WHO WILL DARE TO STAND UP FOR GOD & STAY HIS JUDGMENT?
"God has His champions left in the worst times, and they will stand up when the time comes for them to come forth to battle." - Charles Spurgeon
This is how the story goes. Balak could not get Balaam the prophet to curse Israel - God's people (Numbers 22-24). However, what this prophet did suggest was that Balak send the beautiful Moabite women amidst their camp. These women would then entice the Israelites to participate in their idolatrous feasts.
Would Israel dare to abandon their allegiance to the Lord God for a pagan god?
She surely did and was shamefully overcome by her enemy.
In Numbers 25:3, we find the sad commentary which says - "And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor..."
In Psalm 106:28, we find the same account - "They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead."
First of all, who was Baal-peor?
Baal was the general name for the idols of the surrounding nations. An additional name was added to it to distinguish it from the others. Hence, there was Baalzephon - the god of Egypt... Baalzebub - the god of the Ekronites...and Baalpeor - the god of the Moabites.
It was also called - "Baalpeor" - because "Baal" was the name of the god - meaning lord or master - and "Peor" was the name of the mountain in Moab where the idol was worshipped. Some commentators also suggest that it was named as such for the gross obscenities and the typically filthy manner of worship in which the women - prostituted themselves before this god...gave up their bodies to the most shameless lust...engaged in the most obscene actions too filthy to be related...and participated in the dramatization of sexual acts that were intended to incite Baal to lust so that he - in turn - would have sex with Anath - the goddess of love and war - and thus fertilize the land.
Here we have Israel - the nation in covenant with the True and Living God - on the border of Canaan - the Promised Land. They just experienced the fulfillment of His promises of provision and protection through the wilderness and were about to enter into the realization of their dreams.
But what do we have here?
They "joined themselves...unto Baal-peor." As oxen yoked in a common task, they yoked themselves with the pagan people in the worship of their false god. They withdrew themselves from the yoke of the True and Living God and joined in communion with lifeless idols. They gave themselves to the worship of them - committing corporeal and spiritual whoredoms.
What was God's reaction to all of this?
Numbers 25:3 - in its entirety - reads like this - "And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel."
Yahweh was enraged. His wrath - which is pictured as having a trigger - just went off.
Nothing is more provoking to Him than to see His covenant people involved in idolatry or committing spiritual adultery. No greater contempt can be brought on His nature, character, or name!
What was the reaction of the Israelites? Were they all involved in such gross unfaithfulness?
Psalm 106:30 names one man who would not tolerate this open licentiousness and idolatry in the camp. His name was Phinehas - "Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed."
Already twenty-four thousand (24,000) people were dead from the plague. What was Phinehas to do? Wait and see if the plague would get so close to home and destroy some family members before he would react and act?
The Scriptures tell us that he "stood up" and "executed judgment." And by doing so, he stopped the Judgment of God - he stopped the plague.
This man did not turn his head away from the lewdness that was publicly practiced. Nor did he overlook the daring defiance of God and His Law that was happening all around him. With holy passion and great zeal for the Lord of hosts - of which this world knows nothing - he transfixed a sharp javelin into two well-respected, high society, of princely stock perpetrators who were actually in the very act of fornication. He didn't wait until they were done. He killed them right in the very act!
Can you almost hear him screaming out - "Enough is enough!" ?
God was being defied and Israel polluted, and this man could not take it any more!
This wasn't personal ambition, private revenge, or selfish passion at work. This was Holy Spirit indignation at the open filthiness and the defiant unfaithfulness of Israel. He became "possessed" with a deep sense of the evil of sin and the terror of God's wrath. He realized that there was a spreading cancer in the body, and it had to be stopped before it ruined the whole.
Notice that he didn't talk about the problem at hand. He didn't moan and groan about it with the other Israelites. He didn't try to gather a committee of likeminded people together. Nor did he take a poll - asking others what he should do. He saw the "sword" of God's Judgment in the camp and immediately intervened.
When you look around at the Church today - what do you see?
Do you see adulterers, fornicators, and homosexuals in the pulpit, choir, or pews? Do you see a youth group more in love with this world and sin than Jesus? Do you see spiritually "dead" people sitting under the teaching of a spiritually "dead" Pastor every week - as he mumbles out his "dead" speeches - riddled with the philosophies of men? Do you hear preaching and teaching that is devoid of the Cross...the Blood... Sacrificial Living...Dying To Self...the Holy Fear of God...Hell, Fire, and Brimstone...or Judgment to Come? Do you see a church that is more interested in laying up treasures in this life and living the "Good Life" than yearning for the Second Coming of Jesus?
What does all of this sin and perversion do to your soul?
Do you simply turn your head the other way - and keep on making more and more money?
Phinehas saw less, yet he "stood up." He intervened and "executed judgment."
He realized one thing - if someone did not stop the Judgment of Almighty God that was moving in the camp through the plague, they would all be dead!
What gives you the right to think that - when Judgment begins at the house of the Lord (1 Peter 4:17) - that your house will escape?
"God has His champions left in the worst times, and they will stand up when the time comes for them to come forth to battle."
It's time for God's Phinehas' to "stand up" and act.
May we all be filled with a deep sense of the evil of sin and the terror of God's wrath.
May we be found in that hour with the "Sword of the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:17) - God's Holy Javelin - His Anointed Word - in our hearts and mouths.
And may we not hold back this "Sword" from anyone - no matter what their rank in life may be.
May God Bless His Word,
Connie
© COPYRIGHT Connie Giordano - All Rights Reserved
Subscribe to Daily Bible Messages at - connie@walkingintruth.org .
Walking In Truth Ministry | P.O. Box 383016 | Duncanville | TX | 75138
This is how the story goes. Balak could not get Balaam the prophet to curse Israel - God's people (Numbers 22-24). However, what this prophet did suggest was that Balak send the beautiful Moabite women amidst their camp. These women would then entice the Israelites to participate in their idolatrous feasts.
Would Israel dare to abandon their allegiance to the Lord God for a pagan god?
She surely did and was shamefully overcome by her enemy.
In Numbers 25:3, we find the sad commentary which says - "And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor..."
In Psalm 106:28, we find the same account - "They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead."
First of all, who was Baal-peor?
Baal was the general name for the idols of the surrounding nations. An additional name was added to it to distinguish it from the others. Hence, there was Baalzephon - the god of Egypt... Baalzebub - the god of the Ekronites...and Baalpeor - the god of the Moabites.
It was also called - "Baalpeor" - because "Baal" was the name of the god - meaning lord or master - and "Peor" was the name of the mountain in Moab where the idol was worshipped. Some commentators also suggest that it was named as such for the gross obscenities and the typically filthy manner of worship in which the women - prostituted themselves before this god...gave up their bodies to the most shameless lust...engaged in the most obscene actions too filthy to be related...and participated in the dramatization of sexual acts that were intended to incite Baal to lust so that he - in turn - would have sex with Anath - the goddess of love and war - and thus fertilize the land.
Here we have Israel - the nation in covenant with the True and Living God - on the border of Canaan - the Promised Land. They just experienced the fulfillment of His promises of provision and protection through the wilderness and were about to enter into the realization of their dreams.
But what do we have here?
They "joined themselves...unto Baal-peor." As oxen yoked in a common task, they yoked themselves with the pagan people in the worship of their false god. They withdrew themselves from the yoke of the True and Living God and joined in communion with lifeless idols. They gave themselves to the worship of them - committing corporeal and spiritual whoredoms.
What was God's reaction to all of this?
Numbers 25:3 - in its entirety - reads like this - "And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel."
Yahweh was enraged. His wrath - which is pictured as having a trigger - just went off.
Nothing is more provoking to Him than to see His covenant people involved in idolatry or committing spiritual adultery. No greater contempt can be brought on His nature, character, or name!
What was the reaction of the Israelites? Were they all involved in such gross unfaithfulness?
Psalm 106:30 names one man who would not tolerate this open licentiousness and idolatry in the camp. His name was Phinehas - "Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed."
Already twenty-four thousand (24,000) people were dead from the plague. What was Phinehas to do? Wait and see if the plague would get so close to home and destroy some family members before he would react and act?
The Scriptures tell us that he "stood up" and "executed judgment." And by doing so, he stopped the Judgment of God - he stopped the plague.
This man did not turn his head away from the lewdness that was publicly practiced. Nor did he overlook the daring defiance of God and His Law that was happening all around him. With holy passion and great zeal for the Lord of hosts - of which this world knows nothing - he transfixed a sharp javelin into two well-respected, high society, of princely stock perpetrators who were actually in the very act of fornication. He didn't wait until they were done. He killed them right in the very act!
Can you almost hear him screaming out - "Enough is enough!" ?
God was being defied and Israel polluted, and this man could not take it any more!
This wasn't personal ambition, private revenge, or selfish passion at work. This was Holy Spirit indignation at the open filthiness and the defiant unfaithfulness of Israel. He became "possessed" with a deep sense of the evil of sin and the terror of God's wrath. He realized that there was a spreading cancer in the body, and it had to be stopped before it ruined the whole.
Notice that he didn't talk about the problem at hand. He didn't moan and groan about it with the other Israelites. He didn't try to gather a committee of likeminded people together. Nor did he take a poll - asking others what he should do. He saw the "sword" of God's Judgment in the camp and immediately intervened.
When you look around at the Church today - what do you see?
Do you see adulterers, fornicators, and homosexuals in the pulpit, choir, or pews? Do you see a youth group more in love with this world and sin than Jesus? Do you see spiritually "dead" people sitting under the teaching of a spiritually "dead" Pastor every week - as he mumbles out his "dead" speeches - riddled with the philosophies of men? Do you hear preaching and teaching that is devoid of the Cross...the Blood... Sacrificial Living...Dying To Self...the Holy Fear of God...Hell, Fire, and Brimstone...or Judgment to Come? Do you see a church that is more interested in laying up treasures in this life and living the "Good Life" than yearning for the Second Coming of Jesus?
What does all of this sin and perversion do to your soul?
Do you simply turn your head the other way - and keep on making more and more money?
Phinehas saw less, yet he "stood up." He intervened and "executed judgment."
He realized one thing - if someone did not stop the Judgment of Almighty God that was moving in the camp through the plague, they would all be dead!
What gives you the right to think that - when Judgment begins at the house of the Lord (1 Peter 4:17) - that your house will escape?
"God has His champions left in the worst times, and they will stand up when the time comes for them to come forth to battle."
It's time for God's Phinehas' to "stand up" and act.
May we all be filled with a deep sense of the evil of sin and the terror of God's wrath.
May we be found in that hour with the "Sword of the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:17) - God's Holy Javelin - His Anointed Word - in our hearts and mouths.
And may we not hold back this "Sword" from anyone - no matter what their rank in life may be.
May God Bless His Word,
Connie
© COPYRIGHT Connie Giordano - All Rights Reserved
Subscribe to Daily Bible Messages at - connie@walkingintruth.org .
Walking In Truth Ministry | P.O. Box 383016 | Duncanville | TX | 75138
Comment
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Comment by Evelyn Blacksher on August 10, 2009 at 10:25pm
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Amen
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