A. According to Exodus 16:4 God said that He was going to give the Israelites manna to eat to test them. The animals they had came with them when they left Egypt, and the sea cows (porpoises) came from the Red Sea which was near by. Although we’re not specifically told this, they probably traded with neighboring people as well, and from tracking their route, it appears that they didn’t move as often as you might think.

Between the manna and the fact that neither their shoes nor their clothing ever wore out, God was showing them that He could provide all of their needs. When they complained of having no meat, He sent them quail. This made it possible for them to reserve the animals they didn’t use as sacrifices for breeding so they would always have an adequate supply.

I think the wilderness experience can serve as a model for the Church.  In Matt. 6:25-34 the Lord promised those who seek His Kingdom and His righteousness that He will provide for all our needs.

A.  First we must understand that what we call the Jewish faith originated in the Garden of Eden right after the fall of Adam and Eve. It was only being formalized during the time of Moses in the wilderness wandering.

That said, some English translations of Genesis 10:5 contain the word “Gentiles” along with the word “nations”.  In Hebrew the two words are the same, so the distinction between “Gentiles” and “nations” only appears in the English language.  In addition, the Book of Genesis was written as a history of God’s people by Moses several hundred years later, after the separation between Jews and Gentiles had become obvious following their Exodus from Egypt.

The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:29,34).

John the Baptist had been preaching about the coming Messiah, identifying himself as the forerunner Isaiah had promised over 700 years earlier.  Quoting from Isaiah 40:3 John said, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord ‘ “ (John 1:23).

Introducing Jesus to Israel as the Lamb of God was no doubt meant to prompt a comparison between Jesus and the Passover lamb in their minds. Reading about the first Passover (Exodus 12:1-20) from a Christian perspective makes the similarity so clear we wonder how they could have missed it. In fact several hundred Old Testament Prophecies were fulfilled in the life of Jesus and many of these came in the last week of His earthly life during the two events we’ll be celebrating in the next few days, Passover for Israel and Palm Sunday for the Church.

For Christ, Our Passover Lamb, Has Been Sacrificed … 1 Cor. 5:7

By now the Passover story should be familiar to us.  The final showdown between God and Pharaoh was coming. Through 9 plagues God sent to demonstrate His power over the pagan gods of Egypt, Pharoah had remained just as obstinate as God had predicted. The 10th plague, the death of all the firstborn, would break Pharoah’s will and free the Israelites from their bondage, but first they had to be protected from the plague.

On the 10th day of the 1st month God had them select a male lamb for each household and inspect it for 3 days to be sure it had no blemish or defect. Then it was slaughtered, and its blood was applied to the door posts of their homes. That night, behind closed doors in their own house, each family ate the lamb quickly with some bitter herbs and unleavened bread,  not venturing outside.  At midnight the destroying angel came through Egypt and took the life of the first born of every family, except for those who had covered their door posts with lamb’s blood (Exodus 12:1-13, 21-23, 28-30).

The next morning the Israelites were released from their bondage and given the wealth of Egypt, beginning their journey to the Promised Land with God in their midst. They weren’t spared because they were Jewish, or because they had lamb for dinner, but because they applied the lamb’s blood to their door posts believing that it would protect them. They were saved through faith by the blood of the lamb.

Just as the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, we are slaves in this world, held in bondage to sin. On that first Palm Sunday, the 10th of the 1st month, our Passover Lamb was selected by allowing Himself to be proclaimed as Israel’s King for the first and only time in His life. When the Pharisees told him to rebuke His disciples for doing so, He said if they kept silent the very stones would cry out (Luke 19:39-40).  This was the day ordained in history for His official appearance as their Messiah.

For the next 3 days He was subjected to the most intense questioning of His entire ministry lest there be any defects found in His words or deeds. Then  on the 14th He was crucified, releasing us from our bondage to sin, and qualifying us to receive the wealth of His Kingdom.  We are saved through faith by the blood of the Lamb.  But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

The Son of Man Wept, The Son of God Warned

As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city He wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in from every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you” (Luke 19:41-44).

The prophet Daniel had laid out the schedule for them over 500 years earlier. From the time the Jews were given permission to rebuild Jerusalem after it had been destroyed by the Babylonians, to the coming of the Messiah, there would be 69 periods of 7 years each, or 483 years (Daniel 9:25). History tells us that this permission was given to Nehemiah by the Persian ruler Artaxerxes Longimonus in March of 445 BC (Nehemiah 2:1-9). The Sunday when Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem to the shouts of Psalm 118:25-26 was exactly 483 years later, but by then most of the Jewish leadership no longer took the Bible literally and the validity of predictive prophecy was being denied.

Regardless of their opinion, the Lord held them accountable for knowing when He would visit.  Given that hundreds of additional prophecies of His coming  had already been fulfilled in their midst, we can see His point.  Remember, they were all fulfilled in the span of one lifetime, the one in which He came. There are hundreds more prophecies relating to His Second Coming, and again all will be fulfilled within the span of one lifetime, the one in which He comes (Matt 24:34).  And just as it was then, our leaders no longer take the Bible literally and the validity of predictive prophecy is again being denied.  But regardless of their opinion, the Lord will hold the people of our day  accountable to “recognize the time of God’s coming” just like He did back then.

Who Was That Man?

A few days ago I got an email from someone I assume to be Jewish claiming that Jesus didn’t meet a single requirement to be Israel’s Messiah. I’ve received a number of these over the years and have come to realize they think this way because Israel was looking for a Messiah to fulfill what we know as second coming prophecies.  They wanted the Lion of Judah, a powerful warrior king like David, who could throw off the Roman yoke and restore Israel’s kingdom, because that’s what they thought they needed.   They didn’t think they needed a Savior, so when they got the Lamb of God who came to take away their sins they didn’t recognize Him.

Today, because of a similar denial of the validity of prophecy, much of the world is looking for some version of the Lamb of God.  They want a gentle teacher who will accept us all and promise to show us the way to peace and plenty.  They won’t think they need a conqueror, so when the Lion of Judah comes to utterly destroy His enemies and restore God’s Kingdom, they won’t recognize Him (Matt. 24:30).  Like the man said, “Those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 03-23-13

A. I follow the traditional view that the four horns represent the gentile powers of history who scattered Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem.  The Hebrew word translated “scatter” means to cast away or disperse.    This is not the intent of the Quartet.  Besides, in the angel’s explanation (Zech 1:19-20) the word scatter is in the past tense, indicating it had already happened.  Zechariah wrote after the Babylonian captivity had ended.

A.  In the time before the cross, spirits of the faithful who died could not be admitted directly into Heaven like they are today.  This is because the Lord had not yet died for their sins and the blood of sacrificial animals was not sufficient to perfect them (Hebrews 10:1-4).  It could only set the penalty for their sins aside until the Lord came to be their perfect sacrifice.  Instead they went to paradise, also called Abraham’s bosom, to await Him.

There were two qualifications that had to be met for admittance into paradise.  First and foremost they had to have died in faith that God would send His Redeemer to atone for their sins, and second they had to have demonstrated this faith by keeping God’s Commandments during their life.   Both were necessary.  Without their faith in the coming Redeemer, obedience to the Law was insufficient to save them (Psalm 51:16-17).

According to Rev. 14:12 these same qualifiers will apply during Daniel’s 70th Week after the Church is gone. “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”

A.  The people who originally founded Jerusalem were the Jebusites, mentioned in Genesis 10:15-16 as being the descendants of the third son of Canaan.  The tribe of Judah, to whom the area was given by Joshua after the conquest, could not dislodge them and settled around them (Joshua 15:63). The same was true of the Benjamites who were given adjoining land (Judges 1:21).  They were finally conquered by King David (2 Samuel 5).  Later King Solomon conscripted the surviving Jebusites to serve as slave laborers in his various building projects (1 Kings 9:20-21).

Yassar Arafat once claimed that the Palestinians of today might be descendants of the Jebusites, but there’s no archeological or other evidence to support his claim. The Jebusites have most likely disappeared from the historical record.

Having presented His indictment of Israel’s neighbors, the Lord now turns His attention toward the two Jewish Kingdoms, the Southern Kingdom of Judah first. We ended part one in verse 3 of chapter 2, so we’ll pick up the narrative in verse 4.

Amos 2

This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}. Because they have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed, I will send fire upon Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem.” (Amos 2:4-5)

The Lord called Amos to prophesy primarily to the Northern Kingdom, during the same time that Isaiah was His spokesman to the South. Even so, He had Amos give this short message to Judah before launching into a full scale rant against the North.

Although it was nearly 150 years away, judgment of the South was coming. The warning provided by the imminent destruction of the North by the Assyrians would be ignored and so the Lord would send Babylon against the South. In the process the City of Jerusalem including the magnificent Temple of Solomon would be put to the torch and exist no more. (2 Chron. 36:19)

Before they were taken captive to Babylon, the Lord had Jeremiah tell the people not to resist this, but to go to Babylon and settle there because after 70 years He would bring them back.

He told them, “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:10-11)

As we’ll see now, He made no such promise to the Northern Kingdom.

Judgment on Israel

This is what the LORD says:

“For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines (Amos 2:6-8).

Someone has said, “When the bonds between God and man are broken, the bonds between man and man can fare no better.” This picture of the oppression of the lower class by people of privilege is only the beginning of the Lord’s indictment against Israel but it proves the point and provides a good lesson for us.

The Northern Kingdom split from the South over idolatry. Having freed themselves from the restraints provided by God’s Law, they yielded to man’s natural inclination to mistreat the less fortunate. This was a violation of the Law. The Lord had laid down very clear and strict laws to protect servants and the poor, but these laws were being scandalously ignored. Household servants were bought and sold for a pittance. Female servants were turned into family prostitutes. Garments taken in pledge (as security for a loan) were illegally kept over night, and the practice of levying exorbitant fines to settle trumped up charges was common. Often it literally took the clothes off the backs of the poor and food off their tables.

Today even in developed countries the injustices suffered by the poor are different but just as abhorrent. But, to follow up on a couple of the examples above, women and girls of all races are still sold as slaves in the sex trade, as trafficking in humans continues worldwide. Some nations still maintain low age of consent laws to encourage sex tourism with the lure of young girls.

In the US and Europe , years of easy credit followed by declining economies has had the effect of placing millions of people in life long financial servitude.  The reduced purchasing power of their currencies further compounds the problem, and leaves untold numbers of hard working people with no hope of ever being free.  In the meantime the gap between the rich and the poor grows ever wider.

Where is the moral restraint that used to prevent mercenary lenders from exposing vulnerable consumers to temptations they aren’t savvy enough to resist? Where is the public outcry that just a few decades ago would have demanded that the human traffickers be prosecuted under the same laws that put an end to slave trading a few hundred years ago? It disappeared when God was drummed out of our society.

“I destroyed the Amorite before them, though he was tall as the cedars and strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below. “I brought you up out of Egypt, and I led you forty years in the desert to give you the land of the Amorites. I also raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazirites from among your young men. Is this not true, people of Israel?” declares the LORD. “But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.

“Now then, I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain. The swift will not escape, the strong will not muster their strength, and the warrior will not save his life. The archer will not stand his ground, the fleet-footed soldier will not get away, and the horseman will not save his life. Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day,” declares the LORD. (Amos 2:9-16)

When God promised the land of the Amorites  to Abraham, He said the transaction wouldn’t take place for 400 years “because the sin of the Amorites has not reached its full measure.” (Genesis 15:16) Knowing the end from the beginning, God knew that the Amorites wouldn’t repent of their evil ways. But He was going to give them the time anyway,  so they couldn’t say He hadn’t warned them.

Though the Bible doesn’t speak of it, the character of God would have demanded that He tell them their time was running out. (In a few verses we’ll see Him implying just that in respect to Israel.) Remember, for a time after the flood all the people of the Earth worshiped God.  By Abraham’s time most had fallen away, discarding the truth of their origins in favor of outrageous lies that became the basis for their false religions.

But certainly the knowledge of their past still existed somewhere in their memories.  And at least one of Noah’s sons, Shem, was still alive and living in the region of the Amorites during the time that Abraham traveled the length and breadth of their territories (Genesis 13:17)  and could have borne witness to them.  These circumstances tell us it wasn’t that God hadn’t warned them to change their ways, but that they hadn’t listened.  So, when the time was up He brought the Israelites under the command of Joshua as His agents of judgment and the Amorites were dispossessed.

Now the very nation who saw first hand how God feels about false religion was indulging in the same behavior they had judged in the Amorites. What’s more, they too had ignored the warnings of the prophets and even undermined the efforts of those who tried to remain holy.  How could they think that God would not judge them?

The South didn’t learn the lesson of the North, so they were judged as well.  And the world today hasn’t learned the lesson of either.  God is the same, yesterday, today and forever. (Hebr. 13:8) How can we think that He won’t judge us?

Amos 3

Witnesses Summoned Against Israel

Hear this word the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel—against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? Does a lion roar in the thicket when he has no prey? Does he growl in his den when he has caught nothing? Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground where no snare has been set? Does a trap spring up from the earth when there is nothing to catch? When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:1-7)

These examples show that while God’s promises to Abraham were unconditional, His relationship with Israel was based on cause and effect. Obedience brought blessing and disobedience brought judgment. In fact the entire Old Testament can be boiled down to just one question. “Israel, are you going to obey me or not?”

Just as Israel was warned by the prophets, so too is the world of today.  We should take comfort from the promise that God will never do anything without informing us first.  No surprises, except to those who refuse to believe the warnings.  Paul wrote that the judgments that came upon Israel were also meant to warn us, upon whom the fulfillment of the ages has come (1 Cor. 10:11).  He distinguished the believers from the unbelievers at the end of the age by saying that the former would not be taken by surprise, while the latter would (1 Thes. 5:3-4).  It turns out that even though His promises to the Church are unconditional, mankind’s relationship with God is still based on cause and effect.  Belief brings blessings while unbelief brings judgment.  Like the Old, the New Testament can be boiled down to one question as well. Mankind, are you going to believe me or not?

The lion has roared— who will not fear? The Sovereign LORD has spoken— who can but prophesy? Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod and to the fortresses of Egypt: “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria; see the great unrest within her and the oppression among her people.” (Amos 3:8-9)

Even the pagan leaders of Philistia and Egypt would agree that God’s judgment upon the Northern Kingdom is just and well deserved.

“They do not know how to do right,” declares the LORD, “who hoard plunder and loot in their fortresses.” 

Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“An enemy will overrun the land; he will pull down your strongholds and plunder your fortresses.”

This is what the LORD says:

“As a shepherd saves from the lion’s mouth only two leg bones or a piece of an ear, so will the Israelites be saved, those who sit in Samaria on the edge of their beds and in Damascus on their couches.” (Amos 3:10-12)

Having severed their connection with their Creator, they no longer had the ability to distinguish right from wrong. Therefore the Lord was sending Assyria to judge them. On their way the Assyrians would conquer Damascus as well.

Because of their numerous conquests, the Assyrian Empire was growing. Without a strategy to prevent it, they’d soon spend all their time keeping the peace, as conquered nations mounted efforts to regain their independence. So when the Assyrians conquered an enemy, they took all those among the survivors who looked like potential leaders and scattered them around the Empire, leaving in place only those who posed no threat.

The Lord had Amos use a shepherd’s analogy to describe this. When a wild animal devoured a sheep, the shepherd would save the discarded parts of the animal for the owner’s inspection to prove that it was eaten and not lost or stolen.  Just so, the Lord would preserve only a remnant of Israel as proof that a judgment had taken place.  When the Assyrians led the captives of the Northern Kingdom away, they left only a few survivors behind to protect the harvest.

“Hear this and testify against the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord, the LORD God Almighty. “On the day I punish Israel for her sins, I will destroy the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed and the mansions will be demolished,” declares the LORD. (Amos 3:10-15)

Shortly after the civil war, a golden calf had been set up in Bethel near the site where Jacob had seen the ladder ascending into heaven. (Genesis 28:10-19) Bethel soon became a center of pagan worship that the Lord sometimes called Beth Aven, or House of Evil. Their religion disgusted Him and its centers would be destroyed. Likewise the fine houses of the wealthy, bought with the money they extorted from the poor, would be leveled to the ground.

The lesson here is clear. The Lord is patient, allowing ample time for His disobedient children to return to the righteous way. But there comes a time when His patience runs out and His justice demands accountability. We are on the cusp of that time today, and the prophecies tell us that since we haven’t learned the lessons of history, we’re doomed to repeat them.  Stay tuned. 02-23-13

Amos Speaks Again … Part 1

Amos Speaks Again … Part 3

Amos Speaks Again … Part 4

Amos Speaks Again … Part 5

A.  When Alexander built his causeway out to the island fortress of Tyre in order to destroy it, he used every scrap from the ruins of the mainland part of the city that had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The location was so thoroughly scavenged that for centuries no one knew the exact location of the former city.  The current Lebanese City of Tyre bears the same name but it’s not the same city as its Phoenician predecessor.

A similar situation exists with Jericho. When Joshua destroyed the original city, he pronounced a curse on anyone who tried to rebuild it (Joshua 6:26-27). Today there’s a city called Jericho in the Palestinian territory, but the only thing it has in common with the original one is the name.

Does it make sense to believe that God heals all our diseases and restores our youth in this life?  I see no evidence of that.  Could it be that this is a promise for our future in our resurrected bodies?

A. These are promises for the here and now. Being in the present tense they reflect the personal experiences of David and his contemporaries.  Besides, in our resurrected bodies we will have no need for healing or forgiveness because we’ll never contract any diseases or commit any sins.  This is one more sign that for the most part, the church today lacks the faith to enjoy many of the promises that our ancestors saw as everyday blessings from God.

A.  In Exodus 24:1-2 God told Moses to come up on the mountain with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the 70 elders. He said only Moses could come near.  The others had to remain at a distance. According to Exodus 24:9-11 they were able to see God from a distance, but He did not raise His hand against them.

You have to read it very carefully to see this, but I believe Exodus 24:12-18 refers to a different event, the one where Moses went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets of the Law with instructions on building the tabernacle and establishing the Levitical priesthood.  That time Moses stayed on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights while the elders remained below with the people.

What makes me believe this is before the first visit God told Moses none of the people were allowed to come up the mountain (Exodus 24:2) and before leaving on the second visit Moses told the elders to refer any disputes the people had to Aaron and Hur who were with them (Exodus 24:12-14). This tells me all the elders remained below with the people when Moses went up for the tablets of the Law.