Though this week’s Torah portion is relatively short, it is without a doubt one of the most theologically dense Torah portions in the yearly reading cycle. Here we read about Moses’ encounter with Jethro, and Israel’s encounter with God on Mount Sinai, which includes the giving of the Ten Commandments.
Today as we consider Jethro, I’d like to ask the question, “Can anti-Semites go to heaven?” To appreciate this amazing man, we have to look at him in the context of the previous Torah portion; in chapter 17, just before Jethro arrives, we read that Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. Exodus 18 tells what happened when Jethro arrived:
Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that
God had done for Moses and for Israel his people,
how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt. . . .
Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him.
And they asked each other of their welfare [shalom] and went into the tent.
Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to
Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake,
all the hardship that had come upon them in the way,
and how the LORD had delivered them.
And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they
dealt arrogantly with the people.”
And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God;
and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.”
(Exod 18:1, 7-12)
Time doesn’t permit us to examine at length the amazing parallels between Jethro,
a godly Gentile priest,
who greets Moses with bread and blessings after a battle
with the Amalekites, and Melchizedek,
another godly Gentile priest, who also greets Abraham with bread and blessings
after a battle with wicked kings.
It is important to see how these
two stories divide the Gentile world into two groups.
On the one hand we have Jethro and Melchizedek,
two people who represent those who bless the God of Israel,
and consequently, the people of Israel.
On the other hand, we see the Amalekites and the
wicked kings who do not.
The Amalekites viciously attack Israel. Jethro, however,
worships with Israel
and celebrates God’s victories on their behalf.
This brings us to a point
which all anti-Semites had better consider:
“Salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22)
There is just no way around the Jewish people, because there is no salvation apart from Israel’s God. By attacking the Jewish people, the Amalekites picked a fight against God forever. The text says, “The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” (Exod 17:16). How terribly ironic to think that there are people who claim to love the God of Israel and to follow the King of the Jews, yet despise the Jewish people. How can this be? The truth is, if your best friend isn’t Jewish, you can’t enter the Kingdom of God!
On the positive side, never forget that God’s faithfulness to the Jewish people, including the sending of the Messiah Yeshua, always results in blessings for the Gentiles. Having heard about God’s deliverance of the Jewish people, Jethro joyfully confesses, “Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they [the Egyptians] dealt arrogantly with the people” (Exod 18:11). Because of God’s goodness to Israel, Jethro comes to know and offer sacrifices to the God who is above all gods. And because of God’s goodness to Israel, you can enjoy the blessings freely given to both Jew and Gentile through Israel’s Messiah.
The Glory of God
is the beauty of His spirit. It is not an aesthetic beauty or a material beauty, but the beauty that emanates from His character, from all that He is. The glory of man—human dignity and honor—fades (1 Peter 1:24). But the glory of God, which is manifested in all His attributes together, never passes away. It is eternal.
In the New Testament, the glory of God is revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus came as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of [God’s] people Israel” (Luke 2:32).
The miracles that Jesus did were “signs through which he revealed his glory” (John 2:11). In Christ, the glory of God is meekly veiled, approachable, and knowable. He promises to return some day “on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory”
(Matthew 24:30)
Isaiah 43:7 says that God saved Israel for His glory—in the redeemed will be seen the distillation of God’s grace and power and faithfulness. The natural world also exhibits God’s glory, revealed to all men, no matter their race, heritage, or location. As Psalm 19:1–4 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
Psalm 73:24 calls heaven itself “glory.” Sometimes Christians speak of death as being “received unto glory,” a phrase borrowed from this psalm. When the Christian dies, he or she will be taken into God’s presence and surrounded by God’s glory and majesty. In that place, His glory will be seen clearly: “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). In the future New Jerusalem, the glory of God will be manifest: “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Revelation 21:23)
God will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 42:8; cf. Exodus 34:14). Yet this is the very thing that people try to steal. Scripture indicts all idolaters: “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles” (Romans 1:22–23).
Only God is eternal, and
His perfect and eternal attributes
of holiness, majesty, goodness, love, etc., are
not to be exchanged for the
imperfections and corruption of anything
in this world.
The Seal of Truth
The sages sometimes say "the seal of God is truth," since the final letters of the three words that conclude the account of creation, i.e., בָּרָא אֱלהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת, bara Elohim la'asot ("God created to do" [Genesis 2:3]), spell the word emet:
In other words, God created reality "to do" (la'asot), which has come to be interpreted by the sages as meaning that it is our responsibility, as God's creatures, to complete the "doing" of His Creation (tikkun Olam). Truth is about doing, not being...
Note that the "Seal of God" is not just a matter of sincerity. It is rather a matter of being true in the sense that you are living it, you are being with it, you are part of it. You exist inside this truth as a passion and this truth informs all of the decisions you make in life. You therefore embody the truth and follow it in all your endeavors. In this sense Yeshua the Mashiach is the Truth, since in Him there was no mismatch between who He is and what He said. He is utterly trustworthy. His actions and speech are one and are entirely reliable.
Jesus is the "Seal of God," the one who authoritatively names of all creation,
and His followers likewise should evidence this in their lives.
Truth Encompasses All
In Hebrew, the word for truth, emet (אֱמֶת), contains the first, middle, and the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, indicating that truth encompasses all things and endures from the beginning (א) to the end (ת):
But notice that if we remove the letter Aleph from the word, we are left with the word "dead" (i.e., met: מֵת), the opposite of life (i.e., chayim: חַיִּים). The letter Aleph is the ineffable letter that
represents oneness and preeminent glory of God.
Therefore, if we attempt to ignore or suppress God in our understanding of truth, we end up with death. And since Yeshua told us, "I am the way (הַדֶּרֶךְ), the truth (הָאֱמֶת), and the life (הַחַיִּים); no one comes to Father apart from me" (John 14:6), those who deny His reality are in a state of spiritual death... We simply cannot know the meaning of life apart from the Person and Glory of Yeshua our Messiah!
Since truth is all-encompassing, there is always a place for it to be practiced -- there is literally no place or experience that is exempted from its presence -- and therefore, there is always the demand to live in its light. Indeed, God Himself is called the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaEmet) (John 14:7, 15:26, 16:13).
The word emet comes from a verb (aman) that means to support or make firm, and expresses the image of strong arms of a parent supporting the helpless infant. Truth stands in active relation to the one who is supposed to know it and "carries the burden," so to speak, by being the foundation of one's existence in creation.
The LORD Yeshua our Messiah
is called
the Aleph and the Tav (הָאָלֶף וְהַתָּו),
"the first and the last" (הָרִאשׁוֹן וְהָאַחֲרוֹן)
These are clearly divine titles that exclusively belong to YHVH (Isa. 41:4, 44:6, 48:12; Rev. 1:1,17-18; 22:13).
Indeed, Pilate's famous question, "What is truth?"
is a category mistake, since truth is not about "what" but about "Who."
That is, truth is not something objective and static, a thing to be known and studied from a distance. No. Truth is up-close and personal. Understood in this way, truth is a way of living, a mode of existence, and inherently relational. It is a mistake to think of God as an "object" to be studied. No, God is not some static thing but rather a dynamic and forceful Person. Unlike the Greek philosophers who tended to regard God as little more than a "machine" (deus ex machina) or device that caused the universe to "get going," the LORD God of Israel is intensely personal, feeling, emotional, compassionate, angry, and so on.
The Hebrew view of God is that of a Living Person, a Spoken Word,
and a Fiery Breath that broods over the events of the physical world.
These are the things that ye shall do;
Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor;
execute the judgment
of truth and peace in your gates:
(Zechariah 8:16)
Jesus proclaimed Himself to be
the
“Alpha and Omega”
in
Revelation 1:8; 21:6; and 22:13
Alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Among the Jewish rabbis, it was common to use the first and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet to denote the whole of anything, from beginning to end. Jesus as the beginning and end of all things is a reference to no one but the true God. This statement of eternality could apply only to God. It is seen especially in Revelation 22:13, where Jesus proclaims that He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
One of the meanings of Jesus being the “Alpha and Omega” is that He was at the beginning of all things and will be at the close. It is equivalent to saying He always existed and always will exist. It was Christ, as second Person of the Trinity, who brought about the creation: “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3), and His Second Coming will be the beginning of the end of creation as we know it (2 Peter 3:10). As God incarnate, He has no beginning, nor will He have any end with respect to time, being from everlasting to everlasting.
A second meaning of Jesus as the “Alpha and Omega” is that the phrase identifies Him as the God of the Old Testament. Isaiah ascribes this aspect of Jesus’ nature as part of the triune God in several places. “I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last I am He” (41:4). “I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God” (Isaiah 44:6). “I am he; I am the first, I also am the last” (Isaiah 48:12). These are clear indications of the eternal nature of the Godhead.
Christ, as the Alpha and Omega, is the first and last in so many ways. He is the “author and finisher” of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), signifying that He begins it and carries it through to completion. He is the totality, the sum and substance of the Scriptures, both of the Law and of the Gospel (John 1:1, 14). He is the fulfilling end of the Law (Matthew 5:17), and He is the beginning subject matter of the gospel of grace through faith, not of works (Ephesians 2:8-9). He is found in the first verse of Genesis and in the last verse of Revelation. He is the first and last, the all in all of salvation, from the justification before God to the final sanctification of His people.
Jesus is the Alpha and Omega,
the first and last
In writing to his
“dear children”
in the Lord,
the apostle John tells them that
“the one who is in you is greater than
the one who is in the world”
(1 John 4:4)
First John 4 begins with
an exhortation for believers
to test the spirits of prophets or teachers:
“Beloved,
do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits,
whether they are of God;
because many false prophets have gone out
into the world”
(1 John 4:1)
What a prophet or teacher proclaims reveals whether he is of God
or a false prophet of the world
John tells us how to recognize a false prophet:
"Every spirit that does
not
acknowledge Jesus
is not
from God
Anyone who teaches
or proclaims falsehood about Jesus,
such as denying His divinity,
is a false prophet.
These false prophets are actually speaking
in the spirit of the antichrist
on behalf of
"the one who is in the world,”
The word antichrist means
“against Christ.”
He is against the truth
(John 8:44)
He is called “the ruler of this world”
(John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11)
and
“the god of this world”
(2 Corinthians 4:4).
He is “the spirit who is now at work in those
who are disobedient”
(Ephesians 2:2).
Satan uses false prophets to lead people
away from Christ
by deceiving
them with a false view of Jesus.
Twisting who Jesus is perverts the gospel.
John reminds the believers in 1 John 4:4 that
greater is He that is in believers than he that
is in the world.
The bodies of believers are the temples of the Holy Spirit
who dwells within them (1 Corinthians 6:19).
John encourages those in whom God lives: “You are from God”
(1 John 4:4, ESV).
They are not of the world.
John reassures them that they have “overcome” those who
teach false doctrine
The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now
indwells believers in Christ (Romans 8:11).
“The spiritual person judges all things"
(1 Corinthians 2:15, ESV)
This statement is part of a larger context that
contrasts the
spiritual man with the natural man
…Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and bless His name.
For the LORD is good, and His loving devotion endures forever; His faithfulness continues to all generations.…
Psalm 42:4
These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise.
Psalm 92:13
Planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
Psalm 95:2
Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him in song.
Psalm 96:2
Sing to the LORD, bless His name; proclaim His salvation day after day.
Psalm 116:17
I will offer to You a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.
Jeremiah 33:11
the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the LORD, saying: 'Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; His loving devotion endures forever.' For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the LORD.
Ezekiel 40:14
Next he measured the gateposts to be sixty cubits high. The gateway extended around to the gatepost of the courtyard.
Psalm 65:1
To the chief Musician, A Psalm and Song of David. Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion:
and unto thee shall the vow be performed.
Psalm 66:13
I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,
Psalm 116:17-19
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD…
Psalm 96:2
Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.
Psalm 103:1,2,20-22
A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name…
Psalm 145:1,2
David's Psalm of praise. I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever…
Psalm 119:33-34
Perhaps above all others,
this psalm makes
multiple direct connections between
the
knowledge of God and obedience
Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3,
saying we should live by every
word of God.
All of it reveals Him—and our
nature as well.
The more we know of Him
and ourselves,
the greater the chance of obedience.
Ignorance begets irreverence
that in turn begets disobedience.
Truth believed
begets reverence
that in turn begets obedience
Proverbs 29:18
"Where there is ignorance of God, the people run wild."
The implied spiritual sense is that if one does not know God's purpose, he goes off the path of God's laws.
When people lack godly instruction, "the people run wild." "But happy is he who keeps the law."
In the King James Version, they insert the word "law" in the verse, but it is only implied in Hebrew.
The verse strongly implies the divine revelation given to the prophets,
which is why the King James translators translated
this word as "vision"—the revelation given to the prophets—even though,
again, the Hebrew does not directly say it.
This is important to us because it is in the
Prophets that God gives the majority of His vision for the future—what is coming.
There may be a little bit in the Law,
but far more is contained in the Prophets.
Of course, we also find some in the New Testament.
If this is indeed the vision God has given and He is working out, then we begin to
understand the reason why we have been given free-moral agency and told to choose.
We have to choose which way we will go.
There is a way, but we must choose to go that way.
Proverbs 29:18
The gospel tells us why we were born and provides us with
detailed knowledge on how to prepare for that goal.
The relationship with our God frames these
elements into a vision that becomes our goal in life and helps to
motivate us to do what is good in God's sight.
Hebrews 11:10 says that Abraham "waited for the city . . . whose Builder and Maker is God." This was a major part of his motivating vision. Hebrews 11:27 tells us that Moses "endured as seeing Him who is invisible." These men followed the vision that formed as a result of their relationship with God and what He taught them. As we walk with Christ, we are led along similar paths.
They believed thrillingly good news that provided them with the motivation to submit their lives to God's will. I Corinthians 9:24-27 shows us Paul's example of what every person who has achieved a great goal has had to learn and do:
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
Romans 1:19-21
God Himself declares that at least some knowledge—a basic, foundational understanding—is
available to virtually everyone. However, an interesting danger is revealed here.
Note how this unfolds: ". . .
because, although they knew God,
they did not glorify Him as God,
nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts,
and their foolish hearts were darkened" (verse 21).
These people knew God, just as the people addressed by Isaiah and Amos and in Hebrews had knowledge of God.
Yet, they obviously did not honor God by conducting themselves according to what they knew of Him.
they did not hold fast to what God gave them.
Romans 10:14-17
The word of Christ is what brought us out of the world and that to which we were converted.
When we drift away from it, we become confused, and we begin dividing, bickering and fighting among ourselves.
The solution is given elsewhere in the Bible: Get back to what brought us together in the first place--
the combination of the word of Christ and devotion to Him, to the love-that we had at the beginning
(Revelation 2:4-5).
Genuine ignorance may be a defense before God, but neglect never is.
We need to remember Hebrews 2:3,
"How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?"
God can forgive ignorance because we cannot believe what we did not know,
and even though we may be punished in our ignorance, it
is far different from being punished when we know better.
Yet, "to whom much is given, from him much will be required"
(Luke 12:48).
We are not in ignorance.
If we are slipping away, it is because of neglect.
Romans 10:17 as, "Faith must come from what is heard,
and what is heard comes from the word of Christ."
We are saved by grace through faith,
and faith comes from knowledge of God and His Word,
so the importance of studying His Word, meditating on it,
seeking practical applications for our life, cannot be overstated.
Along with obedience,
practical application of God's Word is a must
if we want to have saving faith.
1 Corinthians 2:7-8
By using those who killed Christ as an illustration,
Paul shows that everyone has been held captive to
ignorance of God and His way.
God's wisdom
was hidden from
"the rulers of this age."
Had they had it, their minds would have had the material to
reach a far different conclusion about what to do about Christ.
They would have produced a different result.
1 Corinthians 2:7
The word "mystery" is not the same as our English usage of the word. "Mystery" to the Greek meant
not a puzzle that was difficult to solve, but a secret impossible to penetrate.
It was something that was hidden and unintelligible
to those who were not initiated, as into a secret society or as into a religion.
Most of you have heard of the mystery religions. What they did was unintelligible to those who were on the outside, but to those who were on the inside, what was being said or enacted in their ritual made clear sense.
This is the idea here: a secret impossible to penetrate, not a puzzle that is difficult to solve.
What is crystal clear to those on the inside is unintelligible to those who are on the outside.
In like manner, to those who have received the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit
has joined with the spirit in man, adding a dimension to their lives that they previously did not have
(I Corinthians 2:11-12).
So then, things that are crystal clear to them are unintelligible to those who do n
A true recognition of
God's sovereignty should
humble us
perhaps stun or shock us
into a far greater,
more intense submission.
This will lead us
to relinquish our self-will
It is good to understand that God's sovereignty includes more than just His exercise of governmental authority. It includes everything that makes Him God, His very being. Its presence in the Bible is so pervasive that, once we become aware of its expression, we see it throughout God's Word.
According to The Origins of English Words by Joseph Shipley, "sovereign" came into English from the French language. At its root are two words meaning "super or supreme" and "to exercise authority, dominate." Together, they mean "of the most exalted kind, superlative in quality, undisputed ascendancy, unlimited in extent, dominant, free." Sovereignty is the state of being in those conditions, having supreme power and excellence.
Its antonym is a familiar word, "subject." God, our Creator and heavenly Father, is not subject to anybody or anything.
It is revealing to see the reaction of some of the foremost personalities of the Bible when forced to face this issue up close. God says of Job that "there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil" (Job 1:8). Indeed, Ezekiel 14:13-14 names him among the most righteous men who ever lived. Job is an unusual man, closer to God by far than most. In Job 42:1-6, however, we see what happens to him when God personally and powerfully reveals to him a measure of His sovereignty.
Then Job answered the LORD and said: "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.' I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes."
In this case,
it is not the brilliant, luminous glory of God's appearance
that humbles Job but God's power,
intelligence and wisdom revealed in the creation.
This, combined with His right to do with it as He pleases,
brings Job to understand how ignorant,
puny and base he is by comparison.
Isaiah 6:1-5 shows a different approach to another servant of God,
but the effect is the same.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"
And the posts of the door were shaken
by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
So I said,
"Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
Isaiah is overwhelmed by God's sovereignty displayed by radiant purity
and a feeling of terrifying but controlled power.
It makes him feel dirty beyond anything but simple expression, helplessly weak and feeling that he is doomed.
Like Job, he is thoroughly humbled.
It is highly unlikely that God will confront any of us in such dramatic fashion. However, we are confronted by His sovereignty as revealed in the Bible and His creation. With the aid of the Holy Spirit, it should produce effects in us similar to these two illustrations. These vignettes end with the men being humbled, but should any other qualities or characteristics develop from facing God's sovereignty? Should other virtues arise after we recognize His very Being, godhead, power, intelligence and glory? Yes, and they are qualities important to our spiritual, moral and ethical growth.
The Fear of God
At least four qualities are essential to growth in our relationship with God. One could perhaps think of others and arrange them differently, but first on my list is the fear of God.
Why are people so indifferent to the state of their spiritual well-being?
Why has the Bible been relegated to little more than a coffee table display?
Romans 3:18,
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
(Proverbs 1:7), "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (9:10). These two verses, even without any other confirmation, reveal that the fear of God is very important, yet so frequently the ministry of this world tries to blunt the force of the word "fear." Nevertheless, it means in Hebrew exactly what it means in English, encompassing everything from a faint but grudging respect to outright terror.
However, neither outright terror nor faint respect produce a good relationship. Neither will win another's heart. God wants more from us, more than a mere healthy respect. He wants us to have a deep, abiding and reverential awe for Him. Being all-powerful, holy, just, good, kind, careful, encouraging, inspiring, merciful, patient, loving, forgiving and wise, He is far more than One we should simply respect.
Americans, especially, have been taught to be familiar and casual in our attitudes toward others, and this carries over into our attitude toward and relationship with God. It is a form of the "I'm just as good as you, and you will just have to accept me just as I am" approach. A disrespectful and sometimes even defiant attitude is born.
But what is the Bible's counsel? Paul tells us that even among ourselves,
"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself"
(Philippians 2:3).
What about familiarity with God?
Peter tells us to honor all people, love the brotherhood, and honor the king--
but we are to fear God (I Peter 2:17).
Do we hear much teaching that will incline us to revere God's majesty?
Do we unconsciously think that the fear of God is something only the unconverted need?
Since Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom," and since wisdom in its simplest form is skill or right application, who needs wisdom more than God's children? Reverential awe is wisdom's foundation, because it moves us to obedience, and God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him. Paul writes in Philippians 2:12, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out you own salvation with fear and trembling."
We need this quality more than anybody does because our eternal life is on the line. It used to be that someone known to believe in God was referred to as "God-fearing." This was obvious to others because they knew the person obeyed God and was very concerned about what God said. It marked his relationship with God and set him apart from others.
Fearing not only makes a great witness before others,
it also pays great dividends, as Psalm 103:13 shows
. "As a father pities His children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him."
We all want God to be compassionate toward us.
In I Peter 2:21, the apostle instructs us to follow Christ's steps, suggesting that He is the model after whom we must pattern our lives. Did He fear God? "[Jesus], in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear" (Hebrews 5:7).
Notice especially the link connecting His being saved from death and being heard because He feared.
Christ acknowledged God's sovereignty through a deeply held reverential awe,
showing that answered prayer,
eternal life and the fear of God are intertwined.
This is true because the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
Wisdom is right application, and right application is obedience.
Jesus Christ obeyed God perfectly.
His fear was not an occasional burst of deep respect—as ours so often is--
but sustained and built throughout His entire life.
It had to be this way because His trials intensified as He aged, and
His need of godly fear became ever more urgent.
Implicit Obedience
The correct perception of God's sovereignty produces godly fear, in turn producing implicit obedience. However, human nature always pulls us toward an exaggerated sense of our own importance. Pride invariably leads to disobedience and sometimes outright rebellion. We will exalt either God or ourselves; we will live either to serve Him or ourselves.
Yet no man can serve two masters.
Exodus 5:1-2 illustrates an aspect of this need:
Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel; ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.'" And Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go."
To Pharaoh, Moses' God is only one among many gods, a powerless entity that he need not fear. His disrespect and irreverence are clearly products of his ignorance, and these produce his disobedience. Since irreverence produces disobedience, then true reverence will produce and promote obedience. This clarifies why growing to know God is so essential: The fear of God is a major step toward practical godliness. The Bible and God's Spirit are the major elements that promote the knowledge of His mind and will.
Psalm 119:33-34 says, "Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart." Perhaps above all others, this psalm makes multiple direct connections between the knowledge of God and obedience.
We will grow more profoundly if we learn to study the Bible as if it were written for us individually. It is self-defeating for us to pick and choose favorite scriptures while leaving others entirely alone. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, saying we should live by every word of God. All of it reveals Him—and our nature as well. The more we know of Him and ourselves, the greater the chance of obedience. Ignorance begets irreverence that in turn begets disobedience. Truth believed begets reverence that in turn begets obedience.
Was the Captain of our salvation and Forerunner, Jesus Christ, known for His submission to God's will? The testimony in Philippians 2:8 is that His obedience was to "death, even the death of the cross"! According to John 10:17-18, His obedience was a conscious, intelligent submission:
Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.
This is further confirmed by John 6:38: "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." Our Savior was neither an emotional, wild-eyed fanatic, nor a zombie woodenly and unfeelingly playing a part like some kind of android.
We can learn much of Jesus' submission to the Father from His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane just before His crucifixion: "Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). This comes from the heart of a man described as meek and lowly of heart. His words paint a vivid picture of what was going through His mind. Sometime during His life, He had likely witnessed a crucifixion, but even if He had not, He certainly had heard one described. As quick of mind as He was, He could clearly envision what lay before Him. Undoubtedly, He anticipated great bodily pain, understanding Isaiah 52:14 to predict He would suffer pain as nobody else ever had. In addition, He had to bear the pressure of resisting the urge to break faith and sin under the burden of the guilt of all mankind's sins that would come upon Him.
He also knew He would have the embarrassment of all the indignities heaped upon Him, knowing full well He was innocent. He had to battle demons throughout His ordeal. Perhaps the most dreaded burden of all was knowing that He would be cut off from God and have to bear everything alone.
Yet He did it!
Jesus—by faith—consciously chose
to submit to the Father based on
His knowledge of the Most High.
Resignation to God's Will
Comprehending God's sovereignty should begin to produce another necessary yet difficult quality: complete resignation to God's will.
Human nature naturally complains when it feels it has been deprived of what it had its heart set on.
We think that our possessions are ours unconditionally.
We feel that we are entitled to success when we have done something well. We believe that, when we work hard and competently, we deserve to keep what we have accumulated.
However, understanding and accepting God's sovereignty includes His right to do or allow anything He wills.
Notice Luke 14:26-27: "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sister, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." A reason that a minister goes over these verses with a person seeking baptism is to affirm this very point.
He must count the cost: to forsake all he has to bear his cross.
Baptism is a public declaration that we accept the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and have decided to be absolutely loyal to Him. Everything else is to be secondary; we have renounced our will, and everything we have is subordinate to His will.
Will we be loyal in every situation as Jesus was, or will we be loyal only in the good times?
If He chooses to send or allow poverty or sickness or even death,
will we say with Abraham,
"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25).
Doing this will not be without struggle. We are, after all, human, and even
Jesus in the Garden
of Gethsemane
struggled with this before saying,
"Thy will be done."
Leviticus 10:1-7 reveals another example of a godly man humbly accepting God's shocking sentence.
God strikes two of Aaron's sons to death, and at Moses' counsel, Aaron holds his peace:
And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, "Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the people. But let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD has kindled. You shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you." And they did according to the word of Moses. (verses 6-7)
He counsels Aaron and his remaining sons to accept God's judgment before the people
lest they bring reproach upon God—as though He were guilty of wrongdoing.
God praises Job highly, saying that no one on earth was like him, "a blameless and upright man" (Job 1:8). Surely, he has every right to expect God to bless him continually throughout his life. God indeed prospers him until he is the richest man in his area. Suddenly, however, devastating disasters obscure his bright future. In one day, Sabeans and Chaldeans raid his ranches and take everything, lightning destroys his crops, and a tornado kills his ten children! What is Job's response? "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD"
(verse 21).
Job looks beyond these devastating events—truly mind-numbing realities—that could never have occurred without God's permission. Beyond them he sees the Creator, whose rule extends over all peoples and things—some of which He had allowed to devastate Job's life. Job clearly recognizes God's sovereignty, even managing to rejoice somewhat in it.
No wonder God says no one on earth was like him!
James 4:13-15 says:
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.
For what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Instead you ought to say,
"If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."
Once we give ourselves over to Him in baptism, recognizing God's sovereignty
causes us to subject our plans to His will.
It makes us recognize that, as the Potter,
He has absolute power
over the clay, molding it according to His pleasure.
Overall, it is for Him to say where we live and in what condition: whether in poverty or wealth, sickness or health, cut down in the flower of youth or living three score and ten. To learn this lesson is to attain very high marks in God's school. Accepting His will in all things and in the right attitude is among the most difficult of all lessons in life. It is one that, when we think we have a handle on it, something comes up, and we discover we have to learn all over again!
David, a type of Christ, writes in Psalm 22:6, "But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." God uses animals and insects to describe human traits. A worm is not only lowly but it also has no power to resist anything. Because Jesus never resisted God, He could honestly say, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me" (John 4:34). Those who, without murmuring, subject themselves to the will of God benefit from His almighty rule over all.
Thankfulness
Thankfulness is another positive attitude that is created from a good understanding of God's sovereignty. As mentioned previously, Herbert Armstrong said that he usually began his prayers praising and thanking God that He is God and not somebody else. This practice shows he recognized and appreciated what God produces, supplies and works out. Despite the confusion of events as we see them, despite the heaviness of the burdens we bear, everything is in the most capable hands in the universe.
Psalm 103
is a great psalm of praise. It begins,
"Bless the LORD,
O my soul; and all that is within me,
bless His holy name!"
Think on this.
This psalm praises
God's sovereignty over all His creation,
yet it also shows His awareness and care of us as individuals! To Him, we are not nameless, faceless blobs in an endless ocean of people. The world likes to claim the incredible promise of Romans 8:28 for itself, but it really applies only to us, "those who love God . . . those who are the called." This is something to be thankful for! Each one of us is in His capable hands! God requires us to give thanks because it is good for us. Those convinced that God rules have a distinct advantage over those who believe things happen randomly.
Paul writes in Ephesians 5:20, ".
. . giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." For some, this is difficult, and indeed, we all often stumble over it. We can be very grateful to God when things go well. Perhaps, after returning safely from a trip, we are quick to thank God for our successful arrival, as if He were personally responsible for the operations of all who worked to get us home. Suppose, however, that the trip was not so successful. Maybe we were involved in an accident and injured or delayed so that we were late for a meeting, costing a large sale or the loss of a client? Or maybe lightning struck the house, an earthquake damaged it or a burglar broke in and stole valuables?
Do we see God's hand in these circumstances as well? Is God involved only in the "good" things of life? For example, did Job bemoan his "bad luck" or murmur against God? He bowed before Him, even managing to bless Him! Is this just fatalistic acquiescence or blind credulity? No, in people who live by faith it is neither of these because real faith always rejoices in the Lord, knowing He is involved in all aspects of life.
Paul exhorts the Philippian church: "And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!" (Philippians 4:3-4). This is nothing short of a call to faith of those undergoing some sort of heavy trial. If a Christian believes that his life and all its circumstances are in the hands of the sovereign, wise and loving God who is always working for his good, then he can truly rejoice always.
Matthew 11 provides an interesting example of Christ's thankfulness and praise. The context begins with the disappointing breakdown of John the Baptist's faith (verses 2-3) and the people's discontent with both John's solemn message and Christ's more joyous one (verses 16-19). Then follows the stubborn resistance to Christ's preaching in cities highly favored to receive His attention (verses 20-24). It seems as though everything is working against Him, but what is His reaction?
At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight." (Matthew 11:25-26; Luke 10:21)
Jesus rejoiced in a thankful spirit
even though, from a human point of view,
it did not seem logical and right.
In Jesus, God presents submission to us in its purist form.
Even though "He made the worlds"
(Hebrews 1:2),
He thankfully and joyously bowed
to the will of the Lord of heaven and earth.
At least four attitudes should grow from a
true
recognition of God's sovereignty:
1. The fear of God.
2. Implicit obedience.
3. Complete resignation.
4. Thankfulness and praise.
From these an adoring worship should be born. True worship is based upon recognized greatness seen at its highest in the great God, the Creator. His sovereignty is not that of a tyrant but of an infinitely good and wise King—One who cannot err because He is perfectly wise and can never do wrong because
He is absolutely righteous.
We could become filled with fear upon understanding that God's will is irresistible. But as we grow to know God and realize that He wills only what is good for us, we can rejoice that this wonderful Being is our Father and say with Christ, "Even so, Father, for so it seems good in your sight."
It might be helpful to contemplate the following poem written by Madame Jeanne-Marie Guyon, who was imprisoned for nearly ten years by Louis XIV of France for her belief and practice of Christianity. In her dungeon far belowground, her only light came from a candle lit at mealtimes.
Notice her complete resignation
and
submission to God's will for her:
A little bird I am,
Shut from the fields of air;
Yet in my cage I sit and sing;
To Him who placed me there--
Well pleased a prisoner to be,
Because, my God, it pleases Thee.
Naught have I else to do;
I sing the whole day long;
And He whom most I love to please
Doth listen to my song.
He caught and bound my wandering wing;
But still He bends to hear me sing.
* * *
My cage confines me round;
Abroad I cannot fly;
But, though my wing is closely bound,
My heart's at liberty;
My prison walls cannot control
The flight, the freedom of the soul.
O, it is good to soar
These bolts and bars above,
To Him whose purpose I adore,
Whose providence I love;
And in Thy mighty will to find
The joy,
the
freedom of the mind!
In 1 Corinthians 2and 3,
Paul explains that there are four kinds of people:
the natural man (1 Corinthians 2:14),
the spiritual man (1 Corinthians 2:15),
infants in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1),
and the fleshly person (1 Corinthians 3:3)
The natural man
will not receive or accept the things of God,
because he considers them to be foolishness
(1 Corinthians 2:14).
While the
natural man can have a
factual understanding
of the words he hears,
he can’t judge them accurately because
those judgments
are spiritual in nature
In contrast, the spiritual man judges all things
(1 Corinthians 2:15)
That is, he is able to
discern or evaluate properly
the things of God
because they
are spiritually perceived
The ingredient the natural man is missing--
and the spiritual man has—is the mind of Christ
(1 Corinthians 2:16)
The mature believer in Christ is the spiritual man,
made alive and
possessing a new way of thinking
The spiritual man judges all things
because he now has the mind of Christ.
The natural man perceives
the things of God to be foolishness
and refuses to have the thinking of Christ
Infants in Christ
(1 Corinthians 3:1)
are those who are newly born again.
They have just come to know Christ
and are only now beginning to learn about
the things of God.
Consequently, they might look like a fleshly person at times,
not utilizing
the mind of Christ in their own thinking.
While the infant has been newly born and has a new spirit,
he has not yet learned to judge all things
or to use the thinking of Christ that now belongs to him
The fleshly person (1 Corinthians 3:3) often acts like an infant,
only without the built-in excuse. Infants are expected to behave
like infants because that is what they are.
The fleshly person, or carnal person,
has not grown as he should have.
He should have moved on
past infancy and grown to maturity,
but his growth has been stunted.
Paul chastises the Corinthians
because they are thinking and behaving like fleshly people
(1 Corinthians 3:3)
when they should be thinking like the spiritual man
who judges or discerns all things.
They were walking like mere men
rather than
like those who have the
mind of Christ.
This immaturity was inexcusable
and showed up in their thinking and behavior.
They were going beyond what was written in Scripture, becoming
arrogant and judging wrongly
(1 Corinthians 4:6)
They were judging so poorly
that they were engaging in
appalling
immorality, and, instead of mourning,
they were arrogant about it
(1 Corinthians 5:1–2)
The spiritual man judges all things,
but “but is himself to be judged by no one”
(1 Corinthians 2:15)
In other words, the man with the
Spirit of God is able to discern
the things of God
in a way that the natural (unsaved) man cannot.
At the same time,
the spiritual person
is misunderstood by the natural man.
Those without the Spirit cannot appreciate or
fully comprehend
the spiritual man’s motives, worldview, or character.
The spiritual man has the mind or the thinking of Christ,
and that is a
mystery to those who do not know Christ.
