Knowing your future.

Moses commanded the people of Israel, saying, “This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which the LORD has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe.”

Numbers 34:13

 

All of Numbers 34 is about the boundaries of the Promised Land of Canaan. There is a verbal map directed to Moses that let the Israelites know the extent to which God had given them a new possession. But it also meant that territory had to be conquered. It was great to know God’s will for the future. Yet, there was responsibility with that knowledge.

 

With the knowledge of God’s revealed will there comes about a necessary human responsibility to obey it. We cannot shirk away from this truth. Yes, God was giving them this geographic territory that was not theirs. Yes, it was God’s will that they have it. But receiving the gift meant entering into battle and eradicating the idolatry of the existing Canaanites in order to possess the promise of God.

 

God does not make easy promises today. We know heaven and eternity with Christ await us. But we don’t get to sit back on that fact. We tend to be starry-eyed as evangelicals. We put on our rose-colored glasses and insist that “believing in Jesus is so easy, a child can do it” (sounds like a Geico commercial!). But it takes manly faith and outward demonstration of childlike faith to live like we should. Sanctification happens to us when we receive the holiness of Christ, but we must also WORK OUT our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13). That sounds like sweat equity to some degree, not for salvation, but because of it. God always expects commitment with His gifts.

 

Technorati Tags: Christianity,Discipleship,Religion

The Days of Noah

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:37-39

Jesus' clear teaching in Matthew 24 is one of expectation. His ministry would leave some "unfinished business" that would require His return again as the Son of Man. The times described in Matthew 24 are future to Jesus and His disciples as He describes them. And it is clear (even for those who see primarily the 70 AD destruction of the temple in this chapter) that the events described here are foremost in the future for us to consider today.

Of particular note is Jesus' insistence that His return in judgment will take the world by surprise. The Father knows when this will occur. The Son will be told. And the days before that will find the world spinning further and further into its daily grind of iniquity. The metaphor fitting this according to Jesus is the description of the pre-deluge world of Noah. There the earth had become
"corrupt", "filled with violence", and "all flesh had corrupted their way" (Genesis 6:11-12). If anything, Jesus' description is a little more descriptive, because this corrupt bunch of violent people had become casual partiers, eating, drinking, and celebrating marriage banquets even as Noah built his ark and prepared for the flood.

So is my generation. We have our parties. We celebrate our perversity and unwillingness to confront sin as sin and call it "diversity" and "tolerance". And even as the economy tumbles we simply spend ourselves into a party of poverty. And this will continue right up to the return of the Son of Man. So in the din of celebration, I wonder if anyone hears the rumbling thunder.

The gospel confronts this. There is still time as long as the Lord delays. And in these days especially, I am duty-bound to proclaim the gospel at EVERY opportunity for the glory of God and the salvation of souls that He died to redeem.

Technorati Tags: Jesus,Judgment,Future