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Petty turf wars? Or something different?
Why did these things happen? "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and THEY ARE WRITTEN FOR OUR ADMONITION, upon whom the ends of the world are come" -1 Corinthians 10:11. The Old Testament is also called a "pattern" a "schoolmaster" and a "shadow" of the New Testament substance, Gal 3:24, Heb. 8:5 & 10:1. What happened to the children of Israel collectively was done as an example of New Testament individuals. For example, Israel was baptized collectively- "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And WERE ALL BAPTIZED unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did ALL drink... OF THAT SPIRITUAL ROCK that followed them: AND THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST" -1 Corinthians 10:1-4. (It is obvious that not ALL of Israel was baptized, only those living at the time, therefore, it was a collective experience). But we, though following the same patterns and examples, are to be baptized, not collectively, but individually (both in water, and in spirit)- "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" -Mark 16:15-16. "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God... Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: SO IS EVERY ONE THAT IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT" -John 3:5-8. The principle that is being taught in destroying the evil peoples that dwelt within the land of Israel, had to do with the fact that the Israelites were God's peculiar treasure. And that He would help His people overcome their enemies, as long as they followed and obeyed Him (He being the embodiment of truth and love- for God is love 1 John 4:8,16). Old Testament- "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" -Exodus 19:4-6. New Testament- "The great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ... gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" -Titus 2:14. (Please note the fact that He REDEEMED us. He saved our lives, we therefore owe Him our lives). For, as I'm sure you know- "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" -Romans 6:23. An enemy being something that opposes us, and intends to injure us. Therefore, sin is an enemy of ours, it being the cause of our destruction- "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" -James 1:14-15. Therefore, in this spiritual New Testament age of substance we are told to mortify (kill off) all the enemies (sin) in our life- "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. MORTIFY THEREFORE YOUR MEMBERS WHICH ARE UPON THE EARTH; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence (longing for what is forbidden), and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth" -Colossians 3:2-8. There are so many good object lessons in how God eradicated evil in the land of Israel, as an example of how to overcome sin in this life, that I will only touch on them here. We see that first they had to believe it was necessary. They had to seek God to help them. They had to not give in to compromise. They had to never get complacent and think the job was done, because every time they did that, they were completely overcome by their enemies, and brought back into bondage by those enemies. In every instance, we must have the exact same attitude toward sin in our own lives, that the (righteous) Israelites had toward the enemies that dwelt in their land. But first of all, Israel had to come out of bondage by a way which God used to teach the pattern for the true New Testament gospel plan of salvation. Nowhere were any of the Israelites told they were to "accept the Lord as their personal saviour" and their salvation from their enemies was automatically finished. They had to follow these steps- 1. Seeking God for deliverance, 2. Applying the blood of the lamb (type of Jesus), 3. Being baptized in water (the Red Sea), 4. Receiving the writing of the law, 5. Overcoming evil in the promised land. 6. Enduring unto the end. These steps, according to the scriptures, were a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. And thereby to help us fully understand the elements of God's true salvation plan- 1. "That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us" -Acts 17:27. 2. Repent- "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" -Luke 13:3. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it" -Mark 8:35. 3. Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins- "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" -Romans 6:3-4. 4. And receive the promise of the Holy Spirit (which is the law written on the heart- "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, WRITTEN NOT WITH INK, BUT WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD; NOT IN TABLES OF STONE, BUT IN FLESHY TABLES OF THE HEART... But if the ministration of death, WRITTEN AND ENGRAVEN IN STONES, WAS GLORIOUS, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, MUCH MORE DOTH THE MINISTRATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS EXCEED IN GLORY" -2 Corinthians 3:3-9. 5. "This I say then, WALK IN THE SPIRIT, and ye shall NOT fulfil the lust of the flesh... Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" -Galatians 5:16-25. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk NOT after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" -Romans 8:1-4. "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" -Romans 8:13-14. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" -Romans 6:12-18. 6. Endure unto the end (Mat. 24:13, Mark 13:13). As Paul said- "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you" -Philippians 3:13-14. But even though we must obey these things, and apply them to our lives, we must apply them through faith, and not as our own righteousness, or as of "works of the law". This is true for us, just exactly as it was true even for the Israelites- "But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone" -Romans 9:31-32. Whew!!! Still with me?? Continued in "The false pens of the scribes" by TomR. |