Life Maintenance as we Travel

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While most Christians will tell us that the priority of life is its external character many have not distinguished endless life from divine life. The evangelical focus on going to heaven at death seems like more of a rug under which one can shove the immediate receipt of life than the confidence of a happy future. That we have passed from death to life is not in doubt but many prefer to see the Christian experience as partly our perfect position in Christ and partly a defining performance as less than stellar, which only a few dare try to defend. We are not now immortal, so eternal life, as a present possession, is not immortality.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14-15

A complaining mindset complication

The details of the bronze serpent episode cannot go much further than the manner or timing. “As” ought to shape our extraction of truth from the Lord’s saying. He means “like this” in our wilderness journey.

The overarching reason for death in the wilderness was unbelief. As surely as God brought Israel to Canaan he will bring us to heavenly Zion despite snakebite and huge casualties.

And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Numbers 21:5-6

Imagine having to look at a snake for relief from its fatal venom that is coursing through your veins.

This episode from Numbers is the background for the famous passage John 3:14-16 and the experience as a paradigm for life maintenance has been poorly appreciated.

Evangelists and teachers of all stripes love to trot out John 3:16 as the salvation call. Salvation from snakebite however is not the same as life from the dead and 3:16 does not address anyone getting life.
The Bronze Serpent in the Wilderness episode does not adress anyone coming back from the dead. Israel was a saved people who were kept alive by unusual means the most arresting of which is right here in the Bronze Serpent episode.

God loved the world thus, he gave his only Son so that anyone who keeps believing in him may keep his grip on divine life.

Coming to Christ and getting salvation happens once, but relief for injuries along the way – the Saviour Raised as a Bronze Serpent – once saved, is a necessity

The one and only Chosen People

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In one brief episode Israel passes through the wringer. She finds herself under attack, makes a bold move, conquers a Canaanite king, then she’s discouraged.
The attractiveness of Israel is significantly reduced when we realize that some of these passages of life are difficult to place on the Christian pathway. We do not want to be Israel because that would mean a great many things hostile to repentance and faith.

ATTACK
Numbers 21:1-4

And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners.

BOLDNESS

And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.

CONQUEST

And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah.

DISCOURAGEMENT

And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah.

Genocide is not a good thing, neither are oaths. We do have wild swings like Israel and there is no point in trying to acquire a bed of roses life. Like Christ, Israel was the face of God, and experienced the valleys and mountains human life. We do too.

Rebellion and Priestcraft

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Do you suffer from high priest syndrome?
What is it like?
A. Being in a position to prophesy but is lost through unbelief, as Caiaphas was.

And this spake he *not of himself*: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; John 11:51

B. Declared guiltless (for habitual violation of the law as the priests were) but imposing condemnation on others (as did a harassing Pharisee faction tried to do, causing even Peter an embarrassing disorientation).

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Galatians 2:14

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Raining Down Vomit and Excreta at the Dinner Table

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Watching the circus across the United States I get a jolt of pride that my mother, Africa, is not an imperial serial rapist. My smile is not without a twinge of pity for the deceived millions, who have bought the idea that capitalism and democracy are the essential paths to greatness.

The GOP and its heartless talking heads are temporarily incapable of repenting of following a broken foundation. At least there is hope that a remnant -preferably young people – will call the the attempt to make a beast a person what it is: silly rebellion. The U.S. was born out of rebellion. Remember?

Maintaining
America’s
Greedy
Aspirations

Idiotic isn’t it? Any fool with a gun becomes a patriot, defending stolen land, and denying people the very cradle that bore the nation.
By the way, any nation built by bloody hands is, to speak kindly, an abomination.

People are gobbling up what ever is on the table: at church, work or school. The enduring foundations of family life and secular society did not begin in the middle ages or in the 19th century. If the leaders who got us into the Middle East mess or the abominable support for Nazism, violence against women, and misogyny or sold our future to China, had glanced at Abraham, father of the Jewish people, we would be light years ahead of the current devastation that makes even a civilized conversation implausible.

Let us watch the game until the next revolution comes around. It will not be on TV or YouTube.

Hey Preacher! Decree This!

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I’m sure you’ve seen some guy (usually male, young and of African descent) on TV abusing a perfectly incontrovertible fact.
Christ came to save from sin,
not to heal and terrorise people with the love of ease and the world.
You may have also seen the demeaning boot camp environment of military training that colours the so-called teaching sessions or Bible studies. It is distressing when young children are being taught to decree and declare instead of praying to a caring heavenly Father. Hopefully, there is not one in your church.

No pride

Parents ought to be ashamed of children who, for example, not knowing what the Bible says about life,
eternal or human, dare to teach others, and by children who rise no higher than following the crowd. Typically, this ambassador of humanity most likely skipped Bible school at Yeshua’s feet to learn to decree and declare (squat). This preacher-healer-apostle-bishop no doubt went to Baalist and hypocrite-trumpeting university to learn to pray.

Test the facts

So in the interest of genuine prayer and facts let’s see a quick end to harassment in the guise of blessing, prayer, and prophecy.

How many times can one decree all demons to flee (or go back to hell. Were they ever there?) How many people need to agree for God to approve and deliver our requests? I have felt like jumping in the fray with something like …

Hey preacher! Decree this!

Decree away the darkness that covers the mind. Please.

Decree away corrupt governments.

Decree away the ignorance that makes Christ saviour from everything but sin.

Decree away the influence of Islam and neo-Babylon from from our communities.

Decree away the African exodus to Europe

Oh yeah! While you are decreeing and declaring, decree a few dollars into the pockets of the poor you pass every day on your way to the set…

Not only can we do better than putting out trashy entertainment, our duty to feed and guard Christ’s flock comes with the equipment for producing excellence.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

Pinning Down Clean Hands

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When David asked “Who shall go up to your holy hill?” his reply did not include homicide as disqualifying. His zeal for the Ark of the Covenant and his plan to build a palace for it ran into Yahweh’s objection to bloodshed, of which David was guilty. As a result he was not allowed to supervise the building of the temple for Yahweh.

How could David have missed that is unknown, and his terms for who has access to the holy hill were indeed definitive.

he who lives uprightly, he who does righteousness, he who speaks the truth in (with) his heart, who keeps his word whatever the cost, despising the one rejected by the LORD, honoring those who fear the LORD

Some indication of who is refused access comes with the identification of certain behaviours.

  1. slander
  2. doing no harm to one’s friend
  3. discrediting one’s neighbor, (Ps 15:3)
  4. lending money at interest
  5. taking a bribe against the innocent

David caps off his reply with a signature label. Unmoveable! — the one who does these things will never be moved. (Ps 15:5)

Since God rejects murderers as builders of monuments to his dignity one has to assume that the vast majority of today’s secular leaders today do not qualify. Extrajudicial killings, discriminatory residency regulations, travel bans, demolition of homes, deportations, and mistreatment of citizens are all manifestations of hate. They constitute murder.

God disqualifies the hawks in Israeli politics, the 45 republicans, the despotic leadership of Turkey, the Philippines, and state-sponsored religion everywhere. Bloody hands have no place in any nation-building process.

David could not build a palace. There is no way for 21st century murderers to be a legitimate part of building civic society.

Each day when we set out to partake of our community’s privileges and foster its goals we had better clear our heads of despite for the poor, of impatience with those who are different from us, and of hate for people who seem incorrigible. A heart tainted with hate is corroborated by unloving deeds, filthy hands. Clean hands begin with purified hearts. We get pure hearts from the Lord by grace through faith. Bad people can do good things and bad deeds show that no humans are eligible for holy hill admission apart from repentance and rebirth.

Glimpses of Early Myopia in Psalm 119

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The writer is so artistically wrapped up in his poem-writing in praise of the law that he never mentions forgiveness. We cannot have law without condemnation and the necessary remedy, forgiveness.

Incredibly – this is probably not David – he does not have the counterparts to those terms that he uses for the law (precepts, statutes, judgments, laws, testimonies, commands, etc.).

If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Psalms 130:3-4

Why is there no pardoned iniquity since that is what brings us to reverence?
Real happiness comes through atonement.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Psalm 32:1-2. Of David, A Maschil.

So let’s see.
The opposite of command: freedom
The opposite of statute: despotism
The opposite of judgment: indecision
The opposite of witness: obstruction
The opposite of word: darkness

Perhaps the one redeeming feature of this psalm is that the writer posts the way (absolutely) on the 1st verse and the only known way to be undefiled is to be forgiven. For followers of Christ that is to be born from above exclusively.
We have our eyes trained on the cross all the way back to eternity past. No shortsightedness!