Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

11 September, 2007   comments: (0) Classic Devotion   Remembering The Terror of The Lord - Part 1    Quoting Walter Chantry . . . In our times, some Christian ministers have taken it upon themselves to explain precisely what factor was on God's mind in his bringing about a natural tragedy or a military catastrophe. Yet these men are not prophets. David, being a true prophet, waited for the Almighty to explain Himself. God does visit the furies of created powers upon nations because of their moral guilt. Ruinous earthquakes, floods, winds, and drought should lead us to repentance for all our sins, but we must be cautious not to claim knowledge of the particular sin that lies behind a particular desolation. By bringing famine on Israel God was avenging a national policy enacted decades earlier by a ruler long since silent in the grave. Saul had sought to exterminate the Gibeonites from Israel. When Israel had entered Canaan under Joshua's leadership centuries before David lived, God had commanded his chosen nation to exterminate the Canaanite tribes. They were to make no treaties of peace with any who had preceded them as inhabitants of the land. The Gibeonites by elaborate deceit (Josh. 9) had persuaded Joshua and the elders of Israel to swear by the Lord God of Israel not to harm them. For numerous generations the Gibeonites had been integrated into Jewish life in Israel. However, Saul began systematically to put these people to death. Perhaps his motive was to seize their lands and give their property to others in order to secure loyalty to his authority from the recipients of his gifts (this pattern in Saul's thinking is disclosed in 1 Samuel 22:7). But, whatever Saul's reasoning had been, this was an offense to the Lord, by whose name Israel had been sworn not to harm the Gibeonites. As years passed Saul's outrageous crime against God and the Gibeonites faded from most minds. All of us have a tendency to tremble as we are doing evil. We think such things as: "What if God were to see and to expose my crime to others? What if the Almighty so directs that just punishment swiftly falls on me for the misdeed?" Sadly, if the just vengeance does not immediately overtake us, these impressions recede. We forget. We think time will heal the wrong done. The current news holds our attention and suppresses our recall of our own past acts of shame. But God's thoughts are not like our thoughts. His omniscience does not dim, nor is his remembrance confused by the passage of time. The joining of perfect recall with infinite holiness and justice should make us all quake before our Judge. In this instance we see that after many years God sent famine to Israel for Saul's national sin (2 Samuel 21:1) David summoned the Gibeonite elders. He knew that the Jews must "make atonement" to the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21:3). The king asked the injured party what would 'cover' the injustice done to them. A ransom price must be paid. They must agree upon a substitute gift whose worth would cancel Israel's debt to these people. This is the Old Testament language of expiation. It would be used in the New Testament for "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). The offering of the infinitely worthy blood of the Son of God will cover over or cancel the debts of all sins before God. "You were ransomed... not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot" (1 Peter 1:18-19). [In this passage of 2 Samuel, the Gibeonites knew that] only the shedding of blood would atone for murder. ... David complied. Seven descendants of Paul were slain by the Gibeonites who "hanged them on the mountain before the Lord" (2 Samuel 21:6). ... Both the Gibeonites and the God of heaven were appeased by this redemption price. The sin of Saul and of Israel was thus covered by vengeance upon a substitute. From grisly scenes such as this one we learn what God means by the revelation of himself in which he says, "Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly" (Duet. 32:35). As Jesus later emphasized, "Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt 10:28). The judge of all of the earth will not acquit the guilty. Why do men imagine that in the day of the Lord the Righteous and Just One will turn a blind eye toward any sin? Only if a sinner confess his guilt and brings in his hand a ransom price to or atone for his sins will God forgive him. Guilty men who refuse the kopher, the substitute payment provided by God himself, will surely fall under his wrath and curse. The Lamb of God has been proclaimed and the price of his blood offered to all who will come to Jesus. What folly it is in man that causes him to scorn that perfect offering! . . . Continue reading in Part 2 in this series. From:  David: Man of Prayer, Man of War   Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.769   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism