A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Deuteronomy 13 (Part 3)

So, do we Gentiles need to be circumcised in order to be included in the people of God? God forbid! Acts 15:1, 28-29—1 And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” … 28 “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” Circumcision of the flesh has been done away with as a sign of a covenant. We are now no longer circumcised in the flesh, but of the heart. Romans 2:29—But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter. The signs of the New Covenant are Baptism and the Lord’s Table.  These are not things which save us (as circumcision brought the Old Covenant believers into that first covenant) but rather show the world that we are in a saving covenant with God. Baptism shows that we have been declared dead to sin and alive to God (see Romans 6:4), and the Lord’s Table (instituted by Jesus Himself in Matthew 26:26-28; Luke 22:17-20; Mark 14:22-25, and reiterated by Paul in 1st Corinthians 11:24-25) is what we do to proclaim His sacrifice on our behalf, that we do belong to Him and His body and His blood were given for us. As Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” We are not literally eating the literal flesh or literally drinking the literal blood of Christ (after all, He said, “this wine is My blood”, not “My blood is this wine” before He went to the cross) but rather we are proclaiming to the world that we are tasting the heavenly gift, and we believe that what He did on the cross was real. This is the New Covenant that Jeremiah wrote to us about. 

And this New Covenant has caused the Old Covenant to be done away with. Hebrews 8:13—In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. The word translated “obsolete” is the Greek πεπαλαίωκεν (pepalaioken, from the root word παλαιόω [palaioo, “to make (passively, become) worn out, or declare obsolete”]). The Old Covenant is no more. It is done, finished, completed, finito, fin, no mas. Whereas under the Old Covenant bulls and goats and turtledoves had to be killed for the sins of a person every time that person sinned to make atonement for that person, this New Covenant was different: when a person sins, the blood that has been spilled but once by the Lamb of God is what makes atonement for those sins! Hebrews 8:12—Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. ONCE! The spotless Lamb of God shed His blood ONCE. Then He took that blood into the Tabernacle in Heaven, offered it up to the Father as the payment for all the sins that would ever be committed by God’s elect, and that blood bought our atonement for all eternity! Whereas under the Old Covenant the high priest had to go into the Holy of Holies once every year with the blood of goats to ask for forgiveness for the sins of the people, our new High Priest has already done that. And He only had to do it ONCE. Hebrews 8:25-26—25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Morgan G. Campbell tells us

 

The pre-eminent thought in this section is that now in the priesthood of Christ a place of worship, unlocalized and unlimited, is provided. Wherever is found the soul who will come to God through Him, there He is as Priest, with the value of His own sacrifice, providing redemption and acceptance; and, moreover, having exhausted judgment in the process of His death, He hides from coming judgment all who trust in Him, changing the dread of that awful assize into the glorious hope of His own second appearing. 

The last and final prophet God sent us is the Man we have been speaking of, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our King, our High Priest, and our final Prophet. Hebrews 1:1-2—1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. Everything the prophets spoke and wrote in the Old Testament pointed forward to Christ, and Christ pointed backward to them to indicate to His hearers that He was the One of whom they spoke. One of the first prophecies He gave was about how He would, in His body, replace the temple that Herod had spent decades building. John 2:19—Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The reactions of those who heard Him say this are a good example of why we need to read Jesus’ words carefully and to not always take them at face value. Many times He spoke to the people in parables, especially to those who stood against Him (see Matthew 13:35). Why did He speak in parables? He did so to separate those who believed in Him and who were careful in understanding what He was saying in His role as Prophet from those who simply heard what He said and counted Him a madman. But they all thought He was saying that He would destroy Herod’s temple and rebuild it three days later. This saying followed Him all the way to the cross, when it was used by His opponents to blaspheme Him (see Matthew 27:40; Mark 15:29). But He was speaking of the temple of His body (John 2:21). He was saying to them that once they put Him to death, He would rise from the grave three days later. Which He did. 

Another early prophecy He gave was about the gathering of Gentiles with the physical sons of Isaac in the Kingdom of God, while those who depended on their familial lineage would be cast out. Matthew 8:11-12—11 "And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  We have already seen from Romans that we Gentiles are now counted as being among the people of God. And here, Jesus was saying this after He healed from afar the servant of a Roman centurion. And this would happen again in Acts 10, when Peter was sent to the house of another Romans centurion. He feared entering the man’s house, with Cornelius being a Gentile. Acts 10:28—“You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation.” It was not considered lawful for a Jew to enter the home of a Gentile. “Where does it say that?” Well, it doesn’t. There is no Scriptural prohibition against this. Peter had still not learned the words of our Master when He said to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees (see Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1). For He said to His disciples about these Pharisees, “'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men'” (Matthew 15:8-9; Mark 7:6-7). This was another place where they substituted their own thoughts for the commands of God. They despised the Gentiles and forbade them from entering the house of a Gentile. And Peter, a devout Jew, got carried away in this hypocrisy (see Galatians 2:11-13). But this episode with Cornelius was an early fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy about Gentiles entering the Kingdom of God. 

Now, think about it. With all these prophecies, from Moses and from Isaiah and Jeremiah, and others given by Haggai and Obadiah and Nahum and Agabus (Acts 21:10-11) and so many others including Jesus—prophecies which foretold the judgement of God on the people for their insolence and disobedience—how can anyone stand on a stage today and simply proclaim good things and health and wealth and peace and safety? It is because there is no fear of God in them. They do not fear the wrath of God because they do not believe in the wrath of God. They don’t care. All they want is to see the money rolling in from giving people some treacly, watered-down, easy-on-the-ears feel-good story about how God will do for them if they command Him to do so. They don’t see God as God, they see Him as an ATM. He does not exist for His glory; He exists to give them handouts and morsels. These self-appointed “prophets” will not speak out against injustice and oppression; they will not decry immorality; they will not cry and moan against those who mock God, because they would be crying out against themselves. In short, we do not have prophets as the ones we read about in the Old Testament. “But what about Ephesians 4:11 and 1st Corinthians 12:28? Where it says that God gave some to be prophets for equipping the church?” That is true. God gave some to be prophets in the Church. But what does this mean? That there are some who speak from God only good, smooth things? That they only speak peace and safety? No friend, the true prophets today do not speak words that those hearing will rejoice over (although they may). They speak forth (the meaning of the Greek προφήτης [prophetes]) the word given to us in Scripture. Now, if there be one who speaks harsh words things that are hard for the hearer to hear, and if they speak things that line up with the word and character of God, then that one is speaking by the gift of prophecy. But telling people that if they send the “prophet” money and God will rain down wealth into their lives? That is not prophecy, that is borderline blasphemy. 

God…has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. Jesus was our last true prophet (see Deuteronomy 18:15-19), although the gift of prophecy still exists today. But one should be careful in exercising this gift. Deuteronomy 18:20—20 “‘But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’” The one who presumes to speak a word from God—a word which God has not commanded him to speak—that one was to be put to death. Today God does not put these “prophets” to death immediately; He allows them to store up their sin for the Day of Judgment. For those who speak words not given to them by God as if they were given to them by God, and which do not come to pass, impugn the righteousness of God. For if they presume to speak from God, and that word does not come to pass, then they make God a liar, and who will trust Him? 2nd Peter 2:1-2—1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. But if one speaks a word which aligns with the character of God, and they do so through the gift of prophecy given to them by God, then they will speak true words and they will glorify God and edify the Church. 1st Corinthians 14:3—But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. Why is this? Because true edification and true exhortation and true comfort are found in Jesus Christ our Lord. Do we have eternal life? We do if we know and follow Him. Will we be able to endure persecution? Yes, because He ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit to lead us. Can we be sure that we are saved? Of course! Jesus told us that none can snatch us out of His hand and no one can snatch us out of the Father’s hand (John 10:28-29). Speaking forth these truths and others found in the very words spoken to the writers of Scripture by God, and warning others to listen to these words and teaching them to follow Christ and His commands to love God and love our neighbor—that is true prophecy. 

The Church will always need the gift of prophecy, and those who speak as prophets. That is what keeps the Church on the narrow way. But if one takes the mantle upon themselves and speaks presumptuously words not given to them by God, they risk destruction for bringing shame to the name of God. If we do prophesy, let us do so carefully and tread lightly when we do so. Let us not be as the false prophets that Peter warned us about and bring swift destruction upon ourselves. Let us speak those words which will bring to mind the love and grace of our Lord, keep the church focused on Him, and bring glory to God.

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Deuteronomy 13 (Part 1)

Deuteronomy 13:1-18—1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods'—which you have not known—'and let us serve them,' 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst. 6 If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, 7 of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, 8 you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; 9 but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you. 12 If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell in, saying, 13 'Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods"'—which you have not known—14 then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination was committed among you, 15 you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock—with the edge of the sword. 16 And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and completely burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the LORD your God. It shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again. 17 So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, 18 because you have listened to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.” 

Let’s talk a little about prophets. When God speaks to a people, especially His people, He does so through prophets. The prophets did not speak their own words, or whatever came into their mind, but they spoke the words given to them by God. 2nd Peter 1:21 (George Williams New Testament)—No prophecy has ever yet originated in man's will, but men who were led by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. When Ezekiel lay on his left side for three years (Ezekiel 4:5), it wasn’t because of some weird idea he had. That was what God commanded him to do.  When Isaiah spoke against Moab (Isaiah 15:1-9), it wasn’t a speech he prepared the night before and carefully proofread. The words he spoke were the words given to him by God. These things that were done and spoken by the prophets seemed strange to the people at the time, but we now see that these things were done and said because God gave them the words and the actions to perform.

Today, men (and women) set themselves up as prophets, and claim to speak all kinds of things, claiming they are from God, and that the people hearing them ought to obey because they are speaking for and from God. I shared some of the “prophecies” of Benny Hinn that were blatantly false here. The fact that these prophecies did not come to pass automatically disqualifies him from being a prophet and would have caused him to be stoned to death under the Old Testament Law (Deuteronomy 18:22). But these self-appointed “prophets” include two things in their “prophecies”. The first thing they do is to make sure that they are telling the people something they want to hear—how God is going to rain down material blessings on them, that they are going to be rich and healthy and that everything they will do will succeed. So they thus grab the favor of the people. The second thing they do is to warn the people not to judge them or second-guess them or compare their “prophecies” to Scripture, or they will suffer greatly by God. The warning they give most of the time is from 1st Chronicles 16:22—"Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm." By setting themselves up as prophets, and by claiming to be anointed by God, they can use this verse to try to silence their critics and keep their followers in line. Whether it’s Creflo Dollar or Kenneth Copeland or TD Jakes, they all use this verse to deflect criticism of their false teachings and warn those speaking against them that they are enemies of God. 

But let’s talk about the true prophets of God. The ISBE says this about true prophets:

 

According to the uniform teaching of the Bible the prophet is a speaker of or for God. His words are not the production of his own spirit, but come from a higher source. For he is at the same time, also, a seer, who sees things that do not lie in the domain of natural sight, or who hears things which human ears do not ordinarily receive; compare 1st Samuel 9:9, where נָבִיא (nābhı̄', “speaker, spokesman, prophet”) and  רֹאֶה (rō'eh, “seer”) are used as synonymous terms. Jeremiah 23:16 and Ezekiel 13:2 are particularly instructive in this regard. In these passages a sharp distinction is made between those persons who only claim to be prophets but who prophesy “out of their own heart,” and the true prophets who declare the word which the Lord has spoken to them. In the latter case the contents of the prophecy have not originated in their own reflection or calculation; and just as little is this prophecy the product of their own feelings, fears or hopes, but, as something extraneous to man and independent of him, it has with a divine certainty entered the soul of the prophet. The prophet has seen that which he prophesies, although he need not have seen it in the form of a real vision. He can also “see” words with his inner eyes (Isaiah 2:1, and often). It is only another expression for this when it is frequently said that God has spoken to the prophet. In this case too it is not necessary that there must have been a voice which he could hear phonetically through his natural ear. The main thing is that he must have been able sharply to distinguish the contents of this voice from his own heart, i.e. from his personal consciousness. Only in this way is he capable of speaking to the people in the name of God and able to publish his word as that of Yahweh. In this case he is the speaker of Yahweh (נָבִיא, nābhı̄'), or the mouth of the Lord (compare Ezekiel 7:1 with Ezekiel 4:16). 

Long story short, those gifted with the gift of prophecy can distinguish between what they simply feel in their heart or mind and words spoken to them by God. 

Many think of Samuel as the first prophet, but this is not the case. For before him, Moses spoke with God “face-to-face” (or rather, “Mouth-to-mouth”, as Moses was not allowed to see God) and even Noah could be considered a prophet and his building of the Ark a sign to the people. We are seeing the prophetic office of Moses as we study the Law, so let’s talk about Noah. Genesis 6:6, 8—6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart…8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. The world had become altogether corrupt, save for one man and his sons. Did God give a warning to the corrupt people? Yes, He did. He had Noah build an ark as a sign to the people and to save them from the flood. Hebrews 11:7—By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. In all the days of building the Ark, he must have been laughed at and scoffed at by the wicked. “What is he building? Why is he building it? He must be a madman!” They thought nothing of the wickedness they were doing. They were just going about their daily lives, doing whatever they thought in their hearts, drinking and carousing and carrying on, not thinking about how this may have been grieving the heart of God, if they even thought of God. It was as Jesus said in Matthew 24:38-39a (repeated in Luke 17:26-27)—38 “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away.” Noah was giving them a sign, and they ignored it. It was not only a sign to the people then, but Jesus even used it to warn us to be careful to watch for His second coming. Matthew 24:37, 39b—37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be…39 so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. We see today many who ignore God, who ignore the pleas to come to Christ that they may be saved from the wrath to come. But they don’t listen, they don’t care, they don’t know God and don’t want to know Him. They go about their daily lives, doing whatever they think in their hearts, drinking and carousing and carrying on, not thinking about how this may be grieving the heart of God, if they even think of God.

 Samuel was set apart to God as a boy. 1st Samuel 1:24, 28—24 Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh. And the child was young…28 “Therefore I also have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the LORD.” We have already talked about how Samuel was a Nazirite all his life. And we see in this same book that God began speaking to him at a young age (1^st Samuel 3:4). The first prophecy he heard from God was not a pleasant one, for it foretold of the end of Eli (the second-to-last judge in Israel), and he had to tell it to Eli. But such was the lot of a true prophet of God—they do not always have feel-good stories to tell the people, tales of health and wealth and prosperity. Many times when God speaks through a prophet, it is to warn of impending doom. 1st Samuel 2:16-19—16 Then Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son!" He answered, "Here I am." 17 And he said, "What is the word that the LORD spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that He said to you." 18 Then Samuel told him everything, and hid nothing from him. And he said, "It is the LORD. Let Him do what seems good to Him." 19 So Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. Samuel was a true prophet of God, and what he told the people to do or to not do was to be obeyed, as the words he spoke came from none other than God Himself. 

This applied not only to the lay people, but even to the king Himself. In 1^st Samuel 15, he gives a command to King Saul to wipe out the Amalekites—everything living among them was to be destroyed. 1st Samuel 15:2-3—2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3     Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'” Pretty clear and straight forward, no ambiguity there. The command was simple: Saul was to have his army wipe out every living thing of the Amalekites, including the women and children and livestock. But Saul had a better idea. 1st Samuel 15:9—But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. “Let’s destroy the bad stuff but keep the best things alive and sacrifice them to God! What’s the worst that can happen?” Well… 1st Samuel 15:10-11—10 Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, 11 "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments." And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night. Not only did Saul’s disobedience grieve God, it grieved His prophet as well. That is how close the relationship is between God and His prophets. His heart is their heart and their heart is His heart. It is as if they were one and the same. Not only that, but the heart of the prophet is with the people his words come against. I’m sure he felt no joy about telling Eli that he and his sons were about to die. And it obviously did not tickle him to tell Saul the words that God was about to speak against him. Here, Saul thought he was doing a great thing by keeping King Agag and the best of the livestock alive. He thought he knew what God wanted better than the prophet to whom God Himself spoke. 1st Samuel 15:13, 15—13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD…15 They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” But Samuel had told him what God had told Samuel—everything and everyone of the Amalekites was to be destroyed. “Everyone?” 

 

 

Yes, everyone. Saul did not give obedience to the command of God—he gave partial obedience, which is disobedience. “I have performed the commandment of the LORD!” 1st Samuel 15:14, 18-19, 22-23—14 But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?…18 Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?"…22 Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king." Because Saul did not harken to the words of the prophet, and did what was right in his own eyes, God took the kingdom away from him and gave it to David. 

Interestingly, Samuel’s final prophecy came after he died. King Saul had banished all necromancers and mediums (1st Samuel 28:3, as well he should have). But the Philistines were coming to attack Israel, and when Saul went to inquire of God, He would not answer him either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets (1st Samuel 28:6). God had taken His spirit way from Saul, and had cut him off as king, and this attack from the Philistines was to be his final downfall. And because God did not answer him, Saul had another brilliant idea. “I’ll go to a necromancer and medium, even though I have put them out of Israel!” In other words, he did what was right in his own eyes. He went to the Witch of En Dor to have her bring up the spirit of Samuel (1st Samuel 28:8-11). Necromancers and mediums are another class of false prophets. None can speak with the dead (see Isaiah 8:19-20), and anyone who says they can are in danger of destruction. But Saul was so bent on holding on to his kingdom that he went against the word of God that he used this as his last resort, hoping that Samuel would give him a word from God that would allow him to keep it. But, alas! God did bring up Samuel, by His own hand and not by the hand of the witch. 1st Samuel 28:12—When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!" She knew that her necromancy was false, and when Samuel appeared she knew that this was of God. Many use this as an excuse to use psychics to tell them things they want to hear. When actually, this is a warning against such practices. G. Campbell Morgan:

 

It is strange how this story has been made to serve in defense of things occult, which, as a matter of fact, it condemns. Let it be carefully read, and it becomes perfectly patent that this woman had nothing to do with bringing up Samuel…When in response to her incantations, as it seemed, Samuel actually appeared, she was startled beyond measure. That Samuel actually did appear to Saul there can be no doubt. However, he was sent of God for the express purpose of delivering the terrible message to Saul, to which the king listened in amazement. It was the pronouncement of his doom, and the call from the other side to the spirit of the man who had so utterly and disastrously failed to fulfil his opportunity. 

1st Samuel 28:16-19—16 Then Samuel said: "So why do you ask me, seeing the LORD has departed from you and has become your enemy? 17 And the LORD has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day. 19 Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines." Even in death, the prophet of God was speaking to Saul, and not good things, but rather reinforcing what he had already told him, and that this was going to happen the very next day!

Part 2 next week

 

Je4sus Christ is Lord.

Amen. 

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 16 (Part 2)

Numbers 16:15-19—15 Then Moses was very angry, and said to the LORD, "Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them." 16 And Moses said to Korah, "Tomorrow, you and all your company be present before the LORD—you and they, as well as Aaron. 17 Let each take his censer and put incense in it, and each of you bring his censer before the LORD, two hundred and fifty censers; both you and Aaron, each with his censer." 18 So every man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the tabernacle of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 And Korah gathered all the congregation against them at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the congregation." We see so many times in the Pentateuch God making a distinction, a separation, a sanctifying of His people from sinners. The commandments about foods? To establish distinction. The commandments about fabrics? To establish distinction. Everything in the Law was to either show what God thought to be sin or to establish the people as distinct and unlike the neighboring nations. This is another place where God wants to show that He will decide who does what, how His people are to be led and by whom, and that, in the end, He is the Sovereign who will make the ultimate decisions. 

Moses understood this. He understood and obeyed what God had commanded. He was the one with whom God spoke face to face. "Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them." He took nothing from these, and thus was under no obligation to favor them in the slightest. He has also done them no harm, showing that they could bring no charge against him. Moses was only devoted to one thing, and that was the glory of God. “Do not respect their offering.” Do not accept their incense, for it is as that of Nadab and Abihu. It is polluted by their pride and arrogance in their thinking that they know how to perform worship better than God does. It would not be a sweet aroma to YHVH, but rather a foul stench which would come up into His nostrils. As the works of man’s hands in exchange for salvation cannot appease the wrath of God, Moses cried out to God that He not accept the offerings given by these men who rebelled against God. As Paul would say in Acts 20:33—I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. Paul accepted no money as a gift for himself from anyone, just as Moses accepted nothing from these men of Korah. 

So every man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the tabernacle of meeting with Moses and Aaron. Korah and company still had a chance to end this, to admit that Moses and Aaron were the ones chosen by God, and God would have passed over their temporary ignorance. But no—they pressed on, they took up a censer, put hot coals in it, and then the holy frankincense which God commanded, and went to the Tabernacle, to see which group God would choose. Korah and company did not even think that what happened to Nadab and Abihu would happen to them. At this point, the die was cast, and Korah and company were about to cross their Rubicon. The battle lines were drawn, each side was arrayed for the fight, and they were about to see whom God had chosen. And as it says in verse 17, it was 250 against 2. Again, God doesn’t care about the numbers. It could have been all 600,000 against 2, and God wouldn’t care. As Robert Hawker once said, “It is really astonishing, considering the badness of their cause, that Korah and his party should have been willing to put things to such an issue. But, Reader! When our hearts are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, what judgments of GOD do we not brave? How often hath my stubborn unsubdued nature gone about to establish my own righteousness, instead of seeking the righteousness of GOD my Saviour?” Korah and company had seen the many miracles God had wrought, and still decided to fight against Him. They were as the men of Sodom groping at Lot’s door. 

Numbers 16:19-27—20 And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 21 "Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment." 22 Then they fell on their faces, and said, "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You be angry with all the congregation?" 23 So the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the congregation, saying, 'Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'” 25 Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying, "Depart now from the tents of these wicked men! Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins." 27 So they got away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, with their wives, their sons, and their little children. Think of what went through Moses’ mind when God said this. He knows from these words that things are not going to end well for Korah and Dathan and Abiram and the other 245 men with them. “Separate yourselves”. “Get away from them. I’m getting ready to do something to them that will not be pleasant, and I don’t want you to be caught up in it.” He told Moses that He would consume them in a moment. It was going to happen quickly, and there would not be time for anyone nearby to get out of the way of it. And what was Moses’ and Aaron’s reaction? Did they say, “Yes! Can’t wait for this!”? Did they say “Good, they’ve got it coming!”? Did they say, “Come on God, I hope you punish them severely!”? No. They fell on their faces. Do we sometimes laugh, or at least snicker, when an unbeliever meets their demise, knowing that at the next moment they will be face to face with Almighty God, having to give an account for their lives and knowing they will be naked before Him, with nary a plea? Moses knew, from hearing what God said, that this would be the case for these men. It doesn’t say so in the text, but God may have given Moses a vision of what was going to happen. 

And he did not want this burning wrath of God to fall on the entirety of the camp. "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You be angry with all the congregation?" Would He be right to be angry with the whole of the people? Wouldn’t be the first time, and would not be on the biggest scale. Romans 5:12—Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin. Did you or I receive a direct command from God Himself? Were you or I commanded not to eat the fruit of one particular tree? No. But Adam was. He heard from God Himself that he was not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil. But when Eve succumbed to the first lie (“Hath God indeed said?”), she gave to Adam to eat. But rather than correcting her and instructing her that they should not eat of that tree, he ate anyway. And what happened? One man sinned, and God was angry with all of humanity. “Shall one man sin, and You be angry with all the congregation?” Moses here echoes Abram’s prayer to God in Genesis 18:23—“Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” Would He have been right and just to do so? Of course. Would He have been right and just to not do so? Of course. What was the final verdict? He destroyed the entire city, after Lot and his family were escaped from there. Moses and Abram, the men with whom God spoke most closely and as friends, were devout men of God, who sought always, with few exceptions, to live the way He wanted them to. And when they failed, they asked for forgiveness and repented of their sins. They were righteous men, who sought to please God. And what do we know about the prayers of a righteous man? James 5:16—The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Phillip Schaff wrote, “Prayer, in order to prevail, must proceed from an earnest heart, and be made by a righteous man; that is, by a good, sincere, true-hearted man.” Moses was such a righteous, good, sincere, true hearted man. 

“Speak to the congregation, saying, 'Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'” Words that are echoed, to a degree, in the New Testament. These sinful men in our text represented sin, and Moses pled with the people to flee from them, lest they be caught up with them. We are encouraged as believers in Christ to avoid sin, to not look long at sin, and even, in one verse, to flee from sin (1st Corinthians 6:18). A man who is considered to be a faithful man of God has recently been found to be in an “inappropriate relationship” with a woman who is not his wife. We don’t know everything this entails (God knows), but one thing can be assumed: he was near to sin, he saw sin, and did not remove himself from the situation until it was too late. He was near to the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, and instead of fleeing he kept himself nearby and got caught up in their sin. Much like Solomon, the wisest man ever, whose wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David (1st Kings 11:4). I call this “The Solomon Paradox”™: how the wisest man ever did some of the dumbest things. David, the man after God’s own heart, was not immune from the desires of the flesh. 2nd Samuel 11:1-4—1 It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2 Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 4 Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her.  David could have had any number of wives and concubines. But instead, he took his friend’s little ewe lamb, and killed him for it. And in all three of these cases, the consequences were visited on the men. David’s son Absalom laid with his concubines; Solomon’s son Jeroboam led all Israel to sin; and Steve Lawson has lost his ministry. Because they did not flee from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. 

Unlike the members of the people of Israel who did get away. So they got away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. What instruction do we read in Revelation 18:4—And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” These people removed themselves from the tents of Korah and company, and the angel in Revelation 18 warns the people to come out of Babylon the Great. Why? “Lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” Do not be near to unbelievers when they are doing what is contrary to God, lest you be caught up in their malicious deeds. 1st Corinthians 15:33—Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits." There is no clearer example of this than in Proverbs 1:10-18—10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. 11 If they say, "Come with us, Let us lie in wait to shed blood; let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause; 12 let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down to the Pit; 13 we shall find all kinds of precious possessions, we shall fill our houses with spoil; 14 cast in your lot among us, let us all have one purse"—15 my son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your foot from their path; 16 for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. 17 Surely, in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird; 18 but they lie in wait for their own blood, they lurk secretly for their own lives. Remember being in high school, maybe hanging around with an unsavory bunch? They liked to do things and go places they shouldn’t be? You decide to tag along one day. And they start breaking windows at an old, abandoned business. Suddenly the police arrive. And whether you were sharing in their hooliganism or not, guess who gets scooped up and put in the back of a cruiser? Then you had to call mom and dad to explain. If mom and dad were good parents, you got punished. Is God a good parent? When those who despise Him do something abhorrent to Him, they may think they are being crafty and secretive, but God sees all, and they lie in wait for their own blood, they lurk secretly for their own lives. They are heaping up wrath for themselves. 

Numbers 16:28-35—28 And Moses said: "By this you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. 29 If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me. 30 But if the LORD creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the LORD." 31 Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. 33 So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. 34 Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, "Lest the earth swallow us up also!" 35 And a fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense. The moment of truth. The moment when two men of God would stand against 250 prideful men of their father the devil, to see which one God would choose. And it is clearly shown here that it is God, in His will, not man nor the will of man, who chooses prophets and priests. These men, who thought of themselves as something, were brought down into the depths of the earth to make this very thing known. 

There are many today who reckon themselves to be prophets, who speak great swelling words that are contrary to what God has said. They tell people that they will be rich and prosperous, that they will never be sick, that if they just believe enough, they can have more health, wealth and prosperity than they could ever imagine. And of course they draw big crowds, because they tell people what they want to hear. These are the ones that Paul warned us about in his second letter to Timothy. After all, who wouldn’t want to hear smooth words of flattery, that everything that comes into our lives will be good and smooth? 2nd Timothy 4:3-4—3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. It is no different today than it was then, and has been no different at any point in between. How many times in Israel’s history did the people turn away from God to worship Ba'al or Asherah or Molech? And today, how many times do people turn away from God to follow a god of their own choosing? In both instances, these were nothing more than worshipping the flesh. People don’t want to hear hard truths, when the lies are so much easier to hear and to tolerate. And these are the things these modern-day “prophets” are spewing to the people that follow them. 

But what will happen to these “prophets”? What will be their destination once their flesh fails and they go down to the grave? It will be as these, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. And will they be alone in their torment? No, they will be joined by all those who followed them, who came to them with itching ears, who followed their Godless teachings, and who did not follow the ways of righteousness; who saw Jesus as an ATM to give them all they wanted, and who gave God no glory, but served and worshipped their faith in themselves and sought to create for themselves a life of luxury and ease. All those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. John Piper said rightly about this ungodly health, wealth and prosperity “gospel”—

 

“I don’t know what you feel about the prosperity gospel—the health, wealth and prosperity gospel—but I’ll tell you what I feel about it—Hatred. It is not the gospel, and it’s being exported from this country to Africa and Asia, selling a bill of goods to the poorest of the poor: ‘Believe this message and your pigs won’t die and your wife won’t have miscarriages, and you’ll have rings on your fingers and coats on your back.’ That’s coming out of America—the people that ought to be giving our money and our time and our lives, instead selling them a bunch of crap called ‘gospel.’”

 Instead of telling people the truth—that we are all sinners in the eyes of God and we need the righteousness of Christ to be acceptable to the eternally holy and righteous God—they are telling people that Jesus only came to make their lives more comfortable, to give them material riches and not that He came to give them eternal riches in Heaven. What good will their material wealth be to them once they are standing before Almighty God, who will ask them why He should let them into His Kingdom? Instead of thinking that our faith will make us rich in this life, let us consider the eternal riches that Christ can give us if we repent of our sins and turn to God and ask forgiveness for our sins! And let us see Christ as the one who will lead us through pain and heartache, when our faith is not enough to prevent calamity from befalling our family.

 

“I’ll tell you what makes Jesus look beautiful,” Piper told them. “It’s when you smash your car, and your little girl goes flying through the windshield, and lands dead on the street . . . and you say through the deepest possible pain, ‘God is enough.’” 

1st Timothy 6:7, 10—7 We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out…10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 

Those who prop themselves up falsely as prophets will meet an eternal fate that will be unimaginable. Not only will they die, as all men do, but they will be judged more harshly than any sinner, since he (or she) took upon himself (or herself) a mantle reserved for those whom God actually called. God is not slack, and He will punish them in due time when He is ready. And God is not to be mocked, as He will visit on all who mock Him a punishment beyond anything one could imagine. Jesus had stern words for such. Matthew 7:21-23—21 “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” Even those who do “good things” will not be forgiven of their sins by the “good works” that they have done, but only by faith in Christ and love for God and neighbor. 

And those who support and prop up these false prophets, there end will be the same. And a fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense. Not only were Korah and Dathan and Abiram pulled down into the earth, but those supporting them were burned up with fire. Another warning to not be caught up with those who are rebelling against God. Even after seeing the wonders that God had done among them and for them, they still kept groping at the door. We are warned about men like these in Titus 3:10-11—10 Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. The Apostle John would not even suffer his disciples to be under the same roof as a known heretic. In his work “Against Heresies”, Irenaeus wrote—

 

There are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, "Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within." And Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said, "Dost thou know me?" "I do know thee, the first-born of Satan." Such was the horror which the apostles and their disciples had against holding even verbal communication with any corrupters of the truth. 

Let us always flee from those who preach heresy, and run to Christ, the only one who has words of eternal life! (John 6:68). 2nd Peter 2:1-3—1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. Those who flatter you with smooth words easy to hear and to digest will bring you down into judgment with them!

Part 2 next week

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.