Deception

 

Matthew 4:1

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Satan knew Who he was dealing with here. He knew that Jesus was his ultimate adversary, and therefore he decided to bring out his most effective weapons against Him, strategies that were proven to work successfully against mankind throughout the thousands of years before that day in the desert. At heart they all boil down to deception - to make men believe something that is not truth but certainly looks like it, a hidden lie. This he typically accomplishes through outright lies; omission; or distorting facts.

The first attempt was an appeal to the lust of the flesh. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” This was a hidden test for Jesus to use God’s gifts for selfish purposes to prove that He is the Son of God, ignoring God’s timing and will in all things. The deception lay in the fact that Satan did not ask Him to create wealth or precious things out of stones, something spectacular that would impress all who heard about it later and greatly enhance Jesus’s reputation- a suggestion that was so obviously deceitful that it would immediately be rejected by Jesus. Oh no. He suggested that Jesus create only that basic necessity which would satisfy the hunger pangs of a starving man, namely bread. Presuming that Jesus would see that this was a very legitimate action and only to His advantage. But Jesus deflected this test by quoting Deut 8:3 “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”, turning the whole bread trap against Satan himself by showing that the words from the mouth of God should be much more important to us than the bread we eat.

The second test was an appeal to the pride of life. Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “’He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” He was misusing a passage from Ps 91 here, omitting the words “to keep you in all your ways”. It distorts the meaning of the original which means that God will keep the righteous on their journey as they refrain from tempting God with needless and uncommissioned recklessness. Satan tried to trick Jesus into ‘forcing’ the Father’s hand to rescue Him with a supernatural event. He thought that this would bring about an attitude of pride in Jesus because this act would publicly show that the Father approved of Him. Jesus recognized this ploy as Satan trying to deceive Him into a spectacular act of self-promotion, to test God’s love for Him, as His answer shows: Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

The third test was an appeal to the lust of the eyes. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” This plays into what Jesus essentially came to do – to win all the nations back from Satan. Satan is offering them all to Jesus here, deceitfully only highlighting their splendour and hiding their sins, holding out a very enticing proposition. He offers Jesus a shortcut to what He wants to accomplish and asks only that that Jesus fall down and worship him in return. And Jesus, even while knowing about His coming crucifixion and the horrors He had to face, still resisted Satan and replied Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Pearls to ponder:

Will Satan’s lies, omissions and distorting of facts deceive you? Will you be able to recognize that he is misquoting Scripture, or misrepresenting truth? The only way to discern these things is to read and meditate on your Bible faithfully, and to practise hearing the voice of Holy Spirit. Be a doer of God’s word, and not a listener only.

Temptations

God's unfailing love

 

Ps 103:17

But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—

We have all experienced a moment in our lives where we doubted that God could still love us – maybe after we had sinned against Him; or experienced a time where we felt that He was far removed from us; or even during a time where we were so focused on our own busy lives that we started ignoring our time with Him, and guilt set in.

The word for love used here in our verse above is Khesed – a rich Hebrew word in the Old Testament describing God's covenantal, loyal love, combining steadfast kindness, mercy, and devotion. It implies action-oriented, unconditional loyalty rather than mere emotion, often translated as "steadfast love" or "loving-kindness".

‘From everlasting to everlasting’ implies a faithfulness that few of us have experienced from people during our lifetime. But think about what this is also saying – His wonderful love for you is also from everlasting – this means that He loved you before you were even born. He has loved you for an eternity already, and will keep on loving you through all eternities ahead, and because He promised this for all who reverence Him, we can be absolutely sure that His loyal love for us will never cease, no matter what!

And this is why Paul can promise us in Rom 8:39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This does not mean that we will not go through some rough patches in our lives. We have His assurances that He will be with us through all the trials life may throw at us. Indeed, Paul names a few circumstances that we may be asked to face in Rom 8:35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? And the answer to this question is of course, NO, He always loves us!

Pearls to ponder:

Think about what this loyal everlasting love of God means in your life, and adjust your attitude about the difficult situations you are facing both now, and those in your past. Are you blaming God for them? Do you think that you are being punished for something, or that God has stopped caring for you, or that you are somehow not good enough for God to love you? Live humbly before your God, bask in His love and see how He lifts you up above your circumstances!

Unfailing Love

Feet for Danger

 

Habakkuk 3:19

The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places.

Hinds are known for being highly agile and sure-footed, capable of navigating steep, craggy and dangerous mountain terrain. I recently watched videos of how they cross steep slopes, where there seems to be no secure footholds for anything to be able to jump or stand on – and yet they do! They can jump great distances over treacherous chasms and land on the other side on some ridiculously thin piece of rock – amazing to see!

They have a unique hoof structure to help them do this – two-toed hooves that can spread to provide a better grip on uneven and slippery surfaces. Also, when climbing, a hind places its back feet exactly where its front feet have just stepped, ensuring that the back feet land on stable footing already tested by the front feet.

This is the picture the prophet Habakkuk had in mind when he had to make the choice of how to react to the dire circumstances surrounding him then, and also facing him in the future. He lived in a society that was full of wickedness and injustice. Faced with this ever-increasing corruption, he started doubting that God was hearing his pleas for help. God answered the prophet and said that He was not passive in this situation, He was going to use the Chaldeans to judge Judah.

Habakkuk than presumed to question God on His decision to use such a wicked nation as an instrument of discipline. God reminded him that He controls the destiny of nations, and that He would in the future greatly punish the Babylonians for their arrogance and greed against Judah.

The prophet knew that the coming invasion of the Chaldeans would lead to utter desolation and famine, and this was the moment when he made his choice on how to react. He modelled for us how we are to manage the three things that we can control when circumstances around us turn hostile:

1.      Who we trust – Habakkuk chose to trust God unconditionally, and this choice initially caused him great anxiety.

2.      Our perspective - He chose to believe that God knows best, and his subsequent decision to wait patiently for things to develop, filled him with great peace.

3.      What we do – Habakkuk chose to write a psalm, which is recorded in chapter 3. It is set to wild, enthusiastic and triumphal music – he is rejoicing in Who his God is, in what He has done in the past, and in the fact that the future will lead to redemption!

Which brought him to the image of a hind, and the feet that it has. We cannot control our circumstances which are ever-changing and give us no stability, just as the deer cannot control the terrain that it has to speed over when running from its enemies. But when we joyfully put our complete trust in the Lord our Master and Covenant God (the meaning of the names Adonai and Yahwe which Habakkuk used) – we develop hinds’ feet, specialized to keep us safe from slipping or falling on high places.

Pearls to ponder:

The song that Habakkuk wrote was a way for him to remind himself that he had decided to put his unwavering trust in the Lord his God. Sing his song every time you feel uncertain or fearful of the future, to remind yourself also!

The God of my salvation

The mystery that is Israel

 

Gen 15:18

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—

There it is. Clear and precise. God’s promise to Abram that the physical land which today is known as Israel, is only a small piece of the greater landmass that God actually gave to Abram’s descendants, forever. And no, this does not include his offspring through Keturah (Gen 21:12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.) His descendants through Isaac are the people we know today as the Jews.

The country Israel makes the whole world feel uneasy and unsettled, and when people are asked why this is so, they will generally mention, politics, war, settlements, borders. But the truth goes much deeper - it lies not in what Israel does, but in what Israel is.

Israel is roughly the same size as the Kruger National Park; has no oil like many of its near neighbours; has a population barely even the same number of citizens living in some cities in the rest of the world. They are surrounded by bitter enemies; hated in the United Nations; boycotted; slandered; and attacked both physically and verbally. And still, they thrive! In technology; in security; in agriculture; in intelligence; in morality; in medicine; in military – the list is endless. They took a land that existed mostly of swamps and desert and turned it into fertile farmland. They have survived wars that should have wiped them out, and not only survived them, but won.

The world witnessed all these things since ages past and cannot understand any of it. The people of Israel were supposed to disappear a long time ago, as always happened with exiled, enslaved and hated minorities throughout the centuries. But against all odds they returned, revived their language and rebuilt their land.

Israel in the natural does not make any sense. How do you explain a people who had to endure the Babylonians, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Inquisition, the pogroms and the Holocaust, and yet are still showing up to work on Monday mornings in Jerusalem?

And what drives the world crazy is the knowing that if this maligned nation is somehow still chosen and protected by God and even thriving – then maybe God is not a myth after all. Maybe Israel is the testimony He chose them to be. Maybe their survival is divine. And this is what they are raging against – it is much easier to slander and ridicule Israel than to admit that God is real and keeps His promises!

Pearls to ponder:

One day, nations will be judged on how they treated Israel (Matt 25:32-46). Are you fervently standing in the gap and repenting on behalf of our leaders who are taking action against Israel and the Jewish people?

Israel - Land of Promise

A prophetic worm

 

Ps 22:6

But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

When Jesus was nearing His death on the cross, He uttered these words:

Matth 27: 46  About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

He was quoting directly from the first verse of Ps 22, validating the fact that it is a prophetic Psalm describing the agony that He had to endure there. What He experienced then was so dark and complex and extreme, it must have been beyond any emotional comprehension for someone who had already suffered the physical and mental torture that He had had to go through. For not only did He have to experience the withdrawal of His Father’s loving presence, but He also had to face God’s wrath being poured out on Him as He took our sin upon Himself.

In our quoted verse above, David refers to a worm. The word used is “tola”, or scarlet worm, and it is from these worms that the scarlet dye that they used to colour the Temple curtains, was made. We can easily see the symbolism of the sacrifices and spilled blood that was necessary for the Israelites to meet with their God here.

But there is much more. The lifecycle of the tola worm hides an incredible story – the story of our redemption! When the mature worm is ready to give birth, it climbs a tree, attaches itself to the bark and makes a cocoon for itself. After the baby worms hatch, they start feeding on the living mother for three days. The mother then dies, turns into a waxy white shell which falls to the ground, leaving a scarlet stain on the tree.

As David prophetically calls himself that particular worm, we can see Jesus being nailed to the wood; giving up His life so that we may be born again; dying in our place so that we can be seen as whiter than snow – sinless - before Abba; and His blood leaving a scarlet stain on the cross.

We can but stand in awe of the way in which God built the prophetic signs of His plan of redemption into nature itself!

Pearls to ponder:

We need to learn how to see and not just look; how to listen and not just hear. It is only then that these incredible pearls will be revealed to us. God sustains life on earth through a finely tuned interconnected set of complex systems. Choose an activity that will expose you to them, e.g. take a walk; visit the zoo; read a travel or nature magazine; do a Google image search for something basic like flower or mountain; look up intricate maths formulas that are inherent in nature. And fall down in worship before Elohim, our great Creator God that invites us to call Him Father!

The Beauty of God

The redemption price of the firstborn

 

Numbers 3:46-48

There are 273 more firstborn sons of Israel than there are Levites. To redeem these extra firstborn sons, collect five pieces of silver for each of them (each piece weighing the same as the sanctuary shekel, which equals twenty gerahs). Give the silver to Aaron and his sons as the redemption price for the extra firstborn sons.”

According to the instructions the Lord gave Moses at Sinai, the firstborn of the womb of both animals and humans were considered holy and belonging to the Lord. Firstborn lambs specifically were to be offered as sacrifices; and the firstborn sons of Israel were to belong to the Temple and assume priesthood. Remember this, it becomes important later.

The Lord then said to Moses that He would claim the Levites as a substitute for the firstborn males of Israel, in other words take them to minister to Him instead of the firstborn males. When the two groups were counted, they found that there were 273 more firstborn sons than there were Levites. These extra firstborn sons were assigned a value in money (five pieces of silver each) and this money (to redeem them) was paid to Aaron and his sons. They were then free of the obligation to become priests. The total amount of that first redemption of sons came to 1 365 shekels – a number I will refer to later.

This practice continued throughout the years, with fathers of all firstborn sons paying a redemption price of five silver coins to the priests of the temple, to free their sons from mandatory priesthood.  

Now fast forward to the time of Jesus, and the priests of the Temple plotting his death. They were going to use the silver coins from that very Temple treasury into which all the redemption silver coins were paid over all these years, and with these coins purchase a human life back – the life of the firstborn of Joseph and Mary, Jesus the Firstborn of God. Giving these coins to Judas means the redemption fee is returned, and this means that the Son now assumes the role of priest. But more than that, as the Lamb of God He now has to be sacrificed! (Acknowledging Jonathan Cahn)

That number I referred to earlier – the number of years from when the first redemption of firstborn males occurred until the birth of Messiah, was 1365 years! He was the fulfilment of the redemption!

Pearls to ponder:

Jesus is our Redeemer. He paid the full purchase price for you – freeing you from the power of sin and death, freeing you from all religious obligations. Live in gratitude as someone that is free indeed!

Forgiven

Missing evidence

 

Matthew 26:59-61

Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death. 60 But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, they could not use anyone’s testimony. Finally, two men came forward 61 who declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

The Sanhedrin, the highest court of law who decided on internal legal and religious affairs for the Jews during Jesus’ time, faced a dilemma. They desperately wanted to get rid of Jesus, but they could not for the life of them find the necessary witness agreement to be able to make a case against Him. They were bound by law to heed God’s instruction in Deut 17:6 On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness., and this turned out to be a monumental problem – even though there were many men who were very willing to come and testify before them, no two persons’ testimonies agreed with one another. This is not surprising as they were all lying, so their stories did not reflect the truth and therefore could not match up.

Until at last they found two men saying the same thing, and this must have made quite an impression because Mark also recorded it in his gospel (Mark 14:58). I find it very interesting that this particular piece of evidence would grab the Sanhedrin’s attention, because it was so relevant to what was about to happen! The men quoted Jesus as saying that if they destroyed the temple, He would rebuild it in three days.

Which is the explanation of what happened a few days later – Jesus rose after three days in the tomb, His body being the true temple of God where God resides and meets humanity.

This saying of Jesus must have been well known and remembered among the Jews of the time, because we see in Matthew 27:40 that people passing by Jesus on the cross jeered at Him, saying “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”

This knowledge, in conjunction with all the supernatural signs happening around the crucifixion, leads me to conclude that many scholars and rabbis of the time - men of great learning, schooled and experienced in linking spiritual facts from different sources together - must have come to the realisation that Jesus truly was the Messiah, and that everything He had said must be true.

Pearls to ponder:

If you had been one of those rabbis who started understanding that Jesus is Who He said He was, what would you have done? Would you have kept this secret like the majority of them did, because proclaiming the truth would adversely affect your status in the community, as you would certainly be ostracized, ridiculed, and lose everything you had worked so hard to achieve? What about your own faith - can you stand up and boldly proclaim Jesus as the Truth, even though your family and friends will ridicule you?

Confidence

Self-sacrificing stars

 

Dan 12:3

Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

Daniel compares believers in the end-times to stars, shining brightly in the very dark world which will then surround them. Paul and Timothy do the same in Phil 2:15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. Even in Revelation, John sees Jesus holding seven stars in His hand, and He explains to him in Rev 1:20 This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels (messengers of God, i.e. pastors/leaders) of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Who of us have not been fascinated when looking up at the night sky and seeing those millions of stars flickering there! Few of us realize how they get to shine. Deep inside the star, temperatures and pressures are so high that hydrogen atoms collide and fuse, releasing energy. The energy produced in the core travels outward through the star's layers, eventually emerging as heat and light. The problem is that hydrogen can be depleted, and stars may then burn heavier elements to keep shining, but as these are also used up, the star will eventually die. A star therefore lives by giving of itself until there is nothing left to give - a self-sacrificial life indeed!

We recently celebrated Purim, and in that narrative we find a perfect example of a self-sacrificing star. Hadassah was the orphan girl who was chosen to be the Queen of Persia. Hadassah is the Hebrew word for myrtle, and the flowers of the myrtle tree look like stars. She changed her name to Esther when she was taken into the King’s harem, and Esther means Star!

But it was only when she decided to sacrifice her own life to save her people that she became the star she was born to be.

The implication for us as end-time believers is clear - in order to live and shine as heavenly lights, we will have to become living sacrifices, existing only to do the will of our heavenly Father.

Pearls to ponder:

If we live to selfishly keep our lives, we will dwell in darkness. But if we live to give our lives to others, we will become lights that shine in that darkness – like the stars! So, choose each day to live as a living sacrifice, to die to self and follow God only. When God instructs us to do something, let us imitate Esther and say, “If I perish, I perish, but this I have to do!” Mordechai’s words echo down through the centuries, giving us hope and clarity: You were born for such a time as this. God planned for you to live at this exact time in history – you will not fail!

Born for this

When love rebukes

 Matthew 23:37

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.

We encounter a side of Jesus here in Matthew 23 that does not fit well into our modern theology of “Love all people into the Kingdom and do not judge”. Especially when you consider the fact that He is addressing the religious leaders of His day.

The issues Jesus points out here were not said in polite, soft-spoken words, intended not to offend. Oh no, we see many of His accusations given with exclamation marks, boldly pointing out that they were leading the flock astray with their own sinful and completely wrong applications of what the words of God intended.

We see Jesus accusing them of shutting the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces because they are pretenders (teaching one law and then not keeping it themselves). They are doing all their works only to be seen of men. He calls them blind fools because they make distinctions between different objects people swear by, giving them a corrupt way to opt out of keeping their word. They are blind guides, leading people to concentrate on keeping outward minor details of religious rituals instead of tending to their inside holiness. He even refers to them as serpents and children of vipers, to my mind referring to the fact that they were led by the Kundalini spirit (a curled up snake at the base of the spine imitating the Holy Spirit), which was empowered and given access to them through their dabbling into the occultic practices of the mystical teachings of Kabbalah. (These teachings were orally transmitted down through the centuries). This is why He said in John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.

 Finally, He accuses them of murdering all the prophets who came before and even those who would still come. Jesus ends off His emotional speech by declaring their righteous punishment in verse 36 - I assure you and most solemnly say to you, [the judgment for] all these things [these vile and murderous deeds] will come on this generation.

But Jesus has not finished speaking yet. In tears, He utters the words quoted above, about His desire to gather His people under His wings, showing that the reason for His rebuke against the leaders was because of His deep love for them, a love that wanted them to repent and turn back towards God!

Pearls to ponder:

Think about the picture of a hen gathering her chicks: They feel safe and happy; part of a blessed community. They know love and grow in a healthy way; all the while being taught the correct way to go about life. This is what Jesus wants to do for you – are you willing?

Jerusalem

Adam, where are you?

 Gen 3:9

Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

As parents, we are often confronted with children who have transgressed in some way or other. And I use the word transgress deliberately, as it conveys the meaning that they knew the rules, and yet decided to disobey.

Our reaction normally depends on factors like the age of the child; the amount of sleep we have had; our stress levels on any given day! And I know through experience with my own children that there probably were a few instances in the past where our reaction was less than, shall we say, optimal? Maybe it came out as:

“What on earth have you done!”

“Did I not specifically tell you NOT to!”

“Where are your ears – why have you stopped using them?!”

But not God. We find our Heavenly Father - knowing full well how Adam and Eve have deliberately chosen to disobey His one and only negative command (not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil) - walking toward them and asking: “Where are you?” Choosing to repair the relationship rather than accusing them and meting out punishment.

We see that during this whole encounter God gave them ample time to acknowledge their wrongdoing and ask Him to forgive and restore. He keeps on asking questions, (although of course He knew exactly what had happened), hoping all the while that they would respond honestly and admit that they were in the wrong. Eventually He Himself had to mention the eating from the forbidden tree, and how did they then answer Him? Both of them made excuses and blamed others for their own wrong choices!

Imagine the hurt in our Abba Father’s heart when He saw them not responding to His gesture of love - the outstretched hand of forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration of relationships. His punishment of their sin was unavoidable, as He is a righteous God, but I am sure that He gave it with a very heavy heart!

Pearls to ponder:

Let us be quick to repent and truthfully own up to our transgressions, without making excuses or compromising. This is not to somehow earn God’s favour and love – we have that already – but for our own sakes, so that we can continue to abide in our love relationship with our Heavenly Father without hindrances of our own making!

God of all my days