From the May 14, 2013 eNews issue
(Visit Koinonia House for a FREE subscription)
“Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:”
— Lev 18:24
People often say that the God of the New Testament is a God of mercy and love, but the God of the Old Testament is vengeful and angry.
Consider the fate of the Canaanites. The LORD didn’t just tell the Israelites to take over the Promised Land. He had them destroy all the people, young and old, male and female. He even had them kill off all the animals (Deut 20:16–17; Josh 6:21–23). Later in 1 Samuel, the LORD tells Saul to absolutely destroy the Amalekites and all they had:
“Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”
— 1 Samuel 15:3
Who is this God who would order such a thing?
There are a number of explanations, the first of which are included in the text:
“That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God. ”
— Deut 20:18
There is also the Nephilim issue. Genesis 6:4 includes the haunting phrase, “...and also after that....” Apparently these strange events were not confined just to the period before the Flood. We find that there seems to be some recurrence of those things which resulted in unusual “giants” appearing in subsequent periods later in the Old Testament narrative, specifically the giant-races of Canaan. There were a number of tribes such as the Rephaim, the Emim, the Horim, and Zamsummim, that were giants (Gen 14:5; Deut 2:10–12, 22).
Additional explanations are available. However, even if we do not know them all, can we trust that God who gave His Son to die for us, the God of mercy and grace, did know what He was doing, even when He ordered the destruction of entire groups of people?
All Their Abominations
First, we often hear the complaint that if God were good, He would not allow evil. We find that the groups of people God wiped out were engaged unrepentantly in a variety of horrific practices—to the point of being completely out of control.
When God brought the Flood, the earth was filled with violence, and the wickedness of humanity was so great that “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” (Gen 6:5).
Sodom was so bad before God destroyed it, the men of Sodom (young and old) surrounded Lot’s house and insisted he send out his guests so that they could rape them. When Lot made an attempt to appease his neighbors, they tried to break down the door (Gen 19:4–5,9).
The nations whom the LORD ordered the Israelites to destroy in the Promised Land engaged in a variety of abominable practices. They practiced child sacrifice, burning their children in the fire to false gods (Lev 18:21; 2Kings 17:31; 2Chron 28:3; 2Chron 33:6 ). They engaged in bestiality (perhaps explaining why the animals could not be spared) (Lev 18:23–25), as well as adultery and homosexuality and incest (Lev 18:6–20; 24).) They invited demonic activity by practicing sorcery and witchcraft and consulting with evil spirits (Deu 18:9–12).
Yes, God had the Israelites destroy these people, but Gen 15:16 implies that He waited until their wickedness was “full”—until there was no alternative.
Sparing The Righteous
It is important to note that in every instance in which God destroys a people, He consistently rescues the few upright people in the midst of them. As Abraham noted in Genesis 18:25, God does not destroy the righteous with the wicked.
In Genesis 18:17–33, Abraham pleaded with God for Sodom, and God agreed that if there were 10 righteous people in Sodom, He would spare the city. Apparently, there weren’t even 10. Rather than destroy the one righteous man with the rest, however, God sent angels to get Lot and his family out before the brimstone fell. In fact, the angel says he cannot do anything else until Lot has escaped (Gen 19:22).
In Josh 6:22–25, Joshua’s men made sure to go in and rescue Rahab and her entire family because she had been willing to help the Israelites. In fact, Rahab—once a harlot—becomes the mother of Boaz, ancestor of King David and, ultimately, of Jesus.
In 1 Kings 14, the prophet of God told Jeroboam that he would be replaced as king of Israel because of his great wickedness in leading Israel to worship false gods and molten images. The next king would wipe out all of Jeroboam’s offspring. However, there is one son of Jeroboam who had a good heart toward the LORD. This child would not be slaughtered like the others. He would mercifully die of an illness and be buried and mourned (1Ki 14:12–13).
Then, there is Ninevah. Jonah wanted God to destroy this city, but God gladly had mercy on them because they repented. In Jonah 4:10–11, we find God reasoning with Jonah about his hard heart, saying:
“Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?”
The God of the Old Testament is a God of great patience and longsuffering. He does not enjoy having to deal harshly with wicked humanity, and in Ezekiel we find His true position on the issue:
“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?”
— Ezekiel 18:23
As we read the Old Testament, we need to be careful. The heart of God in the Old Testament is the same heart of mercy and goodness as the God in the New Testament. But because He is good, He does not allow evil to continue unchecked forever.
Related References
• Post-Flood Nephilim - Koinonia House
• Learn The Bible In 24 Hours - Audio - Koinonia House
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Horatio Spafford And The Night Seasons
From the June 04, 2013 eNews issue
Visit Koinonia House for a FREE subscription
Horatio Spafford was a prominent lawyer and real estate investor in Chicago when the 1871 Chicago Fire hit and destroyed almost all of his property. Two years later, Spafford sent his wife and four daughters ahead of him to England, where his friend DL Moody would be preaching.
On the voyage there, the ship sank and all four children were drowned. His wife alone was saved. The couple went on to have three more children, but tragedy struck again when their four year old son died of pneumonia in 1880. Near the end of his life, Spafford moved to Jerusalem and ran charitable ventures like soup kitchens, hospitals, and orphanages. He died in 1888 of malaria and was buried in Jerusalem.
While Horatio Spafford endured crippling tragedy after tragedy, he is most famous for having written one of the most beloved hymns of all time: “It Is Well With My Soul.” In the midst of serious personal sorrow, God brought Spafford to a place of peace and security wholly independent of his circumstances.
It is easy to fear in life. There are no promises of happiness or fairness. If anybody promised you a rose garden, then they were either naive for downright dishonest. In fact, when things seem to be running smoothly, tragedy can and often strikes and knocks us off our temporary pedestals of comfort. In John 16:33, Jesus warned us that in this world we would have troubles. “But be of good cheer,” he said, “I have overcome the world.”
In 1 Peter 4:17, Peter tells us that as God begins to wrap up time as we know it, He will allow events to happen in the body of Christ that will try us and test us to the max. How will we make it through this time of testing, if we don’t understand what God is doing, and if we crumble at the first hint of suffering? We desperately need to have a grasp of what God’s purpose is for allowing these kinds of trials and, most importantly, we need to understand what to do and how to act in them.
Night Seasons
During a night season, God initiates a purging, a cleansing and a purifying of our souls from everything that is not of faith. At this time, God crushes our self will, so that He can merge it with His own. In other words, it’s our own private Gethsemane. As Jesus cried in the garden, “My soul is exceeding[ly] sorrowful unto death… Nevertheless, not what I will, but what Thou wilt.” (Mark 14:34–36) During this dark season, God teaches us to say, just as Jesus did, “Not my will, but Thine.” (Matthew 26:39)
During this time, God can begin to transform our reliance on physical things to things of the spirit. He wants us to learn to walk by faith, not by our senses, our feelings or our understanding. God wants to teach us how to detach ourselves from all physical, emotional and spiritual supports, so that we will be able to respond with “Not my will, but Thine.”
Because this season can often be a time of desolation, of dried bones and ruined hopes, many Christians—because they don’t understand what God’s will is or what He is doing—get so discouraged and defeated that they give up and turn back.
Many will feel like Job, who “looked for good” but only “evil came”; and for “light,” but found only “darkness.” (Job 30:26) Or like Isaiah, who uttered “We wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places like dead men.” (Isaiah 59:9–10)
If we can only remember during our night season that the Holy Spirit has led us into this darkness on purpose. God is not angry at us, and He has not abandoned us – He paid the ultimate price for us, how could He ever abandon us? He brought us to a necessary place where precious things can happen. As he told Mary, whose brother Lazarus had died, “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” (John 11:40)
It is in these places, when our normal human securities are stripped away and all we have is Jesus, that He can begin to do in us those excellent things that can make all the difference in our lives and in our walk with Him. When the only thing we can do is cling to God, we come to that place where we see Him more clearly than ever before. That’s when the fear goes away, and we can join Horatio Spafford in singing with greater appreciation:
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pain shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
And Lord haste the day, when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Related Links
• Faith In The Dark Night - Koinonia House
• Faith In The Night Seasons - Koinonia House
• Faith In The Night Seasons Book - Koinonia House Store
Visit Koinonia House for a FREE subscription
Horatio Spafford was a prominent lawyer and real estate investor in Chicago when the 1871 Chicago Fire hit and destroyed almost all of his property. Two years later, Spafford sent his wife and four daughters ahead of him to England, where his friend DL Moody would be preaching.
On the voyage there, the ship sank and all four children were drowned. His wife alone was saved. The couple went on to have three more children, but tragedy struck again when their four year old son died of pneumonia in 1880. Near the end of his life, Spafford moved to Jerusalem and ran charitable ventures like soup kitchens, hospitals, and orphanages. He died in 1888 of malaria and was buried in Jerusalem.
While Horatio Spafford endured crippling tragedy after tragedy, he is most famous for having written one of the most beloved hymns of all time: “It Is Well With My Soul.” In the midst of serious personal sorrow, God brought Spafford to a place of peace and security wholly independent of his circumstances.
It is easy to fear in life. There are no promises of happiness or fairness. If anybody promised you a rose garden, then they were either naive for downright dishonest. In fact, when things seem to be running smoothly, tragedy can and often strikes and knocks us off our temporary pedestals of comfort. In John 16:33, Jesus warned us that in this world we would have troubles. “But be of good cheer,” he said, “I have overcome the world.”
In 1 Peter 4:17, Peter tells us that as God begins to wrap up time as we know it, He will allow events to happen in the body of Christ that will try us and test us to the max. How will we make it through this time of testing, if we don’t understand what God is doing, and if we crumble at the first hint of suffering? We desperately need to have a grasp of what God’s purpose is for allowing these kinds of trials and, most importantly, we need to understand what to do and how to act in them.
Night Seasons
During a night season, God initiates a purging, a cleansing and a purifying of our souls from everything that is not of faith. At this time, God crushes our self will, so that He can merge it with His own. In other words, it’s our own private Gethsemane. As Jesus cried in the garden, “My soul is exceeding[ly] sorrowful unto death… Nevertheless, not what I will, but what Thou wilt.” (Mark 14:34–36) During this dark season, God teaches us to say, just as Jesus did, “Not my will, but Thine.” (Matthew 26:39)
During this time, God can begin to transform our reliance on physical things to things of the spirit. He wants us to learn to walk by faith, not by our senses, our feelings or our understanding. God wants to teach us how to detach ourselves from all physical, emotional and spiritual supports, so that we will be able to respond with “Not my will, but Thine.”
Because this season can often be a time of desolation, of dried bones and ruined hopes, many Christians—because they don’t understand what God’s will is or what He is doing—get so discouraged and defeated that they give up and turn back.
Many will feel like Job, who “looked for good” but only “evil came”; and for “light,” but found only “darkness.” (Job 30:26) Or like Isaiah, who uttered “We wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places like dead men.” (Isaiah 59:9–10)
If we can only remember during our night season that the Holy Spirit has led us into this darkness on purpose. God is not angry at us, and He has not abandoned us – He paid the ultimate price for us, how could He ever abandon us? He brought us to a necessary place where precious things can happen. As he told Mary, whose brother Lazarus had died, “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” (John 11:40)
It is in these places, when our normal human securities are stripped away and all we have is Jesus, that He can begin to do in us those excellent things that can make all the difference in our lives and in our walk with Him. When the only thing we can do is cling to God, we come to that place where we see Him more clearly than ever before. That’s when the fear goes away, and we can join Horatio Spafford in singing with greater appreciation:
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pain shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
And Lord haste the day, when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Related Links
• Faith In The Dark Night - Koinonia House
• Faith In The Night Seasons - Koinonia House
• Faith In The Night Seasons Book - Koinonia House Store
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