All the archived posts there are attributed to jballigood, but you know that Todd and Jeff contributed over the years. It can be a fun game of guess the authors.

If you’d like to follow Jason still you can check out his semi-blog over at jason.doogilla.com

Thanks for the memories…

Numbers 14:18

Returning to our answers to perplexing puzzles in the Pentateuch (pardon the alliteration), we’ve come to another verse that has challenged my biblical thinking time and again. I never felt that I could get a comfortable grip on its meaning. It is found in Numbers 14:18, among other places. In that verse, after God identifies Himself as slow to anger and full of lovingkindness and forgiving, it sounds as if He randomly punishes the descendents of wicked people for four generations, even though they apparently haven’t done anything wrong. That doesn’t sound consistent with who God is, but I nonetheless have had to wrestle with the meaning of the text. What can it mean?

As was the case last week, I’d like to turn out attention to a passage in proximity to today’s verse that provides insight into the meaning of Numbers 14:18. In so doing, I’d like to share with you how the meaning of this challenging verse came together for me.

At the outset of our consideration of Scripture today, I should point out that Numbers 14 tells us about a pivotal event in the life of Israel. The spies who had investigated the land of Canaan had just returned to the nation and reported what they had found. Twelve men went. Only two had faith that God could and would give the land to the people. The other ten told the nation that the task was impossible and that it was a land that devoured people (Numbers 13:32). The nation chose to believe the majority report. This national lack of faith brought a pronouncement of judgment from God Himself. Specifically, God uttered the words of Numbers 14:23. There He said that entire faithless generation could not enter the land. It is in this pronouncement of judgment upon that unbelieving generation that we discover a clue as to why God speaks of visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations.

Before we consider this enlightening text, however, I believe that Numbers 14:18 is one of the places in which we need to consider what Scripture says, and not what we assume it means. In each of the places where God makes similar statements to Numbers 14:18 (Exodus 20:5; 34:7; and Deuteronomy 5:9), God speaks not of punishing, but rather of “visiting the iniquity.”

“Visiting the iniquity” is a unique phrase. The fact that God did not use a work like “punishing” or something similar suggest that the meaning is not that God goes after evil people’s descendants, whacking them because they had the unfortunate situation of being born into a family of bad parents or grandparents or great-grandparents.

Numbers 14:33 provides assistance in understanding the significance of “visiting the iniquity.” There we read God’s words to His people Israel, “Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness.”

When the text says, in the active voice, that God visits iniquity on these descendants, it is to emphasize that this is something God does intentionally and purposefully. It is a reference to the consequences of sin. Numbers 14:33 makes this evident as we see the children bearing the consequences of their fathers’ sin. The fathers were unbelieving so the children had to wander aimlessly in the wilderness. Sometimes, it seems, the only way a person can understand the gravity of his or her sin is to see its effects in another person’s life. We never sin unto ourselves. We affect others with our actions. God has set things in such a way in the world that when sins are perpetrated, they have a “trickle-down” effect, bringing hardship sometimes even to those we love the most. Many of us can point to examples in our lives or in the lives of those we know where children suffered from the unfaithfulness of others. Every example of grief and suffering in our world is traceable some way to someone’s sin.

The application is for us is to watch ourselves carefully. Our unfaithfulness can bring great suffering into the lives of others. God has not promised to shield others from the effects of our sins. We can bring about the spiritual equivalent of a nuclear blast by sinning against God. Those around us are deeply affected. How important it is, then, that we live in close fellowship with our God.

Numbers 20:12

I’ve been sharing some things I’ve learned from the first five books of the Bible, these past few weeks. Today, I’d like to direct our attention to something that has always bugged me a bit, and how I found an answer during my reading of the Pentateuch. In so doing, I think we’ll discover a principle that we can trace throughout the Bible—a principle that is still valid today.

If you are like me, today’s verse has struck you as a bit harsh. I mean, you have this faithful servant of the Lord named Moses, who God commissions to guide His people out of the land of Egypt. He endures all their grumbling and complaining, their insurrection and ingratitude, only to blow it one notable time, and then he’s forbidden from entering the land he brought Israel out of Egypt to possess. It seems a little extreme, doesn’t it?

I’ve heard different explanations for this. One I recently came across is that Moses was forbidden from entering the Promised Land due to the fact that he violated a type—a foreshadowing of who Jesus Christ would be and what He would do. While there is good reason to see the incidences of rock drinking in the Pentateuch as a foreshadowing of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4), I think that this does still not adequately explain why Moses was forbidden to enter the Promised Land for the single infraction of striking a rock instead of speaking to it. After all, we have no indication that Moses knew that the rock had any significant prophetic significance. Instead, I believe that the answer to the question about why God’s response to Moses’ disobedience was so severe is found earlier in the book of Numbers, in an apparently unrelated context, Numbers 12.
In Numbers 12:6-8 God said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the LORD.” In Numbers 12, Moses is being criticized by his siblings Miriam and Aaron. As a result, God puts in a word of support for Moses, which is what we find in Numbers 12:6-8. In this word of support, however, God also describes the unique relationship He had with Moses.

God was not in a distant relationship with Moses. He had revealed Himself to Moses in the most intimate ways. In fact, Scripture tells us the encounters God had with Moses were so exceptional, Moses’ face glowed afterward (Exodus 34:35; 2 Corinthians 3:13). Moses knew God in a unique way. And this unique personal knowledge created an exceptional responsibility.

God judges a person in a way commensurate with the degree of revelation about Him they possess. Or, put another way: The greater the degree of revelation, the greater the degree of accountability. The more information or knowledge we possess, the more for which we are accountable. This, incidentally, is why listening to good Bible teaching is such a dangerous exercise. When we are exposed to the truth, we become accountable for it. Jesus said something similar in Luke 12:48. There, we read, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required.” Those who know the most are responsible for the most.

In applying this principle of greater revelation bringing greater accountability, we can quickly understand why God dealt with His servant Moses so severely. Moses knew God as few have. As a result, He was accountable to God as few have been. God judged Moses in a way commensurate with the degree of revelation he had received.

Where does this leave us? In the light of God’s new covenant revelation that reached its zenith in His Son (Hebrews 1:2), we have a great accountability, as well. If we have been exposed to the gospel message, we are accountable for believing it. If we have been exposed to truth beyond this (which I believe all of us have), we are also accountable for what we do with it. While not all of us have been exposed to the same degree of truth, we are all accountable for what we know. And, if you are like me, your knowledge often exceeds your obedience.

We may not be excluded from the land promised to Abraham’s descendants as a result of disobedience, but we certainly can miss out on the rewards of a life lived in a way commensurate with what we know. May the convicting reality of our accountability before God disturb us into obedience!

Leviticus 23:32

We’re talking about hidden treasures in the Books of Moses. I wanted to direct your attention to a second treasure I found, this one also in the book of Leviticus. The context is the Day of Atonement, the only day in which the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle to make atonement for the sins of the Israelites. What struck me about this passage is the relationship made between humility and work we find in it.

In today’s verse, Yahweh emphasizes to Israel that the Day of Atonement is to be a day of complete rest without work. In fact, God emphasizes this so strongly, that verses 28, 30, and 31 all restate the injunction in no uncertain terms. God repeated Himself because He wanted Israel to be certain to obey. It’s worth considering how this passage interlaces the ideas of not working and humbling oneself. In verse 27 God says that the people are to “humble [their] souls.” In verse 28 He says they are not to “do any work.” In verse 29 He speaks of a person humbling himself. In verse 30 He says no one should work. In verse 31 He says no one should work. The concepts of humbling oneself and not working are clearly interlaced in Leviticus 23. Why?

It seems to me that in Leviticus 23 God is making the point that not working is a humbling thing, because when we are not working, we are not providing for ourselves. We are unable to accomplish anything in our own strength. We are rendered powerless. Our hands, in a sense, hang limply by our sides. Herein is the thing I believe God was trying to etch into the minds of ancient Israel. He wanted Israel to look to Him as Provider. He did the same thing in the year of jubilee. In that year, God told the Israelites they were neither to sow nor harvest, but rather to trust Him for the provision. He did the same thing with manna in the wilderness. He told the Israelites they were not to gather more manna than was necessary for that day. God wanted ancient Israel to understand the same thing He wants us to understand: No matter how capable we may be, He and He alone is our Provider.

The fact that God is our ultimate provider is a critical insight for us, because apart from it, we can quickly become smug and satisfied in our ability to provide for ourselves. We can forget that God is the One who provides the increase, both in the spiritual and physical realms. It is only His kind providence that allows us to have anything at all. I love the way Solomon expresses this idea in Psalm 127:1: “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.” Unless God grants the increase, the prosperity, it matters not how hard we work; it will be for naught.

This principle of provision from God calls for balance. There are those who regard true spirituality as sitting on their hands. They presume God’s provision without conditions, believing that God will provide for them without regard for any involvement on their part. That’s not the biblical model. We are called to diligence in Scripture. That means working hard, making ourselves available for promotions, asking for raises when they are warranted, sending out resumes, and scanning the job ads. In 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says, “For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.” Scripture does not endorse idleness. But a right understanding of this doctrine of provision also includes humble assent to the fact that if God doesn’t do it, it won’t be and can’t be done. Reckoning with this reality is a sure path to humility.

The Sabbath is not mandated for believers in Jesus Christ. We can work on Saturdays. Be that as it may, rest is essential. We’re designed to have a day of rest each week. In that time of rest we need to recognize that if Yahweh does not provide, our labor is for naught. He is the Provider. May we lay aside our “can do” philosophy and self-sufficiency, and recognize that we are utterly and helplessly dependent upon Almighty God for the strength only He can provide. That’s a hidden treasure from Leviticus 23.

Contextualization = becoming all things to all men, while I do the most to offend God’s Word and make myself like that culture (or subculture) in order to let them think I am hip, and then maybe they’ll think the Gospel is cool and accept it.

Listen to this:

Leviticus 19:17-18

Have you ever seen something you never noticed in a familiar place? I think that everyone who is a faithful student of God’s Word can understand that experience. Sometimes that thing we notice is just the answer to a question we’ve been wondering about. I have had some questions that have lingered long in my mind about Scripture, and I’ve discovered some answers in recent weeks in a surprising place—the Pentateuch. The five Books of Moses might not be the first place we would turn to discover answers to Bible questions. If you’re like me, the Pentateuch, and especially the latter four books in the collection, often seems to raise more questions than it answers. But I found answers to some nagging Bible questions right there.

I’ve had the privilege of having eight years of formal Bible education, but despite all of that, it took an open Bible to find some gems of self-discovery. Now, it’s quite possible that some of my readers will say, “We’ve known this for years,” but for me, these were fresh insights. So please bear with me as I share with you what I’ve learned in recent weeks over the course of the next few Monday Musings.

Today’s musing focuses on a text in Leviticus that provides rich insight regarding the question of how we are to relate to one another. If you’re like me, you’ve often thought that in order to discover biblical guidelines for interpersonal relationships, the New Testament is the place to go. Then I came to this text in Leviticus. Even though God spoke the words that comprise the text of this Scripture to His people Israel, the principles they contain are timeless. The same sentiments are expressed throughout the New Testament.

The first thing that stands out in today’s passage is that God told His people Israel that they were not to hate their countrymen. That’s a danger for all of us. We may not be part of ethnic Israel, but if we believe in Jesus Christ, we are part of God’s new work He began in Acts 2—the church. Though we may seldom consider the sharp feelings of ill will we have toward others in Christ’s body as hate, that is what they are, regardless. God is not pleased with those types of attitudes among His children.

The text becomes even more direct in its second phrase. It says that we may reprove our neighbor, but ought not incur sin because of him. Jesus said something very similar in Matthew 18 when He instructed His followers to express to one another any grievances they have. The idea is that the way to deal with a wrong done to us, whether real or perceived, is to reprove or confront our brother or sister about it. To instead harbor the negative feelings and bitterness is sin, from God’s standpoint. Heartfelt forgiveness is in view here.

God goes farther. He says that we ought not attempt to take vengeance. When we are done wrong, what’s natural for us is to retaliate. God says that this is exactly what we are not to do (Romans 12:19). What’s more, He even forbids the bearing of a grudge. God takes the relationships between His people very seriously and insists that hard feelings not be retained over real or perceived wrongs.

Finally, although we might have thought Jesus was the first to say it, we read in Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” God is not content for us to live in some sort of relational neutrality. He calls us, as He did Israel of old, to love one another actively and genuinely, from our hearts.

Is living the way Leviticus 19:17-18 lays out always easy? Hardly. But notice the last phrase in the text. God says, “I am Yahweh.” This is the God who forgives wrongdoing. He has given us the example. He calls us to follow suit. Instead of hating, taking vengeance, or bearing a grudge, He tells us to love.

The next time we feel we’ve been wronged, consider turning to Leviticus 19 for a God-ordained response.

Acts 20:28

Sometimes a fresh way of hearing an old truth catches our attention. That’s what happened to me the other day. Someone forwarded to me an article that talked about a clergywoman who had thanked God for the outstanding blessing of abortion on demand. Now I submit to you that this woman’s perspective on the issue was nothing short of perverse. With that having been said (and perhaps not surprisingly) I would hasten to add that elsewhere in the article that quoted her, she said something that questioned the core doctrines of the Christian faith. This, too, was abominable, but the way she put her skepticism caused me to revisit in a fresh way the gospel story.

The article quoted her in these words: “The suffering and death of Jesus, according to the theory of the Atonement, pays for our sins and buys our salvation. It’s an interesting theory, but not one that I find compelling.”

It was the combination of the words “pays” and “buys” that I found strangely refreshing, albeit in the words of a person who rejects the Bible’s testimony about what Christ’s death accomplished as not particularly “compelling.”

I didn’t intend to use a verse I had so recently used for my Monday Musings, but I chose to, if for no other reason than it so poignantly describes what happened on the cross. Please allow me to share with you the crass analogy that sprang to my mind after reading this woman’s words. I visualized the cross in my mind as a sort of purchase counter. The item that was purchased was our very rescue from the wrath of God. The cost that was expended was nothing other than the death of God the Son. It is a staggering thought, to be sure, but is nevertheless the one that Scripture conveys throughout the New Testament, and, by means of prophecy, the Old.

Someone might object to my using the imagery of a department store counter. I understand and agree with their objection. Buying everyday goods from a local merchant is a far cry from the sacred sacrifice that bought our deliverance from sin, death, and hell. Probably a more fitting image would be that of a slave market, where our life hung in the balance. Clearly, that is an image that is present in Scripture. The problem is that it is foreign to me. I’ve never been to a slave market. I’ve never seen people bought and sold (and this is certainly not to say that it doesn’t still go on). But the thought of goods being exchanged from a seller to a buyer over a counter is a familiar one for me. And that is the image that comes to my mind through the words of this woman who rejects the message around which I have build my life.

On the cross, Jesus was buying our salvation. He was paying for our rescue from sin by taking the eternal wrath of God, Himself. Nothing could be so costly. It was a debt that we never would be able to pay.

Thank God, the preacher I referenced earlier is wrong. Jesus bought our salvation.

How can we respond?

2 Samuel 11:1

Easy times are dangerous times. I’ve discovered that the most dangerous periods in my life from a spiritual standpoint are not necessarily those times fraught with difficulty and trial. Instead, the most dangerous times are when things are going well. Quiet periods can be the most treacherous.

King David certainly found this to be the case. His enemies had been largely subdued. His kingdom seemed secure. He was comfortable and happy, with all Israel under his skillful rule. This peaceful picture, however, was shattered by the events of 2 Samuel 11. In that well-known text, David committed adultery with Bathsheba. The very act causes us to ask, “Why, David?” We wish we could gain some insight into what was going on in David’s life that he would do such a thing. Present, but rarely noticed, the first verse of 2 Samuel 11 gives us a clue: very little. David had sent Joab off on a military campaign, leaving the king with little to do, back in Jerusalem. And it was in this time of quiet inactivity that David had his greatest failure.

Spiritual disaster awaits periods of inactivity. We must guard our leisure. There is nothing wrong with leisure, but if it is not vigilantly guarded, leisure quickly degenerates into occasion for wickedness. The old saying proves true in this regard: An idle mind is the devil’s playground.

How do we keep from falling into danger during downtime? I’d suggest an important key is that we monitor our thoughts. Sin begins with a thought. By properly focusing our mental energy, even during the easy times, we will guard against spiritual disaster. The way we focus our thoughts is probably two-fold. Two things should occupy our thoughts, thereby protecting us from falling off the cliff in our relationship with God. The first I would suggest is prayer. Prayer creates a protective canopy of sorts, shielding us from the dangers of the world, the flesh, and the devil. If we are absorbed in the process of talking with God, it will make spiritual failure more difficult. It’s hard to sin in the midst of a conversation with the Lord.

A second means of protection from the danger downtime produces is, not surprisingly, God’s Word. The psalmist writes in Psalm 119:11, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” Immunizing ourselves with God’s perspective on life, sin, holiness, and everything else is a powerful deterrent to keep us from getting into dangerous spiritual territory, especially in the easy times.

In his time of ease, had David neglected these means of protection? It’s hard to say. It appears from the text that he had neglected his responsibilities to a degree. Perhaps the Psalmist of Israel had also neglected his relationship with God. Whatever the case, David would have done well to avoid the situation entirely by drawing close to His Shepherd during the easy times.

Today’s verse is a timely warning to all of us. If King David could fall into sin in such a dramatic way, so can we. It may not be adultery for us, but it could be anything in a great host of other possibilities. We don’t want to go there in the easy times, or in the difficult ones. Let’s protect ourselves from such danger with the influences of God’s Word and prayer.

This anticlimactic response to the day’s supposed meaning is a parallel to the way in which we treat the memorial known as Communion or the Lord’s Table in the Evangelical Church. (For those who want to start in on the Calvinistic vs. the Zwinglian  meaning, you know where I stand by my use of the word memorial, let’s please leave it at that and get to the point.)  Many unknowing people treat this ordinance with the same disinterest as remembering the fallen War Heroes on Memorial Day.

For many Communion or the Lord’s Table was known as Mass for most of their lives.  Others may simply see it as wrote religious practice that must be done every Sunday, once a month or once a quarter.  Does it have significance in the life of the Christian today?  I would say yes and it all depends on two questions…

“What is Communion?” and “Who Instituted It and Why?” (I guess you might categorize that as 3 questions, but I’ve never been that good at math!)

I guess we might have to answer the second (& third, oh never mind you get what I mean) in order to answer the first.  In Matthew 26:26-30 (as well as the accounts in the other Gospels) Jesus inserts new meaning into the tradition of passover.  He takes the bread (the Afikoman), breaks and distributes it to the men and tells them to take it and eat it, and Luke adds, in remembrance of Him.  He took the after dinner wine (the fourth cup Hallel) and in the same manner told them that it was an emblem of His blood and that they should drink in remembrance of Him.  Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 that we are to do this as often as we do in remembrance of Christ, until He returns.  So, there is the Who and the why.  In this we get the answer to the “why” question.

It is not as the Roman Catholics put it, that the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Christ.  In that they eat and drink condemnation unto themselves, supposing that they earn favor with God in the re-sacrificing of Christ (in which the priest commands Christ to come down and be sacrificed again for sin.)  No, we are remembering what Christ did, in the fashion in which He asked us to.

Understanding this remembrance is of utmost importance!  We cannot let it go the way of other ceremony, somehow only giving a nod to it’s intent and purpose, while religiously adhering to its practice.  It is one of the activities that God has called us to and one in which we must obey with not only doing, but thinking as well.

This is exactly where assimilation/ contamination thinking takes us.  It is our “responsibility to leverage!”  Where is that in the Scriptures?  We have taken this mentality so far that we believe it is our “responsibility to leverage” (the power to influence a person or situation to achieve a particular outcome) the “broader culture to connect people to God and others.”

First of all; How exactly is tweeting during a worship service going to connect me to God?  Really, how is it going to connect me to others?  Isn’t the fact that I am there with the body going to connect me to others?

This is just further evidence that we have abandoned the essentials of community and have made church an event rather than who we are.

I’m not saying that tweeting is evil or that we have no clue what is going on in the culture, but we are becoming contaminated by the culture, rather than being holy!  It’s just that plain and simple.  We have no regard for the sanctity of worship, we have no desire to be in fellowship with God and other believers in the Biblical way, if we allow culture to mandate the terms of worship.  Worship and the Christian lifestyle is not me focused.  It is, indeed, God focused.

Why do we need a five year moratorium on what we believe about homosexuality?  Can’t we clearly read what the Scriptures say?  Why do we need to believe there is a hole in our Gospel, doesn’t 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 clearly state what the Gospel is?  Do we really need to use sexual euphemism  to make our point?  You see, it’s not even assimilation anymore, it is clearly contamination.  Is this legalism?  No.  It is what we threw out, when we threw out legalism.  It’s what the Bible calls, sanctification and it is what the Bible calls us to! (1 Thes 4:3a)