May 22

Numbers 31 A war is raging in the spiritual realm for control of the church. Outright physical assaults on the church usually result in tremendous growth of the church. Witness China which now has more raw numbers of believers than does the church in the USA. Or witness Iran where the secret church is growing by leaps and bounds. It is the subtle spiritual attacks on the church that usually lead to its death. Witness the church in western Europe. The attack upon the foundations of the faith in 19th century led to wholesale pursuit for meaning and fulfillment elsewhere. The USA is not far behind. Abandoning clear Scriptural principles of the word, churches have sought to attract people through more fleshly appeal. About 10-15 years ago a pastor friend of mine went to visit one of those churches to see what it was like. He said, “I can see why that church is popular. . . It was better than a topless bar.” Should Israel have gone to war? Clearly the text states that the LORD commanded them to attack the Midianites and kill them. Is this vicious, if so, why? What does it tell us of His glory? First, let us always remember that the LORD is the Creator. As Creator, He has the supreme right over life and death. He can decide who lives and dies, and it is just, for He has that right as Creator. Second, let us remember His reasoning for commanding the death of the Midianites. It is found in Moses’ response to the captains when they returned from battle leading a host of captive women and children: 15–16 And Moses said to them: “Have you kept all the women alive? Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.” “The Midianites were among those who practiced sexual immorality as part of the ritual of their idolatrous religion.” The incident of Peor was leading young men away from the glory of the Lord. Can you imagine how popular a church would become in a college town if part of the worship included sex? I could see it right now—a wave of churches vying for the highest number of attendees through adding a ministry of sexual adoration. When there is a high probability that the whole congregation can be led astray, the Lord occasionally acts in what we would call severe forms of discipline in order to prevent the falling away of the larger group and to preserve His people. By commanding Israel to begin this war, the LORD demonstrates how serious He takes our not trading His glory for anything! This does not mean that there is no forgiveness for those who have fallen into that trap. Forgiveness, mercy and grace is always foremost in the plan of God, but if there is a recalcitrant group that will prevent that forgiveness from being received by the larger group, such as those whom Balaam counseled, then the LORD sometimes moves viciously to prevent it. I wonder if some of our congregations had been around in Balaam’s day, if the Lord would have lumped them in with the Midianites? Note that they only dispatch 12,000 warriors to deal with the Midianites, and afterward not a single warrior was missing! That is astounding in ancient warfare! Our warfare as the church is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in heavenly places. Our weapons are not human, but are spiritual and have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments. Should we not be at war upon our knees? If we would war on our knees, I think we would have far fewer warriors missing in action, and love would reign supreme. He is zealous in His love for us, and desires us to be zealous in love for each other. Indeed, that love is glorious! Indeed, we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john