February 16, 2023

Of the rescued Israelites out of Egypt Paul said: For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:4

Most modern Christians have been so influenced by the deceiver that they can read the word of God and think it of little consequence to believe and teach an opposing idea. In actuality, this is not a “modern” phenomenon. Read on . . .

But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. (v.5)

The care by God Almighty of His newly rescued children as He was preparing them to enter the promised land was a unique privilege indeed. But instead of giving their attention to their Rescuer, they lusted after evil things, became idolators, committed sexual immorality, and adopted a spirit of complaining. In general, they severely tested the patience of the LORD.

Are we not doing the same thing today? What is unclear about this Biblical statement: For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing. (Ecclesiastes 9:5 – see also v.10) Yet, at nearly every funeral, preachers are saying, “Granny is walking the streets of gold.” or “He’s in a much better place.” or “Auntie is watching over us from heaven.” This false teaching is the adversary’s way of pushing into the shadows the blessed hope of Jesus’ return and the resurrection event of the righteous dead in Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

…the swine…is unclean to you. (Leviticus 11:17) God made it very easy to distinguish between clean and unclean animals. The scavenger animals humbly make up the world’s “clean-up crew.” They are designed for a noble purpose, and because their bodies work to filter the environment, God protects us from these concentrated doses of uncleanness by instructing us not to eat such. However, at every turn, it has become the norm—even “sophisticated”—for God’s professed people to eat like pagans who do not have the word of God available to them. Sadly, the world is now more polluted than ever before in history. Children are given things to eat that are so laced with impurities that diseases and mental disorders in young children are skyrocketing.

We are instructed to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exodus 20:8) and reminded of it throughout the scriptures. Yet the fourth commandment of the Lord is singled out as the one that somehow no longer matters to Him. Some will say that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday in honor of Christ’s resurrection. But, while they toss aside the day that God chose for rest and fellowship with Him, they also forget that we are given baptism to honor Christ’s resurrection, for each individual who accepts Jesus who died and rose again to conquer death and vanquish sin (see Romans 6:4). Others quip that it’s “legalistic” to honor the Sabbath, yet keeping the other nine commandments is not “legalistic.”

To disregard the truth of God’s word causes others to misunderstand its essential, life-affirming nature. Willful ignorance is failure to cherish the light that God gives. This is building on the sand (Matthew 7:26).