On the one hand, it seems so vicious. Yet on the other hand, God Himself describes it as “displaying His wonders.” I mean, really, the killing of probably thousands, or tens of thousands or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of Egyptian-first-born males sounds vicious. Could not the Almighty do it some other way? Why did he choose this act? Maybe He chose this act for several reasons such as the Egyptian god being judged, the meaning and value of physical death versus spiritual death, and God’s own sacrifice to meet our need.
On previous days we saw that God killed the Egyptian gods with the judgment of each plague. There was one last god to slay. It was the god of self-worship. In the Egyptian pantheon of gods, Pharaoh was considered to be a god. As the head of the country, he was deified as the hope of all the people to obtain eternal life. Thus we have the elaborate burials to assist the dead Pharaoh in his journey in the afterlife. Normally the succeeding Pharaoh was the firstborn male. The first born male was the one of preeminence. In a sense the elevation of Pharaoh to the status of god was by extension a form of self-worship. It is a message that rings through all eternity that there is one thing God will not tolerate. It is the worship of ourselves over Him. It shouts at us through the judgment of the death of the firstborn! Every time that I elevate myself above God, I should remember this plague and beware!
Another reason that he chose this act is that from His perspective our physical death is not as nearly critical as spiritual/eternal death. Many of those Egyptian first born were probably not at an age where they could understand the choice that God was asking of them, much less make a good moral choice. They were under the age of what we might call the age of accountability. If they were to continue to grow up in that culture, they would probably be confirmed in the pagan worship of the Egyptian Pantheon. They would never trust in Yahweh. They would eventually die in their spiritual death. Their spiritual death would then become permanent. For those children, their physical death before reaching the age of accountability would be a literal blessing. Sure, their physical life would be cut short, but they would spend eternity with the living God.
Finally, the Almighty chose this symbol because it represents His own sacrifice on our behalf that we might be rescued from eternal death. He planned the symbol before He created the world, Paul says in 1 Cor. 2:7, “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,” and, in 2 Tim 1:9, “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” Before time began He determined that God the Son, the firstborn, would become flesh and die in our place. His holiness demands the death of sin. His mercy demands that He die in our place. Now, that is a wonder!
The firstborn male of every household would die. There was only one remedy. Only if a perfect and innocent lamb was slain, and his blood applied to the door of the house, only then would the firstborn be saved. When the blood was applied, the death angel would see it and pass over the household. The Lord had more than this one incident in mind. He was broadcasting for every generation for the next 1,450 years what He was planning to do for the human race. He would supply the Lamb whose death would be accepted for all who would come “under” the blood of the Lamb. We, who had made our own lives gods instead of submitting to the true God, would have opportunity to receive pardon and life! What a picture! What grace! What wonder! What Glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 59
We saw him come around the corner. We were in the fourth grade and he was in the fifth. His name was Charles. He was big for a fifth grader. We were small for fourth graders. Additionally, he was known as a bully, and he had threatened us in the past. He had the cut out lid of one-gallon-tin can in hand. We turned and ran the other direction. He let the lid fly like a Frisbee. I heard it whiz past my ear, and saw it land in front of me. “Whew! That was close!” My feet were churning as fast as they could go!
“I’ll get you yet, Chaffin!” He did not bother to pursue us. To this day I really don’t know why he had it in for me. He probably enjoyed the power of making kids smaller than him fear. My friend told everybody in school the next day of our experience. Not much later we were playing on a rope swing. My hands inexplicably could not hang on to the rope. I face planted in the gravel road—scraped a lot of skin off of my face. The next day when I walked into class, several people simultaneously asked, “What happened, Chaffin; did Charles get you?”
I guess that is the closest I have ever been to someone pursuing me to take my life. So, I really can’t relate to David. I have had people who have hated me without a cause and tried to take my job, but never my life. It seems to me that to hate one so much so as to try to kill him would be the ultimate threat. If I know how to respond in that situation, then I know how to respond in any situation. What did David do in that situation? He focused on the glory of the Lord. He focused on the strength, defense and mercy that the Lord brings to those who trust in Him. When one focuses on such glory for very long, it usually can only result in breaking out in song. His glory is too wonderful! It must be sung! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
JOB 29
I open the refrigerator door looking for a snack. Almost instantly I have two pairs of dark brown eyes are fixed upon my every move. My dogs know that if I am not seated at the table and that if I have food in my hand, then they might get something tasty to eat. I have their undivided attention as long as I have some food in my hand. They are in ecstasy as I give them the tasty morsels that I have retrieved from the fridge!
There is a season and a time for everything in experiencing the glory of God. There are times when it seems the good pleasure of God invades everything that we do. Job remembers those times in this chapter. He longs for them again. He remembers the joy of being with his family. He remembers the time when his livestock were abundant. Or we might say today, when the bank account was overflowing and it seemed that we could not be overdrawn. There were times when he was among the movers and shakers of this world. He called the shots. He remembered times when God gave him the ability to do good to those who needed help. He drank in the feeling of self-satisfaction because he was valuable to other people. He remembered a time when his advice was sought out because he was ‘successful’. Surely, a ‘successful’ person could give wise counsel. What a feeling that gives to know that you possess the wisdom that helps other people, if they do it. It must have been awfully satisfying to Job.
But what happens when we begin to believe that somehow we are the ones responsible for the good things that are happening around us? It diminishes the glory of God around us for we begin to take the credit. It is indeed a wondrous season. It is a season full of joy, but it is the season when we are in the most danger for God will move us from that season in order to teach us the source of those good things. He does so to teach us to seek Him and not the things in His hand. His glory is found beyond the good things in His hand. When He disposes of the things in His hand, will we remain fixed upon His glory? That is what is happening to Job. As he remembers the past, he longs for those things that he also experienced that came as he experienced the good things from God’s hand. Lord, thank you for the good things that I find in Your hand, but help me to look beyond them in order to gaze into the glory of Your eyes. May your glory be that by which I gain my ecstasy! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
MARK 7:1-23
We'd just had a great rainstorm and the water was running down the street in front of our house. It was just too tempting not to play in. Yes, I gave in to the temptation. Soon the run off was gone. I needed more water. Well, Hey! We had a garden hose. I was experimenting in making mighty dams to create lakes to build great hydro-electric power plants. It was great fun. Well it just so happened that when I was done that I wasn't what you might call, clean. I was literally covered from head to foot with mud. I honestly considered washing my clothes myself before she found out, but I wasn't sure of how to operate the washing machine. So I washed myself off with the garden hose, then went inside and took a bath and then presented my clothes to the dirty clothes pile.
My poor Mom! I was kind of expecting to be lectured. But I don't remember receiving one. Being the last of 5 children, 4 boys, maybe she had given up on keeping us clean from ourselves. Or maybe I was hopeless. Or maybe, she knew the nature of a boy and chose in this case to forgive me. If I were to ask her now, she probably wouldn't remember this particular incident, because the incidents were probably too numerous for just one to stand out.
What about our Lord? Our filthiness is beyond description before a holy God. Yes, He lets us know about our sin. But when there is recognition before Him that we are in a sinful state, He cleanses us. What causes the Lord the most pain is when we have the audacity to think that we can clean ourselves. Then the stench is just too great.
We tend to think that by doing certain things that the Lord will love us more, that we will be cleaner. I wonder, if I was able to do what it takes to make Cape Fear Alliance Church a church of a thousand people, would He love me any more than He does right now? I wonder, if I did what it takes to make Cape Fear Alliance Church a church of a thousand people and told other pastors, "If you do what I did, your church will grow too," would God love me more than He does now?
The glory of Christ is not that we clean up our act. The glory of Christ is that He cleans us from the inside out. The result is that acts seen on the outside spring up from His work on the inside. Our tendency is that we perform the acts outwardly in order to deceive people and ourselves. The truth is only He can clean the inside. Only He knows how to operate the spiritual washing machine for our hearts. Even more He loves to do it, if we will come to Him with heart in hand extended before Him saying, "Purify my heart." Oh Lord, do it again. I love You. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
No comments:
Post a Comment