Posts
Post 294
As you may have noticed I have repeatedly attempted to wrap up this section of work; I feel that I have run long enough, the message is adequately given, and few are going to read a tome of this size anyway. But in the spirit of Methuselah God will not let me stop, even though my message has run longer than any message could be expected to. The reasons are the same: At the end of Methuselah’s message, the flood came. My lengthy warning is similar; do not delay your turn to God because you are waiting for new material that seems to have no end. Yet just as the stiffnecked people in the time of the Judges, God’s mercy runs far longer than anyone could consider reasonable. The problem is that the people took that extended mercy for tolerance and so felt no need to work it out to success (II Peter 3:4 confirmed by the willfully missed perspective of v.v.5-7, Judgment will come much sooner than you perceive because of the appearance of delay: II Peter 3:9-10, Habakkuk 2:3).
And so although this lengthy message has appeared to end several times, the Lord yet offers you Micah with this key verse as it applies to modern Christianity:
“Arise ye, and depart (from your current standing of faith); for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.
If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood…” Micah 2:10-11a.
"Wait! How does a man walk in the spirit and in falsehood?" I cannot urge you strong enough to read Micah’s early warning found in Chapters 1-3. Can you explain why Chapter 4 seems to come out of order? Can you identify the distinction between 1-3 and 5-7?
I may develop this post as I have time but you really need to read this for yourself and cry out to God to show you his heart in the matter.
* * * * * * *
Micah 1:1 tells us that this warning prophecy is a judgment not against all the wicked of the word but against Samaria and Jerusalem; the capitols of the divided nation of Israel.
Micah 1:2 tells us that this judgment prophecy is a warning to the rest of the world to learn by observation. Micah’s message tells us that what will pass on Israel is from God himself who is the witness against them, not from the polluted temple in Jerusalem but from his Holy Temple in heaven. The importance of this is to distinguish God’s perspective of righteousness from the people who think they are following God but are not.
Micah 1:3 expounds on His coming down from his holy place for the purpose of treading on the high places of the earth. We know that “high places” are where pagan gods were worshipped-- whether in Jerusalem or elsewhere. Again God is establishing his true position of God as opposed to the many confusions assumed to be God.
Micah 1:4 describes the affects on the Earth when God comes down: earthquakes that bring mountains down like water, valleys cut as the earth rips open like a knife through hot butter. What valley specifically? See Zechariah 14:4. This arrival of God to do his trodding sure sounds a lot like the pre-signs of his Matthew 24:5-8 coming that brings the end of the world.
That should get you started…
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Thursday, March 21, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Beyond the Harbingers
Post 292
Are you hearing God’s dualistic message in the Judges? Once you belong to God you don’t have to worry about His faithfulness to you, what you need to be attentive to is your faithfulness to Him. Paul’s letter to the Romans is a great book to explain this duplicitous concept that simple-minded Christians seem to want “either/or”; something like the idea that assumes once you’re married you don’t have to try anymore. Do you wonder why so many Christian marriages today end in divorce after years of selfish unhappiness?
So starting after Moses In Two Parts Post 246, where is the expected Grace? Where is the New Testament Covenant? Where is the Liberty that you thought I would write about?
But it IS there, just as I showed in The Uncommon Christian Walk, and it’s here in the Judges as well… it’s just not in the form that we are prepared to recognize because of our pre-conceptions of what we’re looking for.
God’s Grace is found in the fact that in longsuffering He again and again and again goes after a stubborn rebellious people that bolt the second the leash is off. God’s new Covenant is revealed in his keeping an eye on those rebel hearts while knowing that the fullness of time had not yet come to send his Son’s Spirit to lead them without leash or chain (Galatians 4:4-6). God’s Liberty is seen clearly in their willful and persistent departure from God by ability of choice, and yet God remains ever faithful to lead them back home through the discipline of suffering like a father gives a child a spanking, not in the reason of anger but in training.
So if God so tenaciously keeps his wholly rebellious people when they run wild (Joshua 24:22, Isaiah 44:22, Acts 3:19-21), how much more liberty must surely be extended to those who conduct themselves in love of Him! (Ephesians 2:4-9, Romans 8:1 in acceptance before God vs. I Timothy 3:6 in application before men), even if they fall short in application before God! (I John 2:1). How much more eternally secure can you get than that to those who choose to belong, such as Rahab the harlot, whose wicked city literally crumbled around her for its wickedness while she a prostitute was spared by God’s mercy because she chose Him fiducially (Joshua 2:3-7, 9-13+6:25, Luke 1:50, Psalm 33:18), (as opposed to: Deuteronomy 29:25, Matthew 22:12). But at the same time, How much more consequences to disobedience do you want to see exampled before you understand the cause-and-effect obligation to the name you bear? (Ephesians 4:1, Colossians 1:10, I Thessalonians 2:12= Revelation 3:4). Yes, God does indeed run all things as Sovereign (Colossians 1:16-17), yet functionally it is still not God directly who "punishes you" as if in retaliation, but rather it is a designed result that he put into motion by the laws of nature (Genesis 6:7+ Isaiah 54:16= Isaiah 10:5-8). This is his warning (Luke 12:13-15), it is a "light: particle-or-wave?" thing, that depends on the perspective used.
Where is the Liberty and Eternal Security in the message of John the Baptist who preached a warning of repentance-unto-good-works only days before the Lord of Grace began to manifest his Salvation-through-repentance-unto-good-works? (Matthew 5:16, Titus 2:14, Ephesians 2:10, II Timothy 3:17, Titus 3:8). It was found in the fact that he preached at all, instead of turning his back to a rebellious and twisted people doomed for punishment (Titus 1:16).
John the Baptist cried: “Repent!” Why? Because “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1-2, Mark 1:14-15). Jesus declared the purpose of this preaching was to prepare the way of the Lord by making the Lord’s paths straight (Matthew 3:3). Those paths are found dualistically in the works of righteousness, which works will indeed be confused by a great deception of “identity theft” regarding righteousness (II Corinthians 11:15).
It’s NOT about the works but the righteousness that spawns the works (Titus 3:5+6-8, Romans 4:6-11). This is so important to fully understand because of the age of deception that is now upon us. The premiere question is: “Whose righteousness?” (Isaiah 57:1-2,13b-14 vs. 10-13a), (Genesis 15:6+), I cannot stress this enough: There is Satan’s righteousness (II Corinthians 11:15), Your righteousness (Isaiah 57:12, Isaiah 64:6), and then there is God’s righteousness. As ambassadors of God we are to take up God’s righteousness and not our own (II Peter 1:1, 2:5, I John 3:10-11, Hebrews 1:9), this is not an intellectual “distinction”; it is a spiritual focus issue. Such a concept is most easily seen by the employment of a project manager: The job is fully his to run as he sees fit (Matthew 16:19), but his devotion is to be on the will of the owner and not on his own interests. The legal word for this concept is Fiduciary (*1), it’s meaning is well worth a thorough consideration.
Where was God’s Grace in the wilderness when He told Moses to step aside and let his wrath consume the rebellious Exodus People? (Numbers 14:11-12). It was found in Moses himself as he appealed to God to reconsider (Numbers 14:13-19, I John 2:1), and it was God himself who sent them Moses for just that purpose as a Type of the Christ who would come (Hebrews 8:4-6, 9:14-16, I Timothy 2:5).
OH, don’t get me wrong; I really, REALLY want to take this Post into Galatians 4:4-7, 5:1-6, Romans 14, II Corinthians 5:18-19, etc., because that glorious freedom is indeed where God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord want us to dwell, but you cannot skip over the far more lengthy passages of obedience to get there:
OH, don’t get me wrong; I really, REALLY want to take this post into Galatians 4:4-7, 5:1-6, Romans 14, II Corinthians 5:18-19, etc., because that glorious freedom is indeed where God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord want us to dwell, but you cannot skip over the far more lengthy passages of obedience to get there:
“For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eatheth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body” I Corinthians 11:29.
What? You thought that verse was only related to a superficial ritual disconnected from your life?
“Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? (meaning: Jesus did not partake of the table of devils, so why do you think it’s OK?)” I Corinthians 10:21-22.
If the Lord’s actual table is the thing at the front of the church covered in a sheet where the ritualistic sacraments set, where then is the table of devils that we are warned against partaking of too?
I tell you the truth; The table of devils is the many daily compromises with the wickedness of this world while thinking it can’t hurt us because we’re saved. How then can we claim to be Christians if we so partake? Are you stronger that Jesus himself? Would you instruct Jesus that it’s OK because you can handle it while he couldn’t? Would you attempt to provoke Jesus to be jealous of your strength? I didn’t think so.
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,” II Corinthians 6:17.
And this whole passage is in the NEW TESTAMENT!
Don’t touch the unclean thing? That sounds so Old Testament! But the passage concept is not about conformance to rules-- though the rule (Exodus 12:11-14) is not abandoned (II Chronicles 35:17-18), just freshened with its fulfillment (I Corinthians 11:25-26). It’s about an entirely new perspective of existence. And the concept intent; its purpose, concludes with the opening of the next Chapter:
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us (a call to action)…” II Corinthians 7:1a.
“OK wait; What promises?”
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” II Corinthians 4:17 (+18).
“For we know that if our earthly house (3614 residence, dwelling) of this tabernacle (4636 temporary hut) were dissolved (the 2647 destruction of our body of flesh on earth), we have a building (3619 Architectural structure; i.e. intended design) of God, an house (3614) not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” II Corinthians 5:1 (+2-5).
“Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:” II Corinthians 5:6 (+7-9).
“And that he (Christ) died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves (as if this body were our home and it’s contentment our aim), but unto him which died for them, and rose again” II Corinthians 5:15 (+16).
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” II Corinthians 5:17.
“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God (himself) did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead (; on behalf of Christ), be ye reconciled to God” II Corinthians 5:20.
Are you getting the message? You are promised that if you belong to Christ then you have an eternal life that makes this temporal life in the flesh insignificant, and with a change of perception and focus, you are given a new job from that perspective: It’s the job of sinners to sin but you are to live the example of promise in the proof that all things are actually become new! (I Corinthians 6:9-11). It’s like changing jobs; from a prostitute to top executive of an honorable Fortune 500 company. That’s pretty new for “all things”!
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” II Corinthians 7:1.
“Whoa, Whoa, WHOA! I thought it was Christ’s job to cleanse us and perfect us.”
Yes but no; It is Christ’s job to provide you with that option heretofore unavailable. Christ cleanses your soul, now what are you going to do with it? After the cleansing shower of his sacrificial blood; do you want to continue playing in the septic, or maintain the cleanliness he has given you for the purpose of taking the job that he cleansed you to do? Perfecting holiness suggests a process of experiential maturity to completion (I John 2:13a). The specific wording of this verse does not allow a clean spirit while the flesh remains filthy (i.e. faith without works) as some would promote through the intellectual abuse of the Scriptures.
“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully;…” II Corinthians 4:1-2a (see: Hebrews 3:13b).
Is that confusing to your present understanding of the faith? Does this sound like the fruitless works-unto-salvation? Does your perception of grace comfort you-- if not encourage you-- to continue in sin?
“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, should shine unto them” II Corinthians 4:3.
“For we preach not ourselves (i.e. our works, as you seem to think we do) but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake” II Corinthians 4:5 9.
My works are not mine, I am not a perfect man by the deeds of the flesh; I preach to you by example the ambassadorship of one who has answered the call. I can answer the ad because I qualify for the position; I am a new creature, and behold, all things are in fact become new! This is made possible by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord, and is accomplished through the renunciation of things dishonest; I have taken the job… and sinning is no longer in my job description! (I John 2:2-6, 3:6-8, 9-10).
As a young manager I was once told; “You no longer have the luxury of ‘having a bad day,’” how much more so as an ambassador of God!?
Am I preaching myself? My works? My righteousness? God forbid! I am preaching the power of Christ!
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” II Corinthians 4:6.
And God put this amazing treasure in these easily corruptible bodies of our flesh so that the excellency of this power to live so, may be of God, and not of ourselves (II Corinthians 4:7).
The passage then goes on to declare things very unpleasant to our mortal being, yet are now not chastisements from the Lord for disobedience but rather attacks from the enemy because of who we now work for. Yet with this new power in a clear conscience of Life independent from the flesh, those unpleasant things, not attached by guilt, are received in Joy as glorious and beneficial to the spirit where our life is really found (II Corinthians 4:8-17, Hebrews 11:35):
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” II Corinthians 4:18.
This is a perspective that cannot be comprehended, let alone accepted, by the life lived after the flesh even though it thinks it’s a Christian (Romans 1:18-22). This is a whole new perspective than the old familiar failed struggle with obedience due to fulfilling the deceitful desires of the flesh.
“Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils” I Corinthians 10:21.
“…Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart…lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings” Jeremiah 4:3-4.
The Judges is a historical account of figuring this out on the temporal plain in the here-and-now of the “real world”-- as said from the mind of the flesh that wants to separate the spiritual from the temporal existence. This is why God can promise never to forsake them, and then seemed to forsake them! God was speaking spiritually on a much grander cause than their momentary concerns that they didn’t like his chastisements of abandonment. This concept is foundational to a right perception of our experiences in light of God’s promises. Don’t be the five-year-old screaming in the isles of the grocery store; “You hate me!” when his mother does not buy him the latest thing that caught his eye. Life is so much bigger than the moment.
And sadly, in time, while never making a clean break from compromise with a full heart toward God alone, eventually the people refuse to humble themselves at God’s latest chastisements but instead hate him for making them suffer, and they go about meeting God’s “challenge” in defiance as if God were now their adversary (Isaiah 9:9b+10). Jonathan Cahn (*2) has shown just such a response from America after God’s 9/11 harbinger chastisement. There are few modern works that I can confirm are the pure message of God as I can The Harbinger.
At some point, any further chastisements cannot produce the desired return and there is nothing left but destruction in what is called the wrath of God:
“But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy” II Chronicles 36:16.
When does God’s increasing chastisement change to judgment? It’s often hard to say until after the fact, but the heart that asks is not looking to repent but only asking; “How long do I have left?” This is the clear sign of a full addiction that needs an immediate external detox center such as captivity in Babylon, or worse. So you tell me; Is America at that point? You should be worried, because God is faithful! (Hebrews 10:31 in light of its previous three verses).
* * *
The Law, The Liberty:
So is the answer to our troubles a return to the deeds and bondage to the law and thereby avoid the chastisements? This is the only other option available to the “old creature” who has not actually found that all things have become new, yet tries nonetheless out of desperation.
“And no man putteth new wine into old bottles (779): else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles” Mark 2:22.
This verse seems to reveal the deception we see in Joshua 9:13 as a Type of the Mark 2:22 argument against returning to the law after liberty is provided. In otherwords; it is a deception that we should recognize in spite of the misleading argument provided. New wine always breaks old wineskins (779).
“Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” Galatians 4:21.
So now we arrive at the complex crossroads that is only complex because we have abandoned our fiduciary perspective: You have been quite happy to live in the lawless liberty that you have found in Christ’s security of salvation while you lounge in guiltless sin, but I preach to you the offensive law of the New Testament that strips away that self-serving perspective (Matthew 5:19, 22:36-40, John 14:15). This New Testament law is often confused with the condemned doctrines of man using the same title; law (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7).
And yet now, as you contemplate obedience to the law as a reasonable solution, the New Testament itself moans to you a long tired warning that the law is shown to not be where you find safety and rest! In fact the law itself tells you this! Do you not hear the law as your schoolmaster that is simply trying to get you to graduate from regimented obedience of fear, to a worthy righteousness of love? (Matthew 5:20+ 21:32+ Romans 1:17-18+ 3:5= John 16:8-12+ Romans 3:22, Acts 13:10), (Romans 2:26-27). So allow me to word the same principle in a fresh New Testament way:
“Tell me, you that desire to be under grace, do you not hear the grace?” (Romans 6:11-14,18-23, 8:3-9= Romans 9:30-32+10:10), (I Corinthians 15:34).
In the Judges we see that God’s chosen people learned how to abuse the law to recover from the consequences of their sins; “Return to me and I will heal you” says the LORD (Isaiah 55:7, Jeremiah 3:22, 4:1)(*3), and in the phylactery kind of “technical” way they comply, and God honors the words of his promise while growing in frustration (vs. Galatians 2:21).
And by comprehending God’s true heart in the matter contrary to their application, we can see that we too have learned how to abuse the grace for the same affect while missing the point. So what do you suppose God’s heart in this matter is as well? (*4).
Let’s explore what the law says on this subject:
“For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman (law and “grace” more accurately called liberty).
But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise (yep, confirmed; law and liberty).
Which things (of both children distinctly) are an allegory: for these are the two covenants (no problem, we get that); the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is (H)Agar”… Galatians 4:22-24.
SCREEEECH! “Hold the phone!, WHAT?!”
Ishmael is an allegory of the law of Moses?! But I thought sin was the bondage. I thought sin was the son of Hagar made through the efforts of man and not through the miracle of God’s promise. I thought the Mosaic Law was given as a solution for the bondwoman’s son and not the allegory of that son himself! I thought the law represented Isaac; the Jews, in opposition to Ishmael the Pagan! Does this actually imply that the Islamic Arabs are the allegory of the Mosaic Law?!
Let’s park that thought for a bit as we continue:
...“For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth (4960 corresponds) to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children”… Galatians 4:25.
“Whose children? Jerusalem’s or Hagar’s?”
Both! They are one in the same regarding bondage!
“How can that possibly be?”
Because the Jews are still under the bondage of the law-- the Jerusalem that is as opposed to the one that will come-- just like the Arabs! (*5), there is no difference regarding their oppressive bondage to the law of Moses, represented by Jerusalem, which law came from the Mountain in Arabia!
Likewise, the Christian without the Spirit of God is no different than the godless sinner when it comes to efforts against sin. Although he might play the role of a fiduciary, he is really just using the job for the benefits and fire insurance, and therefore breaching the very definition of his fiduciary job.
With or without the Temple; Jerusalem that still is, is all about Judaism and the bondage of the Mosaic Law compounded with the doctrines of men presented as law under Color of Law: the Talmud (Matthew 15:9). The Muslims, even now religiously occupying the Temple Mount in the same Jerusalem that is, are just very good at practicing that bondage of violent punishment and oppression while the Jews might have secretly appreciated the slight reprieve by having the forced absence of the Temple and therefore lacking the perpetual burden of sacrifices, which allows them convenient deceptive ritual traditions to the degree of bondage in constant oppression just like superstitions, while at the same time mourn for their sins because they are not actually forgiven.
They are not forgiven because after learning how to abuse the sacrifices of the law to accommodate their sins-- as does the Catholic in confession, and the Christian in Christ’s blood as a presumed perpetual fountain: Hebrews 9:25-28+ 10:26-30-- God had had enough of their games and completely removed their Temple by the hand of the Romans in 70 AD and gave it for a time to the their brother the Arab Muslims, who hold the same law in the same bondage but with a different presentation. So now what are God's people the Jews to do without the ability to fulfill the law?... And what are the Jehovahless Arabs to do with the law?
Just as the female gender represents humanity as the Bride of Christ whether male or female, so Mount Sinai in Arabia (the origin of the law) represents the creation of Abraham’s son of the flesh whether Jews or Arab.
Are you beginning to see why God does not call himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses?
The history between Abraham and Jacob was one of true faith before the law. The law is bondage, it is punishment, it is fear, it is oppressive, it is bloody, it is death (I Timothy 1:9-10). It really doesn’t matter if it’s in the hands of the Jews or the Muslims at this point; It’s the law. And corrupt man will always do violence to the law by unworthy application (Zephaniah 3:2-4).
“So what are any of us to do?”
The passage continues:
…“But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” Galatians 4:26.
* * *
Now while the passage thought continues without a break, I need to step in and remind you that the Jerusalem that he speaks of is the New one that will one day, at the sum of all things determined, descend from heaven onto the new earth:
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (God the Father)” Revelation 21:1-2.
The kingdom of heaven which John first preached (Matthew 3:1) and Christ preached often (Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:14-15, Acts 10:36), precedes that City, and comes first existing in a prototype way (Matthew 5:3,10,19-20, 7:21, 8:11): Jesus instructed his disciples (that’s us) to likewise preach the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 10:7, 11:11-12, 13:11-12, :24+, :31-32, :33-43, :44, :45-46, :47-51, :52, 16:19, 18:1-22, :23-35, 19:12, :14, :23-30, 20:1-16, 22:2-14, 23:13-39, 25:1-13, :14-46) long before that City comes down.
I included all these references because if we are going to obey Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19-20, Titus 1:3) and preach his kingdom (Acts 8:12, 28:30-31), then don’t you think we should be familiar with what we are to preach? Are we actually even obeying Jesus by preaching salvation only and ignoring the fiduciary point of salvation as a bride? (Colossians 1:28-29 not just v.27).
Yes, Jesus preached salvation, but that salvation was for a purpose; to become an ambassador of that kingdom which we are commanded to preach! THAT kingdom has no bondage to the law because it operates in freedom... though not in anarchy, much as was originally represented by America’s Republic, which Islam so wants to destroy with the law of death because we abused our liberty in Christ and turned his liberty into lewdness (Jude 1:4, Mark 7:21-23, II Corinthians 12:21). As ambassadors of Christ’s kingdom we are to rather conduct ourselves in perfect freedom, as examples to both those still in legalism or in anarchy; such freedom applies equally to both, but presents differently from their perspectives (I Corinthians 9:20-22).
Now we can move on with the topic at hand:
* * *
“But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband” Galatians 4:26-27.
This odd bit of confusing prophetic inclusion in this section is a quote from the Old Testament prophet:
“Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD” Isaiah 54:1. But this bit has no practical meaning of application without the rest of that prophecy (Isaiah 54:2-14):
Is this woman supposed to pretend in Joy that she has children that she does not have? Is she supposed to scream out in pretend pain of labor that brings forth life, which she is not even carrying because she is not even married? Yet by misapplying this portion of the prophecy-in-promise, this is exactly what these confused Christians today do by pretending that they have the power of salvation while remaining desolate without it. This is exactly what the Jews do in oppressed obedience to the law by pretending that they are saved even without the required Temple Sacrifice (Romans 2:12-13). This is exactly what the Muslims do in bringing blood over the face of the Earth, pretending that they do so in the righteousness of the law in order to keep blood from being spread over the face of the Earth by the unbeliever; “the spirit of Allah says kill them all, before they kill you back first.”
“So why does Paul repeat the Old Testament Isaiah prophesy here in New Testament Galatians? And then, only in part?”
Reduced to simplicity: This Barren woman is the nation of Israel, and by her very desolation the rest of the world have been included into the faith which creates many more children (Acts 15:16-18, Romans 3:29-30, 9:30-32, 11:17=Romans 11:12,15,19, John 7:35).
In the longer version: It’s because the long barren woman has finally been promised marriage, just as the traditional Jewish virgin whom after long waiting to be chosen has finally been betrothed… but not yet married for another long period of traditionally up to a year. All around her are women already raising children but now after the shame of being a desolate old-maid for so long, even without children she sings aloud in the Joy that she will indeed bring forth children… A LOT of children! (read the whole Isaiah 54 prophecy: v.1-14). The prophetic passage is speaking of this still future holy city of hope; (Jerusalem from above) that was once nigh but then wasn’t, which is of promise and not of the law. We are talking about the sure future of the desolate Jerusalem, who has been left abandoned and shamed without a husband even still today; we are talking about the promised bride of the Father! (Isaiah 62:4); the widow of Christ the Son. Even the Jews of the law do not succeed without the Son of promise that was given (Isaiah 66:1-3) but was rejected as not the promised Son (Isaiah 66:7), and until they receive him, all they have is the broken law that shamefully proves they are indeed barren.
The metaphoric wagon has two wheel ruts (Hebrews 12:13 paths), so the wagon does not get to the destination without the rejected “other” wheel of the eternal single sacrifice that completes the law (Matthew 5:17), and until that day of faith, the law will continue to torment hope by fruitlessly attempting to drag a one-wheeled wagon to the destination by force.
“Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman” Galatians 4:30 (see Genesis 21:10).
* * *
Starting all over, without going back (John 3:3-10):
In the Isaiah 54 bizarre prophecy of a pre-mature kind of birth even before the labor pains, even before consummation of marriage (Isaiah 66:7 as in virgin birth of Jesus), Christians too, have not yet actually obtained the condition of fulfillment though the Son has already come (Philippians 3:12-14). Yet we nonetheless have already been confirmed the promise of marriage by God’s Spirit of betrothal (Ephesians 1:11-12), and so we begin the work of making ready to be consummated (I John 3:2, Matthew 25:1) though we already embrace the Son. This is the power of the Hebrew Betrothal, shamefully imitated by today’s western; Engagement, barely clinging to a dying custom of marriage itself.
The Jews are also promised marriage but by promise only (John 20:29)… of a Messiah they were given already and rejected, but are nonetheless waiting for, (Oh I am getting in deep because this needs more explanation to make sense!). These are the 10 virgins of Matthew 25 from both the Christian and the Jewish perspectives. The difference is that the Christians have already received their Messiah in “premature” joy of his inglorious “first” coming (as opposed to his glorious second), and the redemption from desolation has already begun while yet in hope of being married as promised.
But all this being written in the Gospel of Matthew (the New Testament Gospel to the Jews), this prophecy of Isaiah 54 has a deeper meaning; it is regarding the City of God; it is specifically regarding the Jews of spiritual Jerusalem who still wait in the sorrow of desolation while being assured that that sorrow will be forgotten for the joy of childbearing if they simply cling in faith of Him who promised so long ago. (This important topic deserves so much more but let's leave it at that for now).
If we examine both the Galatians 4:27 version and the Isaiah 54 version we see a significant difference that is nonetheless linked: Was Sarah husbandless? Of course not. So in the Galatians 4 use of the prophecy we see that the Christians (both Messianic Jew and Gentile who trust in Jesus Christ) are represented perfectly, as Sarah waited childless a very long time before receiving her son of promise, as if she had no husband: The desolate is the woman who is not married and therefore cannot bear children (I Timothy 5:5)(*6).
In Isaiah 54 we read the Galatians 4 expectation of an unmarried woman long after her youth would have expected marriage and children, but we also see the additional detail of a barren widow that Galatians does not show:
“Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more” Isaiah 54:4 (see Revelation 18:7+ Lamentations 1:1 for an important element of this prophecy we will not discuss here).
Now stay with me; we are not getting off target, but by the addition of complications it’s easy to become distracted. This barren widow was obviously once married and on her way to bearing children, but a turn of events brought down all her hopes (promises) before they could be fulfilled. (Genesis 38:19 with contextually strong implications that “the Jews” are not all there is to “the Jerusalem from above,” as the Father gives life in the Son’s wife after the son’s decease, and prematurely claims the infant son by the signet ring: i.e. the Holy Ghost circumcision of the heart).
The passage in Isaiah 54 does not claim that she is not now ashamed because of her childless and husbandless circumstances (Jews); in fact it recognizes that she has born the reproach of this double sorrow, just as did Tamar in Genesis 38. The passage rather promises that in spite of her long shame and reproach, her expectation will yet be fulfilled, and to the magnificent degree that she will not even remember that horrible period of shame and emptiness.
Now of course while in sorrow such a promise seems to fall empty; the sorrow is so great that it is almost impossible to believe any degree of fulfillment could make the sorrow worth it, let alone something to laugh at for the joy it has brought… But it will! God promised. So obviously that "degree" is going to be extremely magnificent!
This passage is about patience in true faith (James 1:2-4), with a promised future resolution that will make it all worth it. Scripture calls this enduring patience: hope (Proverbs 13:12, Psalm 71:13-14). And this is the reason for the very important Hebrew prophetic Type of the brother raising seed to a dead husband without children (Genesis 38:8=I Chronicles 17:11-13).
But God is not dead so how can “the Jerusalem that is” be called a widow? The scriptures provide that general answer as King David put his concubines in ward and did not thereafter go in unto them anymore (have intimate relations). These women, his wives, though David was not dead, nonetheless lived in widowhood (II Samuel 20:3). Why? Because they were publicly defiled women, in Type as God repeatedly declares Jerusalem by her whoredoms (Jeremiah 3:1-2, Isaiah 57:8) and so David did not bed them thereafter. And although God is not dead Jerusalem has lived long in widowhood; ashamed, reproached, and childless.
Obviously by deeper study of scripture, we see that God has provided a history in Type that shows His intentional inclusion of many defiled, shamed, desolate, and broken. It's a story of redemption! A Father who raised up seed unto his dead Son through the womb of a whorish woman (Genesis 38:15). God was not that husband; Jesus was that husband who was killed before bearing children. God is that Father. Israel/Jerusalem is that widow, to who God promises to raise up seed unto Chrsit. Generations of thriving Christians are the children of Jerusalem that they have but didn’t bear! Rejoice oh Jerusalem! And your childbearing is not yet even begun!
This principle of delayed resolution is also the meaning behind Abraham and Sarah’s long experience: Wait expectantly on God for your miracle deliverance and don’t attempt to fulfill His promise to you as if you are supposed to “do something” to make it happen though you don’t know what.
But miracle or not, Abraham and Sarah must have played “their part” not in desperation of trying to fulfill it, but in the Rest of faith that eventually resulted in conception at the appointed time. These are not at all the same things though we constantly try to lump them together as did Sarah (Genesis 16:2). Sarah was not Hagar the Pagan as the “Jerusalem that is,” but although she was “Jerusalem that is… in faith,” she too was still thinking in the flesh and brought about the son of the law to torment her son of the promise. Think about it.
Your part is to simply live a normal life in faithful obedience of expectation of the promise, while you wait (6960; as a waitress, not slothfully “waiting”) peacefully… even as you see things getting worse not better!
Sarah’s body grew ever older until even the possibility was eventually hopeless, and likewise Abraham’s body would just as soon read a book (Genesis 18:12). This is a key element of God’s plan for faith; waiting expectantly on God to do what he has promised is not a side issue. And even after the child of promise finally comes, the perfection (growth) of faith is not finished, as is evident by God’s command to now go sacrifice that child and apparently destroy the very fulfillment of your long awaited hope (Genesis 22:1-2) i.e. the death of Jesus Christ before he fulfilled the kingdom promise.
Abraham’s faith was commended because it was sustained wholly on trusting God’s promise (Genesis 22:3). The confusion of the command did not shake that faith and he went about obeying God while maintaining the vision of the promise (Genesis 22:5&8). Abraham was not the weak link here; it was Sarah! -- the gender typology of the human in this marriage of faith. How does your Matthew 5:48 faith hold up when far short of Abraham’s testing events? Does your insignificant trials make you uncomfortable and fearful, doubting God because you cannot see through the confusion? Do you trust God anyway, or do you like Sarah “want what’s coming to you”? Are you in it for the benefits of luxury as is commonly preached by the Health-and-Wealth Name-it-and-Claim-it doctrines of devils that wholly derail your fiduciary mindframe?
Unfulfilled expectation in faith is a key element in separating the sheep from the goats (Romans 12:19-21). And this is why youth have been given a nearly uncontrollable urge of hormones while being required to abstain for what seems like eternity! (II Timothy 2:22, Ephesians 5:3).
Does it bother you that in my use of Tamar (Genesis 38) as a Type of Sarah, we know she manipulated her father-in-law to give her the son that he promised her? Did not Sarah do the same thing with Hagar, manipulating Abraham to give her a son? Was not God’s favored Jacob the very supplanter that his name suggests, taking the birthright from the fistborn son? It’s not a story of conquest; It's a story of redemption! Just don't miss the greatly undesirable consequences that we are encouraged to avoid in faith by the informed patience of that faith historically documented for us to learn by (II Peter 1:2).
“For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it” Romans 8:24-25 (this phase greatly comforted by v.26-28).
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Back to the allegory of Sons and Mothers:
“Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now” Galatians 4:28-29.
Are you following this? The sons while accuratly presenting as the “problem,” are not the causation; the causation of distinction is in the DNA of their conception; i.e. the mothers!
The unfulfilled promise came before any related event. But before the promise was fulfilled the son of the flesh-- an allegory of bondage to the law-- came because of transgressions… not of Hagar but of Sarah; i.e. she attempted to fulfill God’s side of the promise through our human meddling because in the confusion of disbelief we think God needs or requires help to bring it to pass (Genesis 16:2). This was not poor Hagar’s doing but Sarah’s in disobedience of faith! Though not actually giving birth to him; Sarah herself created the son after the flesh that persecutes the son born after the Spirit. The children of the Mosaic Law likewise persecute the children born after the Spirit, just as the passage says. And so it continues even today as contending principles of life service to God; i.e. law and liberty.
Does this mean that Ishmael is the enemy of Isaac (Arab and Jew)? It sure seems like it by historical evidence of animosity. But wait! The law is not Ishmael but rather his mother the servant girl by lawful obligation. Ishmael was simply thinking and acting as his mother raised him to think and act; Bitter. So how does this apply?
“Is the law then against the promise of God? God forbid…” Galatians 3:21a.
Are you confused yet? Let’s continue with that verse before we make our conclusions:
“…for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law” Galatians 3:21b.
Well, it seems that the law did a pretty good job of giving life; Hagar had a son by the law that gave her to Abraham. Remember, Ishmael is the son of the law not the law itself, and Isaac is the promise which the law seems to stand against, expressed through her son of animosity. So although the law was used to our advantage by teaching us right from wrong as a harsh schoolmaster of chastisement for error (I Timothy 1:8, Isaiah 54:16), the law actually confirms the promise of liberty because in all of its bondage and oppressions it completely fails to produce the desired life and peace to the son who wields it, but only death and destruction (Isaiah 59:7-15). We see this evidenced in real time as militant Islam, the so-called religion of peace through the oppression of law, utterly fails to produce a single shred of peace…even amongst themselves, as they force strict compliance to the law on everyone else (Romans 2:1, back at’cha contentious Christian).
So while the law, by its violence against every infraction, appears to be against liberty (the promise), the law by its failure actually confirms liberty as the only possible way to a peaceful life… if the intent of the law is accepted without the oppression of the law in application (Romans 8:1-4). Liberty is not freedom from the law but freedom in applied comprehension of the un-applied law in righteousness not anarchy (I Corinthians 7:39, James 1:25, James 2:12).
It is unarguable by anyone, that long before the law of Moses ever came, Abraham-- the mutually claimed father-- was justified by faith alone (Galatians 3:6). So cast out the law and her son-- insignificant of nationality-- as the cause of bloodshed, and serve God in love as did Abraham your mutual father in the flesh, but only importantly in the One Spirit of God which includes us all through our mother; Jerusalem from above! (Isaiah 56:3-7). God simply does not credit you Jews or Arabs... or Christians, for your faithfulness to innumerable oppressive rules, rituals, and superstitions, so let them go! What God cares about is your true and unpretended intimacy with Him through the Spirit of his Son:
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” Romans 8:2.
“Now the end (conclusion, purpose, intent) of the commandment is charity (love) out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:” I Timothy 1:5.
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” Matthew 22:37-40.
How do you determine this is to be applied properly? NOT by a pile of rules that you do but don’t mean! And NOT by a pile of rules that conform to your wicked desires that you do mean! And this comprehension, long before you begin forcing others to comply with your conclusions of what God expects from them (Romans 14:4, Matthew 7:3).
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Conclusion:
I feel now that I have addressed this general topic of law sufficiently, though certainly not exhaustively. But I have addressed it so diligently leaning one-sided toward attention to the law for a couple of reasons:
First, because Christians have abandon the law for several generations now and have no comprehension of its value (I Timothy 1:8-10), and secondly because by the resulting anarchy, the law is about to be applied to the world in great violence by the son of the law to “correct” the anarchy by the son of liberty.
Then next, because the law’s instructing comprehension is foundational to resisting the siren call of Mystery Babylon that is now rising in the guise of a liberated daughter coming to save us from the son of oppression; i.e. the law.
New Jerusalem has not yet come, continue to wait/serve faithfully for her without loosing hope. But in waiting for the new Jerusalem that is not based in the Jerusalem long of the oppressive law, learn to recognize how to identify the new Jerusalem from the mysterious impostor of lawlessness that will come first and in fact has already encroached into Christian doctrine disguised as grace!
“An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed. Say not thou, I will recompense evil (for what is done unto me); but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee” Proverbs 20:21-22.
I see great sorrows coming soon upon America and later upon Israel (Jeremiah 12:5), very great sorrows (read Hosea then Joel). These sorrows are not to be retaliated against as the enemy itself (Ephesians 6:12), because our decision-making hearts and minds are already corrupt (Hosea 4:4, Habakkuk 1:4), which is why God sends them to us in the first place (Joel 2:1-3, Habakkuk 1:5-7). Rather than unsuccessfully battling the apparent cause of the sorrows, turn your heart and soul to the God you claim to trust and serve. And in your purified fiduciary duty (Jeremiah 4:3) endure with the patience of a farmer (Hosea 10:12) this period of which God designed a specific end to the barrenness of tilling, though-- because of late planting due to the extra fallow soil-- the resulting benefits most probably will not come in your lifetime.
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” Galatians 5:16, implying that if you don’t walk in the Spirit, the ground of the law becomes fallow, where only weeds grow.
This nation of America has long been walking in the flesh, but only recently called in dumptrucks to pour a concrete dance-floor for a party remenicent of the Hebrews at the foot of Mt. Siani while Moses was away (Exodus 32:18-25). That is some very fallow ground and will take some industrial sized tillers to break it up! I’m thinking Islam has just the tool for the job.
Regarding the previous passage in association with this one, Mystery Babylon will tell you that this command to obedience is the oppressive law from the son that should be cast out by the instruction of the New Testament itself! And your heart will agree in the justifiable right of self-preservation of freedom that the righteous nation is commanded to maintain in faith (Numbers 33:52-53, Judges 1:1-2). I told you that the confusion will be very great and this example is only the beginning. Therefore it is imperative that we nail our faith down solid before the confusion is established to destroy it! (*7).
“Wait (6960) on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart, wait, I say, on the LORD” Psalm 27:14.
Wait 6960 qavah; a primitive root; to bind together (perhaps by twisting), i.e. collect; (figuratively) to expect:-- gather (together), look, patiently, tarry, wait, (for, on, upon).
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Application:
So how does one apply all this in their personal life of everyday problems; "how does this knowledge help in a practical way in my desperate state that seems to have nothing to do with God?"
It is found in comprehending that virtually everything relates directly to God. You must come face to face with the choice of worldveiw that shows everything you experience is the mercy of God.
But how is such an irresponsible statement true? It’s because to the unbeliever as well as the disobedient, every trouble is a progressively alarming wakeup-call of God to say;
“Wake up, you need to wake up, there is eternal danger at hand”.
Nobody likes being shaken awake (*8).
But if the call does not work, the shaking comes next… first gentle, then agitated, then aggressive, then violent:
“WAKE UP!” (Isaiah 52:1-6, Joel 1:5-6).
And to the alert and faithful, the troubles you face-- though a consequence of civilization allowing evil to prosper (Proverbs 29:2)-- are nonetheless used by God as exercises in maintaining and increasing your strength of focus in the progressively increasing global deceitfulness of wickedness spread through suffering by those who reject the wisdom of God (Isaiah 59:18-20, Zechariah 13:7-8). Don’t fall to the illusion (*8 again) it is a test/exercise of your faith, be strong and very courageous! (Zechariah 13:9).
The common factor is that troubles in this life are not the end topic, they are not the true issue, but how you choose to view them is. Virtually everything relates directly to God . This is the all-encompassing topic that you continue to ignore or forget because the drugs of forbidden fruit have blinded you to a reasonable mind:
“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” II Corinthians 4:3-4.
It’s time to wake up. The temporal world is only an illusion of something greater! (I Corinthians 15:34).
(*9)
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(*1) Fiduciary:.
“An individual in whom another has placed the utmost trust and confidence to manage and protect property or money. The relationship wherein one person has an obligation to act for another's benefit" - (http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/fiduciary+duty).
"A fiduciary relationship encompasses the idea of faith and confidence and is generally established only when the confidence given by one person is actually accepted by the other person. Mere respect for another individual's judgment or general trust in his or her character is ordinarily insufficient for the creation of a fiduciary relationship. The duties of a fiduciary include loyalty and reasonable care of the assets within custody. All of the fiduciary's actions are performed for the advantage of the beneficiary.
Courts have neither defined the particular circumstances of fiduciary relationships nor set any limitations on circumstances from which such an alliance may arise. Certain relationships are, however, universally regarded as fiduciary. The term embraces legal relationships such as those between attorney and client, Broker and principal, principal and agent, trustee and beneficiary, and executors or administrators and the heirs of a decedent's estate.
A fiduciary relationship extends to every possible case in which one side places confidence in the other and such confidence is accepted; this causes dependence by the one individual and influence by the other. Blood relation alone does not automatically bring about a fiduciary relationship. A fiduciary relationship does not necessarily arise between parents and children or brothers and sisters.
The courts stringently examine transactions between people involved in fiduciary relationships toward one another. Particular scrutiny is placed upon any transaction by which a dominant individual obtains any advantage or profit at the expense of the party under his or her influence. Such transaction, in which Undue Influence of the fiduciary can be established, is void.”
- West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Practical Application:
“People in a position of trust or fiduciary relationship, such as officers, directors, high-level employees of a corporation or business, agents and brokers, owe certain duties to their principals or employers. Fiduciary relationships, which are by their very nature relationships of good faith, may involve a variety of obligations depending on the exact circumstances.
Fiduciary duties require that the fiduciary acts solely in the best interest of the employer/principal, free of any self-dealing, conflicts of interest, or other abuse of the principal for personal advantage. Thus, corporate directors, officers, and employees are barred from using corporate property or assets for their personal pursuits, or taking corporate opportunities for themselves [bold emphasis added]. More traditional fraudulent conduct, such as thefts, acceptance of secret commissions, and conflicts of interest also violate the duty of loyalty, and may be prosecuted as such in addition to or instead of the underlying offence.
A breach of fiduciary duty is often easier to prove than fraud. The claimant does not need to prove criminal or fraudulent intent or the other elements of fraud. To prevail, the claimant must show only that the defendant occupied a position of trust or fiduciary relationship as described above and that the defendant breached that duty to benefit personally.
…Fiduciaries who act carelessly or recklessly are responsible for any resulting loss to the corporate shareholders or other principals. Damages may be recovered in a civil action for negligence. Corporate officers who carelessly fail to enforce controls, or to pursue recovery of losses might breach their duty of care. …” - http://legal.practitioner.com/regulation/standards_9_3_6.htm.
Can you see how such a thing clearly applies to our ambassadorship of our Lord’s kingdom? And in the application, all the confusion seems to evaporate by simply understanding and accepting our fiduciary responsibilities of the job (I Timothy 3:2-5, Titus 1:10-16, I Peter 5:2-4, Ezekiel 3:17+). Christ does not save you to be a free-loader!
(*2) Jonathan Cahn:
The Harbinger book, and “The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment” DVD; both exceptional interpretations of scripture prophetically applied as God intended.
Harbinger: 1. One sent before to arrange for lodgings. 2. A forerunner; a precursor.
(*3) Word Search:
Do a scriptural word search of Jeremiah using “return unto”; the progression of distinct increase in their sorrows after each turning away is reminiscent of the Hebrews in the Judges. God faithfully calls them back from their sorrows before each deeper fall into a compounded consequence, eventually ending up captives in Babylon for 70 years with their holy city and temple utterly destroyed. But their story does not end there; after their return home and a “new beginning,” the Diaspora of 70 AD was the next “end” of their continued progression of sorrows, and now that they are finally returned yet again-- this time after 1,878 Gregorian years-- we can expect the trend to continue on yet another level with yet another temple, until they eventually accept their true deliverer; the Son of God, the cornerstone of the true Temple (Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 28:16, Matthew 21:42-43= Ephesians 2:13-22) that pre-exists today in the hearts of Christians.
(*4) The Christian Church is not a new faith, but an extension of that Abrahamic faith on a new level of “pre-mature” fulfilled promise to take away the guilt of sin (Romans 11:26-27, Isaiah 30:21), and so we can be sure that having been given such a substantial advantage as the Spirit of Christ like a leashless leash, if we likewise run away the unfavorable results will be most surely greater (Luke 12:48, Hebrews 10:28-29). This leash is not a leash for the very purpose of letting you do as you wish. The dog’s that get fed and petted and protected, are those found on the ranch. How unfair is that?
My concern is when the "Animal Farm-like" dogs, sell the ranch to the “developer.” I’m thinking that won’t go over real big with the owner!
(*5) Arabs vs. Muslims:
This is a complex topic that requires a historical tracking back to Jethro (Exodus 3:1, 18:1-6 and 10-12)-- the Arab Midianite on the West coast of Saudi Arabia, among many Arab nations (Genesis 25:1-2,4&6)-- in order to discover that while Arabs, Egyptians, and Persians now practice Islam, they are still not the same thing in the eyes of God, as only the Arabs are of Abraham’s seed (Genesis 17:20). And while this is complex in itself, remember that although the allegory declares Hagar is Mt. Sinai in Arabia (Galatians 4:25), Hagar was actually an Egyptian (Genesis 16:1+16:15). Egypt was where they were long in bondage as servants. Therefore: The law is bondage comparable with slavery in Egypt but not limited to that location or nationality. Genesis 15 is almost always misapplied to the Jews only, but the ultimate promise to Abraham is the boundaries of all his people; both Isaac and Ishmael! (Genesis 15:5+18), but that has complexities we will not cover here.
The topic of the passage in question is actually about the mothers not the sons who are clearly both Abraham’s. Hagar, the allegory of the law, produced the troubled son of the flesh, while Sarah, the intentionally undeclared allegory of Spiritual Jerusalem from above-- after she finally figures out how to wait-- is the mother of all God’s people regardless of such genealogies. By not naming Sarah in the allegory, the passage allows more than Isaac’s lineage in the promise. The Jewish/Islamic Jerusalem that now is, is Hagar and is simply a thorn of oppressive law (Zechariah 12:2-3) that stands in the way of the Spirit of liberty which is available to anyone who will accept its invitation through the Son of God (John 3:16). While this principle is fully true without a “but,” its abuse opens the door to the “Virgin daughter of Babylon,” which is the next main topic for a while, with more complexities still.
(*6) The Barren Woman:
This passage is not a designed wound to the single woman who longs to be Married and bear children, but rather the suffering of these women are confirmation that this prophecy claim is very true (Joel 1:7-8). Have patience my dear, God will in truth fulfill this promise when you learn to rest in faith, especially if you never bear while in the flesh on this earth! (Isaiah 56:3-5, Ezekiel 17:22-24, Daniel 1:6-8). Your extended patience beyond limits for the fulfillment of your promise is as rewardable as Sarah’s herself! (Hebrews 11:13-17). You have the honor of keeping very good company if you don’t dwell on your sorrow! Don’t fret; it was not Abraham’s nor Sarah’s desire to wait so long either, but in faith they simply followed the Lord wherever he lead, year after year after year while they waited for the ultimate fulfillment that was not possible until after all their own efforts were shown fruitless (Jeremiah 29:11-14). The fulfillment of promise regarding uncountable children did not even come while they lived in the flesh (Hebrews 11:11-13), but for all eternity they will enjoy their uncountable offspring in the faith. Such extended-vision patience opens the door to the spiritual view of life that the temporally occupied never see!
If you quietly but strongly feel that Sara giving birth at a very old age (Genesis 21:2) was getting-the-short-end-of-the-stick, then your mind and heart is still mired in the temporal as if this is your home. Lift up your eyes and see more!
(*7) Rahab vs. You:
We can learn a lot about God’s individual mercy by reading Rahab’s story of salvation (Joshua chapters 2,6, Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25) but it is wrong to suppose that her wonderful experience in life that followed her salvation will example your own; Rahab was saved out of a wicked Pagan nation by the conquest of God’s holy people who followed his laws of goodness, while today “Rahab” can still be saved but its out of a wicked Christian people by the conquest of the Pagan nation that God now sends to dispossess them.
Rahab will not fair so favorably under their rule because their god is not love (I John 3:10), so don't be surprised and confused when by salvation you do not experience a blessed temporal life among a wicked society... either before or after the conquest!
(*8) Still Passing the Blame (Genesis 3:11-13):
Do not eat from that tree because the knowledge of evil is appealing and beneficial, and then blame Eve for your condition of sorrows! The tree is still standing in the midst of our own garden of life and the choice to partake or resist is ours to face every day (Genesis 3:1-6).
(*9) Now of course I still haven’t explained how angels can actually breed with women in our effort to discover where we are "as in the days of Noah," but we’re getting to that!
*
Are you hearing God’s dualistic message in the Judges? Once you belong to God you don’t have to worry about His faithfulness to you, what you need to be attentive to is your faithfulness to Him. Paul’s letter to the Romans is a great book to explain this duplicitous concept that simple-minded Christians seem to want “either/or”; something like the idea that assumes once you’re married you don’t have to try anymore. Do you wonder why so many Christian marriages today end in divorce after years of selfish unhappiness?
So starting after Moses In Two Parts Post 246, where is the expected Grace? Where is the New Testament Covenant? Where is the Liberty that you thought I would write about?
But it IS there, just as I showed in The Uncommon Christian Walk, and it’s here in the Judges as well… it’s just not in the form that we are prepared to recognize because of our pre-conceptions of what we’re looking for.
God’s Grace is found in the fact that in longsuffering He again and again and again goes after a stubborn rebellious people that bolt the second the leash is off. God’s new Covenant is revealed in his keeping an eye on those rebel hearts while knowing that the fullness of time had not yet come to send his Son’s Spirit to lead them without leash or chain (Galatians 4:4-6). God’s Liberty is seen clearly in their willful and persistent departure from God by ability of choice, and yet God remains ever faithful to lead them back home through the discipline of suffering like a father gives a child a spanking, not in the reason of anger but in training.
So if God so tenaciously keeps his wholly rebellious people when they run wild (Joshua 24:22, Isaiah 44:22, Acts 3:19-21), how much more liberty must surely be extended to those who conduct themselves in love of Him! (Ephesians 2:4-9, Romans 8:1 in acceptance before God vs. I Timothy 3:6 in application before men), even if they fall short in application before God! (I John 2:1). How much more eternally secure can you get than that to those who choose to belong, such as Rahab the harlot, whose wicked city literally crumbled around her for its wickedness while she a prostitute was spared by God’s mercy because she chose Him fiducially (Joshua 2:3-7, 9-13+6:25, Luke 1:50, Psalm 33:18), (as opposed to: Deuteronomy 29:25, Matthew 22:12). But at the same time, How much more consequences to disobedience do you want to see exampled before you understand the cause-and-effect obligation to the name you bear? (Ephesians 4:1, Colossians 1:10, I Thessalonians 2:12= Revelation 3:4). Yes, God does indeed run all things as Sovereign (Colossians 1:16-17), yet functionally it is still not God directly who "punishes you" as if in retaliation, but rather it is a designed result that he put into motion by the laws of nature (Genesis 6:7+ Isaiah 54:16= Isaiah 10:5-8). This is his warning (Luke 12:13-15), it is a "light: particle-or-wave?" thing, that depends on the perspective used.
Where is the Liberty and Eternal Security in the message of John the Baptist who preached a warning of repentance-unto-good-works only days before the Lord of Grace began to manifest his Salvation-through-repentance-unto-good-works? (Matthew 5:16, Titus 2:14, Ephesians 2:10, II Timothy 3:17, Titus 3:8). It was found in the fact that he preached at all, instead of turning his back to a rebellious and twisted people doomed for punishment (Titus 1:16).
John the Baptist cried: “Repent!” Why? Because “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1-2, Mark 1:14-15). Jesus declared the purpose of this preaching was to prepare the way of the Lord by making the Lord’s paths straight (Matthew 3:3). Those paths are found dualistically in the works of righteousness, which works will indeed be confused by a great deception of “identity theft” regarding righteousness (II Corinthians 11:15).
It’s NOT about the works but the righteousness that spawns the works (Titus 3:5+6-8, Romans 4:6-11). This is so important to fully understand because of the age of deception that is now upon us. The premiere question is: “Whose righteousness?” (Isaiah 57:1-2,13b-14 vs. 10-13a), (Genesis 15:6+), I cannot stress this enough: There is Satan’s righteousness (II Corinthians 11:15), Your righteousness (Isaiah 57:12, Isaiah 64:6), and then there is God’s righteousness. As ambassadors of God we are to take up God’s righteousness and not our own (II Peter 1:1, 2:5, I John 3:10-11, Hebrews 1:9), this is not an intellectual “distinction”; it is a spiritual focus issue. Such a concept is most easily seen by the employment of a project manager: The job is fully his to run as he sees fit (Matthew 16:19), but his devotion is to be on the will of the owner and not on his own interests. The legal word for this concept is Fiduciary (*1), it’s meaning is well worth a thorough consideration.
Where was God’s Grace in the wilderness when He told Moses to step aside and let his wrath consume the rebellious Exodus People? (Numbers 14:11-12). It was found in Moses himself as he appealed to God to reconsider (Numbers 14:13-19, I John 2:1), and it was God himself who sent them Moses for just that purpose as a Type of the Christ who would come (Hebrews 8:4-6, 9:14-16, I Timothy 2:5).
OH, don’t get me wrong; I really, REALLY want to take this Post into Galatians 4:4-7, 5:1-6, Romans 14, II Corinthians 5:18-19, etc., because that glorious freedom is indeed where God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord want us to dwell, but you cannot skip over the far more lengthy passages of obedience to get there:
OH, don’t get me wrong; I really, REALLY want to take this post into Galatians 4:4-7, 5:1-6, Romans 14, II Corinthians 5:18-19, etc., because that glorious freedom is indeed where God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord want us to dwell, but you cannot skip over the far more lengthy passages of obedience to get there:
“For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eatheth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body” I Corinthians 11:29.
What? You thought that verse was only related to a superficial ritual disconnected from your life?
“Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? (meaning: Jesus did not partake of the table of devils, so why do you think it’s OK?)” I Corinthians 10:21-22.
If the Lord’s actual table is the thing at the front of the church covered in a sheet where the ritualistic sacraments set, where then is the table of devils that we are warned against partaking of too?
I tell you the truth; The table of devils is the many daily compromises with the wickedness of this world while thinking it can’t hurt us because we’re saved. How then can we claim to be Christians if we so partake? Are you stronger that Jesus himself? Would you instruct Jesus that it’s OK because you can handle it while he couldn’t? Would you attempt to provoke Jesus to be jealous of your strength? I didn’t think so.
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,” II Corinthians 6:17.
And this whole passage is in the NEW TESTAMENT!
Don’t touch the unclean thing? That sounds so Old Testament! But the passage concept is not about conformance to rules-- though the rule (Exodus 12:11-14) is not abandoned (II Chronicles 35:17-18), just freshened with its fulfillment (I Corinthians 11:25-26). It’s about an entirely new perspective of existence. And the concept intent; its purpose, concludes with the opening of the next Chapter:
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us (a call to action)…” II Corinthians 7:1a.
“OK wait; What promises?”
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” II Corinthians 4:17 (+18).
“For we know that if our earthly house (3614 residence, dwelling) of this tabernacle (4636 temporary hut) were dissolved (the 2647 destruction of our body of flesh on earth), we have a building (3619 Architectural structure; i.e. intended design) of God, an house (3614) not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” II Corinthians 5:1 (+2-5).
“Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:” II Corinthians 5:6 (+7-9).
“And that he (Christ) died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves (as if this body were our home and it’s contentment our aim), but unto him which died for them, and rose again” II Corinthians 5:15 (+16).
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” II Corinthians 5:17.
“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God (himself) did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead (; on behalf of Christ), be ye reconciled to God” II Corinthians 5:20.
Are you getting the message? You are promised that if you belong to Christ then you have an eternal life that makes this temporal life in the flesh insignificant, and with a change of perception and focus, you are given a new job from that perspective: It’s the job of sinners to sin but you are to live the example of promise in the proof that all things are actually become new! (I Corinthians 6:9-11). It’s like changing jobs; from a prostitute to top executive of an honorable Fortune 500 company. That’s pretty new for “all things”!
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” II Corinthians 7:1.
“Whoa, Whoa, WHOA! I thought it was Christ’s job to cleanse us and perfect us.”
Yes but no; It is Christ’s job to provide you with that option heretofore unavailable. Christ cleanses your soul, now what are you going to do with it? After the cleansing shower of his sacrificial blood; do you want to continue playing in the septic, or maintain the cleanliness he has given you for the purpose of taking the job that he cleansed you to do? Perfecting holiness suggests a process of experiential maturity to completion (I John 2:13a). The specific wording of this verse does not allow a clean spirit while the flesh remains filthy (i.e. faith without works) as some would promote through the intellectual abuse of the Scriptures.
“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully;…” II Corinthians 4:1-2a (see: Hebrews 3:13b).
Is that confusing to your present understanding of the faith? Does this sound like the fruitless works-unto-salvation? Does your perception of grace comfort you-- if not encourage you-- to continue in sin?
“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, should shine unto them” II Corinthians 4:3.
“For we preach not ourselves (i.e. our works, as you seem to think we do) but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake” II Corinthians 4:5 9.
My works are not mine, I am not a perfect man by the deeds of the flesh; I preach to you by example the ambassadorship of one who has answered the call. I can answer the ad because I qualify for the position; I am a new creature, and behold, all things are in fact become new! This is made possible by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord, and is accomplished through the renunciation of things dishonest; I have taken the job… and sinning is no longer in my job description! (I John 2:2-6, 3:6-8, 9-10).
As a young manager I was once told; “You no longer have the luxury of ‘having a bad day,’” how much more so as an ambassador of God!?
Am I preaching myself? My works? My righteousness? God forbid! I am preaching the power of Christ!
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” II Corinthians 4:6.
And God put this amazing treasure in these easily corruptible bodies of our flesh so that the excellency of this power to live so, may be of God, and not of ourselves (II Corinthians 4:7).
The passage then goes on to declare things very unpleasant to our mortal being, yet are now not chastisements from the Lord for disobedience but rather attacks from the enemy because of who we now work for. Yet with this new power in a clear conscience of Life independent from the flesh, those unpleasant things, not attached by guilt, are received in Joy as glorious and beneficial to the spirit where our life is really found (II Corinthians 4:8-17, Hebrews 11:35):
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” II Corinthians 4:18.
This is a perspective that cannot be comprehended, let alone accepted, by the life lived after the flesh even though it thinks it’s a Christian (Romans 1:18-22). This is a whole new perspective than the old familiar failed struggle with obedience due to fulfilling the deceitful desires of the flesh.
“Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils” I Corinthians 10:21.
“…Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart…lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings” Jeremiah 4:3-4.
The Judges is a historical account of figuring this out on the temporal plain in the here-and-now of the “real world”-- as said from the mind of the flesh that wants to separate the spiritual from the temporal existence. This is why God can promise never to forsake them, and then seemed to forsake them! God was speaking spiritually on a much grander cause than their momentary concerns that they didn’t like his chastisements of abandonment. This concept is foundational to a right perception of our experiences in light of God’s promises. Don’t be the five-year-old screaming in the isles of the grocery store; “You hate me!” when his mother does not buy him the latest thing that caught his eye. Life is so much bigger than the moment.
And sadly, in time, while never making a clean break from compromise with a full heart toward God alone, eventually the people refuse to humble themselves at God’s latest chastisements but instead hate him for making them suffer, and they go about meeting God’s “challenge” in defiance as if God were now their adversary (Isaiah 9:9b+10). Jonathan Cahn (*2) has shown just such a response from America after God’s 9/11 harbinger chastisement. There are few modern works that I can confirm are the pure message of God as I can The Harbinger.
At some point, any further chastisements cannot produce the desired return and there is nothing left but destruction in what is called the wrath of God:
“But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy” II Chronicles 36:16.
When does God’s increasing chastisement change to judgment? It’s often hard to say until after the fact, but the heart that asks is not looking to repent but only asking; “How long do I have left?” This is the clear sign of a full addiction that needs an immediate external detox center such as captivity in Babylon, or worse. So you tell me; Is America at that point? You should be worried, because God is faithful! (Hebrews 10:31 in light of its previous three verses).
* * *
The Law, The Liberty:
So is the answer to our troubles a return to the deeds and bondage to the law and thereby avoid the chastisements? This is the only other option available to the “old creature” who has not actually found that all things have become new, yet tries nonetheless out of desperation.
“And no man putteth new wine into old bottles (779): else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles” Mark 2:22.
This verse seems to reveal the deception we see in Joshua 9:13 as a Type of the Mark 2:22 argument against returning to the law after liberty is provided. In otherwords; it is a deception that we should recognize in spite of the misleading argument provided. New wine always breaks old wineskins (779).
“Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” Galatians 4:21.
So now we arrive at the complex crossroads that is only complex because we have abandoned our fiduciary perspective: You have been quite happy to live in the lawless liberty that you have found in Christ’s security of salvation while you lounge in guiltless sin, but I preach to you the offensive law of the New Testament that strips away that self-serving perspective (Matthew 5:19, 22:36-40, John 14:15). This New Testament law is often confused with the condemned doctrines of man using the same title; law (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7).
And yet now, as you contemplate obedience to the law as a reasonable solution, the New Testament itself moans to you a long tired warning that the law is shown to not be where you find safety and rest! In fact the law itself tells you this! Do you not hear the law as your schoolmaster that is simply trying to get you to graduate from regimented obedience of fear, to a worthy righteousness of love? (Matthew 5:20+ 21:32+ Romans 1:17-18+ 3:5= John 16:8-12+ Romans 3:22, Acts 13:10), (Romans 2:26-27). So allow me to word the same principle in a fresh New Testament way:
“Tell me, you that desire to be under grace, do you not hear the grace?” (Romans 6:11-14,18-23, 8:3-9= Romans 9:30-32+10:10), (I Corinthians 15:34).
In the Judges we see that God’s chosen people learned how to abuse the law to recover from the consequences of their sins; “Return to me and I will heal you” says the LORD (Isaiah 55:7, Jeremiah 3:22, 4:1)(*3), and in the phylactery kind of “technical” way they comply, and God honors the words of his promise while growing in frustration (vs. Galatians 2:21).
And by comprehending God’s true heart in the matter contrary to their application, we can see that we too have learned how to abuse the grace for the same affect while missing the point. So what do you suppose God’s heart in this matter is as well? (*4).
Let’s explore what the law says on this subject:
“For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman (law and “grace” more accurately called liberty).
But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise (yep, confirmed; law and liberty).
Which things (of both children distinctly) are an allegory: for these are the two covenants (no problem, we get that); the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is (H)Agar”… Galatians 4:22-24.
SCREEEECH! “Hold the phone!, WHAT?!”
Ishmael is an allegory of the law of Moses?! But I thought sin was the bondage. I thought sin was the son of Hagar made through the efforts of man and not through the miracle of God’s promise. I thought the Mosaic Law was given as a solution for the bondwoman’s son and not the allegory of that son himself! I thought the law represented Isaac; the Jews, in opposition to Ishmael the Pagan! Does this actually imply that the Islamic Arabs are the allegory of the Mosaic Law?!
Let’s park that thought for a bit as we continue:
...“For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth (4960 corresponds) to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children”… Galatians 4:25.
“Whose children? Jerusalem’s or Hagar’s?”
Both! They are one in the same regarding bondage!
“How can that possibly be?”
Because the Jews are still under the bondage of the law-- the Jerusalem that is as opposed to the one that will come-- just like the Arabs! (*5), there is no difference regarding their oppressive bondage to the law of Moses, represented by Jerusalem, which law came from the Mountain in Arabia!
Likewise, the Christian without the Spirit of God is no different than the godless sinner when it comes to efforts against sin. Although he might play the role of a fiduciary, he is really just using the job for the benefits and fire insurance, and therefore breaching the very definition of his fiduciary job.
With or without the Temple; Jerusalem that still is, is all about Judaism and the bondage of the Mosaic Law compounded with the doctrines of men presented as law under Color of Law: the Talmud (Matthew 15:9). The Muslims, even now religiously occupying the Temple Mount in the same Jerusalem that is, are just very good at practicing that bondage of violent punishment and oppression while the Jews might have secretly appreciated the slight reprieve by having the forced absence of the Temple and therefore lacking the perpetual burden of sacrifices, which allows them convenient deceptive ritual traditions to the degree of bondage in constant oppression just like superstitions, while at the same time mourn for their sins because they are not actually forgiven.
They are not forgiven because after learning how to abuse the sacrifices of the law to accommodate their sins-- as does the Catholic in confession, and the Christian in Christ’s blood as a presumed perpetual fountain: Hebrews 9:25-28+ 10:26-30-- God had had enough of their games and completely removed their Temple by the hand of the Romans in 70 AD and gave it for a time to the their brother the Arab Muslims, who hold the same law in the same bondage but with a different presentation. So now what are God's people the Jews to do without the ability to fulfill the law?... And what are the Jehovahless Arabs to do with the law?
Just as the female gender represents humanity as the Bride of Christ whether male or female, so Mount Sinai in Arabia (the origin of the law) represents the creation of Abraham’s son of the flesh whether Jews or Arab.
Are you beginning to see why God does not call himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses?
The history between Abraham and Jacob was one of true faith before the law. The law is bondage, it is punishment, it is fear, it is oppressive, it is bloody, it is death (I Timothy 1:9-10). It really doesn’t matter if it’s in the hands of the Jews or the Muslims at this point; It’s the law. And corrupt man will always do violence to the law by unworthy application (Zephaniah 3:2-4).
“So what are any of us to do?”
The passage continues:
…“But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” Galatians 4:26.
* * *
Now while the passage thought continues without a break, I need to step in and remind you that the Jerusalem that he speaks of is the New one that will one day, at the sum of all things determined, descend from heaven onto the new earth:
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (God the Father)” Revelation 21:1-2.
The kingdom of heaven which John first preached (Matthew 3:1) and Christ preached often (Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:14-15, Acts 10:36), precedes that City, and comes first existing in a prototype way (Matthew 5:3,10,19-20, 7:21, 8:11): Jesus instructed his disciples (that’s us) to likewise preach the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 10:7, 11:11-12, 13:11-12, :24+, :31-32, :33-43, :44, :45-46, :47-51, :52, 16:19, 18:1-22, :23-35, 19:12, :14, :23-30, 20:1-16, 22:2-14, 23:13-39, 25:1-13, :14-46) long before that City comes down.
I included all these references because if we are going to obey Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19-20, Titus 1:3) and preach his kingdom (Acts 8:12, 28:30-31), then don’t you think we should be familiar with what we are to preach? Are we actually even obeying Jesus by preaching salvation only and ignoring the fiduciary point of salvation as a bride? (Colossians 1:28-29 not just v.27).
Yes, Jesus preached salvation, but that salvation was for a purpose; to become an ambassador of that kingdom which we are commanded to preach! THAT kingdom has no bondage to the law because it operates in freedom... though not in anarchy, much as was originally represented by America’s Republic, which Islam so wants to destroy with the law of death because we abused our liberty in Christ and turned his liberty into lewdness (Jude 1:4, Mark 7:21-23, II Corinthians 12:21). As ambassadors of Christ’s kingdom we are to rather conduct ourselves in perfect freedom, as examples to both those still in legalism or in anarchy; such freedom applies equally to both, but presents differently from their perspectives (I Corinthians 9:20-22).
Now we can move on with the topic at hand:
* * *
“But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband” Galatians 4:26-27.
This odd bit of confusing prophetic inclusion in this section is a quote from the Old Testament prophet:
“Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD” Isaiah 54:1. But this bit has no practical meaning of application without the rest of that prophecy (Isaiah 54:2-14):
Is this woman supposed to pretend in Joy that she has children that she does not have? Is she supposed to scream out in pretend pain of labor that brings forth life, which she is not even carrying because she is not even married? Yet by misapplying this portion of the prophecy-in-promise, this is exactly what these confused Christians today do by pretending that they have the power of salvation while remaining desolate without it. This is exactly what the Jews do in oppressed obedience to the law by pretending that they are saved even without the required Temple Sacrifice (Romans 2:12-13). This is exactly what the Muslims do in bringing blood over the face of the Earth, pretending that they do so in the righteousness of the law in order to keep blood from being spread over the face of the Earth by the unbeliever; “the spirit of Allah says kill them all, before they kill you back first.”
“So why does Paul repeat the Old Testament Isaiah prophesy here in New Testament Galatians? And then, only in part?”
Reduced to simplicity: This Barren woman is the nation of Israel, and by her very desolation the rest of the world have been included into the faith which creates many more children (Acts 15:16-18, Romans 3:29-30, 9:30-32, 11:17=Romans 11:12,15,19, John 7:35).
In the longer version: It’s because the long barren woman has finally been promised marriage, just as the traditional Jewish virgin whom after long waiting to be chosen has finally been betrothed… but not yet married for another long period of traditionally up to a year. All around her are women already raising children but now after the shame of being a desolate old-maid for so long, even without children she sings aloud in the Joy that she will indeed bring forth children… A LOT of children! (read the whole Isaiah 54 prophecy: v.1-14). The prophetic passage is speaking of this still future holy city of hope; (Jerusalem from above) that was once nigh but then wasn’t, which is of promise and not of the law. We are talking about the sure future of the desolate Jerusalem, who has been left abandoned and shamed without a husband even still today; we are talking about the promised bride of the Father! (Isaiah 62:4); the widow of Christ the Son. Even the Jews of the law do not succeed without the Son of promise that was given (Isaiah 66:1-3) but was rejected as not the promised Son (Isaiah 66:7), and until they receive him, all they have is the broken law that shamefully proves they are indeed barren.
The metaphoric wagon has two wheel ruts (Hebrews 12:13 paths), so the wagon does not get to the destination without the rejected “other” wheel of the eternal single sacrifice that completes the law (Matthew 5:17), and until that day of faith, the law will continue to torment hope by fruitlessly attempting to drag a one-wheeled wagon to the destination by force.
“Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman” Galatians 4:30 (see Genesis 21:10).
* * *
Starting all over, without going back (John 3:3-10):
In the Isaiah 54 bizarre prophecy of a pre-mature kind of birth even before the labor pains, even before consummation of marriage (Isaiah 66:7 as in virgin birth of Jesus), Christians too, have not yet actually obtained the condition of fulfillment though the Son has already come (Philippians 3:12-14). Yet we nonetheless have already been confirmed the promise of marriage by God’s Spirit of betrothal (Ephesians 1:11-12), and so we begin the work of making ready to be consummated (I John 3:2, Matthew 25:1) though we already embrace the Son. This is the power of the Hebrew Betrothal, shamefully imitated by today’s western; Engagement, barely clinging to a dying custom of marriage itself.
The Jews are also promised marriage but by promise only (John 20:29)… of a Messiah they were given already and rejected, but are nonetheless waiting for, (Oh I am getting in deep because this needs more explanation to make sense!). These are the 10 virgins of Matthew 25 from both the Christian and the Jewish perspectives. The difference is that the Christians have already received their Messiah in “premature” joy of his inglorious “first” coming (as opposed to his glorious second), and the redemption from desolation has already begun while yet in hope of being married as promised.
But all this being written in the Gospel of Matthew (the New Testament Gospel to the Jews), this prophecy of Isaiah 54 has a deeper meaning; it is regarding the City of God; it is specifically regarding the Jews of spiritual Jerusalem who still wait in the sorrow of desolation while being assured that that sorrow will be forgotten for the joy of childbearing if they simply cling in faith of Him who promised so long ago. (This important topic deserves so much more but let's leave it at that for now).
If we examine both the Galatians 4:27 version and the Isaiah 54 version we see a significant difference that is nonetheless linked: Was Sarah husbandless? Of course not. So in the Galatians 4 use of the prophecy we see that the Christians (both Messianic Jew and Gentile who trust in Jesus Christ) are represented perfectly, as Sarah waited childless a very long time before receiving her son of promise, as if she had no husband: The desolate is the woman who is not married and therefore cannot bear children (I Timothy 5:5)(*6).
In Isaiah 54 we read the Galatians 4 expectation of an unmarried woman long after her youth would have expected marriage and children, but we also see the additional detail of a barren widow that Galatians does not show:
“Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more” Isaiah 54:4 (see Revelation 18:7+ Lamentations 1:1 for an important element of this prophecy we will not discuss here).
Now stay with me; we are not getting off target, but by the addition of complications it’s easy to become distracted. This barren widow was obviously once married and on her way to bearing children, but a turn of events brought down all her hopes (promises) before they could be fulfilled. (Genesis 38:19 with contextually strong implications that “the Jews” are not all there is to “the Jerusalem from above,” as the Father gives life in the Son’s wife after the son’s decease, and prematurely claims the infant son by the signet ring: i.e. the Holy Ghost circumcision of the heart).
The passage in Isaiah 54 does not claim that she is not now ashamed because of her childless and husbandless circumstances (Jews); in fact it recognizes that she has born the reproach of this double sorrow, just as did Tamar in Genesis 38. The passage rather promises that in spite of her long shame and reproach, her expectation will yet be fulfilled, and to the magnificent degree that she will not even remember that horrible period of shame and emptiness.
Now of course while in sorrow such a promise seems to fall empty; the sorrow is so great that it is almost impossible to believe any degree of fulfillment could make the sorrow worth it, let alone something to laugh at for the joy it has brought… But it will! God promised. So obviously that "degree" is going to be extremely magnificent!
This passage is about patience in true faith (James 1:2-4), with a promised future resolution that will make it all worth it. Scripture calls this enduring patience: hope (Proverbs 13:12, Psalm 71:13-14). And this is the reason for the very important Hebrew prophetic Type of the brother raising seed to a dead husband without children (Genesis 38:8=I Chronicles 17:11-13).
But God is not dead so how can “the Jerusalem that is” be called a widow? The scriptures provide that general answer as King David put his concubines in ward and did not thereafter go in unto them anymore (have intimate relations). These women, his wives, though David was not dead, nonetheless lived in widowhood (II Samuel 20:3). Why? Because they were publicly defiled women, in Type as God repeatedly declares Jerusalem by her whoredoms (Jeremiah 3:1-2, Isaiah 57:8) and so David did not bed them thereafter. And although God is not dead Jerusalem has lived long in widowhood; ashamed, reproached, and childless.
Obviously by deeper study of scripture, we see that God has provided a history in Type that shows His intentional inclusion of many defiled, shamed, desolate, and broken. It's a story of redemption! A Father who raised up seed unto his dead Son through the womb of a whorish woman (Genesis 38:15). God was not that husband; Jesus was that husband who was killed before bearing children. God is that Father. Israel/Jerusalem is that widow, to who God promises to raise up seed unto Chrsit. Generations of thriving Christians are the children of Jerusalem that they have but didn’t bear! Rejoice oh Jerusalem! And your childbearing is not yet even begun!
This principle of delayed resolution is also the meaning behind Abraham and Sarah’s long experience: Wait expectantly on God for your miracle deliverance and don’t attempt to fulfill His promise to you as if you are supposed to “do something” to make it happen though you don’t know what.
But miracle or not, Abraham and Sarah must have played “their part” not in desperation of trying to fulfill it, but in the Rest of faith that eventually resulted in conception at the appointed time. These are not at all the same things though we constantly try to lump them together as did Sarah (Genesis 16:2). Sarah was not Hagar the Pagan as the “Jerusalem that is,” but although she was “Jerusalem that is… in faith,” she too was still thinking in the flesh and brought about the son of the law to torment her son of the promise. Think about it.
Your part is to simply live a normal life in faithful obedience of expectation of the promise, while you wait (6960; as a waitress, not slothfully “waiting”) peacefully… even as you see things getting worse not better!
Sarah’s body grew ever older until even the possibility was eventually hopeless, and likewise Abraham’s body would just as soon read a book (Genesis 18:12). This is a key element of God’s plan for faith; waiting expectantly on God to do what he has promised is not a side issue. And even after the child of promise finally comes, the perfection (growth) of faith is not finished, as is evident by God’s command to now go sacrifice that child and apparently destroy the very fulfillment of your long awaited hope (Genesis 22:1-2) i.e. the death of Jesus Christ before he fulfilled the kingdom promise.
Abraham’s faith was commended because it was sustained wholly on trusting God’s promise (Genesis 22:3). The confusion of the command did not shake that faith and he went about obeying God while maintaining the vision of the promise (Genesis 22:5&8). Abraham was not the weak link here; it was Sarah! -- the gender typology of the human in this marriage of faith. How does your Matthew 5:48 faith hold up when far short of Abraham’s testing events? Does your insignificant trials make you uncomfortable and fearful, doubting God because you cannot see through the confusion? Do you trust God anyway, or do you like Sarah “want what’s coming to you”? Are you in it for the benefits of luxury as is commonly preached by the Health-and-Wealth Name-it-and-Claim-it doctrines of devils that wholly derail your fiduciary mindframe?
Unfulfilled expectation in faith is a key element in separating the sheep from the goats (Romans 12:19-21). And this is why youth have been given a nearly uncontrollable urge of hormones while being required to abstain for what seems like eternity! (II Timothy 2:22, Ephesians 5:3).
Does it bother you that in my use of Tamar (Genesis 38) as a Type of Sarah, we know she manipulated her father-in-law to give her the son that he promised her? Did not Sarah do the same thing with Hagar, manipulating Abraham to give her a son? Was not God’s favored Jacob the very supplanter that his name suggests, taking the birthright from the fistborn son? It’s not a story of conquest; It's a story of redemption! Just don't miss the greatly undesirable consequences that we are encouraged to avoid in faith by the informed patience of that faith historically documented for us to learn by (II Peter 1:2).
“For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it” Romans 8:24-25 (this phase greatly comforted by v.26-28).
* * *
Back to the allegory of Sons and Mothers:
“Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now” Galatians 4:28-29.
Are you following this? The sons while accuratly presenting as the “problem,” are not the causation; the causation of distinction is in the DNA of their conception; i.e. the mothers!
The unfulfilled promise came before any related event. But before the promise was fulfilled the son of the flesh-- an allegory of bondage to the law-- came because of transgressions… not of Hagar but of Sarah; i.e. she attempted to fulfill God’s side of the promise through our human meddling because in the confusion of disbelief we think God needs or requires help to bring it to pass (Genesis 16:2). This was not poor Hagar’s doing but Sarah’s in disobedience of faith! Though not actually giving birth to him; Sarah herself created the son after the flesh that persecutes the son born after the Spirit. The children of the Mosaic Law likewise persecute the children born after the Spirit, just as the passage says. And so it continues even today as contending principles of life service to God; i.e. law and liberty.
Does this mean that Ishmael is the enemy of Isaac (Arab and Jew)? It sure seems like it by historical evidence of animosity. But wait! The law is not Ishmael but rather his mother the servant girl by lawful obligation. Ishmael was simply thinking and acting as his mother raised him to think and act; Bitter. So how does this apply?
“Is the law then against the promise of God? God forbid…” Galatians 3:21a.
Are you confused yet? Let’s continue with that verse before we make our conclusions:
“…for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law” Galatians 3:21b.
Well, it seems that the law did a pretty good job of giving life; Hagar had a son by the law that gave her to Abraham. Remember, Ishmael is the son of the law not the law itself, and Isaac is the promise which the law seems to stand against, expressed through her son of animosity. So although the law was used to our advantage by teaching us right from wrong as a harsh schoolmaster of chastisement for error (I Timothy 1:8, Isaiah 54:16), the law actually confirms the promise of liberty because in all of its bondage and oppressions it completely fails to produce the desired life and peace to the son who wields it, but only death and destruction (Isaiah 59:7-15). We see this evidenced in real time as militant Islam, the so-called religion of peace through the oppression of law, utterly fails to produce a single shred of peace…even amongst themselves, as they force strict compliance to the law on everyone else (Romans 2:1, back at’cha contentious Christian).
So while the law, by its violence against every infraction, appears to be against liberty (the promise), the law by its failure actually confirms liberty as the only possible way to a peaceful life… if the intent of the law is accepted without the oppression of the law in application (Romans 8:1-4). Liberty is not freedom from the law but freedom in applied comprehension of the un-applied law in righteousness not anarchy (I Corinthians 7:39, James 1:25, James 2:12).
It is unarguable by anyone, that long before the law of Moses ever came, Abraham-- the mutually claimed father-- was justified by faith alone (Galatians 3:6). So cast out the law and her son-- insignificant of nationality-- as the cause of bloodshed, and serve God in love as did Abraham your mutual father in the flesh, but only importantly in the One Spirit of God which includes us all through our mother; Jerusalem from above! (Isaiah 56:3-7). God simply does not credit you Jews or Arabs... or Christians, for your faithfulness to innumerable oppressive rules, rituals, and superstitions, so let them go! What God cares about is your true and unpretended intimacy with Him through the Spirit of his Son:
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” Romans 8:2.
“Now the end (conclusion, purpose, intent) of the commandment is charity (love) out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:” I Timothy 1:5.
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” Matthew 22:37-40.
How do you determine this is to be applied properly? NOT by a pile of rules that you do but don’t mean! And NOT by a pile of rules that conform to your wicked desires that you do mean! And this comprehension, long before you begin forcing others to comply with your conclusions of what God expects from them (Romans 14:4, Matthew 7:3).
* * *
Conclusion:
I feel now that I have addressed this general topic of law sufficiently, though certainly not exhaustively. But I have addressed it so diligently leaning one-sided toward attention to the law for a couple of reasons:
First, because Christians have abandon the law for several generations now and have no comprehension of its value (I Timothy 1:8-10), and secondly because by the resulting anarchy, the law is about to be applied to the world in great violence by the son of the law to “correct” the anarchy by the son of liberty.
Then next, because the law’s instructing comprehension is foundational to resisting the siren call of Mystery Babylon that is now rising in the guise of a liberated daughter coming to save us from the son of oppression; i.e. the law.
New Jerusalem has not yet come, continue to wait/serve faithfully for her without loosing hope. But in waiting for the new Jerusalem that is not based in the Jerusalem long of the oppressive law, learn to recognize how to identify the new Jerusalem from the mysterious impostor of lawlessness that will come first and in fact has already encroached into Christian doctrine disguised as grace!
“An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed. Say not thou, I will recompense evil (for what is done unto me); but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee” Proverbs 20:21-22.
I see great sorrows coming soon upon America and later upon Israel (Jeremiah 12:5), very great sorrows (read Hosea then Joel). These sorrows are not to be retaliated against as the enemy itself (Ephesians 6:12), because our decision-making hearts and minds are already corrupt (Hosea 4:4, Habakkuk 1:4), which is why God sends them to us in the first place (Joel 2:1-3, Habakkuk 1:5-7). Rather than unsuccessfully battling the apparent cause of the sorrows, turn your heart and soul to the God you claim to trust and serve. And in your purified fiduciary duty (Jeremiah 4:3) endure with the patience of a farmer (Hosea 10:12) this period of which God designed a specific end to the barrenness of tilling, though-- because of late planting due to the extra fallow soil-- the resulting benefits most probably will not come in your lifetime.
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” Galatians 5:16, implying that if you don’t walk in the Spirit, the ground of the law becomes fallow, where only weeds grow.
This nation of America has long been walking in the flesh, but only recently called in dumptrucks to pour a concrete dance-floor for a party remenicent of the Hebrews at the foot of Mt. Siani while Moses was away (Exodus 32:18-25). That is some very fallow ground and will take some industrial sized tillers to break it up! I’m thinking Islam has just the tool for the job.
Regarding the previous passage in association with this one, Mystery Babylon will tell you that this command to obedience is the oppressive law from the son that should be cast out by the instruction of the New Testament itself! And your heart will agree in the justifiable right of self-preservation of freedom that the righteous nation is commanded to maintain in faith (Numbers 33:52-53, Judges 1:1-2). I told you that the confusion will be very great and this example is only the beginning. Therefore it is imperative that we nail our faith down solid before the confusion is established to destroy it! (*7).
“Wait (6960) on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart, wait, I say, on the LORD” Psalm 27:14.
Wait 6960 qavah; a primitive root; to bind together (perhaps by twisting), i.e. collect; (figuratively) to expect:-- gather (together), look, patiently, tarry, wait, (for, on, upon).
* * *
Application:
So how does one apply all this in their personal life of everyday problems; "how does this knowledge help in a practical way in my desperate state that seems to have nothing to do with God?"
It is found in comprehending that virtually everything relates directly to God. You must come face to face with the choice of worldveiw that shows everything you experience is the mercy of God.
But how is such an irresponsible statement true? It’s because to the unbeliever as well as the disobedient, every trouble is a progressively alarming wakeup-call of God to say;
“Wake up, you need to wake up, there is eternal danger at hand”.
Nobody likes being shaken awake (*8).
But if the call does not work, the shaking comes next… first gentle, then agitated, then aggressive, then violent:
“WAKE UP!” (Isaiah 52:1-6, Joel 1:5-6).
And to the alert and faithful, the troubles you face-- though a consequence of civilization allowing evil to prosper (Proverbs 29:2)-- are nonetheless used by God as exercises in maintaining and increasing your strength of focus in the progressively increasing global deceitfulness of wickedness spread through suffering by those who reject the wisdom of God (Isaiah 59:18-20, Zechariah 13:7-8). Don’t fall to the illusion (*8 again) it is a test/exercise of your faith, be strong and very courageous! (Zechariah 13:9).
The common factor is that troubles in this life are not the end topic, they are not the true issue, but how you choose to view them is. Virtually everything relates directly to God . This is the all-encompassing topic that you continue to ignore or forget because the drugs of forbidden fruit have blinded you to a reasonable mind:
“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” II Corinthians 4:3-4.
It’s time to wake up. The temporal world is only an illusion of something greater! (I Corinthians 15:34).
(*9)
* * * * * * *
(*1) Fiduciary:.
“An individual in whom another has placed the utmost trust and confidence to manage and protect property or money. The relationship wherein one person has an obligation to act for another's benefit" - (http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/fiduciary+duty).
"A fiduciary relationship encompasses the idea of faith and confidence and is generally established only when the confidence given by one person is actually accepted by the other person. Mere respect for another individual's judgment or general trust in his or her character is ordinarily insufficient for the creation of a fiduciary relationship. The duties of a fiduciary include loyalty and reasonable care of the assets within custody. All of the fiduciary's actions are performed for the advantage of the beneficiary.
Courts have neither defined the particular circumstances of fiduciary relationships nor set any limitations on circumstances from which such an alliance may arise. Certain relationships are, however, universally regarded as fiduciary. The term embraces legal relationships such as those between attorney and client, Broker and principal, principal and agent, trustee and beneficiary, and executors or administrators and the heirs of a decedent's estate.
A fiduciary relationship extends to every possible case in which one side places confidence in the other and such confidence is accepted; this causes dependence by the one individual and influence by the other. Blood relation alone does not automatically bring about a fiduciary relationship. A fiduciary relationship does not necessarily arise between parents and children or brothers and sisters.
The courts stringently examine transactions between people involved in fiduciary relationships toward one another. Particular scrutiny is placed upon any transaction by which a dominant individual obtains any advantage or profit at the expense of the party under his or her influence. Such transaction, in which Undue Influence of the fiduciary can be established, is void.”
- West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Practical Application:
“People in a position of trust or fiduciary relationship, such as officers, directors, high-level employees of a corporation or business, agents and brokers, owe certain duties to their principals or employers. Fiduciary relationships, which are by their very nature relationships of good faith, may involve a variety of obligations depending on the exact circumstances.
Fiduciary duties require that the fiduciary acts solely in the best interest of the employer/principal, free of any self-dealing, conflicts of interest, or other abuse of the principal for personal advantage. Thus, corporate directors, officers, and employees are barred from using corporate property or assets for their personal pursuits, or taking corporate opportunities for themselves [bold emphasis added]. More traditional fraudulent conduct, such as thefts, acceptance of secret commissions, and conflicts of interest also violate the duty of loyalty, and may be prosecuted as such in addition to or instead of the underlying offence.
A breach of fiduciary duty is often easier to prove than fraud. The claimant does not need to prove criminal or fraudulent intent or the other elements of fraud. To prevail, the claimant must show only that the defendant occupied a position of trust or fiduciary relationship as described above and that the defendant breached that duty to benefit personally.
…Fiduciaries who act carelessly or recklessly are responsible for any resulting loss to the corporate shareholders or other principals. Damages may be recovered in a civil action for negligence. Corporate officers who carelessly fail to enforce controls, or to pursue recovery of losses might breach their duty of care. …” - http://legal.practitioner.com/regulation/standards_9_3_6.htm.
Can you see how such a thing clearly applies to our ambassadorship of our Lord’s kingdom? And in the application, all the confusion seems to evaporate by simply understanding and accepting our fiduciary responsibilities of the job (I Timothy 3:2-5, Titus 1:10-16, I Peter 5:2-4, Ezekiel 3:17+). Christ does not save you to be a free-loader!
(*2) Jonathan Cahn:
The Harbinger book, and “The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment” DVD; both exceptional interpretations of scripture prophetically applied as God intended.
Harbinger: 1. One sent before to arrange for lodgings. 2. A forerunner; a precursor.
(*3) Word Search:
Do a scriptural word search of Jeremiah using “return unto”; the progression of distinct increase in their sorrows after each turning away is reminiscent of the Hebrews in the Judges. God faithfully calls them back from their sorrows before each deeper fall into a compounded consequence, eventually ending up captives in Babylon for 70 years with their holy city and temple utterly destroyed. But their story does not end there; after their return home and a “new beginning,” the Diaspora of 70 AD was the next “end” of their continued progression of sorrows, and now that they are finally returned yet again-- this time after 1,878 Gregorian years-- we can expect the trend to continue on yet another level with yet another temple, until they eventually accept their true deliverer; the Son of God, the cornerstone of the true Temple (Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 28:16, Matthew 21:42-43= Ephesians 2:13-22) that pre-exists today in the hearts of Christians.
(*4) The Christian Church is not a new faith, but an extension of that Abrahamic faith on a new level of “pre-mature” fulfilled promise to take away the guilt of sin (Romans 11:26-27, Isaiah 30:21), and so we can be sure that having been given such a substantial advantage as the Spirit of Christ like a leashless leash, if we likewise run away the unfavorable results will be most surely greater (Luke 12:48, Hebrews 10:28-29). This leash is not a leash for the very purpose of letting you do as you wish. The dog’s that get fed and petted and protected, are those found on the ranch. How unfair is that?
My concern is when the "Animal Farm-like" dogs, sell the ranch to the “developer.” I’m thinking that won’t go over real big with the owner!
(*5) Arabs vs. Muslims:
This is a complex topic that requires a historical tracking back to Jethro (Exodus 3:1, 18:1-6 and 10-12)-- the Arab Midianite on the West coast of Saudi Arabia, among many Arab nations (Genesis 25:1-2,4&6)-- in order to discover that while Arabs, Egyptians, and Persians now practice Islam, they are still not the same thing in the eyes of God, as only the Arabs are of Abraham’s seed (Genesis 17:20). And while this is complex in itself, remember that although the allegory declares Hagar is Mt. Sinai in Arabia (Galatians 4:25), Hagar was actually an Egyptian (Genesis 16:1+16:15). Egypt was where they were long in bondage as servants. Therefore: The law is bondage comparable with slavery in Egypt but not limited to that location or nationality. Genesis 15 is almost always misapplied to the Jews only, but the ultimate promise to Abraham is the boundaries of all his people; both Isaac and Ishmael! (Genesis 15:5+18), but that has complexities we will not cover here.
The topic of the passage in question is actually about the mothers not the sons who are clearly both Abraham’s. Hagar, the allegory of the law, produced the troubled son of the flesh, while Sarah, the intentionally undeclared allegory of Spiritual Jerusalem from above-- after she finally figures out how to wait-- is the mother of all God’s people regardless of such genealogies. By not naming Sarah in the allegory, the passage allows more than Isaac’s lineage in the promise. The Jewish/Islamic Jerusalem that now is, is Hagar and is simply a thorn of oppressive law (Zechariah 12:2-3) that stands in the way of the Spirit of liberty which is available to anyone who will accept its invitation through the Son of God (John 3:16). While this principle is fully true without a “but,” its abuse opens the door to the “Virgin daughter of Babylon,” which is the next main topic for a while, with more complexities still.
(*6) The Barren Woman:
This passage is not a designed wound to the single woman who longs to be Married and bear children, but rather the suffering of these women are confirmation that this prophecy claim is very true (Joel 1:7-8). Have patience my dear, God will in truth fulfill this promise when you learn to rest in faith, especially if you never bear while in the flesh on this earth! (Isaiah 56:3-5, Ezekiel 17:22-24, Daniel 1:6-8). Your extended patience beyond limits for the fulfillment of your promise is as rewardable as Sarah’s herself! (Hebrews 11:13-17). You have the honor of keeping very good company if you don’t dwell on your sorrow! Don’t fret; it was not Abraham’s nor Sarah’s desire to wait so long either, but in faith they simply followed the Lord wherever he lead, year after year after year while they waited for the ultimate fulfillment that was not possible until after all their own efforts were shown fruitless (Jeremiah 29:11-14). The fulfillment of promise regarding uncountable children did not even come while they lived in the flesh (Hebrews 11:11-13), but for all eternity they will enjoy their uncountable offspring in the faith. Such extended-vision patience opens the door to the spiritual view of life that the temporally occupied never see!
If you quietly but strongly feel that Sara giving birth at a very old age (Genesis 21:2) was getting-the-short-end-of-the-stick, then your mind and heart is still mired in the temporal as if this is your home. Lift up your eyes and see more!
(*7) Rahab vs. You:
We can learn a lot about God’s individual mercy by reading Rahab’s story of salvation (Joshua chapters 2,6, Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25) but it is wrong to suppose that her wonderful experience in life that followed her salvation will example your own; Rahab was saved out of a wicked Pagan nation by the conquest of God’s holy people who followed his laws of goodness, while today “Rahab” can still be saved but its out of a wicked Christian people by the conquest of the Pagan nation that God now sends to dispossess them.
Rahab will not fair so favorably under their rule because their god is not love (I John 3:10), so don't be surprised and confused when by salvation you do not experience a blessed temporal life among a wicked society... either before or after the conquest!
(*8) Still Passing the Blame (Genesis 3:11-13):
Do not eat from that tree because the knowledge of evil is appealing and beneficial, and then blame Eve for your condition of sorrows! The tree is still standing in the midst of our own garden of life and the choice to partake or resist is ours to face every day (Genesis 3:1-6).
(*9) Now of course I still haven’t explained how angels can actually breed with women in our effort to discover where we are "as in the days of Noah," but we’re getting to that!
*
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Understanding Yourself
Post 291
Finally; by knowing the nature of your enemy, and intimately knowing your God, you will have the tools to begin the process of understanding yourself. This is not really something that can be taught, it must rather be learned, and in the learning there are the swings from anarchy to bondage and back again as you learn to apply in practice an apparent duality that seems theoretically impossible; which is that this is a two-party marriage between you and your God, and while you can’t do your marital duties alone, Christ won’t do them for you (Deuteronomy 31:7-8):
“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” Ephesians 5:14.
* * *
What’s The Right Way?
Have you ever wondered, “What was God’s purpose for including the Judges in the Scriptures?” Those shameful historical records describe some very confused people and are as difficult to properly comprehend its meaning and purpose as when reading Ecclesiastes!
Remember, after Joshua led them across the Jordan River and initially conquered the Promised Land (Judges 1:1), the Judges of “pre-national” Israel preceded the national kings of Israel, much as America had about 200 years of “pre-national” existence before the U.S. Constitution created an official Federal Union-of-the-many-States for the next 200 years or so.
We like to think that universal organization of law is superior to regulationless freedom when it comes to societies, and the embarrassing record of the pre-king Judges of Israel seems to confirm this truth… but at the end of the period of Judges, God’s response to Samuel really confuses that perception:
“But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.
And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them” I Samuel 8:6-7.
The meaning of this response from God can be found when we combine a sound knowledge of the three factors; Know the nature of your enemy, intimately know your God, and understand yourself (I Corinthians 11:28, II Corinthians 13:5, I Corinthians 11:31).
I dare say most Christians today have no idea who they really are, nor seem to care to find out. But a Saving repentance cannot be had without knowing what must be repented of (Romans 10:21). The Judges are a fantastic study that distinguishes between God’s involvement and man’s involvement “in the same person” of the Judges in the resulting events for the nation, in a time before the external governance was introduced. The Judges pictorially explains the human failure that made the external force of law necessary though it was not the better way.
Explained with an example: the external law of a king is like the chain put on your dog because it frequently runs away. And while the chain generally solves the problem, God is far more interested in having a dog that wants to stay home.
The thing to note specifically is that instead of learning self-discipline, the dog is the one asking for the chain. Strong evidence of a significant lack of character and a nature that openly says; “I refuse to learn.” How does a master train such a dog? He doesn’t. So he puts on the chain.
* * *
The first Judges:
After the death of Joshua and the entire second-generation of Exodus people that crossed the River (Joshua 2:6-10), the first homeborn generation of Israel returned to their natural evil ways:
“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Ba’alim: and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger” Judges 2:11-12.
So how is it possible that they so quickly reverted to other gods? Judges chapter 1 explains that in detail; they failed to obey God, to disposes the resident people in the land that God had given them, just as God had prophesied through Moses only one generation previous:
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them” Deuteronomy 31:16.
(We will come back to read more of this Mosaic prophecy when we get to the Judge Gideon, but for now let’s move on).
In a recent post we discussed the fuller fulfillment of this prophecy when they later were dispossessed from their land and taken to Babylon (Deuteronomy 29:22-28), but before that pivotal event they went through periods of mini-fulfillments for one main reason; They failed to cleans their land as they were instructed:
“Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: and ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it” Numbers 33:52-53.
We cannot blow-by this very important and key concept, because a thorough initial clean up in full obedience is extremely important to your future rest:
“…Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua” Judges 2:20-23.
If you will remember, God told them he would drive out the nations little by little:
“I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land” Exodus 23:29-30.
So we see that Joshua did not fail his mission; he brought them in and established their presence by possessing the land in general, and God designed it in this way that they should continue the work as they settled and expanded through the generations. As long as they remained faithful to the goal, God would continue to faithfully drive out their enemies before them. This is a Type of your driving out your old sins after conversion.
Too often we imagine salvation is a one-time event that ends all of the quest as a completed purpose in itself, but God has made clear that entering the Land is simply the beginning of a way of life that must be secured over time. Abandon the intended way of life and eventually you find yourself also dispossessed (Leviticus 18:24-28).
So what’s my point? It is that even when you start off well and strong and full of courage to obey God in all things, there comes a point when you begin to grow comfortable as a resulting byproduct of the blessing. In the comfort will come the temptation to allow an insignificant corruption to remain because you are pretty sure you can handle it, and in fact it can even be seen as an asset:
“And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out” Judges 1:28.
Not a good idea. God’s word by historical example tells us that this never turns out well; we must remain vigilant while we are strong, to complete the work originally begun, and be wary of compromises that become welcome through acquired comfort, because the fight to remove it is now distasteful and seems unproportionally costly to the advantage of having it gone.
This is the prep-work established in Judges chapters 1 and 2 that create the perpetually compounding atmosphere through the rest of the Judge’s history.
Remember; they have the Mosaic Law, but they are supposed be applying it personally in their relationship with God on their own. IF they can do this there is no need for a king to govern them, just as a dog that does not run away does not need a chain to tie him down. God is giving them that chance of freedom, and as they fail, he provides ever-increasing degrees of sorrow and regulating confused assistance, with the intent that they will figure out they don’t like it, and stop running away.
The problem is that the chain itself becomes the regulation and so when it is removed the perception is that it’s now OK to run! Watch for this concept as you read through the Judges who are like a pre-chain periodic leash-and-collar in the effort to train the dog.
* * *
Another sudden fall to evil and a sure guide back:
The first Judge of Israel, after their first fall and cry to God for help, was Caleb’s nephew Othniel (Judges 3:9), a mighty man and an obvious choice (Judges 1:12-13), who by this time was one of the last “old guys” between generations as it were, who though young at the time, was actually there in the war led by Joshua himself! What a guy to lead them, and it would be an honor to follow his experienced guidance.
One of the significant repeating things that seems so easy to miss, is that God is the deliverer.
Humanity seems so badly to want to believe that God is an idea, while we and our circumstances are our own deliverer, yet the scriptures show repeatedly that our deliverance from our oppressors has nothing to do with our circumstances and everything to do with our appeal to God. God’s Spirit empowered Othniel to deliver them (Judges 3:10-11).
* * *
A third return to evil and another guide back:
After Othniel led them in Godliness and God took him away to see what they learned, the people lacked self-control and returned to their evil ways (Judges 3:12), until the resulting oppression caused them to again cry out to God for help (Judges 3:14-14).
So God sent them Ehud to deliver them… but he was not as Godly as Othniel as we see by his crafty subterfuge to accomplish his task (Judges 3:16-30). (This is yet insignificant until we see a pattern emerge).
Although having a great victory battle, Shamgar seems to get nothing more than a sidebar as he was apparently a #2 tagteam-deliverer with Ehud for reasons I don’t yet understand.
* * *
A fourth return to evil and a woman to guide them back:
As soon as Ehud died, the people returned to their evil, almost as if they were just waiting for the day! (Judges 4:1). And God in his faithfulness returned them to oppression until they cried “uncle.” It is noteworthy that this time it took them 20 years to come around rather than the 8 years each time previous. It seems they might be getting comfortable with oppression, or maybe they weren’t crazy about following a woman.
As is his habit, God sent them a deliverer when they cried for help, but this time there is a bit of complexity; Judges 4:4 tells us that the prophetess Deborah was already their judge through the 20 years of mighty oppression, so why didn’t they take her lead earlier? I’m guessing it has something to do with her gender. Can you see that with each fall to evil God sends them a less favorable deliverer? Not less favorable to God but less favorable to their pride as “God’s people.” The narration of Judges 4 seems to dwell on the embarrassment that a woman would deliver them, in spite of the fact that they would not be delivered without the man Barak as their representative. I admit I am doing a lot of “interpreting” on this one but the passage seems to encourage it.
* * *
A fifth return to evil and a slight change of normal operating procedure:
About this time it seems the LORD is becoming less willing to continue this game of responding every time they cry out. Like the dog’s leash being finally removed, the oppression is supposed to encourage them to stop doing wrong when God lets them up, but by God’s willing rescue whenever they have had enough they seem to be learning that some oppression can be worth the disobedience.
So this time when they cried out to God he sent them a prophet to review the terms:
“And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites, that the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel,
I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land;
And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice” Judges 6:7-10.
And that’s it.
You have to wonder how long a period they were left to stew on that, perhaps thinking this time the LORD would not deliver them.
* * *
Gideon, A reluctant deliverer:
I am now keenly aware that every detail in scripture has a purpose, so it is curiously unexplained why we are told that God’s angel came and sat under an oak tree-- perhaps to watch Gideon for a time-- before we are told that the angel then appeared to him for the purpose of speaking:
“And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Mideanites.
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour (2428)” Judges 6:11-12.
You would think the reaction from this special man of valor, raised up by God to deliver the people, would have been one of ready comprehension of the salutation. But instead Gideon; the man hiding his produce from the Mideanite tax collectors, replies with:
“…If the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us?...” Judges 6:13.
What? Does Gideon not know his scriptures? Remember the above Deuteronomy 31:16?
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither thy go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.”
That passage continues and explains the answer to Gideon’s confusion:
“Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods” Deuteronomy 31:17-18.
It’s easy to put a lot of concepts together and come up with a theoretical answer after all the data is in, but when you are living out the consequences the answers are far less important to the question; “Where is God?”
Gideon was living with the obvious, and I’m pretty sure he knew the scriptures, which seemed to confirm that God had indeed forsaken them, and so his question to the angel is valid; What do you mean the LORD is with us?”
I have intentionally separated out two concepts in this prophecy; one is a trouble that solicits a return, and the other is a trouble that is an intended punishment to endure. The punishment comes after the return loses its value by regular abuse. The question becomes; “Which level of fulfillment am I experiencing now?” so that I know what to expect from God when we cry out.
Sorrow quickly breeds hopelessness and so when things are bad you get hopeless rather than shake awake to say; “NO! Let’s not allow this to continue!”
The confusion of a regular cycle of rebellion, oppression, returning and deliverance just to rebel again, becomes so great that the cause-and-effect of their situation is no longer understood even by God’s people... nor by the man of valor that God raised up as a Judge to deliver them! The result of unexplained circumstances is that even His faithful people begin to doubt God’s faithfulness by what they see. This is simply a case in lack of passed-down knowledge (Hosea 4:6) to those who could have used it in their faith (Psalm 119:92-93, Proverbs 29:18). This concept is important for us today to comprehend in our effort to respond to God within a wicked society who asks; “If there really is a God, why does he allow all the suffering?”
Gideon was only one step away from this question when he asked the angel; “Where is God in all this?” But that step is a big one!
In what way was Gideon a “mighty man of valor” if he doubted God’s faithfulness? The answer is more clear when we understand the meaning of valour:
valour 2428 chayil; from 2342; probably a force, whether of men, means or other resources; an army, wealth, virtue, valor, strength:-- able, activity, (+) army, band of men (soldiers), company, (great) forces, goods, host, might, power, riches, strength, strong, substance, train, (+) valiant (-ly), valour, virtuous (-ly), war, worthy (-ily).
The passage continues, and Gideon’s reply to the angel makes clear that his valor is not comprised by many of these meanings:
“…Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” Judges 6:15.
Gideon’s valor; his “force,” is found elsewhere than in his family position, his wealth, or his courage (Judges 6:17,22,27,36-39, 7:2-7,10), yet by the angel’s reply to his argument we see that his valor is indeed expressed by his own actions as he obeys the LORD (*1):
“and the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man” Judges 6:16.
The source of this valor, that the angel apparently saw as he sat under the oak tree, and commended in a man who doubted God’s presence because of the circumstances, is perhaps found in the reply of his father to those who confronted Gideon’s actions of tearing down the alter of Ba’al as God commanded him to do (Judges 6:27-30):
“And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will you plead for Ba’al? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his alter” Judges 6:31.
That really took some moxy from Gideon’s father to invoke testable reality among a people emotionally driven to defend a loved idol in the land. Gideon’s valor obviously stems from his father’s faithfulness to God in a land so unprotected by God that the man’s own son is confused between his own faith and the reality he sees around him. God commended Gideon’s valor not because of his confidence or even his understanding, but wholly because of his obedience in the face of sure repercussions. Did it bother God that Gideon chose to obey God at night where he could get away with accomplishing the task before being found out? No. Gideon obeyed God in his creative way, and that was all that was asked. His valor was in his willingness to do it, and his success was in God’s presence with him just as promised (v.16). Gideon’s confidence grew as he saw God enable him to succeed, but each success was a reach of faith before the results came in.
Be comforted that God’s pleasure in you is not found in your “deep knowledge” but in your simple obedience to what you know… Yet even ignorant Gideon had some foundation of obedience in knowledge as we see him prepare a gift-offering before the angel (Judges 6:18-21) that conforms to the Mosaic law of burnt offerings (Exodus 29:1-3 and Leviticus 3:11-12,4:28,5:6) offered where the LORD commanded (Deuteronomy 12:13-14 vs. Judges 6:20).
Obedience is not obedience unless the instruction is given and heard before it is applied. After obedience, comes enlightenment and understanding of things complex… like why God has allowed this mournful condition if he really is with us.
In a period of national rebellion, the confusion in the best of God’s people becomes significant (Judges 11:30-35), and while the consequences of their confusion can be unspeakably horrible, the fact that they are God’s people doesn’t change. This is the strange marriage between legalism and eternal security that God’s confused people today can’t seem to figure out. The simple solution is a perfect heart toward God (Deuteronomy 28:47), but for some reason people keep looking for another more complex solution that also allows for self-serving lust.
Good luck with that.
Gideon’s faithfulness to God was not the problem in Israel and he served God obediently to the deliverance of his people, but what was going on in Gideon’s head when he made the golden ephah from the earrings of the conquered (Judges 8:22-27)? Like Moses’ brass serpent and the Catholic’s infatuation with the powers of artifacts, these people will worship anything but God himself!
* * *
Abimelech a Judge?
The progression of troubles and confusion continues as Abimelech, Gideon’s only son of a concubine, killed all but one of Gideon’s 70 other children (Judges 8:30-31+9:5).
Now Gideon had made it clear that he nor his children (*2) would be Israel’s ruler (Judges 8:22-23) but after he was dead Abimelech pursued other plans, and he used the thought of all 70 of Gideon’s other sons as rulers to make his singular reign suggestion seem a lot more pleasant. It’s the classic “create an imagined bad scenario to make provision for your imagined solution” Governments today do this often to get what they want.
My point here is that Gideon was the first time in which Israel began wanting a king, and Abimelech his son was the first one to attempt to fill the order (Judges 9:22), but God had other plans that did not yet include a king for Israel (Judges 9:23).
Abimelech’s rule was a self-serving mess that foretold the nature of kings, much like the present administration of Obama over America. Will we heed the warning of history or fall to the same ends? The answer will be found in our response to the oppression because of our evil ways. But remember, I already showed by interpretation that America does not get multiple chances because we have an example that we are supposed to learn by.
* * *
A few free Judges:
Now for some reason, after Abimelech, Israel had two more successive judges without an apparent oppression that solicited a cry for help. The total span of these was 45 years (Judges 10:1-4) and apparently these Judges kept Israel from wandering, perhaps an American-style gift of God to encourage a familiarity with the lifestyle they should adopt. I have no more information to shed light on this, but after they were removed Israel returned to do wickedly. You really have to wonder why God would stay with a people so bent on serving other gods, yet they are so quick to accuse God of abandonment when he turns them over to evil for their sins, in an attempt to encourage a return.
So can you really blame God when he has finally had enough?
* * *
That’s just about enough!
“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him” Judges 10:6.
OK, you can maybe understand when for one reason or another a strange god catches your eye and you find yourself enthralled with something you didn’t see coming… but how do you explain an entire flock of gods while at the same time failing to serve your own God who has already done so much for you?
Not to rabbit trail this, but what do these many gods have that Jehovah doesn’t? It has to be an appeal to your otherwise forbidden lusts; these gods encourage what your sin nature already wants to do.
And as before, God’s anger was kindled hot and he sold them into oppression (Judges 10:7-9), which as always, resulted in a cry for help:
“And the children of the Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Ba’alim” Judges 10:10.
Now I don’t want to get nit-picky here, but after hearing this kind of repentance for the 7th time, you would think God might get a bit critical. So having just read that they turned to at least 12 gods (declared plural of each nation listed) they have the chutzpah to admit serving just Baal? I’m sorry but that just doesn’t sell well at this point. Rather I get the impression that they had found that a bouquet of flowers makes everything better, and now they are using it expectantly to get away with anything they want. Now perhaps I am reading too much into this but God’s response seems to support my perception:
“And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Am’mon, and from the Philistines?
The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.
Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation” Judges 10:11-14.
“Well that’s not the normal response; This could be serious this time!”
You think?~
So they reply to the LORD with a bit more seriousness:
“…We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day” Judges 10:15.
And to show that they were really serious this time:
“And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD:…” Judges 10:16a.
OK, hold on a second! Am I reading this right? They first asked God to help them by “repenting” through confessing their sins… but only after that didn’t work they actually put away their strange gods?
It really does seem apparent that because of God’s great love for us, he in fact does put up with a lot of game playing, just like a husband with a self-centered wife whom he loves!
“…and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel” Judges 10:16b.
The wording of this seems to indicate that he did not immediately fix their problems this time, though it really hurt him to watch them suffer.
Now because we have it all written down in a neat history of the events, we can see that God did in fact send them their deliverer, but he did so in a way that took a while and that they didn’t see his hand in it while they fretted.
Notice as chapter 11 opens, we see Jeph’thah actually play the argument of God as they ask for his help when they need it, after having rejected him previously. Jeph’thah queries that if he helps them and succeeds, will they accept him as their head? The elders swore they would, with the LORD as their witness, and Jeph’thah reported all this back to God.
Next we see an accurate pre-play of the Palestinian argument today. The Ammonites came to fight on Israel’s land and Jeph’thah asks why. The response is so Palestinian:
“And the king of the children of Am’mon answered unto the messengers of Jeph’thah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jab’bok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably” Judges 11:13.
I guess it has only been a few thousand years so you really can’t expect them to get over it that quickly, but the details in their memory seems to still be confused as ever:
“…Thus saith Jeph’thah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Am’mon: But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh; Then… Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place. But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan” Judges 11:15-22.
But very applicable today, Jeph’thah takes his reasoning argument even further:
…”While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Ar’oer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? Why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?
Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Am’mon” Judges 11:26-27.
The Palestinians are not a people, have never been a people, and until Israel reclaimed their own wasteland, had no interest in the land of “Palestine.” But now they come to Israel claiming they took away their land and want Israel to give it back peaceably. The story never changes, and neither do the confusions of just who is the aggressor; The Avalon Project (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/plocov.asp).
It is really easy to box the scriptures into a non-relevant category of literature and thereby safely miss the actual implication of real-life application. Do you suppose Am’mon had allies that concerned Jeph’thah? I’m sure they did, but Jeph’thah was the deliverer sent by God because they asked for His aid to solve their very real oppressions. The one thing that the former Israel knew by multiple experiences is that God would and could deliver them if they would but ask in returning to Him as their God. Today’s Israel has no such long experience and therefore no such faith to apply. Are you beginning to see the usefulness of this history now? And why God allowed them so many returns in grace? Did God deliver them because of their faithfulness or because of His? Can today’s Israel today take this history to heart?
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” Romans 5:8-10.
Return to the God who loves you, look to him alone to deliver you from your sorrows, God is waiting with longing to help you. And as the Creator of all things and peoples, everyone is welcomed home if they but ask. But don’t expect much from a God whose beloved Son and deliverer you reject (Matthew 23:39).
* * *
Understand yourself:
There is more to the Judges story and we have not yet even reached the truly pitiful part, God’s patience and longsuffering with Israel is extreme and he can work with and through virtually any nutjob such as Samson to deliver a very messed up people. The trick to a successful relationship with God is to know full well that it’s not based on your goodness. God actually wants to be God to you… so let him!
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, ‘A new covenant’, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away”... Hebrews 8:12-13.
But you really need to read the previous verses!
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
and they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for (because) all shall know me, from the least to the greatest” Hebrews 8:10-11.
Have you experienced the unction of the Holy One until you find security in His rest? The key remains the same as always: you just have to choose who will be your God. When you get that decision unshakably solid, you will be ready for the age to come.
* * * * * * *
(*1) The Oak Tree Insight:
After further investigation we can conclude that like the period of Ezekiel, the Jews of this period all worshiped idols by offering sweet savor to them until they filled the land with alters for that purpose:
“Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols” Ezekiel 6:13.
This is not just under specially selected trees; but almost like a game to find an unused tree, they offered their incense to their idols under EVERY thick oak. Comparable history of idol worship shows that they remain set up there beneath those trees on altars. It reminds me of Mexico where out in the middle of the desert you can find a gnarly shade tree, more often than not, with several miniature Catholic shrines set up with idols of Mary where incense has long been burned. Pictures and prayers and trinkets trash the place with a recognizable “décor” of beseechment.
So now if we are told specifically that the LORD’s angel sat under an oak tree under the authority of Gideon’s father (Judges 6:11), we must conclude that this particular oak was big enough to provide shade but had no such incense burnt under it or God would not choose to be present there:
“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” I John 1:5.
Now if every thick oak in the land was used to burn incense to idols, and yet this oak was idol free, so that the angel reclined in its shade, we have to ask; “Why?”
As the narration develops we learn why; it’s because Gideon and his father remained unusually true to Jehovah in a land of idol worshipers. The angel declared Gideon a man of valor because his family remained true to God; this was the source of his force that the angel commended.
(*2) Son, not Children:
“Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian.
And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you” Judges 8:22-23.
The passage actually says son, which indicates that in spite of having more than 70 living children, Gideon already knew that his son Abimelech had sights on the throne in rebellion to his fathers will and faith, and that the men of Israel were really only interested in being ruled by Abimelech, who was like them, in contrast to the other 70 who were like their father.
*
Finally; by knowing the nature of your enemy, and intimately knowing your God, you will have the tools to begin the process of understanding yourself. This is not really something that can be taught, it must rather be learned, and in the learning there are the swings from anarchy to bondage and back again as you learn to apply in practice an apparent duality that seems theoretically impossible; which is that this is a two-party marriage between you and your God, and while you can’t do your marital duties alone, Christ won’t do them for you (Deuteronomy 31:7-8):
“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” Ephesians 5:14.
* * *
What’s The Right Way?
Have you ever wondered, “What was God’s purpose for including the Judges in the Scriptures?” Those shameful historical records describe some very confused people and are as difficult to properly comprehend its meaning and purpose as when reading Ecclesiastes!
Remember, after Joshua led them across the Jordan River and initially conquered the Promised Land (Judges 1:1), the Judges of “pre-national” Israel preceded the national kings of Israel, much as America had about 200 years of “pre-national” existence before the U.S. Constitution created an official Federal Union-of-the-many-States for the next 200 years or so.
We like to think that universal organization of law is superior to regulationless freedom when it comes to societies, and the embarrassing record of the pre-king Judges of Israel seems to confirm this truth… but at the end of the period of Judges, God’s response to Samuel really confuses that perception:
“But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.
And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them” I Samuel 8:6-7.
The meaning of this response from God can be found when we combine a sound knowledge of the three factors; Know the nature of your enemy, intimately know your God, and understand yourself (I Corinthians 11:28, II Corinthians 13:5, I Corinthians 11:31).
I dare say most Christians today have no idea who they really are, nor seem to care to find out. But a Saving repentance cannot be had without knowing what must be repented of (Romans 10:21). The Judges are a fantastic study that distinguishes between God’s involvement and man’s involvement “in the same person” of the Judges in the resulting events for the nation, in a time before the external governance was introduced. The Judges pictorially explains the human failure that made the external force of law necessary though it was not the better way.
Explained with an example: the external law of a king is like the chain put on your dog because it frequently runs away. And while the chain generally solves the problem, God is far more interested in having a dog that wants to stay home.
The thing to note specifically is that instead of learning self-discipline, the dog is the one asking for the chain. Strong evidence of a significant lack of character and a nature that openly says; “I refuse to learn.” How does a master train such a dog? He doesn’t. So he puts on the chain.
* * *
The first Judges:
After the death of Joshua and the entire second-generation of Exodus people that crossed the River (Joshua 2:6-10), the first homeborn generation of Israel returned to their natural evil ways:
“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Ba’alim: and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger” Judges 2:11-12.
So how is it possible that they so quickly reverted to other gods? Judges chapter 1 explains that in detail; they failed to obey God, to disposes the resident people in the land that God had given them, just as God had prophesied through Moses only one generation previous:
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them” Deuteronomy 31:16.
(We will come back to read more of this Mosaic prophecy when we get to the Judge Gideon, but for now let’s move on).
In a recent post we discussed the fuller fulfillment of this prophecy when they later were dispossessed from their land and taken to Babylon (Deuteronomy 29:22-28), but before that pivotal event they went through periods of mini-fulfillments for one main reason; They failed to cleans their land as they were instructed:
“Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: and ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it” Numbers 33:52-53.
We cannot blow-by this very important and key concept, because a thorough initial clean up in full obedience is extremely important to your future rest:
“…Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua” Judges 2:20-23.
If you will remember, God told them he would drive out the nations little by little:
“I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land” Exodus 23:29-30.
So we see that Joshua did not fail his mission; he brought them in and established their presence by possessing the land in general, and God designed it in this way that they should continue the work as they settled and expanded through the generations. As long as they remained faithful to the goal, God would continue to faithfully drive out their enemies before them. This is a Type of your driving out your old sins after conversion.
Too often we imagine salvation is a one-time event that ends all of the quest as a completed purpose in itself, but God has made clear that entering the Land is simply the beginning of a way of life that must be secured over time. Abandon the intended way of life and eventually you find yourself also dispossessed (Leviticus 18:24-28).
So what’s my point? It is that even when you start off well and strong and full of courage to obey God in all things, there comes a point when you begin to grow comfortable as a resulting byproduct of the blessing. In the comfort will come the temptation to allow an insignificant corruption to remain because you are pretty sure you can handle it, and in fact it can even be seen as an asset:
“And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out” Judges 1:28.
Not a good idea. God’s word by historical example tells us that this never turns out well; we must remain vigilant while we are strong, to complete the work originally begun, and be wary of compromises that become welcome through acquired comfort, because the fight to remove it is now distasteful and seems unproportionally costly to the advantage of having it gone.
This is the prep-work established in Judges chapters 1 and 2 that create the perpetually compounding atmosphere through the rest of the Judge’s history.
Remember; they have the Mosaic Law, but they are supposed be applying it personally in their relationship with God on their own. IF they can do this there is no need for a king to govern them, just as a dog that does not run away does not need a chain to tie him down. God is giving them that chance of freedom, and as they fail, he provides ever-increasing degrees of sorrow and regulating confused assistance, with the intent that they will figure out they don’t like it, and stop running away.
The problem is that the chain itself becomes the regulation and so when it is removed the perception is that it’s now OK to run! Watch for this concept as you read through the Judges who are like a pre-chain periodic leash-and-collar in the effort to train the dog.
* * *
Another sudden fall to evil and a sure guide back:
The first Judge of Israel, after their first fall and cry to God for help, was Caleb’s nephew Othniel (Judges 3:9), a mighty man and an obvious choice (Judges 1:12-13), who by this time was one of the last “old guys” between generations as it were, who though young at the time, was actually there in the war led by Joshua himself! What a guy to lead them, and it would be an honor to follow his experienced guidance.
One of the significant repeating things that seems so easy to miss, is that God is the deliverer.
Humanity seems so badly to want to believe that God is an idea, while we and our circumstances are our own deliverer, yet the scriptures show repeatedly that our deliverance from our oppressors has nothing to do with our circumstances and everything to do with our appeal to God. God’s Spirit empowered Othniel to deliver them (Judges 3:10-11).
* * *
A third return to evil and another guide back:
After Othniel led them in Godliness and God took him away to see what they learned, the people lacked self-control and returned to their evil ways (Judges 3:12), until the resulting oppression caused them to again cry out to God for help (Judges 3:14-14).
So God sent them Ehud to deliver them… but he was not as Godly as Othniel as we see by his crafty subterfuge to accomplish his task (Judges 3:16-30). (This is yet insignificant until we see a pattern emerge).
Although having a great victory battle, Shamgar seems to get nothing more than a sidebar as he was apparently a #2 tagteam-deliverer with Ehud for reasons I don’t yet understand.
* * *
A fourth return to evil and a woman to guide them back:
As soon as Ehud died, the people returned to their evil, almost as if they were just waiting for the day! (Judges 4:1). And God in his faithfulness returned them to oppression until they cried “uncle.” It is noteworthy that this time it took them 20 years to come around rather than the 8 years each time previous. It seems they might be getting comfortable with oppression, or maybe they weren’t crazy about following a woman.
As is his habit, God sent them a deliverer when they cried for help, but this time there is a bit of complexity; Judges 4:4 tells us that the prophetess Deborah was already their judge through the 20 years of mighty oppression, so why didn’t they take her lead earlier? I’m guessing it has something to do with her gender. Can you see that with each fall to evil God sends them a less favorable deliverer? Not less favorable to God but less favorable to their pride as “God’s people.” The narration of Judges 4 seems to dwell on the embarrassment that a woman would deliver them, in spite of the fact that they would not be delivered without the man Barak as their representative. I admit I am doing a lot of “interpreting” on this one but the passage seems to encourage it.
* * *
A fifth return to evil and a slight change of normal operating procedure:
About this time it seems the LORD is becoming less willing to continue this game of responding every time they cry out. Like the dog’s leash being finally removed, the oppression is supposed to encourage them to stop doing wrong when God lets them up, but by God’s willing rescue whenever they have had enough they seem to be learning that some oppression can be worth the disobedience.
So this time when they cried out to God he sent them a prophet to review the terms:
“And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites, that the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel,
I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land;
And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice” Judges 6:7-10.
And that’s it.
You have to wonder how long a period they were left to stew on that, perhaps thinking this time the LORD would not deliver them.
* * *
Gideon, A reluctant deliverer:
I am now keenly aware that every detail in scripture has a purpose, so it is curiously unexplained why we are told that God’s angel came and sat under an oak tree-- perhaps to watch Gideon for a time-- before we are told that the angel then appeared to him for the purpose of speaking:
“And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Mideanites.
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour (2428)” Judges 6:11-12.
You would think the reaction from this special man of valor, raised up by God to deliver the people, would have been one of ready comprehension of the salutation. But instead Gideon; the man hiding his produce from the Mideanite tax collectors, replies with:
“…If the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us?...” Judges 6:13.
What? Does Gideon not know his scriptures? Remember the above Deuteronomy 31:16?
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither thy go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.”
That passage continues and explains the answer to Gideon’s confusion:
“Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods” Deuteronomy 31:17-18.
It’s easy to put a lot of concepts together and come up with a theoretical answer after all the data is in, but when you are living out the consequences the answers are far less important to the question; “Where is God?”
Gideon was living with the obvious, and I’m pretty sure he knew the scriptures, which seemed to confirm that God had indeed forsaken them, and so his question to the angel is valid; What do you mean the LORD is with us?”
I have intentionally separated out two concepts in this prophecy; one is a trouble that solicits a return, and the other is a trouble that is an intended punishment to endure. The punishment comes after the return loses its value by regular abuse. The question becomes; “Which level of fulfillment am I experiencing now?” so that I know what to expect from God when we cry out.
Sorrow quickly breeds hopelessness and so when things are bad you get hopeless rather than shake awake to say; “NO! Let’s not allow this to continue!”
The confusion of a regular cycle of rebellion, oppression, returning and deliverance just to rebel again, becomes so great that the cause-and-effect of their situation is no longer understood even by God’s people... nor by the man of valor that God raised up as a Judge to deliver them! The result of unexplained circumstances is that even His faithful people begin to doubt God’s faithfulness by what they see. This is simply a case in lack of passed-down knowledge (Hosea 4:6) to those who could have used it in their faith (Psalm 119:92-93, Proverbs 29:18). This concept is important for us today to comprehend in our effort to respond to God within a wicked society who asks; “If there really is a God, why does he allow all the suffering?”
Gideon was only one step away from this question when he asked the angel; “Where is God in all this?” But that step is a big one!
In what way was Gideon a “mighty man of valor” if he doubted God’s faithfulness? The answer is more clear when we understand the meaning of valour:
valour 2428 chayil; from 2342; probably a force, whether of men, means or other resources; an army, wealth, virtue, valor, strength:-- able, activity, (+) army, band of men (soldiers), company, (great) forces, goods, host, might, power, riches, strength, strong, substance, train, (+) valiant (-ly), valour, virtuous (-ly), war, worthy (-ily).
The passage continues, and Gideon’s reply to the angel makes clear that his valor is not comprised by many of these meanings:
“…Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” Judges 6:15.
Gideon’s valor; his “force,” is found elsewhere than in his family position, his wealth, or his courage (Judges 6:17,22,27,36-39, 7:2-7,10), yet by the angel’s reply to his argument we see that his valor is indeed expressed by his own actions as he obeys the LORD (*1):
“and the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man” Judges 6:16.
The source of this valor, that the angel apparently saw as he sat under the oak tree, and commended in a man who doubted God’s presence because of the circumstances, is perhaps found in the reply of his father to those who confronted Gideon’s actions of tearing down the alter of Ba’al as God commanded him to do (Judges 6:27-30):
“And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will you plead for Ba’al? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his alter” Judges 6:31.
That really took some moxy from Gideon’s father to invoke testable reality among a people emotionally driven to defend a loved idol in the land. Gideon’s valor obviously stems from his father’s faithfulness to God in a land so unprotected by God that the man’s own son is confused between his own faith and the reality he sees around him. God commended Gideon’s valor not because of his confidence or even his understanding, but wholly because of his obedience in the face of sure repercussions. Did it bother God that Gideon chose to obey God at night where he could get away with accomplishing the task before being found out? No. Gideon obeyed God in his creative way, and that was all that was asked. His valor was in his willingness to do it, and his success was in God’s presence with him just as promised (v.16). Gideon’s confidence grew as he saw God enable him to succeed, but each success was a reach of faith before the results came in.
Be comforted that God’s pleasure in you is not found in your “deep knowledge” but in your simple obedience to what you know… Yet even ignorant Gideon had some foundation of obedience in knowledge as we see him prepare a gift-offering before the angel (Judges 6:18-21) that conforms to the Mosaic law of burnt offerings (Exodus 29:1-3 and Leviticus 3:11-12,4:28,5:6) offered where the LORD commanded (Deuteronomy 12:13-14 vs. Judges 6:20).
Obedience is not obedience unless the instruction is given and heard before it is applied. After obedience, comes enlightenment and understanding of things complex… like why God has allowed this mournful condition if he really is with us.
In a period of national rebellion, the confusion in the best of God’s people becomes significant (Judges 11:30-35), and while the consequences of their confusion can be unspeakably horrible, the fact that they are God’s people doesn’t change. This is the strange marriage between legalism and eternal security that God’s confused people today can’t seem to figure out. The simple solution is a perfect heart toward God (Deuteronomy 28:47), but for some reason people keep looking for another more complex solution that also allows for self-serving lust.
Good luck with that.
Gideon’s faithfulness to God was not the problem in Israel and he served God obediently to the deliverance of his people, but what was going on in Gideon’s head when he made the golden ephah from the earrings of the conquered (Judges 8:22-27)? Like Moses’ brass serpent and the Catholic’s infatuation with the powers of artifacts, these people will worship anything but God himself!
* * *
Abimelech a Judge?
The progression of troubles and confusion continues as Abimelech, Gideon’s only son of a concubine, killed all but one of Gideon’s 70 other children (Judges 8:30-31+9:5).
Now Gideon had made it clear that he nor his children (*2) would be Israel’s ruler (Judges 8:22-23) but after he was dead Abimelech pursued other plans, and he used the thought of all 70 of Gideon’s other sons as rulers to make his singular reign suggestion seem a lot more pleasant. It’s the classic “create an imagined bad scenario to make provision for your imagined solution” Governments today do this often to get what they want.
My point here is that Gideon was the first time in which Israel began wanting a king, and Abimelech his son was the first one to attempt to fill the order (Judges 9:22), but God had other plans that did not yet include a king for Israel (Judges 9:23).
Abimelech’s rule was a self-serving mess that foretold the nature of kings, much like the present administration of Obama over America. Will we heed the warning of history or fall to the same ends? The answer will be found in our response to the oppression because of our evil ways. But remember, I already showed by interpretation that America does not get multiple chances because we have an example that we are supposed to learn by.
* * *
A few free Judges:
Now for some reason, after Abimelech, Israel had two more successive judges without an apparent oppression that solicited a cry for help. The total span of these was 45 years (Judges 10:1-4) and apparently these Judges kept Israel from wandering, perhaps an American-style gift of God to encourage a familiarity with the lifestyle they should adopt. I have no more information to shed light on this, but after they were removed Israel returned to do wickedly. You really have to wonder why God would stay with a people so bent on serving other gods, yet they are so quick to accuse God of abandonment when he turns them over to evil for their sins, in an attempt to encourage a return.
So can you really blame God when he has finally had enough?
* * *
That’s just about enough!
“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him” Judges 10:6.
OK, you can maybe understand when for one reason or another a strange god catches your eye and you find yourself enthralled with something you didn’t see coming… but how do you explain an entire flock of gods while at the same time failing to serve your own God who has already done so much for you?
Not to rabbit trail this, but what do these many gods have that Jehovah doesn’t? It has to be an appeal to your otherwise forbidden lusts; these gods encourage what your sin nature already wants to do.
And as before, God’s anger was kindled hot and he sold them into oppression (Judges 10:7-9), which as always, resulted in a cry for help:
“And the children of the Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Ba’alim” Judges 10:10.
Now I don’t want to get nit-picky here, but after hearing this kind of repentance for the 7th time, you would think God might get a bit critical. So having just read that they turned to at least 12 gods (declared plural of each nation listed) they have the chutzpah to admit serving just Baal? I’m sorry but that just doesn’t sell well at this point. Rather I get the impression that they had found that a bouquet of flowers makes everything better, and now they are using it expectantly to get away with anything they want. Now perhaps I am reading too much into this but God’s response seems to support my perception:
“And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Am’mon, and from the Philistines?
The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.
Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation” Judges 10:11-14.
“Well that’s not the normal response; This could be serious this time!”
You think?~
So they reply to the LORD with a bit more seriousness:
“…We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day” Judges 10:15.
And to show that they were really serious this time:
“And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD:…” Judges 10:16a.
OK, hold on a second! Am I reading this right? They first asked God to help them by “repenting” through confessing their sins… but only after that didn’t work they actually put away their strange gods?
It really does seem apparent that because of God’s great love for us, he in fact does put up with a lot of game playing, just like a husband with a self-centered wife whom he loves!
“…and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel” Judges 10:16b.
The wording of this seems to indicate that he did not immediately fix their problems this time, though it really hurt him to watch them suffer.
Now because we have it all written down in a neat history of the events, we can see that God did in fact send them their deliverer, but he did so in a way that took a while and that they didn’t see his hand in it while they fretted.
Notice as chapter 11 opens, we see Jeph’thah actually play the argument of God as they ask for his help when they need it, after having rejected him previously. Jeph’thah queries that if he helps them and succeeds, will they accept him as their head? The elders swore they would, with the LORD as their witness, and Jeph’thah reported all this back to God.
Next we see an accurate pre-play of the Palestinian argument today. The Ammonites came to fight on Israel’s land and Jeph’thah asks why. The response is so Palestinian:
“And the king of the children of Am’mon answered unto the messengers of Jeph’thah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jab’bok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably” Judges 11:13.
I guess it has only been a few thousand years so you really can’t expect them to get over it that quickly, but the details in their memory seems to still be confused as ever:
“…Thus saith Jeph’thah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Am’mon: But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh; Then… Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place. But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan” Judges 11:15-22.
But very applicable today, Jeph’thah takes his reasoning argument even further:
…”While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Ar’oer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? Why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?
Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Am’mon” Judges 11:26-27.
The Palestinians are not a people, have never been a people, and until Israel reclaimed their own wasteland, had no interest in the land of “Palestine.” But now they come to Israel claiming they took away their land and want Israel to give it back peaceably. The story never changes, and neither do the confusions of just who is the aggressor; The Avalon Project (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/plocov.asp).
It is really easy to box the scriptures into a non-relevant category of literature and thereby safely miss the actual implication of real-life application. Do you suppose Am’mon had allies that concerned Jeph’thah? I’m sure they did, but Jeph’thah was the deliverer sent by God because they asked for His aid to solve their very real oppressions. The one thing that the former Israel knew by multiple experiences is that God would and could deliver them if they would but ask in returning to Him as their God. Today’s Israel has no such long experience and therefore no such faith to apply. Are you beginning to see the usefulness of this history now? And why God allowed them so many returns in grace? Did God deliver them because of their faithfulness or because of His? Can today’s Israel today take this history to heart?
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” Romans 5:8-10.
Return to the God who loves you, look to him alone to deliver you from your sorrows, God is waiting with longing to help you. And as the Creator of all things and peoples, everyone is welcomed home if they but ask. But don’t expect much from a God whose beloved Son and deliverer you reject (Matthew 23:39).
* * *
Understand yourself:
There is more to the Judges story and we have not yet even reached the truly pitiful part, God’s patience and longsuffering with Israel is extreme and he can work with and through virtually any nutjob such as Samson to deliver a very messed up people. The trick to a successful relationship with God is to know full well that it’s not based on your goodness. God actually wants to be God to you… so let him!
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, ‘A new covenant’, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away”... Hebrews 8:12-13.
But you really need to read the previous verses!
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
and they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for (because) all shall know me, from the least to the greatest” Hebrews 8:10-11.
Have you experienced the unction of the Holy One until you find security in His rest? The key remains the same as always: you just have to choose who will be your God. When you get that decision unshakably solid, you will be ready for the age to come.
* * * * * * *
(*1) The Oak Tree Insight:
After further investigation we can conclude that like the period of Ezekiel, the Jews of this period all worshiped idols by offering sweet savor to them until they filled the land with alters for that purpose:
“Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols” Ezekiel 6:13.
This is not just under specially selected trees; but almost like a game to find an unused tree, they offered their incense to their idols under EVERY thick oak. Comparable history of idol worship shows that they remain set up there beneath those trees on altars. It reminds me of Mexico where out in the middle of the desert you can find a gnarly shade tree, more often than not, with several miniature Catholic shrines set up with idols of Mary where incense has long been burned. Pictures and prayers and trinkets trash the place with a recognizable “décor” of beseechment.
So now if we are told specifically that the LORD’s angel sat under an oak tree under the authority of Gideon’s father (Judges 6:11), we must conclude that this particular oak was big enough to provide shade but had no such incense burnt under it or God would not choose to be present there:
“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” I John 1:5.
Now if every thick oak in the land was used to burn incense to idols, and yet this oak was idol free, so that the angel reclined in its shade, we have to ask; “Why?”
As the narration develops we learn why; it’s because Gideon and his father remained unusually true to Jehovah in a land of idol worshipers. The angel declared Gideon a man of valor because his family remained true to God; this was the source of his force that the angel commended.
(*2) Son, not Children:
“Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian.
And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you” Judges 8:22-23.
The passage actually says son, which indicates that in spite of having more than 70 living children, Gideon already knew that his son Abimelech had sights on the throne in rebellion to his fathers will and faith, and that the men of Israel were really only interested in being ruled by Abimelech, who was like them, in contrast to the other 70 who were like their father.
*
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