Let me tell you a story. It is THE story to beat all other stories. We figure in it but we are merely bit players. There are two major characters and the story is about the conflict between these two. 

Many, many years ago (no one really knows how long) Hashem decided to create a kingdom. He would be the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, to whom honor and glory would belong forever and ever Amen.[1] To this end He created, not only the universe, but living creatures to populate it. 

[1] 1 Timothy 1:17

He began by creating supernatural beings; creatures of fantastic beauty, power, and wisdom that we call angels. These creatures have bodies, but they are not like ours. They are able to change their form at will and not be recognized for one thing.[1] However, when they are seen in their natural form, they are fearsome to behold! Most people drop like dead people simply out of fright!.[2] They are greater in might and power than us right now and we should be very respectful of them.[3]

Angels mainly live in heaven. Before you ask, let me say that I do not know for sure where that is; no one does and if they say they do they're either lying or fools. However, angels do come and visit Earth from time to time.[4] When we are good and obedient they sometimes minister to our physical needs[5] or offer protection.[6]

Angels are special guardians and they have been given the responsibility of watching over the children of God.[7] The dark side of this protection is what makes them so frightening, I think. Yahweh's angels also minister to the wicked but it's not the type of ministry we like. To the rebellious they bring destruction,[8] cursing,[9] pestilence,[10] persecution[11] and sudden death.[12]

There are different kinds of angels and they have varying ranks and roles. Some angels are superior to others. There is a hierarchy.[13] No one truly knows how many of them there are, but there are certainly hundreds of millions of them at the very least.[14] 

There are other creatures as well, creatures that are simply too fantastic and bizarre to even comprehend. Some are covered in eyes front and back, that look kind of like winged lions or calves, or possessing only the face of a human or can fly like an eagle.[15] 

[1] Genesis 19:1; Hebrews 13:2
[2] Daniel 8:17-18, 27; 10:5-11; Matthew 28:2-5; Luke 1:12; Acts 10:3-4
[3] 2 Peter 2:11; 1 Corinthians 11:10
[4] Genesis 19:1
[5] 1 Kings 19:5-8
[6] Psalm 91:9-12; 2 Kings 6:14-17
[7] Psalm 34:7; Daniel 6:21-22
[8] Genesis 19:1, 9-13
[9] Judges 5:23
[10] 2 Samuel 24:15-17
[11] Psalm 35:5-6; 1 Samuel 16:23
[12] Acts 12:23
[13] Isaiah 6:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Peter 3:22; Jude 1:9; Revelation 12:7; Daniel 10:12-13
[14] Daniel 7:10; Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 5:11
[15] Revelation 4:6-8

However, you also have more mundane creatures - like you and me; humans; with our tiny, weak bodies and puny brains. Still, God put us in charge of this one planet and told us to take care of it for Him.[1] I don't know about you but I don't think we're doing a very good job!

God in heaven, man on earth, and angels running back and forth. That's the way it was SUPPOSED to be, but there is only One Who is good and He's neither human nor angel. The problem began among the angels. 

[1] Genesis 1:26-28;Psalm 8:3-9

Remember I said that there were all kinds of angels and some were superior to others? There was this one angel by the name of Lucifer. Shining, Morning Star, isn't that a beautiful name? He was the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Every kind of precious stone covered him, carnelian, topaz and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and emerald. He was an anointed guardian cherub who lived on the mountain of God and walked among the fiery stones.[1] He was absolutely stunning and perfect - until he fell. 

What caused the change in him? I do not know. All that the Spirit has chosen to reveal is that one day Lucifer declared,  

• Isaiah 14:13-14 HCSB  ..."I will ascend to the heavens; I will set up my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the gods' assembly, in the remotest parts of the North.  (14) I will ascend above the highest clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."
  

His sin was apparently the sin of conceit.[2] God resists the proud but draws near to the humble[3] and as soon as that arrogance made itself apparent, God resisted Lucifer. He changed Lucifer's name to "Satan", which means "adversary". 

[1] Ezekiel 28:12-14
[2] 1 Timothy 3:6
[3] James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5

Rather than repent and yield, Lucifer attempted to wage war and in the process took many angels down with him. We don't know how many joined him, but some believe that as many as 1/3 of heaven's angels got caught up in his wickedness.[1]

He set himself up as a little king[2] and (being a supernatural creature) established his primary residence in the Earth's atmosphere.[3] Satan did not lose all of his intelligence in his fall, and he carefully organized his hosts[4] and gave them certain areas over which they had jurisdiction.[5] 

These fallen angels are the creatures we now call "demons". Though there are many of them, and they are powerful, remember that many, many more angels remained faithful to the Lord God and are supported by His might. Remember, when you are tempted to fear them more than you should, that our angels cast these pitiful creatures out of heaven. 

One of Yahweh's titles is Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts. The Son of God is the Commander of the Lord's Army[6] and can, at a moment's notice, call on more than twelve legions of angels.[7] 

Not content with creating havoc in heaven, Satan confirmed his foolishness with continued rebellion. He hardened his heart, moved from the sin of conceit, to open rebellion, then to lying. Because of what he did next he became known as the Father of Liars.[8] 

[1] Revelation 12:4
[2] Matthew 12:24-26
[3] Ephesians 2:2
[4] Ephesians 6:11
[5] Daniel 10:13
[6] Joshua 5:14-15
[7] Matthew 26:53
[8] John 8:44

God had created mankind to watch over Earth and take care of it. He had placed the first man, named Adam, and placed him in a beautiful garden in the eastern part of a land called Eden.[1] Hashem made beautiful and nutritious trees to grow there, including the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He told Adam "You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die."[2]

God loved Adam very much and knew that it was not good for Adam to be alone. Even though the Lord Himself came walking in the garden in the cool of the evening, He knew that Adam needed others of his kind. So one day, God put Adam to sleep, removed one of his ribs and out of that rib God fashioned woman. When Adam awoke and saw the woman he said "This one, at last, is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh." Her name was Eve because she became the mother of all humanity.[3] 

[1] Genesis 2:8
[2] Genesis 2:16-17
[3] Genesis 3:20

One day Satan came in the guise of a beautiful creature. We call it a serpent but it was not like any serpent you or I know of. It was very cunning, apparently moved upright and when he came speaking to the woman, she was not surprised in the least. Nevertheless, the serpent-creature was an emissary of Satan and he cast doubt on God's good will in the woman's mind.

First he amplified her self-doubt. “Did God really say…” he asked. He didn’t start out with “Well THAT’S a bunch of hokum!” He simply questioned her ability to understand God’s Word, something we all struggle with. However God tells us, "This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach.”[1]

Then he questioned Hashem’s care. “God knows…you’ll be like gods.” Humans often have ulterior motives but just because we do, this doesn’t mean that God does. Every generous act and every perfect gift is from Heaven’s throne, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning.[2]

Once he’d sown the seed of self-doubt and questioned God’s motives, the serpent wasted no time in flat out denying God’s word. “You will not die” he glibly said, and like every good con man smoothly segued into the substitution, “This fruit will make you wise!”

You see, the Devil usually tempts us with something good. Who wouldn’t want to be wise? Who wouldn’t see the benefit of loving our children or maintaining our health? The problem is that he usually offers a shortcut or a substitute for the real way.

He’ll tempt with, “sleep with this person and you’ll be happy” or “lie about this error and you’ll get to keep your job.” There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be happy or to have a job. What’s wrong is the supposed shortcut! The devil’s shortcuts are always dead ends!

Eve then made three huge theological mistakes in a row! She subtracted from God’s word, omitting the word “freely”,[3] then she added, “or touch it” and then to top it off she changed some, saying “or you will die” instead of “you will certainly die”. She substituted motor oil for olive oil and wondered why the recipe turned out wrong!

Satan wants you to think he’s got a better way but God’s commands are not burdensome.[4] Satan wants you to think he’s looking out for your interests but it’s God that wants to share joy with you.[5] Stick with the original – stick with the best – accept no substitute.

So Eve failed to heed God's warning and fell for the lust of the flesh (she considered the tree's fruit good for food), the lust of the eyes (she saw three tree was delightful to look at), the pride of life (she thought it would make her wise like God).[6]

Just like Satan, she was not content to sin alone, but gave some to her husband Adam who stood nearby. At that moment, they died. Their bodies continued moving and their minds were still thinking and dreaming, but they lost much of their previous glory and the clock began ticking. They began dying. Ever since then, every human has begun dying from the moment they are conceived.  

[1] Deuteronomy 30:11
[2] James 1:17
[3] Genesis 2:16
[4] 1 John 5:3
[5] Matthew 25:21
[6] 1 John 2:16

A lot has been said about that first human sin. Philosophers often wonder about it, though the average person doesn’t usually give it much thought. But the second sin may, in fact, be more important because we’ll never recover from the first sin as long as we’re guilty of the second. No matter what the sin, no matter the problem, we have a God who has the solution, if only we will avail ourselves of Him. But this second sin renders us incapable of receiving aid. So what is the second sin? It is the sin of passing the buck, shifting the blame.

As we see in this passage, after Adam and Eve sinned, God came (as was His custom) walking in the garden. God, knowing everything and being everywhere simultaneously, knew exactly what they had done, but He came looking for them anyway. He even tried to give them the chance to own up to their sin. I am firmly convinced that if they had simply “fessed up” and repented, He would have forgiven and rehabilitated them. Why am I so convinced? Because Humanity’s long and sordid history is full of stories of God seeking us out to forgive us and restore us to fellowship. But Adam and Eve didn’t repent. They didn’t confess. They blamed others. And because they would not take personal responsibility for their sin, they blocked God’s forgiving powers.

This is the very essence of the unpardonable sin. People always ask what the unpardonable sin is. It is not suicide. It is described as the “sin against the Holy Spirit.”[1] Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit “never has forgiveness”.[2] What exactly is the Holy Spirit’s role? What does the Spirit do that we could blaspheme against? Christ tells us that the Spirit’s role is to testify about Christ Himself.[3] This gives us our clue. The Holy Spirit constantly points toward the atoning work of Christ; always speaks of the Son and directs us to accept His Lordship. Since it is only through the finished work of Christ that we may receive forgiveness, refusing the Spirit’s message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ means you are refusing forgiveness.

One last word on this – notice that Adam was even brazen enough to blame God for his own sin! “The woman YOU GAVE ME” he said. If you harden yourself against the gentle whispers of the Holy Spirit about your sinful condition and about the source of your salvation, you will end up even blaming God for your own sin.[4] Then, not even God Himself can help you. 

[1] Matthew 12:31
[2] Mark 3:28-29
[3] John 15:26
[4] James 1:13

Death now stalked the highways and byways. Over time, with increased mutations, and the added consequences of further sin, our lives grew ever shorter. Natural death was not all we faced. The yetzer hara increased our covetousness and paranoia to the point where we killed each other in ever increasing numbers with ever increasing efficiency.

God placed the blame for the fall firmly on Adam.[1] Eve was deceived by the serpent but Adam, the one who had actually heard the command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, apparently entered into the sin willfully[2] and thus bears the lion's share of the responsibility.

We are told that the sins of the father are passed on to the following generations.[3] I think that it is interesting that the Old Covenant reveals Yahweh as being obsessed with genetics, that there is a historical burden of male aggression and that the only man born without a biological father is the only man who was sinless. Though He was tempted in every way like us (yet without sinning) Jesus was not born with an inherent sin nature.[4] 

There were physical consequences to their sin. All nature "groans"[5] and struggles with weeds, thorns and thistles.[6] Human life-spans were considerably shortened. Birth now came with pain.[7] In a sense they began struggling with weeds in their bodies too. Cancers and diseases arose. Irradiation created free radicals that damaged their skin, hair and cellular structure.  

[1] Romans 5:12
[2] 1 Timothy 2:14
[3] Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18
[4] Hebrews 4:15
[5] Romans 8:19
[6] Genesis 3:18
[7] Genesis 3:16

There were now two camps. God’s and Satan’s. We were not caught in the middle. We are all born in Satan’s[1] and eventually choose to remain there. Some of us even do a lot of his dirty work.[2] We are all guilty of both inherent and volitional sin. We are rebels.[3] We have defiantly risen in arms against our rightful ruler. We deserve death for our crimes. We were blinded to the truth by Satan,[4] deceived into believing white was black and truth was false.[5] When we follow Satan, we choose his fate.[6] Thank God He is a merciful King and rather than wipe us out, He chose to begin working to bring order and life back into His kingdom.

For now however, because we abdicated the position of stewardship that Hashem had assigned to us, in effect we handed it over to Satan. When we chose to listen to the "serpent" in the Garden instead of God we gave Lucifer the keys to Earth’s kingdom. Instead of a theocracy we now live in a satanocracy. Satan is the now the prince of this world.[7] It’s important to note that when Satan tried to tempt the Messiah with the gift of all the kingdoms of the world,[8] Yeshua did not rebuke him for trying to give what was not his to give.

In fact Satan and his angelic hosts have the world so completely under their dominion that Paul called them “the rulers…the authorities…the world powers of this darkness…the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens”[9] and “the god of this age” who has “blinded the minds of the unbelievers”.[10] John said the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.[11]

Consider what Satan promised us.

• Genesis 3:4-5 HCSB  "No! You will not die," the serpent said to the woman.  (5)  "In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
  

He promised life, knowledge and godlike status. What did we get for listening to him? Death,[12] ignorant, darkened minds,[13] and slavery.[14] What fools our ancestors were! What fools we all have been to listen and give credence to the Father of lies! 

[1] 2 Corinthians 6:14-15
[2] Job 1:9-15, 17; Luke 22:3-6; John 8:37, 40, 44, 59; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; 1 John 3:12
[3] Ephesians 2:1
[4] 2 Corinthians 4:4
[5] 2 Corinthians 11:14-15
[6] Matthew 13:40-42; 25:41; Revelation 20:10, 15)
[7] John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11
[8] Luke 4:5-6
[9] Ephesians 6:12
[10] 2 Corinthians 4:4
[11] 1 John 5:19
[12] Romans 6:23
[13] Romans 1:21-22
[14] Romans 6:6, 16-23

So now the conflagration that had begun in heaven, had penetrated Eden's Garden, and was now spilling out into the rest of the world.[1] It was like a dark stain spreading over Yeshua’s beautiful creation.

You may ask yourself, “Why would Yahweh allow this tragedy to occur? Either He is good and wants to fix it but is impotent or He is omnipotent and able to fix it but is unwilling to alleviate the suffering.” The answer is neither. He is both good and omnipotent. He has already taken steps to ensure the successful outcome of this war and is working even as we speak.

Think about Adam and Eve’s decision in the garden. Yahweh gave them a free will. They were not robots. They were not little Stepford wives, forced to say the right things and giving a semblance of affection. Yet what good is a free will if there is no real choice? That would be like old Mr. Ford who, in regard to his cars said, “the customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”

God gave Adam and Eve a free will and placed a simple decision in front of them in the form of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God allows Satan only a limited range of movement[2] and He uses Satan in spite of the dark angels’ best efforts.[3] 

[1] Revelation 12:7, 13, 17; Ephesians 6:10-12
[2] Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6
[3] Job 42:12

Do you remember that I said that the fact that the problem began among the angels would have an impact on our ultimate role in the universe? Do you remember that I said that though Eve ate the fruit first, God placed the blame on Adam because he was the one who got it “straight from the horse’s mouth” so to speak and he apparently entered the sin willfully while Eve had been deceived? Let me tie those two things together for you.

Yeshua said that much is required of everyone who has been given much and even more will be expected of those who have been entrusted even more.[1] Adam knew more than Eve. He had been the one to whom the command to not eat the fruit of the tree had been given. Eve got it second-hand from Adam. So even though she ate first, Adam got the blame, and became the sin-carrier.

Who knew more about God than the angels who lived in heaven? Who among the angels knew more than Lucifer who stood directly in Adonai’s presence? Paul told us that one day, in spite of their power and glory, we puny humans would be put in charge of the angels.[2] As King David put it:

• Psalms 8:3-6 HCSB  When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You set in place,  (4)  what is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him?  (5)  You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor.  (6)  You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet:
  

Now we know why we will be eventually in charge of the angels. It’s because the problem of sin began among them and because they knew more than we the true nature of God and yet they fell anyway. 

[1] Luke 12:48
[2] 1 Corinthians 6:3

Fortunately for us, though Yahweh Elohim will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion and sin.[1] He is gracious to whom He will be gracious and He will have compassion on those whom He decides to have compassion.[2] Isn’t it wonderful that He decided to have compassion on all humanity,[3] making salvation and acquittal for our sins available to anyone, whether they be Jews or Gentiles? Even when the wicked perish in their sins, it’s not because God takes any pleasure in it.[4]

He didn’t wait around to let us know that there was yet hope. As soon as Adam and Eve messed up, God came looking for them. He came walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze and called out “Where are you?” knowing full well exactly where they were. He was doing what He has continued doing to this very day, asking each man and woman where they are in relation to Him.

Even as he spelled out the consequences of their sin; physical deformity, loss of relationship with God, nature and even other humans, cursed soil, hard labor, pain in child labor, broken inter-gender relationships; the very first thing he communicated, before all the curses, was the hope of a coming Messiah. As He cursed the Devil and the serpent he rode in on, Hashem said,

• Genesis 3:15 HCSB  I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
  

A man was to come. A man “born of woman.” Interesting turn of the phrase don’t you think, considering how things turned out a few thousand years later? Though the devil would manage to hurt the coming seed, the man would deal a killing blow to the devil. Theologians call this promise the protoevangelium–or first gospel because these words spoken by God contain the first promise of redemption in the Bible. Everything else in the Bible flows from Yahweh’s words in Genesis 3:15. As the acorn contains the mighty oak, so these words contain the entire plan of salvation.

Lucifer had tried to raise himself up to the throne of God and had been struck down. He had tried to usurp humanity’s authority on earth, only to have death blow dealt before he could even get started. This didn’t stop Lucifer from trying. This doesn’t stop him from having tremendous power even to this very day – but we know the end of the story. We know it’s a doomed, defeated effort. The chicken’s head has already been chopped off. It’s just running around in its death throes. 

[1] Exodus 34:6-7
[2] Exodus 33:19
[3] 2 Peter 3:9
[4] Ezekiel 18:23, 32

There’s this little principle in life called “odd symmetry.” God made sure that the universe ran in such a way that what goes around comes around. On the negative side, those who set traps, fall victim to their own traps. Those who try to harm are themselves harmed.[1] On the other hand, those who bless are themselves blessed.[2] The bright, sunny side of this principle would be called by most the “Golden Rule” – do to others as you would have them do to you. The dark, scary side of this principle would be called “Lex Talionis”. You may be more familiar with the term “law of retaliation” or “law reciprocity”. If you kill a man’s animal, you owe him an animal of equal value. If you take his life, on the other hand, ah! There we have a problem. The whole Lex Talionis part of the universe is actually quite clearly spelled out in the Torah: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.[3]

We should have read the fine print before we went on a sinning spree. Do you remember God’s warning? “On the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”[4] We didn’t bring death only upon ourselves. We brought death to the world in the form of the curse. Even as Yahweh helped us with some of the consequences of our sins, animals died.

• Genesis 3:21 HCSB  The LORD God made clothing out of skins for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.
  

Where do you think those clothes came from? It didn’t take long for this deadliness to spread. Almost immediately Cain killed his brother Abel in the first religious war[5] and shortly thereafter Lamech killed a man for wounding him and a boy for striking him.[6] 

[1] Proverbs 1:18-19; 5:22; 11:6; 12:13; 13:8; 18:12; 19:19; 20:17; 21:7; 26:27; 28:10 etc.
[2] Genesis 12:3; 27:29; Numbers 22:6; 24:9; Deuteronomy 15:10, 18; 24:19 etc.
[3] Leviticus 24:17-21; Exodus 21:23-25; Deuteronomy 19:16-21
[4] Genesis 3:17
[5] Genesis 4:3-8
[6] Genesis 4:23

What to do? All this death and cursing spreading like a cancer over Hashem’s beautiful creation and yet in His compassion for us He didn’t really want to kill us all. Yet life demands life and blood demands blood. So, in anticipation of the ultimate solution that would be brought by the “serpent crushing Seed of woman” Yahweh initiated a sacrificial system. If man sinned, he could bring the best of his flock, sacrifice it and have his sins forgiven.

It sounds silly to our modern ears but think about it. The alternative was killing any human for any sin. The animal was going to die anyway. It was, after all, raised for food. And it allowed man to be confronted with the awful consequences of his sin. It ground into his thick skull that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death.

It’s like this. When I was young I learned that God is holy. The definition given to me was that God could not tolerate sin and that sin was destroyed in His presence. I also learned that God was omnipresent which means He’s everywhere. In fact, because He’s transcendent, He’s not only everywhere in this universe but He exceeds the boundaries of the universe. The universe is in Him.[1] My problem was this: if God’s presence destroys sin and He’s everywhere and I’m sinful…where am I? The answer is that although sin must be destroyed, it doesn’t have to be destroyed immediately.

God would deal with sin at its very root at some point but for now He set up a bloody system that would cost us both financially and emotionally. Part of the mission was to slow us down in our sin binges. Part of the mission was to teach us and prepare us for the ultimate solution – the Messiah to come.

In military jargon this is called a delaying operation; an operation in which one trades space for time by slowing down the enemy’s momentum and inflicting maximum damage on the enemy without becoming decisively engaged. The war was on and God, ever the grand strategist, was playing for the long game. 

[1] Acts 17:28

If you or I had God’s power we’d probably simply crush all opposition in one fell swoop. Or we’d erase the universe, leaving no memory of it in anyone’s mind, and start over. Or we’d leave this universe to spiral to its own destruction citing “they made their bed, let them lay in it.” We’d do this because though we might have Yahweh’s omnipotence, we’d lack His omniscience, wisdom, and compassion. God’s a complex creature.

He had this to say for Himself:

• Isaiah 45:5-7 HCSB I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God but Me. I will strengthen you, though you do not know Me, so that all may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is no one but Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
  

There is a lot of talk in the modern American church about God being Love. Obviously, the Bible agrees[1], but the problem begins when we think that is ALL He is. Do you love only? Do you hate completely? Is any person truly that simple?

All human psychology is based on the complex interactions of multiple factors[2]. We instinctively know that certain physiological imperatives drive us almost as much as our subconscious impulses and conscious schemas.

We ascribe complexity to ourselves, yet simplicity to a Person Who has lived so much longer than we[3] that to address Him as ‘Attiq Yomin (the Ancient One)[4] is almost ludicrous!

It’s as though we have looked at Sunday school pictures of a long-haired, white, blue-eyed Jesus for so long that we have begun to think He actually is that one-dimensional!

God is love. But God also hates,[5] and commands us to hate - evil.[6] 

God rejoices over the salvation of even a single sinner.[7] But He is also enraged by injustice[8] and stubborn, willful sin.[9]

God is patient.[10] But that patience can come to an end. If we stubbornly turn our backs on Him, become stiff-necked and refuse to listen, He will turn us over to the Destroyer.[11]

He wants nothing but goodness and life for us,[12] but He will make us sick and even kill us if He thinks that’s what’s best for us.[13]

Jesus came as a Suffering Servant[14] but that role is now over. God has exalted His Son above all others[15] and any day now, He will return as King of kings and Lord of lords.[16]

God declares that His Lordship is demonstrated in the fact that He creates both light and darkness, success and disaster.[17] Therefore, a correct understanding of God’s sovereignty leads us to believe that even the calamities of life can be laid at God’s feet[18] because nothing happens that He does not allow.[19]

God is not some one-dimensional, pastel picture hanging on a wall. He is loving and fearsome, patient and curt, comforting and crushing. We do not need to defend Him. He does not need “spin doctors.” We should not slant our testimony – even in what we think is His favor.[20] We must choose to love Him as He is,[21] in all His glorious complexity, or not to love Him at all.

[1] Jeremiah 31:3; John 3:16; Romans 5:5, 8; Ephesians 5:2; 1 John 4:16
[2] Jeremiah 17:9
[3] Deuteronomy 32:40; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Nehemiah 9:5; Job 36:26; Psalm 90:1-2; 93:2; Isaiah 44:6
[4] Daniel 7:21-22
[5] Isaiah 61:8; Jeremiah 44:4; Zechariah 8:17; Revelation 2:6, 15
[6] Amos 5:15
[7] Luke 15:7
[8] Isaiah 61:8
[9] John 3:36; Romans 1:18; 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 2:16
[10] Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18; Psalm 103:8-10; Isaiah 48:9; Ezekiel 20:17; Joel 2:13
[11] Nehemiah 9:28-31; Proverbs 1:24-27; 29:1; Matthew 24:48-51
[12] John 10:10
[13] 1 Corinthians 5:5; 11:27-30
[14] Philippians 2:7-8
[15] Philippians 2:9-11
[16] Revelation 19:11-16
[17] Isaiah 31:2 cp 47:10-11
[18] Amos 3:6
[19] Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6
[20] Job 13:7-12
[21] Romans 1:21

If it helps, think of God as a stream of water. What is more simple than pure water running over a creek bed? Yet, think of the ways that water can find paths over, through, and under any obstacle. What is softer and more yielding than water? Yet, it’s inexorable relentlessness can wear down mountains.

God is simple in the fact that He has a single purpose (everlasting life and joy for all)[1] and He does not change.[2] God is complex in that He is not one-dimensional and He knows many ways to achieve His simple goals.

Such a God would develop a simple and yet complex strategy; a strategy that would attack the problem at multiple levels and have varying time-frames; changing the pace, timing, and rhythm of the battle; keeping the enemy’s efforts off-kilter. There would be the clean lines of grand, unified strategy, with the messy, quasi-biological and amazingly rugged complexity of guerrilla warfare. This is exactly what we see when we look back over the course of history.

God told us that there would be an ultimate weapon coming and that that weapon would take the form of a woman’s child. How amazing is that! Yet, He did not simply make us wait for that Messiah. He began acting immediately against Satan’s forces. The angels aligned themselves against the demonic forces[3] and anyone who surrendered to God and left the rebel camp to ally themselves with Him found Him to be a gracious conqueror. Rather than put us in prison (which is what we deserve) or force us into slavery (which would still be gracious considering what we deserve) He chose to give us Ezrach’ – citizenship in God’s kingdom and membership in His blessed and holy family.[4] 

[1] Matthew 19:29; John 1:4; 3:15-16, 36; 4:14; 5:21, 24; 6:33, 47; 10:10; 2 Peter 3:9
[2] Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17
[3] Daniel 10:20; Revelation 12:7
[4] Deuteronomy 30:6 (cp Jeremiah 31:31-34); 1 Chronicles 29:15;  Ezekiel 11:19-21; 36:25-27; Hosea 3:23; Matthew 3:7-12; Luke 19:9; John 1:12-13; 8:31-32; Romans 2:27-29; 9:22-33;  Galatians 3:6-9, 28-29; Ephesians 2:11-19; James 1:26-27; 2:8, 20, 23-24, 26; 1 Peter 1:17

We get to take off our filthy rags[1] and dress in robes of righteousness.[2] Then we are to go and put on our armor.[3] Since our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens, our armor is obviously not going to entail Kevlar and nylon. No – to fight spiritual forces one must have spiritual armor like truth, righteousness, zeal, faith, and salvation. We’ve been given one offensive weapon, one “sword” if you will, and that’s the Holy Scriptures. It’s referred to as the Spirit’s Sword because when its words enter the minds of humans, the Spirit amplifies and underscores them, counteracting the Father of Lies’ best efforts.

God could have chosen to take us immediately out of this world but then who would spread the word of liberty[4] to the other slaves. We are like sheep trying to live in a wolf den.[5]

We must work with the children of darkness because we are living deep in enemy territory. Like guerrilla fighters, we seek to initiate friendships with the populace in the hopes that they will join us in the fight against the adversary. We practice good works among them, first in the hopes that they will listen to what we have to say; second, to frustrate our enemy and push his efforts back to the very gates of hell.

In this spiritual war, we must be flexible, tactical, strategic, and quick. We must not allow ourselves to flinch at the task before us. Most of all, we must choose our associations carefully. As David said elsewhere, “I am a friend to all who fear You, to those who keep Your precepts.”[6] We need to not fight amongst ourselves. There’s plenty of enemy to go around. There’s a huge war with monster logistical problems (we are to reach the whole world after all) and we have little time left. 

[1] Isaiah 64:6
[2] Revelation 6:11
[3] Ephesians 6:10-18
[4] Galatians 5:1, 13; James 2:12, 16
[5] Matthew 10:16
[6] Psalm 119:63

A long time ago, God called on a man named Moses and told him to reach out to people and bring them from the shackles of slavery out into freedom. Moses asked the Lord “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” God’s answer was telling. He showed Moses how to do great works.

We are similarly called and may struggle from time to time with the same question. How can I get blind people to see the light? How can I get deaf ears to hear the call of God upon their lives?

To us Hashem replies

• Isaiah 58:6-8a HCSB Isn't the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and to not ignore your own flesh and blood? Then your light will appear like the dawn, and your recovery will come quickly. 
  

Recently a young man, bound in chains of sin and blinded by bitter lonely tears, opened fire and killed 32 people at Virginia Tech. While the VT incident was tragic and should not be minimized, I am alarmed by those who are making snap judgments as to whom or what is responsible. There is a tendency to do this when calamities occur because such crimes are so horrifying that the mind seeks a quick and simple resolution. We must be careful to jump to the right conclusions. As terrible as the VT massacre was, it is only a small taste of evil’s full capabilities.

There have been calls by some to ban the weapon used in the VT massacre. Yet, to think that we will be able to disable evil from committing these kinds of terrible crimes by removing a particular weapon is dangerously naïve.

•  In Africa, hundreds of thousands of people have died, largely of machete wounds. 
  

•  Thousands of US citizens died a few years ago when two planes crashed, hijacked by men with box cutters.
  

• Thousands die every year from bombs fabricated largely out of fertilizers.
  

Are we going to outlaw machetes, box cutters, and fertilizer too? While we would be patting ourselves on the back for eliminating a threat, evil would simply be looking for another expedient weapon.

Unfortunately, this simplistic thinking is gaining ground among America’s Christians. We throw money at problems, assuaging our ill-conceived guilt over where we happened to be born, without truly effecting changes because we deal with symptoms rather than offer cures.

Evil is cunning. Evil is maliciously intelligent. Evil people love what they do. They are passionate about their sin. They are driven by greed, self-entitlement, or rage to hurry toward their crimes. They cannot sleep until they have done their evil deed for the day. They cannot rest unless they have caused someone to stumble. They eat wickedness and drink violence.[1]

The only true cure for evil is active, potent, in-your-face goodness.[2] The world needs to be introduced to hope.[3] They need to know that they can have a right relationship with the Father by bowing their knee to their rightful King.[4]

They need to see the tzaddikim steadily working for justice[5] – each taking one other person by the hand and teaching them the Way. Justice won’t come easily. Some people will never yield to righteousness, just as they refuse the sovereignty of Melek Kavodh.[6] As in any struggle, we will lose a few good people, yet we must continue until the King returns and establishes final justice.[7] 

[1] Proverbs 1:10-16; 4:14-17
[2] Romans 12:21
[3] Matthew 28:19-20
[4] Matthew 11:27; 28:18; John 5:22, 27; Acts 28:18
[5] Proverbs 28:5
[6] King of Glory; Psalm 24:7
[7] Revelation 2:27; 19:15

As we’ve seen, snakes have long been a problem for humans. A cunning, articulate snake was our undoing in the Garden of Eden. [1] In the Negev, poisonous snakes (probably the saw-scale viper) were sent as a judgment against the people of Israel’s grumbling.[2]

Isaiah referred twice[3] to “flying” or fleeing[4] serpents as part of a description of judgment or devastation. He then predicted that on the Day of the Lord Yahweh would bring judgment on THE fleeing, twisting serpent with a harsh, great, and strong sword.[5]

John described a war in heaven; a tremendous battle fought between Michael and his angels and a dragon.[6] The dragon may have his own angels but will not be allowed to prevail. One of the consequences of his ultimate defeat will be his complete banishment from Heaven. Apparently, Lucifer (who is identified as this Dragon) still has regular access to the heavenly throne room.[7] Jesus said that He watched Satan fall from heaven like a lightning flash[8] so whether Jesus was speaking prophetically (which is my guess) or John was giving historical support for the underlying reason future events would take place – I don’t know.

What I DO know is that the Dragon will eventually lose his heavenly battle. Throughout time he has tried over and over to destroy God’s people. Sometime in the future he will attempt to destroy the nation of Israel but her remnant will be protected from him for three and a half years.[9] In his frustration, the Dragon will turn on the rest of her offspring - those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony about Jesus.[10]

He will empower the Antichrist to the point that the man’s fatal wound will be healed. Because of this, the whole world will follow the false Christ lowing, “Who is like the beast?” Satan will also put his words in the mouth of a false prophet and give him the ability to call down fire from heaven.[11]

Toward the end of his time on earth, the Dragon will, with the connivance of his minions, cause all the kings of the whole world to assemble at Armagedon for the battle of the great day of God, the Almighty.[12] There, at the height of their powers, they will be undone.[13] After the Antichrist and his False Prophet are taken prisoner, the Dragon, that ancient serpent who is the Devil and Satan will be bound for 1,000 years.[14]

He will be released for a short while, and will foolishly try one more time to rebel against Christ’s rightful rule. In spite of an army that looks like the sand of the sea, ironically fire will come down from heaven to consume them[15] and God’s prophecy will come true - the serpent's food will be dust![16] 

[1] Genesis 3:1 cp 2 Corinthians 11:3
[2] Numbers 21:4-9
[3] Isaiah 14:29; 30:6
[4] Strong’s #5774 According to Gesenius the emphasis would be to “fly away” or flee as in Proverbs 26:2; Isaiah 11:14; Habakkuk 1:8; Isaiah 60:8; Psalm 91:5. Think of a serpent slithering away quickly into the brush.
[5] Isaiah 27:1
[6] Revelation 12:7-9
[7] Job 1:6; 2:1
[8] Luke 10:18
[9] Revelation 12:13-16
[10] Revelation 12:17
[11] Revelation 13:2-11
[12] Revelation 16:13-16
[13] Revelation 19:15. Compare that to Revelation 1:16 and Isaiah 27:1
[14] Revelation 20:1-3
[15] Revelation 20:7-9
[16] Genesis 3:14 cp Isaiah 65:25

Nimrod’s name says it all. The name Nimrod comes from the Hebrew verb 'Na-marood' which is translated, "Let us revolt." What mother gives her son such a name?

Nimrod is referred to as a 'mighty one': this phrase derives from the Hebrew word 'gilor' which means "tyrant". Nimrod was not just a powerful man, he was a tyrannical leader of men. He was the son of Cush (also known as Ethiopia).[1] There are all kinds of legends that try to connect Nimrod with one or another historical figure. There is not enough information in the Bible to positively identify Nimrod by another culture’s name. However, it is significant that the prophet Micah referred to Assyria as “the land of Nimrod.”[2] Ancient Assyria roughly finds its modern corollary in Iraq and Iran, long confirmed enemies of Israel and of God’s people.

Why did the Lord take special notice of this mighty hunter? Was it because Nimrod hunted and killed many animals? No. He’s described as “mighty before the Lord” but the Hebrew “paniym”, means to face not in space but as in face against, face in anger, face in battle, face impudently." This seems to indicate something more than Nimrod being a skillful hunter of animals. Rather, it would portray him as blatantly obstinate against God Himself.

He waged battle against God for the loyalty of men. Having hunted them, he would enslave them and have a tyrannical hold over them. And all this was done in direct opposition to the Lord. He rebelliously stood before the Lord with the same Luciferian lust for power that Lucifer had during the attempted Heavenly coup. The spirit of enslavement now had a human vehicle - Nimrod! He not only hunted animals, but he hunted also the very souls of men! He hunted them and enslaved their souls to follow his pernicious ways. 
 
[1] Genesis 10:8-10; 1 Chronicles 1:10)
[2] Micah 5:6

According to Genesis 10:10 Babylon was the first city center started after the Flood. The beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Shinar is today southern Iraq, the alluvial plain south of Baghdad. Shinar is the region, Babylon the city.

The city’s original name was “Babel” which, in Hebrew, means “to confuse”. Obviously, that was not the intent of the founders of that great human city. They preferred the Assyrian meaning which meant “gate of God.”

True to his title of "Nimrod", this grandson of the cursed Ham, has become the source and origin of wickedness, rebellion, and blasphemy throughout the earth. Nimrod had been brought up by Semiramis, an exceptionally clever woman, as a spoilt son, and his mother's darling. He had to have been very intelligent, a cunning man, to have been able to unite all the people around him in such a huge, time consuming, and expensive project. It was under his rule that the Assyrian society discovered:

1. The first use of irrigation in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates for agriculture (This knowledge of building dams and digging canals was carried to Egypt from here).

2. The first extraction of copper.

3. The invention of manufacture of bronze.

4. Invention of sexagesimal system (i.e. Base 60) which divides a circle into 360 degrees, a degree into 60 minutes, and a minute into 60 seconds.

5. The division of the day into 24 hours, each hour to consist of 60 minutes divided into 60 seconds. The new date commences from midnight instead of "Sun Set" as the time of Sun Set varied from day to day.

6. Astronomy.

7. The twelve constellations of the Zodiac.

8. The calculation of the solar year comprising 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 30 seconds. (These ideas were taken to Egypt from here).

9. The division of the solar year into twelve months according to the twelve constellations of the Zodiac.

10. The calculation of the Horoscope based upon the Zodiac.

11. Astrology, palmistry, and forecasting.

12. Making burnt clay bricks for buildings.

13. Mathematical calculations for large buildings, bridges, temples, palaces, and dams.

14. Cuneiform Tablets.

15. Magic, the art of Witchcraft 

Later as he grew up into a fine specimen of the radiance of youth, his mother, the beautiful queen Semiramis made him her husband also in order to maintain the kingly line. Thus, Semiramis was both mother and wife of Nimrod! [1]

Like all tyrants, Nimrod sought to tie religion to politics. Semiramis declared herself to be a goddess and her son Nimrod to be a god. Her veneration has continued for millennia, evolving her into numerous forms[2]. She sparked a whole series of mother and son, Madonna and child religions. She was called the “Mother of God” and the “Queen of Heaven.”

She was even venerated as this “Queen of Heaven” by the people of Israel. Jeremiah had to deal with her[3] and it was to her worship that the people turned when Solomon allowed apostasy to proliferate under his rule[4]. The worshippers of Diana rioted in Ephesus when Paul’s gospel message threatened the sale of her figurines[5] (which is oddly reminiscent of the sale of indulgences, statuary, and scapula).

Do you remember the name of the land, of the kingdom that Nimrod and Semiramis founded? It was called Shinar. Keep Shinar and Semiramis the founder of goddess and son religion in mind and look at what the prophet Zechariah was shown. A basket with a lead covering was shown to him and when the cover was lifted he saw a woman seated inside. The woman was given the name “Wickedness”. She was shoved back down into the basket and the heavy lead weight was placed back over the opening. Two female angels lifted the basket and took it to the land of Shinar to a shrine there. Zechariah was told that at the appropriate time, the woman in her basket would be lifted up and placed on a pedestal.
   
[1] Genesis 10:8-12
[2] Ashtaroth, Aphrodite, Venus, Artemis, Diana, Athena, Minerva, Demeter, Ceres, Gaea, Terra, Hera, Juno, Hestia, Vesta and Rhea
[3] Jeremiah 44:17-19, 25
[4] Judges 10:6 (also, Judges 2:13; 1 Samuel 7:3,4; 12:10; 1 Kings 11:5; 2 Kings 23:13)
[5] Acts 19:24-34

As we’ll see soon, we are not yet done with Semiramis and her false goddess and son religion. 

She’s been present throughout the ages:
Nineveh – Semiramis and Nimrod
Babylonia – Queen of Heaven and Tammuz
Asia – Cybele and Decius
Egypt – Isis and Horus
Greece – Ceres and Babe
Greece – Irene and Plutus
Rome – Fortuna and Jupiter Puer
Scandinavia – Frieda and Thor
India – Eswara and Tsi
Italy – Madonna and child

I have a strange feeling that we’ll be seeing more of her in the future.

After the terrible Flood, Hashem repeated His command to humans: “Be fruitful and multiply, spread out over the earth and multiply in it.”[1] Being generally stupid, we responded, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”[2] Once again we failed to take into consideration God’s omniscience, much less His care and concern for us. He knew that if we were few in number and all located in one central area we might get wiped out by, oh, I don’t know, a BIG FLOOD?!

We got together and decided to build a city and a tower that would reach all the way to heaven.  With all our work and effort the Lord still had to “come down” to see the city and the tower that the people had started building. The Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. Come, let’s go down and confuse their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.”

So the Lord scattered them from there, across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why its name was called Babel – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.[3]

Think about it. We gathered all the humans alive at the time to one valley and put them all to work. We slaved in the hot sun baking millions of bricks. We enlisted the most intelligent among us to engineer the whole thing. We sacrificed enormously in food, labor, water, and time to build this monstrosity. What did God do? He flipped a single switch in the Broca area of our brains and suddenly we couldn’t understand one another. 
 
[1] Genesis 9:1, 7
[2] Genesis 11:4
[3] Genesis 11:5-9

You may think to yourself, “How cruel and vindictive is God?” He saw that if we were to be united nothing we planned would be beyond us and He got in the way and kept us from fulfilling our destiny; from becoming all that we can be!”

Let’s take a look at this for a moment, shall we? We’d had one language for quite some time at that point and we’d pretty much been all located together. We’d had Nephilim on the earth, powerful and famous men of old. What did it give us? We’d come up with wickedness so widespread, so ubiquitous, that every scheme of our minds was nothing but evil all the time. The Earth itself had become corrupt in God’s sight and filled with violence.[1]

God, like any good parent, imposes limits for our good – for our safety. God, like any good warrior,[2] anticipates the attack and destabilizes His opponents before they can get traction.

It’s interesting to see how God deals with different kinds of sin. It helps a person who is seeking to be a true disciple to correctly interpret and react to human behavior.

Before the Flood, humanity was rebelling against God to the point that every scheme humanity’s mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time. God decided in that case to wipe them all out – to destroy them utterly – leaving only one man’s family to replenish the population!

Why was one sin dealt with so harshly and the other so leniently? The Babel generation was dispersed, but not destroyed. The Noahic generation was utterly destroyed. In Genesis 6:11, we see a clue. It says, “Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence.” The Babel generation had revolted directly against God’s command but the Noahic generation had gone further by committing ethical crimes against one another.

Once again, we see the centrality of ethical behavior in the lives of the talmidim. God will always deal with sin. Those who contradict Hashem will soon see themselves scattered like chaff in the wind. However, those who proceed from this sin of the heart to the sins of the flesh and began acting out their wickedness upon their fellow humans will encounter an altogether different fate.

This was illustrated in the Master’s teaching when He said to His disciples, "Offenses will certainly come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble.”[3]

Sin against me – and I can forgive you. Sin against my children – and you will suffer my wrath. This is the message of Yahweh Ch’uwl (God our Parent); a message that any parent could understand.

[1] Genesis 6:5, 11
[2] Exodus 15:3
[3] Luke 17:1-2 HCSB

The following images are not of an unfinished building. The building was actually designed to look unfinished. It’s as if they are trying to say “we have unfinished business with God”. 

This is a design schematic showing the building in its finished condition. 

It’s interesting that when Yeshua describes the final days of this present age, He describes a woman riding a beast, and says that on her head is a name written, “Mystery, Babylon the great.”[1] Why “mystery”? The fact that Babylon, an ancient city whose ruins have been buried for more than 2,300 years is mentioned in prophecies as relevant to our future would definitely qualify as an enigma.

Some would say that Sadaam Hussein’s attempt at rebuilding Babylon was an important factor, but even should that attempt outlast its deceased and unlamented architect, there is nothing about that ancient city that could be mistaken for the Babylon concerning which two whole chapters, Revelation 17 and 18, are dedicated.

Of course there is a connection to ancient Babylon but it is not its geographic location but in the “mystery” that is connected to it? What is that mystery? It has to refer to a dominant feature common to all four world empires that the Spirit inspired Daniel to discuss. It has to be a major element of the first empire, Babylon, which is still dominant in the fourth empire, Rome. What is that feature? It is the attempt to unite the spiritual and the civil, the religious and the political, the eternal and the temporal, the cross and the sword, the priest and the prince, the altar and the throne. This is the thread that runs continuously through each of those terrible, despotic, world-spanning empires and John, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, warns us that it will characterize our future oppressors. Does the politico/military Beast not have his False Prophet?

Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon was built around the ruins of the Tower which served not only as a ready source of building material but as an ideological seed. The city was a political/civil union of earth’s inhabitants at that time. The tower was clearly a religious enterprise, the means of reaching heaven.

Roman emperors, like other ancient rulers, headed the pagan priesthood and were worshipped as gods. How interesting is it that the European Union was imagined, planned and initiated by the Club of Rome and is more and more referred to as the “Revived Roman Empire.”
[1] Revelation 17:5

Even more interesting is a statement by Pope Boniface VIII (reigned 1294- 1303):

"We are taught by the words of the Gospel that in this Church and under her control there are two swords, the spiritual and the temporal . . . both of these, i.e., the spiritual and the temporal swords, are under the control of the Church. The first is wielded by the Church; the second is wielded on behalf of the church. The first is wielded by the hands of the priest, the second by the hands of kings and soldiers, but at the wish and by the permission of the priests. Sword must be subordinate to sword, and it is only fitting that the temporal authority should be subject to the spiritual."[1]  

So, the city and tower of Babel set the pattern of the unholy alliance between civil government and a religion of self-effort and ritual which continued for thousands of years.

[1] Unam Sanctam, Denzinger 873

When Constantine made his profession of faith (a false one by all accounts) in AD 313, he not only granted freedom of worship to Christians but went further by granting them official status alongside paganism. Since he had granted that status, he was recognized as its de facto head.

It was as the grantor of religious freedom and the de facto head of the official Christian church that he convened the first ecumenical council, called the Council of Nicea, in AD 325. He set the agenda; he gave the opening speech; and much as Charlemagne would over the Council of Chalon in AD 500, he presided over the meetings.

Yet, while doing this he continued to head the pagan priesthood too. He officiated at the pagan celebrations, and he endowed both pagan temples and Christian churches. It was as the head of the pagans that he was called Pontifex Maximus. As the head of the Christians he was referred to as the “Bishop of Bishops”. Constantine referred to himself as Vicarius Christi which means Vicar of Christ. What’s worth noting however is that when that title is translated into Greek it literally means Antichrist or “another Christ”. Constantine was the prototype of the future Antichrist.

How sad or how significant (depending on your point of view) is it that when the bishops of Rome began to claim to be Christ on Earth, they took on not only the title of papa or pope, but all of Constantine’s titles: Pontifex Maximus, Bishop of Bishops, and Vicar of Christ.

It is not this adulterous confluence of the sacred and the secular that should primarily concern us however. It is the philosophy that it represents; a philosophy of salvation by human effort. It is the idea that humans can, by their own efforts, save themselves, evolve into gods, and build towers to heaven. The uniting of religious and civil government may persecute us but it is the religion of self-effort that will kill not only our bodies but our souls.

Human spiritual and moral self-improvement through civic work has been the underlying philosophy of every world-spanning empire including our own. We continue to dream John Dewey’s dream of evolving beyond the need for religion through massive and systematic public education. We continue to dream dreams of a united world under a single organization like the United Nations. We keep telling ourselves that all religions are just different paths to God and that God will (contrary to the implication of the story of Cain and Abel) accept all sacrifices, regardless of their form.

Babel’s tower stands in stark contrast to the way of salvation which God has consistently demanded from Abel till now. Adam and Eve’s rebellion of seeking godhood through self-effort is what cursed us all. We must learn our lesson. No reconciliation to God and no access to heaven is possible apart from the full payment of one’s sins. Finite man cannot pay the infinite debt that God’s  infinite justice demands.

It is only through the sacrifice of the only sinless, flawless Lamb of God[1] that our sins may be taken away. Without Him we can do nothing. Without Him we can be nothing. We must reject the mystery of Babylon. We must be wary of anything remotely like it for one day the ultimate example of the unification of religious and civil power will come and it will demand absolute obedience and control and three and a half years later it will betray us.

• 2 Corinthians 6:2 HCSB  For He says: In an acceptable time, I heard you, and in the day of salvation, I helped you. Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation.
  

[1] John 1:29, 36

When Adam and Eve fell, Hashem gave them the promise of a child Savior who would crush the serpent’s head.[1] When she gave birth to Cain, Eve said, "I have had a male child with the LORD's help." The name Cain basically means, “I’ve got him” or “here he is.” It’s likely Eve thought that Cain was the seed that God promised, the deliverer who would come from Eve. There is a sense in which Eve said, “I have the man from the LORD.” Eve thought she held in her arms the Messiah, the Savior of the whole world, but she really held in her arms a killer.

The Devil had to have had a chill come over him when the curse was stated by the Lord, “He will strike your head.” From that time on, the devil tried to locate and kill this promised Seed. He may have agreed with Eve, thinking one of her two sons may have been the Messiah. However, Satan was smarter than Eve. He looked at the two sons but, being a spiritual being, he was better at reading the two boy’s hearts and minds than was their mother. He knew that Abel was the godlier of the two[2] and thus settled on a plan to have him killed.

• 1 John 3:10-12 HCSB  This is how God's children--and the Devil's children--are made evident. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother.  (11)  For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another,  (12)  unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil, and his brother's were righteous.
  

Clearly, the apostle John, under the influence of the Spirit, knew the Devil was involved in the whole incident. Perhaps John was present the day when Jesus described the Devil as “a murderer from the beginning.”[3] 

[1] Genesis 3:15
[2] Genesis 4:4-5; Hebrews 11:4
[3] John 8:44

Hashem tried to warn Cain. He told him, “sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it.”[1] Cain ignored the warning, choosing instead to cling to his bitterness and hatred. Cain failed to master the yetzer hara, it uncoiled from its crouch, leapt, and consumed him. As it is written,

• James 1:14-15 HCSB  But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires.  (15)  Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
  

This whole story would be repeated thousands of years later:

• John 13:2 HCSB  Now by the time of supper, the Devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon Iscariot's son, to betray Him.
  

The murder of Abel set the tone for the rest of the war. It was to be a tooth-and-nail, no holds barred, no quarter given, life and death battle with the assassination of the coming Messiah high on the Devil’s list of priorities. 

[1] Genesis 4:7

With Abel dead, it looked like the Devil was one up on God but Adam knew his wife intimately again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said, "God has given me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him."[1] Seth means “substitute.”The Devil must have realized that God could play this game all millennium long, with the Devil picking off righteous sons and God simply making more.

So, the Devil thought big. He went about turning the minds of humans toward evil to such an extent that there simply would not be any possibility of righteousness. See here’s where the Devil and humans who comply to his line of thinking are wrong. The devil thought that we were an accumulation of our circumstances. He thought we are no more than the sum of our educational environment. He figured if he could get enough of society to be evil, all humans would be evil from that point on.

Isn’t that what lots of people still believe to this day? Don’t we hear arguments that people’s sins were the result of their environment? Don’t we see people laying the blame for their wickedness on society rather than taking personal responsibility? This part of the story proves how false this idea is.

The Devil went so far as to allow demonic forces to take human form,[2] and father giant, godless, powerful heroes on human women.[3] Humanity's wickedness was widespread on the earth and every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time.[4] Even though it seemed like Lucifer had at last succeeded, there was one righteous man in the midst of it all, like a lily floating on a pond of sewage. Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.[5] In fact, Noah was so known for his righteousness that his name (along with Daniel and Job) became synonymous with righteousness sufficient to save others.[6] 

[1] Genesis 4:25
[2] Hebrews 13:2
[3] Genesis 6:1-4; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6-7
[4] Genesis 6:5
[5] Genesis 6:8; 2 Peter 2:5
[6] Ezekiel 14:14, 20

How did Noah achieve this heroic status? Noah did everything that God commanded him. God said, “Build an ark” and Noah said, “Yes sir.” God said “Enter the ark” and Noah replied “Yes sir.” God spoke to Noah, “Come out of the ark” and Noah obeyed. [1]

How was Noah justified? How did he come to lay claim to righteousness? Was it through his godly lineage? Though he was a descendent of the godly Seth, his entire generation was corrupt so that was not the case. Was it through superior education and training? Again his environment precluded it. He, like every person since, was justified when his saving faith resulted in actual change – actual obedience.

The real evidence of a true Christian is a changed life. The great British preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, “Of what value is the grace I profess to receive if it does not dramatically change the way that I live? If it doesn’t change the way that I live, it will never change my eternal destiny.” 

[1] Genesis 6:22; 7:1, 5; 8:15-18

A changed life begins with obedience to God. This means that we have to stop doing certain things and start doing others. While God begins to change our hearts and desires once we have surrendered our lives to Him, He still gives us the freedom to decide just how much of our life we will let Him control. But know this: Whatever we give up to follow Jesus will pale in comparison to what He will give in return. For example, when we give up sinful behaviors for God, He will replace our sin with forgiveness and a clear conscience.

When we understand what God has done in our lives, obedience becomes more of a desire than a mere duty.[1] When we follow God completely, we will finish life’s race well.[2] Obedience prepares us for the battles of life.[3] Obedience is how we install the spiritual armor needed to overcome the Devil.

So, the Devil so corrupted mankind that God ended up wiping the bulk of them off the face of the Earth. Nevertheless, God kept a remnant, Noah and his family, and once again the Devil lost. 

[1] 2 Corinthians 5:14-17
[2] Hebrews 12:1-3
[3] Romans 13:11-14

God was not idle while Satan began kingdom building. While Satan was busy gathering everyone in one place, building huge cities and a monster skyscraper, Hashem quietly reached out to one man. That man's name was Abram. It was only later that he would be renamed Abraham. 

Whereas Satan, like all sinners, was playing the short quick game, looking for immediate gains, Hashem was playing the long game. How long? Think multigenerational. Think multimillennial. He reached out to Abram, but knew that the world would continue through Abram's future son Isaac and grandson Jacob and beyond. 

Remember this about God, next time you get impatient about your circumstances. He tends to be understated. He tends to be slow to move and tends to take the long view. However, when all those years of patient work come to fruition, everything comes to a quick, dazzling, brilliant end. So if you want to follow Him, be prepared to patiently wait, sometimes your whole lifetime, for His perfect solution to come about. Trust me - He's an on-time God. He may not work when you want Him to but He'll be there right on time. 

For someone who ended up being one of the greatest individuals of all time, a pivotal figure in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, Abraham had a pretty obscure start. Abraham is considered to be the very first of our people; the very first Jew. More importantly however, the greatest designation offered to man was given to him – that is, “The friend of God.” (James 2:23)

Why? What made Yahweh reach out to this one lone man in the middle of the Fertile Crescent out of all the other available humans? It was for a simple reason: God called him, and Abraham obeyed. No other reason is ever given anywhere in the Scriptures for the choosing of Abraham over others. This is part of the mystery of God’s grace.

God’s call required Abraham to leave his old home and so he left his country, people, and MOST of his household.

• Genesis 12:1 HCSB  The LORD said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
  

This would have been a high price for Abraham to pay. Verse 4 makes it sound like he was in a city called Haran, but other passages like Acts 7 make it clear that the first call of God actually came while Abraham was in the city of Ur. Ur was a fabulous city. It was near the Persian Gulf, over by Iran, and even in 2000 BC, it had an advanced culture.

 Back in the twenties and thirties Sir Charles Leonard Woolley excavated Ur and came up with some of the greatest treasures of archeology. In Ur’s royal cemetery they found 16 tombs, each one filled with golden head-dresses and gold and silver harps. Each tomb also contained up to 74 bodies of servants who were buried alive with the king.

Woolley’s excavations also revealed that the houses in Ur were 2 stories high and were whitewashed to be pleasing to the eye. The larger homes had up to 20 rooms, with well-equipped kitchens, good plumbing, and sanitation.

Their schools taught mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. Founded around 4,000 BC, Ur’s Sumerian people established the principles of irrigation, developed agriculture and metal-working. Fifteen hundred years later – in what has become known as "the age of the deluge" – Ur produced some of the first examples of writing, seal inscriptions, and construction. In neighboring Larsa, baked clay bricks were used as money orders – the world's first checks – the depth of finger indentations in the clay marking the amount of money to be transferred. The royal tombs of Ur contained jewelry, daggers, gold, and azurite cylindrical seals.

Abraham was not a Yahoo from the back side of the desert who didn’t know anything. He probably had a very comfortable life in the most advanced culture of that time. He was also in his golden years.

Ur was prosperous, cultural – but it was idolatrous. Ur’s original religion put its faith in one god but as time went by, a multitude of gods were added. Abraham’s own family worshipped idols.

• Joshua 24:2 HCSB  Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.

National and ethnic bonds still have an unfortunately tight hold. They are the reason behind much strife in the world today. However, God’s call is higher than human bonds. It’s more important than patriotism, family, etc.

Adonaic faith requires “leaving” (separation).

1. It requires leaving religious practices that are unbiblical. Just because something is “religious” doesn’t make it right. False religion is pervasive today.
   
2. It requires leaving relationships that pull you down into sin; that pull you back into worldly, anti-scriptural culture.
   
3. It requires leaving sinful practices and worldly attitudes.
   

Abraham left, but not right away. He didn’t make a clean break in leaving his family. He apparently took his father and others along who brought idols, and compromised the family.

• Genesis 31:19 HCSB  When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father's household idols.

Abraham didn’t take a direct route in going. They spent several years in Haran, and maybe Damascus. Compromise may be “human,” but it always costs us.

Abraham probably didn’t realize it when he left Ur, but he was actually headed home. From his perspective, he was leaving home for the unknown. That may be why he allowed himself to pause in Haran. They set out from Ur to go to the land of Canaan but when they came to Haran, for some reason they settled there and stayed there for about five years till Terah died.[1] It’s odd because “Haran” means “dry, parched place.” By the way, Terah (Abram’s dad who got them to stop in Haran) means “to delay or station one’s self”.[2]

Abraham was on his way to Canaan, the Promised Land of milk and honey but allowed himself to be delayed by his family and as a result lost five years in a dry, parched place. Isn’t that just typical of us?

Adonaic Christians also have a goal or “focus” in life. We are not wandering aimlessly – we have a purpose in life. Heaven is our real home. We are wandering through this particular host nation at the moment but let’s never forget where our true home lies. Let’s not get caught up and delayed in our mission.

Though Abraham arrived in Canaan, he never really got all of God’s promises:

• Hebrews 11:13 HCSB  These all died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.

He did not receive all the promises in this life. He did not get to receive the Messiah the way that we can. He knew of a Messiah to come – everyone since Adam knew of that Promised Seed, but he died without the Messiah having arrived.

We won’t necessarily get all of God’s promises either. Not all of us are gifted in the same way. Not all of us are given the same type of tasks. It’s wrong to compare ourselves to others. It’s wrong to think that things will always go our way. We may die with some of our questions still unanswered. That’s all right.

• Isaiah 64:8 HCSB  Yet LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands.
• Romans 9:20-21 HCSB  But who are you--anyone who talks back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?"  (21)  Or has the potter no right over His clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?

[1] Genesis 11:31
[2] Strong’s #8646

Abraham was more than a great man – all peoples are blessed through him.

• Genesis 12:3 HCSB  I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
  

“All the peoples of the earth” is what God said. Judaism remains a small faith because it refuses to acknowledge the depth, breadth, and width of Hashem’s ultimate plan. Too many Jews fail to believe that Hashem could ever reach out to the Goyim, the Gentiles. Yet, to all who believe in Yahweh’s Messiah, to them He gives the power, the ability to become sons and daughters of God.[1]

Abraham is the father of all those who, like him, follow God in faith and obey His commands.

• Romans 9:6-8 HCSB  But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.  (7)  Neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants. On the contrary, in Isaac your seed will be called. (8)  That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but the children of the promise are considered seed.
• Galatians 3:29 HCSB  And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise.

Only in Christ is there complete fulfillment of this promise. Abraham’s faith can be our faith. To follow Abraham’s example, we must obey God as he did. “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Accepting Christ puts us on the same pilgrim path.

[1] John 1:12

If you ever think that you are the only one who rides a spiritual roller coaster, struggling with a series of ups and downs, mountains and valleys in your faith, then think again. Father Abraham, the first Jew, the patriarch of our people, was often double minded. Like us, he didn’t so much struggle with the existence or the nature of God, as much as he struggled with how God was going to work day-to-day in the world.

Look at,

• Genesis 15:6 HCSB  Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
  

However, Abraham went straight from receiving this phenomenal commendation for his faith from the Lord, to becoming a pawn in Sarai’s plan. It never ceases to amaze me how Abraham could attack five kings and win his nephew Lot back from their combined armies, but he couldn’t step into Sarai. Gentlemen, if this is your tendency, if you tend to yield to your wives when they are wrong, simply to avoid confrontation, I want you to notice that there is a subtle allusion to Adam’s complicity with Eve in the second half of Genesis 16:2. It says “Abram agreed to what Sarai said.” This is, in my opinion, an allusion to Genesis 3:17 where God reproved Adam saying, “you listened to your wife's voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'Do not eat from it'. We should always listen to God first and foremost. It doesn’t matter if the person in front of us is our husband, our wife, our mother, our father, or any other family member. Remember the Master said,

• Luke 14:26 HCSB  "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, and even his own life--he cannot be My disciple.
  
• Matthew 12:48-50 HCSB  …"Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" (49)  And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! (50)  For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, that person is My brother and sister and mother."
  

What was this nefarious plot to which Abraham conceded? It rings oddly to our modern ears but it was perfectly all right within the social mores of the time. Sarai was barren. So, she got Hagar to act as surrogate mother for her. Of course there was no such thing as artificial insemination in the day so this had to involve sexual intercourse between Abraham and Hagar. Again, this was not considered unusual in a day when polygamy was common and expected, particularly of a wealthy prince like Abraham.

The act itself was not the problem. God has never had much to say about individual nation’s social customs except to limit them within the boundaries of justice. God didn’t suggest slavery, but he gave rules for an existing custom, ensuring the not only the safety of the slaves but establishing a way for them to free themselves. God didn’t invent polygamy but he gave rules for an existing custom, ensuring that each woman would be treated fairly and that they would be adequately provided for should the husband die.

No – the problem was not the act. The problem was the motive. Fourteen chapters earlier we were given the precedent in Genesis 2:

• Genesis 2:23-24 HCSB  And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called woman, for she was taken from man.  (24)  This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.
  

Yeshua confirmed this principle thousands of years later saying,

• Mark 10:7-9 HCSB  For this reason a man will leave his father and mother [and be joined to his wife,] (8)  and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. (9)  Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate."
  

So, when Yahweh in His covenant told Abram that the promised son would come “from your own body” it was understood that this meant Abram and his wife Sarai – not some slave forced into concubinage. 

Rather than take God at His word, Sarai figured she’d “help” God along. The result? Abraham did indeed have a son by Hagar, but God rejected him as the legitimate heir. Not only that but once the boy came, Hagar expected (contrary to the code of Hammurabi that everyone lived by at the time) that her status would be elevated to that of a full wife and the mother of the heir. In essence, she thought she should take Sarai’s place. This upset Sarai a little. She whined and nagged and once again Abraham, against his own wishes and his conscience, yielded to her. Sarai persecuted Hagar so badly that Hagar ran off into the wilderness, apparently with no plan at all. Yahweh Rohi intercepted her and sent her back to Sarai and her games. He made her go back to the nastiness but with this promise,

• Genesis 16:10-12 HCSB  The Angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count."  (11)  Then the Angel of the LORD said to her: You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.  (12)  This man will be like a wild ass. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him; he will live at odds with all his brothers.
  

Hagar, no slouch in the attitude department herself, thought this to be a wonderful promise and happily returned to Abraham’s tents. In time, she bore a son named Ishmael, but the promised son did eventually arrive and they named him Isaac. Isaac replaced Ishmael as the favored son and heir which, of course, made Ishmael jealous and bitter. Like many teenage boys do, He mocked and disdained his half-brother. Eventually, the situation became so intolerable that Sarai demanded that Ishmael and his Egyptian concubine mother, Hagar, be expelled permanently from Abraham's family.

Again, Yahweh Rohi met Hagar in the desert just as she and her son were about to die of thirst. He promised Hagar that her son would beget twelve princes who would become a great nation. Ishmael then went to live in what became known as the Arabian Peninsula. He had twelve patriarchal sons who became associated with the peoples known as the Midianites, Edomites, Egyptians, and Assyrians.

Arabs and the Israelis have been fighting since time immemorial over that tiny plot of land called Israel. Their battle is not one of flesh and blood, but of spiritual things. The Bible states that the last great battle will pit Israel against the rest of the Middle East and its allies. All because Sarai and Abraham figured they’d “help” God along.

We need to remember that in this great battle in which we are engaged, the Devil is not always our worst enemy. We are.

At this point, let me tell you the story of the Akedah. “Akedah” is Hebrew for “binding”, a name which will become significant shortly. As I told you before, Abraham and Sarah had trouble conceiving and so they tried to use a surrogate mother by the name of Hagar to deal with the issue. God had promised them a son from their own bodies, but - like many of us - they struggled believing God's incredible promises. 

Hagar gave birth to Ishmael and wouldn't you know it, Sarah got pregnant! She gave birth and unfortunately things got nasty. In the end, and much to Abraham's regret, Hagar and Ishmael were sent away. 

Ishmael grew to be a fine young man. One day Hashem called on Abraham.

• Genesis 22:2 HCSB  "Take your son," He said, "your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
  

Halakha, which is Biblical law, condemns child sacrifice.[1] It particularly condemns the practice associated with the worship of Molech.[2] While it’s true that later the practice did appear in the Southern Kingdom,[3] it was eliminated by Josiah[4] and condemned by the prophets.[5]

Don’t worry about God asking such a thing of Father Abraham. The apparent conflict between orthodox Adonaism and the story of the Akedah, however, is only on the surface because when Moses wrote the story, he alerted us that the whole thing was a “test” in Genesis 22:1, and thus it must be evaluated provisionally.

Abraham knew God and by this time trusted Hashem’s character implicitly. He also perceived it as a test. He thought that perhaps God would resurrect Isaac or something. So, he got up early the following morning and (as was his habit now) hurried to obey God.

He took Isaac along with a servant and travelled all the way to the distant mountain. When they got there, he made the servant stop and set up camp. “We’ll be back” Abraham told the servant, which is weird when you think that he was on his way to kill his son! On the way up, Isaac started feeling funny about the whole thing but when Abraham explained it to him, Isaac went along. Think about it. Isaac was a young man who had grown up working hard and hiking all day. Abraham was an oooold man! If Isaac had wanted to run away, I’m sure he could have. He allowed his father to tie him up (thus the name for the story Akedah, the “binding”) and begin the ritual.

However, just as the knife was about to plunge into his heart, God intervened. The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven:

• Genesis 22:12-13 HCSB  Then He said, "Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me."  (13)  Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
  

We often talk about Abraham’s great faith, but imagine the whole scene from Isaac’s perspective! Imagine what that did to his relationship with his father, knowing that his father would get up early in the morning and hurry to obey God if God asked him to kill his own son! Kill him! Apparently Isaac had just as much faith as his dad, which made him the second of our people’s great patriarchs. 

[1] Deuteronomy 12:31; 18:10
[2] Leviticus 18:21; 20:2-5
[3] 2 Kings 16:3; 21:6
[4] 2 Kings 23:10
[5] Jeremiah 7:31-32; Ezekiel 16:20-21

That God “tests” (nissâ in Hebrew) His people should not be surprising. He may not use as harsh a measure as He did with Father Abraham and Isaac, but sometimes they can be pretty tough. He uses them as a means for revealing their obedience.[1] Sometimes He does it to engender piety-producing fear; so that our righteous awe of Him will help keep us from sinning.[2] At times He has as His purpose an intent to discover our authenticity.[3] Regardless of His reason, Hashem is ALWAYS seeking to produce our well-being. As Moses later explained,  

•  Deuteronomy 8:16 HCSB  He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.
  

Though the Lord God may test us, He never tempts us toward evil.

• James 1:13-15 HCSB  No one undergoing a trial should say, "I am being tempted by God." For God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself doesn't tempt anyone.  (14)  But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires.  (15)  Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
  

So if we have fallen, we can rest assured that we are fully responsible for our condition and the ensuing consequences. 
 
[1] Exodus 15:25; 16:4; Judges 2:22; Psalm 11:5
[2] Exodus 20:20
[3] Deuteronomy 8:2; 13:1-3; 2 Chronicles 32:31; Psalm 26:2

Some people say that the basis of action should be love and not fear. Theoretically that is true, but in practice it does not work out that way. There are legitimate fears.

Fear should not be allowed to run rampant through our lives so that it becomes such a devastating factor that it produces failure. However, there really is such a thing as "healthy fear." So, the problem is not getting rid of fear, but using it properly. For example:

1. Fear of killing yourself or someone else should cause you to not drink before you drive. 
   
2. There's legitimate fear in driving your car at excessive speeds under any conditions, but particularly where the visibility is poor or the streets are slippery.
   
3. There's real fear in walking across a busy street without using the crosswalk. 
   
4. Fear of ignorance causes you to seek an education. 
   
5. Fear of failing a class will drive a student to spend extra time in the books. 
   
6. Fear of disease motivates you to practice healthy and sanitary living. 
   
7. Fear of poverty makes you work. 
   
8. Fear of losing your job will inspire you to show up on time and do the best you know how to do. 
   
9. Fear of losing our family inspires us to be faithful to them, work hard for them, and show them love on a daily basis.
   

We must learn to distinguish those helpful fears from the harmful ones. When you can do that, fear is a friend. Until you learn to do it, however, fear can be an enemy.

If there is one thing that got pounded into Isaac’s brain it was the concept of Yahweh Yirah – the fear of the Lord. Let me give you an example.

A famine came to the land in which Isaac lived and he went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines. Apparently he didn’t mean to stop there. He was actually meaning to head on to Egypt, but the Lord told him to not go to Egypt and to remain where he was instead as a “foreigner”. The Lord promised to watch over Isaac as He had over Abraham, but Isaac (like his father before him) had married a beautiful woman and was worried that these crazy foreigners would kill him for her.

Maybe it was true, maybe there was some latent racism on Isaac’s part, I don’t know. But you know what it’s like going through a strange neighborhood where no one looks like you and no one listens to the same music and they’re all looking at you weird, speaking some crazy language you can’t understand. Your mind starts messing with you.

Isaac feared the people more than he feared God and lied about his relationship with his wife. If the story sounds familiar, it’s because the same thing happened to Abraham! Even though he got out of the situation all right, it was pretty dicey for a while and Isaac learned that it’s better to allow your Yahweh Yirah, [1] your God Fear, to make you honest. 

The Bible teaches that the most healthful fear a human can cultivate is the fear of the Lord. It describes that fear as the beginning of knowledge.[2] 
 
[1] Yirah is fear; Pach’ad is a stronger word, more akin to terror or dread
[2] Proverbs 1:7

One of God’s names is Pach’ad Yitshaq. Pach’ad Yitshaq means “Isaac’s Terror.” Pach’ad can be literally translated “terror or dread.” In today’s society, which seems hell-bent on glorifying individual freedom to the point of anarchy, the truth that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” is underappreciated.

• 1 John 4:16-18 HCSB  And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.  (17)  In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; for we are as He is in this world.  (18)  There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love.

People would much rather focus on “God is love.”[1] They like to partially quote 1 John 4:18 that says “there is no fear in love; instead perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment.” They only quote part of the passage because they don’t understand what true love is.

Whose love is John talking about? God’s certainly, but is that all? No – he also speaks of ours. When we love God, we keep His commandments. When we love Him perfectly, we keep His commands perfectly and thus have no cause to fear His discipline. Ah! But if our love is less than perfect and our obedience is less than perfect and we delve into sin willfully after knowing the power of His love…now THAT’S a different story!

I love my children absolutely. My love causes me to discipline them so they can grow up to be godly people. My love drives me to remove their privileges, to confine them to their rooms and yes – even spank them if need be. That is true love.

The Bible says

• Proverbs 13:24 HCSB  The one who will not use the rod hates his son, but the one who loves him disciplines him diligently.

and

• Proverbs 19:18 HCSB  Discipline your son while there is hope; don't be intent on killing him.

Adonai says that if a parent continues to fail in regard to discipline, the child will be ruined by it. We should base our parenting style on that of our Heavenly Father who is the perfect Parent. He allows suffering in our lives, but never more than is absolutely necessary and it is always for good.[2] Consider the following…

• The Father caused Jesus to suffer and by that suffering gave us salvation.[3] 
  
• He caused Paul to suffer and by that gave us the New Testament.[4] 
  
• The Egyptians faced Pach’ad Yitschaq and died.[5] 
  
• Job advocated a godly dread and yet called upon Hashem for justice.[6]
  

The result? Adonai showed up and vindicated Job before the world.[7] We need to understand that love does not preclude godly fear. Fear and love are two sides of the same coin. And both are God’s name.

Just think about this. The young man Isaac who’d lain down on the altar and watched his dad raise a knife to kill him, had lived a long hard life and learned about the faith of his father Abraham. For all his mistakes as a husband and a father, he at least passed those lessons of faith on to his son Jacob. Listen to what Jacob had to say when faced with what he thought would possibly be his death:

• If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work, and He issued His verdict last night… The God of Abraham, and the gods of Nahor-the gods of their father -will judge between us." And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. – Genesis 31:42, 53 HCSB
  

[1] 1 John 4:8
[2] Job 5:17-18;    Lamentations 3:32-33; Hebrews 12:5-11
[3] Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46
[4] Acts 9:16
[5] Exodus 15:3-11
[6] Job 13:7-11; 42:1-6
[7] Job 42:7

As I’ve read the Bible over and over again, I’ve constantly looked for overarching principles that seem to guide, govern, or inform all the other laws and precepts. So far I’ve found six. One of them is called the “Law of the Heart.” Stated succinctly, it means “why is more important than what.” Why you do things is more important than what you do. Why is that? If you have the right heart, the right motive, the right desire, God can get hold of you and modify your poor behavior. If you have the wrong heart, then even outwardly righteous behavior can become terribly cruel and inhumane. There is no better illustration of the Law of the heart than Jacob.

Jacob received his name at birth when he was born second, clutching the heel of his elder brother Esau. The name Jacob literally means "he clutches" or "the supplanter".[1] This name characterized Jacob’s early life. Part of it came from his innate personality. Part of it came from the dynamics of his family. When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.  Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.[2] Preferential treatment in a family causes jealousy.[3] We should not allow preferential treatment to characterize us.[4]

In Hebrew culture, the eldest son normally received authority over the family upon his father’s death. He would become the priest and also receive a double portion as his birthright. In this case however, Esau despised his birthright and sold Jacob his birthright for a meal.[5]

[1] Genesis 25:24-26
[2] Genesis 25:27-28
[3] 1 Samuel 1:5-6
[4] James 2:9
[5] Genesis 25:29-34

Later, Rebekah and Jacob conspired to not only take Esau’s birthright but to also acquire Isaac’s blessing. They did this by disguising Jacob sufficiently to fool blind Isaac into granting this critical blessing. Remember how I said that Jacob illustrates the Law of the Heart? He didn’t go about things the right way but he valued Elohim’s blessing and favor above all else – even his family relations. As a result, God was able to get hold of Jacob and use him for good, in spite of his ignorant behavior. Though Jacob was deceitful in acquiring his father’s blessing, we see that that blessing was irrevocable nevertheless.[1]

Thus, Jacob became the inheritor of Canaan.[2] Israel’s identity has always been uniquely linked to Jacob.
    a.    Israel is called the house of Jacob.[3]
    b.    Israel is called the sons of Jacob.[4]
    c.    Israel is called the seed of Jacob.[5]
    d.    Israel is called the community of Jacob.[6]
    e.    Israel is called Jacob.[7]

As Jacob is considered the child of favor[8] so all adopted Israelites are considered the chosen people.[9]
As Jacob is linked with Abraham and Isaac[10] so we too may claim Abraham as our spiritual ancestor.[11]
As Jacob is described as the heir of the divine promise[12] so we now are co-heirs with the Messiah.[13]
As Jacob blessed others,[14] so we should bless others.[15]

It’s like God has a thing for the underdog. Ishmael was the firstborn, not Isaac. Yet, Isaac was the son of promise. Esau was the firstborn, not Jacob. Yet, God chose Jacob over Esau. We can take heart in this characteristic of His. God in His foreknowledge loves the believer even prior to his birth.[16] Those whom He foreknows, He predestines to salvation[17] yet He does not coerce the free will of the believer.[18]

On a side note, don’t feel too bad for Esau. In a sense, he got what he deserved because he didn’t value God’s favor. Nevertheless, God took pity on him. Esau received the land of Edom. According to Daniel 11, when the Antichrist, in his war against the African and North European armies will enter Israel, Edom is one of only three countries (the other two being Moab and Ammon) that will elude that wicked man’s grasp. 
 
[1] Genesis 27:35ff
[2] Romans 9:10-13
[3] Isaiah 8:17; Micah 2:7
[4] 1 Kings 18:31; Malachi 3:6
[5] Isaiah 45:19; Jeremiah 33:26
[6] Deuteronomy 33:4
[7] Hosea 10:11
[8] Malachi 1:2; Romans 9:10-13
[9] Romans 2:28-29; Philippians 3:3 cp Ephesians 2:11-19
[10] 2 Kings 13:23; Mark 12:26-27
[11] Romans 4:11
[12] Hebrews 11:9
[13] Romans 8:17
[14] Hebrews 11:20-21
[15] James 5:16; 3 John 2
[16] Romans 9:10-13
[17] Romans 8:29-30
[18] Romans 1:18-20; 1 John 3:4

After having lost the blessing as well as the birthright, Esau was understandably ticked. He determined that he was going to kill his brother. So, Jacob fled to Bethel where his grandfather Abraham had built an altar. Here he received the vision of a great stairway that was set on the ground with its top reaching heaven.[1] God’s angels were going up and down on it. The Lord appeared by his side and renewed the same covenant that He’d given to Abraham and Isaac. In return, Jacob promised to tithe whatever the Lord would give him as income.

Continuing to the north east, he traveled to Haran where he met a beautiful girl named Rachel at a well. Oddly enough, this was apparently the same well where Abraham’s servant Eleazer had found Rebekah. [2]

There’s another great law that I’ve found in the Bible and I’ve called it the Law of Odd Symmetry. It says “What goes around comes around.” Those who lay traps tend to fall into them. Those who seek to crush have boulders roll over on them. God makes sure that what goes around comes around. Those who set traps, fall victim to their own traps. Those who try to harm are themselves harmed.[3]

Jacob was quickly introduced to this very important law. Jacob wanted Rachel in a bad way and agreed to work for her father Laban for seven years to get her. On the night of the wedding, Laban pulled the first of many switcheroos on Jacob and deceived him into marrying his older daughter Leah instead. The deceiver was himself deceived. That’s the Law of Odd Symmetry for you! Jacob ended up serving Laban 20 years; seven for Leah, seven for Rachel and six for flocks.[4] In spite of all the deceptions and wage switches, because he had God’s blessing, Jacob did well and became very rich. More importantly (at least from our perspective) he was blessed with eleven sons and a daughter.

I would like to point out that Jacob made the same mistake his grandfather Abraham made. Both of them ended up wasting years in Haran which in Hebrew means “a dried, parched place”. As Jacob went from Bethel, "the house of God", to Haran, "a dried up place" so we too must be careful that we do not, through disobedience lose contact with the life-giving Spirit within us.[5] As Jacob spent a night at Bethel and twenty years at Haran so we must be aware that our sin can have lasting effects.[6] 
 
[1] Genesis 12:8
[2] Genesis 24:11
[3] Psalm 7:15; 9:15; 35:7-8; 57:6; Proverbs 1:18-19; 5:22; 11:6; 12:13; 13:8; 14:20; 18:12; 19:4, 19; 20:17; 21:7; 26:27; 28:10; Ecclesiastes 10:8
[4] Genesis 29:16-30
[5] Ephesians 4:30
[6] Isaiah 59:1

As I said, Jacob became very prosperous but it was in spite of Laban. Laban was constantly trying to cheat him and finally Jacob had had enough. He left Haran while his father-in-law Laban was out shearing.[1] Laban angrily pursued Jacob to Gilead but upon being warned by God to not interfere with his son-in-law, Laban instead had a pact of mutual peace drawn up between them.[2]

Traveling to Mahanaim, Jacob sent out scouts to discover his long estranged brother Esau's attitude.[3] Just as he was about to ford the river Jabbok, he wrestled with a "man", who turned out to be no less than the Son of God Himself. He kept hold of Jesus all night long, repeatedly asking His name and seeking His blessing. You see in the old days they believed that to know a person’s true name was to have influence with him. Why do you think people discovering various names of God is so prevalent throughout the Book?

As dawn was arriving, Jesus “cheated”! He struck Jacob in the hip causing a permanent hip injury. Yet, Jesus did not leave without giving Jacob the blessing he so zealously and sacrificially desired. Jacob’s name was changed from Jacob to Israel. Whereas Jacob means “grasping one” or “usurper”, Israel means “Strives with God”, “Influences God” or “Prince of God”.[4] It is a wonderful fact that God does not change. To this day, if we decide to submit our wills to His, we become new creatures in Christ.[5] 
 
[1] Genesis 31:1-21
[2] Genesis 31:22-55
[3] Genesis 32:1ff
[4] Genesis 32:24-30, cf. Genesis 28:20-21; Hosea 12:4
[5] John 1:12-14; 2 Corinthians 5:17

Unfortunately, becoming a new creature in Christ doesn’t mean that we are completely rid of our sin nature or our foolishness. Instead of proceeding to Bethel, Jacob now purchased land at Shechem.[1] Shechem was famous for its oaks.[2] Unfortunately, those oaks were commonly associated with divination or sorcery. Because the morals of the locals were so low, Jacob’s daughter Dinah ended up being raped by a local prince named Shechem.

After the attack, the Bible says Shechem “spoke tenderly to her.” That might sound at odds with having just raped a girl, but when you are a spoiled, narcissistic sociopath, it makes perfect sense. He probably figured she should feel honored at being noticed by the prince! He told his dad to work out a deal with Jacob but he neglected to consider the reaction of Dinah’s eleven hot-blooded nomadic brothers! Jacob reacted in a passive aggressive manner and this actually exacerbated the brother’s anger. They deceived the prince, the king, and the village men into getting circumcised and while they were so sore they were nearly immobile, they slaughtered all the men that had gone along with the rape, and took their families as slaves. [3]

What derashot do we learn from this terrible tragedy? For one, keep a close eye on your kids and don’t let them wander amongst the Lowlanders! For another, fathers, be your daughter’s heroes. Stand up for them and defend them. Show your sons how it’s done so that they don’t go overboard and commit crimes because they were never shown how to have good, healthy, society-changing anger! Last, I guess a good lesson is that it doesn't matter how rich and powerful you are. You rape a girl, you get what's coming to you! And if you go along with the high and mighty and don't stand up against their sin, you get yours too!
 
[1] Genesis 33:19
[2] Genesis 12:6; 35:4; Judges 9:6, 37
[3] Genesis 34

After Isaac's death, he finally settled in Hebron.[1] Jacob the patriarch gave one of the three great prophecies in Genesis - the prophecy of the twelve tribes prior to his death at the age of 130.[2] He was buried at Machpelah near Hebron.[3]

As God had a plan for Jacob's life to form a major role in His nation Israel in like manner, God has plans for us.[4] If we humbly submit to His will, God can convert our weakness of character and stubbornness to His glory.[5]

As Jacob only entered fully into God's plan after a long and arduous struggle, so we must be prepared to make every effort in order to fully submit our lives to God’s will.[6] As the “supplanter” Jacob became the “prince” Israel so we who were once rejected outcasts has become royalty[7] and allowed direct access to the throne.[8]

One thing is for certain. One thing becomes clear when we read the story of Jacob’s life. If there is one lesson we take away it should be this: the plan of God is always superior to the plan of man.[9] 
 
[1] Genesis 35:28-29
[2] Genesis 49
[3] Genesis 50:13
[4] Ephesians 2:8-10
[5] 2 Corinthians 12:7-11
[6] Philippians 3:12-15; Hebrews 12:14
[7] 1 Peter 2:5
[8] Hebrews 4:14-16
[9] Job 42:2-6

In the Marines, we call a long march a “hump”. We call it a hump because you usually carry this monster, 60 lb pack on your back. It’s your hump! We refer to it as “humpin’ your pack.” Some believe it's called a "hump" because after carrying that beast for hours every day you GET a hump! 

It’s not fun. It makes for long hard days. It was nothing for us to march 30-40 miles. Twelve hour patrols are the norm! It takes a certain type of character, a strong sense of physical and mental stamina to endure a hump. I want to warn some of you younger disciples that the Way is a long, hard hump and I want to give you an example.

Joseph was Jacob’s son.[1] At the time of our story, he was Jacob’s youngest. He was well built, handsome[2] and he was his father’s favorite child. After all, he was not only the baby and the son of Jacob’s beloved Rachel, but Joseph was a good boy. He was bright and obedient. What’s not to like? Jacob gave Joseph one particular gift – a coat of many colors.[3] As it always does, the favoritism caused Joseph’s brothers to be jealous of him.[4]

God gave him prophetic dreams of future leadership which he shared with his family. Unfortunately, this increased his brother’s jealousy and hatred[5]  until one day, like Cain’s jealousy over his brother Abel, it boiled over into rage. At first, they threw him into a dry well but then sold him to passing slave merchants.[6] Then, his brothers went and told Jacob that his favorite son had been killed by wild beasts.[7]

[1] Genesis 30:24
[2] Genesis 39:6
[3] Genesis 33:2; 37:3-4, 35; 48:22; 1 Chronicles 5:2; John 4:5
[4] Genesis 37:4, 11, 18-28; Psalm 105:17; Acts 7:9
[5] Genesis 37:5-11
[6] Genesis 37:27-28
[7] Genesis 37:29-35

The slave merchants sold Joseph to an Egyptian named Potiphar who was an official in the Egyptian government.[1] Joseph’s character quickly became evident and he soon rose in leadership to be the head slave of the household.[2]

Unfortunately for him, this brought his rugged good looks to the attention of Potiphar’s libidinous wife who continuously tried to seduce Joseph. When she failed, she falsely accused him of raping her and Joseph was sent to prison.[3] Though Joseph probably didn’t realize it, God was still with him because it wasn’t just any prison. Apparently, Potiphar was some kind of nobility because he put Joseph in the Pharaoh’s prison which would end up helping him.[4]

[1] Genesis 37:36
[2] Genesis 39:2-5, 21, 23
[3] Genesis 39:1-20
[4] Genesis 39:20

At first, Joseph was in shackles and a collar (Psalm 105:18) but his faithfulness and evident management skills brought him into the prison warden’s favor and once again Joseph was soon in charge.[1] Isn’t it funny how cream usually ends up rising to the top? A lot of people will whine and complain about not getting raises or promotions, but they’ll slack off at work or cut corners or disrespect the boss or gossip about the boss and then they wonder why they don’t get anywhere. Look at this. Joseph rose to the top in his family. He rose to the top at Potiphar’s. He rose to the top even in jail, with chains on his feet and an iron collar on his neck! There is simply no excuse for not working well and serving our masters like they were the Lord.

Remember his prophetic gift? Remember that he was given prophetic dreams and the ability to interpret them? While serving time, Joseph’s ability to both dream and interpret dreams came in handy. He accurately interpreted the dreams of two other prisoners who had had direct access to the Pharaoh.[2]

By the way, we say “the Pharaoh” because “pharaoh” is not a name but a title. It’s like saying “the president.”

The first was the pharaoh’s cupbearer. Joseph predicted that the cupbearer would be reinstated to his position of trust. The second man was the chief baker. Joseph told him that he would end up hanged and that the birds would eat the flesh off his body. Both men’s fates came out exactly as Joseph predicted.

The prisoner who not only survived the Pharaoh’s wrath, but managed to get back into the king’s good graces, forgot about Joseph. Joseph was left in that prison for another two years! 
 
[1] Genesis 39:21-22; 40
[2] Genesis 40:5-23

Finally, one day the pharaoh had a dream that he knew was different from the average, run-of-the-mill dream. The pharaoh needed that dream interpreted in a bad way.[1]

Finally, the cupbearer remembered Joseph’s amazing ability and told the pharaoh about him. Joseph was called, he interpreted the dream correctly, though he was quick to give God the credit. He said, “I am not able (to interpret the dream) but it is God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” He then let him know that there would be seven good years of harvest followed by seven bad years. He suggested that they collect and store grain during the good years in order to be adequately prepared for the lean. The pharaoh was delighted. Not only had the troublesome dream been dealt with but now he had clear instruction on how to manage a potentially kingdom-destroying catastrophe. He would not only survive it but because of the forewarning, he would be in a place to capitalize on the difficulties and come out on top. He might even be able to expand his kingdom! The Pharaoh changed Joseph’s name to Zaphenath-Paneah. Some Egyptologists believe the name means "the one who furnishes the nourishment of life."

After all the years of mistreatment and hardship, Joseph became the chief steward of the realm.[2] He became the second most powerful man in the world at the age of thirty.[3] He was given Asenath (which means “one given to the goddess Neith”), the daughter of Potiphera as a wife. Potiphera was not the same guy who’d believed his lying wife and put Joseph in jail. That was Potiphar. Potiphera was the high priest of the the city of On. On is the biblical name for Heliopolis, an important city at the apex of the Nile Delta. Heliopolis was the centre of sun worship in Egypt and a major source of religious writings.[4]

Joseph saved Egypt by providing for the years of famine that he had predicted were coming[5]  He not only gathered enough to live on but also enough to export to other countries.[6] He even increased the power of the Pharaoh by selling the food to the people in exchange for money, flocks, herds, lands, and even their very lives.[7] However, he exempted priests from these methods, whether because of his relatives who were priests in Heliopolis or not we’re not sure.[8] 

I’d like to point out God’s propensity for giving His people a heads-up about these types of things. He warned Noah that the Flood was coming and showed him how to prepare for it. Here, He warns Joseph of a coming famine and gives him solutions to the problems. As you’ll see later in the New Covenant, He warned a man prophet named Agabus that there would be a famine throughout the Roman world.[9] As a result, the Church was ready when it came. Jesus also gave us warnings. He gave us signs of His return. Through the Apostle Paul, in the context of His return, He told us what kind of lifestyle we needed to adopt in order to make through those dark days. He said, 

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 HCSB  seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,  (12)  so that you may walk properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone. 
  
[1] Genesis 41:1-37
[2] Genesis 41:45
[3] Genesis 41:37-46; Psalm 105:19-22
[4] Genesis 41:45
[5] Genesis 41:46-57
[6] Genesis 41:57
[7] Genesis 47:13-26
[8] Genesis 47:22, 26
[9] Acts 11:28

Jacob’s biological family also suffered from this widespread famine, and Jacob sent his sons down to Egypt to buy some food from this powerful “Egyptian” he had heard about.[1] After some initial testing to determine if their character had actually improved, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers. He used his influence to get them to move to Egypt and set up in Goshen.[2]

He had two sons by his wife Asenath who were named Manasseh and Ephraim.[3] Eventually, Jacob died and Joseph mourned for his father.[4] Still possessing a prophetic gift after all these years, Joseph made his relatives promise that when they eventually left Egypt that they would take his bones along with them to Canaan.[5] This was fulfilled 430 years later.[6]

Joseph died at the ripe old age of 110, was embalmed in the Egyptian manner and placed in a coffin.[7] 
 
[1] Genesis 42-44
[2] Genesis 45; 46; 47:1-12
[3] Genesis 41:50-52; Deuteronomy 33:13-17
[4] Genesis 50:1-14
[5] Genesis 50:24-25; Hebrews 11:22
[6] Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32; Acts 7:16
[7] Genesis 50:22-26

People who study the Bible like me are interested in a branch of study called “typology”. It’s a method of interpreting parts of Scripture by seeing patterns or correspondence between people, objects, or events. We see too many coincidences between the two and come to the conclusion that God either purposely developed the type or selectively gave us information in order to teach us through a type as a way to foreshadow other things. I believe that Joseph was a type, a foreshadowing of Christ in Genesis. Let me give you a few examples to show you what I mean.

Jacob, on his deathbed, shared a prophetic blessing with his sons. In that prophetic blessing we read:

• Genesis 49:22-26 HCSB  Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine beside a spring; its branches climb over the wall.  (23)  The archers attacked him, shot at him, and were hostile toward him.  (24)  Yet his bow remained steady, and his strong arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,  (25)  by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and the womb.  (26)  The blessings of your father excel the blessings of my ancestors and the bounty of the eternal hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the prince of his brothers.
  

These Hebrew characters form the name of God “Abir” which means “Mighty One” found in Genesis 49:24. Joseph was attacked by the archers of envy, hatred, temptation, persecution, neglect, ingratitude, doubt, and fear. However, it says “his bow remained strong and his arms were strengthened.” Joseph didn’t do it. Abir did. Notice that Abir did not keep Joseph from the difficulties of life. Instead, Abir strengthened Joseph through it all.

Because Joseph was willing to go through whatever God sent his way, he found strength and blessing above and beyond all the blessings his ancestors had known. Who were his ancestors? Well, Abraham for one. I don’t know about you, but I would consider Abraham blessed. The source of blessing; the source of strength and power; the source of hope in a cruel and indifferent world is Abir – the Mighty One of Israel.

As a branch, Joseph abode by the spring. He kept in touch with the source of his strength. He was fruitful, an evidence that he was fully satisfied with that internal supply, even when he was being persecuted for righteousness’ sake. His branches ran over the wall. The fruitful life is a blessing to others, even to those who are outside of the wall of salvation. Power for service remains as long as we continue to abide in the Master.[1]

Joseph was a good boy who turned into a great man. He was faithful year after year and because he was willing to humble himself under the mighty hand of God, in due time, God exalted him.

In this war we are in we are going to have to be patient. We cannot expect to “turn over a new leaf” and two weeks later be put in charge. Even if we patiently serve for years, we cannot expect an automatic acceptance from people. Joseph apparently worked for Potiphar for years and at a crucial time, was not believed. It didn’t matter that he’d never lied, never stolen, never done Potiphar anything but good. Potiphar wrongly chose his wife over Joseph. That’s life. You can’t quit when things don't go your way. If you quit you will DEFINITELY not get anywhere. If you patiently and steadfastly keep doing what's right, sooner or (more likely) later, you’ll look around and find yourself useful to both God and man. 
 
[1] John 15:1-8

Of further interest is the death of Ahmose's first-born son (Exodus 12:29), Ahmose II, or Ahmose-ankh, in 1552. According to the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, he died of a “Canannite illness” associated with the expulsion of the Hyksos.

History tells us that after the disastrous plagues, loss of slaves, and army that followed, Avaris was abandoned, to be left unoccupied for about 250 years following the Hyksos expulsion. Avaris had been the capital of the Hyksos domination of the delta, a prosperous trade center, and a well fortified city. It would have been a desirable site for the Egyptians to refortify and occupy. But it was abandoned by the Egyptians after a short occupation. Why? 

According to Scripture, the delta land had just been devastated by terrible plagues against both cattle and crops; only years of famine could follow. The entire slave work force had just left in the Exodus; there was no one to rebuild the city. Ahmose had also lost part of his army in the Sea of Reeds; there was no one left to defend the city. Avaris and much of the delta was consequently abandoned. 

So, Ahmose returned to his capital at Thebes and died in 1545.  

Listen, it should be obvious, but let's say it anyway. Don't harden your heart against the Word of God. Don't stiffen your neck and raise your head in rebellion because you don't want someone telling you what to do. It will be your destruction. The bigger you are, and the more influence that you have, the harder your fall will be. Don't mess with Adonai. It'll be the death of you. 

Rules Of Engagement, or ROE, determine when, where, and how force should be used. The ROE may be both general and specific. Some may be made public, as in a martial law or curfew situation, but usually, they’re only fully known and understood by the force that intends to use them. For obvious reasons, you don’t necessarily want the enemy to know how you’ll respond to all situations! Broadly speaking, ROE delineate the circumstances and limitations under which the force will initiate or continue engagement. In other words, they tell you when to fight, when to quit pounding on the enemy or when to break contact with the enemy and retreat. Usually ROE are defensive in nature.

Don’t be deceived, we are at war. Sometimes warfare doesn’t look the same as we expect. For example, right now our nation is at war on several fronts and just one of those fronts is the internet. It doesn’t look like any war you’ve ever seen. South Korean hackers lob DDoS grenades against a website of the Japanese Ministry of Education. Widespread DDoS attacks on Estonia originate from Russia. Stuxnet causes damage to Iranian nuclear facilities. It’s become so common that cyber-attack vigilantism via Anonymous hackers have become daily fare in the news. It doesn’t have to involve missiles or Marines to be war. 

Paul said, 

• Ephesians 6:10-13 HCSB  Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength.  (11)  Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil.  (12)  For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.  (13)  This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.
  

God has ROE for us. He has clearly delineated when we should fight and when we should be peacemakers. He’s given us clear examples of heroes who have gone before us and shown us both their victories and their fatal errors. Three fourths of these examples lie in the Old Covenant. No wonder Satan has worked so hard at getting the Church to set aside the Old Covenant as useless and no longer applicable. It's because he wants US to be useless and no longer applicable!

Hashem took a bunch of slaves and over a period of 41 years made them a force that conquered Canaan and about whom Rahab said,

• Joshua 2:9-11 HCSB  …"I know that the LORD has given you this land and that dread of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you.  (10)  For we have heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed across the Jordan.  (11)  When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.
  

I wonder – would anyone ever say that about our congregation? One day Mary Queen of Scotland said, “I fear John Knox’s prayers more than an army of ten thousand men.” Would anyone ever be able to say such a thing about us?

Do you want to know how Yahweh turned this raggedy band of multi-generational slaves into a fighting force that a city like Jericho that had never been conquered before would fear? RULES. He used rules and laws. He disciplined them.

Now you may say, “Oh that’s well and good for the Old Covenant. We are under the New and it’s all about grace and love!” Really? Turn if you would to:

•   Acts 5:1-14 HCSB  But a man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of property.  (2)  However, he kept back part of the proceeds with his wife's knowledge, and brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.  (3)  Then Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds from the field?  (4)  Wasn't it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn't it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God!"  (5)  When he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead, and a great fear came on all who heard.  (6)  The young men got up, wrapped his body, carried him out, and buried him.  (7)  There was an interval of about three hours; then his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.  (8)  "Tell me," Peter asked her, "did you sell the field for this price?" "Yes," she said, "for that price."  (9)  Then Peter said to her, "Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!"  (10)  Instantly she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men came in, they found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband.  (11)  Then great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard these things.  (12)  Many signs and wonders were being done among the people through the hands of the apostles. By common consent they would all meet in Solomon's Colonnade.  (13)  None of the rest dared to join them, but the people praised them highly.  (14)  Believers were added to the Lord in increasing numbers--crowds of both men and women.
  

It was when the Spirit enforced the Father’s Will for a pure and holy church without deceit and self-glorification that the church thrived. It was when great fear came on the whole church that the great works happened. It was when the Lowlanders admired the church and praised the church for their purity and great works but were too fearful and respectful to join lightly that believers were added to the Lord in increasing numbers – crowds of them.

Not convinced? Turn to:

• 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 HCSB Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy way will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord.  (28)  So a man should examine himself; in this way he should eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  (29)  For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.  (30)  This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep.  (31)  If we were properly evaluating ourselves, we would not be judged,  (32)  but when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, so that we may not be condemned with the world.
  

Did you get that? There is a proper way to observe Pesach’. It’s not a free-for-all, devil-may-care, blasé, laissez-fair affair. There is a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things. (GASP) There are rules! This should not surprise us,

• 1 Corinthians 14:33 HCSB  since God is not a God of disorder but of peace…
  

What are the ROE then? Since our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens, the ROE must be spiritual in nature. They do not necessarily reflect the world’s military and other strategic ROE. However, they do reflect the same areas of concern that most ROE address, namely three critical figures or groups: allies, enemies, and civilians.

Our greatest ally is in heaven. Of Him the ROE say:

• Exodus 20:2-11 HCSB  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.  (3)  Do not have other gods besides Me.  (4)  Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.  (5)  You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers' sin, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,  (6)  but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands.  (7)  Do not misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will punish anyone who misuses His name.  (8)  Remember to dedicate the Sabbath day:  (9)  You are to labor six days and do all your work,  (10)  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You must not do any work--you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates.  (11)  For the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.
  

Regarding the civilians our King said,

• Luke 9:50 HCSB  … whoever is not against you is for you."

• Romans 12:17-18 HCSB  Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone's eyes.  (18)  If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.
  

Through Moses He gave us clear instructions on how to treat them.

• Exodus 20:12-17 HCSB  Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.  (13)  Do not murder.  (14)  Do not commit adultery.  (15)  Do not steal.  (16)  Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.  (17)  Do not covet your neighbor's house. Do not covet your neighbor's wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
  

Through Isaiah He said,

• Isaiah 58:6-7 HCSB  Isn't the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke?  (7)  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and to not ignore your own flesh and blood?
  

Through James He said,

• James 1:27 HCSB  Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
  

King Jesus summarized all this for us. He summarized the Ten Commandments or the Aseret ha Devarim into two major groups or approaches.

• Matthew 22:37-40 HCSB  He said to him, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. (38)  This is the greatest and most important commandment. (39)  The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. (40)  All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments."
  

What about the Devil and his minions? What do the ROE tell us about them?

• James 4:7 HCSB  Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.
  

How do we do this? In what way do we resist the Devil? First of all, in that verse we see that we are to submit to God. The more you submit to God the more you resist the Devil. You, on your own, cannot resist Lucifer. You are not strong enough. You are not big enough. Even

• Jude 1:9 HCSB  …Michael the archangel, when he was disputing with the Devil in a debate about Moses' body, did not dare bring an abusive condemnation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

• 2 Peter 2:10-12 HCSB  …Bold, arrogant people! They do not tremble when they blaspheme the glorious ones;  (11)  however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord.  (12)  But these people, like irrational animals--creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed--speak blasphemies about things they don't understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed,
  

As the Lord told the prophet Zechariah,

• Zechariah 4:6 HCSB  …'Not by strength or by might, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of Hosts.
  

It is God within you, the Ruach’ ha Kodesh, the Holy Spirit, that the Devil fears.

• 1 John 4:4 HCSB  You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
  

       So, we resist the Devil first by submitting to God. The more God has control of us, the less the Devil has access to us. 

Second, however, we resist the Devil by the Word of God. When the Master fought the Devil, He did so by quoting and correctly applying the Scriptures.

• Matthew 4:3-4 HCSB  Then the tempter approached Him and said, "If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."  (4)  But He answered, "It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."
  

Either the Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from your Bible.

• Hebrews 4:12 HCSB  For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart.
  

 Which is it in your life? Are you in your Bible? Is your Bible in you? 

Third, we must give the Devil no opportunities in our lives. There must be no breaches in our armor, no beach heads on which he may capitalize.

• Ephesians 4:27 HCSB  and don't give the Devil an opportunity.
  

Do not tolerate sin in your life. Leaders, do not tolerate sin among yourselves! Take careful note that Hashem loves those who are zealous for Him. He raises to leadership those who hold high standards of holiness in their own lives and the lives of their charges. It was because the Levites were willing to stand with Moses when our ancestors were shaming themselves with a golden calf that they were given the priesthood. Consider what Hashem had to say about Phinehas:

• Numbers 25:11-13 HCSB  "Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites because he was zealous among them with My zeal, so that I did not destroy the Israelites in My zeal.  (12)  Therefore declare: I grant him My covenant of peace.  (13)  It will be a covenant of perpetual priesthood for him and his descendants, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites."
  

As a direct result of Phinehas’ zeal and willingness to do something very painful, that would possibly bring condemnation upon himself for the sake of the Lord, he and his received the privilege of caring for the vessels and objects within the inner sanctuary. In effect, they got more intimate access to God!

Those who take God’s ROE seriously and apply them in practical ways to their day to day lives, those who build up their zeal for the Lord and engage in spiritual warfare, will find themselves similarly rewarded.

As all men (even the great ones) do, Moses eventually died. He made one mistake in over forty years of service - just one. He allowed his anger at the people's sin to make him cross the line into sin. He messed up one of God's metaphors. Instead of simply speaking as instructed, he struck the rock and as a result was not allowed to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 20:1-12; 23-24; Deuteronomy 32:48-52; 34:1-6). 

Think about that. One error; an error that was provoked by year after year of whining, complaining, ungrateful, and suspicious people. Nevertheless, the standards for leadership in Adonai's kingdom are high - very high. On one hand, this is why those considering leadership should keep in mind, 

• James 3:1 HCSB  Not many should become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment;
  

On the other hand, this is also why those who are not called to take on such a risk should grant good leaders to be worthy of ample honor and not accept an accusation against them unless it is supported by two or three witnesses and it is something worth acting on! (1 Timothy 5:17-20). 

Peace-time officers can afford to have lower standards. They can afford to be fat, lazy, and have bad attitudes. In war, the officers must stand head and shoulders above all those they lead. They must be the first to lead, the last to leave, and never call on their people to do something they are not willing to do themselves. We are at war and those who lead us must take their responsibilities and their character seriously. 

God told Joshua, in Joshua 1:3,  "I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads." We need to take heart in the fact that God does not change and what He has offered to our ancestors He stands ready to offer us. Every place against which our faith and courage lead us to go up, shall be ours. Our inheritance in the land shall have no limits but those set our our own unbelief and fears. As we tread; as we live and work; so shall we possess. 

In verse 6 God also said, "Be strong and courageous." He did not simply intend general firmness but the strength of our hands and the firmness of our resolve. 

• Isaiah 35:3-4 HCSB  Strengthen the weak hands, steady the shaking knees!  (4)  Say to the faint-hearted: "Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming. God's retribution is coming; He will save you."
  

• Hebrews 12:11-13 HCSB  No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  (12)  Therefore strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees,  (13)  and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but healed instead.

Hashem said in verse 11 "Get provisions ready for yourselves." God has always given His people ample warning of coming conflicts and has always told them to prepare themselves. 

• "There is a Flood coming" He said to Noah. "Build a boat." 
  
• "There are seven lean years coming" He warned Joseph. "Build storage and prepare." 
  
• "Babylon is my disciplinary hand" He warns through the prophet Jeremiah "Resist them at your own peril" 
  
• "There is a famine coming to the Roman world" He informs the prophet Agabus. "Start setting aside money to help those in need." 
  

Those who understand this principle; those who are as wise as serpents and harmless as doves; keep one eye in the Scriptures and one eye on the news. They look to the dangers ahead and prepare for them. So "get provisions for yourselves...you are going to war."

The Lord's purpose is for His people to establish a kingdom - a theocracy. The world points to the conquest of Canaan and cries "Oh for shame! God's people are fighting." Never apologize for a warrior's heart. It was the great warrior David who was described as being a "man after God's own heart." It was about Yahweh Adonai that Miriam sang, "The Lord is a warrior; Yahweh is His name." 

The truth of the matter is that there are some things that are WORTH fighting for. There is such a thing as a just war. This world veers toward two serious errors. Either they fight for ridiculous things like multinational conglomerates or oil, or they refuse to fight for the right things like defending one's home or the rights of the weak. 

Quit apologizing for taking your walk with Christ seriously. Quit apologizing for loving your church. Quit apologizing for witnessing. Quit apologizing for being one of God's warriors!

When Moses died, Hashem had Joshua ready. The halt in the plains of  Moab was not because God was hesitating but because He is a God of decency and order. He was getting His people into battle formation; making sure their leadership was online and ensuring that they remembered what they were there to do and why. 

God's purposes do not halt because one leader is gone. God's plans do not go on hold till another leader may be found. Joshua was already prepared. He'd worked with Moses for years and was familiar with how God worked. He'd already learned to rely on God for past victories and thus had both the requisite humility and confidence. 

God was not taken by surprise by the death of Moses. Forty years before God had already known who it was that was going to take over for Moses. After Joshua had led the people to a miraculous victory over the Amalekites at Rephidim Hashem said, 

• Exodus 17:14 HCSB  The LORD then said to Moses, "Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven."
  

He already knew who would lead forty years later and He knew what kind of encouragement he would need. Here he is, facing giants and walled cities, and God said, "unroll that scroll and read it back to me" and Joshua remembered the miraculous victory over Amalek. 

God had already prepared the people for this moment too. They had seen Joshua at the head of the army, swinging his sword and covered in the blood of God's enemies. They had seen him honor God when multitudes of their fathers and mothers had been disobedient (Exodus 32:17). They'd seen his and Caleb's faith hold when the faith of every other spy wavered and shrank (Deuteronomy 31:7-8). They'd seen him honored by God in return (Numbers 27:18-23; Deuteronomy 36:14-15). 

Young men...young women! Do you want to be honored by God in a similar manner? Do you want to be "honored by both God and man" as Jesus was? Then do the same things. Be willing to step up and fight alongside God. Show faith. Show your character and honor. Do this for years. 

• 1 Peter 5:6 HCSB  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time,
  

No. God's work is not dependent on men. He is willing to work with us and through us. What a high privilege! But never think that the Lord's work is dependent on any one of us. A Moses dies and God has a Joshua ready. 

Moses was not to enter the Promised Land, and no advance could be made as long as he remained the leader. As wonderful as Moses was, he was barring the way. 

Moses was not the man for the future. He had been the perfect man for the congregation's past. He had been the right man for the job to stand before Pharaoh but Joshua was the right man to stand up to the Canaanites. Moses was qualified to lead through the sea and through the wilderness but Joshua was qualified to lead against fortified cities. Moses was the right man to lead the people out of slavery but Joshua was the right man to lead them to victory as conquerors. 

To die in the midst of a great work is not to die in vain. This War of the Ages is by definition a multi-generational war. Each of us makes way for others. Each of us either clears the path for the next generation or we obstruct their way. The mistakes of our lives are not less harmful because God uses our work generally. Meribah was still a blunder and a sin and you never get away with sin - especially in leadership. Though God, in His great love and mercy, had continued to use Moses in many ways, you never get away with sin, even if you are a Moses, and so the useful man had to be set aside so that the right man could lead. 

Our history with God has shown us repeatedly that He sometimes uses an inferior man to succeed where the more eminent man has failed. 

• Joshua 1:1-2 HCSB  After the death of Moses the LORD's servant, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, who had served Moses:  (2)  "Moses My servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites.
  

We do not always know who will be most successful at leading the congregation to success. We often fail to discern success when it comes. We often fail to look at the crosses of life as victories. We fail to realize that winter is as useful as spring. The frost and the sun are both useful. The night is as much inspired by God as the day.

Cultural Christianity tells people, "Believe in God and He will lead you to success." But then they go on to define success in human terms: health, wealth, popularity, and acclaim. God blesses us with poverty, nakedness, peril, and shame and says "These are all approved for their faith"! 

Many of the people likely saw the loss of Moses at the helm as catastrophic. They may have not seen much in Joshua. They may have looked at him as "Moses' administrative assistant". What they may have failed to realize was that Moses was obviously deficient in administration. Hadn't Jethro had to to teach him to delegate the counseling and judging out? Joshua was an administrative genius and they were about to parcel out an entire nation. Running an army is a logistical nightmare. Running a war without administrative skills will result in disaster. Though he was by all accounts Moses' inferior, Joshua was the right man for the job. 

Each of you are designed for a particular job in the congregation. Each of you is a specialized tool. Quit judging yourselves by each other and start asking God to prepare you for your day on the battlefield. Humbly agree with His assessment of your abilities and then place those abilities on the altar and wait for His command to go forth and do battle with his enemies. 

Work on, whoever or whatever you are. You may not be a Moses who was taught all the wisdom and knowledge of the Egyptians and trained for forty years to leadership by God Himself. You may only be a Joshua, a liberated slave who helped the great man from day to day. Nevertheless, work on, for you may succeed where better men than you have failed. 

However, let not the one who happens to be working in the hour when success finally comes from God forget the labor of his predecessors. Joshua's work was simply the harvesting. The tilling, sowing, and weeding had largely been done by Moses. Each was useful and one should be grateful for the contributions of other. 

As God said, "the land which I am giving to the Israelites." The corn may be the natural result of human cultivation, and yet it remains a gift of the "Lord of the Harvest." 

If this congregation leaves a lasting impact upon this community, it will be because the Spirit has empowered us. If this congregation grows it will be because God has so ordained it. We do not earn our salvation by our works and we do not get exalted without humbly submitting to Hashem's will and ways. Without Him we can do nothing and we can be nothing.
 

Many years ago G.B Vicks and later Dr. Lee Roberson used to say, “everything rises and falls on leadership.” When we get good leaders, we tend to do well with God and the world. When we choose bad leaders, we tend to go astray. That’s why I often tell you “You get the leadership you deserve.” I take great hope in the passage where God promises:

• Jeremiah 3:15 HCSB  I will give you shepherds who are loyal to Me, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill.
  

Out of all the creatures God could have chosen to describe us He used sheep. A sheep is no great leader. Sheep are pretty dumb and will follow whatever voice is loudest around them as often as not. If there’s a Martin Luther King Jr. around, they’ll follow him to social justice. If there’s an Adolph Hitler around, they’ll follow him into terrible barbarism.

We’ve had millennia to demonstrate this principle. In this series we’ve come to the point where our people took hold of God’s promise of a land of our own in Canaan. For the next three centuries judges ruled us.

• Othniel[1]; 
• the south-paw Ehud[2] who assassinated fat king Eglon and led in battle resulting in the deaths of 10,000 Moabites; 

• Shamgar[3] who personally killed 600 Philistines using an oxgoad;

• lady Deborah[4] who ordered general Barak to defeat Sisera and is listed in the Great Hall of Faith[5]; 

• Gideon[6] who started out so fearful and yet with the Spirit’s empowerment destroyed Baal’s altar and then reduced his army from 32,000 to 300 and with that puny force defeated the Midianite army and also made it into the Hall of Faith[7]; then there was…

• Tola[8]; 

• Jair, who was such a good father that all thirty of his sons became itinerant judges[9]; 

• Jephthah the rejected son of a prostitute who ended up defeating the Ammonites and taking twenty of their cities[10]; he too faced the same old tired accusation that every leader faces of “we don’t think you handled that the right way”. I like his approach! He defeated his accusers in battle![11] Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong millennia!

• Ibzan[12] who had thirty daughters for whom he arranged marriages outside the tribe and thirty sons for whom he brought back wives from outside the tribe! My guess would be that he was too busy handling his family’s affairs to do something worthy of showing up in the Hall of Faith!

• Elon[13];

• Wealthy and powerful Abdon[14] who had 40 sons and 30 grandsons;

 
[1] Judges 1:11-15; 3:1-11; Joshua 15:16-19; 1 Chronicles 4:13
[2] Judges 3:12-30
[3] Judges 3:31-5:6
[4] Judges 4:1-5:31; 1 Samuel 12:11
[5] Hebrews 11:32
[6] Judges 6:1-8:32
[7] Hebrews 11:32
[8] Judges 10:2
[9] Judges 10:3-5
[10] Judges 10:6-12:7
[11] Judges 12:1-16
[12] Judges 12:8-10
[13] Judges 12:11-12
[14] Judges 12:13-15

Finally, we come to Samson.[1] Samson was different from the very get go. Like John the Baptist and the Messiah, an angel announced his birth. He was consecrated by his parents to be a Nazirite from birth but unfortunately, like many kids, he failed to take the vow of holiness on for himself. He had an inordinate affection for Philistine women. Nevertheless, Hashem had a job for him to do and through the Spirit gave Samson miraculous strength. He once killed a lion bare handed! He killed thirty Philistines in one encounter and one thousand more using the jawbone of an ass as a weapon.

[1] Judges 13:1-16:31

Nine years before Samson was born, Eli had become our high priest. Eli was a good man who failed to raise good sons. He would end up losing his boys, losing the ark of the covenant, and dying an ignoble death due to the weakness of his leadership.

When Samson was four, a boy by the name of Samuel was born to Hannah and Elkanah in Ephraim.[1] Like Samson, Samuel was dedicated to the Lord by his mother from birth. Unlike Samson’s parents, she took practical steps to ensure that the boy Samuel would be inculcated in the faith. As a result, Samuel adopted the Way for himself and became one of our greatest prophet judges. 

Samuel would have been about 41 when Samson pulled down the temple of Dagon on himself. I think that the moral lesson would have probably been pretty clear to him at the time. Samuel too, like so many of his predecessors, brought zeal and a warrior-like spirit to the ministry. When king Saul failed to obey God and wipe out the Amalekites completely and brought the captured king Agag back as a trophy, Samuel not only delivered the bad news that king Saul had lost God's favor, but personally dealt with king Agag. 

• 1 Samuel 15:32-33 HCSB  Samuel said, "Bring me Agag king of Amalek." Agag came to him trembling, for he thought, "Certainly the bitterness of death has come."  (33)  Samuel declared: As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women. Then he hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.
  

Samuel by far and large did a wonderful job as a prophet and priest. Unfortunately, Samuel made the same mistake Eli and Samson’s parents did. He spent his whole life in ministry but lost his own children. 
 
[1] 1 Samuel 1:1-20

As a result, the people wanted to try something different. “Give us a king! We want to be like the surrounding nations!” It was a stupid decision. The surrounding nations were immoral and easily defeated when God’s people were actually listening to God. But we face the same dilemma today. Too many of our churches and too many of our younger generation want to be like the surrounding Lowlanders. “Give us a leader like the CEOs of the world! Give us a leader like the politically savvy but morally bankrupt ones we see in Washington! Let’s run our churches the way Starbucks runs its business!”

God followed the same line of discipline He did when they whined for meat. “You want meat?” He said, “OK, I’ll give you meat.” And He choked them on it. “You want a king like the ones in the surrounding nations? OK – I’ll give you king Saul.” Saul was tall, handsome and completely worldly. When I teach leadership principles I dedicate a couple months to king Saul. Not because he was a great strategist or tactician or anything but because if there was a possible mistake to be made – he made it.

In the end, he spiraled out of control and spun down into a demon-oppressed[1] murderous madness. The picture you see is of Saul commanding a man by the name of Doeg to kill a bunch of priests and their families.[2] He ended up defeated in battle and committing suicide.[3]

[1] 1 Samuel 16:14
[2] 1 Samuel 22:18
[3] 1 Samuel 31:4 

Fortunately, God had a good man in the wings. That man was king David.  David was a truly universal man. He was a poet, a musician, a warrior and an astute political creature. As a young shepherd he killed a bear and a lion. When Saul and his whole army came to a standstill before the giant Goliath, David simply shot him. This passage kind of reminds me of this short clip!

Reading the life of David gives me good ideas about potential sons in law. As a bride-price David killed 200 Philistines and brought their foreskins as proof to then king Saul for his daughter Michal!

He spent years suffering persecution from Saul but all the while did what Saul should have been doing. In other words, he acted as a king long before he ever got the title! Finally, at the age of thirty, David became the anointed king over both Israel and Judah. He conquered the Jebusite fortress of Jerusalem and made it his capital. He brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and made the preparations for the building of the Temple.

Upon David’s death, Solomon took over and he started out really well. He was humble. He admitted his lack of knowledge and wisdom and asked God for help. God responded like He always does to such a request and made Solomon the wisest man ever. Unfortunately – I’ve used that word a lot haven’t I? – Solomon’s weakness was also women. Solomon’s many women were more than simply political tools of convenience. He was besotted by them[1] and contravened Hashem’s injunction to not intermarry with Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite women. In the end he had 700 noble wives and 300 concubines and these turned his heart away from the Lord.[2]

In the book of Ecclesiastes, he referred to concubines as “the delights of men.” He was simply being honest. Sin does indeed bring pleasure…for a time. Each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.[3] 
 
[1] 1 Kings 11:1-2
[2] 1 Kings 11:3-10
[3] James 1:14-15

The next king was Solomon’s son Rehoboam.[1]  He was a foolish and arrogant man who quickly led Israel to open civil war (932-931 BC) and was instrumental in bringing on the events that resulted in the Egyptian invasion led by Shishaq, king of Egypt. When besieged by Shishaq, Rehoboam gave the attacking king all the treasures of the temple in tribute and agreed to make Judah a vassal state of Egypt. Essentially, everything Solomon built and amassed was gone less than 17 years after he died. Futility indeed!

[1] 1 Kings 11:43; 12 and 14:21-31; also 2 Chronicles 10-12

Looking over this era of judges and kings we see the ebb and flow of godliness and power.

1 Samuel 12:7-11 HCSB  Now present yourselves, so I may judge you before the LORD about all the righteous acts He has done for you and your ancestors.  (8)  "When Jacob went to Egypt, your ancestors cried out to the LORD, and He sent them Moses and Aaron, who led your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.  (9)  But they forgot the LORD their God, so He handed them over to Sisera commander of the army of Hazor, to the Philistines, and to the king of Moab. These enemies fought against them.  (10)  Then they cried out to the LORD and said, 'We have sinned, for we abandoned the LORD and worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths. Now deliver us from the power of our enemies, and we will serve You.'  (11)  So the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel. He rescued you from the power of the enemies around you, and you lived securely.

When we had good leaders, we more often than not followed them to godliness and power. When we chose bad leaders out of a desire to have our desires satiated, we followed them right over the cliff into slavery.

Look how important it is to maintain the standards of purity.

• 2 Thessalonians 3:6 HCSB  Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every brother who walks irresponsibly and not according to the tradition received from us.
  
• 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 HCSB  (6)  Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast permeates the whole batch of dough?  (7)  Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, since you are unleavened. For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.  (8)  Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old yeast, or with the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
  

Look how important it is to teach the next generation!

• Genesis 18:18-19 HCSB  Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.  (19)  For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just. This is how the LORD will fulfill to Abraham what He promised him."
  
• Ephesians 6:4 HCSB  And fathers, don't stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
  

Look how important it is to select wise and godly leadership!

• Acts 6:3 HCSB  Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty.
  
• 2 Timothy 2:2 HCSB  And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
  
• Titus 1:7-9 HCSB  For an overseer, as God's manager, must be blameless, not arrogant, not quick tempered, not addicted to wine, not a bully, not greedy for money,  (8)  but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled,  (9)  holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.
  

Look how important it is to have strong, aggressive leadership!
Every one of Hashem’s good judges were warlike. Eli was not and nearly lost the nation. Samuel was and regained it. Saul was but wasn’t good at it. David was a phenomenal warrior and took the nation to its height of glory. Solomon was a man of peace and the decline began, only to be concluded in the reign of his abusive but strategically foolish son.

Small wonder Paul praised Epaphroditus as a brother, co-worker and fellow soldier![1] Perhaps this principle is why Paul urged Timothy to “share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” and to not “get entangled in the concerns of everyday life.”[2]

[1] Philippians 2:25
[2] 2 Timothy 2:3

Psalms 121:1-8 HCSB  A song of ascents. I raise my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from?  (2)  My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.  (3)  He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.  (4)  Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.  (5)  The LORD protects you; the LORD is a shelter right by your side.  (6)  The sun will not strike you by day, or the moon by night.  (7)  The LORD will protect you from all harm; He will protect your life.  (8)  The LORD will protect your coming and going both now and forever.

  “I lift my eyes toward the mountains.” (v.1) Whenever a devout Hebrew would travel far from Canaan, were he lonely for home or nervous about his circumstances all he would have to do is turn his eyes toward the mountain heights of Judea. These could be seen from a great distance and there was one particular prominence upon which his eyes would fall. Any devout follower of God will look upon this peak with an eager fascination for it has been uniquely consecrated by God. I’m speaking of Mount Zion, God’s favorite hill. To be specific, Zion is the southeastern hill of Jerusalem.

That may seem like a strange idea to you, that God would have a favorite place on earth, but I assure you that it is true. God the Son desired this place to be His home. He actually said, “This is My resting place forever; I will make My home here because I have desired it.”[1]

I believe the Son, as a theophany, founded the original citadel. I believe this because He said through Isaiah that He founded Zion, and that He is the One who created the waters of its ancient pool. I believe it because Melchizedek was its first priest/king who received the tithe from our father Abram, broke bread and wine with him, and spoke a blessing of God upon our forefather in the first person, speaking as God.[2]

Out of all the tribes and places in Israel, He preferred Mount Zion and Judah[3] and has determined to live there.[4] He chose to put His name there.[5] His decision to make Mt. Zion the seat of His immanent aspect is permanent and irrevocable.[6] It’s where He has chosen to be worshipped in a singular way.[7] He even keeps track of what human was born there! He said He loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob and that it will be said of Zion, “This one and that one were born in her.” And when He registers the peoples, the Lord will record, “This one was born there.”[8] So God watches over Mt. Zion with great passion, saying He watches over her like a lion growls over its prey.[9] Anyone who messes with Zion is messing with the pupil of God’s eye. He will definitely react and it won’t be pleasant![10]

This is why Adonaists should hold Canaan in general but Mount Zion in particular as a favorite place. David said “Your servants take delight in its stones and favor its dust.” [11]

In the future, the Mashiach will rule from that holy place[12] and it is these two ideas that I’d like to tie close together in your minds. It was Mt. Zion that was the seat of God’s passion, making it the source of help for the ancient Hebrew, and it is upon Mt. Zion that God’s passion will take His throne, making it the source of hope for the modern Adonaist. This millennia –long love affair that Hashem has had with Zion has led His people to conflate the place with the sanctifying Presence. To speak of Zion is to speak of our hope in the Lord.

[1] Psalm 68:15-16; 132:13-14
[2] Genesis 14:18-23; Isaiah 5:1-2; 22:9-11; 14:32
[3] Psalm 48:1-2; 78:67-68; 87:2
[4] Psalm 74:2; 76:1-2; 132:13-14; Isaiah 8:18; Joel 3:21
[5] Deuteronomy 12:4-5, 11; 2 Chronicles 6:5-6; 12:13
[6] Psalm 48:12-14; 68:15-16
[7] Deuteronomy 12:4-5, 11; Psalm 99:9; Isaiah 27:13; 56:7
[8] Psalm 87:2-6
[9] Isaiah 31:4-5
[10] Zechariah 2:8
[11] Psalm 102:13-14
[12] Psalm 132:13-18; Isaiah 2:2-3; 24:23; 27:13

Focusing our minds on today’s passage, I want you to note first that our souls are often placed in circumstances of distress. Suffering is probably the most common and yet least appreciated or understood condition for humans. None are exempted from it. Heaven does not grant special dispensations for its favored children. We may be granted different mental, material, or social graces but all – both high and low, wealthy and poor – are occasionally granted the gift of suffering. Hope deferred makes the heart sick; projects, hopes and dreams into which we’ve invested huge portions of our lives collapse overnight; unjust wounds are inflicted by the mean insinuations of lesser men; words that are barbed with envy and dipped in the venom of heartless cruelty penetrate deep into our minds; the nameless pang of disappointment that is brought on by the faithlessness of one we trusted; all these and many more may be hidden from others and are beyond the powers of any but God to console.

“He is the maker of heaven and earth.” (v.2) Surely the Creator of all can offer help and comfort to all. Surely Yahweh Boreh has the great forces of the universe well in hand! Surely His omniscience and wisdom is up to the task, no matter how complicated our problem may be? He is able to hand our enemies over to us![1] He is able to allow our offspring to possess the gates of our enemies![2] Yahweh Adonai is willing to be an enemy of our enemies and a foe to our foes, if only we carefully obey Him and do everything He says.[3] 
 
[1] Genesis 14:20
[2] Genesis 22:17; 24:60
[3] Exodus 23:22

“He will not allow your foot to slip.” (v.3) I have hiked in the moraine left by a glacier and stumbled over all the gravel to the point where my ankles both felt sprained. I have fought amidst a crowd and stumbled over the prone bodies of the fallen. I have grappled with a foe much larger than I and felt his power as he pushed me backwards against my will. To hear the Lord promise “I will not allow your foot to slip” holds great meaning and comfort to this old warrior. Our feet sometimes slip in our misfortunes. To someone like David who lived in a mountainous area, it was very easy to understand the dangers that could accompany even a single slip of the foot.[1]

Believers rejoice! The foundation on which you stand, the solid rock of God’s divine power and goodness, is immovable. Plant your feet firmly in His abiding presence. Seize hold of both the blessings and curses in the Scriptures and they will guide you through the darkest of valleys.

Do this and the giddy delights of this sensuous world; the artful devices of the Deceiver; the agonies of loss and rejection – none of these will cause you to move so much as an inch from the Lord’s will and favor.
[1] Psalm 38:16-17; 66:9

“The Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.” (v.4) Sleep is required in mere humans. We must repair the damages incurred by entropy. We need to recover our strength. We need our dreams to stitch together stories that will help us process the many random small violences done to our psyches. The need for sleep is an indication of weakness and limitation – of mundanity. Not so with God. God our Father never sleeps. He never knows weariness. If ceases from labor as He did on the Sabbath, it is not due to exhaustion but due to His gracious acknowledgment of ours! His eyes never close; His lids never droop. Nothing can escape His watchful eye. No enemy can ever slip past Him unnoticed. No ambush ever surprises Him. Your pastor may slip. Human guards may nod off at their post. The steersman may accidentally sleep at the helm. Mothers may succumb to their exhaustion by a sick bed. But Yahweh is never exhausted. He is never inattentive to our needs. 

“The LORD will protect you from all harm.” (v.7) Think of the trials of Job. Think of the trials that we went through in the wilderness. Think of those who died liberating Canaan from the ungodly. Think of what the Apostles went through. Consider the people of the Great Hall of Faith in Hebrews eleven who struggled with poverty, nakedness, hunger, homelessness, persecution and martyrdom. Is God promising the impossible? Is God making a vow that He has apparently not kept? No – God does not keep us from the valley of the shadow of death.[1] He walks with us through it and delivers us from it! God does not keep us from having enemies. He prepares a feast for us in their presence and anoints our head with oil before their jealous eyes![2]

This is what Jesus had to say on the matter.
·         Luke 21:16-18 HCSB  You will even be betrayed by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will kill some of you. (17)  You will be hated by everyone because of My name, (18)  but not a hair of your head will be lost.

How is this possible? How can we be killed and yet not a hair of our head lost? God is fully capable of restoring us, no matter how they choose to destroy our bodies. They could drop our bodies into the very sun, stripping the atoms down to their constituent parts, and Bashamayim would restore us, superstring by superstring, quark by quark.

This is possible not only after death and resurrection but even in this life!
·         Job 42:12-17 HCSB  So the LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the earlier. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.  (13)  He also had seven sons and three daughters.  (14)  He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch.  (15)  No women as beautiful as Job's daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance with their brothers.  (16)  Job lived 140 years after this and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.  (17)  Then Job died, old and full of days.

[1] Psalm 23:4
[2] Psalm 23:5

This is the reason that the Devil will lose. This is the reason the Devil does not have the chance of a wax cat in a blast furnace of lasting. This is the reason he is so desperate and he hates us so much. He knows his fate and he knows how inevitable it is and he is trying to take as many with him as possible.

This is the reason we should not so much fear those who can destroy our bodies as we should fear He who is able to cast us both body and soul into the Lake of Fire![1] This is why we should turn our eyes to Zion!

I like what Rev. Tony Bazen has said:
You can tell a lot about a person by where he looks for help in times of trouble.
1.    When Moses was cornered at the Red Sea…he did not call for the army…he called on God!
2.    When Joshua went up against the city of Jericho…he did not use bombs…he called on God!
3.    When the Hebrew boys were facing a fiery death…they did not call for firemen…they called on God!
4.    When Daniel was about to become the main course in the lion den…he did not call on animal control…he called on God!
5.    When Esther was faced with seeing her people destroyed because of prejudice…she did not call the ACLU…she called on God!
6.    When Nehemiah saw the city of Jerusalem destroyed and in ruins…he did not call the city planners…he called on God!
7.    When Peter started to sink after walking on the water…he did not call the Coast Guard…he called on God!
8.    When my soul was lost, sinking in sin…when I was dying and headed to hell…I did not look to Capitol Hill…I looked to Calvary’s Hill and called on God!

My brothers and sisters. Train your minds to love Mt. Zion and Mt. Zion’s king. Do not trust the arm of flesh. It will fail you every time. In this great battle turn your eyes toward the holy hill, toward where the Temple will reside and where your King will reign. Pray! Call out for help! And know that regardless of your circumstances; regardless of what may happen to your body; your King will come riding to your rescue.

[1] Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:4-5