WARNING PREACHY
The Christian world has had 2000 plus
years developing its doctrines and theologies, and when I went to school to
learn them I recognized one thing -- the
waters of theological study are muddy and impossible to see through. This realization almost caused me to lose
hope: but for my faith in the resurrection of Jesus and the following passage
of ancient Scripture.
Exodus 22:18-24[1]
18 “Do
not allow a sorceress to live.
19 “Anyone
who has sexual relations with an animal is to be put to death.
20 “Whoever
sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed.
21 “Do
not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.
22 “Do
not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. 23 If you
do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. 24 My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you
with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.
In the above passage God gives four commands,
1.
Don’t allow a sorcerers
to live
2.
Don’t allow a person who
has sex with an animal to live
3.
Destroy the person who
worships another god.
4.
Don’t oppress the
foreigner or take advantage of the widow and the orphan.
What strikes me here is the ones doing
the executing. In the first three cases,
it is the community who does the executing of the guilty, but in the fourth
case it is God.
1.
A sorceress, who delves
into the occult and necromancy, who creates a bridge between the devil’s domain
and God’s children, who thumbs her nose at the very first Commandment is not to
be allowed to exist in Israel, the Israelites are to cast her out and stone her
to death
2.
A pervert who delves
into bestiality is likewise to be cast out and stoned to death by the people,
3.
Lastly, if there is one
who worships another god, that person is to be put out of Israel and stoned to
death by the assembly.
Each execution is fully justified for a
people who are God’s Chosen.
But
the fourth…
The fourth command is to not oppress the
foreigner, nor take advantage of the widow and the fatherless. The consequence of death is the same,
execution, but this time, the executor is different. This time, the one doing the executing is God
himself.
The first three offenses are terrible
offenses, and if the perpetrators were allowed to remain among the people their
sin would spread like wildfire among the Israelite People. So the people must act to keep the community
safe. But the fourth offense, though
seemingly less offensive to my sensibilities, is in fact the most heinous of
crimes because of who will do the
executing. When the foreigner, the
widow, and the fatherless are oppressed by the community of God’s people, He
picks up His own sword and He executes the community which has committed such
an atrocity.
It is telling, I think, that God allows
the community of His people to manage the day-to-day stuff (deacons, elders, &
pastors) but when the community is corrupted, and if it takes advantage of the most
hopeless and helpless; when this happens, God Himself comes to their aide.
·
He considers us orphans
without a father - and He adopts us
·
You and I are the widows
without husband who provides for us
·
We are the foreigners
who need to be brought in and given a place to call home.
The Cross of our Jesus indicates that
God is all of these things and He is not just simply in the muddy waters of our
doctrinal and theological concerns, but in the very people that He died on the
Cross to save.
Today we may take comfort because God’s
very heart is for us – if we are among the widows, orphans, and foreigners.
Once we are counted among the neediest
of people then we can call out and claim the blood of our savior for our
salvation, for the blood redeems each of us, but only those who kneel at the
foot of the cross will be saved (Jude 1:5).
(If that statement seems too exclusive we need only ask the religious
folks of Jesus day what the savior thought of them.)
The question now is this, are we
concerned for the most hopeless and helpless among us as Jesus was? Are we more concerned for them or for our
religious observations such as the Sabbath was to the religious people of His
day?
Matthew
22:36-40
36 “Teacher,
which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus
replied: “‘Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.’ 38 This
is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And
the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments.”
I’m taken by the theme of God’s heart which is seen in
the Old Testament. And Jesus continued his
Father’s theme seamlessly as he ministers to us today.
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