Parallel Stories

Isn't it comforting to know that we do not have to trust in our own righteousness, but can trust in His right hand holding us up and His indwelling Spirit strengthening us when we are weak? 

Parallel Stories in Contrast

in my mornings,  I have a habit of asking the Lord what I should read and into my mind will drop a scripture  - often one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. And I am delighted how most often they fit together or together confirm a teaching or word of God. 

I want to share one example of such a parallel here.... 

The old Testament chapter I read was  Numbers 32, and this is the story. 

The excited Israelites had finally completed their wilderness journey. Except for Moses, Joshua and Caleb all the Israelites at the end of the 40 years in the wilderness had either been under 20 years old leaving Egypt or were born in the wilderness. 
It is easy to imagine how excited they would have been. The thought of settling into their own homes and having land to grow crops and yards their children could play in would have been exhilarating. 
So now Moses is standing in front of the gathered people and informing them what part of the promised land is allotted to which tribe. 

It seems everyone was happy with what  their tribe was given,  except for the children of Gad, the children of Rueben and half the tribe of Manasseh. They were cattlemen and they had taken note of some prime land perfectly suited for them on the east side of the Jordan -- the other side from where Moses was settling the other tribes. 
When they presented their request for land on the other side of the Jordan, Moses reacted with anger. He rebuked them for plotting to separate from the rest of their brethren and refuse to fight with them to take possession of the land. Moses accused them of selfishness and rebellion against the commandments of God. 

 But they were quick to assure Moses that he had misunderstood !  They were not separating from their brethren.  They had full intentions of joining with them in battle to secure the land God had given them.  They just wanted to settle their wives and children  first and then they would cross the river to join the other tribes in battle.   

Moses'  anger was deflated and he assured them if that was their intent then all was well. God would not find fault with them.   BUT .. if they did not follow through on their promise then "their sin would find them out!"  (isn't it interesting that it is in this story that we find this familiar , oft quoted verse??) 

The children of Gad and Reuben and part of Manasseh were given the land they  desired and they were faithful to their promise to fight with the other tribes until they had secured the land. 

My other passage is found in Galatians 2:11-21 and we have a surprisingly similar story. 

It happened like this. 

Peter travelled to Antioch to fellowship with the believers there. Peter, after his vision, had accepted that God's salvation was not just for the Jews but was also intended for the Gentiles. He was happy to eat with the Gentiles and enjoyed the mutual fellowship.  

But .. then certain men from James also came to Antioch -  Jews who were "of the circumcision", meaning that they believed that you had to be circumcised to be accepted by God.  Peter was afraid of their judgment of him eating with the Gentiles, and so he took the coward's way out.  Wanting to avoid confrontation he withdrew from the Gentile believers and sat only with the Jews.  And he wasn't the only one, others followed his example including even Barnabas!  

Peter was shocked and did not mince his words in criticizing the Jews' action to separate from the Gentile believers. He said "they were carried away with their hypocrisy."  

It is rather humbling to recognize that the Old Testament people refused to 'play the hypocrite' and separate from their brothers,  but the New testament believers who should have supported their brethren even under duress or persecution, failed.  

My lesson last week stressed how 'love' is the motivation that keeps us from sinning.  We see that played out in these two stories. 

The half tribe of Manasseh, children of Gad and  Rueben loved their brethren and were not even tempted to withdraw from them, to protect their own interests. 

Peter and even Barnabas who was known as "the encourager",  were not motivated by love, but rather their own self-interest.  
To Peter and Barnabas's credit, I believe they deeply regretted their cowardly actions and were never guilty of it again.  
Sometimes God lets us fail, because our subsequent  regret/sorrow/shame is a strong deterrent, keeping us from falling into that same error again! 

 

Our Father , Our Shepherd - Looking at God as our Shepherd through the eyes of  Ezekiel,  David and Jesus

I love how God never says anything just once. David proclaims in Psalm 62:11 “God has spoken once, twice I have heard this…..”
And Hebrews 6:17 is speaks of God confirming His word with an ‘oath’ so that by “two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation.” Meaning that everything God says He will confirm or say more than once.

A Shepherd.  How beloved and familiar is  Psalm 23, and we speak often of Jesus as our Shepherd.  
But maybe we have not followed the theme or thread throughout the Bible showing us again how God does not change.  He truly is the same, yesterday, today and forever.  And in speaking of Himself as a Shepherd there is more to be gleaned than just the familiar, warm analogy! 

EARLY REFERENCES
The theme of Shepherd and sheep is found throughout our Bibles .  The first reference is found in Gen. 49:24  …. By the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob (From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel). This is Jacob’s prophecy over Joseph.  It is noteworthy because Joseph is a type of Jesus, and we know the ‘Rock’ of Israel was pointing to Jesus, and here it first refers to Him as the Shepherd.

The second reference is in Num. 27:17 “….that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” 

Also in I Chron. 11:2 Samuel quotes God having said to Saul…” You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over My people Israel. "

 

EZEKIEL 34, PSALM 23, JOHN 10

My lesson today focuses on three passages, Ezekiel 34, Psalm 23 and John 10 and  how we will see that both David and Jesus’ drew from the words of this Ezekiel chapter.  

 

DAVID

David was obviously familiar with the words of the scroll of Ezekiel and sitting alone in a field watching his sheep it must have run through his mind and he penned the beloved words of Psalm 23 as his heart-response to Ezekiel 34. 

 

I paralleled Ezekiel’s words to David’s response.  

 

Ezekiel 34:11  “Thus says the Lord God, Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep….I will deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day…”
                                       Psalm 23:1  “The Lord is my Shepherd , I shall not want …. “

Ezekiel 11:14,15 -  “I will feed them in good pasture … there they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pastures….  I will make them lie down.  “
                                   Psalm 23:2… He makes me to lie down in ^[b]green pastures;

Ezekiel 34:18 ..”to have drunk of clear waters … “
                             Psalm 23:4 He leadeth me beside the still waters

Ezekiel 34:16, I will bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick .. 
                                      Psalm 23: 3 He restores my soul

Ezekiel 34:23, And I will establish one shepherd over and the shall feed them .. and be their Shepherd.    
               Psalm 23: 3, He leads me in the paths of righteousness  for His name’s sake.                                                       

Ezekiel 34:28 “And they shall no longer be a prey… nor shall beasts of the land devour them, but they shall dwell safely and no one shall make them afraid. “ 
                       Psalm 23:4… Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
                                                        I will fear no evil;

Ezekiel 34:30 “Thus they shall know that I, the Lord their God am with them …” 

                                     Psalm 23:4 for You are with me ..

 

Ezekiel 34:17,18  As for you O My flock, thus says the Lord God, Behold I shall judge between sheep and sheep , between rams and goats… …Behold I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep..”

                          Psalm 23:4 Your rod and your staff they comfort me.

 

Ezekiel 34: 26 And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing and I will cause showers to come down in their season , there shall be showers of blessing..

             Psalm 23:4,5,6  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
                           You anoint my head with oil;   M cup runs over.
                        Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;

 

Ezekiel 34:30, 31 They , the house of Israel are My people says the Lord God, You are my flock and I am your God …
                   Psalm 23:6 And I will  dwell in the house of the Lord forever !

 

Comparing Jesus words in John 10 we also see parallels to Ezekiel 34.

Jesus uses an  illustration in John 10.   In His illustration He uses several ‘pieces’ that fit together in the analogy He is teaching. .

To understand an illustration or parable that is speaking of one thing but meaning another, we need to rightly assign the meaning intended to each piece of the parable.

In Jesus’ illustration we have …

The sheep --  you and me  - “God’s own”
The door – by which the good Shepherd enters
The good shepherd, who loves his sheep  -   Jesus
The wolf – Satan
The hireling shepherd - leaders of God’s people who are false shepherds and do not love the sheep.

 Who kills, steals and Destroys?

There is a phrase in this passage that is often taken out of context  -  “who comes to kill, steal and destroy”  and these words are  applied to Satan.  But that cannot be the intended meaning  because the ‘hireling’  who ‘kills, steals and destroys’ flees from the ‘wolf’ .   The wolf cannot flee from himself, therefore the ‘hireling’ that ‘steals, kills and destroys’ cannot be the wolf - or Satan.

The ‘kill, steal, destroy’ is a strong condemnation directed to ‘false teachers/leaders/shepherds” As I noted above, we cannot establish truth from just one scripture.  We must have confirmation. In this example we need to find confirming scripture that gives the same message as we have defined it here – that the ‘hireling’ is false teachers/leaders’.  

Confirmation in Ezekiel 34

And we find that confirmation in Ezekiel 34.  Here God calls the leaders of His people “false Shepherds” (or hirelings) and He condemns them accusing them,  

1.       of ‘stealing’ -  Ez. 33:1,2 says that instead of feeding the flocks, they ‘steal’ the food to consume on themselves.

2.       of ‘destroying’ the flock in verse 4 when He says that they have not strengthen the weak or healed the sick nor bound up the broken, nor sought that which was lost, but ruled with force and cruelty.

3.       Of ‘killing’ -  the sheep  ‘become prey, and are killed by the beast of the field’  –  because of the false shepherds

So in both Ezekiel 34 and John 10 it is the ‘false leaders/shepherds’ that are the ones accused of ‘stealing, killing and destroying’.  Just like in the Old Testament we have God’s words condemning the leaders who did not Shepherd His people, but destroyed them in leading them into worshipping false gods.

Jesus  first condemns the ‘hirelings’ or false Shepherds,  and then compares Himself to a Good Shepherd.  

Just like David, Jesus repeats ore rephrases  the thoughts in Ezekiel 34 about what a good shepherd is and does  and applies it to Himself.

1.       He says He is  the ONLY Good Shepherd.  ( John 10: 14, Ezekiel 34:23)

2.        He speaks of being the very ‘door’ of the sheepfold – He keeps them safe.  (John 10:9,  Ezekiel 34:25, 27,28)

3.       He will not flee like the ‘hireling’.  (John 10: 13, 14  Ezekiel 34:30)

4.       He will care for His sheep.  He gives His very life to them, and they know Him and trust Him and hear His voice. (John 10:9, 15 , Ezekiel 34:13, 14, 15, 26, 29)

5.       He gives them a secure home -  ‘eternal life’. (John 10:28,   Ezekiel 34:22, 30, 31)

Why is it so important to see God/Jesus as our Shepherd? 

God created ‘sheep’ so that we could clearly understand the relationship God wants to have with His people – the Sheep of His pasture. (Psalm 100:3 “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture”)  

What does the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep teach us ?

1.       A sheep is the most dependant of all animals.  It cannot care for itself.  It cannot even clean itself, the Shepherd has to do it.  So we also  – only our Shepherd can cleanse us of our sins.

2.       The sheep needs the shepherd to lead it to water, to the lush pastures, it doesn’t know the way by itself.   And so we too,  need our Shepherd to lead us and guide us and “direct our paths”.

3.       We tend to want to be independent – do things our own way.  We so quickly hear the insistent words of a toddler .. “Me do it!!”   Occasionally a sheep will wander from the shepherd,  and fall over.  If he does he cannot get up by himself, he needs the Shepherd to help him. 
So with us --  when we wander from the Lord, do we not ‘fall’ into diverse sins and situations and can’t get up on our own?   
Or the sheep gets caught in the bramble bushes …  so like us going our own way get ‘caught’ in habits, relationships and consequences of our actions and can’t free ourselves.

4.       A sheep will quickly get himself lost on his own and can’t find his way back. The shepherd has to go find him and bring him home.   Does our Shepherd not continually ‘find us’ even as he went out to look for Adam and Eve, or Elijah saying, “What are you doing here”   And He lovingly invites us to come back to the safety of His fold.

5.       A sheep wandering away from the Shepherd is vulnerable and easy prey for the enemy. 
As are we. Our enemy is ever on the watch to see if he can catch us in a weak moment and tempt us to ‘sin’ in whatever way he can… in our deeds, our words, or our choices or decisions. 

Isn’t it amazing how God has made it so clear and simple in His word, confirming His truth over and over so  that we need never fear or wonder who He is.  We can rest in the assurance of who He is as our Good and Faithful Shepherd!

I was wondering ….  Do you think that much of our ‘trouble’ comes into our life because we want to do things our way?  We try to solve our own problems, find our own answers and then when things go sideways, we  wonder how we got there ! We even ask, “where are you God?”  All along, He has followed us, calling for us ,  to bring us back to the ‘good pastures’ and the safety in His presence.

Should we not  ‘surrender’ our self-will, our desire to self-rule and just completely trust our needs and cares and , yes,  our very life into the hands of our Good Shepherd who is the PERFECT Shepherd?   There is a saying that many believe is in the Bible – of course it isn’t – but the saying goes… “God helps those who help themselves.”   That is not how a Shepherd relates to His sheep.   If we ‘insist’ on helping ourselves, God LETS US.  He is watching to help those who totally trust in Him !!! It is not weakness to implore the Lord for help BEFORE we try our own way, it is a strength.   Even Jesus said that He said nothing He did not first hear the Father say, did nothing He did not see the Father do !” Jesus  did nothing in His own authority. (John 8:28, John 5:19)  He set the example, we as the ‘sheep of His pasture’ need to follow !! 

"LIGHT"

 I was reading Psalm 27 the other day, and was caught by the first line in which David declares .. "The Lord is my light" 

 We take light for granted, don't we? If the sun goes down we simply flick a switch and carry on.

 I think for most of us 'fear of the dark' is one of our first experienced fears. I remember as a child, one of my chores was to carry the day's left-over food scraps to the barn for the cats or pigs to enjoy. The barn was far enough away from the house that the yard-light attached to the house did not reach all the way to the barn, leaving a stretch of inky darkness. I was fine in the light but my heart always pounded in fear when I stopped to gather my courage to dash through that black corridor of 'no light'. 

Why are we so afraid of the dark? This week  Tuesday was Halloween, when 'black' is the colour of choice. -- witches, black magic, dungeons, evil. Why is the colour black chosen to symbolize evil? Because in I John 1:5 it says, "God is light and in Him is NO DARKNESS AT ALL!" Black shuts out all light and therefore aptly symbolizes everything outside of God - everything outside of His goodness. (and I love the word 'good' - it is God (Goooood) stretched out and is that not what God does ... stretch out His hand to bestow goodness upon His people?) 

So when David says "The Lord is my Light!" what is he saying? 

The first thing he says is he is not afraid. Just as I was not afraid where the yard light shone, so also David was not afraid when he was in God's LIGHT. He mentions the enemy stumbling. By inference we can deduce that his enemies were NOT walking in God's light and therefore stumbled. It is so easy to stumble in the dark, is it not? 

 David makes another comment in verse 4 when he speaks of "beholding the beauty of the Lord". Do you know that 'colour' is ONLY in LIGHT itself and not in any object we see? The beauty of colour is in the light rays and when they touch an object some rays are absorbed and others are reflected. We see only the colour of the reflected rays. You know how after a notable dimming of lights .. all colour disappears. The ocean bottom, as we have all observed watching underwater films, is incredibly beautiful, but without the light of the camera, it lies in darkness devoid of any perceivable colour. The creatures who dwell there never see any colour, unless they happen to be in the range of a diver's light.

 I love the symbolism of this fact. Without God, there is no beauty to behold. Only by Him and through Him , when He shines on our life are we able to see and appreciate His beauty all around us. We say ... "I have to see it to believe it !!" It is hard to see in the dark, and very hard to know what to believe. How often as children did you tell scary stories -- and remember how much more effective they were to inspire racing hearts if the stories were told in the dark! If you are in the dark, you are easily led to believe anything you are told is lurking in the corners. But If God is our 'light', we are 'enlightened', we can 'see' clearly the things of God. We can see His face, and we believe because we see and understand!

 

 David's 27th Psalm is a beautiful declaration of faith, but he adds one clearly identifiable characteristic of faith in the last verse - 14. The quiet confidence of 'waiting' on God! Waiting -  Have you ever grown tired of waiting on God? Waiting for an answer? Waiting for His direction? Waiting for Him to smooth the wrinkles in your life? Of course... we all have. BUT .. as we continue to live and walk in the 'light' of who God is, we will notice how much easier it becomes 'to wait' because our confidence is sure -- God does hear, God does have an answer, and God will deliver in His good time! While I am waiting I am hidden in His secret place, in His tabernacle - high on a solid rock!

"Nothing new under the sun"

 We are having a sermon series from Ecclesiastes on Sunday morning and in Ecclesiastes there is the recurring phrase ... "under the sun" ...Solomon uses this phrase 27 times in the book. In observing the things 'under the sun', he concludes that there is nothing new under the sun. What once was, is and what is, will be again.

 I listened to a very insightful conversation between Jonathan Cahn and Gary Hamrick. (link below) 

We all look around us in horror at what is happening in our world on so many levels we are moving away from a godly society. Morally our world is falling apart and we shake our heads in confusion wondering what went wrong. How did things change so quickly from what was the 'norm' not that long ago!! 

Jonathan Cohn is very insightful and gifted to lift the scripture off the ancient Bible page and paste it into our modern world. Because we are visually oriented, we judge by what we see and too often do not give enough attention to the unseen spiritual world which is very very real. Not only is it real but has a greater impact in our society than we might think. 

 Ephesians 6:12 tells us that our earthly battles are not against 'flesh and blood' , literally other people, but our battle is against "principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, .. against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." 

 How literally do we recognize the truth of that, knowing that it is not ungodly people we need to protest against, and argue with, but we need to stand against the very 'rulers of darkness' , real beings - entities - that are the ruling influence here ! 

 Note that these demonic entities are rulers over the DARKNESS .. they cannot overpower us who live in the LIGHT ... Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:5) and gave us the authority, in His name, to stand against what the enemy is orchestrating in our society today ! 

 Jonathan explains it so well, I will give you the link and encourage you to listen to it ...

 I know you will find it most insightful !

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib7zZXBjeOM 

 On another note, I know we are all watching the war in the Middle East ... and there are many who have much to say about it ... but the best sermon I heard about it was by Gary Hamrick - so concise and to the point ... Here is the link if you wish to listen to it .. I encourage you to do so! You won't be sorry ! https://www.youtube.com/live/upeQUaVwRSY?si=rudpBn7CZWJs9c1x

Psalm 81:13-16 

"Oh, that My people would listen to Me, 

That Israel would walk in My ways! 

I would soon subdue their enemies 

And turn My hand against their adversaries. 

The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, 

But their fate would endure forever. 

He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat, 

And with honey from the rock 

I would have satisfied you !"