[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 315-Acts 4-6; Matthew 2 summary!]
Numbers 14 offers us one of the best examples of what happens when people lose faith in God and make their own decisions. Hearing the report of the ten spies who said the Promised Land was impossible to overtake, the people cried all night. They decided to elect new leaders and go back to Egypt. Moses and Aaron fell face down before God and interceded for the people. God responded by telling Moses He was going to destroy the people and start a new nation from him. Can you imagine being told you and your family are going to be the source of a new nation? Moses’ response was not, “Yes!!!” He pleaded with God to spare the Israelites. He even told God the Egyptians would say God was not able to lead His people.” The LORD agreed with Moses, but the consequence of the disobedience was significant: the ten spies who gave the bad report died of a plague. The rest of the Israelites who had said they wouldn’t go into the land, were banned from ever going into it. Those twenty years and older were told they would die in the wilderness. The response was predictable: they all decided to go up and try to enter the land. They were immediately pushed back. The quick lesson here is when you don’t like what God tells you to do, don’t vote against it–do it anyway.
Numbers 15 offers us a step away from the wilderness wanderings and presents some additional commands regarding offering sacrifices to God. One significant detail in the commands is at the end we are told those who brazenly disobey God’s commands cannot offer a sacrifice to be forgiven but are to be cut off from the people. The chapter concludes with the example of a man who broke the Sabbath. The penalty was death. Wow! God was serious about having His laws obeyed. While we’re grateful Jesus died and rose again to pay the penalty for our sins, and to give us new lives, we must remember Jesus died to forgive our sins and rose to empower us to live in victory over them. Jesus isn’t simply our “get out of jail free card,” so we can sin as much as we want, but He offers us new lives, so we will live in the freedom and victory of the Holy Spirit.
Numbers 16-17 records the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. They were Levites who thought Moses and Aaron held too much power. The ensuing “battle” between these three and their clans, and Moses and Aaron gave God another opportunity to tell Moses He was going to destroy all the people. Once again, Moses, this time joined by Aaron, interceded for the people. God destroyed only Korah, Dathan, Abiram, their families and the 250 others who rebelled against God. At the conclusion of this demonstration of God’s preference for Moses and Aaron, the people continued to complain, so God sent a plague. Moses and Aaron once again interceded, but 14,700 Israelites died before God ended the plague. Finally, Moses had the leaders of each of the tribes bring a staff to him. These were placed in the Tabernacle overnight with Aaron’s staff. The next morning Aaron’s staff had budded with almond blossoms, another clear demonstration of God’s presence with Aaron and Moses and selection of them as leaders. This quieted the people for a time, and they could move on in their wilderness wanderings until this faithless generation died.
The Israelites of this era show us how difficult it is for human beings to be convinced of God’s presence and power. They saw the LORD’s work firsthand, and yet they complained, rebelled, and disobeyed. This is a short course in human history to the present day. I don’t write that statement to judge us, but rather to observe how seldom we offer God the worship and praise He deserves, how seldom we live in obedience to Him. As we go about this day, may we put God first, so others around us will see His presence and power and give Him glory!
John 8 is filled with Jesus’ proclamations of Himself as God and Messiah, and of the religious leaders arguing and debating those proclamations. It starts with an encounter between Jesus and some religious leaders who brought to Him a woman caught in the act of adultery. (While many of the earliest Greek manuscripts of the New Testament don’t have this account, the interaction is consistent with Jesus’ manner of teaching and acting.) Jesus’ response to the men, when they told Him Moses’ law required the woman to be stoned to death, was they were right, so the one who had never sinned could throw the first stone. We’re told they walked away from the oldest to the youngest. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized why the order–oldest to youngest. The older we are, the more certain we become of our imperfections. Sometimes in our youthful zeal, we can forget our flaws, but not so as we mature. When everyone had walked away, Jesus asked the woman where her accusers were. She said no one had condemned her. Jesus’ response was amazing, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin.” Jesus freed her, but He didn’t release her from the obligation of a holy life. What a reminder for us all! We are free from our sins, and the freedom is given so we can live a godly and holy life, not a life of licentiousness.
After the encounter, we read an extensive interaction between Jesus and the religious leaders. Jesus told them He is the light of the world, that the truth will set them free, that they are of their father the devil and that “before Abraham was, I am.” Any one of those statements is the source for a long discussion and can be applied to bring transformation to us. All of them together point out Jesus was no ordinary human being. He is God. Such statements made it impossible for the religious leaders to remain neutral. They had to accept or condemn Jesus. How sad that they let their preconceptions rule rather than Jesus’ words and life. He backed up what He said through how He lived. What an important reminder to us as we continue to read these accounts each day–it is impossible to remain neutral toward Jesus. His claims won’t allow it. He is either a liar, a lunatic or Lord. We must choose, and then our choice dictates how we live. After all, as Jesus said, when we know the truth, the truth sets us free!
Day 315-Acts 4-6; Matthew 2
Acts 4 records the conclusion of Peter and John’s healing of the lame beggar. It caused such a stir that the Jewish religious leaders had them arrested and put in jail overnight. Then they brought Peter and John before them to examine them for what they had done. We’re told Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit before he responded. This is a vital point, because Jesus promised that when we are brought before the authorities for His sake, His Spirit will tell us what to say. In any case, Peter’s response is classic. He tells the Jewish leaders that if they are being brought to trial for a good deed done to a crippled man (interesting point to put on the matter!), the explanation is simple: the miracle was done in the name of Jesus. Peter went on to say there is no other name under heaven given among us by which we must be saved. The religious leaders wanted to punish Peter and John, but they couldn’t deny a great miracle had been done, so they warned them not to preach any more in Jesus’ name, and then let them go. The two went back to the rest of the believers and testified to what God had done among them. Then the cried out to God and prayed for…boldness! We might have thought they would have prayed for protection, but it was boldness for which they asked.
In Acts 5 we read the sobering account of a couple named Ananias and Sapphira who sold some property and brought a portion of the proceeds to the apostles, but said it was everything. As a result they DIED. Yes, they died. They didn’t die, because they didn’t bring a 100% of the proceeds of the sale to the apostles. They died for lying about what portion they brought. We’re told this brought fear to the church. The apostles continued to perform incredible miracles in Jesus’ name, and eventually they were all brought before the Jewish religious leaders again and punished for their activities. Nevertheless, they continued to live powerfully in Jesus’ name.
In Acts 6, we read of one of the first problems in the early church: the Hellenistic or Gentile widows weren’t being treating equally in the distribution of food. When the problem was brought to the apostles, they didn’t say it wasn’t a problem, but they did say they wouldn’t be solving it themselves. They weren’t going to give up their ministry of prayer and devotion to the Word of God to “wait tables.” The solution was to select what we call “deacons,” who were godly men to take care of the situation. The result was the church was strengthened, and even a number of Jewish priests became obedient to the faith. At the close of Acts 6, Stephen, one of the deacons, is arrested by the Jews and put on trial for his faith. We’ll read the conclusion of the matter tomorrow.
As we return to Matthew 2, we read of the coming of the wise men to see Jesus, and the slaughter of the babies and toddlers who were two years of age and under in and around Bethlehem by King Herod. The slaughter was Herod’s effort to kill Jesus, and to stop Him from ever threatening his throne. Jesus escaped this attempt, because an angel appeared to Joseph and led him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt. Thus, Jesus spent His early years as a refugee in Egypt. When Herod died, an angel to Joseph to return to Israel, but because another Herod was ruling, Joseph moved the family to Nazareth in northern Israel.