Isaiah 56 : "9Come, all you beasts of the field, come and devour, all you beasts of the forest!"
Can you imagine a cow attacking a tiger? Well, then how about a sheep feasting on a bear? Or a pig about to eat a mountain lion? Of course not...however, in the Kingdom of God this is exactly how things are done. Metaphors and Opposites, and more.....all to give us clear pictures of God and how He does things!
Isaiah 55:8“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. 9“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."
When God says His thoughts and ways are as high as the heavens are from the earth, He means it! Therefore, they are so much higher than we can even imagine! Yes?
When we think of the heavens, we think of the night sky that are filled with twinkly stars...but no, the heavens are way past what we can see. Therefore, the contrast here is immeasurable.
God is light...and He has no dimmer switch! He lives in "unapproachable light"(1 Tim. 6:16). In the following section of Exodus, God allows Moses to see just the back of Him after He passes by...because He is just too bright to look at - to the point where Moses would die.
So, think about the sun, it is millions of miles away, yet if we look at it for too long we can go blind. This gives us a perfect picture of God's brilliance...a brightness that darkness can not even look at, let alone be anywhere near! So, if we think we can willingly partake of the things that reside in darkness (as in Gal. 5: 19-21) and it would be OK with God...then we don't understand Him, His word or how different His ways are!
Meaning, if we do willingly partake, then in due time we'll be lovingly disciplined unless we decide to judge ourselves and do an about face in the opposite direction ~ and give our attentions back to God. 1 Cor. 11:31"If we were
judging ourselves correctly, we would not be judged. 32But when the
Lord judges us, he disciplines us so that we won't be condemned along with the
rest of the world."
Exodus 33: 17 "The LORD answered
Moses, 'I will do what you have asked, because I am pleased with you, and I know
you by name.' 18Then Moses said,
'Please let me see your glory." 19The LORD said, 'I
will let all my goodness pass in front of you, and there I will call out my name
'the LORD.' I will be kind to anyone I want to. I will be merciful to anyone I
want to.
20But you can't see my
face, because no one may see me and live." 21Then the LORD said,
'Look, there's a place near me. Stand by this rocky cliff. 22When my glory passes
by, I will put you in a crevice in the cliff and cover you with my hand until I
have passed by. 23Then I will take my
hand away, and you'll see my back, but my face must not be seen."
Something I find so wonderful about God, and what I read in His written word...and see in His Son Jesus, is that when He says something, anything...it is heavy with meaning. His words are weighty. He is thrifty and therefore packs a lot of meaning into each word. Weighty to the point where He clearly wants us to understand the reasons He makes these contrasts about Himself!
OK, so, what are the reasons? For one, that He is nothing like the human-fallen nature, and thinks nothing like our human nature thinks. In fact He is the opposite. Therefore, if the world is going south, then He is going north, for no better way to put it.
Take any given set of verses...and you will most likely see some of these contrasts and words heavy with meaning that God has made about Himself and His ways. The following section of scripture in 1 Timothy verse 11, there are many such verses in scripture like this one instructing us to 'flee from', or 'lay aside', or 'make no provision for', or 'turn from', and 'die to'...the ways of sin and the flesh.
Victory comes when things are done God's way. Man's way (and the reason we could not successfully keep the law) of dealing with sin is to set our minds on working hard at trying not to sin...but because of the weak human nature we have to try very hard over and over and over again to get even a little success! But then the law said that even one sin is too many! So, it is a hamsters wheel going no where!!
But our human nature still wants to give a lot of our attention to the sin we are struggling with....urgh!...to think and talk about it, muse over it, then try to discipline ourselves not to do it, then memorize scriptures pertaining to it, then pray and agonize over it and remind ourselves that it is sinning against God to do it, and it grieves Him to do it...and then on and on and on it goes.
But, as usual, God's way is opposed to human nature's way...typically the direct opposite! God's way is to put it to death! Not talk about it over and over again! No, but giving the sin NO attention, and instead giving your full attention to the things of God whereby starving the sinful nature! Gal. 5: 16 "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the
desires of the sinful nature."
The following verse in Romans is a good example. Romans 13:14 "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."
It says to make no provision for the flesh's survival...so, I turn from it and give the sin none of my attention...I starve it! OK! Good! But now what do I do?? "Put on' the Lord Jesus! Yes, put Him on! Think about His great love, Talk about Him, talk to Him, serve Him, imitate Him, rest in Him, think about Him, enjoy Him, learn from Him, think about the things that come from Him, talk to others about Him...and love others as unto Him! The following verse is telling us to give these things our full attention (instead of giving it to sin).
Phil. 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things."
Can you name some other things of God to give your full attention to? How about what comes from the Holy Spirit?
Gal. 5: 22But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23gentleness and
self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong
to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh (given no attention to the flesh - starved it!) with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by
the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (given full attention to the fruits of the Spirit!).
1 Tim. 6: "11But you, man of
God, (give no attention to)flee from all, and (give all your attention to)pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
endurance and gentleness. 12*Fight the good
fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when
you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
When God tells you and I not to do something, He is telling us to not give those things ANY of our attention ~~ then to turn and give your full attention to those things He wants you to do! Yes!? THIS is the primary way we deal with sin now, by not dealing with it! Please consider keeping this in mind when reading scripture. :)
17Command those who
are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in
wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides
us with everything for our enjoyment.
18Command them to do
good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19In this way they
will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so
that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."
I would encourage you to keep these things in mind when reading and deciphering scripture...so you will "take hold of the life that is truly life."
*Fighting the good fight is still not paying any attention to sin....but to God - because we are fighting a spiritual warfare, where all our attention is still on the things of God.
If you think about it, what would you say are the unique and essential principles of the New Testament in particular? Principles, that if not there, would prove that it should not have been called a NEW Testament! 'New' meaning, not an extension, but an entirely original testament. Not totally unlike any other book that has sequels...where each sequel is completely separate and new, yet altogether completely related to it's predecessor in content with no intended contradictions...meaning, any and all contradictions are added by the readers, not the Author.
That said, let's focus on the essential guiding principles that make the Old Testament separate with it's own unique and very special purpose...which made it indispensable in it's relation to the New Testament. ~
~ The OT let us see the first two human beings make a choice that ended up ushering in the fallen world we live in now. This most significant event shows us some important things. Namely, that God did not create puppets that have only a limited will and humanness. Therefore because of our innate human will we were given, we made a choice.
~ The Old Testament made it very clear that there would be a sequel in it's content, from beginning to end. It 'begged' for a sequel as God showed us all the way through from Genesis to Malachi His amazing love, mercy and power in His determination to bring mankind back into relationship with Himself.
~ The OT is full of 'types'. Metaphorical situations and stories that strongly reflect what was to come, namely the once and for all shed blood of the Lamb of God - Jesus Christ. For one example; the tabernacle (video below)
~ The OT is jam-packed with shows of bravery, wisdom, faith, amazing power, miracles, as well as fear. For instance how God can bring down a giant by a little boy with a sling shot!
Note: notice what the people did immediately following recieving the 10 Commandments after God gave them to Moses. They had a party, but was it a celebration of graditute? Ah, I don't think so! What does this event show us?
~ The OT shows how the various segments of sinful mankind responds on a daily basis, and in various situations, to living by the law ....which in comparison helps mankind see our ultimate need for grace by showing us the specific ways in which we are not capable of working our way to heaven. As the law exposed our weakness to think and act unlike God, when we were originally created to be like Him. It showed us plainly our human nature's typical response (or lack there of) to viewing other's with the same importance we view ourselves...meaning, it showed us our sin nature, but without remedy.
~ The OT shows God's character, capabilities and judgments. God wants us to see "with our own two eyes" what He truly could do if He chose to, so we can better comprehend and appreciate the mercies He has chosen to pour out on us instead.
~The OT introduces us to great faith and great humanity....as God introduces us to the Prophets as they point to the Messiah to come. Who will totally fulfill...through His coming, ministry and death...everything the Prophets had proclaimed and taught. Referring back to their faith, proclamations and even their antics is inspiring....however, we must always remember that they would never want us to stop with them....but to always end up with our eyes, focus and awe back on Jesus Christ and what He did, as our ultimate destination.
Synopsis ~
The creation of the world - glimpse of what it was like to walk and talk with the God in a sinless world - then what the Old Covenant life would be like for us if God's Spirit did not live inside people and only came down at certain times - in a world where there were many meticulous laws that had to be put in place - which were instructions on how to either directly or indirectly treat people or animals - and how to keep oneself 'pure' before a holy God as a type of what Christ did for us - examples of people that had close relationships with God, as they were being used by Him to help prepare the world for the Messiah to come - to the celebrations - then to the tabernacle and the prophets - then Song of Solomon being a type of Christ and the church, and then Psalms. Everything...every single point...directed us to the need for a Savior so as to reconcile the world to it's Creator.
Acts 322Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from
among your own people. Listen carefully to everything he tells you.’ 23Then
Moses said, ‘Anyone who will not listen to that Prophet will be completely cut
off from God’s people.’
24“Starting with Samuel,
every prophet spoke about what is happening today. 25You are the children of
those prophets, and you are included in the covenant God promised to your
ancestors. For God said to Abraham, ‘Through your descendants all the families
on earth will be blessed.’ 26When God raised up his
servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel, to bless you by
turning each of you back from your sinful
I believe not one tittle of scripture, or one ounce of God's creation, or one area of our Savior's life or what He taught should ever be ignored. I'm not saying we should try and be hyper-vigilant -- oh, no. But to always have our hearts open to God as He teaches us how to live free...and to not allow our fears and superstitions to dominate.
I learned early on, thanks to great bible teachers, to be very careful about grasping at all the waves of doctrine that regularly fly around. I look back and remember the various ideas people believed...and spread! Yikes!
"Greater is He that is in me, then he that is in the world" This is not just a nice sounding sentiment...it is true. I see Christians today have more fears than ever before...well, in my Christian lifetime anyway.
"Don't touch this and don't go there and don't buy that and don't think like that!" St. Paul spoke about this. In 1 Corinthians 10:18-33 he says that the only thing to really 'worry' about is if what you do causes someone else to stumble, or puts an obstacle in their way of coming to Christ.
When I first got saved I was in a church that came out of the Jesus Movement...and so one of the practices was to partake in secular album breaking or burning - well, we had a breaking party! Now I look back and kinda morn over the albums I broke that would now be collectors items!
In this last section of scripture in 1 Corinthians 10 Paul says that since any meat that is offered to idols are really offered to nothing, since idols are in actuality only things and not gods at all...then it is not going to hurt us to eat it if it won't make anyone stumble. Yet, he also says that going out of our way to get idol meat would not be a good idea either (because maybe it is cheaper)...because God wants our conscience to be completely clear and to do things freely, but out of faith and love. Please also read Romans 14.
I just love animals. They are such a gift from God! They definitely have God's fingerprints on them. I believe that it is the enemy that wants us to 'use' them without considering that we are stewards of them and should care about their well being. Everything that lives will die at some point, so it is not the dying of an animal that bothers me...it is how it lives and how it dies is what concerns me. I am not a vegetarian, and I don't advocate it....yet, I do advocate the ethical treatment of all of God's creation....because it is a gift to us, so in my heart it would be ungrateful to do otherwise. All, meaning, people too of course.
Romans 1: 18-23 18God's anger is
revealed from heaven against every ungodly and immoral thing people do as they
try to suppress the truth by their immoral living. 19What can be known
about God is clear to them because he has made it clear to them. 20From
the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and
divine nature, have been clearly observed in what He made. As a result, people
have no excuse.21They knew God but did
not praise and thank him for being God. Instead, their thoughts were pointless,
and their misguided minds were plunged into darkness. 22While claiming to be
wise, they became fools. 23They exchanged the
glory of the immortal God for statues that looked like mortal humans, birds,
animals, and snakes.
Prov. 12:10 The Godly care for their animals, but even the mercies of the wicked are cruel.
Psalm 145:9 The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation.
