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Keeping Faith
Israel Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness.—Psalm 95:7,8, NASB Donald Holliday
As babes we crawl, then stand and fall. Of the three ways of imparting knowledge, personal experience certainly has a place, but there is also great merit in learning by observation and by information from a reliable source. As a textbook, the Bible is a masterpiece. Lessons are impressed by example, and pitfalls are frequently pointed out by the history of human faults. The consequences of some shortcomings may seem trivial, but mistakes are recorded that carried the most serious consequences including the story of the first human pair. How quickly then the contention between man and his Creator developed into strife between man and man. The lesson of Abel’s blood cries out to this day. Unheeded still, the searing flame of jealousy has engulfed brothers, families, and nations in a holocaust of human sacrifice and wasted lives. Nor can the Lord’s people disregard the personal impact of John’s searching words: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). John was addressing brethren in Christ. The revealing searchlight of the Word moves on to pick out stirring lessons of faith and failure, loyalty and lapse, first through the lives of the patriarchs, then on the children of Jacob, a people the Lord used as a model to demonstrate the pitfalls of disregarding the ways and sovereignty of God. The Word As a Mirror It is easy to see blemishes in others, but the light that searches and exposes the faults of Israel is not done until it turns fully upon each reader of these records. James describes the Word as a mirror in which we see ourselves (James 1:23,24). David uttered strong condemnation of a man that Nathan described to him, only to hear that censure suddenly turned back upon himself when the prophet said: “Thou art the man” (2 Samuel 12:7). There are lessons for the Lord’s people in the battles Israel fought. If the people felt some trepidation on the plains of Moab as they looked at the hills of the Amorites, there must have also been an air of expectancy and excitement, prompting great attentiveness to the words of Moses. The age-old promises to Abraham were about to be fulfilled. The earth (erets: land, earth) is the Lord’s, and it had been long trampled by fallen man (Ezekiel 36:5, Idumea: Edom, the old Adam). The time had come for it to be possessed by his chosen people (Daniel 7:22). The kingdom of God was at hand. How earnestly must the lessons from the past be heeded and applied if one was to share in it. Shortsighted Vision The demand for total trust and obedience became a turning point for the first generation of Israelites, which was terrified by the strength and size of its adversaries (Numbers 13:26 to 14:35). Summed up in one sentence: The Israelites failed to acknowledge the sovereignty of God. This prevented them from taking God at his word, a common yet most costly error. It would be repeated many times. The Creator of all things is omnipotent. He is the Almighty God with whom nothing is impossible. He is far greater than anything he has made. He is capable of abundantly fulfilling every word of promise: “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength” (Isaiah 40:28, 29, ASV). “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2 Corinthians 12:9). “Sufficient” has to be one of the priceless understatements of translated Scripture. Contrary to the excuse of the one-talented man (Matthew 25:24,25), never does the Lord ask of us anything that is beyond his power to achieve through us. If we cast away that confidence, we are at once helpless before the enemy of doubt and ready victims for the buffeting of the cruel cudgel of giant despair. Natural sight will see only the might of the enemy, while the vision of faith is guaranteed by the Lord to remove the most mountainous obstacles (Matthew 17:20). Peter discovered how trust enabled him to walk on water, upheld solely by that which is invisible to human sight. When faith’s vision waned, Peter saw only the boisterous waves and began to sink (Matthew 14:29-31, NASB). Perhaps we know that sinking feeling. “Lord, save me,” brought instant response, followed by the reproof, “Why did you doubt?” Halfway Followers The past generation once
stood at the threshold of the milk-and-honey land of divine promise. They were
so near, and yet so far, for between them and the goal lay the gulf of mistrust.
They were halfway followers of the Lord. Though taken out of Egypt, they would
never enter into Canaan. They went round in circles, until the wilderness
swallowed them up. Were the demands upon faith unreasonable? Moses contradicted
such a thought: “And in the wilderness (as thou hast seen) the Lord
thy God hath carried thee, as a man is wont to carry his little son, all the way
that you have come, until you came to this place. And yet for all this you did
not believe the Lord
your God, who went before you in the way, and marked out the place, wherein you
should pitch your tents, in the night shewing you the way by fire, and in the
day by the pillar of a cloud” (Deuteronomy 1:31-33, Douay). “But the Lord’s
portion is his people: Jacob the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a
desert land, in a place of horror, and of vast wilderness: he led him about, and
taught him: and he kept him as the apple of his eye. As the eagle enticing her
young to fly, and hovering over them, he spread his wings, and hath taken him
and carried him on his shoulders” (Deuteronomy 32:9-12, Douay). Moment of Truth When challenged by the prophet Nathan, David experienced a blinding moment of truth. It is easy to judge that faithless band of ex-slaves, but the lesson is missed unless we ourselves face its challenge. So many were called out of Egypt, but so few proved faithful. Of a whole generation only Caleb and Joshua (Greek: Jesus) would enter the land. “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14). Since that first call at the shore of the lake, there would be, throughout the age, many halfway followers of the Lord. At first they were so ready to leave all, only to lose that sense of direction and return to their own business, neglecting that of the Father (John 21:3). It takes character not to succumb when compromise makes appealing offers. How sad the plea of Deuteronomy 1:28, “Our brethren have discouraged our heart.” From early loss of first-love to the tepid waters of Laodicea, there would be few that “wholly followed the Lord” (Numbers 32:12). Claiming the Promises Our claim on the promises of God must be founded upon our total trust: “Trust and obey, there is no other way.” As Caleb recounted to Joshua when they were in the promised land: “Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God” (Joshua 14:9). That guarantee was also for Caleb’s line (“his children”). How happy is this seed of promise! Can we trace our lineage of faith to Caleb? Do Caleb’s matching shoes of trust and obedience comfortably fit our feet? As spies in the land of divine promise, have we paced out the land in the full assurance of faith knowing that if God be for us, no enemy can prosper? Can we say, “My Father planned my course, where trust would triumph in trial. My Master leads each ordered step, and cheers it with his smile.” “Let us go up at once, and possess it [the land]” (Numbers 13:30). What encouragement to his brethren that cry of Caleb should have been. Not for one moment did he doubt the Lord’s ability, for he said not, “Let us try.” He claimed with certainty the victory of faith: “For we are well able to overcome it.” How could he be so confident? The answer was in the royal “we.” To underline the point, appalled by the consequences of their doubts, the faithless people belatedly determined to take on the battle with the foe, this time heedless of the warning that divine aid had been withdrawn. The result was complete disaster. The arm of flesh will fail us again and again. Trust and obedience are inseparable links to the anchor of the soul. James was right! Faith comes alive in acts of obedience. How dear to our Lord is the bond that is sealed with unreserved trust. A great cloud of faith’s witnesses of all ages exhort us to follow their example. Present Victories The people gathered on the plains of Moab should have been encouraged by the victories already won at the hand of the Lord. The principalities and powers, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan, had mustered their hosts to halt the advance of the people of God, but the Lord turned the battle against them. The harvest message also brought out the warring hosts of the rulers of Christendom. They sensed the threat to their fear-enslaving hold on the minds of their flock. On whose side was the Lord? The “fires of hell” were all but dowsed by that message of truth. In a similar way the personal foes and besetments of the new creation would seem insurmountable but for the enabling power of the Lord harnessed by the determined fight of faith. The promise to the people on the plains of Moab applies to us today: “Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land”(Deuteronomy 2:31). What triumph to the Lord are the present-day victories of the overcomers, and how they cheer us on to face the enormous task waiting beyond Jordan. However great the giant enemies of human happiness, sin and selfishness, avarice and pride, they will yet tremble before this faithful army of the Lord. The walls and domains of the city of the curse are destined to quake and collapse at the sound of the silver trumpets of his royal priests (see Deuteronomy 2:25; Joshua 6:20). Hour of Crisis for Mankind This is the hour of greatest crisis for this earth. The visible gathering of God’s chosen people to their land today coincides with the invisible gathering of saints above. But these signs of the incoming kingdom are not welcome to the god of this world, and satanic powers will muster their unseen array in a vain attempt to thwart the purpose of God. The sight of the oncoming multitude filling the valleys brought much consternation to the people of Moab and Midian, who in desperation enlisted the services of the notorious prophet, Balaam, to bring a curse upon the people. Then as now, the attempt to curse Israel was backed by burnt sacrifices (Numbers 23), yet the result was a blessing. Likewise the endeavor by Hitler to wipe out the chosen race resulted in the opening up of Palestine to the returning Jew in our day, fulfilling the promise: “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 54:17). However, Satan is loath to give up. Having failed to bring a curse upon God’s people he turns to more subtle means. Love Not the World Of those last days of Moses we read: “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel”(Numbers 25:1-3). It is amazing that so near to the fulfilment of divine promise so many could be turned aside in this way: twenty-four thousand died in the resulting judgment of God. Today thousands of Jews are becoming “gentilized,” abandoning their special, privileged position before the Lord. Meanwhile the danger of the allurements of worldliness cannot be ignored among the spiritual elect. As in Gideon’s day, the called, chosen, and faithful army of the Lord needed such tests to remove the unworthy. What weeping may yet take place when it is realized what little return there was for the birthright surrendered. In the days of Ezra and Nehemiah the same temptation to worldliness beset those who had once responded to the call to come out of Babylon (Nehemiah 13:23-27). How much closer does this warning thus come to us! Kingdom Rules Engraved It is to those who were alive and remained of Israel that Moses spoke. First he reminded them to heed these serious lessons of past mistakes. Then he rehearsed before them the wonderful keeping power of the Lord for his own. The burden of his message occupies the greater part of Deuteronomy. These are the golden rules of divine righteousness and love destined to become the foundation principles of the kingdom of God both in heaven and on earth. Once this spirit is engraved within each heart, so many stumbling rocks of sinful propensity will be removed and the way prepared for those once lamed by sin to dance and leap like new-born deer for the very joy of abounding life. The commandments given at Sinai revealed how to learn to live with a holy God. These Moses interpreted into the day-to-day life of the kingdom subjects. Under a new covenant arrangement, that Law will be written in the hearts of Israel and mankind. Following the breaking of the original tablets (corresponding to the first advent of Christ, Matthew 23:38), Moses returned to the mountain top, and new stones were engraved with these same kingdom principles (compare Exodus 31:18 and 34:1,27,28). This time the commandments of God were written by the hand of Moses. Paul used language that gives a clue to the possible significance of this new arrangement: “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3). This engraving in the hearts of saints has been taking place throughout the Gospel age. The first stones of the Law were broken, but these new stones, engraved with the character of God, endure. Each stone is precious to the Lord, the work of his hands. For each there is a place reserved in the ark of God (Deuteronomy 10:2). “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:3,4). What a precious promise this is! The true spirit of the Law of God proclaimed in the sermon on the mount will yet be written in the hearts of mankind. Until that blest hour, the welcoming gleams of heaven’s love identify the jewels the Lord now prepares to shine like dew in the morning light (see 2 Corinthians 4:6). “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:43). |