Freedom is Good News Part 153

It seems to me that there are many people who consider themselves Christians and yet they do not take this notion seriously.  Let me suggest to you that God does take it seriously – very seriously!!  Let us take a look at one example from the bible.

When we read through the history of Israel, we find that they were a rebellious lot.  And yet God, in His mercy and compassion continued to work with them.  Why?  Because they had entered into a covenant with God.  I am sure you remember the story of how God brought the children of Israel out of bondage to Egypt.  They came through the Red Sea and into the wilderness and settled for a while near Mount Sinai.  In Exodus 19:4-6 we read this, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

Moses went down the mountain and told the people what God had said.  Their response; “We will do everything the LORD has said.”  God took this answer seriously – the people did not.  It did not take them long to rebel against God.  In short, Moses went up the mountain, spent 40 days with the LORD and when he came back down with the two tablets of stone (the 10 commandments) he found the people were in the midst of an orgy, worshiping an image of a golden calf.  Oh, they called the calf by the correct name of God, “Yahovah” and they applied to it the miracles they saw in coming out of Egypt.  But they had quickly forgotten the second commandment, “You shall not make for yourself and idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.”  God was not pleased!!

But I get ahead of myself.  Let’s go back to Mount Sinai before Moses received the 10 Commandments.  (Ex. 19:10-25)  The people were to consecrate themselves and on the third day they were to stand before the mountain.  God would signal for them to meet with Him, “Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.”  And so on that morning there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud and a very loud trumpet blast – the people trembled.  The sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder and even the mountain trembled.

God then gave to His people the Ten Commandments verbally.  The voice of God frightened the people to where they thought they would die.  They desired that Moses be their intermediary and so Moses approached God.  We find in Exodus chapters 20 through 23 a very concise but complete list of laws that God gave to Israel as a precious gift and then in chapter 24 we read about the confirmation of this covenant.  Verse 3: “Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and His laws. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.’  And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD”.

It is quite interesting to read what Moses did next but we will have to wait till next time.  May the good news of God’s law enlighten all of you.

Freedom is Good News Part 137

“To walk humbly with your God”; these are the words of Micah the prophet that we were looking at in our previous article.  Perhaps as we ponder this thought, our minds must come to the realization that God is awesome, powerful, majestic and wonderful – and we are not!  He is God of all the universe – and we are not!  He is the creator and sustainer of all that exists – and we are not!

Okay, point made, we must walk humbly with our God.  We reach back approximately 2700 years to grab this quote from the prophet Micah.  He was sent to the two capital cities of God’s people: Samaria, the capital of the northern tribes of Israel; and Jerusalem, the capital of the southern tribe of Judah. (Micah 1:1)  The news he was to deliver was not good.  His chastisements were deep and severe.  God’s people were not walking with Him.  On the contrary they were walking in rebellion to Him.

By the time we get to chapter 6 (where our above quote comes from) we read that God is, through Micah, setting up a “court of judgement”.  God says, “Stand up, plead your case before the mountains, let the hills hear what you have to say” (6:1).  In verse two, Micah speaks so as to announce the trial, “Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s accusation; …. For the LORD has a case against His people; He is arbitrating a charge against Israel.”

In verses 3 – 5, God’s case begins by asking a rhetorical question, “…What have I done to you?  How have I burdened you?”  He then goes on to refresh their memories, “I brought you up out of Egypt, and redeemed you from slavery …. Remember your journey through the wilderness that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD”.

But the people respond with a very arrogant defense, “So, with what shall I come before the LORD?  ….  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?  Shall I offer my firstborn for my sin?”  Essentially, they were saying, “Hey we’ve been offering sacrifice to you, what more do you want?  How can we buy you off and get you off our backs.”  These people had been offering sacrifices to Yahovah, the God of Israel, but they were also offering their sacrifices to the pagan gods, Dagon, Molech and Baal.

And so this is God’s reply through Micah, “He has showed you, O man, what is good, and what does the LORD (Yahovah) require of you?  To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” 

Many times, you and I are just like the ancient Israelites.  We spend some time each week (maybe) coming before God.  We may even call Him Father and His Son, Jesus.  We know the names to use and for one or two hours a week we even sing a song or two to Him.  But do we then go and sit at the altar of this world’s gods?  Oh, we have other names for them but “a rose by any other name ….”

Will you act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God all the hours of the week?  We will look more closely at this walk next time.