The Daysman
Listen to last night’s message from Acts 4 – “Behold Their Threatenings”
Today’s Passage – Job 8 – 11
Second Milers also read – Ephesians 06 – Philippians 1 – 3; Psalms 31 – 35; Proverbs 7
Scripture Memory for June – Psalm 139
Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – Joshua 1:8
“For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.” – (Job 9:32-33)
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” – (1 Timothy 2:5)
The word “daysman” in vers 33 of chapter 9 literally means a mediator. Job is lamenting because there is no one to bridge the gap between the righteous and holy God, and a sinner like himself. He already stated in verse 20 that he could not justify himself. God became man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as the God-man he came to justify sinners like Job, and you and me also. He was the go-between, the mediator, the one who came between God and men, so that men could come into the presence of an holy God.
Consider some of these verses regarding what Christ accomplished for us when He came to earth as a man and died for our sins:
“Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;” – (Matthew 27:50-51)
The veil in the temple separated men from God; but through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus, the veil was removed. Notice that the veil was torn from the top to the bottom, signifying that it was God that removed the veil that once kept man from Him.
“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” – (Hebrews 4:14-16)
Jesus was fully God, yet also fully man. He understands what it is like to be tempted, because he experienced it; yet without sin. He, as our great high priest, went before us and opened up a door for us to now boldly enter into the presence of God. We can now enter into God’s presence through “the Door”; through “the Way”; through Christ.
There has always been a “daysman”, even in Job’s time; but Job may not have understood it at the time. Praise God, however, we definitely have one that we can know today!
Posted in Thoughts from Job by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
The Chastening of the Almighty
Today’s Passage – Job 5 – 7
Second Milers also read – Ephesians 2 – 5; Psalms 26 – 30; Proverbs 6
“Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:” – (Job 5:17)
As we read the Book of Job, we will see that although Job has been put through a severe trial through no fault of his own, but he has a difficult time convincing his friends of his innocence. The more he defends himself, the more his friends are convinced that he must be guilty. I am reminded of the verse in the New Testament where Jesus admonishes us to “judge not”. Job’s friends certainly did not see the entire picture, yet they made assumptions based on the false notion that all trials are somehow caused by sin. On the other hand, Job went a little overboard in declaring his innocence. Is anyone truly innocent? Aren’t we all sinners that are deserving of judgment. The bottom line is that whatever God allows to take place in our life is better than what we truly deserve. We have no right to gripe about what God allows to come our way.
In the middle of this conversation,one of Job’s friends makes a marvelous statement, that I believe is supported by the teaching of Scripture. He says that we are to actually embrace the correction of the Lord. Now nobody enjoys correction, but we must understand that when God corrects us, He has nothing but our best interests in mind. He loves us with a perfect love, that far surpasses any love that any human parent can have for a child.
There have been many times in my life that I have experienced God’s “woodshed”; but I have learned that though the experience is not pleasant, it will make me a better child. I have learned to run to the Corrector, rather than away from Him. I will always be human, and I will always be in need of correction. It is kind of arrogant on our part to think that we are somehow beyond or above the correction of the Lord. Besides, correction is a great proof that we are His children. He only corrects us because He loves us.
“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” – (Hebrews 12:5-8)
One more thought from this passage – notice verse 9 of chapter 6:
“Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!” – (Job 6:9)
Job wanted God to end his life. Whenever a person is this low, they simply can not logic their way through their trial. Job didn’t understand why he was going through what he was going through, and he couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. Had God told him ahead of time why He was putting Job through this trial, and had God shared with Job what the final outcome would be, I am sure Job could have endured without much complaint; but Job just could not see clearly what was going on. We need to remember when times like this come into our lives, that we are in the hands of a loving God who is not hurting us, but helping us; and, in His time, He will deliver us.
Posted in Thoughts from Job by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
Lessons from The Book of Job
Today’s Passage – Job 1 – 4
Second Milers also read – Galatians 4 – 6, Ephesians 1; Psalm 21 – 25; Proverbs 5
Scripture Memory for June – Psalm 139
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – 1 John 4:7 & 8
Read an older post from today’s passage – “The Road May Be Long”
“Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” – (Job 1:20-22)
Job is an amazing passage of Scripture. It helps us understand a side of suffering that perhaps we would not be able to figure out without it. Job is a man that suffered tremendously at the hand of Satan, and with the permission of God. However, the curious part about Job’s suffering was the fact that he did not do anything to cause it. In other words, the suffering was not brought on as a result of his sin or as some type of a judgment from God. On the contrary, Job was put through the fire because he was a righteous man. He was a man that “feared God and eschewed (put away; kept it far from him) evil”. We like to think that if someone lives a life like Job lived that his life will be free from problems; however, this is not the case.
From this passage, we can learn some things about the Christian life:
1 If you live your life fearing God and eschewing evil, you will have the blessing of God. When we speak of Job, we always focus on his season of suffering. However, Job’s life overall was a life that was blessed tremendously by the Lord. He did, in fact, have that hedge of protection around him and his family for most of his life.
2 If you live a life like Job lived you will have the attention of God; but Satan will also be personally aware of you. Satan had, in fact, considered Job. I don’t know if Satan even knows my name. I’m sure there are some devils who know me well; but Satan? Job, who is neither omniscient nor omnipresent, had been paying close attention to Job.
3 Satan, if given the opportunity, will destroy you. He hates you almost as much as he hates God. The good news is that Satan is on a leash. He cannot do what God does not permit him to do.
4 God will only permit Satan to do what you are able to handle.
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
5 God will eventually remove the suffering. He gave back Job double of everything He allowed Satan to take from him. God even gave him ten more children in addition to the ten that were waiting for him in Heaven.
6. People may not understand what you are going through, or why you are going through it. Job’s wife wanted him to just give up, and Job’s friends accused him of all kinds of bad things, which simply were not true.
Learn these lessons from Job. When suffering comes your way, don’t think that God is not aware or not even personally involved in it. Try to learn the lesson that God may be trying to teach you through the suffering and glorify Him in the suffering. Our God is a loving Heavenly Father who only does what is right. Trust Him!
Posted in Thoughts from Job by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
Sometimes We Reap More Than We Sow
Today’s Passage – Esther 6 – 10
Second Milers also read – 2 Corinthians 13, Galatians 1 – 3; Psalms 16 – 20; Proverbs 4
Scripture Memory for June – Psalm 139
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – 1 John 3:1
“Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.” – (Esther 9:5 )
“But the other Jews that were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey,” – (Esther 9:16)
“So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.” – (Esther 7:10)
In today’s reading we read about the destruction of Haman, his family, and all others who would try to hurt the people of God. Remember, in the previous chapters we read how that Haman had a carefully devised plan to have all of the Jews in the Kingdom of Persia put to death. He even built a special gallows to have Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, displayed on. His plan ended up destroying only him and his kind; and he ended up being hung on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. He not only got back what he gave to others, he got back far more than he gave. The lost world will reap far more in this life, and especially in eternity, what they have sown.
Christians today need to remember that the principle of sowing and reaping still exists. Thank the Lord as God’s children, because of His wonderful grace, we won’t reap nearly the amount of judgment as compared to the sin that we have sown; but we will reap some in this life. However, we can also reap back a lot of good if we sow it. As the people of God today, we should be concerned with sowing love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness to the people around us. I am sure that there will be times when we will want to have those things come back to us. And the beutiful thing is that the Christian will reap much more in eternity what he has sown in this life. The Bible idicates that the rewards in heaven, and to some degree, even in this life, are multiplied exceedingly.
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It’s A “God Thing”
Today’s Passage – Esther 1 – 5
Second Milers also read – 2 Corinthians 9 – 12; Psalms 11 – 15; Proverbs 3
“Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13 – 14)
Esther was in a tough spot here, wasn’t she. She had to risk the good thing she had going in order to confront the King regarding the impending destruction of her people, the Jews. Mordecai reminded her that the very reason why God had placed her in this position was for this very purpose. She had an opportunity given her by God to represent Him; to be His ambassador.
Did you ever find yourself in a situation where you knew that God had placed in a specific place at a specific time for a specific purpose? There have been a few times like that in my life. Sometimes I call them Divine appointments. To think that the God of the universe has chosen you for a particular part of his plan. It sends shivers down my spine. Sometimes, when something unexpected or even unpleasant comes your way, it could be that “it’s a God thing”. In other words God is positioning you to do something wonderful for Him. So be careful how you react to those negative situations that come your way.
I also wonder, though, how many times that God has strategically positioned me to fulfill His will, and I missed it. Maybe, I just did not recognize the opportunity; maybe I was not sensitive enough to the leading of the Spirit of God; maybe I was just downright disobedient to His will. I know that as I sit here this morning writing this thought, it is my desire to be used of God in these situations. I want to be given more opportunities by my redeemer to represent Him on this earth. It is my prayer that He will use me.
Posted in Thoughts from Esther by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
Amos – The Last Call To Personal Holiness Part 5: Victims – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl
Good morning! Happy second day of LGBT month. Here is a verse from Amos: “I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.” (Amos 4:11).
Here is another good passage: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!” (Isaiah 5:20-23). Our nation is in a heep of trouble. And no, this isn’t a Gay-bashing blog. Sin is sin in the eyes of God. God forgives all sin (except for the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost) through the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 21:8 says, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
Sin is sin in the eyes of God, and even those who told that little white lie, who rejected the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, will find themselves cast into the lake of fire. Our nation is in trouble – big time!
Five times God calls to Israel in Amos chapter 4, “…yet have ye not returned unto Me…”
I sent famine, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. (Amos 4:6).
I sent drought, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. (Amos 4:7-8).
I sent heat and mildew, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. (Amos 4:9).
I sent pestilence, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. (Amos 4:10).
You got ‘burnt’ from the sins of others, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. (Amos 4:11).
Have you seen the price of food lately? How about the mild winter? What is this green stuff I have to power-wash off my trailer twice a year? And look up Chagas on the internet if you want pestilence. It’s a little parasite released by bugs that bite, and draw blood. When you scratch the bite, the parasite enters your body and can cause enlarging of the heart and intestines, then death. More than 8 million people have already been infected, mostly in Latin and Central America. But, there are over 300,000 in the United States. And what can I say about being burnt? When we sin, it not only affects us, but those around us. Just ask Pharaoh (Gen. 12:10-20) or Abimelech, king of the Philistines (Gen. 26:6-11). Think about those who are trying to turn our ‘one nation under God’ into an atheistic socialist country. What’s wrong with socialism? I don’t know. Ask someone from the USSR: the Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republic (the Communists). Or you can ask a member of the National SOCIALIST Party (the Nazis). Remember to vote on Tuesday. If we think about the consequences before we sin, and think about those who may be affected by our sin, we may decide it isn’t worth the price we, and others, have to pay. Those of the LGBT don’t need to be fenced in and die off, they need Jesus just as much as you and I do (see Romans chapter 1). You see, we are all sinners: you, me, Billy Graham, the Pope: everybody (Rom. 3:10 & 23). And the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23a), but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6:23b; John 3:16). And if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (see 2Cor. 5:17).
Peace. (1John 5:12-13).
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Don’t Forsake The House of God
Today’s Passage – Nehemiah 8 – 10
Second Milers also read – 1 Corinthians 13 – 16; Psalms 1 – 5; Proverbs 1
Scripture Memory for June – Psalm 139
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – 1 Timothy 1:17
“And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.” – (Nehemiah 9:2-3)
“For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine, and the oil, unto the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our God.” – (Nehemiah 10:39)
I enjoyed thoroughly reading these three chapters today from the Book of Nehemiah. The people of Israel are back in their own land after having been in captivity for many years. They are united, “in one accord”; and they are fully surrendered to the Lord. This is certainly one of the high places in their history. In these three chapters I have noticed some ingredients that were in place that brought about a wonderful revival in the lives of God’s people. As I already mentioned, the people were unified, which in itself is an important part of the revival; but in addition to that, let me list some ingredients that I observed.
1 They are putting a heavy emphasis on the reading and preaching of the Word of God. We see this in chapter 8, and again in chapter 9. The people stood for a fourth part of the day listening to the Word. We have a tough time getting people to sit in padded seats for an hour. The word caused them to implement many changes in their lives, including the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles.
2 There is an emphasis on prayer. In chapter 9, we see the people corporately confessing their sins; and praising God for His mercy and grace upon them. People who are right with God will praise God. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”
3 In chapter 10, we see that the people have made a commitment to the House of God. They committed to give their offerings so that the servants of the Temple, including all of the priests and Levites, would have everything that they need in order to minister to the people.
I have left out some other things, but as you can see from the reading today, these three ingredients were part of one of the greatest revivals in the history of God’s people. If we ever see revival again in America, I bet that these three ingredients will be here as well.
Posted in Thoughts from Nehemiah by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
I Cannot Come – Too Busy
Today’s Passage – Nehemiah 6 – 7
Second Milers also read – 1 Corinthians 9 – 12; Psalms 146 – 150; Proverbs 31
Scripture Memory for May – Psalm 51
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Ephesians 4:32
“That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” – (Nehemiah 6:2 – 3)
In our passage today we see Nehemiah busy doing what the Lord had called him to do: rebuilding the wall of the city of Jerusalem. He had a job to do, and he was intent on completing it. Now there were also people in the area that were intent on stopping Nehemiah from fulfilling the will of God; but Nehemiah did not let them distract him from completing his work. I love what Nehemiah said: “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” The work Nehemiah was doing was certainly great, because it was God that had asked him to do it.
I have a great work to do for the Lord as well; and so do you. God has something for all of us who are His children to do. We must not get distracted from completing the work that God has given us. I have observed through the years that distractions can come from a variety of sources. The wicked one is famous for distracting people away from the will of God. This was the case with Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshom from our text. They were wicked men who did not have Nehemiah’s best interests in mind. They were working against the will of God, but notice how they tried to disguise themselves as God’s servants, and as Nehemiah’s friends. As God’s children, we need to learn to be discerning about the true motivations of the people around us as they attempt to pull us away from the primary tasks that God has given us.
Another type of distraction comes from good people who often invite us to do “good things”; but even these good things become evil if they take us away from the best things. I am slowly learning how to graciously turn down many “good” invitations from caring people. I simply do not have enough time and energy to do all of the things that I might like to do, especially as they pull me away from the primary areas of my responsibility. As a pastor, I get invited to many birthday’s, picnics, graduations, dinners, weddings, conferences, barbecues, etc. I love to be with God’s people, but I simply cannot go to them all.
A third distraction is the distraction God brings your way. There are times that God will interrupt the daily routine in life in order for you to learn something; or maybe in order for you to accomplish something special for Him. Again, we must be very careful that to discern wheter these distractions are indeed from God. Last year, because of the tight budget at the church I had to go back to a secular job for a few months, which required me to work overnight 6 nights per week. This job was certainly a hindrance that kept me from doing all that I might have wanted to do in the ministry; but I am convinced that God had lead me down that path, at least temporarily. My primary ministry is my family, and God had provided this job as a means for my family to be taken care of while still allowing me to serve as the pastor. However, because of this constraint on my time, I was very limited to what I could do. My life consisted basically of working, sleeping, prayer, Bible reading, studying and preparing for messages, and a little soul winning. That is all that I could do during those months. I had to learn to say no to many other things so that I could do those main things. My focus was still on serving God, but I had to take some time away from that service in order to help the church financially, and in order to put food on my family’s table. God taught me much in the short time that I had been working the outside job, and He even used me to be a light to a very dark workplace. I thank the Lord that my time at the supermarket was short, and that He has turned our church’s financial situation around, but I am convinced that God allowed that period in my life for a reason.
The bottom line of today’s devotion is thus: don’t allow distractions to pull you away from the primary things that God wants you to do, unless, of course, it is God who is doing the distracting.
Posted in Thoughts from Nehemiah by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
See the Need and Take the Lead
Today’s Passage – Nehemiah 1 – 5
Second Milers also read – 1 Corinthians 5 – 8; Psalms 141 – 145; Proverbs 30
“And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.” (Nehemiah 2:5)
I love reading these stories about people who build something great for the Lord. Nehemiah heard that his home city, Jerusalem, was in a mess and he decided to do something about it. I see in this passage a pattern that can be followed by God’s people today as we desire to be used of Him to fulfill His will for our lives.
1 Nehemiah perceived – He saw the need
“And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.” – (Nehemiah 1:3)
2 Nehemiah prayed – He had a burden for Jerusalem and the people of God.
“And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,”(Nehemiah 1:3-4)
He wept, he fasted, and he prayed for the condition of Jerusalem. When he prayed, he reminded God of the promises that God had made about His mercy on the people if they would turn back to God.
3 Nehemiah performed – he took the lead.
The difference between Nehemiah and most of us is that he was willing to prepare and act upon the burden that he had. So many of us have a burden to do something; but we never get to the point where we take action. In the local church, we see many people who know what needs to be done; but never actually do it. Don’t just talk about (or worse complain about it); do something about it.
4 Nehemiah persisted – He did not quit.
So many of us today allow the slightest things to knock us off course. Nehemiah did not quit because of the difficulty of the task; or from the opposition that he faced (which will always be there).
When I read these passages, I get excited about doing something for the Lord. I want to be able to say at the end of my life (and at the end of my day) that I accomplished something for the Lord.
Posted in Thoughts from Nehemiah by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
Here We Go Again
Today’s Passage – Ezra 8 – 10
Second Milers also read – 1 Corinthians 1 – 4; Psalms 136 – 140; Proverbs 29
Scripture Memory for May –Psalm 51
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Micah 6:8
“And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.” – (Ezra 9:13-15)
In our Scripture passage in the Book of Ezra today, we see the people of God returning to Jerusalem from the bondage of captivity. The reason that they were taken into captivity in the first place is because they had forsaken the Lord by serving other gods, and by ignoring the principles contained in the Law. However, God in His mercy, did not forsake them, and gave them a new opportunity to re-establish themselves in the land of Israel. One of the leaders of the returning remnant was Ezra, the man who penned this book. He was a priest, and a very good man, and he was very concerned that the people would not repeat their errors of the past. Notice what Ezra did before making the trip back to Jerusalem:
“Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.” – (Ezra 8:21)
This man, and many others of the people of Israel, wanted to please God, and they desperately desired God’s bleesing on this renewed nation.
However, when we get to chapter nine we discover that some of the people had begun to make some serious errors in judgment again, as their fathers did before they went captivity. Notice the first two verses of chapter nine:
“Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.” – (Ezra 9:1-2)
Some of the leaders of the people had taken the first step toward the idolatry that their ancestors were guilty of by marrying some of the non-Jewish women that dwelt in the land. God knew that if these men married these women, soon they would be worshipping the gods of the women, and tolerating some of the ungodly practices of the culture that the women came from. God demanded that His people live separately from the people of the land. God demands the same from us today. Consider the following New Testament verses:
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” – (Romans 12:2)
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,” – (2 Corinthians 6:17)
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” – (1 John 2:15)
There are so many more verses that we can look at, yet the principle of separation is pretty much an ignored doctrine to many of our New Testament churches. There has never been a more worldly group of believers since the time of Christ. Someone once said that the church follows the world by about ten years, or so. I am not sure if that is true or not, but I do know that there is not a whole lot of difference between the lifestyles of the unbelievers today and the lifestyles of Christians. This passage of Scripture from Ezra is a great picture of what is happening today. The people of Israel were placed in captivity and bondage because of their sin, but were then given a second chance; yet they chose to do the same things that got them into trouble in the first place. We who are saved have also been delivered from the bondage of sin, yet we keep choosing to go back to the sinful things and worldly lifestyles that we were delivered from. Shame on us!
Well, what should we do? It would probably be a good idea to do what Ezra did. A careful reading of chapter nine will reveal that Ezra first repented on behalf of the people when he realized the problem. He then went to God, and poured out his heart to Him; and then he went to the people, and poured out his heart to them. The good news is that the people repented too, and got right with the Lord before He would have to send judgment again. I hope that we will do the same thing.
Posted in Thoughts from Ezra by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.