Bibledoorajar: So What About The Rest?

     Now we have arrived at a place where it looks like the people of God are ready to enter the Land.
God Himself will be glorified because He alone is the true Leader. Good. They have a leader who has the courage to lead them to victory. Good. If they are truly repentent and have faith they seem to be in a good position to succeed because of God's mercy. Good. But what else? Were there other preparations that were of Supreme importance? Well, yes, and yes indeed. Lest we forget all of those priests and the High Priest and all those days that the truly faithful were to come before the Lord, we must remember for these are the rest of the story. We must remember the Pascal Lamb ceremony. The pure and unblemished lamb slain for sin. And we must remember the Day of Atonement when one goat was set free and the other was spit upon, beaten and ultimately spilled his blood. Then the High Priest would take that life giving blood of that goat and apply it to the Mercy Seat and the faithful were cleansed or covered until the next Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). Time will not allow us to speak of all the preparations available to the faithful people through the Priestly system to overcome the difficulties they faced in this fallen world. Now our picture is much more complete for the entry into the Land.
      I guess we all have our reasons why we choose our christian fellowship communities. Does the group glorify God as the one true God? Do they follow the courageous Leader, Jesus Christ? Do they speak of faith and faithfulness and the need of repentence and baptism? I am sure many from  many different persuasions would answer with a resounding yes and they would be right. But what else? For me, it is the frequency of the Lord's Supper. I want to remember each Sunday that my Lord set me free and took my beatings and withstood the wrath of God and paid the price of my redemption fully and completely. My picture of my position in Him is just more complete that way. I am at ONE ment with the Father and it is good.

bibledoorajar Deborah con't

Last week we spoke a bit about Deborah's role as wife, mother and the 4th judge of Israel. Before we continue the story of this amazing woman, let's first look at the detail God took in forming the nation she proudly served. Moses outlined this in Deut. 4:33. Moses wanted the people to know how special they were to God. He pointed out that they heard the voice of their holy God in fire and had not been consumed. No other god had EVER taken for HIMSELF one nation out of another nation as God had done with Israel. The nation had been rescued by 1) miraculous signs and wonders, 2) by war, 3) by God's mighty hand and outstretched arm, and 4) by awesome deeds done by God before the very eyes of the people of Egypt. These comments by Moses well demonstrate the unsurpassed operations of God in calling out Israel as a nation unto Himself. One cannot help but sense the force, the power and the supernatural energy which God employed in this endeavor. This reminds us of the statement, "nothing is impossible with God" and reassures us that by miraculous signs and wonders, by spiritual warfare, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by awesome deeds before the world's very eyes Jesus is taking his kingdom with power ( Matt. 11:12). Moses dealt with God and obediently brought God's desire for Israel to light. Israel was to share the wonder of God with a pagan world. Today, we follow the Pattern Son as He wonderfully brings His church out of the world. As servants we are to shed light on His desires for a world that is just as much in bondage as Israel ever was.
     Moses carefully brought light to God's intentions for Israel. There would be understanding as to how they were to relate to Him and to others. The laws and order that resulted from the Ten Commandments are now known as the Mosaic Covenant. Later, when the Israelites were in Moab (a very carnal gentile nation with a mind set on life in the flesh), God recognized that His own people shared the same carnality as Moab. But He loved His special nation and reestablished His covenant with them. Here are some important parts to this new covenantal statement: 1) even in their sin, they were to be His and were a nation unto Him, 2) they would not always understand everything God was doing and their revelation and understanding would be progressive, 3) The promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would be included in their covenant, 4) gentiles would share in the covenant, 5) Israel would be exiled from their country 6) parts of the covenant would remain a mystery of God--secret and known only to Him, 7) Israel would one day return to their land and 8) grace would replace law and God's word would be found in the hearts and minds of His people. Read more about this in Deut. 29 and 30. Before Moses died he blessed the tribes of Israel. Of our heroine's tribe he said:
          "And of Joseph he said...let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the
            head of him that was SEPARATED FROM HIS BRETHREN, His glory is like the....with them
            he shall PUSH the people together to the ends of the earth. And they are the TEN THOU-
            SANDS of Ephraim..." (read in entirety at Deut. 33: 13-17)
How precious indeed is it that our brother who was SEPARATED FROM HIS BRETHREN was glorified by the Father and is now PUSHING the people together to the ends of the earth. Hey, did you think nothing was going on?
     Moses died and the leadership passed to Joshua. He, too, was a great leader and Israel entered a nearly incorruptible period. The great Joshua led the tribes into their promised land, their physical home on earth. For a long time the people were loyal to Joshua and obeyed the law. Joshua challenged every household to do as his was going to do---commit and serve the Lord! The people responded with a loud "we will". God wanted to lead the people through a head/heart relationship with Him. If they trusted Him, He would share His light through their priests and prophets and also in their hearts. But alas, the people could not keep their promise and lawlessness so abounded that it was necessary for God to raise up judges to settle disputes and confront lawlessness. In the next blog we will return to Deborah, the lady  who could speak gently or with a little fire and many would listen and accept her rulings.