NUMBERS 3:1-DEUTERONOMY 1:46
The practical instructions are complete to the new generation and now everyone is gathered together on the plains of Moab, 11 days away from Kadesh-barnea for Moses' good-bye speech, the 40th year, 11th month. They are about to enter the Kingdom of God (the Land) - I would think Moses would give a military discourse as he walked up and down, reviewing the troops. Instead, he gave the conditions to obtain and maintain their inheritance. Our "INHERITANCE" is God Himself and His Life formed and lived in us (Gal 3:29; Eph 1:11, 14, 18; Col 1:12; Heb 9:15; Psa 16:5). "GIANTS" are magnified troubles that minimize the power of God in our eyes. Remember: later obedience (delayed obedience) does not compensate for initial disobedience, and presumption is not faith.
The purpose of this great discourse is to remind us of the need to be faithful to the God of Covenant, and to prepare us to conquer and possess the Land. After all, we were brought out of the world, in order to be brought into our inheritance (Deu 6:3). Continued possession of our inheritance requires OBEDIENCE. If we hear and obey God we will be blessed; if we disobey we are cursed.
KEY WORD OF DEUTERONOMY: "REMEMBER" - and 14 times Moses reminds us of what we need to keep in our hearts in order to possess. Luke 12:32 says it is God's "good pleasure to give us the kingdom". Faith and obedience are the qualifiers, which are based on relationship to God.
RESPONSE: Pay attention and learn. Hope and faith are not the same thing. True faith already possesses all things. Faith is BELIEF BASED ON KNOWING, which knowledge is based on the spiritual realities of God in us. Faith perceives those things as FACTS. We aren't "believing for" anything, especially our inheritance! It's already an established fact. GRACE is NOT the opposite of "effort", but of "earning". The obedience of faith takes effort. The Apostle Paul said he worked harder than any of the 12 apostles (1 Cor 15:10). We either believe or we don't believe. This is what disqualified the old generation from their inheritance: unbelief and disobedience. Wow! It's pretty simple, isn't it?
LUKE 5:29-6:11
DINNER AT LEVI'S: Levi (aka Matthew) was a hated tax-collector, who probably collaborated with the Romans. Tax-collectors were lumped together with "sinners". Levi invited all his fellow-tax-collectors to dinner with Jesus! Those scribes and Pharisees, spying on Him again, asked first: Why eat with them? Second, for that matter, why eat at all?
THE REAL PROBLEM: When Jesus announced the arrival of Kingdom of God, He said the first and foremost requirement was repentance. REPENTANCE is the means by which we put our own independence behind us and cling to God. We turn from self-sufficiency to connect with our Life-Source, God. God's Kingdom has its own King (Jesus), it's own law (love God and one another), it's own value system (self-sacrifice, which includes love, forgiveness, mercy). The Kingdom of God is a new paradigm, achieved ONLY through repentance - it requires a whole new life. Nothing is the same. God's rule demands a new life, new commandment, new covenant, new song, new man, new tongues, new doctrine, new heart, and NEW WINESKIN. We (SELF) must die and resurrect to new life in Christ. We cannot bring ANYTHING into the new way Jesus came to institute. Any attempt to hang onto anything from our old life and bring it into the new life, will eventually cause us to lose it all! Like a flying trapeze artist, we have to let go of the swing we are on, in order to fly to the other swing. First John the Baptizer, then Jesus proclaimed we'd have to repent. The old-time religion is NOT good enough. Of course, the old wineskin left NO ROOM for healing on the Sabbath - so BAM! - there goes that wineskin, too!
RESPONSE: Sometimes I try to grasp something about Jesus that I don't really understand - and realize right in the middle of it, that I am looking at it wrong. I was still looking at it from the standpoint of my own strongholds of unbelief. When we have Jesus in a box, we can "manage" Him! When He manages to escape, we have to deal with our own unbelief. That's what happened to the Pharisees. He didn't come to fix up my old life, He came to give me a new life. However, I can't combine the two! I'll be left with nothing, if I even try it. That's the rub! While I try to stretch my wineskin and add more new stuff to it, it's only a matter of time until the thing bursts like a balloon. Then watch me whine! PSALM 66:1-20
Kingdom Psalm #6 - in worship of God. Traditionally read on Easter Sunday.
Affliction of the Righteous: (v.10-12) This is a favorite topic of the Bible as a whole. It is variously referred to as "troubled", "pressed", "tested", "break the shell", "remove the bushel", "break up the ground", "press as grapes", "chisel the stone", "purge the silver or gold". The purpose of affliction is the death of the flesh. All earthly desires must be replaced with longings for the King and the Kingdom of God (THEN you can "forget what lies behind you".) We must all die to SELF so that we can truly and loyally love God. Our covenant with God DEMANDS an exchanged life - my life for His. Affliction gives us opportunity to forfeit our lives. What we forfeit will go to the Cross and then we receive what Jesus gives in exchange: His Life and His nature. His goal is not happiness, but holiness. The word "affliction" that is used here is the word for "pressing out the chaff" in the wheat. There is a reference to Numbers 31:23 where Moses instructed us that all spoils taken from the enemy MUST pass through the fire and the water if we are to keep it. If is doesn't pass through both, we can't keep it! It's that simple. The results: "a wealthy place" - running over, fully and abundantly satisfied.
PROVERBS 11:24-26
Giving never impoverishes the righteous. The opposite of "poverty" is not wealth, but stewardship!
RESPONSE: It seems like the more we give away, the more we have. That includes tithes, offerings, gifts, stuff we give to people, meals, our time, skills, and things I can't remember. We never lack for anything. These verses even talk about someone who holds something back hoping for a better price. If we don't stoop to doing that, then "blessings crown" us. "Blessings” are empowerments. This is why I am "the Queen of Frontenac".
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