & Mark 24:51). Yet He was no apparition, no ghost, but Jesus Christ risen from the dead, alive and in the flesh….a new and glorious flesh that would never die again!

What tremendous joy and excitement they experienced realizing how real and true it is that death had really lost its sting (I Cor. 15:55)….there was nothing to fear…only something wonderful and amazing to look forward to….life everlasting in the presence of God….these old and decaying bodies transformed by the power of God from dead and dying to alive and living… for eternity….all because they chose the right road: Jesus Christ – "the Way, the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6).

I am reminded of how diligently they strove to remain on the right road; how nothing would cause them to detour from that road: neither beatings, nor imprisonment, nor hunger, nor rejection, nor loss of everything they owned, nor death itself (2 Cor. 11:25). For now they knew absolutely that they were, in this world as we know it, only pilgrims on a temporary road trip as was Abraham (Hebrews 11:8-16). And that anything and everything they might encounter was only a temporary and meaningless thing compared to the glory and joy of what was ahead. They never took their eyes off the horizon that lay at the end of the road: eternity.

But what fascinates me most is their JOY during the journey.

A friend of mine recently heard someone preaching about the joy of the Lord, which is our strength (Neh. 8:10). I, and perhaps my friend as well, always looked at that "joy of the Lord" as joy that comes FROM the Lord, but this preacher spoke of it as the joy OF the Lord Himself…in other words, the LORD'S JOY, not ours. So that His is the JOY, and ours is the STRENGTH that comes from His JOY. The preacher then went on to say that the JOY OF THE LORD is us leading others to Jesus, us reconciling others to HIM; after all, we are to be ministers of reconciliation, reconciling men to God through Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:18-19), Who is the ONLY "WAY" to God the Father (John 14:6).

Thus, if I understand it correctly (and I have only begun to study this out), as we lead others to the Lord, the Lord rejoices in that (Zeph.3:17, and we are strengthened (even as small children are when their parents are happy and not angry with them) encouraged to go on and to work harder in the fields that are white with harvest (John 4:35). Strengthened and encouraged to face whatever we encounter on our path for the joy of the Lord. This explains the strength that the early disciples had, the same strength that is available to us today.

But they were also excited. They themselves were filled with joy (Acts 2:46). And I think it was because they had been (and us also) spiritual prisoners kept in dark cells on death row, fearfully anticipating the executioner because they were unable to keep the law fully. And now suddenly they had been given not just a reprieve or stay of execution, but full pardon and release back into life…and that life was unlike anything they had ever known before…full of miraculous things of God Himself. The thing that gave them this full pardon and release was called MERCY and GRACE….the MERCY that God showed to us by giving us His only Son Jesus Christ as the full atonement for our sins if we would only receive Him as such, with hearts full of gratitude for His gift; the GRACE of God displayed in Jesus Christ who willingly laid down His life for us, as we are also to do for others.

Our path is clearly highlighted on our road map to eternity. There is nothing to fear for God's perfect love has cast out all fear (I John 4:18). And the joy of life now and everlasting is prominent in us pilgrims who are on the right and only road to the Father…. though Jesus Christ, His Son!

"And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." Isaiah 42:16

The Gate to Freedom

The words "door" and "gate" generate remarkable word studies in the bible. They are used separate from each other, as well as together, such as in the "door of the gate" in Numbers 4:26, Judges 16:13 & Ezekiel 8:14. Many times when the word "door" is used, such as in the door to the tabernacle in the wilderness (Exodus 26:36), we see prophetic symbolism of Jesus. The word door is used almost 200 times in the bible and the word gate is used even more. The righteous shall enter through the strait and narrow gate and way, while the unrighteous choose the wide and broad gate and way (Matthew 7:14). The elders often are found sitting in gates. (Deut. 22:15). Kings sit in some gates (2 Samuel 19:18). The poor and afflicted sit in other gates (Prov. 22:22). Some gates are closed (Ezekiel 44:2). There are eleven gates in the modern-day city of Jerusalem: seven open and four closed; there will be twelve gates in the future New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:21). Judgment and death are found in some gates (Deut. 22:24). Proclaiming and worshiping God is done in other gates (Jeremiah 7:2 & Ezekiel 40:44).

Jesus rode a donkey through the eastern gate of the walled city of Jerusalem of His time (inferred by location of Mount of Olives in Luke 19:28-36). The current-day eastern gate is the only gate that has ever been sealed shut by the Muslims (sealed in 1541 during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, 10^th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, in response to a Jewish prophecy that said the Messiah would one day walk through that gate** ).

Not everyone knows that buried deep beneath that sealed gate are the ruins of another gate called the Gate of Mercy. It was destroyed (along with the entire city of Jerusalem including the Temple) in 70 A.D. during the Roman siege of Jerusalem that Jesus prophesied would take place (Luke 21:6 & 21:20-24). Most of the Jews of Jesus' time rejected Jesus who is the Gate of Mercy to both the Jew and the Gentile. He was then and still is their only gate to freedom from the Law of Moses. But they were determined to find another way to freedom, one of their own making called self-righteousness. And so the Gate of Mercy was closed to the Jews and remains closed – for a season – a very long season (Romans 11:8).

Where there is a gate, there must also be a wall, or else there would be no need for a gate.

One such wall is located in the spiritual realm and it's the one that separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). Some call that wall Sin, but since hearing of the stories of what it's like to live under communism from our house guests, and seeing the videos of people trying to climb over or topple the Berlin wall, I now see this spiritual wall a bit differently. The Bible does say that it is sin that separates us or keeps us from God, but I don't see sin as the dividing wall. I see sin as the guard keeping us from climbing over the wall.

I see the dividing wall as the Law of Moses. It is a wall that was established by God through which only the High Priest could fully get through as a representative of the people before God; only he was allowed to stand in the presence of God in the Holy of Holies; once a year only, and then, only after the animal sacrifice by which the sins of the priest and the people were atoned for (Lev. 16)

This wall is not a bad thing, for it is the law of God and therefore it is the justice and holiness that surrounds God in a sense (Romans 7:12). It is there to protect us, for if we were to enter into God's presence in our sinful state we would die (Lev. 16:2), not because of the law but because of our sin (Romans 7:13). God is holy and for us to enter God's presence we also must be holy; therefore we must pass through the wall of the Law in order to be holy, in order to stand in the presence of a holy God such as He. But we've already seen that he who breaks one law breaks all the Law (James 2:10); so we know that we are unable to keep the Law, and thus we know that we are unable to reach God….on our own.

And just as the East Germans had guards keeping them from crossing over to freedom; so do we have guards that keep us from crossing over to our spiritual freedom. Only, our guards are called sin and the flesh (or self). It is sin that keeps us from God, as the Bible says. And here's how.

In our own attempts to reach God, we struggle to go around the wall, or under the wall, or over the wall. And sometimes we seem to be getting closer, but as we are attempting to scale that wall, the guards (sin and the flesh) catch us by our feet and drag us back down; back into the land of bondage to self…. kept only by the width of a wall from the land of righteousness and holiness before God. It is indeed sin that keeps us from reaching God.

The Word tells us that the trouble is in our attempts to get through to the other side by any way other than the One that is provided:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." (John 10:1

All of our efforts to scale the wall are just acts of self-righteousness, just as the Jews attempted to do, and they are futile. The Word tells us that there is only one way to God and that is through Jesus Christ, the Gate of Mercy; the door that the Father, because of His love for us, placed in the wall to provide a path through the Law for any who would diligently seek Him.

"I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." (John 10:9)

The gate is well-known now. Many know of its existence. But few seem to find it even so. There is such paranoia created amongst those living in the land of bondage to self that even an open door to freedom is viewed suspiciously and then rejected altogether. This paranoia that comes from knowing that they themselves cannot be trusted, transfers distrust even onto God, so that they don't believe that He has their best interests in His heart. They are convinced the door is a trap into some other worse bondage. And so they, as the Jews did, reject God's way of escape through the wall, and remain in this delusional state of still attempting in their own way to scale the wall in order to reach God; all the while denying that God is good and that His goodness towards us is displayed in that, along with the wall, He provided an open door, the gate of mercy, to the other side (Romans 5:20-21)

Jesus is the Gate of Mercy personified. Only Jesus has kept the law. Only Jesus is righteous. Only through Jesus (through the gate) can we enter into the presence of a Holy God.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)

"And ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity….." (Jeremiah 29:13-14)

**[Correction: I have since learned that the Golden Gate was sealed in 810 by Arabs, still for the same reason. Suleiman was responsible for rebuilding most of the walls of Jerusalem in 1539-41. The Golden Gate is a double gate, the northern door or portal of the gate was called the Gate of Judgement, and the southern portal was called the Gate of Mercy - apparently the originals of both are buried beneath this current gate; still very symbolic in that just as the Jews "shut out" Jesus who entered through this gate, the gate has then been "shut" to them. And while I was told by my Jewish guide in Israel that the cemeteries planted in front of the gate by the Muslims are an effort to prevent the Jewish Messiah from entering the city one day (as a cemetery would be considered an "unclean" area according to the Law of Moses), another source says the Arabs want to be the first to be raised from the dead and judged....somehow I doubt that they want that to come from the Jewish Messiah....therefore I accept my Jewish guide's version instead. On another note, some believe that the "Beautiful Gate" mentioned in Acts is this same gate as well...that the Latin Vulgate translation of the New Testament changed it into "Golden Gate" in error.]

Valuing Liberty

My husband and I currently have guests staying with us: one couple is my husband's sister and her husband who have driven here from Michigan, the other couple, childhood friends of my husband and his sister, have flown here from what once was, for 28 terrible years, Communist East Germany. The latter two were only children when their hometown became Communist. Thus, they have lived most of their lives in a state of war or a state of occupation by Americans first, British second, and finally, by the Russian Communists to whom they and their country were handed over as part of a peace negotiation; the same country and even the same town that my husband and his immediate family daringly escaped from more than 60 years ago, while my husband was still a child.

When our guests, whose families did not escape, speak of the events leading up to the taking down of the Wall over 20 years ago that divided East Germany from West Germany, they become overwhelmed with emotion. While no comparison can be made to anything else when describing the horrors of living in a Nazi concentration camp, still the intensity of emotions displayed by our guests clearly defines, for me at least who has lived always in freedom, what value liberty has to those who have had it taken away from them, been made prisoners in a "camp" of a different type for 28 long years, and then suddenly, almost overnight, had freedom restored to them again.

In my attempt to grasp the depth of those emotions I was seeing in our guests as they talked, I went online (after all had gone to bed for the night) and viewed videos of the taking down of the wall in 1989. Here's some of what I saw on those videos:

Confusion: When the announcement was made that people were going to be free to cross the border again, hundreds of people in the city of East Berlin stormed the gate areas or the wall itself only to be told by the guards there that there was a mistake, it wasn't true that they were free to walk out of Communist East Germany.

Distrust: While neither the guards nor the people became violent towards each other, words were exchanged indicating that once more the people could not trust those in authority to be honest, and the people, who had been given a "teaser" of freedom were not going to back down now.

Mass persistence and courage: You could just see the courage rise up in the people as they seemed to decide that this regime was beginning to lose its strong-hold on them; they began to test the waters. First two young men went over the wall and walked towards the guards who did nothing to repel them. In only a moment or two longer many others went over the wall.

Freedom! Once through the gate and actually standing on free West German soil, there were many quick backward glances to make sure they were not about to be attacked from behind, and then, seeing that the guards were just standing and watching and making no attempt to change anything, their faces took on looks of unbelief followed by huge smiles of joy, unbridled excitement, jumping up and down for joy, dancing with one another, hugging one another, and tears….

…tears that were being shed at the same moment far away in America and elsewhere by those Germans, such as my husband and his sister, who had managed to escape; but at the cost of never seeing again some of their elderly loved ones who could not go through the rigors of escape and were left behind; pain still clearly felt when remembering the terrors of war and occupation, and for many, even communism. Tears that are shed again when being reunited with friends or family, such as our guests, who hadn't seen each other in over 50 years.

How much does someone, like our guests who have had no liberty for so long, value that liberty that they now have? And how about us?

So much can be said here about our current battles, militarily and politically, to keep us free in this country. But as critically important as it is to maintain freedom in our country, there is an even greater liberty that we need to fight for and maintain once we have it. And that's the liberty which the Son of God, Jesus Christ, has provided to us through His death and resurrection.

How much do we value that liberty? Do we really understand what that liberty means to us?

We'll discuss our spiritual liberty – the terrorist regime we have been freed from and the value of that freedom - in the next posting.

The Lamb of God

Let's return to the Israelites for a moment. What we must remember is that everything that is written in the Old Testament concerning the Israelites and others is a foreshadowing [or prophetic] of what will happen in the New Testament. Here's an example:

"And they [the Israelites} journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water and our soul loatheth this light bread [manna]. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." (Numbers 21:4-9)

Here is the New Testament truth that this scripture above foretells of:

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man [Jesus Christ] be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him [Jesus Christ] might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." (John 3:14-21)

Obviously the "so must the Son of man be lifted up" refers to Jesus being crucified and lifted up on the cross to which He was nailed; a gruesome torturous death that He willingly died for our sins. THAT's the Good News of Jesus Christ.

But those not familiar with the Word of God might be wondering what significance Jesus' death on the cross has to us, or to "the world" that God sent His Son to save.

So, let's go back to the Old Testament once more for the foreshadowing or prophecy of the purpose of Jesus' crucifixion.

Remember when the Israelites were still in bondage to the Egyptian Pharaoh and God was about to send the tenth and final plague on the Egyptians because the Pharoah would not set them free to follow Moses into the wilderness? Every house that did NOT have the blood of a lamb splashed on the doorposts would be visited by the Lord who would cause the firstborn child of the "unmarked" house to die. Listen carefully to God's instructions about the lamb whose blood was to be splashed on the doorposts:

"Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house….your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water,, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste, it is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." (Exodus 12:3-13) [Keep in mind the words "I will execute judgment: I am the Lord;" we will study these words in the next posting.]

Here is the New Testament fulfillment of all that was foreshadowed in that excerpt from Exodus:

"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world…and John bare record saying I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God." (John1:29-34)

Thus, instead of the spotless lamb in Egypt whose blood saved the Israelites, now it is the blood of the spotless [without sin] Lamb of God whose blood was shed to save us from the penalty of our sin.

"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks; and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:26-28)

And just as the Israelites were to eat every bit of the lamb that was roasted in the fire [symbolic of the lake of fire or hell – the penalty of sin against a holy God], so those who wish to be saved must eat symbolically of the body of Jesus Christ and symbolically drink the blood, "all of it," that He shed for us – the sacrificial lamb given by God to the world to save them from the penalty of sin [death]– to those who would receive Him. It is only through the shed blood of Jesus that our sins against God are remitted – pardoned, forgiven, released from as though they had never been committed. It is only through Jesus Christ, the perfect and spotless Lamb of God that we LIVE.

"They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." (Revelation 7:16-17)

The Sinfulness of Sin

"Sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4)

"And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God…." (Deut. 28:1-2)

"But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy cattle, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do…thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof….thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hands…because thou sevedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things...shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life…" (Deut. 28:15-66)

"It is one thing to recognize the effects of sin on mankind, it is another thing to see it in its essential character as rebellion against God. Man through sin has not only become "wounded and debilitated", he has become alienated from God; he has been brought into an attitude of positive antagonism to God. Sin therefore is not something which appeals to pity only, a mere misfortune; it is that which deserves punishment, for it is rebellion against the purity and goodness and majesty of God." [Evan H. Hopkins "The Law of Liberty in the Spiritual Life"]

Sin which is disobedience to the commandments of God is rebellion against a good and holy God. And just as it is here on earth (when laws are broken, consequences follow) so it is in heaven.

If you have a party that makes way too much noise after 11 pm at night, you can be cited for disturbing the peace because you have broken a law of the city that you live in.

If you are found to be speeding in excess of the speed limit, the state troopers can ticket and fine you because you broke a law of the state.

If you cheat on your income taxes, the federal entity known as the IRS can fine or even imprison you because you broke a law of the federal government.

If you are found guilty of committing war crimes, you can be imprisoned or even executed because you broke an international law.

So why would any of us think that by breaking one of God's laws, our Creator and the Creator of the universes, we will escape punishment? Such a thought isn't even logical. And to reject the possibility of punishment to come by the good and just Ruler that God is, is the height of arrogance and a blatant denial of reality!

The disciple John says "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us….if we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us." (I John 1:8-10)

In the book of Romans, Paul says "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) ALL means ALL. We have all sinned [Jesus excluded since he is God AND man.] That means we haven't lived up to His standards; that means we have broken His laws. We have all sinned at one time or another, and most likely we will sin again before we are dead and buried.

So now what?

Now that we know we have sinned (which means we are "sinners") against God (remember that even if we sin against a brother, we sin against God), what is God's response to us?

It's very clear.

The bible tells us:

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Galatians 6:7)

"Now the works of the flesh[sin] are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, enyings, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians :19-21)

And then there is this:

"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

That's very bad news. And contrary to some who think they will be able to sit down and reason with God when the time comes to be judged for our lives that He gave us, it just ain't so! Not according to His Word. So, again I say, now what?

"Now what" is what is known as the Good News or the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Tomorrow.

Sin Against Man Is Sin Against God

Even though the remaining six commandments pertain to how man is to live in relation to his fellow man, our violation of any of these commandments is a direct sin against God Himself and it is critical that we grasp the importance of this fact.

Often, when we have conflicts against our fellow man, we think it is just that: two humans having a problem with each other over some reason or another. How can we be acting against God? It's just a conflict between two humans, God isn't all that much involved.

We forget that each of us is God's creation and therefore God is sovereign over each of us. And what we do to one who belongs to God we do against God Himself. And more importantly our actions towards one another bring reproach to God's name (blasphemy) and that in itself breaks the commandments against God.

King David is a very meaningful example to us of one who sinned in so many ways against his fellow man, breaking several of the commandments in the process. God's response to David's sin and David's response to God are both equally valuable to us to better grasp the importance of what we do when we sin against our fellow man. But before we look at that example, let's just review the last six commandments again:

1. Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
   
2. Thou shalt not kill.
   
3. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
   
4. Thou shalt not steal.
   
5. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
   
6. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
   

Keep these in mind as we look at David's sin.

The story of David and Bathsheba can be found in the 11^th and 12^th chapter of 2 Samuel. The stage has been set because King David, normally leading his men into battle against other kings, has decided to stay in Jerusalem rather than be where God has anointed him to be. That's his first mistake.

The next thing we see is Bathsheba bathing on her rooftop, David witnessing the bath and lusting after her, David having her brought to him (knowing that she is married to Uriah, currently a soldier fighting in the battle David himself should be at), David having sex with Bathsheba, and Bathsheba becoming pregnant and telling David so. David then has Joab, his general, retrieve Uriah from battle, and under pretense of inquiring about how the battle goes, tries to get Uriah back home to Bathsheba quickly, thinking that if Uriah sleeps with Bathsheba soon enough, then the birth of the child will appear to coincide with Uriah's night with his wife. Uriah, however, being an honorable man and soldier, refuses to lay with his wife and enjoy that pleasure when his fellow soldiers are in serious battle. A frustrated David then instructs Joab to return Uriah to the front lines of the battle and to make sure he is in a position where he is most likely to be killed. In other words, if Uriah won't cooperate in David's scheme to cover up his sin, then Uriah must be disposed of. All goes well with Plan B; Uriah is killed. David marries Bathsheba. Their son is born to them.

The finer nuances of the story will be lost to you if you do not read it for yourself; the parts where you see the wheels turning in David's head, deceiving himself, rationalizing his sin – such as we all do when we sin. We might think of David as a horrible man, but we ourselves have done no different than him in so many ways, as we will soon see, for the story (a true story) did not end there.

"And the Lord sent Nathan [a prophet] unto David, and he came unto him and said unto him. There were two men in one city; the one rich the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up…" and Nathan went on to say how the rich man coveted the little ewe lamb and took it from the poor man…."and David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David:

Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife or Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

And David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die." (2 Samuel 12:1-14)

Do you see David's sin? He coveted, he stole what was not his, he committed adultery, he killed or had killed (same thing). But what he did most of all: he "despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in His sight" and he gave "great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme" – to reproach God because of the actions of one that belonged to God. He brought shame and reproach to the name of God….and which commandment did that break amongst the first four commandments? In fact, in one form or another, David broke all ten of the commandments by his actions. But the most important thing to remember here, is that he sinned against GOD. As do we also, when we break any of the commandments, whether they pertain to our relationship with God, or our relationship with man, it is all about GOD. We MUST remember this.

Tomorrow we'll get into the penalties of sin.

Sin of Violating the Sabbath

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work thou, nor thy son, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Exodus 20:8-11)

The fourth commandment, the last of those pertaining to our relationship directly to the Lord our God, is a call to "remember." While the term "Sabbath" was not used during the time of bondage to Egypt (at least not that the Bible tells us), the term "the seventh day" was used.

The 12^th chapter of Exodus tells of the first Passover, the one in which the angel of death passed over any house that had the blood of the lamb sprinkled on the doorposts, but in any house not covered by the blood of the lamb, the firstborn child died. This was the tenth and final plague that Egypt suffered for not releasing the Israelite slaves to Moses, the one that finally convinced Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, as his own son was one of those killed by the plague. But even though a similar command is issued in Exodus 12:16 "…and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat that only may be done of you…" – still it does not appear to have been made into a regular practice or continuing command. But there is such significance given to the seventh day here: for the Lord their God took care of them in a miraculous way, through the blood of a spotless lamb – a foretelling of the way in which He will take care of us all through the blood of the final spotless sacrificial lamb: Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice of God Himself laying down His own life in payment of the penalty of our sin; a payment made on behalf of every one who receives Jesus Christ as their own salvation, their own deliverer from sin's wages which is death. A miracle that still happens every day in these times, as one soul, and then another, recognizes its sin and need for such a savior as He.

On a second occasion, while they are in the wilderness, the seventh day is again mentioned, but this time, for the first time it is called "a holy Sabbath." It does not become commandment even then, but is a further confirmation, I believe, of what the significance of the Sabbath is about. For God, in still another miraculous manner, shows that He is not only their deliverer, but also their provider of every day needs. And amazingly, showing what a long-suffering, merciful God He is, this miracle occurs immediately after the people are found to be grumbling and complaining, "murmuring" is the word used, criticizing Moses and Aaron for bringing them into the wilderness instead of leaving them in Egypt where at least "we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full" (Exodus 16:3). God tells Moses to relay to the people that when they complain against His servants (Moses and Aaron), they are complaining against God, have no doubt about it. Then He proceeds to furnish them with manna from heaven, that appears each morning with the dew, telling them to gather only enough to eat for one day, for anything over that amount will rot overnight. What a lesson in trusting God! One which He proves for them Himself. When some did test it by gathering a double amount, they found it rotted as He had promised.

But He commanded that on the sixth day only they were in fact to gather double the amount for the next day, the seventh day, was "the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord; bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up til the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that today; for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord: today ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none." (Exodus 16:23-27).

What a marvelous God is our God! First He delivers us from bondage (sin), then He provides all that we need. Why are so many people so reluctant to trust in Him? The Bible is full of miracles such as these, and those of us who have known the Lord for many years, have lives filled with evidences of His still miraculous deliverance and provision. Why would we want to trust in ourselves rather than this God; He who was able to create the universe and all that is in it in six days, must be able to sustain our every need.

Have I mentioned yet in any posting (I don't recall) that some believe, and I think I must agree with them, that the seraphim hovering over the throne of God, crying "Holy, Holy, Holy" to the Lord (Isaiah 6:3) are doing so at every act of love God shows forth towards man? And because His love towards us is never-ending, never ceasing even though we don't always recognize it, because of all that, the angels say "Holy" always and unceasingly as well? Does even that begin to give us some understanding into the unimaginable goodness of God towards us? No wonder the Sabbath is to be called "holy"; it is one more sign of His loving care of His children.

But back to the commandment: on this third occasion, the observance of the Sabbath becomes a command, no longer an occasional event. And in this commandment are two sets of instructions. The first is to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. The second is to labour six days but labor none at all on the seventh.

I believe the Israelites were no different than us. They had a lot that needed to be done every day. The Lord knew the temptation they would face to find a loophole in order to still get the work done, even if not by themselves; which is why He chose to include in the prohibition to work, their children, and their servants, and even their animals. Oh, and just in case there is a stranger nearby, they are not allowed to use the stranger to get their work done; for nothing that they need is to be provided to them by the work of their own hands, or own thinking, on that "holy" day.

Look at how much the Sabbath brings honor to God and brings "sabbath rest" to the people (the term "sabbath rest" is packed with richness of meaning to those who trust in God and live by faith in Him):

1. Being a separate people, they became identified with their God who rested on the seventh day, by themselves resting on the seventh day. This confirmed their belief in God being the Creator of all, and doing it in six days, resting on the seventh.
2. And though he had already proven to them that He was able to provide for them, obedience to this commandment proved their trust in Him. Fields could have been harvested, provision could have been provided for themselves, if they just worked that seventh day. But by NOT working that seventh day, they proved their reliance upon the Lord their God to provide even whatever they could have gained for themselves on that extra day each week;
3. Then there is another scripture that brings more light to the objective: "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words." (Isaiah 58:13). We see in the New Testament that Jesus broke the Sabbath laws (healing people) by virtue of a higher law – that of the Father – and that charge of sin was not laid on Him except by the self-righteous religious of His day. This is because He exemplified Isaiah 58:13 by honoring the Father, doing the Father's ways, finding the Father's pleasure, speaking the Father's words – all instead of His own ways, His own pleasures, His own words.. At the very least, not doing any work one day a week, having no distractions from the world, would provide the opportunity to hear more clearly what God might be speaking to man and to have time to follow through with whatever His will is or just to restore man's communion with the Lord. But Isaiah 58:13 also speaks of a right attitude towards the Lord: does man delight in the Sabbath day, with thanksgiving that he can trust the Lord to provide, and that man has been given a day of complete rest by such a loving God? Or is man ungrateful because he is not interested in resting but frets because he is not out hustling for a living on even that day.

With the right attitude of thankfulness and love toward the Lord, there is nothing to be lost but much to be gained by man by this 4^th commandment; making the scripture better understood that Jesus spoke:

"And He said unto them: the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27)

To me the sabbath is symbolic of ALL that the Lord our God does for us; He transforms our lives as we turn to Him for all that we need, as we "rest" in Him. How odd that this holy day of the Lord made for man is the same one that played such a big part in the persecution and death of Jesus:

"Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." (John 5:18)

Sin Against His Holy Name

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7)

This is the third commandment and has still to do with our relationship with God. But there is some confusion, even among Christians, as to the manner in which we can "take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Many believe this has to do with using the Lord's name as a curse word. It is definitely that; but it is so much more than that alone.

The Lord has already established that He is "Jehovah", the self-existent One true God. Being high above man, high above all that is created for He was not created. He was the Creator of all. Also high, therefore, is the name of "the Lord thy God" and it is a name to be reverenced above all other names. Most definitely then, to use the name of God as a common or less than common profanity, carelessly, without regard for the owner of the name, is to show such contempt for the majesty that is God; an action that should cause us to tremble in fear. But we are a people who are prone to using expletives, even those we do not consider to be curse words that still take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Such as "Oh my God!" We remember not to use God's name as a curse word, but even what we consider to be a harmless, milder form is just as careless a use of His Holy Name. Most definitely profanity is one way to use the name of the Lord in vain.

But here's another way: hypocrisy.

When we profess that we follow the name of the Lord, but don't live up to that profession of faith in His name, in other words, we are not obedient to His commands, then we are hypocrites. And our hypocrisy causes others to blaspheme (reproach) the name of our God. It is us who bring reproach to the Name of God by our behavior. Paul accused the Jews of this very thing: "for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written." Romans 2:24 [Paul is referring to previously written scriptural examples of this blasphemy as seen in 2 Samuel 12:14, Isaiah 52:5, Ezekiel 36:23]. But we are no different than the Jews if we judge others by their behavior and do not judge whether our own actions are in obedience to God or not. That is the definition of hypocrisy. For without fail, those who are not living a life of righteousness, are quick to point out unrighteousness in others, and are thus "hypocrites" bringing reproach to the Holy Name of God that we profess to be representing. And by so doing, by not being obedient to the commands of God, but continuing in iniquity, their worship and prayers to God are in vain as well.

Another way we take the name of the Lord our God in vain is when we swear falsely by His name. The Jews were taught to pay regard and homage to God by "swearing by His name":

"Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, and swear by His name." (Deut. 10:20)

But they did so dishonorably when they swore by His name and then lied. By this they made God an accessory to their crime; again bringing reproach to His Name.

Jesus warns us not to swear at all:

"But I say unto you, Swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Neither shall thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." (Matthew 5:34-37)

And James reiterates the teaching of Jesus on this point:

"But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation." (James 5:12)

Whether we call it swearing by something, or taking an oath, it is known as a promise. And in this we are warned not to "promise" anything to anyone. We are to speak either a yes or a no, but no promise or vow for we don't have the power to keep that promise or vow. The reason for this is simply that if we belong to the Lord, then we do not belong to ourselves, and we cannot be given away to others. We cannot follow Him, and go our own way as well. We cannot then promise anything of ourselves to anyone else beyond a simple yes or no; He has made us free and we are to remain free, for God's purpose and use, no one else's. We are God's to do with as He will. James makes this more clear:

"Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that." (James 4:13-15)

But we must not forget the second part of the commandment: "for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."

God, being God, has every right to be zealous towards His honor. Who then are we who think that it is only a harmless word, or oath, or promise broken, or small sin that no one will notice. There is no harm in it, we tell ourselves. But remember that God has warned us. And He is GOD. As Christians, we are not to forget who it is we represent; whose name we can bring honor to, or dishonor.

"For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever." (Micah 4:5)

Whether it is the Lord our God, or whether it is self, or whether it is some other false god: our actions show whom we represent, whom we have chosen to worship.

Sin of Worshipping Other Gods

The second commandment, also about how man is to relate to God:

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the father upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:4-6)

When there are things that man cannot comprehend, he tends to try to bring them down to his level, something that is more easily defined by man. The concept of God is one of the things that man wants to bring down to man's level in order to have intellectual superiority over it. Yet, God is not a concept, He is a being….an infinite and eternal being far above anything we can comprehend. But even though we cannot understand His being, He has graciously revealed to us His character an continues to do so with each of us who seeks Him, displaying His great love and care of us, while at the same time confirming that He is a mighty and fearsome God to those who reject or revile Him.

The heathen or pagans as the Bible calls them, fashioned their gods out of whatever they determined in their evil imaginations their god should look like and consist of. The Chaldeans worshipped fire as a god. Others worshipped idols of gold or silver or other precious metals. Some worshipped a god that looked like a frog (the Egyptians), some worshipped the stars (and some still do today).

"Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves...lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, [even] all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven." (Deut. 4:19)

Listen to this prophetic warning from Romans:

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." (Romans 1:18-32 NIV)

How many in the world today serve the creature rather than the Creator? We have groups that have been formed to protect animal "rights". We have groups that are formed to protect "the earth". We have groups that are formed to protect men and women who have "exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones". In all of this and so much more, the creature is being served, not the Creator. Those who serve in groups such as these and even those who serve those in real need often do so out of all sorts of "good" motives, but "good" motives can often be very far from what God views as good. If He is not being worshipped, if we are not following Him in obedience, then He is being "hated" by us, says His Word. And often those who serve the creature and not the Creator join together in their practices that do not include God, approving of others like them who practice "godlessness and wickedness".

If you're not sure what "godlessness and wickedness" I'm referring to, read again Romans 1:18-32. If any of those things are in our lives, we are not living holy lives representative of our Holy God. We have broken both the first and the second commandments.

You might not belong to a group that practices outright "godlessness and wickedness", but yet do you serve the Creator? If so, how? According to your own imagination or according to His voice, His Word?

"And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish." (Deut. 8:19)

"For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." (Deut. 4:24)

"But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto His voice, (for the Lord thy God is a merciful God) He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee…" (Deut. 4"29-31)

Sin Against “The Lord Thy God”

The first four of the ten commandments given by God to Moses for the Israelites, His chosen people, had to do not only with how they were to relate to God, but just exactly WHO their God was.

"For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." (Deut. 7:6)

He is referred to in countless passages as "the Lord thy God." The first of the ten commandments (Exodus 20:2) begins with the statement "I am the Lord thy God" and contained in each of the first four commandments is that name by which God chose to identify Himself to them.

"I am the Lord" in Hebrew is one word: "Jehovah" meaning "the existing One" denoting that He is self-existent, independent, eternal, One who had no beginning and has no end; the great "I am." In this the Lord established the authority by which He issued these directives. In all that He provided for them along the way, He established His loving care for them.

"and in the wilderness where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place." (Duet. 1:31)

The first use of the words "I am the Lord" were spoken by God to Abraham, the first of those that the Lord would call "His people": "And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it." (Genesis 15:7) The Lord established His goodness toward Abraham by brinding him our of "Ur of the Chaldees", a nation that worshipped fire rather than the true God. The Lord (He who owned the entire world) gave to Abraham a land for an inheritance (as a father would bequeath his estate to a son) and then provided him with an heir to the estate. Three things that greatly blessed Abraham: deliverance, an inheritance, and heirs to the estate….all for Abraham, if Abraham would just follow the Lord.

God proceeded to do the same thing for the Israelites: deliverance, an inheritance, and they themselves being the heirs, and also their children….but only if they would follow Him, faithfully and obediently, to the promised Land.

1. "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:2-3)
   

The Hebrew word for "thy God" is: "Elohiym" translated as "the true God" and interestingly the word is in the plural or plural intensive form, yet it is not to be translated as "the true God-s" but as "the true God" singular, denoting from the very beginning the mystery that is our triune God. " The existing One true God." This is the God of Abraham. This is the God of the Israelites. This is our God – whether we acknowledge Him or not.

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8)

Thus the Lord established who He was and even what He had done and was willing to do even more for them. And thus the ten commandments to His people were to be obeyed with hearts full of gratitude, not obligation; homage and honor given from an overflow of love and appreciation to "the existing One true God" who had done so much for them: delivered them from bondage and slavery, kept them safe from their enemies, blessed them with food, clothing and shelter even in the wilderness on the way to the promised land.

"For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing." (Deut. 2:7)

"And now Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul." (Deut. 10:12)

Some of the Israelites did honor God with loving appreciative hearts, and did keep His commandments to the best of their ability; but most of them did nothing but complain and grumble for their hearts were not appreciative. They were not able to see their blessings and to be thankful to the One who had provided these blessings to them. They had covetous hearts that wanted more than they had; or something other than what they had been given. They were never satisfied. They were never thankful.

And so eventually they began to seek out other gods, forsaking the first commandment; turning away from the liberty the Lord had provided and returning again to bondage….of only a slightly different sort. All of which led them to break the second commandment which we will see tomorrow.

The "existing One true God" of the Israelites, is the "existing One true God" that we honor today as well. He has not changed. The only way to show "the Lord thy God" how much we love Him and how grateful we are to Him for all that He has provided to us in this abundantly wealthy and free land that we live in, is to walk in His ways, in obedience to His will. If we are not doing so, then the sin of the Israelites is our sin as well. And nothing will have changed there, either.

The Guilt & Condemnation of Sin, Part 1

The Jews at the time of Jesus had a distinct advantage over us today: they knew what the guilt and accompanying condemnation of sin was all about. After all, they were raised on the Law of Moses and the law perfectly fulfilled its purpose. It described exactly how they were to treat each other and themselves in order to interact the right way with God and each other in their community. It described this loving God, their Creator, who required these right actions from those He had chosen to represent Him. If they chose, however, to not live according to God's standard, then the Law prescribed the penalty required for breaking the Law.

And it showed man that he was incapable of keeping the law perfectly. After all, as we all like to say when we mess things up badly: "We're only human." And if we humans were just dealing with other imperfect humans for eternity, maybe our excuses would suffice.

But we were created by a perfect and holy God, who can expect that everything He puts His hand to will be perfect and holy as well; including us. He is an all-knowing and omniscient God as well, though, and so He knew we would not be able to be perfect and holy as He is, since we are not Him. Which is why He put together a plan to help us.

First, He created the Law in order to teach us how we were to interact with Him and with one another in order to have a happy, fulfilled and peaceful life. Then He allowed us to do our own thing, trying to be holy and perfect according to the law, and failing time after time, until we became convinced that on our own we could never be holy and perfect; until we knew we needed help. He knew this all along, that we would need help; after all, He is GOD. He just had to convince US that we needed help. He had to get US past our biggest sin which is PRIDE. Then we would look to HIM for help, and then He would set in motion the rest of His plan which involved Jesus; but we'll get to that part in another posting.

Today, we just want to look at sin. And to do that, we have to look at the law that the Jews knew so well, but everyone else all around them (Gentiles) knew little about.

So, even though these postings are about what Paul taught us in the Letter to the Romans, we have to get to the same page Paul was at when he wrote that letter. We have to know the law like Paul, a Jew, did. While I won't re-write all the law here in these postings (you can read all about it in the first five books of the bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), I will touch on some of the highlights of the law, specifically the ten commandments (that most of my generation at least has heard of) that He had Moses take to the people, and the two commandments that Jesus left us with.

The ten commandments are (Exodus 20:1-17):

1. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
   
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the father upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments;
   
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
   
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work thou, nor thy son, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
   
5. Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
   
6. Thou shalt not kill.
   
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
   
8. Thou shalt not steal.
   
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
   
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
    

Tomorrow, we'll look at each of these more closely and in light of our modern times.