You will notice that your homework from last week and the homework for this week has a historical timeline on the back.  The time frame is from the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar until Jesus entrance into humanity.  I want to draw your attention to the prophecy of Daniel regarding the statue shown to King Nebuchadnezzar.  This was a time frame for mankind to watch history unfold.  That is prophecy.  Prophecy is provided so man can know God does exist and God is in control.

Christians need to connect the timeless principles of scripture with our daily lives.  It is more than just reading, but applying the Word of God to our hands and our feet.  So, before we dive into Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar open you bibles to . . . 

Isaiah 42:21-23
21 The Lord was pleased for His righteousness' sake To make the law great and glorious. 
22 But this is a people plundered and despoiled; All of them are trapped in caves, Or are hidden away in prisons; They have become a prey with none to deliver them, And a spoil, with none to say, "Give them back!"
23 Who among you will give ear to this?   Who will give heed and listen hereafter?

Why did God give man His Word?  God wants man to know who He is and that man is not God.  God wants man to know where he came from so that he can know what he is and where he is going with and without God.  Man is made in the image of the Living God.   That image is eternal.  Your spirit will continue on for eternity after your body decays back into dust after death.  Mankind is judged.  Jesus is offering freedom from that judgment by accepting His as the way, the truth and the life.  God Himself came to His creation to provide a way for His image to live on for eternity with Him.  No one goes to the Father, but by Jesus.  Man was made a little lower than the angels, but with Jesus man is elevated above the angels and accepted as the adopted child of God Himself.  Love the Lord because He first loved you.
Open you bibles to . . . 

1 Corinthians 10:1-13
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 
2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 
3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. 
5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. 
6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. 
7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play." 
8 Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. 
9 Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 
10 Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 
12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 
13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Paul is trying to show Jesus in history.  The Rock is another name for Jesus. Christ is the Messiah or Redeemer who brings man to God. Jesus is the Christ. 

Jesus was born to give His life an a ransom for the world.  All who accept His gift receive life.  Those who reject the Christ, receive the penality of death they were born to receive.  Rembmer that all mankind is born in judgement and condemned to death from birth. 

Paul gives a few examples from history.  Do you know these stories?  Who among you will give ear to this?  Who will give heed and listen hereafter?  These stories are found in Exodus 32, Numbers 25, Numbers 21, and Numbers 16.  Open you bibles to . . . 

2 Thessalonians 3:1-10
1 Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; 
2 and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. 
3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 
4 We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. 
5 May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ. 
6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. 
7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, 
8 nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; 
9 not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. 
10 For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. 

Paul needed prayer.  WOW.  If Paul needs prayer, how much more do we need to be praying for each other?  Notice that Paul is requesting that the prayers ask that they be rescued from men, not the evil one. 

Paul says that the Lord would protect His people from the evil one, but other men are still a problem.  Why?  Because God loves those perverse and evil men just as much as He loves Paul and the disciples.  Think about that.  God is trying to save those men and some might just repent and start walking with God.  God is leaving the door open for man, but that door is closed to the evil one.  That door will remain closed as long as you do not invite the evil one back inside.  Your rebellion toward God opens the door. 

Open you bibles to . . . 

Acts 6:8-15
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. 
9 But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen.
10 But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 
11 Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God." 
12 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. 
13 They put forward false witnesses who said, "This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; 
14 for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us." 
15 And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel. 

Acts 7 is Stephen's response to the accusations, but I want to draw your attention to verse 14.  Jesus did alter the customs which Moses handed down by fulfilling what they represented.  Verse 10 says they were not able to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke and verse 8 says Stephen was performing great wonders and signs.  We are not told what he did, but it blew their minds. 

Men anchored in religion find grace from God difficult to process.  The Council saw his face like the face of an angel.  What does that look like?  Stephen was performing great signs, speaking with wisdom, guided by the Spirit of the Living God and his face shone like an angel. 

Acts 7:1-53
1 The high priest said, "Are these things so?" 
2 And he said, "Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 
3 and said to him, 'Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.'
4 Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. 
5 But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him. 
6 But God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be aliens in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 
7 'And whatever nation to which they will be in bondage I Myself will judge,' said God, 'and after that they will come out and serve Mein this place.' 
8 And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. 
9 "The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt.  Yet God was with him, 
10 and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household. 

11 "Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food. 
12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 
13 On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family was disclosed to Pharaoh. 
14 Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all.
15 And Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died. 
16 From there they were removed to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. 

17 "But as the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 
18 until there arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. 
19 It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive. 
20 It was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father's home. 
21 And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. 
22 Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds. 
23 But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. 
24 And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. 
25 And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 
26 On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, 'Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?' 
27 But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and judge overus? 
28 You do not mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?' 
29 At this remark, Moses fled and became an alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 

30 "After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. 
31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord: 
32 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.'  Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. 
33 But the Lord said to him, 'Takeoff the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. 
34 I have certainly seen the oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their groans, and I have come down to rescue them; come now, and I will send you to Egypt.' 

35 "This Moses whom they disowned, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. 
36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 
37 This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, 'God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.' 
38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you. 
39 Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, 
40 saying to Aaron, 'Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt - we do not know what happened to him.' 
41 At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 
42 But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel? 
43 You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship.  I also will remove you beyond Babylon.' 

44 "Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. 
45 And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David. 
46 David found favor in God's sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 
47 But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. 
48 However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says: 
49 'Heaven is My throne, And earth is the footstool of My feet; What kind of house will you build for Me?' says the Lord, 'Or what place is there for My repose?
50 'Was it not My hand which made all these things?'
51 "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. 
52 Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?  They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; 
53 you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it." 

Maybe they should have listened to what Stephen had to say.  Stephen starts with Abraham and the covenant of circumcision and proceeds by telling how God looked after the people by sending Joseph and Moses.  Moses comes into contact with the Angel from the burning bush and Stephen describes the Prophet God will send who is like Moses.  Stephen goes on to discuss the tabernacle made from the pattern Moses received from God.  He then describes the transition of the tabernacle from a tent into a temple.  In verse 52 Stephen brings it home by talking about the Righteous One. 

I do not want you to miss anything Stephen discussed, so who is the Righteous One?  Answer: Jesus as the Messiah. 

Who/what were we suppose to see from the pattern given in the tabernacle?  Answer: Jesus as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Man can not approach the Living God without a blood sacrifice because God is holy and righteous.  Man is neither holy nor righteous.

Who is the Prophet like Moses who stands between God and man?  Jesus is the Prophet like Moses who takes His stand between man and God.  Moses offered his life for the nation when God was angry with Israel, but God could not take the blood of a sinner to die for another sinner.  The price is just too high for man to pay.  That price would require the blood of God Himself in the form of a man to be born of flesh, but not of sin.  Jesus was born to the virgin Mary.  Jesus lived a sinless life.  Jesus died on the cross.  Jesus was raised on the third day.  Jesus is alive and well today sitting on the throne in heaven standing between God and man. 

Who is the Angel of the Lord in the burning bush?  Answer:  Jesus before He took on the flesh suit.  The Angel of the Lord is different from other references to angels.  Notice that the Angel of the Lord allows man to worship Him.  Regular angels tell man to get up and not to worship because we are all just servants of the Living God.

What does the covenant of circumcision represent?  Answer:  The seed.  Who is the seed?  Jesus.  Genesis 3:15 describes God's curse on the serpent and how the seed of woman will bruise (crush) his head.  Women do not produce seed.  That comes from a man.  This is the prophecy about the virgin birth.  Abraham was promised that the seed would come from his family.  David was promised that the seed would come from his family and He would create a kingdom without end.  Jesus is the seed.  Jesus is the Messiah.  Jesus is the Angel of the Lord.  Jesus is the Prophet.  Jesus is the lamb and the Righteous One. 

Well, that is Acts 7 and we all know how it ended.  Stephen was trying to give a history lesson to show God's hand in the lives of the people of Israel.  The self-righteousness of those present lead to them to pick up stones and kill a man whose face looked like an angel.  They were not able to cope with the wisdom from Stephen's' mouth or the Spirit of grace and power present in his life so these self-righteous men killed him. 

Now we will look at the Song of Moses.  Open your bibles to . . . 

Deuteronomy 32:1-9
1 "Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak; And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 "Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As the droplets on the fresh grass 
3 And as the showers on the herb. 
"For I proclaim the name of the Lord; 

Ascribe greatness to our God! 

4 "The Rock! 

His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; 

A God of faithfulness and without injustice, 

Righteous and upright is He. 

5 "They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation.

6 "Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people?  Is not He your Father who has bought you?  He has made you and established you. 
7 "Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations.  Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you. 
8 "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel. 
9 "For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.

This section of the Torah is identified as the Song of Moses.  Exodus 15 has another Song of Moses.  Notice in verse 5 the reference that they are not His children because of their defect.  Acts 26:15-18 is Jesus talking to Paul and Jesus describes the world as in darkness and under the domain of Satan condemned because of sin.  See this concept and understand.

Acts 26:16-18
16 But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; 
17 rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,
18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'

Man is born with a disease called sin.  Man is infected from birth.  This is another reason to cling to the virgin birth.  Jesus was human, but He was not born from the seed of man.   The seed of man produces a sinful child born in darkness and under the domain of Satan.  Man must seek the face of the Living God for redemption and sanctification by faith in Jesus.  Every man is born with a death sentence.  God is rescuing all those who will call upon His Name; Jesus. 

Personal Testimony #1 
I was born with a kidney disease.  When I was around nine, I remember being in the hospital and overhearing discussions of my disease knowing that death was a reality.  I did not understand why I should die.  It was not my fault that I had this stupid disease.  I was just a little kid.  I did not do anything wrong that deserved death.  It is not fair. I was just born with a disease.  That situation has helped me understand this concept is such clarity today.  Man is born a sinner.  It is not your fault.  It is not fair, but that is the situation.  Man is born in sin.  Mankind is born with a disease called sin.  Jesus was born in the flesh from a virgin, but He did not get the infection of sin from birth.  Clean Jesus took on all dirty sin at the cross.  He chose to take sin upon Himself, but He was not born with the disease called sin. 

This is a big concept that you really need to get a grasp upon.  I still can not completely wrap my mind around the concept that God took on all sins of mankind upon Himself on the cross, but I am really glad He did.  I can not completely wrap my mind around the concept of one God in three forms; Jesus as Son of God, the Father as God, and the Holy Spirit as God, but I am really glad He told me about Himself.  It lets me know that God wants a relationship with me because He is a God of relationships.  I approach God the Father by the sacrifice provided by Jesus the Son of God and rely upon the Holy Sprit as God to guide me in this life.  My job is to keep the man in the mirror in line. 

Personal Testimony #2 
I remember when I saw my testimony in the following parable. Listen carefully and I bet you can hear your testimony. 
Matthew 13:18-23
18 "Hear then the parable of the sower. 
19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 
How many people do you know who just can not understand the Word. 

20 "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. 
This was me as a very young believer.  I remember that I wanted to save the world.  Today I realize that I can not even save myself, but I know Him who does save; Jesus.  I just need to point people to Him.

22 "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 
I look back on my life as an adult believer in my 30's and I get mad at myself.  When I see people doing what I was doing, I call them 'time-clock' Christians.  They punch the time card each Sunday to make sure that the salvation insurance plan is in full force and live the rest of life as if God does not exist.

23 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." 
You must be submitted to God to hear and understand His Word.  In my early walk I did not hear or understand the Word because I was not submitted.  When the light did start to come on, I was not rooted in the Word and fell into temptation.  As I got older, I studied the Word more and started understanding more, but again I was not fully submitted and I approached God as a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card.  The cares of life took priority over my relationship to God and I was not fruitful.  It took several years and God is still dealing with my wicked heart and mind, but He is now allowing me to become fruitful in His work and He made life very sweet. 

Thank you Jesus!

Your testimony is your history.  The bible is the history of God's people yesterday and today.  Open your bibles to . . . 

Deuteronomy 32:10-14
10 "He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
11 "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.
12 "The Lord alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.
13 "He made him ride on the high places of the earth, And he ate the produce of the field; And He made him suck honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock,
14 Curds of cows, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the finest of the wheat - And of the blood of grapes you drank wine.
 

Deuteronomy 32:15-18
15 "But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked- You are grown fat, thick, and sleek- Then he forsook God who made him, And scorned the Rock of his salvation. 
16 "They made Him jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. 
17 "They sacrificed to demons who were not God, To gods whom they have not known, New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread. 
18 "You neglected the Rock who begot you, And forgot the God who gave you birth.

Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel.  The root word means upright, straight or just .  Remember that this is Moses singing a song to God.  Moses says that sacrificing to strange gods is the same as sacrificing to demons.  Who do you think is the Rock?  Moses says that the Rock gave birth to the nation. 
Open your bibles to . . . 

Daniel 2:44-45
44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. 
45 Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy." 

Deuteronomy was written around 1432 B.C.  Daniel 2 was written around 604 B.C.  About 828 years between the two scriptures, but they are both talking about the Rock of salvation.  Open your bibles to . . . 

John 18:36-37
36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world.  If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." 
37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king.  For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Who wrote John?  John the apostle, but he was not standing around when Pilate talked privately to Jesus?  So either the Holy Spirit told John what to write or he was shown a vision and he recorded what he observed.  Jesus came to establish a kindgom which is the same kingdom mentioned 600 years earlier by Daniel and by the same Rock mentioned 1400 years earlier.  God is in control.

Genesis 18:17-19
17 The Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 
18 since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? 
19 For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him." 

Who wrote Genesis?  Moses, but Moses was not alive when this event happened.  So either God told Moses what to write or God showed Moses a vision and told him to record what he saw.  Think about this; Who is the Lord talking to in the passage above?  He is not talking to Abraham.  It is the Lord talking to the Lord.  God is talking to Himself.  God the Son is talking to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 16 of Genesis we see the Angel of the Lord talking to Hagar.  The Angel of the Lord is a representation of God the Son who can be seen by men.  In the first ten verses of Chapter 17 of Genesis, the Lord appears to Abram and discusses My covenant and how I will make a nation, I will establish My covenant and I will be their God.  Then God establishes the covenant of circumcision.  Chapter 18 says the Lord appeared to Abraham and it describes three men on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah.  We know from scripture that no one can see God the Father and live.  We are not told in Genesis 18 that this is the Angel of the Lord, but one of the three men described references Himself as the Lord and says that He chose Abraham.  Look at the last half of verse 19 where the Lord says ...so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.  In Chapter 19 of Genesis two of the men go into Sodom and Gomorrah and they are described to be angels, but neither is described to be the Angel of the Lord.  With all that said, I can conclude that one of the three men described was the Angel of the Lord and other two were regular angels. 
Open your bibles to . . . 

Deuteronomy 32:19-20
19 "The Lord saw this, and spurned them Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
20 "Then He said, 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be; For they are a perverse generation, Sons in whom is no faithfulness.
 

Deuteronomy 32:21
'They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their idols.  So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,

God's plan has always been to save the world.  He chose a man, Abraham, and chose his people to be used as God's instrument of salvation.  What if those people do not want to be chosen?  That is what we see here.  The nation God chose has rejected Him.  Open your bibles to . . . 

Deuteronomy 32:22-27
22 For a fire is kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest part of Sheol, And consumes the earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 'I will heap misfortunes on them; I will use My arrows on them.
24 'They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague And bitter destruction; And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them, With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
25 'Outside the sword will bereave, And inside terror- Both young man and virgin, The nursling with the man of gray hair.
26 'I would have said, "I will cut them to pieces, I will remove the memory of them from men,"
27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, That their adversaries would misjudge, That they would say, "Our hand is triumphant, And the Lord has not done all this."'
 

Deuteronomy 32:28-31
28 "For they are a nation lacking in counsel, And there is no understanding in them. 
29 "Would that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would discern their future! 
30 "How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had given them up? 
31 "Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this.

God says examine the facts.  I have always said look at the child birth pains of a woman and explain why that exists.  Only the bible gives man a reason from Genesis 3.  Look a tthe rainbow and explain why it exists.  Only Genesis 9 gives me an answer.  Look at the nation of Israel.  Only the bible can explain why they exist; God's grace.  Open your bibles to . . . 

Deuteronomy 32:32-44
32 "For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, And from the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of poison, Their clusters, bitter.
33 "Their wine is the venom of serpents, And the deadly poison of cobras.
34 'Is it not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up in My treasuries?
35 'Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.'
36 "For the Lord will vindicate His people, And will have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their strength is gone, And there is none remaining, bond or free.
37 "And He will say, 'Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge?
38 'Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering?  Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your hiding place!
39 'See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life.  I have wounded and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
40 'Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven, And say, as I live forever,
41 If I sharpen My flashing sword, And My hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, And I will repay those who hate Me.
42 'I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword will devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.'
43 "Rejoice, O nations, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And will render vengeance on His adversaries, And will atone for His land and His people."
44 Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with Joshua the son of Nun. 
 

Deuteronomy 32:45-47
45 When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 
46 he said to them, "Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. 
47 For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life.  And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess." 
 

Deuteronomy 32:48-52
48 The Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, 
49 "Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession. 
50 Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 
51 because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel. 
52 For you shall see the land at a distance, but you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel." 

Take to heart and command your sons because this is life.  Moses actually had tow songs in the bible.  The other is from Exodus 15.  Open your bibles to . . . 

Exodus 15:2-3
2 "The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will extol Him. 
3 "The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name.

As a retired military guy (over seven years in the Texas National Guard - I know some would argue that National Guard duty does not qualify as a military guy - so, I do.)  I like the reference to God as a warrior.  Remember a few weeks ago when Balaam saw the Angel of the Lord and He had His sword drawn in Numbers 22?  Remember when David was afraid of the sword of the Angel of the Lord in 1 Chronicles 21? 

Open your bibles to . . . 

1 Chronicles 21:16
Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces. 
 

1 Chronicles 21:29-30
29 For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were in the high place at Gibeon at that time.
30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was terrified by the sword of the angel of the Lord. 
 

Psalms 34:4-9
4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears. 
5 They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed. 
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him And saved him out of all his troubles. 
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them. 
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! 
9 O fear the Lord, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want.

David fought and killed a lion.  David fought and killed a bear.  David fought and killed the giant.  David was a warrior with so much blood that God would not allow him to build the temple.  David was a man after God's heart.  And David was scared to death when he saw the Angel of the Lord with His sword drawn.  I love Psalms 34 and seeing David's response to his healthy understanding of the Living God. 

Open your bibles to . . . 

Amos 5:25-27
25 "Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? 
26 You also carried along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. 
27 Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus," says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

Did you know the Israelites carried idols with them during the forty years wandering?  Always consider the total Word of God.  God does not tell us everything, but what He does tell us we must deal with.  Open your bibles to . . . 

Amos 6:3-8
3 Do you put off the day of calamity, And would you bring near the seat of violence? 
4 Those who recline on beds of ivory And sprawl on their couches, And eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall, 
5 Who improvise to the sound of the harp, And like David have composed songs for themselves, 
6 Who drink wine from sacrificial bowls While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils, Yet they have not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.
7 Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles, And the sprawlers' banqueting will pass away. 
8 The Lord God has sworn by Himself, the Lord God of hosts has declared: "I loathe the arrogance of Jacob, And detest his citadels; Therefore I will deliver up the city and all it contains."
 

Psalms 81
1  Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob.
2  Raise a song, strike the timbrel, The sweet sounding lyre with the harp.
3  Blow the trumpet at the new moon, At the full moon, on our feast day.
4  For it is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5  He established it for a testimony in Joseph When he went throughout the land of Egypt.  I heard a language that I did not know:
6  "I relieved his shoulder of the burden, His hands were freed from the basket.
7  "You called in trouble and I rescued you; I answered you in the hiding place of thunder; I proved you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
8  "Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would listen to Me!
9  "Let there be no strange god among you; Nor shall you worship any foreign god.
10  "I, the Lord, am your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
11  "But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey Me.
12  "So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, To walk in their own devices.
13  "Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways!
14  "I would quickly subdue their enemies And turn My hand against their adversaries.
15  "Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him, And their time of punishment would be forever.
16  "But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

Honey from the Rock?  I love honey, but it does not come from the Rock unless it is from the Lord.  Always make a distinction between the physical and spiritual when reading scripture.  Jesus is the Rock and He will give you a sweet life if you will walk with Him and listen to Him.  That does not mean you will not have to face evil men, but that God will be with you in life or death forever.