The Kingdom of God- 7

Subtitle:  Inheriting the Millennial Kingdom I

1 Samuel 2:9-10; Psalm 2; 37; Daniel 2; 7:13-14

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, April 27, 2025.

We are going to talk about some passages that speak of inheriting the kingdom of God.  This first week we will focus on the Old Testament promises in this regard.  Next week, we will look at what the New Testament has to say about this.

When Jesus returns, his Kingdom will move from the phase we are in now into a new phase.  This is what we were talking about in a previous sermon when we said that the Kingdom of God is “now, but not yet fully.”  This phasing in of the Kingdom was not completely clear in the Old Testament, but the rudimentary prophecies about it are still there.

The Kingdom that Jesus sets up at his return to earth is often called the Millennial Kingdom because Revelation 20 speaks of it being a thousand- year period of peace on this earth under the rule of Jesus and his resurrected saints.  Millennial is simply Latin for 1,000 years.

However, this is not the complete kingdom of Jesus.  It is only phase 2.  Phase 1, which we are in now, has lasted for nearly 2,000 years.  There is even a third phase that is revealed in Revelation 20 in which this earth and these heavens are melted down and recreated into a new heavens and a new earth.  Only righteous immortals will be allowed into that New Creation.  God the Father along with the Son will dwell with redeemed humanity in perfect harmony, and there will be no fallen beings, human or otherwise.

This is why it can seem contradictory to read passages that speak about Messiah ruling forever, and then reading Revelation 20 and the thousand year reign of Christ on this earth.  This concept of different phases of the Kingdom is important to grasp.  The Kingdom isn’t ending.  It is only moving into a new phase.

Of course, there are some differences of opinion about the Millennium within Christian circles, but we are going to save that topic for another time.

Thus, we can enter into the kingdom of Jesus right now by repenting of our sins, turning to Jesus in faith, and living the life of faith to the end of our life.  Yet, Scripture does make a distinction with the idea of inheriting the kingdom.  In general, this is a reference to the phase 2 kingdom that is set up at the Second Coming of Jesus.

Let’s look at our first passage.

The Old Testament Promise

1 Samuel 2:9-10

This is a prophecy that is given through Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel.  Hannah was unable to have children and it bothered her.  Her husband had another wife who had no problem having children.  In fact, the woman was cruel and ridiculed Hannah’s predicament.  Hannah was so broken that she made a promise to God.  If He would giver her a son, then she would give the son back to God. 

To make a long story short, Hannah becomes pregnant.  After she weaned the child, she brought him to the high priest at the tabernacle and handed him over to the LORD’s service.

Yet, God had shown Hannah something through her situation.  He truly was on the side of the righteous and had a day of judgment set for the wicked.

She speaks of God giving strength to His “King” and to His “Anointed” (Messiah).  This is amazing because Israel did not have kings in those days.  It is her son, Samuel, who will be told by God to anoint a king for Israel.

Of course, God is revealing this to her.  Yet, there are prophecies of Israel having a king long before this.  Hannah sees a connection between her giving up hope on ever having a child and Israel giving up hope on having a king that would deal with the wicked.  God’s answer to her prayer gives her faith that He will answer the larger prayer of the coming of God’s Messiah King.  This Messiah King would be the fulfillment of the Serpent-Crusher prophecy of Genesis 3:15, and many others up to this point in Scripture.  The chosen line of men from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Moses, etc. would one day succeed in bringing forth the ultimate Chosen One.  God would judge the nations by exalting His Anointed King and giving him strength to overcome them.

Let’s look at our next passage.

Psalm 2:1-12.

This psalm opens with the nations in an uproar over the decision and action of God to set up His Messiah.  How that happened is not described, only that it has, and the nations do not like it.  They conspire together in an attempt  to throw off the restraints of God and His Messiah.  Though the passage speaks of fetters, or bands, these are metaphorical fetters.  They do not want to cooperate with a righteous leader.  They want to do their own thing, which is wickedness and corruption.

The fetters are the moral teaching of Messiah, and His powerful effect upon people to join the ranks of the righteous.  This creates a restraining effect upon these wicked kings.

It is natural for them to fight among one another for dominance, but here we find them uniting together to attempt an overthrow of Messiah.  Let me just say that unity sounds good, but we must always ask ourselves what we are unifying around.  These men are unifying around a wicked act, getting rid of a righteous king.

Verses 4-6 show that God is not worried by their conspiracy.  He even laughs at their plotting.  Of course, you and I worry about it all the time.  Perhaps, we should fix our eyes upon the One who is far more powerful than all the powerful nations combined.

We also see that God is not going to change His mind.  The installation was in the past, but it is not going to be revoked by Him, nor will it ever be.  God has made up His mind.

Verses 7-9 has the Messiah explaining God’s promises to Him.  He has been made a Son to God the Father.  He will be the only one who is worthy in God’s eyes to inherit all the nations.  No king of this earth past or present deserves the rule of the earth.  Jesus is the only One who is worthy.  This is the subject of Revelation 5. 

In fact, notice that  it says, “I will surely give the nations.”  This emphasizes that it is something that is going to happen in the future.  God is resolved to do it.

Thus, Jesus, the Messiah, has been given the nations and has power and authority over them.  Yet, he has not yet taken up his inheritance.  Why not?

Well, look at verses 10-12.  The delay is all about this rebellion against the LORD and His Messiah King.  God is not willing that any should perish.  He is not quick to stomp the arrogant kings of the earth and the people who are caught up in their wake.

Instead, God gives fair warning to the kings.  They need to make peace with Messiah before the day of wrath arises and they perish in the way.  This long period of grace is for the purpose of helping people to make a better decision.  Wake up before you run out of time!

Thus, the phrase that ends the psalm- “Blessed are those who put their trust in him” (Messiah)- is not just about the kings making a choice.  Those under the kings can jump ship and join Messiah.  The righteous should be the very first to embrace Messiah and would already be trusting in him.

The word for “trust” in that sentence is interesting.  Hebrew has several words for trust.  This one carries the connotation of fleeing into a safe place that we are trusting to save us.  This can be fleeing from rebellion into Messiah to avoid the day of wrath, but it can also be fleeing into Messiah for protection from these tyrant kings.

Jesus and his commands are a safe place to those who trust in Him (flee to Him for refuge).  In fact, part of that blessing is that we will inherit with the Messiah King.  To whom are you fleeing for refuge?  Or, to what are you fleeing?  People seek refuge in all manner of things, but only Jesus can protect us before God.

Thus, those who refuse to give homage to The Son, Messiah King, will perish in a day of wrath, but those who take refuge in him will be blessed!  In fact, the only reason they were able to rebel in the first place is because God is gracious.  They are taking advantage of His grace in order to conspire against Him and the righteous king. 

Yet, God still gives more mercy in calling them to repent and be saved.

Now, God’s purpose and plan takes place over long periods of time.  It is important to Him that humanity grasp what He is trying to teach us.  This calls for patience and trust.

Psalm 37

This next passage is Psalm 37.  We are going to quickly look at several verses in this psalm.  We will see there that God wants us to inherit this kingdom with Jesus, His Messiah.  Six times the psalmist emphasizes our inheritance.  Psalm 2 focuses on Messiah inheriting the nations, but Psalm 37 focuses on the righteous doing so as well.

In verses 1-2, we are encouraged not to fret nor to envy the workers of iniquity.  Of course, this is part of our problem.  We grow tired of waiting for God’s deliverance, and then see the wicked “getting away with it!”

Many reject the path of the righteous because they want to join in the spoils with the wicked.  Thus, they become wicked themselves.  But, a day of judgment lies before the wicked.  First, they have a personal judgment day at their death.  All souls stand before God and give account for their life.  I would be worthy of judgment as well, but I have fled unto Jesus Christ for refuge from that judgment. 

Yet, there is a secondary judgment.  The nations will be collectively judged at the Second Coming of Jesus.

If we skip ahead to verses 9-11, we begin to see that those who wait for the LORD will inherit the earth.  It even speaks of the meek inheriting the earth.  Being meek is the picture of an afflicted person who has restrained their tendency to fight, and instead, have trusted in God’s judgment. 

It is easy to feel that God takes too long and take matters into your own hands.  Yet, notice Jesus.  He too face proud arrogant men.  Yet, He trusted the Father even unto death.  Thus, the Father has given Him the blessing of being the firstborn from the dead in order to receive the blessing that He deserves.

It is so with us.  Our hope is not in “getting ours” in this life.  Yes, our flesh would like that very much.  Yet, no matter what I get in this life (and there are a lot of good things in it) my true hope is in God resurrecting me in order to inherit alongside of Jesus.  That is our reward and inheritance.

In verses 18-20, the psalmist emphasizes that the inheritance of the righteous shall be forever.  However, this is contrasted with the plight of the wicked.  They should flee unto Messiah for refuge, but many won’t.  They will perish and vanish at the time of God’s choosing.

Verses 22, and 28-29 again speak of those blessed by “Him” inheriting the earth, but the cursed being cut off.  Now, God doesn’t want to curse and cut people off.  That is why He is telling us all of this up front.  We can avoid it.  If a person is in the place of faith in God’s Messiah, then they are safe (the place of blessing).  But, those who are not in the place of faith in God’s Messiah are outside of the safety.  They are in the place of cursing and not safe.

This is reiterated again in verse 34.  God will exalt those who wait upon Him to inherit the land.  Yet, that exaltation will not happen before it is the right time.  Verse 40 even says that God will save those who are waiting upon Him from the wicked because they trust in Him (flee to Him for refuge).

We must quit looking at what the wicked are doing and getting.  Instead, we must live righteously and wait for the inheritance that God has reserved for those who serve His Messiah!

Daniel 2:44-45

Most Old Testament prophecies emphasize that Messiah’s kingdom lasts forever.  But, the Millennium (1,000-year period) is an important part of that forever kingdom.

In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of his empire and those that would come after him.  It is pictured as the image of a King whose head is of gold, shoulders of silver, waist of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron mixed with clay.  Daniel explains to the king that they are successive empires that are diminishing in glory, but also becoming more destructive.  These kingdoms would be destroyed by a rock that is cut out without hands (not a work of a man, but God).  This rock would strike the feet of the image destroying it.  The rock would then become a mountain that fills the whole earth.  This kingdom will never be destroyed and will last forever.  This indestructible kingdom is in some ways here already, but this passage is looking ahead to an even greater act in which the empires of the world are demolished and removed.

Daniel 7:13-14.

Daniel 7 opens with another picture of these empires, but they are not pictured as metals in a human image.  They are pictured as beasts.  I think Daniel 2 pictures these empires as they see themselves, but Daniel 7 pictures these empires as God sees them, beastly kingdoms that are only becoming more grotesque and monstrous.  In fact, God has the final beast slain.  It is then that we see the Son of Man riding on the clouds to the throne of God.  There he takes up a kingdom that will have dominion over all the earth.  All the earth will serve him (which is the book of Daniel connotes even a religious worship).  This will be an everlasting dominion that never passes away.

We can see how the Jews of the first century could be perplexed at a crucified savior.  It seems to fly in the face of all that God has promised about this coming kingdom.  Why would God do this?  Why this way?

God has done it this way because none of us is worthy to participate in such a kingdom with His Messiah.  Imagine a worthy king with no one worthy to be in his kingdom.  Can such be called a kingdom?

The grace of God has carved out a place of safety where people can flee into Messiah for refuge.  These people are unworthy in and of themselves.  Yet, they have believed God and His Messiah.

We have been looking ahead to what is coming.  It is good to know what you are working for.  Yet, we cant be stuck looking ahead all the time.  So, as we come back to the present, what do we do now?  We trust God to be our savior and wait upon Him and His timing.  We don’t fret over all that we see happening around us.  We don’t let it leverage our hearts and minds away from doing what god has called us to do.  We remain in Christ and serve him, his purposes, and his commands.

These things we ought to do and more because the worthy king of God has laid down His life that we might join him in that kingdom!

Inheriting the Millennium audio

The Kingdom of God- 1

Subtitle:  Introduction

Various Passages.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 16, 2025.

As we finished the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we saw how the Kingdom of God was an important theme.  The book began with Luke describing the teaching of Jesus to his disciples, after the resurrection, as “speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).  Three verses later, the disciples ask Jesus this question.  “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”  Of course, our Lord told them that it wasn’t for them to know the times and the seasons.  Rather, it was for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be enabled to take the Gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth.

Let me point out what Jesus didn’t say.  He didn’t say that their notion of a kingdom being restored to Israel was ludicrous or unfounded.  He didn’t lecture regarding the kingdom prophecies of the Old Testament that they were all intended to be read only symbolically, or spiritually.  Instead, he tells them that they are not supposed to worry about the timing of God’s seasons.

Of course, the book of Acts ends in chapter 28 with two more bookend-mentions of the Kingdom of God.  Paul explained and testified to the Jewish leaders of Rome concerning the Kingdom of God.  The book then ends with the statement that Paul was “preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ…”

A person may be tempted to ask the question, “What about the Gospel?”.  However, we saw in our sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount that the Gospel is essentially about the Kingdom. 

Matthew 4:23 says, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.”  In Matthew 4:17, Jesus taught the crowds that they needed to repent because the Kingdom of heaven was at hand, or near.  This was true because Messiah the King (i.e., Jesus) was finally in Israel.  Later, Jesus rebuked the chief priest by telling them that “tax collectors and harlots are entering into the Kingdom of God before you.”

Thus, we can see that Jesus is telling them that the Kingdom and its King are at hand.  Yet, they need to enter it.  In fact, people who appeared to be disqualified from the Kingdom were finding the way to enter into the Kingdom at that time.  Of course, that way is to put your faith completely in God’s Anointed King, Jesus.  At its essence, the Kingdom is a reference to the King that administers it.  This is what the famous beatitudes of Matthew 5 emphasize.  Those who had been persecuted and were poor in spirit were told by Jesus that they were blessed because the Kingdom of heaven was theirs.  The King was there encouraging those who had ears to hear in Israel that their ability to participate in the Kingdom was not negatively affected by these things, but in fact, it seems to be in their favor! 

Matthew clearly shows Jesus as King Messiah giving his teaching (instructions) to those of Israel who wanted to be his citizens (his disciples).  The King is hear and they could enter the Kingdom!.

Let’s look at some passages.

The King/Kindom concept in the Old Testament

Psalm 29:10 pictures God seated on his throne during the flood.  The probability that the author means the flood during the time of Noah is extremely high here, in fact, hard to seriously question.  The Flood was a scary time for humans as a whole.  However, most of life throughout most of history has been difficult and scary for the average human.  Yet, the kings and kingdoms of the world are a cut above the average human.  At the Flood, kings and their kingdoms were just as powerless as the peasants who perished with them.  While the kings and kingdoms of men were washed away, never to return, God’s rule was not touched by the great destructive chaos on the earth. 

Of course, God’s heart is touched by the great destruction.  It was precisely because God cared for humanity that the Flood came.  Wickedness had filled the earth with violence.  The average experience was a boot in the face, death of loved ones, and death of self.  God was touched by the heinous violence that was playing out everyday upon the powerless by the powerful.  

Yet, God brings a remnant through the flood so that humanity is not extinguished, and His purpose for us would be obtained.

Yes, God is angry with the wicked, but His anger is not like our anger.  Human anger does not produce the righteousness of God.  However, God’s anger is pure and gracious.  It always has the redemption of humans at its core, and it is generally triggered by our treatment of one another.

The chaos of the flood, or even the chaos of those wicked kingdoms that existed before the flood, could attack or affect God on His throne.  His rule is absolute and cannot be harmed by the rebellion of the wicked.

Psalm 47:7-9 speaks of God in the terms of a great Emperor.  He is the King of all the earth (the kings of the earth).  He is King over all things.  He has always been King; He is King today; He always will be King.  The “shields of the earth” is a reference to kings and their governments.  They are supposed to be a shield to their people, but wickedness quickly infiltrates even the best of human kingdoms.  These kings and kingdoms all answer to God.  For the Christian, there is no question that God is King over all things.  By the way, He is also presented as King of the heavens as well, but that is not the place of our concern.

So, we can speak of the Kingdom of God as the simple reality that God has always been and always will be the Sovereign over all of creation.  We can call this the Universal Kingdom of God.

We may quibble over the things that are allowed to happen within His rule over the earth, but we do so because we don’t understand what He understands.  If a person finds themselves continually blaming God for all that is wrong on this planet and in their life, they need to read the Word of God and pray for understanding from the Spirit of God.  Our minds have been shaped by this world and by our flesh in a certain way of interpreting these things.  Our ability to hear what our Creator and Redeemer is trying to teach us and say to us needs His help.  It also needs us to be humble and ask for His help.  He is our loving Heavenly Father.  We will never benefit ourselves by trying to make Him the bad guy.

God is our King, but He is much more than that.  In some ways, it seems obligatory to trumpet the kingship of God and argue against anything that appears to diminish it.  However, I ask you to bear with me for a few moments.  When it comes to God’s Kingship compared to anyone on earth or even the devil, His Kingship cannot be questioned.  But, when it comes to contemplating all that God is, His Kingship is a subset, or facet, of Who He is.

If you start at the beginning of the Bible and walk through it (concordance queries will be quicker), you will go a long way before you run into the concept that God is King and that He has a kingdom.  Think about the picture in Genesis 1 and 2.  In chapter 1, God is presented as an all-powerful Creator, Artisan, Craftsman Who brings all things into existence.  Humans can create things that didn’t exist before, but we cannot do it like God does.  We merely assimilate matter that already exists and already has properties conducive to the effect we want.  God, however, is the One who made that matter and gave it the properties that it has.

Yet, God made humans to be His image-bearers on the earth.  This concept from Genesis 1 is fleshed out further in Genesis 2.  God is presented not only as Adam’s Creator, but also his Father.  He brings Adam into existence.  Men and women can do a similar thing today through procreation.  However, our method is a shadow of God’s absolute power to create a human being.  Adam is to bear the image of his Heavenly Father by giving himself to the purpose that his Father gave him, and by doing it in a matter that is like his Father.  This is why we see relationship, communication, and care happening throughout the passage.  Adam’s Heavenly Father even  obtains a bride for him.  Thus, Adam’s fathering of the children he produces with Eve is to be a reflection of God’s greater Fathering. 

There are kingly aspects to who and what a father is.  However, it would be a strange father who ran his home solely as if he were the king of it.  If he made everything become about how the kids could serve his purposes, and even treated their disobedience and defiance in the same way that a king would treat such from a rebel citizen, then that would not be a good parent.  He would essentially be a tyrannical man imaging that God is a tyrant, which isn’t true.  It would be a false image.  No, a father has a much more complex identity then to simply call him king.  God is King of all things, but He is far more than that.  He is something far grander than that.  He is our Heavenly Father.

First Corinthians 15:24 and 28 speaks of Jesus and part of his purpose.  His is going to abolish all rule, authority, and power.  The idea is clarified in verse 28.  When all things are subjected to Jesus, then he will also be subjected to the Father, Who has subjected all things under Jesus.  The rulers, powers, and authorities that are subjected to Jesus are both human beings and spiritual beings.  In the end, no one but God the Father will have rule, authority, and power.

Yet, notice the end result that is highlighted in verse 28.  The point is not about God becoming the only King, Kingdom, Rule, Authority, etc…  The point is about God taking His rightful place as the “All in all.”  The Father is our everything, which is so much more than our King.  We could even say that He is so much more than a Father.  He is our Everything.

I will point out that the word for subjected here simply means to take your proper place under one who has authority and power.  It is put in a passive form.  Thus, it points to something being done to human power, spiritual powers, and finally Jesus.  Yet, we should not see that as something that is necessarily forced.  The wicked will have their rule, authority and power forcefully taken from them.  However, the righteous and the Lord Jesus do so as volunteers, even as sons, glad to do the will of the Father at the time of His choosing.  Paul is looking far ahead into the final state of all things.  Humans will not rule and have authority over each other.  This picture is not about domination and subjugation.  In fact, it is about destroying all such warped imaging.  It is about all things being in harmony, taking their proper place, with God and not about establishing God as King over all things.

What you find in Genesis is that the use of king and kingdom is used of rebellious humanity.  Genesis 10:10 tells us that Babylon was the beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom.  His name means rebel.  Even his city building is reminiscent of Cain’s city building as he went into the land of Nod in Genesis 4.  These are not righteous men.  These are men who are trying to accomplish something in the face of God, in rebellion to God’s purpose and plan.  Kings and kingdoms arose among the wicked.  Yet, God knew that this would be.  He would use this sinful concept of power and authority in order to teach humanity a better way.

If you think about it, humans were given dominion over the earth by God.  However, there is no concept that we would have dominion over one another.  It was the sinful rebellion of humanity in league with fallen spiritual beings that created a world of “better men” harnessing the lesser men for the glory of humanity.  This realm of kings and kingdoms subjugating one another is, no doubt, at the heart of God’s description of the pre-Flood world.  “the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”  Later in the same chapter, we are told, “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.”

The sinful rebellion of mankind creates a sinful warped concept of authority and power.  What should have been a godly dominion over the earth turns into an ungodly domination of one another through violence.  This was not God’s purpose.  He never designed humanity to be ruled by our betters (an aristocracy).

Before we go any further, I want to take a few moments to stop and flesh out the difference between authority and power. 

Authority refers to the right that one being has to give commands, create things, possess things, etc.  If you think of the word “authorize,” then you can begin to appreciate that authority among humans is a reference to certain rights we have.  Where do these rights, authorities, come from?  All authority comes from God.  He is the foundation of all authority.  We can know this is logically true when we ask what gave God the right, the authority, to create all that He has?  The answer is that He did.  If anything that was created has any authority, it received it from the Creator who is the ground of all authority.

If you imagine the right you have over your own body, mind, and possessions.  It is God who alone can be the foundation of that right.  Authority is a moral concept of a person’s right.

Let’s now add the concept of power.  Those who have authority (let’s say to have a child) may not have the power to do so.  A man chained in a prison may have a God-given right to marry a woman and have children, but he lacks the power to be able to do so.  On the other hand, a person may lack authority and yet, have the power to do whatever they want.  It is not too hard to come up with examples of that.  However, not all power is about that kind of force.  The serpent in the Garden used the power of persuasion, deception, lies, and temptation in order to interfere in a relationship in which he had no authority.  Powerful beings and powerful people tend to step on the authority that God has given to others.

When God rescued the people of Israel from Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, it was connected back to His promise to Abraham.  God promised that He would make a nation out of Abraham.  That nation would be His chosen vessel to bless the nations.  However, any nations that cursed Israel would be cursed by God.  When Israel comes to the promised land of Canaan, they are the invading Kingdom of God that God is using to confront the extremely wicked societies that lived there.  If those nations, people, would recognize God’s hand upon Israel and respect it, they would not have to be cursed.  Think about Rahab in Jericho.  She respected God’s close connection to Israel and chose by faith to throw her lot in with Israel.  God blessed her because of that.

Of course, the Old Testament historical books and the prophetic books present Israel as failing in its mission to bring the light of God’s justice to the nations.  Even the line of David is depicted as a fallen tent, a fallen dynasty. Yet, God promised through the prophets that He was going to raise up an Anointed Servant of God.  This servant would succeed where Israel had failed. 

The book of Isaiah is a great place to see this, although there are many examples.  Read Isaiah 42:1 and the following.  “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My Chosen one in whom My soul delights.  I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.”  This is the true purpose for which God raised up Israel in the first place.

Previously, in Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah prophesied of a special child that would be born.  This child would have titles that are incredible: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace.  We are then told, “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.  The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”  This special son of David would raise up the fallen tent of David and fulfill what those before  him had failed to do.  This is what Jesus is announcing when he shows up.  He is not announcing the overall truth that God has always been the King of heaven and earth.  He is announcing that the Kingdom that would be brought forth under King Messiah had arrived.  God was fulfilling His promise to the people of Israel.  It was time for them to follow that King into the Kingdom.

We are going to stop there for today.  However, I want to ask you this.  Have you put your faith completely in Jesus?  Are you living your life for Him and His purposes?  Of course, it is easy to say that we are.  However, life has a way of testing just how resolved we are.  This is why we gather on Sundays and other days.  This is why we pray together, read the Word of God together, and fellowship with other Christians.  We are being tested all the time and we are going to need more than just our own strength to continue to trust the Lord Jesus.  Don’t delay.  Press into the Kingdom of God by putting all of your trust in Jesus and the message He gave to His disciples.

KoG 1 audio

The Character of God- Part 7

Subtitle:  God is Faithful Truth

Exodus 34:6-7.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 19, 2025.

Today, we will look at the fifth description of God’s character.  God is faithful truth!

With this sermon, we will bring this series that looks at the character of God to a close.

God is faithful truth in the Old Testament

The Hebrew word used here is emeth (em’ eth).  Modern Hebrew says emet.  It means truth, but by extension, it means the dependability and trustworthy nature of that which is truth.  Thus, it is sometimes translated as faithfulness.  At its root, the concept is one of stability or firmness.  You might picture the old hymn, My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less.  It speaks of Christ as the “Solid Rock” and states that all other ground is “sinking sand.”  That is a very biblical picture and is at the heart of this word today.  Are you building your life on Christ the solid rock, or are you building on anything else, which is sinking sand?

Truth is a foundational concept.  To believe that something is true when it isn’t true is to discover many unexpected ways in which your underlying beliefs do not uphold your actions and steps.  I might believe that I am a 7 foot 2 inch all-star basketball player.  However, that will not change the reality of what would happen if I tried to play against NBA players.  The reality of what I actually am will be crushed by the reality of what those NBA players can do.

Our thinking is powerful, but it doesn’t change the truth; it doesn’t change reality.  It can, however, change how I respond to reality.  My thinking can powerfully change me, if I properly respond to truth.

On the other hand, to believe that something is false when it is actually true isn’t much better.  I pretty much doom myself to trying a bunch of ways that don’t work.  Of course, many a scientific discovery happened because someone tested false assumptions about what is the truth.

Foundational truths do not conform to our desires.  It is what it is, and a wise human will quickly see through the lies that they are basing their life upon.

Of course, we are not always able to properly discern truth through a scientific discovery, whether in science or God’s work in our life.  We can praise God that He hasn’t left us alone to only discover truth by our senses.  God has revealed many truths to humanity through the years, things that we would have never discovered without His revelation.

The word Amen also comes from this same root and essentially means, “that is true” or “that is trustworthy; you can stand on it.”  A double amen intensifies the meaning.  The Gospel of John has 25 occurrences of the double amen.  The King James Version translated this as “verily, verily.”  For a Hebrew person to use this double Amen, a perfectly trustworthy thing will follow.

In the Bible, people who have emeth have stable character and can be trusted by others.  They keep their word.  This doesn’t mean they are never late for an appointment.  It is not a statement about perfect performance of what they say, i.e., they are never stuck in traffic.  Rather, it is a statement about their character.  They mean what they say and do everything they can to back it up.  If you have ever crossed a creek by stepping from rock to rock, you have probably found that some rocks look stable, but they are not.  You can confidently step on them and then they wobble, often sending you into the water.  A person of emeth doesn’t wobble when you trust them or lean on them. 

This brings us to some of the occurrences of this word in the Old Testament.

Moses would sit and judge the disputes of the people when they were in the wilderness.  In Exodus 18:21-22, Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, recognizes that it is too much for him.  The multitude of problems will where him out.  He then counsels Moses to select “men of emeth (truth/faithfulness)” who will be able to decide the smaller problems and only send the hard issues to Moses.

A man of emeth is not just someone who tells the truth.  Rather, they are men who live life by truth.  It is part of their character.  They do not see their position of authority as a way for gain.  Instead, they know the truth that lies behind their position.  The position is not for enriching them, but for the help of the people.  God talks a lot about authority, but notice this one thing throughout Scriptures.  Leaders are always supposed to be for the purpose of serving the people, not serving themselves.  Positions of authority do not exist because some people are just better than other and deserve to rule over the people.  They don’t deserve a better life with the people buying off their favor.  God cares about the people.  He only cares about those in authority in as much as they help or hurt the people.

The truth is that two people committed to honoring God may not always agree, but they should be able to come to an agreement without someone else judging their case.  The problem isn’t about wisdom, but about our sinful unwillingness to honor God in our disputes.

Abram demonstrated the verb form of this word in Genesis 15.  When emeth is in a verb form it takes on the idea of believing or putting your trust in something or someone.  This is what lies behind the famous verse in Genesis 15:6.  “[Abram] believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (NASB).  This believing is not talking about a mere intellectual belief in God’s existence.  It is talking about all the actions that Abram did because he believed that God was trustworthy.  Thus, Abram left Ur of the Chaldeans and traveled to Canaan.  There, he lived in tents, awaiting God’s promise. He was more than a trustworthy man, but also a man who saw God as trustworthy.  In the Bible, God is the greatest One at being faithful truth, trustworthy.

Believe it or not, we even have a verse in which it says that Israel believed God.  In Exodus 14:31, Pharaoh’s army had just been drowned in the Red Sea.  This caused Israel to believe in God.  Yet, as they travelled with God through the wilderness and to the Promise Land, their faith in God was tested.  Each test begs the question, “Do you trust God now?”  It is not that God is purposefully causing all of these things, though He can surely test how trusting we are.  But, as things happen in life, He is watching to see what we will do.  Will we believe in Him, or put our trust in something else?

We know that Israel failed very often.  Yet, God helped them (even helps us) because He is faithful truth.  It is His character.  This means that God is not simply a truth-teller, or One who wants truth from others.  He is the foundation of all truth itself.  He is the only being in the universe that is absolutely dependable.

Jacob coming back to Canaan, with his 2 wives, 12 kids and many herds of animals, stopped at the border and confessed to God that he was unworthy of all the faithful truth that God had shown to him (Genesis 32:10).  When Jacob had left for northeastern Syria, God had spoken promises to him.  Over the last 20 years, God had proven to be trustworthy and had shown Jacob faithful truth, not because Jacob deserved it, but because God keeps His word.

This brings us to Moses and his rock metaphor for God.  Deuteronomy 32:31-32 points out that the fallen spiritual beings that the nations worshiped as gods were not trustworthy.  Their rock is not like the Rock of Israel.  Their gods wobbled whenever they put their trust in them, but Yahweh was an absolute stable rock.  This is another way of speaking about God’s emeth, faithful truth.

We should recognize that there is a parallel between Israel running from the giants and David fighting Goliath.  In Numbers 14, Israel balked at fighting the giants.  They decided to kill Moses, pick a new leader and go back to Egypt.  However, God steps in and that doesn’t happen.  Still, they are told that they will stay in the wilderness for 40 years as a punishment for their unbelief towards God. 

Thus, later when David comes to check on the battle his brothers and Israel were fighting against the Philistines, he finds a giant challenging Israel and everyone trembling in their tents.  They were not believing God again.  They were essentially on a spiritual trajectory back to Egypt, back to the wilderness.  Yet, God steps in.  This time He raises up a “man of emeth” who will face the giant and give Israel victory over the Philistines.  Solomon recognizes this in 1 Kings 3:6.  “You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant David my father, according as he walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You…”

You may see the pattern now that a trustworthy person is someone who is trusting the truth of God in their life, their decisions and actions.  David lived out the truth of God even when it looked like it could get him killed.  Of course, David would later fall woefully short of this during the event in which he commits adultery with Uriah’s wife and then has him killed in an attempt to cover it up.  David fell short, but the pattern of salvation coming through a man of perfect emeth is made clear in the Old Testament.

People are not born with trustworthy genes.  Trustworthiness comes from a life of putting your trust in God.  It comes from the experience of life in which we discover that God is the only One who can uphold our trust perfectly.

Thus, God promised David that one from his offspring would be that perfect Psalm 1 picture of a man who fully trusts God and thus becomes a tree of life to all who will eat of his fruit.  This offspring would be the Anointed One of Psalm 2 who would inherit dominion over all of the earth, bringing salvation to those who bow to him in allegiance.  This Messiah would not fall short.  This was revealed to David and he spoke of it (sang of it) in his psalms.  This would be a forever kingdom because the king is a man of perfect emeth.  He is stable, unfailing and trustworthy, and so, his kingdom is a kingdom of emeth.  He would stand up to the giant, spiritual forces that were dominating humanity and fully trust God.

This is why the Bible speaks of the kingdoms of this world falling before the Messiah.  They definitely will not be able to stand against his return as Revelation 19 declares.  However, over the last 2,000 years, nations have risen and fallen at his command.  The united States of America is falling apart even now before Jesus has come back.  We could even cease to exist as we currently do, whether split apart or taken over by a foreign power.  Regardless, the problem is always our lack of trusting God.  America is not trusting God, and it is destroying our country.  Yet, He gives times of opportunity for repentance.  Perhaps, the US still has time to repent and be restored before Him.

In 2 Samuel 7:16, we are told of a prophecy from God through the prophet Nathan to David.  David’s throne would be “established” forever.  This is the verb form of emeth, but it is in a passive form.  It is the idea that something will be made trustworthy, faithful truth.  His kingdom will be like a rock because The Rock of Israel, the Stone of Israel (Genesis 49:24), will arise.  A kingdom can be no stronger than the one upon whom it is built.  The Messianic Kingdom will last forever because it is built upon The Rock.  All other kingdoms are built on sinking sand.  Only Messiah’s kingdom can go through the fire of God’s wrath (a day when He judges all the nations on earth) and survive.  All other kingdoms will not survive.  At least, not in their current forms.

This brings us to the catastrophe of the exile.  There was a civil war in Israel in the days of Solomon’s son.  The nation was divided into ten tribes in the north called Israel and 2 tribes around Jerusalem called Judah, or Judea later.  The northern tribes were wicked and eventually God used the Assyrians to conquer them and cast them out of the land.  This happened circa 722 BC.  This left Judah feeling vindicated, but they were not any more righteous.  They were exiled by the Babylonians around 136 years later (586 BC).  The northern tribes never really returned from exile.  Whereas, as many as desired of Judah, came back from Babylon 70 years later.  In this environment, there was a question on the minds of Israel.  Is it over?  Is it possible that God will not keep His word because we have failed so badly?  Did we misunderstand the promises and they were always conditional on our obedience?

Psalm 89 is a treatise of this crisis.  It starts out praising the promises of God to David.  Verse one sings of God’s emeth (faithful truth) and praises Him.  Yet, at verse 38, we have this.  “But You have cast off and rejected, You have been full of wrath against Your anointed.” Seven more verses detail the reality of being cast off by God. 

Verse 46 begins a series of questions.  “How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire?”  Verse 49, “Where are Your former lovingkindnesses, O Lord, which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?  God had sworn an oath to David in His emeth, faithful truth.  Yes, Israel has sinned greatly, and the house of David has sinned just as greatly.  Yet, God is faithful even when we are faithless.

Jesus is the faithful truth of God

The questions above were answered throughout the Old Testament prophetic books.  God would cast Israel out of the land, but He would still be faithful to send the Messiah and save humanity.  Still, from 400 BC to the time of Jesus, there were 400 years of silence from God.  They had heard enough.  They had enough truth to weather the years and wait for Messiah, if they could but trust God.

This is why Matthew 1:1 is so powerful.  Whenever we find the Gospels together in antiquity, it is always Matthew first.  Matthew opens his Gospel, and the New Testament, with a bold declaration that Messiah had come in the person of Jesus.  God had finally kept His promise and sent the One who would save Israel and the nations.  The name Jesus in Hebrew basically means “Yahweh is salvation” or “the salvation of Yahweh.”  Notice that Matthew emphasizes that he is from the line of David and Abraham.  The names of the fathers in between are important and Matthew goes on to give the full genealogy.  However, don’t miss the main point.  In Jesus, God was fulfilling His promises to David, and His promises to Abraham.  He could have even added Adam.  Messiah had come and God’s faithful truth, His emeth, was on full display in the face of the failures of Israel and the failures of the Gentile world.

The presence and work of Jesus was a confirmation of the promises and faithfulness of God.  We see this in Romans 15:8-9.  “For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, 9 and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, ‘Therefore I will give praise to You among the Gentiles, and I will sing to Your name.’”

The Incarnation of The Word of God into the man Jesus is God keeping His word, but Jesus is also the very truth of God itself.  Nothing that has been made was made without him.  He is the effective cause of creation.  He is the absolute bedrock truth of all reality.  In Jesus, the Truth of the world stepped down into it, but men loved darkness rather than the light.  To put your faith in Jesus is of a greater nature than putting your faith in man’s scientific understanding.  Yes, you can follow the science (our current understanding), or you can follow the One who is the mind behind how all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.  Science rightly understood can only point back to its Creator.

A believer in Jesus doesn’t just become more trustworthy.  They even become like the Rock that they are building upon.  They are more stable, enduring, than all the “wise” people of this world who refuse to stand upon Jesus, who refuse to believe and trust God.  They are both on quicksand themselves and a quicksand to those who trust in them.

We are not Israel going against giants in the Promised Land literally.  However, we metaphorically face the same thing.  The big obstacles in front of us challenge us and are akin to the giants of old.  Will we trust Jesus and take hold of our personal inheritance and the inheritance of our people?  Or, will we tremble at the powers flexing in front of us?  Will we shrink back from trusting God’s word, standing with Jesus and his ways?

Jesus went through death and then God raised him up.  He is forever a testimony to those who would dare to follow him that God will uphold them as well.  He is also a testimony to those who shrink back that there is no other way to salvation.  As a Christian, if I really believe God, then I have no excuse to quit in the face of scary, big people, fallen spirits, or circumstances.  Most of us will not face the threat of death like Jesus and his apostles.  But, we can face even that with complete trust in God.  We can choose to honor Jesus by walking into it.  We can look into the face of tormentors and tell them to go ahead and do what they want, but I am going to stand with Jesus because that is your only hope of salvation.

Those who think they are so powerful, who are pounding on those nails or wielding those weapons of annihilation, who are so following the science of their own wisdom, they are going to be flat on their face before Jesus in the future.

It doesn’t matter if I live long enough to see that or not.  That is not my hope.  My hope is Jesus!

The giant ideologies and giant people, of fame, power and fortune that we face, try to intimidate us.  “How dare you stand against the great and powerful Oz!”  But, I’d rather stand with Jesus, the slain lamb, than with all the smoke and mirrors of this world.  I’d rather stand with Jesus than any empire that this world tries to establish without Jesus!

Faithful Truth audio

The Character of God- Part 1

Subtitle:  Introduction

Exodus 34:6-7.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 8, 2024.

Structure of the verses

As we approach these verses today, we find a scene where God is declaring his character before Moses on Mt. Sinai.  He refers to Himself as Yahweh, which is often written in English as “LORD” or “Lord.” Some older English versions brought it across as “Jehovah.”  Regardless, this is the name that God reveals to Moses at the burning bush.  It is often recognized as the special name that God uses in making covenant with Israel.  It essentially means, “I am that I am” and is a declaration of being the essence of existence itself, “The One Who Is Existence Itself” or “The Eternally Existent One.”

We will look at these verses in more detail in the weeks ahead, but let me point out a few notes on these verses.  In verse six, we have a five-part description of God’s character.  It is poetically designed to have two sets of two character traits surrounding one.  It looks like this.

• “A God compassionate and gracious
  • Slow to anger,
• And abounding in lovingkindness and faithful truth.”

This has an effect of surrounding a central character trait and bringing focus to it.  This is not to say that God’s slowness to anger is the most important one, but that it sticks out.  This will make more sense when we look at the structure of verse seven.

Verse seven picks up character trait number four, lovingkindness, and comments upon it.  This second verse has a bracketing structure, or bookended one.  This bracketing helps to highlight a central point in this verse similar to verse six.  It looks like this.

• “Who keeps lovingkindness
  • For thousands [of generations]
    • Who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin;
      • Yet, He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
    • Visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren
  • To the third and the fourth generations.”

As  you can see, the numbers (“thousands” versus “third and fourth”) correspond to one another.  Also, the next indents correspond as well (“Who forgives iniquity” versus “visiting the iniquity…”).  These contrasting brackets surround a central point that God will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.  Thus, these two verses highlight that God is slow to anger (because of His compassion, Grace, Lovingkindness, and Faithful Truth), and yet, He will not let the guilty go free.  He is merciful, but He is no pushover.

A way to highlight why this is so important is to look at how this tension, between God’s mercy and His ultimate judgment, affects people from different parts of the world.  In the West, we tend to be uneasy about God’s judgment.  We read the second part of verse seven and we think that it has turned bad.  Whereas, people in the Middle East would look at the same verses and think it is the first verse that is problematic.  It makes God sound like He is too merciful.

If you still don’t understand, then think of it as a tension within God’s love.  He will be compassionate, but He must hold the wicked accountable for the sake of those they hurt.  Of course, God perfectly satisfies this tension.  Yes, He is slow to anger, but He can eventually get there.  When He does, He is not like us, losing control and choosing to go down the path of overkill.

We should also notice the contrast of ratio.  God keeps lovingkindness to a 1,000 generations, but only visits the iniquity of the fathers to the 3^rd and 4^th generation.  We see this kind of ratio in Isaiah 61:2.  There the prophet proclaims the “acceptable year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of the LORD our God.”  Here the ratio is roughly 365 days of favor to 1 day of vengeance.  I don’t believe this is intended to emphasize the ratio, but rather the magnitudes of difference.  God’s character requires Him to eventually judge, but He is not “Vengeful.”  His character is about doing what is good to His creation.  However, what do you do when a particular created being seeks the harm of many others?  Eventually the goodness of God requires that creature to be held accountable.  Yet, God does so quickly without relishing in it. 

You could say that it is harder to get into the “doghouse” with God than it is to get out.  This is very different than people.  In fact, some people who are very judgmental of the “God of the Old Testament” will never let others out of the doghouse.  They will hold a grudge against you until they die.  God is not this way.  God’s wrath is intended to be quick, surgical, and a warning to others that they should repent before they end up in that situation.

The Message of Genesis

This revelation to Moses is not in a vacuum.  The context leading up to this passage is the books of Genesis and Exodus.  Let’s look at Genesis first.

Genesis essentially presents the problem with the world and then explains God’s solution to that problem.  Have you ever asked this question, “What in the world is God doing?”  Chapters 1 and 2 establish that the problem is not God’s fault.  He made the creation “very good.”  See Genesis 1:31.  God made the heavens, both the material stars and galaxies as well as the immaterial angels and spirit-realm.  He also made the earth where humans dwell.  All of it was made very good.  Whatever you do, don’t think you are going to get far blaming God for the evil in the world.  What we see today is not what God made.

Chapter 3 then describes how everything went bad.  It has two important aspects.  Adam and Eve (humanity) have a breakdown in their relationship with God.  They had no reason to doubt God, and every reason to trust Him.  Yet, they chose to reject His wisdom and do their own thing.  Fractured relationship with God is at the heart of this world’s problems. 

However, a second issue is highlighted, there has been spiritual interference in that relationship.  The serpent lied to Eve and deceived her into distrusting God.  Revelation 12:9 makes it clear that this ancient serpent is the devil, satan, the dragon.  Regardless of whether you think this is a literal snake that is possessed of the devil or a serpentine manifestation of the devil, the end-result is the same.  The devil meddled in the relationship between humans and God.  He talked them into trusting him rather than trusting God, Who had never failed them before.  What is at question in Genesis 3?  It is God’s character.  Does He speak the truth?  Can He be trusted?  Is He actually holding us back so that we do not become as great as He or greater?  These are the aspersions satan stirs up in their minds.  Humanity has broken faith with God, but a crafty, spiritual meddler took advantage of their youthful innocence.

This sets up Genesis 3:14-15.  God curses the serpent, but gives a promise to mankind through the woman.  First, there will be hostility between the woman’s seed and the serpent’s seed (the devil’s).  Second, a particular seed, “he,” will crush the serpent’s head while having his heel injured.    If you look closely at those verses, you see that this is a powerful promise from God that their enemy would one day be dealt with through a mortal blow.  Though satan is a spiritual being, he will eventually die like a man. 

This sets up a promise or hope that humanity can hold onto, even when it seems bleak.  God particularly emphasizes the seed of the woman.  The serpent attacked through her, and so God’s counter-attack will come through her.  Yet, it will be a man who crushes the serpent’s head “he.”  God’s solution is a particular man who will be the serpent-crusher.

Genesis 4 becomes important because it shows us what the hostility between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent would essentially look like.  Cain and Abel are both seed of the woman in a biological sense.  Note: if you have listened to YouTube videos or documentaries that try to make Cain the offspring of a physical union between the serpent and Eve (or even Yahweh), then know that this unequivocally cannot be so.  Genesis 4:1 tells us that Adam had sex with his wife and she gave birth to Cain.  She then “gave birth again,” and it was Abel.  There is no room to insert a physical serpent offspring here.  The point of the passage is that Cain is making a spiritual choice to follow (to image) the serpent, rather than God, which is what Abel did.  There is even a scene where God talks to Cain in a Fatherly way, warning him that sin sought to master him.  The two seeds are spiritual dynamics between the sons of righteousness and the sons of wickedness.  The sons of wickedness are hostile to the sons of righteousness and choose to persecute and kill them.  However, Cain didn’t have to choose to be a son of wickedness.  God truly did put a door of hope in front of Him.  He had no reason to break faith with God and follow the path of the serpent (who was a murderer from the beginning, John 8:44).

Eve’s next son is called Seth, “Appointed One,” because God had appointed another seed for her, one to take Abel’s place.  He is not just taking his place physically, but as one appointed for the chosen line, the line from which the Serpent Crusher would come.  We see this chosen line of Appointed, spiritual men who personally represent, and have faith in the promise of God to crush the serpent’s head through a particular seed of the woman. This is revealed through prophecy, which Eve does here with Seth.  We see it several more times with Enoch and Noah.  These men are prophets who hear from God.

Thus, Genesis builds off of the First Rebellion of Genesis 3, presenting two more rebellions.  The Second Rebellion is seen in Genesis 6 as rebel Sons of God come down and create a wicked race of beings.  Regardless of how you interpret this passage, the overall point is that this speeds up wickedness until it fills the whole earth.  Noah and his family are the only ones left faithful in all the earth.  The wickedness threatens the Chosen Line and the possibility of bringing forth the Serpent Crusher.  God sends a flood to cleanse the earth and allow humanity a fresh start.

The Third Rebellion is after the flood in Genesis 11.  At the Tower of Babel, Nimrod leads a rebellion against the purposes of God.  As God confuses the languages, He also casts the nations out of relationship with Him, like Adam and Eve.  They want to worship fallen angels, and so He hands them over to these beings.    From now on, God would not deal with humanity as a whole, but only through the man Abram and the nation of Israel that would come forth from him.  Through Abraham, the chosen line, and later through Israel, a chosen nation, God would bring forth the ultimate Chosen One who would crush the serpent’s head and then bless those people and nations who would bless him.

The book of Genesis ends with Jacob prophesying over his sons in chapter 49.  There he prophesies that the tribe of Judah would hold the kingship, until Shiloh comes.  Shiloh can be translated as “The One To Whom It Belongs,” which in the context of Genesis is clearly the promised Seed of the Woman who would crush the devil’s head.

This book would serve to help an ancient Israelite understand their part in the world and what God was doing.  Things were not hopeless.  God had a particular man that He would bring forward at just the right time.  It was their job (and it is our job) to keep faith in God’s plan and His Man.  They must wait for God’s Serpent Crusher.

But, one might complain with this question.  How will that help me when I am dead?  Yes, that is the question that is eventually answered through the prophets.  Even Job believed that he would see God with his own eyes at the last day, even though he would die (see Job 19:26).

The Message of Exodus

This brings us to the next book.  We find God’s chosen nation in bondage in Egypt, making bricks for the power of this world, Pharaoh.  This is partially because the Egyptians had betrayed them, but also partially because they had begun to worship the God’s of Egypt.  In fact, the Egyptian’s betrayal follows the earlier story of Joseph’s betrayal by his own brothers.  Joseph was then sent on ahead of his brothers to become the one in charge of Egypt in order to save them from a famine.  What happened in this family of Jacob was a picture of what would happen in the family of nations.

You see, you can be the chosen line, the chosen one, the chosen nation, but if you aren’t careful, you can end up in a cast out position, serving the gods of this world.   You can end up as a metaphorical slave in Egypt (your life of bondage to sin) in meaningless work for the false gods of this world.  In that condition, you can cry out, “God, where are you?”  Of course, His response would be something on the order of, “That was my question for you along time ago!”

The chosen line, and chosen nation, are not shown as perfect.  The Serpent Crusher is not a genetic experiment to breed a champion.  It is a miracle of God, despite their (our) failures.  Yet, Abraham believed God; Jacob came to believe God; Joshua, David, Isaiah, Joseph and Mary, all of them believed God.

What does Adam do following the Genesis 3 punishment?  He has a choice.  He can either walk in his own wisdom in further rebellion against God, or, he can go to work in the sweat of his brow.  He can labor to feed his wife and kids.  He can bear that punishment in the hope that God will keep his promise and crush the head of his enemy, the devil.

The message of Exodus is that no matter how chosen we are, and how much God has promised to work through us, we all end up in slavery (personally, nationally, globally).  Salvation can only come by a supernatural work of God.  God must redeem us by His own Right Hand!

Exodus is the template of God’s salvation.  He will come to us in our slavery and powerfully show up the false gods we have been serving.  He will then lift us out of bondage and cause us to inherit what we had lost.  Of course, we must simply trust Him and follow Him.  Jesus Christ is the supernatural intervention of God, and we would do well to put our trust in Him and follow Him at this juncture.

Exodus 1-18 is all about God bringing Israel out of Egypt and to Mt. Sinai, where a covenant He will cut a covenant with them.

Chapters 19 to 40 is all about the covenant.  Yet, the people are afraid of God, so they have Moses be their intermediary.  Moses goes up on the mountain for 40 days (chapters 20 to 32).  As God gives to him the details of the covenant, Israel gets tired of waiting for Moses to come back.  They make a golden calf and worship it as the god who brought them out of Egypt.  This is akin to a person cheating on their marriage partner during the ceremony!  They couldn’t even give God 40 days of faithfulness before they were going astray from Him.

What happens in a case like this?  Does a man simply say that this kind of thing sometimes happens, and then, continue to marry the woman?  God even gives Moses an offer.  He would destroy Israel and make a nation from Moses.  However, Moses points out that this will only make God look weak to the nations.  It would appear that He couldn’t really save these people. 

I believe that God is actually provoking Moses to see and give voice to what God was going to do all along.  God would have mercy on Israel.  He would continue into this covenant with them.  For better or worse, He would be their God and they would be His people.  God doesn’t just want to give us the answers to the test.  He wants us to come to the realization for ourselves that His way really is the better way.  If we listen to God and pay attention, we can come to understand the God who became human and died on a cross for our sins.

Perhaps, we might understand Him enough to follow Him and lay our own lives down in such a way that others may be saved.  How many of us haven’t found ourselves trying to follow God, but then falling short and missing the mark?  Of course, we all have.

How can God put up with Israel?  Their story is our story.  God’s character is such that He helps us, forgives us, is slow to anger.  Yet, He will judge in the end.  This is the backdrop to the event in Exodus 34, where Moses goes back up the mountain after confronting Israel with their sin.  There, God reveals His amazing character to Moses.  This is what we will be looking at for the next 5 weeks.

Character of God 1 audio