Extraordinary Obedience

 Hosea 1:2

When the LORD first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the LORD and worshiping other gods.”

I wonder which emotions flowed through Hosea when he heard this command from the Lord. It must have really shocked him, since he was a God-fearing man who lived to please the Lord, and marrying someone living in sin would never have been an option for him.

Jeremiah similarly received instructions from the Lord which led to him experiencing and enduring great loneliness in a culture where marriage and having children were very much the norm– Jer 16:1-2  1The word of the LORD also came to me saying, 2“You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.”

Likewise, Ezekiel’s instruction from the Lord would also have puzzled many who witnessed it. Ezekiel 24:15-17 ¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁶ “Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. ¹⁷ Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover your mustache and beard or eat the customary food of mourners.” The very next day God took away Ezekiel’s wife, and he was instructed not to mourn for her. This would have caused quite a stir in a culture where mourning rituals were rigidly fixed and continued for a few days.

Three ordinary men, but displaying extraordinary faith and obedience to God, functioning as His prophets, and therefore speaking for God to a culture that had increasingly distanced itself from the Lord and started worshipping idols. All three men therefore were asked by God to live through the conditions that He Himself was experiencing, so that they could feel His own emotions about it as it played out in their own lives. This would keep their focus on those emotions, so that they could persevere to witness to their fellow countrymen about how deeply God was being affected by their sinful behaviour.

Hosea had to mirror the reality that God still deeply loved and cherished Israel, even though she was following after other gods and lavishing her love on them, hurting her Husband by her unfaithfulness. Jeremiah had to show that God now had to live as a Bachelor without a wife, as Israel had rejected Him. Ezekiel had to demonstrate how, even though God would desecrate His sanctuary, the people would not mourn for Him because their hearts were so far removed from Him.

Points to ponder:  To what lengths are you prepared to go to be obedient to God’s instructions? Do you evaluate those commands by comparing them to your cultural background, and only then deciding whether you will obey or not? Take to heart Jesus’ words to the Pharisees: Mark 7:7-8 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”

Obedience

Knowing in part

 1 Peter 5:8

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

We sometimes recall only parts of verses in the Bible, not realizing that what we remember is not the entire verse, but often only the segment that many sermons have been given on, or has been quoted widely.

The first part of the above verse, often not mentioned with the rest, is important to the understanding of the second part – it gives two principles we must follow that will help in protecting us against the roaring lion: we need to be aware of the spiritual strategies from our enemy working against us; and we need to keep our minds free of intoxication of whatever kind, whether it be substances or lies that we believe.

Ps 91:1

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

This is another example of where the first part of the verse is often not given the weight it deserves. It sets the condition that must be met before the whole of the rest of Ps 91 becomes active. The person who is protected in this way is the one who has an intimate relationship with the Lord, the one who does not only know of Him, but dwells with Him, sharing their lives with Him, acknowledging Him in everything they do.

1 Chronicles 16:22

Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

In the broader church community, this verse is often misquoted as meaning that teachers, pastors, evangelists, apostles, and prophets are above reproach and may not be rebuked for errors in their teachings or ministry. This is of course not the case - in Matt 18:15-17 Jesus outlines the steps ordinary believers must take to manage the situation where fellow believers (and this includes church leadership) are in the wrong. The verse in Chronicles quoted above refers to the nation of Israel if you read it in context, and we know from their history that their anointed leaders and prophets suffered greatly at the hands of others, in fact God Himself often sent them into situations where they had to endure physical and verbal abuse. There is no special threat implied in this verse against people who identify wrong teachings or ministry practices and treat it in the biblical way, which is: First talk to the Lord about it; when He gives His go-ahead, do it in His way; and keep searching your own heart to make sure there is no hidden agenda of judgement or pride to be found there. This verse points to those times when Israel’s prophets were on occasion specially protected by God.

Points to ponder: In these times of deception, it is more important than ever that we read our Bible for ourselves, to ascertain that we are believing the actual Word of God, and not the words that we, or others, have put into God’s mouth. A half-truth is even more dangerous than an outright lie.

Be Someone Who Accepts the Truth

Countering accusations

 

Matthew 27:12

But when the leading priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent.

As part of their campaign against Jesus, the chief priests and the elders of the Sanhedrin bound Him and took Him to Pilate, where they falsely accused Jesus of all manner of wrongdoing with the intention of getting Him sentenced to death. Jesus did answer Pilate when he wanted to confirm a truth and asked Him if He were King of the Jews. But whenever false accusations were thrown at Him by the priests, He kept silent.

This was in fulfilment of the prophecy made by Isaiah in Isa 53:7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth – yet another clue given by God to affirm that Jesus is the Messiah which the Jewish priests should have picked up on, seeing as they knew their Scriptures so well.

There are two other insights we could derive from this situation. The first is that Jesus Himself said that He only did what His Father told Him to do (John 5:30 I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will). Clearly Abba Father had not told Jesus to answer these accusations. We are promised that He will also tell us what words to say in the same circumstances (Mark 13:11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit).

And secondly, the life of Jesus and His works clearly show that He is the Messiah, He did not need to verbally confirm this fact. This is why Jesus did not answer the disciples of John the Baptist directly when they asked Him if He were the One they had been waiting for – He answered them indirectly by pointing out the works He had done – in Matthew 11:5 He told them to tell John in prison that the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”  Why would John instantly recognize Him for Who He is when he heard this? Because of the prophecies made by Isaiah about the works the Messiah would do: Isa 35:5-6 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. And Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

Points to ponder: When we look at how we conduct our own lives, is it obvious to everyone that we are followers of Jesus? Do our deeds speak for us when necessary, or do we need to vehemently defend ourselves and our beliefs when confronted? And if falsely accused, is it clear to any fair judge that these accusations just cannot be true, so that they are obliged to wash their hands of the matter and declare us innocent?

Living for Jesus

Good works

We know from John 3:16 that we are not saved by any works that we do, but purely on the grounds of our belief in the fact that Jesus died for our sins in our place; that He conquered death by rising again on the third day as the Firstfruit of all of us who will be resurrected from the grave and follow His example; and that He now sits on the right hand of our Father in heaven, waiting for us to join Him there. Whether we go to heaven one day is not determined by weighing our good works in the scales against our sinful behaviour and seeing which weighs more - we cannot earn our salvation by doing good works.

This does not mean that we as Christians now do not have to do any good works at all, or that our good works are in vain. On the contrary. What it means is that we now do them with a distinct perspective in view – a heavenly perspective. Our Lord Jesus wants to reward us in heaven one day, as we read in 2 Cor 5:10 For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. (‘evil’ is translated as ‘worthless’ in many translations). If we have no good works to show, we will not be punished, but will suffer loss in heaven because we will not receive rewards, as we read in 1 Cor 3:13-14 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward.

But what are the good works about which we are talking? Eph 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. This is the most incredible truth, displaying the matchless greatness of our God: every one of us was designed by Him to do certain good works, which no one else can do! Imagine for a moment how God the Master Planner had thought about certain works that He wanted done in a certain time and place; then thought about what characteristics and giftings and experiences the person that had to do it, had to have; and then He formed YOU to precisely match that profile! No other person on planet earth or in history can fit that space!

 God designed a plan of good works just for you. You were maybe not meant to be a Billy Graham, or a Mary Slessor. But what if your son or daughter is? What if your God-ordained good works are only to bring up your children to fulfil those roles, much like Mary was designed to be the mother of Jesus? We all need to become sensitive to the promptings of Holy Spirit, guiding us to do certain things which form part of God’s plan of good works for us, and stop persistently questioning our purpose in life, or striving to accomplish something which was never in God’s plan for us to do. Here is one way of knowing: you will experience joy in fulfilling God’s plans for you!

Points to ponder:

Consider Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. It shows that your rewards are meant for the time after Jesus’ second coming. It is not meant for you during your time here on earth. Be prepared therefore to face persecution and even hardship during your lifetime, using those experiences to earn your rewards in heaven!

Heaven's Reward

Heroes with humble beginnings

Heb 11:32-34

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.

These heroes of the faith are rightfully famous throughout history, as they did remarkable feats of bravery. But did you notice these two sentences: Their weakness was turned into strength, showing that they did not start out from a position of strength, but from weakness. And they became strong in battle, meaning that they certainly were not strong to begin with, they had to journey and transition into a position of strength where they were able to put whole armies to flight.

The Angel of the Lord found Gideon hiding in a winepress to beat out the wheat, as the Israelites were protecting themselves from the Midianites who regularly destroyed all their crops and left them with no livestock to live from. And when told that he would rescue Israel from them, Gideon responded by telling the Angel that his whole family is the weakest one in Manasseh and that he himself was the least important member of that family. Hardly the response of a brave man ready to face the enemy armies.

The Lord sent word to Barak through Deborah the prophet that he had to muster troops on Mount Tabor to fight against the Canaanites, and that the Lord would hand the whole enemy army over to him. His cowardly response was that he would only do this if Deborah would accompany him, he did not have the courage to trust the Lord’s word and just obey.

Samson might have received super-human physical strength from the Lord, but he had no moral strength and had to learn this throughout his lifetime. Only at his death did he fully accomplish that which the Lord had called him to do, namely the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines. His physical blindness might have finally led him to see spiritually.

When Gilead’s leaders went to search for Jephthah to ask him to lead their army against the Ammonites, they found him living in the land of Tob because his own half-brothers had thrown him out. He was surrounded by worthless men who accompanied him on raids. This is not the profile of a mighty man of valour who would lead Israel out to conquer the enemy.

David tended his father’s sheep, and his own family did not even consider him worthy to be invited to the meeting where Samuel would anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king of Israel.

Points to ponder:  Consider the humble beginnings of these men, and contrast this with the wonderful acts of great courage the Lord led them to accomplish. Would He not do the same for you? God’s strength works through people who own up to their own weaknesses. All He needs is a willing and humble spirit.

Whatever Your plan is 

Probability

 

Most of us find the whole concept of mathematical probability quite daunting. But simply put, probability just means how likely something is to happen.

We can also describe probability as odds, for instance the odds of your being struck by lightning on any given day are one in 250 million, making it quite a rare occurrence.

There is an event in the Bible that mathematicians have calculated to be (humanly speaking) impossible to arrive at, and yet it happened! It concerns 60 major prophecies made concerning the Messiah, and all being fulfilled in the life of one man, Jesus Christ. These prophecies were penned 500-700 years before His birth.

I will give only four of these as examples: Micah 5:2 designated Bethlehem to be the birthplace of the Messiah. Isaiah 7:14 says that he would be born of a virgin. Ps 22:16 prophecies that His hands and feet would be pierced. Malachi 3:1 mentions that Messiah would live contemporary to the temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed in 70 AD.

The probability of Jesus of Nazareth fulfilling only eight of these 60 prophecies was calculated as being 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000! (calculations vouched for by the American Scientific Affiliation). If we add all the other prophecies to the equation as well, it is clearly not humanly possible to manipulate the outcome to let them all converge in the life of one man. It can only be explained by knowing that God supernaturally gave the prophets future knowledge about the details of the life of Jesus, who is the Messiah.

The following two passages also illustrate this: Zechariah describing his vision in Zech 11:12-13 So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD. This was written some 500 years before Christ.

Compare this with Matthew 27:3-7, written 500 years later, after Jesus’ death and resurrection:  ³ When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. ⁴ “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”⁵ So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.⁶ The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” ⁷ So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.

Points to ponder: Do the scientifically proven calculations above, and the accuracy of the prophecies given hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus (as proven by history), convince you that the baby born in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago was not just an ordinary human baby, but Jesus Christ the Messiah?

Jesus Messiah

Hear and see

 

Hab 2:1

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

There is something interesting in this verse, which is easy to miss on first reading. The prophet says: I will look to see what He will say to me… We do not often use our sight to hear something, do we? And yet, it is such a natural thing to do. If I were to speak to you about the deliciously cold glass of Coke we drank after a long walk in the mountains on a sunny summer day, I just know that you would vividly picture that tall glass, covered with condensed drops of moisture on the outside, as I was speaking!

God most often speaks to us in picture language, which is why He designed us to have an imagination. If I mentioned a beautiful red apple, you would “see” it in your mind’s eye, which is your imagination. You would not see it as letters spelling a-p-p-l-e. And it would not matter whether your physical eyes were opened or closed – in both cases your spiritual eyes would see the apple, using your imagination.

This is why it is so important that we ask God to sanctify our imaginations, and then very carefully guard what we allow to go into our minds via our eyes and ears, so that we do not defile it. This has become the most critical battlefield of our time – to not be exposed to the ever-increasing obscene images strewn all over our environment, and the God-reviling words reaching us via music and other media forms.

How do we use our imagination to hear from God? There is a vital key given to us in this verse from Habakkuk, when we read that we must “stand” and “station ourselves”.  To stand means to come to a standstill, to stop. Station yourself means to present yourself to God. Therefore, you need time, and an eagerness to hear from God. Choose a time in the day when you can cease all your activities, when there is nothing that will interrupt your special time with God. And start that time with positioning yourself before God in your imagination, it could be kneeling before Him in the throne room, it could be meeting Jesus at the well. No details are necessary, it is the intention of the heart that is important to God. And then patiently wait on Him to respond. Do not let your own thoughts intrude, keep your mind stayed on Him. If He gives you a vision, or Scripture, write it down when the encounter is over, and ask Him to interpret it for you. If nothing happens, praise Him and worship Him, and go about your day knowing that He is always with you, whether you “feel” something or not – take by faith the truth of Jer 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. And joyfully schedule the next meeting with Him for tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. Persevere. Very soon your spiritual eyes and ears will become sensitive to His way of communicating with you!

Points to ponder:   Think about Jer 29:13 – what does “with all your heart” mean? What do I need to do differently to let this be true in my life? Do I need to re-order my day? Stop looking at certain shows and videos? Choose different forms of music to listen to?

Encounter Jesus

Total fulfilment

 

Lev 23:15-17

From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering (this is the firstfruits offering presented during the Feast of Firstfruits), count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.

During this past week, Jews all over the world celebrated the Feast of Shavuot (the plural of a word meaning week, or 7), also called Pentecost (the Greek name meaning 50).

This feast is uniquely linked to the Feast of Firstfruits (where the first sheaves of the barley harvest were presented to the Lord, so that the rest of the harvest would be sanctified as well) by 50 days of counting the omer, or sheaves, day by day. This is the time when the wheat harvest is ready, and another offering of new grain is presented to the Lord as firstfruits.

Jesus fulfilled the Feast of Passover with His death, He fulfilled the Feast of Unleavened Bread by the burial of His sinless body, and He fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits by His resurrection. He fulfilled these feasts in incredible detail. Let me show you just the following regarding the Feast of Firstfruits:

In ancient Israel, since not all the barley ripens simultaneously in the land, a small plot of land was set apart in the Kidron Valley to grow this firstfruits offering. On the Day of Passover (14^th Nisan), the place where the first sheaf was to be reaped in that field was marked by members of the Sanhedrin, by using a red cord to bind three bundles of the standing barley designated to be cut down. Three days later, on the 17^th of Nisan (a Sabbath day in the year Jesus was crucified), as the sun was setting, a large crowd would follow the delegates of the Sanhedrin outside the city, across the Kidron brook, and watch them cut off the marked barley sheaves. They would worship and return to the temple to prepare these to offer to the Lord. It was now officially the morning after the Sabbath (remember, the new day starts after sunset on the previous day in Israel).

Now celebrate the fulfilment of these details with me: About the time that Caiaphas, the High Priest, was trying Jesus, the Sanhedrin members were assessing the crop in the field to decide which would be selected to be harvested for firstfruits. While the Romans were binding Jesus up for crucifixion, the disciples of the Sanhedrin were binding up the sheaves designated for the firstfruits offering. Three days later, when the red cord was cut and the sheaves gathered, Jesus rose from the dead after sunset on the Sabbath, officially the morning after, to be presented to the Father as the Firstfruit from the dead, the first to arise from the dead never to die again!

And 50 days later, as the Israelites faithfully counted the omer, the 120 disciples of Jesus became the firstfruits of the emerging church of Jesus Christ by baptism of His Holy Spirit, an offering of new grain to the Lord in the fulfilment of the Feast of Shavuot, ensuring that the harvest of souls to follow would be sanctified by Him also.

Points to ponder: Meditate on how Jesus is showing that He is the fulfilment - to the very last detail - of every Feast of the Lord, and let this forever be your guarantee that He will fulfil every promise He ever made to you!

The anchor of my soul

Honour

 

1 Sam 2:29-30

……Why do you give your sons more honour than you give me……

……But I will honour those who honour me……

When God sent this message to Eli by word of a nameless man of God, he was the priest (probably the high priest) over the Tabernacle at Shiloh. His sons, Hophni and Phinehas, also served as priests in the temple, but they were base and worthless, they did not know or regard the Lord. Instead, they were corrupt - stealing, embezzling, even committing acts of sexual immorality with women who came to the Tabernacle to worship. Their wickedness profaned the Tabernacle, but even worse than that, people avoided coming to worship God because of their actions.

Now Eli was made aware of what his sons were up to, and we read in verse 23-25 that he spoke to them about their sinful behaviour. Nevertheless, God held him accountable for the actions of his sons. Why would this be?

Eli’s responsibility was two-fold. As their father, he should not have condoned some of their behaviour by sharing in the illicitly gained portions of the offerings that people brought to the Tabernacle to offer to God. They took the portions that were meant for God for themselves, sometimes even threatening to use force - verse 29 Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honour your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel? And then as high priest he should have fired the two of them for the disgraceful way in which they conducted themselves, sinning against God in every way possible instead of leading the nation to serving God.

It is Eli’s inaction to do something about his sons' wicked behaviour that leads God to ask why he honours his sons more than Him, and this misplaced honour is the sin that Eli will be judged for.

We have all been in this situation, where we see wrongdoing, but because we do not want to lose the love and regard of brothers/sisters/parents/friends/work colleagues/fellow church goers… we fail to do something about it. It is however important to heed Paul’s instructions regarding this in 1 Cor 5:12-13 It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those outside. We first need to build relationships with fellow believers before we may lovingly confront them with the truth, following Holy Spirit’s leading all the way.

Points to ponder: Carefully consider the question: who do I honour above God? Is there a situation in my home/work/church that I am ignoring, simply because it is easier to just do nothing about it, than to open that can of worms and maybe ruffle a few feathers? Ask God for a strategy to confront wrong in a loving but honest way. And this will become a win-win situation, because of His promise to honour those who honour Him!

Jesus is the name we honour

Calling good evil

 

Proverbs 11:1 and 16:11

A false balance and dishonest business practices are extremely offensive to the LORD, But an accurate scale is His delight.

The LORD demands accurate scales and balances; he sets the standards for fairness.

On first reading, these verses are very directly focussed on fairness in business dealings – only accurate standardised measures are to be used so that the true proportions or weight of products are presented to the seller, no false representations that are hidden from sight.

We have all been exposed to familiar products suddenly appearing in containers that are slightly smaller, priced in such a way that we are misled to believe that we are buying a bargain when in actual fact the product works out to be much more expensive this way! Other products come in such overwhelming big packaging that we think that we are justified in paying a hefty price for something much bigger than what is revealed once the packaging is removed. Advertising is specifically aimed at tricking us into buying certain products, often through misrepresentation of the truth. And so we can go on naming the dishonest business practices routinely used in our society today.

Not only does the Lord our God find these practices offensive, but He actually forbids them in Lev 19:25 “’Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity.”

But there is a deeper spiritual connotation here. When a civilization redefines its values, ignoring God, moving away from His created order – this is also using faulty scales and balances. When man’s idea of justice begins to take precedence over God’s absolute truth and righteousness, such a civilization starts measuring its values and norms against false scales. Man begins to conform what is right and wrong to fit his idea of morality, to fit his own sinful desires. And the result is corruption and decay on all levels of society.

What would some of these altered weights, false measures or changed values be? We could name legalised abortion; altered male/female identities; same-sex relationships; fornication; cursing Israel; accepting bribes; among others.

It is a sobering thought to know that God will deal very severely with those guilty of using man’s corrupt scales of measurement over and above God’s absolute measuring rod of truth and righteousness – Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Points to ponder:

Meditate on whether you are conforming your life and life decisions to the truth that is found in the Word of God, or to principles as upheld by the society around you. Clarify for yourself what God’s standard is by searching the Word, not by listening to corrupting debates based on philosophies of man.

The Truth