At the burning bush the LORD asked Moses: What is that in your hand”? Moses replied that it was his rod. God told him to throw it down on the ground. Moses did so; it became a serpent and Moses was frightened and ran from it.
Forty years before Moses decided to save the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, but caused more harm than good, killing a man. Now God wants to use Moses to do exactly what he wanted to do in the first place. But first the rod must be dealt with. It has within itself the potential to do harm as well as good. Moses proved that. When God tells Moses to throw it down Moses sees it’s potential for evil and flees from it.
Every talent or ability I have is a potential serpent. My best and most well meaning efforts have the potential of causing harm, either to myself or others. I must understand that, as Paul said, In me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing. As Moses threw down the rod at God’s command, so must I.
God tells Moses to pick up the rod. Moses does so in perfect obedience and now it is once again a rod. But it is no longer Moses’ rod. In Exodus 4:20 we read that Moses returned to the land of Egypt “and the rod of God was in his hand”. Now he is fully able to save the people of God from the oppressor.
There are two verses I want to bring here. Psalm 12:4: “Our lips are our own; who is lord over us”? This is perhaps the great contrast between the man of the world and the follower of Christ. The question here is the same. Whose rod is it: mine or God’s?
Another verse that would apply here is John 7:18. Jesus is speaking: “He who speaks of himself seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of the One Who sent Him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him”. The important thing is that leaders in the church and also the followers seek, not there own glory but the glory of God. I suppose we all have this tendency to cling to our rod, not seeing the serpent on it.
CAST IT ON THE GROUND
August 12th, 2010WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE
August 11th, 2010 We hear much today of everyone having a right to his opinion. Furthermore, all opinions are supposed to carry equal weight. Anything else is intolerant.
Belshazzar was king of the greatest empire on earth. He felt that his ideas and words carried weight. As far as he was concerned, no power on earth could conquer mighty Babylon and also, no power on earth could touch him. Then he saw the hand writing on the wall and trembled like a leaf before an old Jewish prophet who explained to him that the hand on the wall told Belshazzar that he was weightless. Instead of removing the prophet’s head he, in fear and hoping to win the favor of the old man, promoted him. The day before Daniel would not have been invited into his presence.
This is all told in Daniel 5. In Daniel 6 is the record of King Darius making a decree that anyone worshiping any god or man other than the king would be thrown into a den of lions. Daniel continued to pray to his God as before. He was too heavy to move, whether it was by king or empire. In Milton’s “Paradise Lost” we read of everything in heaven and earth shaking except for the unshakeable throne of God. Daniel lived close to God and His Word and as Belshazzer and now King Darius found, carried tremendous weight. Belshazzar lived far from God. He went out of his way to show his disdain for God by drinking out of the golden cups from God’s temple, with a thousand of his lords. Psalm 12:4 would have fit him well: “Who have said, with our tongues will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us”? But when judgment was past on him he was told “you are weightless and found wanting”.
If God is the ultimate Reality, then it follows that the further one is from Him, the less weight he will have. It is said of the unbelievers that they are ”like the chaff which the wind drives away” but the believer will experience an “eternal weight of glory”.
Nietszchie, although an atheist made the observation that when a society turns away from God it becomes weightless. Man has no value in himself. Psalm 39:5 reads; “Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity”.
Perhaps a test of where I stand is the people I am attracted to (or away from). We read of Abimelech in Judges 9, that he hired “vain and light persons”.
THE TIME OF JOB
August 9th, 2010 I don’t know if this will be of interest to many of you or if you will wonder if I have too much time on my hands. Anyway, I want to look at the book of Job. I know there are different ideas on when the story of Job happened. I think we can pinpoint quite closely the time that Job lived.
If we take the genealogy from the time of the flood to the time that Abraham entered Canaan we find it to be 427 years. This can be found in Genesis 11. When Abraham had been in Canaan for 25 years his son Isaac was born: Genesis 21:5.
Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob and Esau were born: Genrsis25:36. Esau was 40 years old when he married the two Hittites: Genesis 26:34.. Eliphaz, according to Genesis 36:10 was Esau’s oldest son. Eliphaz oldest son, as we see in the next verse=verse 11 was Teman.
Remember that Eliphaz was one of the friends of Job. We find him the fiRst time in Job 4:4. It would seem that Teman was Esau’s favorite. At any rate he named a city after him. For this also see Obadiah 9. We do know from Job 6:19 that Tema was existing at this time.
In Job 1:1 we read that Job was in the land of Uz. In Lamentations 4:21 we are told by Jeremiah that Edom was a part of the land of Uz. This would explain why Eliphaz knew Job. They may well have been neighbors. Now if Teman was old enough for Esau to notice him to the extent of wanting to build a city after him his father would be at least fifty or sixty. At least we know from Job 32: 6 that he was no longer a young man. Add all of this up and you come to just over 600 years after the flood. This would be about 30 or 40 years before the Israelites went to Egypt.
Now let’s look at the circumstances of the time. Notice in Job 1:3 all of the goods Job had. What would it not take to maintain this large household and all these animals? We do know Job paid fair wages. We see this in Job 31:13-15. There had to be a market for all these animals and at the same time a large area. As we look at the circumstances it seems that the time when Job lived would not be over two centuries. At this time there would have been a tremendous population explosion. This is why the market would be there. But what of a century or so later.
The story of Job was about 40 years before Jacob and his family went to Egypt. There they greatly multiplied in number. But so had the Canaanites. Look what had happened in Canaan. It was now full of people and cities. There would no longer be room for wandering nomads and their large herds if cattle. The children of Israel came to Edom which was in Uz where Job had lived. It too was filled with people and cities.
I suppose someone could say “so what”. I think my only defense is found in
Proverbs 25:2=It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter. Why do people want to know of the farthest planet and the deepest ocean? Because it’s there.
THE GRAIN OF WHEAT
August 9th, 2010 In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul tells us something of what our heavenly bodies will be like. He likens it to a seed of grain “or of some other”.
In verse 36 we are told that the seed must die first and then comes the plant. Jesus said in John 12:24 “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”.
For an example let’s take corn. First, all you see is the small kernel. But that little kernel has everything in it needed for something much bigger. As long as the kernel stays in the barn, it will stay alive but it will not develop into something bigger
and better. The kernel must be taken out, put in the ground and die.
The kernel deteriorates and disappears but the life latent begins to develop. The result of the death of the kernel is something much bigger and grander. There is the stalk and also many other things such as the ears, the tassel, the leaves, a hair for each kernel, a host of kernels and the chlorophyll which takes the suns energy and causes the plant to grow.
But there is one more thing which is very important. There are, on the ears kernels exactly like the original that died. What does this tell us? It tells us that not only do we, in heaven, develop bodies which are indescribably beautiful and powerful but also immortal and incorruptible; it also tells us that we never lose a thing. When you were six months old you liked food. You still do and now many different kinds of food. The little girl likes to play with dolls. Some day she will enjoy a real live one.
Now there is something else. In Matthew 13 Jesus said that the mustard seed although the smallest of all seeds becomes the biggest of the plants. In God’s economy the bigger the plant, the greater the difference between the seed and the plant. What is physically the very biggest thing we know of? It is the universe itself. We are told in 11 Peter that there will be new heavens and a new earth. We can’t begin to imagine this one, not to mention the new one. But some day we will rule it according to Revelation 21:7.
There is one thing even bigger to God. We are told in Genesis 1:26 “Let us make man in our image”. For us there will be the greatest difference of all.
SALVATION IS OF THE JEW
August 8th, 2010The ancient nations all had their gods. They are the long forgotten gods, many known to us only because they are found in the Bible. There is Dagon, god of the Philistines; Chemosh, the god of Amon; Nisroch, the god Naaman’s master worshipped; Baal and Ashteroth of Caanan; and Diana, goddess of the Ephesians. Most of these are now found in dusty history books, as are the nations they ruled.
Then there were the gods of ancient Egypt. Among many others were Thoth, Usiris and Rah, the sun god, all resurrected for the benefit of the thousands of tourists and as quickly forgotten by them. The best known gods were those of Greece with it’s
multitude upon Olympia. Zeus was the father of all these. In Acts 14 we find Jupiter and Mercury.
The liberals and secular historians would place the god of the Israelites in the same category as the ancient, forgotten gods. They call Him Yahweh, one of the lesser gods. He does not measure up to the gods of Egypt and certainly not to the gods of Greece. He was the tribal god of a despised people. The learning and wisdom of Greece has always been held in high esteem. Israel has always been looked down on, from their days of slavery in Egypt. They were conquered by the Assyrians, taken captive by Babylon, held as a vassal state by Persia and later Greece. The Israelites were sold as slaves or scattered into almost every country on earth. Haman, Herod and Hitler tried to wipe them out, or kill their King. Today the Arabs are determined to destroy them, and every time the UN makes a pronouncement regarding Israel it is with the thinly veiled attempt to destroy them as a nation. The church has tried to destroy them and even today is doing it’s best to wipe out the nation of Israel.
With all that in mind, isn’t it strange that the despised tribal god of this enslaved people is now Universal Lord, recognized as God of Heaven in every nation on earth? Not the gods of esteemed Egypt or mighty Rome, but the God of Israel rules, unchallenged by the mighty gods of the past.
To whom did Jesus say, “Salvation is of the Jews”? To the Samaritans, who hated the Jews. God still says this to the UN, the Arabs, the anti-Semites and to most of the church which has long ago claimed that Israel was no longer God’s chosen people. That’s not very diplomatic ( today we would say, “not politically correct”), but He is Unbendable God. I once heard a woman preacher in Africa read from John 4. She came to verse 22 and openly and defiantly skipped that verse. (Jesus speaking, “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews”.) The problem is that for her there was no salvation.
JESUS WEPT JOHN 11:35
August 7th, 2010In John 16:14 Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, “ He shall glorify Me for He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you”.
It is surprising how often we will see something new in a passage we have known all our lives and have read often. This is, of course the work of the Spirit. He teaches us many things, but His primary work is to show us who Jesus is.
I suppose that I had always thought that whatever Jesus did, He did with the purpose of teaching or demonstrating some truth. In other Words He did it on purpose, with conscious forethought. I think John 11:35 shows something different.
In the verses before this Mary had just come to Jesus. She fell at His feet and told Jesus that if He had been there, her brother would not have died. Then she broke down and started to cry. In verse 33 we read, “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in His Spirit and was troubled”. Jesus did not cry because He decided to, but because He could not keep from it. In verse 34 He asks, “Where have ye laid Him”? It seems He is trying to control his emotions (and therefore asks where the tomb is) but is simply unable to do so.
What does this show us of Jesus? His perfect and complete humanity. These were close friends of His. He was no different than anyone else. When someone very close to us cries and for good reason, it is difficult and sometimes impossible not to cry also. It’s catching. Jesus was deeply sensitive and sympathetic. When Mary cried He was unable to keep from crying, also.
Jesus was a Perfect man. As far as sin was concerned He could not be tempted; He was in complete control. No sin could touch Him. He was God but He was also Complete Man. If He could refrain from weeping at a time like this there would have been something lacking in His humanity.
I think we need to understand His complete humanity to really know the heart of God. The heart of God is not cold but warm and responsive. I have seen little children do things that made me laugh. I didn’t decide to; I simply could not help but laugh. We need to understand that if Jesus were there the same would have been true of Him.
EVERY BITTER THING IS SWEET
August 6th, 2010 In Proverbs 27:7we read “The full soul loatheth an honey comb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet”.
Many things in the Bible are sweet as honey because it is written by a God of infinite love and mercy. But, because it is written to a fallen race with a constant tendency to sin, there are many warnings of judgment. These are the bitter things.
There is a picture of this in Ezekiel 2:7-3:7. Also in Revelation 10 John is told to eat such a book. It was sweet as honey in his mouth, but bitter in his stomach.
This all seems quite theoretical but a great of harm is being done because the Word is being used for secondary purposes. The church today is enjoying the honey but wishes to skip the bitterness. A few decades ago someone pointed out to me the proliferation of seminars and books on marriage. This was all based on Scripture but it resulted in an increase in divorces. While in South Africa a man by the name of Andy Demos told me that his son who was a minister of a church there spent most of his time counseling the people. Andy felt that if his son would just preach on the judgments of God as well as His mercy he would not have to spend so much time counseling.
I believe this is what Paul is talking about in II Corinthians 4:2 where he writes about “handling the Word of God deceitfully”. The Bible is given to us for the purpose of bringing to God a redeemed race, redeemed from the penalty of sin and victorious over it’s power. “That I might know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings”: Philippians 3:10.
The purpose of God’s redemptive plan is a called out people saved to fellowship with Him for eternity. There will be many blessings in this life for those who follow the Lamb and obey His Word and His Words. These blessings will not only be spiritual but also material, emotional and physical. But if we use the Scriptures to gain these things we will do more harm than good. We will lose the central message and the Word will have no power in our lives. We will gain the blessings of this life only if we live for the life to come. We will gain happiness only if we strive for holiness; if we will take the bitter with the sweet.
LIVING WITH GOD
August 5th, 2010LIVING WITH GOD
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have God move visibly into your life? He would be there when you did your housework, when you were busy on the computer and be eating with you at the dinner table. After dinner He would join you in the living room. And when you went to work He would go along, when you went shopping, bought a car or anything else you did.
As you think about this, does it not seem a if it would be a little much? As we would say; “Too much of a good thing”. Would it be a life with no chance to relax? Sort of living under constant tension. Would there be somewhat of a sigh of relief when He finally left? And we would pray that blessing on another family.
We need to see this was how the twelve apostles lived for three years. And to a lesser extent the women who followed Him. How did they find this to be? Was there a sigh of relief when that was over? We must remember that they were not spiritual supermen. Peter was loud and impetuous; one was a zealot who lived to overthrow Rome; James and John wished to call fire down and destroy an entire village; Matthew was a tax collector who loved money and one (Judas) was a thief.
We find the answer in the four gospels. In John 20:4 we read; “So they ran both together: and the other disciple did out run Peter, and came first to the sepulchre”. In this verse we see how quickly they ran to see if the body had been disturbed. In John 20:11 we are told “Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping”. Jesus, coming up to the two on the road to Emmaus asked why they were looking so sad. It does not seem that they found it restricting to live with God. How could it be that so badly wanted Him back? How could they enjoy living with someone who was perfect?
Again we find the answer in the gospels. Remember that at His arrest and trial one betrayed Him, one denied Him and “all forsook Him and fled”. It would be assumed that He would first of all bring this to their attention, and expect some very sincere apologies. I’m sure that’s the least I would have looked for. But what is Jesus attitude? He never mentions it. He tells Mary to go to “My brethren, and say unto them, ‘I go to My Father and your Father’”. When He does meet them, His first Words were: “Peace be unto you”. He was the perfect Man with absolutely no self pity and no accusation. He
truly enjoyed their company. We read something of this in Proverbs 8:31: “My delights were with the sons of men”.
No wonder they missed Him. They had lived with God and found it the most relaxing time they ever had. This is what heaven will be like.
THE GREAT STAGE MANAGER
July 7th, 2010I n the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon, the king of Israel, ponders the mystery of life. It’s the only book in the Bible written from the point of view of natural man, written no doubt toward the end of his life.
King Solomon started out well. He asked for wisdom and knowledge and as a reward God gave him wealth as well. He used his wealth and wisdom to build a beautiful temple. He built many other buildings as well as putting together all the things that would give him happiness and fulfillment. He greatly enjoyed using his great wisdom to make everything jut right, and apparently did.
Solomon would look forward to the pleasure he would have sitting on his beautiful throne, enjoying all the things he had spent twenty years working for. It didn’t work out that way. When he was all done he had nothing more to live for. He tried
everything both good and sinful in his attempt to find happiness in life.
Now as we think about this we do see the importance of this particular book so that we fully understand the futility of life apart from God. Solomon himself testified in Ecclesiastes 3:22 and 23: “For what hath man of all his labor, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath labored under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart findeth not rest in the night. This is also vanity”. But the things, both good and bad happened to Solomon largely because of the gifts and talents that God gave him. Can we really blame Solomon?
There had to be a man like Solomon to make the Bible a fully complete book. Here I think we see two things. God is the Great Stage Manager. When we stand on the Sea of Glass we will see that not only is the Bible a perfect and complete book, but that all of history is perfect and complete in every detail. But we also must recognize.that each is fully responsible for his actions and will answer to God regarding his obedience to the divine commands.
To manage a world of people with free will and make the entire story end exactly as planned requires divine intelligence; as in Psalm 147:5: “His understanding is infinite”. Each must decide whither he will be a willing partner in His plan or simply
used of Him. The choice is yours, but all things are going to end up as He pleases.
SHEBA AND DEDAN
July 1st, 2010I wrote the following after seeing an article in the inter-net by the Prophecy Club. See the article at the bottom.. I suppose when threatened with extinction even the Moslems can face the truth. Apparently the Saudis fear Iran more than they hate Israel.
There are two Shebas and Dedans in the Bible which can be confusing. The first are in Genesis 10:6 and 7, great grandsons of Ham. One of the sons of Ham was Mizr which is the Arabic name for Egypt. In II Chronicles 9 we find a descendant
of Ham and of Sheba. She js the queen of Sheba who came to visit Solomon. In Matthew 12:42 Jesus said that she was from the south. From this we can gather that much of the family went to Africa. We can here dispense with this Sheba and Dedan.
The other two (Sheba and Dedan) were grandsons of Abraham (Genesis 25:I-3).
To get the complete picture we need to begin in Genesis 16 where we see the first mention of Ishmael and the story of his mother Hagar. In verse 12 we see that Ishmael “shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren”. In Genesis 21:14 –21 is the story of Ishmael being sent away. Verse 21 tells us that he went to Paran. It is universally agreed that Ishmael is the father of the Arabs.
Now to establish the location of Paran. If you will look at any map it shows Paran to be in the Sinai desert. For this we have Biblical proof:
Amalek was a grandson of Esau=Genesis 36:10-12. He lived in Paran or Sinai. Amalek fought with Israel in Sinai or Paran=Genesis17:8. Again see Genesis 21:21. israel went SE (into Sinai) not NW, the shorter route; Exodus 13:17 and 18.
Sinai in time past was part of Arabia=Galatians 4:25.
Now a couple more things before I move on. In Genesis 1:12 we saw that Ishmael would dwell in the presence of all his brothers. Who were his brothers? Abraham married Keturah after Sarah died. Abraham had six sons with her. They would be Ishmael’s half brothers among whom he would dwell. Notice Genesis 25:17 and 18 where we see confirmed the prophecy of Genesis 16:12. It is also confirmed in Genesis 25:6. Abraham sent his sons to the East and they went to their brother Ishmael. In the verses already quoted, one of the brothers of Ishmael was Midian.
Now here I need to mention something about directions as far as Israel is concerned. For example although Babylon was east of Israel it wfrom. To the east was the desert which their armies could not cross, being on horses. This same thinking held in the case of as always spoken of as coming from the north. To the Israelite the direction had to do with where the armies came the desert although it was really more SE and south. To Israel (and of course to Abraham) the desert was east. More on that later.
In Genesis 37 we see the story of Joseph being sold into slavery. In verse 25 we read that the brothers see the Ishmaelites coming. Then they sell him to the Midianites. Remember Midian was a brother of Ishmael (Genesis 25:1and 2. From a ways off the brothers could see that they were of the tribe of Ishmael but as they came nearer they would see them to be of the family of Midian. Here again we see the fulfillment of Genesis 16:12.
The next passage to look at is Judges 6-8: the story of Gideon and the Midianites. There were not only Midianites but also the Amalekites=6:3. Remember that Amalek was a grandson of Esau. The descendants of Esau were Edomites which was right on the border of Arabia and I think absorbed into Arabia; Jeremiah 25:20-24. Uz was the land of which Edom was a part (Job 1:25 and Lamentations 4:21).
There is a bit more in Jeremiah 25:20-25. In verse 20 we read of the land of Uz, in 21 Edom and in 23 Dedan, one of the cities in Edom. In 24 there is the mention of Arabia with “all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert”.
Back to Judges. The Midianites were from the east and they had camels, a desert creature. When the Babylonians or Assyrians came they rode on horses. In 8:24 we again see the connection between Ishmael and Midian.
Now to Ezekiel 38. In verse 5 the first country named is Persia. In verse 8 are the details regarding Israel in the last days upon their return to the land of Israel:
Brought back from the sword=Israel became a nation in 1948, just three years after the holocaust.
In verse 8 we are also told it will happen in the latter years, they return to the mountains of Israel, they will have returned from many people (102 nations at this date), a land always waste (when Mark Twain was in Israel over a century ago, he saw nothing but waste land and a few wanderers), and thy will dwell safely and after living in places like Russia or the Arab lands they are now a free people.
It is certainly interesting that just now, at this time in history Israel should be threatened by Persia and join hands with Saudi Arabia. Speak of strange bedfellows. In verse 13 there are Sheba and Dedan working in hand with “Tarshish with all the young lions”. Which nation has the symbol of the lion? England. So who are the young lions? America, Canada and Australia. We need Saudi’s oil and with the world-wide recession they need us as a costumer. Is this the prey in verse 12? In Ezekiel’s day the area which was then Sheba and Dedan is now Saudi Arabia. From all we have seen in Scripture we know for a certainty that the descendants of Sheba and Dedan are in Saudi Arabia.
Let me quote from the article I mentioned:
Israel Air Force aircraft dropped off large quantities of military gear
at a Saudi Arabian military base last week in preparation for a
potential attack on Iran, a number of Iranian and Israeli news outlets
have reported.
The unconfirmed report, (note that it is unconfirmed. Nevertheless, the rest
of the article still stands) first published by the semi-official
news Agency Fars and the Islam Times, claimed that on June 18 and 19,
Israeli helicopters unloaded military equipment and built a base just
over five miles outside the northwestern city of Tabuk, the closest
Saudi city to Israel.
The claim follows a report two weeks ago in the London Times
Magazine that Saudi Arabia had given Israel permission to fly
through a narrow corridor of air space in northern Saudi Arabia
so as to shorten the flight time required for Israeli jets to reach Iran.