WHY was Exodus 19:16-19 essential to Exodus 20?
COULD it be that God wanted to impress his Awesome Nature on Israel before they would take his Ten Words seriously? Remember that the Israelites’ long stay in Egypt had fatally compromised their understanding of God’s:
IN the year preceding the Exodus God had expressed his control of the spiritual and natural world:
Israel had to understand:
THEN…eclipsing ALL THAT, God expressed his Almighty control over meteorological forces. The entire Mt. Sinai area became his Holy Ground, as on its summit:
COULD it be that only that FINAL MAJESTY, releasing atmospheric disturbances as a symbol that united his NAME with his NATURE, prepared Israel for the LAW that controlled behavior for the next 1500 years, until Christ released the world to live forgiven under GRACE? Fini
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WHY do we educate our God-given MIND to THINK – then teach it to THINK God doesn’t exist? WHY would we ignore the very distinctives that grant us a higher life, the absence of which in animals leaves them in a lower?
And WHY, when God made us sons and daughters in HIS image, would we want to be mom and dad to animals that God NEVER SAID were made in OURS? COULD we possibly be so spiritually insane that we would forfeit being servants of our God in his kingdom to rule as lesser masters in a lower? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WHY do we want to live a long time, yet regret growing older? COULD it be that our plans to live longer here, and failing to increase the Biblical time span Psalm 90:10 reveals, decrease our desire to live forever in God’s New World? That we can be so captivated by our failure to substantially prolong life here that we think not even God has the means to prolong it eternally? That our very experiences with sorrows, defeats, diseases and limitations make us more determined than ever to FIND A WAY to reverse our aging here, no matter what God offers? COULD it be that we are so physically earth-bound that we can’t conceive of a spiritual world of perfection in every thought, deed and relationship? All of which proves HOW FAR from God we have drifted! End Part III WHY do we have selective memories?
COULD our Eve-based sin in putting faith in our reason/intellect above faith in God in his word be the evil Jesus crucifies in us prior to accepting our discipleship? For nothing more quickly distances us from God than thinking WE don’t need him. WHY is it that seeds die in the ground
COULD it be that God allowed that fate for decaying mortal beings to warn us of our failure to reverse it UNTIL he sent to earth the SINGLE PERSON ever to live who
Because THAT MAN died on Friday and ROSE bodily from the dead on Sunday! Because that MAN, alone of all mortals born, had in him as his nature DEITY that couldn’t die and stirred the mortal who did into NEW, EVERLASTING LIFE, eliminating the mortal as he did. In doing so, giving promise to all mortals who must die, or be called home, to become changed into the likeness of THAT MAN who himself since his Resurrection is ONLY ALMIGHTY GOD the SON. End Part II Questions and possible answers in no particular order.
WHY do we have such interest in novels and mythical Greek and Roman pagan religions, and so little in God’s Biblical, historical truth? COULD it be, we know:
WHY, betraying clear scriptural teaching, do Christians mimic secularists, who have a need of celebrities, to compensate for our frailties and failures? As J.P. Moreland correctly said, Christian celebrity is an oxymoron. And I add the scriptural reason in Colossians 3:1. We are to be “hidden with God in Christ.” How can we be invisible and be a celebrity? COULD it be, we have too little depth of scripture in our personal lives that we PREFER mortals like us shining to the GLORIOUS, BLINDING LIGHT of Jesus Christ illuminating our lives? Could we profit as Christians by going back to century ONE, “when not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth?” I Corinthians 7:26. At least then we have as our only celebrity Jesus the Christ! WHY do so many Americans, and not a few of them apparently religious, allow all non-Christian religions public recognition while:
COULD it be that America has plunged so deeply into ecumenicity, secularism and materialism that we have LOST our spiritual integrity—and don’t even realize it? End Part I The Rest of the Story for Elijah and Moses. God sent Elijah into semi-retirement, then ultimate retirement. While in an unrecorded conversation as Elijah and Elisha walked together, God came for Elijah sending:
Moses had a more subdued end on Mt. Nebo, across the Jordan Deuteronomy 34:1-8. Suddenly dying, God as undertaker, who also buried the grave so no one could ever make it a religious shrine. But not to think that was the last we would see them. For, lo, in the late summer AD 29, on a mountain high in northern Galilee, while the Son of Man stood in the darkness and released his inner being, out from him shot shafts and pillars of light that turned night to day. And, suddenly, the TWO men representing Law and Prophets stood beside him and conversed with him over his coming Exodus at Calvary. For this blog, understand: Moses couldn’t enter Canaan, but he did enter Paradise. Elijah fell to fear before Jezebel’s rage. But HE, not she, stood with Jesus on Mt. Hermon. Both Moses and Elijah achieved their life-purpose: they found eternal life, the SINGLE Life-Purpose God designed for every mortal I Corinthians 5:1-5. Fini Blogs will resume February 5, 2024. V In this Part, remember that pruning of individuals can occur after great victory OR at the end of a great life.
Consider Moses. Read Numbers 20:1-13 for the full account. In the first month of Israel’s 40th year of wandering, God ordered Moses and Aaron to advance to a rock face, and Moses ordered to “Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water” Numbers 20:8. They advanced and stood in front of the rock. Then, instead of SPEAKING the water out, Moses angrily STRUCK it out. Here, in the first month of the 40th year, Moses for the first and only time disobeyed God. And that one sin kept him out of Canaan. Interesting…Aaron didn’t lose his position 40 years earlier for his horrifying failure at Mt. Sinai Exodus 32. However, only Moses’ intercession kept God from destroying Aaron at the time Deuteronomy 9:19. While Moses could intercede with a sinning Aaron, no one could intercede for Moses when he sinned against God I Samuel 2:25. After all those years of faithful service, one sin kept him out of Canaan. But…for both Elijah and Moses, there’s a The Rest of the Story. End Part IV. It’s a psychologically true that many tests of our discipleship can come after a Resounding Victory. Two of God’s men experienced such testing.
Consider Elijah. His came after successfully contesting and eliminating Jezebel’s 450 prophets of Baal I Kings 18:16-40. The exhilarating emotional surge empowered his run ahead of Ahab’s chariot all the way to Jezreel from Mt. Carmel, some 15 miles. Only to find himself facing the same fate as the Queen’s prophets within 24 hours. His high-powered hosanna collapsed into cringing lamentations. Suddenly unnerved, he fled. To find himself increasingly demoralized in his flight to Mt. Horeb, some 300 miles away. Where God saw him in a cave, called him out, and asked, “What are you doing here,” a question that scared him far more than Jezebel’s threats. Condensing the powerful text of I Kings 19:7-18 into a paragraph, God’s merciful nature understood his prophet’s emotional condition. He first corrected his mistaken assumption of solitary faithfulness to God. Then granted Elijah’s wish for retirement from active ministry by ordering him to recruit a successor to his prophetic office. Thus, re-charged by the Holy Spirit, off he returned to duty. End Part III Negative experiences can make committed Christians wonder: while we want to patiently endure difficult times, can we know when God merely PRUNES, not DECAPITATES, us? Since both hurt, can we know the difference?
While no hard and fast rules define the difference, consider five possible assurances that we’re being pruned for future fruitfulness. One, if we continually rivet our eyes on Jesus while being tested, Hebrews 12:2, not on the condition that afflicts us. For that fixation will keep us functioning as a Christian, whatever we face. Two, if we say, “Why not me” instead of “Why me” or “Why me now”, we prove that we know we’ll face trouble in this world, but can trust Christ’s overcoming life to empower ours John 16:33. Three, if we ask Jesus to remove from us what we’d like to keep, since it makes us what we are. FOR, if what makes us what we are limits Christ’s Lordship of our life, we want it LOST, not PROTECTED! Four, if we can say, “This trial has made me more alive in Christ than ever I’ve been,” instead of “This experience has nearly killed me.” For the very pruning of our life eliminates habits and attitudes that prevented HIS Greater Life in our SMALL Minds and Hearts. Five, if we can say, “This has made me a more Christ-like person,” not, “This experience has proved that I’m not physically the person I used to be.” Then we can understand Paul’s great declaration in II Corinthians 4:16-18. For no diminution in our physical body, and its eventual demise, can ever defeat Christ’s powers over life, death and the after-life II Timothy 4:6-8. You get the drift of this blog. End Part II. John 15:1-8 reveals Christ’s doctrine of Pruning, the process by which God makes better disciples out of good ones and overcoming-disciples out of better ones. In the same context he introduced Judgment, CUTTING OFF—A.K.A. decapitation—of branches—i.e., members who have allowed themselves to become mere hearing, not producing, believers.
History has multiple examples of bad people suffering for doing bad things. One example suffices. Germany’s infrastructure remained entirely intact after WWI: and suffered almost total collapse after WWII. Because: while Kaiser Wilhelm sought only geographical conquest in WWI, Adolph Hitler targeted the Jewish people for destruction in WWII. However, scripture in both Testaments offers examples of, and Jesus in John 15 the definitive purpose of, both. For this short series, consider this One: fruitful disciples experience PAIN akin to decapitation, but with a positive purpose. In short, obedience to God inevitably brings God’s discipline of his people. I Thessalonians 3:2-4 and I Peter 4:12-13 offer one way that discipline applies to us. In John 15, Jesus saw God as the Gardner/Farmer/Horticulturist/Husbandman periodically lopping off certain religious people and pruning others. All we need to know about pruning for now is that it doesn’t mean eating prunes. End Part I Every mortal has this assurance, and every Christian believer this promise: God never turns a Test into a Temptation. That’s Satan’s endeavor every time God tests us. And he succeeds only with our co-operation, as James 1:13-15 makes clear.
A test, then, becomes a temptation when the experience has a negative influence on our spiritual life. WHICH is why Satan’s every test of Jesus in the Wilderness, and throughout Christ’s ministry, failed to become temptations to Jesus. He had no weakness Satan could exploit. AND Jesus, unlike Eve, always countered the Test with GOD’S WORD. Which thrashes Satan silly every time quoted since he has no answer to GOD’s WORD! In summary, then: God appeals to our strengths in every test, while
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