EXODUS 5:22-7:25
The Israelites blamed Moses and Aaron for making their lives miserable, by stirring up Pharaoh against them, and now Moses blames God. And He hasn't "rescued" His people at all!
God's answer? "Everyone before you has known Me as "God Almighty" - the all-sufficient One who has all power to do all good. Now I will reveal Myself as JEHOVAH - YAHWEH. I am about to give fulfilment to all those promises of support, deliverance from bondage, and your possession of Land. I take care of My own.
Exodus 6:7 God said, "I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians." At that point, the Israelites were, in reality, already FREE. Once God tells us that He will be our God and we will be His people, we KNOW WHO WE ARE and that makes us free from everything that is not Truth.
True freedom is NOT INDEPENDENCE, but in being connected with God. Now we are free from our past as well as from our enemies, and not even society can define us. Not only that but our lives have significance and meaning, because we are NOT nobodies. Our WORST SIN is when we act independently, rather than out of our connection with God.
God here seems to have chosen the worst people (the Israelites) in the universe, that He might show to all of us "lost causes" that he delights to instruct the ignorant, help the weak, and save the lost. The lineage is given here to show that Moses and Aaron, indeed, came in a direct line from Abraham, and that, in fact, all those God saved also came from Abraham, in fulfillment of God's Promises to him.
Proverbs 29:1 says, "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy". Hardships which do not subdue the heart harden it. A person who has hardened his own heart by frequently resisting the grace and spirit of God is in real trouble because he has closed himself off. In Pharaoh's case we read that "he hardened his heart" against the appeal to free the Israelites; so hardening himself, he brought the final doom upon himself. This is how sin becomes its own punishment. It leads to a hard heart.
Pharaoh hardened his own heart before God hardened it. Pharaoh grew hard as the result of his own activity. The Lord hardens a man like Pharaoh and then finds fault with him. That doesn't make sense to us. Why does God hold him accountable? This question is handled better by Paul in Romans 9:14-24 specifically with reference to Pharaoh.
"What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee (Pharaoh) up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." (Romans 9:14-18)
Paul says that a true knowledge of God would make any objection to the "fairness" of this preposterous. It is like the clay telling the potter he wants to be a fine bowl, not a toilet seat. However the potter has complete control over what the vessel will be used for. God has "vessels of wrath" and "vessels of mercy".
RESPONSE: I don't EVER want to harden my heart against God. I won't even start down that road! I will take correction when it is given. I will obey when I hear clearly. I won't pout when I don't get my own way. I will constantly remind myself of God's goodness and greatness. I have nothing to complain about. God has given me His righteousness, His peace, and His joy. I refuse to say anything about the "fairness" of that - because I know I don't deserve any of the good things God gives me. It is His mercy. Oh, how thankful I am for His mercy and His undying love and compassion for me. I bathe in His mercy and splash it all over me. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
MATTHEW 18:23-19:12
Is it a coincidence that Matthew puts this discussion about "forgiveness", right next to the discussion of what to do with "offenses" when they come?
"Forgive 70 x 7". That is a known quantity to the disciples. That is "70 weeks" (Dan 9:24). If you use the obvious interpretation of Daniel 9, you will see the complete and finished work of Jesus Christ right there. His complete and finished work is in forgiveness. Or, as the rest of Dan 9:24 says, "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." Our ministry as reconcilers is to fill in the gap between God and man, not make it wider. Our everyday experiences of life are training in the art of forgiveness.
We forgive because we are forgiven. The story Jesus told is to show us that our sin is very great - an unpayable debt. Billions of dollars. God freely forgave us. He assumed the loss, in a sense. The offences committed against us by people are comparatively small. We should therefore most freely forgive them. If we don't, God will be justly angry and will allow us to be tormented.
And speaking of "hardness of heart", that is the ONLY reason God allowed divorce. And so, His disciples' reply is "If you can't throw your wife away at will, it's better to just stay single!" Jesus' answer was if you are called to be married, then stay married. If you don't think you can live with one woman for the rest of your life, and you can tolerate being single, then don't get married in the first place. Christ has exalted marriage to its original pure state.
RESPONSE: I see the emphasis Jesus put on "forgiveness". It is the message of His Image-bearers. Everywhere Jesus went, when He healed, He forgave. When the offence was personal, He ignored it, and when the sin was against God, He forgave it. I want to be known as someone who is NOT EASILY OFFENDED.
I know people who are easily offended, and I regard them as immature, but also too volatile to spend much time with. In fact, in Romans, Paul says that the immature and the baby Christians are easily offended and it is up to the mature ones to be careful. But, when you have been saved for 20-30 years, you shouldn't still have that problem! Lord, help me to just "let it go".
PSALM 23:1-6
This may have been written when David was hiding out in the wilderness of Judah, where there was almost no hope of surviving in the desert. Psalm 23 demonstrates the confident peace and joy of someone who knows God has and will take care of him. The Hebrew is emphatic: "I lack nothing." This implies a supply of every possible need of body, soul, and spirit. A regular BANQUET is prepared for me, even when I am surrounded by enemies, who are forced to look on and see how God has provided. So much so, "my cup runs over". And God's GOODNESS and God's MERCY "follow" - "relentlessly pursue" me!
PROVERBS 5:22-23
Sin always ends in self-deception. We think we can give it up any time we want to. However, when it comes to sin, it is always easier to do it the second time, then the third time, then it's a habit and we can't quit - we are trapped in it - "led astray by our own foolishness". He can no longer find his way home. He has hardened his heart toward the voice of the Holy Spirit.
I remember being at Waikiki Beach about 20 years ago. People were running around on the city streets in bikinis, openly smoking marijuana, carrying open bottles of liquor, and the atmosphere was just generally unwholesome. I told my husband that if I didn't find another Christian pretty soon, I wanted to go home. Just then, someone on a street corner handed me a tract as we rushed past. I spun on my heel and walked back to the corner for some fellowship - water in a desert place!
RESPONSE: My cup runs over for sure. Sometimes I just have to shout! Even in church! I just get so full that I think I will burst if I don't find an outlet. I understand David completely - he not only survived in a desert place, but he flourished while he was there because of God! God found water and pasture --- in a desert. And He still does. My inner man that gets exhausted, sad, troubled and anxious, is continually given new life - God's life re-invigorates me again and again.
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Can I say just a little bit more about forgiveness and offenses? This is an important topic, because more people leave the church about this, than about anything else. I believe it is a SIN to take offense when you aren't a "baby Christian" any more. Let me tell you why:
(1) Woe to him who GIVES offense, especially to a new Christian, because they are still being weaned away from self-centeredness. Paul gives an example about what behavior is allowed and not allowed as Christians. "Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him." (Romans 14:1-3)
And, of course, "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! " (Matthew 18:6-7)
So, even if you haven't done anything wrong, in your own mind, you must apologize for hurting one of the baby Christians who THOUGHT it was wrong. He is still learning and being weaned. Hopefully, it was never your intention to make him sin. Let me give you an example. My mother-in-law was raised in a church that believed that a deck of playing cards was evil, and so her family never played cards. When she came to visit us, we put all the cards away, and didn't suggest a game of cards. Even though she was not a "baby Christian", we didn't want to offend her because we loved her.
(2) Jesus also said that we are to OVERLOOK evil behavior that is directed toward us. "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:38-48) ("perfect", by the way, is "ripe, mature, grown-up")
How do you go to someone who has offended you if you are turning the other cheek for him to do it again?
(3) Jesus reduced all 10 commandments down to two NEW commandments: "love God and love each other"(John 13:34). In case we don't know how, Paul told us in 1 Corinthians and I quote 13:5 from the Amplified because it is very clear. (Love) "is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong." (1 Corinthians 13:5, AMP)
Grown-up Christians hardly ever even realize when someone insults them. Partly because they assume God loves them and has their back, and partly because they really DON'T NOTICE! They are focused on being a reconciler and overlook anything that would hinder that. They are so engaged in their mission that "slights" are irrelevant.
(4) We have the example of Jesus when He was betrayed. He didn't resist arrest, He didn't retaliate from the Cross, He didn't strike back when hair was plucked from his beard or when He was hit with fists. He endured as seeing BEYOND His circumstances "to the joy".
I could go on and on, but these are just the obvious ones. When we carry offenses around with us, we are actually self-centered and self-preserving, when we are supposed to be "self-dead". We run the risk of bitterness - a settled anger - taking root and destroying us. Nobody OWES YOUR ANYTHING. Jesus already paid it all! He paid it for you, and He expects you to pass it on. Quit waiting for life to be "fair". That's un-Biblical. God "is kind to the unthankful and the evil" (Luke 6:35). Aren't you glad?
We don't get rid of offenses by "dumping them" on the offender. By going to the offender with it, you are asking them to assume the debt for what they did, no matter how you color it. "FORGIVE THEM FROM THE HEART", like Jesus said (Matthew 18:35). That means it is between you and God. Chances are, the offender doesn't even know they offended you. By going to them, in that case, you are bringing it to their attention - when they aren't even YOUR SERVANT (Romans 14). They are God's servants, and He will tell them Himself if they need telling. Otherwise, you can assume it was just your perception and let it go.
Okay, I'm off my soapbox, now.
(1) Woe to him who GIVES offense, especially to a new Christian, because they are still being weaned away from self-centeredness. Paul gives an example about what behavior is allowed and not allowed as Christians. "Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him." (Romans 14:1-3)
And, of course, "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! " (Matthew 18:6-7)
So, even if you haven't done anything wrong, in your own mind, you must apologize for hurting one of the baby Christians who THOUGHT it was wrong. He is still learning and being weaned. Hopefully, it was never your intention to make him sin. Let me give you an example. My mother-in-law was raised in a church that believed that a deck of playing cards was evil, and so her family never played cards. When she came to visit us, we put all the cards away, and didn't suggest a game of cards. Even though she was not a "baby Christian", we didn't want to offend her because we loved her.
(2) Jesus also said that we are to OVERLOOK evil behavior that is directed toward us. "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:38-48) ("perfect", by the way, is "ripe, mature, grown-up")
How do you go to someone who has offended you if you are turning the other cheek for him to do it again?
(3) Jesus reduced all 10 commandments down to two NEW commandments: "love God and love each other"(John 13:34). In case we don't know how, Paul told us in 1 Corinthians and I quote 13:5 from the Amplified because it is very clear. (Love) "is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong." (1 Corinthians 13:5, AMP)
Grown-up Christians hardly ever even realize when someone insults them. Partly because they assume God loves them and has their back, and partly because they really DON'T NOTICE! They are focused on being a reconciler and overlook anything that would hinder that. They are so engaged in their mission that "slights" are irrelevant.
(4) We have the example of Jesus when He was betrayed. He didn't resist arrest, He didn't retaliate from the Cross, He didn't strike back when hair was plucked from his beard or when He was hit with fists. He endured as seeing BEYOND His circumstances "to the joy".
I could go on and on, but these are just the obvious ones. When we carry offenses around with us, we are actually self-centered and self-preserving, when we are supposed to be "self-dead". We run the risk of bitterness - a settled anger - taking root and destroying us. Nobody OWES YOUR ANYTHING. Jesus already paid it all! He paid it for you, and He expects you to pass it on. Quit waiting for life to be "fair". That's un-Biblical. God "is kind to the unthankful and the evil" (Luke 6:35). Aren't you glad?
We don't get rid of offenses by "dumping them" on the offender. By going to the offender with it, you are asking them to assume the debt for what they did, no matter how you color it. "FORGIVE THEM FROM THE HEART", like Jesus said (Matthew 18:35). That means it is between you and God. Chances are, the offender doesn't even know they offended you. By going to them, in that case, you are bringing it to their attention - when they aren't even YOUR SERVANT (Romans 14). They are God's servants, and He will tell them Himself if they need telling. Otherwise, you can assume it was just your perception and let it go.
Okay, I'm off my soapbox, now.
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