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Reflections on Deuteronomy 28
Matthew 7:12-14 "So, in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
If we will apply Matthew 7:12-14 to Deuteronomy 28, we will find it deals with earthbound blessings and curses. To experience the exhileration of Heaven on earth truly is a narrow way! To experience Hell on earth is a wide path which all men have followed, save one. This may be further exemplified in that 14 of 68 verses deal with blessings in Deuteronomy 28 while 54 deal with curses and separation from the blessings of God on earth. Note that salvation towards eternal life is not mentioned, nor the devil nor the serpant - they are inherent within our own actions of obedience or disobedience.
Obedience, The Narrow Way Deuteronomy 28:3-14
(vs 3) blessings in commerce and agriculture.
(vs 4) You will experience healthy relationships and children; You will experience the sustenance of nature itself. Everything you put your hand to shall find success.(vs 5) You shall be blessed in your ability to provide for house and home.
(vs 6) You will find honor within your home and with your fellowman
(vs 7) You will find security from the enemy - both physical and I'm guessing spiritual also.
(vs 8) The increase of your sustenance shall represent security for years to come, rewarding your labor and providing rest and enjoyment.
(vs 9) You will be commended for your righteous.
(vs 10) You will bring glory to the God you serve.
(vs 11) You will experience prosperity on earth.
(vs 12) You will have the ability to help the poor and needy and will be dependant upon no man.
(vs 13) You will have authority and be a leader among men.
(vs 14) Remember the Lord your God as you experience all this blessing, and do not turn away in pride or arrogance.
Hell On Earth Deuteronomy 28:15-68
(vs 15) This is a very wide road as the command is to carefully follow all the law of Love. Note, the natural law in place is from Genesis 3:17-19 "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
Personal salvation aside, hell on earth awaits all who turn from this law of love. The ways of man, apart from peace with God and man all end up the same - separation, death, and destruction.
(vs 16) failure in commerce and agriculture.
(vs 17) you shall struggle to provide for house and home.
(vs 18, 30, 40, 42) You will experience uhealthy relationships and barrenness, predatory sex by your fellowman; You will experience the hardship from nature itself. Everything you put your hand to shall meet tremendous struggle if not ultimate failure.
(vs 19) You will be mocked within your home and by your fellowman.(vs 20) You will suffer confusion, guilt, and the humility that comes of failure.
(vs 21, 27) Your health will become a physical and financial burden
(vs 22) You will be distressed not only by the health of your own body but that of all that you have.
(vs 23-24) Creation itself will cease to provide as the drought will harden the land, destroying the vegetation and causing dust storms creating a barren waste.
(vs 25, 28, 34, 35) You will find no security from the adversary - both physically, spiritually, and emotionally
(vs 26) Even God will cease to show concern for the sanctity of your life or the life of those you love. Man and Beast - family, friend or foe will prey upon you.
(vs 29) hope will be lost
(vs 30-31, 38-39) There shall be no hope nor security for those you love, and you will be unable to help. The work of your hands will be for nought.
(vs 32) Your children will be taken away from you and the God you imagine apart from Love.
(vs 33, 36, 41) You shall be dispossessed of family and home as God purifies your world of enmity and strife and plants new seeds towards true righteousness and holiness. Your authority will be removed by man.
(vs 37) You will be condemned before man for your self righteousness and impurity regarding His Love.
(vs 43) You will become dependant upon the very people you oppressed in your failure to Love.
(vs 44) You shall borrow and be forced into servitude towards your fellowman.
(vs 45-46) You will be remembered as a sign to others of what happens to those who choose not to love God, nor their fellowman.
Unfortunately for the Jewish people, they have been used as a sign for all of us of the reality of these curses time and again. And yet, the Children of God through other cultures continue to make the same mistakes as they did. They relish in the strength and power of an almighty God that called them out of the world to be His Holy People and consider themselves to be called out, separate, and Holy unto themselves. They refuse to apply judgments from God for the developement of self righteousness, the imaginations that they were righteous for their works, to their own forms of worship and beliefs. They have abused the law of love, joy, peace, and salvation to become one of enmity, strife, bloodshed, and condemnation. They have interpreted His Holy Word to even condemn those who would call all people - ALL PEOPLE - back to their Creator whom they believe loves even their enemies and desires that none would perish.
Therefore, serve the Lord with gladness - with Thanksgiving and Praise for all the good things He has done. No longer strive against man, but strive with man to create an atmosphere of peace with God and man. I feel quite possitive God will bless our efforts.
Paul admonished us towards this purpose in Ephesians 2:14-18; "For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit."
Through His refinement of His perfect law therefore there remain faith, hope, and Love. And as we have seen, Love conquers all. (See also I Corinthians 13 for getting along with God and man)
The remainder of Deuteronomy 28 verses 48-68 becomes an omen, a prophecy of things to come for the Israelites. Assyria eventually would overtake the Israelites following a litany of Kings who refused to serve the Lord their God with gladness and Judah would also eventually be overtaken by the Babylonian empire. Despite their judgment and persecustions, their seeds of righteousness and the documentation of their writings and the writings of the early church represented in the Bible continue to reflect the will of the King of Peace to each one of us today. Their history, though not the human writer's initial intent, will lead each of us to a better life if we will apply the teachings and inspirations of God found within to our own lives and cultures.
Deuteronomy 28 ends on a pretty sad note. It would appear that God would break His promise - yet Deuteronomy is not done yet and it is good to see that God told them all these things would happen before they did. His Story does not end here. Following a return to Israel after 70 years in Babylon, the history of this people continued culminating in the birth, life, and ministry of Jesus Christ and the birth of the Christian Church. Jerusalem then fell in fulfillment of the prophecy and interpretations of scripture by Jesus Christ. Nearly 2000 years passed before the Jews would again populate the Holy lands and Jerusalem - yet now all the world and three major religions would consider this land the Holy Land. Some interpret the Bible to say that Jerusalem would polarize the nations, yet I find scripture to claim exactly the opposite! Jerusalem shall unite all peoples before their common Creator when we stop and listen to one another and learn of God our Father - and understand exactly what it is that He did through the life and times of Jesus Christ.
As Israel's eyes are opened in these last days, they will claim these words from Isaiah 49:20-26; "The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing, 'This place is too small for us; give us more space to live in.'
Then you will say in your heart, 'Who bore me these? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up? I was left all alone, but these - where have they come from?'
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders. Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.'
Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce? But this is what the Lord says:
'Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save. I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior,
your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.'"
It would be a good idea for all cultures to rally around Israel in this shout of "Peace On Earth." To do otherwise faces continued judgment and separation from God. Until this becomes our battle cry, He will not bless us with His presence. Yet He is waiting.
II Thessalonians 2:6-7; "And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way."
Matthew 24:12-13; "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."
Reflections on Luke 11:14-36
United We Stand Luke 11:14-20
The people marvelled, yet religion mocked. Once again, Jesus had exemplified the power of God in validation of His ministry. At the same time, He validated the ministry of the Pharisees in verse 19a "if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out?" This may have been in reference to the 70 (72) apostles of Luke 10. Thus, if the Pharisees condemned Jesus, they would necessarily be condemning those who ministered in His name who were members of their own congregations. Thus Jesus said "So then, they will be your judges." (vs 19b).
A divided Kingdom shall fall. This is true politically, nationally, and it is also true of faith. If our faith divides us against the very people God has called us to minister to, our ministery will fail. The Kingdom of God must be built upon Peace. As long as there are factions and fighting within the Kingdom - personal wraths and judgments - one will not connect with the King of Peace. Rules are in place and Children who disobey continue to suffer discipline and separation from the Kingdom where there is anger and frustration and more wrath and judgment. Yet the King of Peace remains in authority and awaits His Day in His court of Mercy!
Perhaps He is waiting because the jury is still caught up in deliberations regarding who should and who should not be saved. Perhaps He's waiting for His Children to stand with Him in His decision to Love all men. Again in verse 20, Jesus confirms what many of us know to be true: "The Kingdom of God has come!"
An Exercise in Perseverance Luke 11:21-28
As you read verses 21-23, do you feel that God has been overcome by the adversary? Perhaps this verse speaks only of the Spirit of God within you. Do you still believe in the Spirit of Love, Joy, and Peace? Or have the concerns of the world justified behaviors that would be a contradiction to that Spirit? If the Holy Spirit is not Lord of your life - causing you to serve and produce fruits of Love, Joy, and Peace - through a lack of faith in His ultimate power to destroy evil on earth - you may well suffer the devastations of Deuteronomy 28. God forbid! Therefore, gather in His name, calling all Children of God unto Him, through the power and authority He has given you on earth.
Stay tuned in to the new convert - and protect the Spirit within. Although it may be true that once you have received salvation, (when Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead by the power and authority of our Redeemer, our Savior, our Creator), you will not lose it (John 6:39), we can struggle to hold on to His Holy Spirit. It is fully within the power of our adversity to afflict our lives, perhaps even in increased measure, if we do not serve God through the fruits of His Holy Spirit within - walking in faith, hope, love, joy, and peace with patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, meekness, and self control. Therefore, be enriched on the milk of His word and walk in His Spirit of Love.
Power and Great Glory Luke 11:29-32
Jesus Christ proclaimed that through Him we are experiencing a wisdom from God that surpassed what the Queen of Sheba witnessed through Solomon. Through Her blessing upon Solomon, so mankind shall bestow blessing throughout the world upon Jesus Christ. I Kings 10:9; "Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord's eternal love for Israel, he has made you king, to maintain justice and righteousness."
By witness to His great love, He calls each of us to repentance in the words of the King of Assyria, that enemy of Israel, from the great city of Ninevah in Jonah 3:8b-9; "Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."
We have all known this Prince, this King of Peace. And yet, in the trials of life, we have all lost faith in His ultimate power. We must strengthen that faith once again believing the the Goodness of the Lord will triumph over evil! His law of Love must be the lamp wherin we receive light just as the lamp in the tabernacle before the Holy of Holies was tilted forward shedding light upon the path. Without that light, we may well lose the Holy Spirit within and succomb to the evil spirits that engulf us in fits of darkness and rage. It is possible to hold on and be filled with His Spirit and walk in His light all of our days. Therein lie true joy, true peace, and true happiness. And all those blessings mentioned in Deuteronomy 28:1-13 may be yours as well.
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/this-little-light-of-mine-by-bruce-springsteen/5ghll18
Reflections on Psalm 77:1-20
(Psalm 34:8) "Taste and see that the Lord is good"! His goodness and His mercy never faileth. (see Psalm 23:6)
(Psalm 77:1-6) There are sometimes when the words of the Psalms above are far from the Child of God. We cry out to God and it doesn't matter if He hears or not, we need to cry and we are not ready for comfort! Yet as soon as we imagine God to be our tormentor within our wrath, it is good to remember His Love and Goodness and avoid lashing out in our fits of rage and anguish.
(Psalm 77:7-10) We may imagine God to be far from us, but we have learned from His word that He stands ready to heal. We may lie awake at night and ask God why, and chances are we will receive our answer from a still small voice within. We can be assured of His Love in the midst of crisis and despair and seek His comfort, peace, and strength to face a new day.
(Psalm 77:11-15) As a child, we are ill prepared to face the tragedy of life. Lord willing, we will not have to face devastation until our minds have been matured enough to understand. Heaven forbid we should cause such devastation in another's young life, keeping them from a lifetime of knowing the Love of our Father. As we gain in years, we accumulate experiences on which to reflect and see the hand of God, thereby calming our aching hearts.
(Psalm 77:16-20) And yet, what solace have we in a God of wrath and judgment? What hope is there in the fear of a coming devastation of man? What surety in a theology of alienation and exclusivity? If indeed we must go out fighting, in spite of our God who is mighty in battle, where is the Love in such a nightmare? Praise God, we know that within His awesome power, there is no darkness at all. We shall all see His light!
Reflections on Proverbs 12:18
How indeed can words of wrath and judgment bring healing to those who remain in bondage to the circumstances of life amidst their trials and afflictions? How can one imagine Peace with God if we speak of an exclusivity in relationship to the Love of God? How can perfect Love and eternal damnation co-exist? These are age old questions, the answer to which has been, The Bible says it, so it must be so. Yet I submit the only reason the Bible appears to be in conflict is that it has been misunderstood and God has been misrepresented in coming wrath and doom theology. To date, I have found no piece of scripture which could not provide full assurance of salvation to any individual seeking this Holy God of Love, Redemption, and Forgiveness.
Until Tomorrow
Rick
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