2 Timothy 1:12: Learn To Suffer

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 23 Oct. 2011

By Captain Michael Ramsay

2 Timothy 1:12: That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

Today’s message (sermon/homily/preach) on 2 Timothy 1:12 is entitled ‘Learn to Suffer’. ‘Learn to Suffer’ is motto of a Scottish Clan. Anyone know which clan? Clan Duncan: John Duncan, I did a little bit of research into your clan in preparing for today.

The Clan motto is ‘Learn to Suffer.’ Did you know that 2 of the early kings of Scotland were Duncans: One was Duncan I and do you know who was the other? Duncan II. Duncan I obtained the throne through murder and Duncan II lost it the same way. The Duncans would learn to suffer. The Duncans historically weren’t so good at choosing the winning side in important battles. They supported the victorious Robert the Bruce in his wars and received benefits from that. But later they supported Charles I, who was defeated, murdered and his country conquered by Cromwell’s Puritans. In supporting the losing side in this war, the Duncans would learn to suffer. They later supported Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Jacobite revolt and then they really learned to suffer, suffering all the consequences that come from launching an unsuccessful revolution. Most of the Duncan lands were even taken from their family. They indeed learned to suffer. And as Romans 5:3,4 says, I am sure it helped build their character.

Today we are looking at 2 Timothy 1:12: “That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”

We are going to pull out a few things from this verse:

q       Paul, as he writes this letter is suffering in jail for the Gospel of Christ, wants us to learn to suffer properly;

q       He is not ashamed of the gospel or his suffering because he knows Christ; nor should we be ashamed as we know Christ;

q       Christ is able to take care of, to guard everything Paul and we entrust to him.

1) Christ is able to take care of, to guard everything Paul and we entrust to him.

Paul has given up his whole life to follow Jesus. Much of his life as a Christian, Paul actually spends in jail for the gospel of Christ. He learns to suffer. We said last week that Paul would die in prison but even still and especially because of this then he trusts God and Christ with everything because Christ is able to guard whatever we give over to him to guard. When I think of that sentiment of Christ as a guard, I am reminded of a parable Jesus told. Last Halloween, I preached on the parable of the Haunted House.[1] Luke 11:24-26: “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” The house is haunted by more demons than it was in the first place (Cf. TSA doc. 9).

But, Luke 11, Verses 21-22, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armour in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils (Luke 11:21-22; cf. Matthew 12:29, Mark 3:27)”

Jesus is the strongest strongman. He is absolutely able to guard what we have entrusted to him. Jesus is stronger than anyone else and he is the only one who can guard what we have entrusted to him – even our very lives for now and forever.[2] Everyone and everything else can be over-powered by evil, others, and/or ourselves but Christ is able to guard whatever we have entrusted to him for that day.

2) Paul is not ashamed of the gospel or his suffering because he knows Christ; we should not be ashamed for we know Christ.

In Romans 1:16, Paul uses this same phrase declaring that he is ‘not ashamed of the gospel’.[3] It is likely that there is a connection with what Paul is saying here to Jesus’ claims that if one is ashamed of Jesus, then the “Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory (Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26; cf. also Psalms 31:1-3; 71:1-2; 143:1).” Paul, in 2 Timothy 1:8, says that we should not be ashamed to suffer for the gospel. We must learn to suffer for the gospel. The word ‘gospel’ is a rendering of the Greek word euangelion, which means ‘good news’ or ‘good message’ (cf. Isaiah 40:9, 52:7). “The gospel is not merely the initial proclamation of Christ which wins converts, but is the whole Christian message”[4] (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:6, 23). And For Paul, “the gospel was the sovereign message, from none other than God, concerning Jesus the Messiah, God’s unique Son…[It is] news that Jesus had become the spearhead of God’s ‘age to come;’ news that, within this new age, the principalities and powers…and sin and death themselves had been defeated and were now summoned to allegiance.”[5] This is exciting. This is something that we should not be ashamed of; rather we should yell this from the rooftops. Even as we must suffer for the gospel, we must not be ashamed of the gospel. Point 2, Paul is not ashamed of the gospel or his suffering for it because he knows Christ; we should not be ashamed of the gospel for we know Christ. This brings us to our main point for today, point 3.

3) Paul as he writes this letter is suffering in jail for the Gospel of Christ and as our suffering will come, he wants us to learn to suffer properly.

2 Timothy 1:8: “So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.” Clan Duncan says ‘learn to suffer’.

The Apostle Paul says ‘join me in suffering’.

Paul is not only warning Timothy and the Ephesians here about the imprisonment, persecution, and suffering that he is experiencing but he is also encouraging Timothy to suffer and ultimately he is encouraging us all to join him in suffering for the gospel.[6]

Not only are we to endure our suffering but also Paul says elsewhere that we are to rejoice and even boast in our suffering (Romans 5:3,4 cf. Philippians 2:17; 1 Peter 4:6, 4:13). 1 Thessalonians 5:18 states that we are even to give thanks in all circumstances (cf. Philippians 4:11) and Paul in Philippians 4:4 says, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.’

So this is important: we aren’t supposed to lick our wounds when we suffer for doing the Lord’s work but we are to rejoice.

Paul, in Romans 5:3,4 says that we should rejoice in our suffering because - if indeed our suffering is for the gospel of which Paul is not ashamed (2 Timothy 1:8, Romans 1:16) then our suffering will produce perseverance and you know what perseverance is good for right? It gives us the ability to get through more suffering and difficult times and you know why God gives us that ability to get through more suffering and difficult times, because we’ve got more difficult times to get through still. So as we rejoice in our perseverance through suffering; we can rejoice because in this we will be ready for the even more difficult times that are still to come.[7] We must rejoice in the Lord as we learn to suffer for Him.

I have shared some of our story here before about the suffering we saw and experienced for the gospel when we were serving in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and other places and times that I will not go into again today. Even here, in Swift Current suffering may not be so obvious but when you serve the Lord, suffering is waiting for you; so, like the Duncans’ motto says ‘learn to suffer’ and like the Apostle Paul says, 2 Timothy 1:11,12a “… of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am...” So, 2 Timothy 1:8, “join with me in suffering[8] for the gospel, by the power of God.”

I have a lesson from history for us to remember today about suffering for the gospel:[9]

In the 1800s, the Hawaiian Islands suffered a severe leprosy epidemic, which was dealt with largely by isolating lepers on the island of Molokai. They were simply dumped there and left to fend for themselves. The crews of the boats carrying them there were afraid to land, so they simply came in close and forced the lepers to jump overboard and scramble through the surf as best they could. Ashore, they found no law and no organized society, simply desperate persons waiting for death. A Belgian missionary priest, Joseph Van Veuster (Damien of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart), …came to Hawaii in 1863, and in 1873 was sent at his own request to Molokai to work among the lepers.

We all know what leprosy is, right? It is a terrible disease, whereby you lose feeling in parts of your body, penultimately you can even lose body parts and ultimately you die. Apologist and Philosopher, Ravi Zacharias, tells us this story about the Missionary Priest, Damien: [10]

One morning before he was to lead their daily worship [for the lepers], he poured some boiling water into a cup when it swirled out and fell on his bare foot. It took him a moment to realize that he had not felt any sensation. Gripped by the sudden fear of what this could mean, he poured more water on the same spot. No feeling whatsoever. Damien immediately knew what had happened. He walked tearfully to deliver his sermon, and no one at first noticed the difference in his opening line. You see, he normally greeted them, “My fellow believers.” But this morning he began with, “My fellow lepers.”

Darren Provine tells us what God did through Damien:[11]

[Damien] He was fully aware, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, that it would be His Father’s will to crush Him. Still, he came. He organized burial details and funeral services, so that death might have some dignity. He taught the people how to grow crops and feed themselves better. He organized a choir, and got persons to sing who had not sung in years. He gave them medical attention. (Government doctors had been making regular visits, but they were afraid of contagion, and would not come close to the patients. They inspected their sores from a distance and then left medicines on a table and fled. Damien personally washed and anointed and bandaged their sores.) There was already a small chapel on the island. It proved too small [with what the Lord was doing through Damien], and with the aid of patients he built a larger one, which soon overflowed every Sunday. Damien …continued to work there until his death on 15 April 1889.

Ravi concludes his thoughts about Damien, thusly; he says:

Think of the cost! It is one thing to minister and pour your life into others when distance remains between the minister and the receiver. It is quite another when sacrifice closes that distance in painful relief. In the greatest condescension imaginable, Jesus came into this world knowing what obedience to the Father would cost Him.

Jesus, Himself, was the suffering Saviour. He died via state execution, on the cross, for us. Jesus suffered and died for us. Peter, Paul, and the other apostles, tradition has it all suffered and, save John -who actually lived through an attempt to boil him alive- tradition has it that they all accepted their martyr’s crown. Paul -in this letter to Timothy and to the church there in Ephesus- encourages us all to this same resolve. Paul was not sad in his suffering for this gospel, this good news, this good message that Jesus defeated death and sin between the cross and the empty tomb so that we can all live holy lives wholly dedicated to him is glorious news indeed (TSA doc. 10). ^[12]  Even if we fall asleep before Christ returns we don’t have to worry as long as we faithfully serve the Lord, “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him need not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Whatever we have to suffer on this earth and many, like the Apostle Paul in Rome and like the Missionary Priest Damien in Hawaii, like many, have suffered much; whatever suffering we must bear pales in comparison to the joy that will be experienced by us, the joy experienced by those whose lives we touch when they experience God’s salvation and the joy felt by God Himself, as He rejoices over every sinner saved. In our suffering, let us rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. For that is why I am suffering as I am. And I am not ashamed because I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

Let us pray. 

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[1] Captain Michael Ramsay,  Luke 11:14-28 (Matthew 12:25-29, Mark 3:23-30): The Parable of the Haunted House. Presented to the Swift Current Corps 31 October 2010. Available on-line:  http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/10/luke-1114-28-matthew-1225-29-parable-of.html

[2] Cf. James D.G. Dunn, The 1st and 2nd Letter to Timothy and the Letter to Titus, (NIB XI: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 2000), 837.

[3] W.E Vines, “I am not ashamed”, in Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Word Vol. IV. (Nashville, Tennessee: Royal Publishers Inc., 1939), p. 292.

[4] James D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC 38A: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 1988), p. 47; cf. Donald Guthrie,: Pastoral Epistles: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1990 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 14), S. 145

[5] N.T. Wright, The Letter to the Romans (NIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), p. 427.

[6] Captain Michael Ramsay, Romans 5:3,4: Hope and an Angel on the Downtown Eastside. Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on April 20, 2008 and Swift Current Corps on August 09, 2009. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/04/romans-534-hope-and-angel-on-downtown.html

[7] Cf. RCH Lenski, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, p. 338.

[8] Ralph Earle, The Expositor's Bible Commentary,  Pradis CD-ROM:2 Timothy/Exposition of 2 Timothy/III. Suffering for the Gospel (1:8-18)/A. Plea to Timothy (1:8), Book Version: 4.0.2: "Join with me in suffering"—all one word, synkakopatheson (only here and in 2:3). It is compounded of patheo, "suffer"; kakos, "bad"; and syn, "together." So it means "bear evil treatment along with," "take one's share of ill-treatment" (A-S).

[9] Darren Provine, Damien, Priest, Missionary, and Martyr 15 April 1889, (Rowan University: Cited 20 October 2011) Available on-line: http://elvis10.rowan.edu/~kilroy/jek/04/15.html

[10] Ravi Zacharias, The Price of Sacrifice, Monday, August 14, 2000: http://www.rzim.org/resources/read/asliceofinfinity/todaysslice.aspx?aid=9131

[11] Darren Provine, Damien, Priest, Missionary, and Martyr 15 April 1889, (Rowan University: Cited 20 October 2011) Available on-line: http://elvis10.rowan.edu/~kilroy/jek/04/15.html

^[12] cf. Donald Guthrie, Pastoral Epistles: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1990 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 14), S. 146: God has called us to a holy life because he himself is holy. His activities partake of his own character. The same idea is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:7 where the call to holiness is set over against uncleanness.

2 Timothy 1:3: Let Us Pray

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 09 Oct. 2011

By Captain Michael Ramsay

2 Timothy 1:3: “I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.” I have a story here that Harvey put in my in-box about thanking God… or talking to Him anyway.

A golfer, now in his golden years, had a lifelong ambition to play one hole at the famous Pebble Beach in California, the same way the pros do it: The pros drive the ball out over the water straight onto the green that is on a spit of land that juts out off the coast. It was something he had tried hundreds of times without success. His ball always fell short, into the ocean. Because of this he never used a new ball on this particular hole. He always chose an old one with a cut or a nick in it.

      This one time when he came to Pebble Beach to try again and he arrived at that particular hole, he teed up an old, cut up ball and said a silent prayer. As he was about to strike the ball a loud voice from the heavens says, “Wait! Replace that old ball with a brand new ball.”

      The old golfer did but he still had some misgivings. He still lacked faith a little bit that he would ever see his ball again despite the fact that the Lord seemed to be implying that he was going to finally achieve his life-long ambition of avoiding this water trap, just like the pros. Hesitantly, the old golfer stepped up to the tee one more time, this time with a brand new ball and as he did, he heard the voice again from above: “Wait. Step back. Take a practice swing.” He did.

      The voice boomed again, “Take another practice swing.” He did. Then, after a moment of silence, the Lord finally said, “put the old ball back on the tee.”

2 Timothy 1:3: “I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.” Here the golfer can thank God that He spared him his new golf ball.

We are going to be looking at the book of 2 Timothy in our lead up to the Advent Season this year. Assuming Pauline authorship,[1] Paul probably wrote this letters while he was in prison in Rome under Emperor Nero in the mid-60s CE. Now, this imprisonment was different than other imprisonments that Paul had suffered. Previously Paul was under house arrest – an electronic monitoring type of situation, albeit before electronics of course - where Paul had a fair bit of leniency in his imprisonment. Now, however, he is in a dungeon. Tradition has it that this is Paul’s final imprisonment as well. He will only leave the dungeon for the grave. Paul will die via capital punishment here in Rome and he is now in prison awaiting that conclusion.[2] The conditions in the dungeon were probably not as bad as those for the people today trapped in Guantanamo Bay – I doubt that the Romans were actively torturing him like today’s paramount superpower is doing down in Cuba - but Paul’s experience may not be entirely dissimilar and probably even worse than prisons in this country. It certainly is not the house arrest that Paul had experienced earlier.[3] This is a new style of imprisonment for Paul and this is what life is like for Paul as he is writing this letter to his friends and church family.

In his letter, one can see that Paul is obviously lonely. He misses his church family (2 Timothy 1:4). (Does anyone remember where this church is located that is receiving the letter? Ephesus.) He is remembering in this letter his church family in Ephesus,[4] especially Timothy and Timothy’s mother, Eunice; and Timothy’s grandmother, Lois (2 Timothy 1:5). Paul wants to see them again. He misses them. And we here in this congregation today understand a little bit of what it means to be missing people, who are serving God elsewhere, don’t we? Dusty and Laurie and their children have gone off to Training College in Winnipeg to serve God, the Kingdom, and the Army; leaving behind family, church family, jobs, and friends. Jessica and Alyssia have gone off to the big city. Jessica is going to University, and she, as well as friends and church family, is leaving behind her younger sisters with whom she is very close. Julie Arnold has gone out from us preparing for her own missionary journey to Indonesia. (Hopefully she isn’t offered her martyr’s crown like Paul was! I have confidence she wouldn’t decline it.) As a congregation, between Dusty and Laurie, Jessica and Alyssia, and Julie, many of us also have that same longing today that 2000 years ago this church in Ephesus, Timothy, his mother, and his grandmother would have for Paul as Paul is away from them serving the Lord. Paul, as he expresses his loneliness in this letter, is in all likelihood having feelings not entirely dissimilar to the feelings experienced by those who have left us to proclaim the Gospel (cf. Romans 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 3:6 and Philippians 1:8). We are separated from those we love and with whom we have together served the Lord.

The youth here have recently just written letters of encouragement to those who have gone out from us. Julie sends us regular updates as she prepares to share the Good News in Indonesia. Paul, the apostle, is reaching out in this letter to his friends and church family and look: what is one of the first things that he tells them? He says, “I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers” (2 Timothy 1:3).

Paul says that he thanks God day and night as he constantly remembers them. The Authorized Version reads, “without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day.” Without ceasing (Greek: adialeipton) Paul remembers his Christian brothers and sisters in his prayers (cf. Romans 1:9-10; Philippians 1:3; Colossians 1:31; Thessalonians 1:2; 3:6). While this sentiment is prevalent in the New Testament, The Greek word used here, adialeiptos (unceasingly), is a powerful word and is found elsewhere in Paul’s writings only in Romans 9:2 (cf. Romans 1:9-10; Philippians 1:3; Colossians 1:31; Thessalonians 1:2; 3:6).[5] Paul in this letter is saying that whenever – day or night - the Lord brings Timothy, Eunice and Lois to his mind, Paul prays for them.[6]

Paul knows the power of prayer. Paul in another letter to this same church in Ephesus states about prayer that after we have put on the full amour of God that we are to – Ephesians 6:18-  “…pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”

Prayer is a powerful thing and even when Paul is imprisoned, he still has access to this power of prayer and he is not afraid to use it. 2 Timothy 1:7: “for God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:3: “I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.”

This is important for us to remember. We need to constantly remember our Christian brothers and sisters in prayer. We have, of course, those like Dusty and Laurie and Julie Arnold whom the Lord has called away to serve him elsewhere. We should continue to uphold them in prayer. We should also pray for all the saints, as Ephesians 6:18 records.

We all know what the Bible means when we read the word ‘saint’ in the New Testament, right? In the New Testament a saint is NOT a dead person through whom God does miracles. ‘Saint’, when we read the term in the New Testament just means, ‘Christian’.[7] The word literally means ‘holy’ or ‘holy one’ and as the word ‘Christian’ is only used a handful of times, ‘saint’ was what Christians were commonly called in the first century (cf. TSA doc. 10).[8] When we read the word ‘saint’ in the New Testament, in our mind we should probably hear the word, ‘Christian’. We should pray for all the Christians and we should, like Paul, pray for people without ceasing day and night, whenever the Lord brings them to our thoughts (cf. for ex. Acts 9, Romans 15, 1 Corinthians 16, Philippians 4:21-22, Colossians 1).

When Susan and I were urban missionaries in Canada’s poorest postal code, on Vancouver’s downtown eastside (DTES), with The Salvation Army’s 614 Corps, they began a War Room there. The War Room was our prayer room. We had a room in a slum hotel that looked out on that infamous corner of Main and Hastings Street in the DTES of Vancouver. There were people praying in that room overlooking that intersection, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for more than a year anyway. We would each sign up for 3-hour shifts of prayer in the War Room. I often took the 5am – 8am shift. At first a 3-hour prayer shift seemed like a long time but by the end of each shift one inevitably wondered how the time passed so quickly. It was a wonderful time and place to commune with God. Some would take one prayer shift in the War Room a week, others one shift a day, others sometimes more. Twenty-four hours a day, morning and evening, day and night, someone would be praying in that War Room in that slum hotel on Vancouver’s DTES and wow what a blessing that was. 2 Timothy 1:3: “I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.”

Like we said before, prayer is a powerful tool and even when Paul is imprisoned, he still has access to this power of prayer and he is not afraid to use it. 2 Timothy 1:7: “for God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.” The Apostle Paul when he was in a dungeon awaiting execution, with a clear conscience, day and night would remember the saints in prayer. Paul, while he was in the dungeon, he was praying for the saints, the Christians, the other believers. Paul, while he was in jail awaiting execution, was praying for all those on the outside that the Lord was bringing to his mind.

This is important. We need to uphold each other in prayer. There are many things that need prayer. It is good to pray that in our own lives, that we follow the will of God and it is also important to pray for others. We mentioned those who have gone out from us here into the mission field, God will use our prayers to use them to do His will. Another member of the congregation here shared her testimony this week. As we pray for her, God will use our prayers to use her to do His will. We have members of our corps who have been sick and or on leave; as we pray for them, God will use our prayers to use them to do His will. Prayer is a powerful tool and the church that prays together stays together. Prayer is a powerful tool and we should not be afraid to use it. Richard and any others who can gather every week in the meeting room before church pray for the saints and the community. Ray comes into my office all the time to say prayers, as he also visits other people here and around town praying with them and for them. Prayer is a powerful tool and we should not be afraid to use it.

We have all heard of, if we have not experienced ourselves, the power of prayer for salvation in people’s lives. How many people have we led in a prayer of confession of faith after family has been praying for them for years? We know the story of St. Augustine, of course; this was his story. His mother, St. Monica, prayed for him for many years before he came to the Lord and then the Lord used him to influence the church even unto this very day. Prayer is a powerful tool and we are to use it to uphold our Christian brothers and sisters day and night as the Lord brings them to our minds. This is important. We need to pray for each other.

Susan shared with us earlier, that General Linda Bond, the international leader of The Salvation Army has called us all to pray as an Army. She has asked us to pray Thursday mornings for half an hour from 5am – 8am. Susan, recognizing that mornings are not necessarily the best time for each of us, has created a 24-hr prayer sign up sheet for Thursdays. The shifts are only ½ hour long, not the 3-hour shifts we had in Vancouver but you can string together more than one shift if you would like to pray longer. It is our goal that everyone here in our congregation, would sign up for at least one 30-minute shift every Thursday. You are welcome to pray here when the building is open or you are welcome to pray in your home or you are welcome to pray wherever the Lord leads you to pray. I have left the sheets on the altar. I encourage us each to sign up for at least one ½ hour shift for each Thursday from now until Christmas. Let us here, as a church family, like Paul, let us, 2 Timothy 1:3, thank God, whom we serve, as our forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day we constantly remember each other in our prayers.

Let us pray.

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[1] But cf. James D.G. Dunn, The 1st and 2nd Letter to Timothy and the Letter to Titus, (NIB XI: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 2000), 776-781 on authorship and date.

[2] R.C.H Lenski, Interpretation of 1 Timothy, (Interpretation of Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon: Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Publishing House, 1964),474.

[3] Walter W. Wessel and George W. Knight III, Introduction to 2 Timothy in NIV Study Bible (ed. Kenneth Barker; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002),1882

[4] James D.G. Dunn, The 1st and 2nd Letter to Timothy and the Letter to Titus, (NIB XI: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 2000), 781.

[5] Donald, Guthrie: Pastoral Epistles: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1990 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 14), S. 140

[6] W.E. Vine. ‘That without Ceasing’. In Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Word. (Nashville, Tennessee: Royal Publishers Inc., 1939),; cf. Expositors

[7] Cf. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, ‘40: Hagios’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.1.

[8] John D.W. Watts. 'Holy.' In Holman Bible Dictionary, general editor Trent C. Butler. Nashville, Tennesee: Holman Bible Publishers, 1991), 660. Cf. G.B. Stevens in Hastings’ Bible Dictionary. Cited W.E. Vine. 'Holiness, Holy, Holily.' In Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Word. (Nashville, Tennessee: Royal Publishers Inc., 1939), 557.Cf. Paul Minear, Interpretation 37 no 1 Ja 1983, p. 22: In his death and resurrection, Jesus' holiness or sanctification became the measure and standard of all holiness, whether of places, times, things, or persons. (Key passages which reflect this are John 10:36; 17:17-19; I Cor. 1:2; 6:11; Heb. 2:11; 10:10; 12:14-24; 13:12-14.)"

Deuteronomy 8: The Next Generation Thanks The Lord.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army
Thanksgiving Sunday, 09 October 2011
By Captain Michael Ramsay

Today in Deuteronomy we are dealing with Exodus: the Next Generation; the children of the children of Israel whom God delivered out of Egypt. In our text today, we are getting close to the point where they have the opportunity to cross into the Promised Land. We read last week how their parents’ generation about 40 years before came passed this same spot in the wilderness and beyond. They were on the precipice of the Promised Land where they could eat, be satisfied and be saved from their desert wanderings but they rejected God’s salvation and so they spent the next 40 years wandering around the wilderness. These were the parents of this generation before us today in Deuteronomy 8 today. They rejected God’s promise and so died outside of God’s promise (Deuteronomy 2:19-46, Numbers 14, Hebrews 4). They have now passed on. Their leader, Moses, himself, has only has a few months left to live. And most of this book of Deuteronomy is a collection of his last words to the Hebrews before he perishes along with the rest of this generation (and his children’s generation; Moses was 80 when he began the exodus from Egypt.) outside of the Promised Land.[1] This book is thus very important.

Chapter 8 reminds us of an important three-part truth that is important for us on this Thanksgiving Sunday. God, through Moses, in his speech here reminds the Israelites that:

1)      Deuteronomy 8:3 – Because He loves you, God hungered you causing you to rely on Him but

2)      Deuteronomy 8:10-11 – You are now about to enter a time of abundance; so give thanks to the Lord because

3)      Deuteronomy 8:19-20 – forgetting the Lord will result in your destruction

1) Because He loves you, God hungered you causing you to rely on Him

Moses is reminding and underscoring for the people of Israel that in the desert, Deuteronomy 8:3: “[God] He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (cf. Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4).

We remember what Moses is talking about here, right? God loves the Hebrews but the people of Israel had grown proud. They were selfish. They weren’t thankful. They were focusing not on serving the Lord, instead they were concentrating on themselves and their own ability (Deuteronomy 2:19-46, Deuteronomy 9:7-29, Numbers 14, Hebrews 4). We remember that shortly after the Hebrews left Egypt, they already began complaining and on more than one occasion they wanted to turn their back on God and turn back to Egypt. It got so bad that they even began to glorify, in their own minds, the slavery under which they suffered. As we read last week in Numbers 14, when they arrive at the land that God had promised to give them, instead of simply following God into this land, they are fearful and reject Him and Moses and Aaron and they even threaten to kill them, choose new leaders and head back to Egypt (Numbers 14:4,10).[2] God intervenes and so the disobedient Israelites decide that they will go into the Promised Land after all but –as disobedient as they are- they decide to do this without God. They try and obtain their salvation on their own. And it is a result of that generation’s rejection of God that they all perish outside of His promise.

The good news here is that even though this generation rejects God’s promise and as a result of their faithlessness dies in the wilderness, God still keeps His promise of salvation for the children of these children of Israel and for the whole world (John 3:16-18). God still provides salvation penultimately for the next generation of Hebrews and ultimately for the whole world through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (cf. Genesis 12:1-3, 15:1-7; 2 Samuel 7).

We have a very interesting situation before us in our text today though. This next generation that God, through Moses, is speaking to in our text today. They have been wandering around the desert. They have grown up in the wilderness where food is scarce; water is scarce. They are nomadic. They do not have all of the luxuries of a settled people. They can’t just run down to the 7/11 in the middle of the night and pick up drink boxes for their kids lunches in the morning. The Hebrews are wandering around the desert following God through His angel in a pillar of cloud by day and a tongue of fire by night. When the wheels break off their carts, they can’t call the Automobile Association to come and help them. They are nomadic: they have no shop buildings, no convenience stores, nothing; they have nothing but God.[3]

God was testing them and God was teaching them, Hebrews 8:3, “that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” As this next generation of Hebrews followed God around the desert, He provided for them. Even their clothes - it says in verse 4 - did not wear out and their feet did not swell during this time following God around the desert. God provided for them in the desert. When they had nothing, God provided for them Deuteronomy 8:15,16:

He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

 Even though one generation of the Israelites were faithless, that did not nullify the faithfulness of God (Romans 3:3,4). God provided this desert experience for them and their children as a means to their salvation. God, through Moses here, is reminding the people not to forget this: in the desert, God and God alone provided for them, preparing them to receive this Promised Land.   This brings us to point 2.

2) You are now about to enter a time of abundance so give thanks to the Lord.

Israel, the next generation here should definitely give thanks to the Lord. It is God who is providing for them in the desert when they have nothing and they are thankful. It is God also who will provide for them in Canaan when they have something. They need to remember this. In their abundance, they need to remember to celebrate their thanksgiving to God. God, through Moses, says that in the Promised Land, Deuteronomy 8:10-14:

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

This is important. This is all too common. Last week, as well as looking at Numbers 14, we examined Judges 4. The book of Judges again and again repeats a similar refrain to Judges 2:10-11, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD…” The very next generation after God delivers his people into the salvation of the Promised Land, instead of thanking God for all that He is providing, they reject Him but even then God is still gracious enough to hand them over to their enemies so that they will return to Him. But alas when things start going well for them again they again forget that all that abundance comes from the Lord and they reject Him again.

Deuteronomy 8:12-14: ‘…when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God…’

Canada was founded upon the Word of God. O Canada is a hymn that can be found in many Canadian hymnals complete with a second verse offering praise to the Lord. After the horrors of the 18 Century’s Atheist (or Deist) Revolutions,[4] Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley insisted that Canada be founded on the Word of God. Our motto, A Mari usque ad Mare, is based on Psalm 72 and it declares that God shall have dominion in this land from sea to sea.  In 1879, Canada officially legislated a day of Thanksgiving to the Lord and in a generation previous to our current one, on Thursday, January 31, 1957, the Canadian Parliament specifically proclaimed: “A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” Our forefathers and mothers have given thanks to our Lord in this country for what He has done and for what He has provided.

We need to continue to do so but I fear that now, like with the Israelites when they settled in the Promised Land, another generation is growing up who neither knows the Lord nor what He has done in Canada. God has allowed Canada to become one of the most prosperous countries in the history of the earth but, instead of thanking Him for this, we seem to have forgotten this and we seem to have forgotten Him.

God’s Name and the Gideon Bibles are quickly being removed from our schools. The Lord’s Prayer that was spoken in the schools in my memory, even in secular British Columbia, is no more. I was teaching in the schools when we were instructed to remove all reference to Christ and even all reference to Christmas. We needed to refer to the Christmas time as a winter festival or something like that. Even in our time in Saskatchewan in recent years, I have responded to people who have publicly called for Jesus’ name to be deleted from Remembrance Day ceremonies[5] and when Susan was conducting a service in the Tisdale hospital a few years ago, they handed her all their Bibles and said, ‘we don’t need these anymore.’

Deuteronomy 8:12-14: ‘…when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God…’

3) Forgetting the Lord will result in destruction

Deuteronomy 8:19-20: “If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.”

Israel was no more immune to destruction and being removed from the Promised Land than were the people’s God had there before them (Cf. Amos 3:2).[6] There is a very important passage in Genesis to which the author of Deuteronomy is referring: it is the covenant ceremony whereby God ratifies His covenant with Abraham that

a)      all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him (Genesis 12:1-3); and that

b)     Israel will (for a time anyway) occupy this Promised Land (Genesis 15:17-21)

Genesis 15:13-16 records one reason why the land promised to Abraham’s descendants by God is not given to Abraham in his lifetime. This is because God is extending four hundred years of mercy to the current inhabitants of the land. As the Amorites don’t shape up in this 400-year grace period that God is giving them then God will take this land away from them and give it to the descendants of Abraham. Our text today, like so many others in the Old Testament, is telling us that as the Israelites are unfaithful they too will be removed from the Promised Land (Leviticus 26; 2 Chronicles 36:20-21; Jeremiah 25:11-12, 29:10; Amos 3:1-2; cf. Lamentations 4; Ezekiel 21,22; Joel 1-2:10; cf. also Romans 6:23).[7] And as they were unfaithful, they were removed. Judah fell in 586 BCE. Israel fell in 721 BCE. The Israelite Kingdom never rose again.[8]

1)      Deuteronomy 8:3 – God hungered Israel causing them to rely on Him but

2)      Deuteronomy 8:10-11 – when they entered a time of abundance they forgot to give thanks to the Lord, indeed they forgot Him altogether and

3)      Deuteronomy 8:19-20 – that resulted in their destruction

This is sad but there is some good news. On this Thanksgiving Day today in Canada we can still give thanks and experience God’s blessing. In Canada there is still time to return to our Lord. As long as we exist as a nation there is still the opportunity for our nation to return to God. We, as Christians should do our best to help build God’s Kingdom here as it is in heaven. As long as we exist as a nation it is not too late, we can still return to the Lord and one good way to start doing this is to obey Canadian law and give thanks today to God Almighty for His bountiful provision (cf. TSA doc. 10).

We know that as far as Israel is concerned, their Messiah has come already. Jesus was their Messiah. Jesus was born, died, and rose from the grave. We know that there is even more good news than that too. We know that Jesus will come back and he will reign forever not only as King of the Jews but also as King of the whole world (cf. TSA doc. 6). We know that Jesus Christ is the Messiah of not only Israel but also Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the saviour of the whole world (John 3:16-18; cf. Revelation 21). There is no other saviour. We know that Jesus died and rose again fulfilling God’s promises to humanity and we know too that Jesus is coming back. This is certainly something for which we can all give thanks today: Jesus is coming back and he is coming back soon and when he does what a day of rejoicing that will be.

Let us pray.

http://www.sheepspeak.com/

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[1] Earl S. Kalland and Kenneth L. Baker, Note on Deuteronomy 1:1 in NIV Study Bible (ed. Kenneth Barker; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 244.

[2] Captain Michael Ramsay, Salvation, Take it or Leave it! Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 02 October 2011. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/09/judges-4-numbers-14-salvation-take-it.html

[3] Cf. J.A. Thompson,: Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1974 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 5), S. 151

[4] Cf. Robespierre, Benjamin Franklin’s journals and Thomas Jefferson’s Bible that strips the Word of God of the miraculous among other evidence of the horrors of the Franco-American Revolutions, the reign of terror and ensuing wars.

[5] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Not an Atheistic Society in Tisdale Recorder (November, 2011). Available on-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com./Not%20an%20atheistic%20society.htm

[6] Cf. Ronald E. Clements, The Book of Deuteronomy, (NIB II: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1998), 355.

[7] Other reasons for their removal from the land include their contempt for Him, and their disrespect for the land (Leviticus 25:1-23), and the poor, the widow, the immigrant (Cf. Exodus 23:6,11, Leviticus 19:10,15, 23:22, 27:8, Deuteronomy 15:7, 15:11, 24:12-15, 1 Samuel 2:8, Psalms. 22:26, 34:6, 35:10, 82:3, Isaiah. 61:1, Ezekiel 16:49, 18:12, 22:29, Amos 2:7, 4:1, 5:11-12, 8:4-6, Zechariah 7:10.); and their disregard for His very important covenant (Cf. Genesis 12-17; Deuteronomy 4-26, 31; Leviticus 25:1-23; Jeremiah 52:4-27; Amos 3-4; Lamentations 4; Ezekiel 21,22; Joel 1-2:10). The people are removed from the land, just like the Lord told them they would be if they disregarded His covenant and they are removed for the period of time that God told them that they would be removed for disregarding His covenant (2 Chronicles 36:21; Jeremiah 25:11-12, 29:10). God told them that they would earn the loss their territorial inheritance if they continued to sin but they continued so they earned the wages of their sin (cf. Romans 6:23). They did. This was a traumatic time and it caused a lot of people to lose their faith and even their identity – the whole concept of the ‘missing tribes of Israel’ relates to the deportations starting with Assyria and some of these deportees’ descendants never did come back home. Cf. Donald E. Gowan, Amos. (NIB VII: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1996), 347, 383.

[8] Cf. Thomas E. McComiskey, The Expositor's Bible Commentary,  Pradis CD-ROM:Amos/Introduction to Amos/Theological Values of Amos/The doctrine of election in Amos, Book Version: 4.0.2; cf. also Willy Schottroff, “To Perceive, To Know,” in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament, Volume 3 eds. Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997),516.

Judges 4, Numbers 14: Salvation, Take it or Leave it.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 02 Oct. 2011

by Captain Michael Ramsay

We looked at the salvation God provided to the Israelite spies penultimately through Rahab the redeemed prostitute (Joshua 2&6, Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25 and ultimately to the whole world via Rahab’s descendent Jesus Christ the redeemer[1] last week; so I thought that we would look at a couple of other prominent women of the faith this week: Deborah, one of the early leaders of Israel and Jael who assassinated a leading general of one of their oppressors (Judges 4-5). In doing so, I was especially drawn to Deborah’s conversation with one of her generals, Judges 4:6-9:

She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”

    Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

    “Very well,” Deborah said, “I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honour will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh,

The honour was there for Barak: he could take it or leave it. He could act in faith or in fear.[2] As I meditated on these verses, I was drawn more and more to Numbers Chapter 14, especially 14:3,4 and 30-33, where the Israelites refuse to invade the Promised Land saying:

Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? …We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt…

    [Therefore God Replies, Verse 30:] …Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.

But you—your bodies will fall in this desert. 

Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert.

Salvation was there for the Israelites. They could take it or leave it. They could act in faith or they could act in fear. Today we are going to do a comparison of sorts between the leaders of Israel in Judges 4 and the children of Israel in Numbers 14. The main things I want us to concentrate on is the fact that with God no matter what the situation facing us, we don’t need to be afraid for God is faithful even when we are faithless (Romans 3:3,4, 2 Timothy 2:13; cf. Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5)– but, we only experience His provided salvation if we actually take Him up on His offer of salvation (John 3:16; cf. TSA docs. 6&8).  His salvation is waiting for all of us: we can take it or leave it.

We will look at Judge Deborah, Jael and General Barak in a bit here. But first, a little background information: The activity in the book of Judges takes place in the time after Joshua dies. Joshua was the leader of Israel after Moses and he was the one through whom most of the land of Canaan was conquered and its inhabitants put to the sword (Deuteronomy 31:1-8, 34:9; Joshua 1; Judges 2). When Joshua died, there was no clear successor as God’s leader of the Israelites (Joshua 1; Judges 2). What happened then is that the people –without clear leadership- would drift away from the Lord time and time again, just doing what they saw as fit in their own eyes; the Lord in His mercy would then sell them into the hands of their rivals so that they would eagerly seek to return to the joys of serving Him. At which time God would then by raise up various regional generals, despots, kings, or rulers from the various clans in order to save them, to liberate and to then rule over them (cf. Judges 2:16ff.). These primarily military leaders were called ‘judges’. Deborah, she is one of the judges of Israel here at a time when many of the tribes of Israel are struggling against the Canaanites under Jabin of Hazor and General Sisera (cf. Judges 4:1-2). This was Israel in Palestine at the time of Deborah in the book of Judges.

We read from Judges Chapter 4 earlier where Israel’s leader, Deborah instructs General Barak, in the name of the LORD, to lead the troops into battle against their oppressors.[3] Instead of simply saying ‘Yes ma’am’ to Deborah and ‘Yes’ to the Lord, Barak sounds a little like a scared elementary school student and he says instead to Deborah, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go” (Judges 4:8; cf. Exodus 4:13, Judges 6:15, Jeremiah 1:6). It reminds me of a summer or two ago when my daughters were younger and one of them accidentally threw a ball or something in the neighbours’ yard. I told her to just go ring their doorbell and ask if you can go into the yard and get it back. She looked scared stiff. She -in a moment of shear panic- said, ‘No, only if you go with me!’ General Barak when God through the Prophetess Deborah, Israel’s judge, tells him to run an errand for God, he says, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”  Now I told my daughter when she attempted to give me this ultimatum that she could take her sister with her to ask our neighbours for the ball and the two of them went hugging and grasping each other for support, with me watching, to our next door neighbours’ house to retrieve their ball. Judge Deborah similarly has mercy on this timid general, Barak, and says that she will go with him.[4] She doesn’t have quite as much mercy as I did with my 7 or 8 year-old daughter at the time though; nor should she. Barak, in his fear to go into battle without Deborah holding his hand, wasn’t just questioning Deborah’s order; he was questioning God.[5] In response: “‘Very well,’ Deborah said, ‘I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honour will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman.’ Then Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh” (Judges 4:9).

This is important. Glory was there for Barak: he could take it or leave it. But regardless of Barak, God still delivered the people of Israel from their oppressors, just like He said he would do. Even though Barak did not show faith and faithfulness, God was still faithful and He delivered His people unto salvation. But because Barak was more afraid of men than of God, he did not receive the full reward that he otherwise would have received (cf. Deuteronomy 31:6; Numbers 14; Joshua 1:5; Romans 3:3,4; Hebrews 13:5-6; 2 Timothy 2:13).

This brings us to our parallel passage in Numbers 14. The events in Numbers 14 happen a few generations before the events of Judges 4. In Numbers 14, Moses is still the leader of the Israelites. Moses, on God’s command, has just sent spies to spy out the land that the Lord had promised to them (Numbers 13). Two of the spies – Joshua, who would be their next leader and Caleb - come back and report that ‘yes we should take this land as God and Moses have commanded’. The other 10 spies however out-vote them (cf. Numbers 12, Exodus 5:15-21, Deuteronomy 9:7-29; Praise the Lord the Kingdom of God isn’t a democracy!). They are afraid and say, Numbers 14:4, “We should choose a new leader and go back to Egypt.” The people are about to execute Moses and his brother Aaron when the Lord intervenes (Numbers 14:10-12). God is understandably a little bit upset and says to them. If you’re going to be that way then I don’t want you here either. Go away (Number 14:20-25). I’ll invite Caleb and Joshua and another generation of people back to the promised salvation from the desert. Your kids can come without you to this Promised Land, after the rest of you have died (Numbers 26:65, Numbers 32:12, Joshua 14; Hebrews 4:3).

God prepared this promised rest for the Hebrews who had been wandering around the desert: it was there for the taking. They said ‘no’ to the rest so God withdrew the offer until after they had all died. Hebrews 4:3: God says, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

Now this is significant: because the people are afraid and in their fear they rebel against God and Moses and Aaron, God says that they may not enter His promised salvation from their wanderings in the desert (Numbers 14:1-4,9). God says that He will still offer His salvation to His people but those who reject it will not get to experience it; they will die outside of His promise (cf. TSA doc. 9). God provided for the salvation of all of them but they decided not to take it. A whole generation of God’s chosen people rejected His promised rest and – save Joshua and Caleb- they all died outside of His promise (Number 14:24, Hebrews 4:3). God’s salvation: They had the opportunity to take it or leave it. They chose to leave it.

There is more to this part of the story too. After the people reject God’s deliverance into the promise, they then attempt to obtain their salvation from their desert wanderings without God. They attempt to secure the salvation on their own. This is what happens, Numbers 14:41-45:

But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the LORD’s command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”

     Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD’s covenant moved from the camp. Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

Numbers 14 records the tragic consequences of people out of fear first  rejecting God’s salvation that He had already provided for them and then rejecting His deliverance by trying to obtain this salvation on their own. God did still provided His salvation to a future generation as He promised but as far as this generation was concerned, deliverance was available to them: they could take it or leave it. They chose to leave it so this whole disobedient generation, through their lack of faith, died outside of the promise. It is a sad story indeed.

Back to Barak and Deborah, Jael and Judges 4. Because Barak rejected the glory offered to him, the glory went to someone who would take it: Jael -who is a foreigner (Kenite) and a woman- she experienced that glory instead of Barak (Judges 4:9, 21-22). It is important to note that Barak’s lack of faith could not and would not prevent God’s salvation from coming to His people – God still delivered them unto salvation - but Barak’s fear did prevent him from experiencing the full glory of that.[6]

As it is with Barak in Judges 4 and the children of Israel in Numbers 14, so it is with us. We cannot thwart the salvation of God but we can decline to be a part of it. Now God is a merciful God and He still used Barak to do His will and Barak, as Barak was faithful in battle he is now and forever remembered as a hero of the faith in Hebrews 11:32, even though because of his fear, he did not experience the honour that was otherwise available. And we know that God did save the children of that Numbers 14 generation of Israelites from the desert even though their parents chose to die in the wilderness and did indeed die outside of God’s rest. God is gracious. He is faithful even when we are faithless. His salvation is offered for us all but we need to take Him up on His offer to experience it for ourselves. John 3:16-18:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

This is important. This is the same choice we have today. Jesus’ death and resurrection provided salvation for the whole world. It is there for us. God is speaking to us all as he spoke to Barak through Deborah all those many years ago. He is telling us that victory is assured. We can take it or we can leave it. We are standing on the precipice of the Promised Land of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We can take it or leave it. I encourage us today. If there are any who have not yet said that yes they will follow God into His promised salvation, it is not too late. As long as well have breath in our body, the opportunity is there for the taking. Just like with Barak and the children of Israel, God’s Salvation is still available for us all: we can take it or leave it. Today, I want to encourage us that if there are any of us here today who have not yet taken God up on this that indeed, today will be the day of our salvation.

Let us pray.

 

http://www.sheepspeak.com/

 

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[1] Captain Michael Ramsay, Rahab the Redeemed (Joshua 2&6, Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25) Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 25 Sept. 2011, Weekend of Prayer to Stop Human Trafficking. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/09/rahab-redeemed-joshua-2-hebrews-1131.html

[2] cf. John J. Davis and Hebert Wolf, Judges in NIV Study Bible (ed. Kenneth Barker; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 336.

[3] But cf. Dennis T. Olsen, The Book of Judges (NIB II; Nashville: Abingdon, 1998), 778-783.

[4] Cf. Robert Jamieson, ‘CHAPTER 4: Judges 4:1-17. Deborah and Barak Deliver Israel from Jabin and Sisera’. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Available on-line: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/jamieson/jfb.x.vii.iv.html?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=4-4&scrV=0-0#x.vii.iv-p0.1

[5] John Wesley, “Explanatory Notes on Judges 4”. Cited from Christ’s Notes Bible Commentary (Cited 26 September, 2011). Available on-line: http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?b=7&c=4&com=wes

[6] Herbert Wolf, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Judges/Exposition of Judges/II. The Rule of the Judges (2:6-16:31)/E. The Victory of Deborah and Barak Over Jabin and Sisera (4:1-5:31)/1. The prose account (4:1-24)/b. Deborah's challenge to Barak (4:4-10), Book Version: 4.0.2