Love & War (Part Five)

Click here to read part four.

I want to take a quick look at a story in Genesis 20. We have been seeing a lot of how the wicked are destroyed because of their sin and the righteous are spared. But what happens when it is the righteous who sin against the pagan? Does God still intervene? I am happy to say yes...our loving, gracious God does. I give you Abimelech king of Gerar.

Abraham and his wife Sarah are traveling through the region of the Negev. When they come upon the region of Gerar Abraham is afraid that these people don't honor his God; so he lies. Sounds a little backwards I know. None the less Abraham lies and says that Sarah is his sister. Maybe the whole Sodom thing was still fresh in his mind. I don't know. Bottom line he lied-sinned-stepped out of the will of God. So Abimelech upon seeing this hot, single woman in her 90s takes her to be a part of his harem.

On night God comes to Abimelech in a dream. Not Abraham, Abimelech. God says "You are a dead man because of the woman you took, as she is another's wife." Gen. 20:3 Oh my goodness God is speaking to a pagan! And look the pagan responds "Lord will you destroy a nation even if it is innocent? He told me she was his sister...with a pure heart and clean hands I have done this." Gen. 20:4-5 God then says to Abimelech "Yes I know you have a clear conscience so I have keep you from sinning. That is why I did not let you touch her." Gen. 20:6

So here we have God speaking to a pagan king and Abimelech responding un-alarmed and unafraid. This shows us that along with the close proximity of the spirit realm in ancient times God did not only appear or speak to the righteous. God was made known to pagan and righteous people alike. (I am going to talk more on this latter.) Interaction with the spirit realm in ancient times was common.

So God goes on to tell Abimelech to return Sarah to her husband Abraham so that "you and yours" will not die. Remember sin=death and in the old testament prior to Jesus that meant actual death. What a gracious, loving God to warn Abimelech. Just as warning Cain "sin is crouching at the door" Gen. 4:7 But unlike Cain this pagan heeds the words of a righteous God and returns Sarah to Abraham. Wow...a God fearing, righteous pagan. Who knew there was such a thing. LOL.

So Abimelech returns Sarah. He is a little pissed at Abraham but does not let the devil take hold of the situation. Instead of being pissed...he honors Abraham and Sarah. And in turn he honors God in the situation instead of the devil. Warfare! He brings Abraham sheep and cattle. He offers Abraham workers to work for him. He tells Abraham he can live anywhere in his kingdom. To top it all off he brings 25 pounds of silver and gives it to Sarah. "I am giving this to your brother...to cover the offense against you...you are completely vindicated." Gen. 20:16 Love how he still says "brother". Come on he had to get a little jab right? :D But what Abimelech did was sacrifice goods that he owned for the vindication of Abraham. He atoned for Abraham's sin. That is righteousness!

At the end of the chapter Abraham intercedes for Abimelech that he too will be vindicated from any wrong doing. In the face of Abimelech's righteousness and honor how could God refuse? Well he didn't. God gave life back to the household of Abimelech. The surprise ending is that God had made all of the women in Abimelech's household barren because of Abraham's sin. If Abimelech had refused to return Sarah and sinned; death would have come to his household via infertility. The other catch is that Sarah had not yet bore Isaac at this point. What a mess it would have been if Abimelech did have sex with her and nine months later Sarah would have been wondering who the baby daddy was! Wow, what a good, gracious, loving God to both the pagan and the righteous. Let's check the sin/dominion formula on this one...

Creation-"You and yours will die" Yours meaning all your livestock and land.
This was averted because Abimelech did not sin.

Humanity-Death via infertility. Averted because Abimelech did not sin.

The Devil-Gains no dominion. The devil looses out on account of Abimelech's and Abraham's
righteousness.

Man himself-Abimelech does not sin and vindicates Abraham for his sin. Life for both!

Too bad that they don't all turn out that way. But this shows that all through the old testament God was known to many. It also shows that God honors the righteous man whether he is pagan or not. Righteous is righteous full stop. Finally God wants to bring life into any situation he can. Death and destuction is not the heart of God. The heart of God was and will always be love, life, and grace. Aren't we lucky!

Love & War (Part Four)

To read part three click here.

Continuing to look through the old testament at the concepts of sin and punishment. Building off the idea that sin is a stepping out of the will of God and into the will of the devil. When we do this we in fact punish ourselves. We make the choice to step out of God's plan that is life and righteousness and in turn we step into the devil's plan of distortion and death. We have also been discussing that when we sin it effects all that we have dominion over...creation, humanity, the devil and ourselves. If you are totally lost it may help to read the prior blogs. :D

When we meet Abraham in Genesis 12 we learn quite quickly that he is a righteous man who has relationship with God. (At this time his name is actually Abram but that's another story. We will just call him Abraham to simplify) We also in chapter 12 meet his nephew Lot. They have been traveling and living together. But they come to a piece of land that is unable to feed both of their herds. We also learn that their workers or herdsmen are not getting along. So they decide to go their separate ways. Abraham leaves to the high country of Hebron and Lot to the plains of Sodom.

Genesis 14 give a great snapshot of the constant battles between the people groups of this time. Remember this is before the "Israelites" even exist. But the devil was already getting very good at stealing man's dominion and causing his will to come to past. Death and destruction. It is during one of these battles that Abraham's nephew Lot gets carried off as a prisoner. Abraham hears of this and sends a rescue party. The rescue is a success and upon return Abraham runs into two very different kings. Melchizedek king of Salem is a righteous man who has relationship with God and the king of Sodom who does not. To honor the king of Salem Abraham gives him a tenth of the spoils. The king of Sodom sees this gesture and says to Abraham "give me the people and keep the goods for yourself." Gen. 14:21 Notice Abraham's response "I have raised my hand to God...I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or strap from your sandal..." Gen. 14:22-23. Can you see the battle in the spirit here? Abraham is refusing to hand even a shred of his dominion to anything unrighteous. This is warfare. Lot on the other hand after just being rescued returns to Sodom. Sodom means burning.

A couple of chapters we find Abraham in his tent in a town called Hebron; which means fellowship. Abraham looks up to see God an two angels. Remember the spirit world and the natural world were nearly one in the same in ancient times. As soon as Abraham sees them he bows down in respect and invites them to stay for a feast. He gets Sarah to make bread from the best flour. He has one of his men kill the best calf. He brings other choice food to complete the feast to honor his guests. One funny note here...the Lord asks "Where is Sarah?" when she is standing just a few feet away. Remember in Eden? "Where are you?" or with Cain "Where is your brother?" Sarah has a lacking relationship with God. So even though she is in the presence of God; He can sense the separation of her spirit. So here they are feasting with Abraham having a little chit chat. Then God says "the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin is grievous." Gen 18:20 Robert Alter's commentary for this verse notes two things:
1) the Hebrew word here for "outcry" "is often associated...with the shrieks of torment of the oppressed."
2) the Hebrew text reads "the outcry of Sodom..." not "the outcry against Sodom..." This is how it reads in the KJV as well.

Now is this sounding at all familiar from the last blog? Remember the outcry of torment of the people prior to the flood. It was so bad that Lamech even names his son Noah; which means comfort. See how the devil was once again using the dominion he gained from man to twist and distort God's created? These people on a physical level were engaged in "grievous sin" but even still their spirits were crying out in torment. Isn't the devil twisted! This is the spiritual battle of good vs evil.

So Abraham catches on pretty quick that these cities, five in all, were to be destroyed. He bargains with God not to destroy the cities if at least 10 righteous people are found. Abraham is trying to save his nephew Lot. God agrees and sends the two angels to Sodom to check things out. Lot happens to be at the front gate when the angels arrive. When he sees them he too bows down in respect and invites them to his home for something to eat. So what feast does Lot prepare? Flat bread. Flat bread and cheese? NO. Flat bread and meat? NO. Flat bread and wine? NO. Flat bread and beer? NO. Just flat bread. A far cry from the feast or shall we say offering that his uncle had prepared. Think relationship or lack there of. So while they are eating "all the men from every part of the city-both young and old-surrounded the house." Gen 19:4. Kinda sounds like the all encompassing wickedness of the people prior to the flood doesn't it.

So "all the men" it turns out want to have sex with the new men in town. Makes you wonder if Lot got the same treatment when he moved in. If he did...makes you wonder why he is still living there. Anyways...Lot in his demented sinful mind offers the huge group of men outside his two virgin daughters instead. What a loser huh! Well the men of Sodom are not satisfied with that offer and try to break into the house. The angels strike the men of Sodom with blindness...a physical blindness to mirror what was obviously a spiritual blindness. Lot's name by the way means "covering or veil" in the bad sense. The angels then have to basically drag Lot and his family from the city before it is destroyed. I think they really would have preferred to stay. They are totally clueless as to how wicked things are there and don't really believe the cities are to be destroyed. Total deception till the death is a specialty of the devil.

Now I would like to note here that sexual deviation was not the only sin of Sodom. In fact I believe the sexual deviation was just secondary to the underling often deep rooted sin. Ezechiel 16:49 says "This was the sin of Sodom...she was arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and the needy." Think of these things on a spiritual level. A spirit of pride, a spirit of lust, and a spirit of broken will. Sodom was immersed in the wicked schemes of the devil because they had given away their dominion. A broken will breeds complacency and it is always a door for the devil to come in and take over. So just like the flood the wickedness of the devil is destroyed by the righteousness of God. The fact that a total loser like Lot was considered righteous enough to be spared gives a good picture of how unrighteous the others in those towns were. I also think it was because Lot was related to the righteousness of Abraham if only by a small thread. Remember Abraham was the one who interceded for Lot. So lets check our sin/dominion formula...

Creation-Fire and brimstone (or pitch) Gen. 19:24
Vegetation of the land destroyed Gen. 19:25

Humanity-The outcry of Sodom is great & the sin grievous Gen. 18:20

The Devil-Total dominion via the broken will of the people Eze 16:49

Man himself-Death by total disassociation with righteousness

Is this starting to make sense? I hope so.

Sad to say this story ends much in the way that it ended for Noah. Lot even after being rescued from Sodom does not seek God or righteousness. The angels implore him to flee to the high country. I think spiritual they were saying "Get back to the righteousness in Hebron. Get close to God! Take charge of your dominion!" But Lot doesn't listen. Days later we find him drunk in a cave(wandering) and having sex with his daughters. It sounds like the pride, lust and broken will of Sodom had claimed another victim even after the physical cites had been consumed. The devil was still on the prowl for dominion and man was falling for it. The battle of good vs evil continued. Click here to read part five.

Love & War (Part Three)

Click here for part one...click here for part two.

Between the time of Adam and the time of Noah there isn't too much information in the bible. Genesis chapter 5 is really just a genealogy that connects the two. It does also give us the hope that even though there wasn't much righteousness in the earth there still seems to be a tread of commitment to God via the seed of Adam. Remember this is the seed that will strike the devil's head...Jesus.

Back to Noah whose mane means "rest". It was said of Noah by his father Lamech "He (Noah) will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands." Gen. 5:29. The Hebrew word for toil in this verse is "itstsabown" which means pain or sorrow. It is only used in the bible 3 times. Once in Gen 3:16 where God is telling Eve of the curse now on humanity because of sin. And second in Gen. 3:17 where God is telling Adam of the curse now on creation because of sin. So Noah's dad is saying that Noah will be a comfort from those curses. Remember sin is the punishment. Sin also effects that which we have dominion over...creation, humanity, the devil and ourselves. Lamech's words make evident that both on a spiritual level and a physical level the whole world both human and earth is greatly suffering from the torment of sin and the devil. The overwhelming choice to give the devil dominion through sin has become a crushing weight. Evil is winning the battle.

Now Noah was a righteous man. Righteous meaning just, upright or straight. So to be righteous is not allowing sin to bend, twist and distort. When we are righteous it automatically takes dominion back from the enemy and ceases the bending and twisting of the devil. This is warfare! At this time Noah was the ONLY righteous man. Genesis 6:5 tells that "every inclination of man's heart was evil all the time." Meaning that their heart or their spirit was set on evil not just their mind but their whole being. It goes on to say "all the people on earth had corrupted their ways." Gen 6:11"the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was filled with outrage" Robert Alter's commentary notes here that this was "a perversion of nature by man [that then needed] a reversal of creation by God." I would like to add to this comment that it wasn't that man himself was evil. Man had become evil by coming in line with the will of the devil to distort and destroy. The word evil and wicked are from the same Hebrew word "ra" meaning bad, hurtful, malignant; giving pain, unhappiness and misery. Notice that humanity at the time of Noah is simultaneously wicked and tormented. Sin is the punishment. Sin and the punishment thereof is the will of the devil not God.

So the devil was having a grand time. This grieves the heart of God to see His beloved creation once again falling prey to the schemes of the devil. Remember God came out of the garden because He still longed to have relationship with us. So when it says in Gen 6:6 " The Lord was grieved that He had made man...and His heart was full of pain." It is because He didn't think that we would continually and so easily take our God given dominion over to the devil. We were meant to be battling the devil, not joining forces with him. God is in pain over the painful (both physical & spiritual) state of His created.

God takes a drastic measure to remedy this situation. If you trust in a God that is full of love, justice and grace you must assume that His choice was the best choice. It must also give you a picture of how extremely wicked things were. These were not people that just skipped church on Sunday, they were people totally consumed by the demonic of the devil. So God floods the entire earth. The flood is an act of spiritual warfare against the devil. God washes the earth clean with the waters of the Holy Spirit. He saves the animals(since they are only subject to wickedness via mans sin)and He saves Noah and his family. Noah was the only righteous man who was walking in relationship with God.

So lets see if our dominion/sin formula worked this time. What had the sin in the time of Noah effected? (Those of you confused read part one and two first :D)

Creation-"painful toil of our hands" Gen 5:29
Plus most every living thing was flooded and died.

Humanity-needed comfort in their pain. Gen 5:29
they had corrupted their ways Gen 6:12

The Devil-had almost total dominion of the earth via man
"man was only evil all the time" Gen 6:5

Man himself-wandering in wickedness & torrment . Death by association.

Another way to look at the loss of life in this situation is something that I alluded to earlier. That the people were saved from the dominion and tormenting of the devil by the cleansing water of the Holy Spirit. Remember it was said of Noah that he would comfort the people. For all we know our gracious, loving God gathered all those people lost in the flood back into His arms in their death. Released from the clutches of the enemy. Just a thought. Also BTW there is no mention of the words wrath, sin or punishment concerning the story of the flood in the bible.

When Noah comes out of the ark God very quickly makes a new covenant with him that is a kin to the covenant with Adam & Eve. God says "TAKE DOMINION! Over the earth, over humanity and over the devil! Quit giving your dominion of these things to the devil! I don't have the heart to flood the earth again so get it right this time! Multiply righteousness instead of wickedness!" Gen. 6 translated by Cherie. See the flood wiped out the the physical world and people but it did not wipe out the spiritual realm of the devil. The devil is poised and ready for round two. So it is enormously important that Noah heed the word's of God. See when fail to use our dominion righteously it is an open door for the devil to use it wickedly. Unfortunately for Noah he didn't lock the door and fell prey to the schemes of the devil.

Genesis 9:21 says that Noah became drunk and laid uncovered in nakedness. He gave his dominion away just like in the garden. Noah gave way to his own desires instead of God's and sin laid bare the nakedness of his unprotected spirit. And so it was that the battle of good and evil continued to weigh heavy against the goodness of God. But God keeps His promise never to flood the earth again. Soon after there was another man who walked with God in righteousness. A man that God makes covenant with. A man that God implores to take dominion. A man whom God will multiply into a righteous nation. Until now man was implored to multiply themselves. Now God is stepping in saying "I will multiply you". Until now man was implored to seek God and righteousness themselves. But now God is stepping in saying "I will show you how to be righteous." God has now stepped up His personal involvement in the battle of good vs evil. And the man at His side was Abraham.

Click here for part four.

Love & War (Part Two)

To read Part One click here.

What are the principles of sin & punishment in the bible? What does it mean to sin? What is the consequence? How does God punish sin? Does He punish sin? or Does man punish himself? I believe that when we sin the consequence goes far beyond ourselves. I believe this to be true because of what God gave us dominion over. Sin in my definition is stepping out of the best that God has for you. In turn it is a separation of relationship between God and man. The first time that we see the word sin in the bible it is the Hebrew word "chatta'ah" which simply means sin. It is from the Hebrew root word "chata" meaning to miss the mark or wander from the way. So all together sin is wandering from the plan and relationship of God.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden it affected everything that they had dominion or rule over. What do we have dominion over? Psalm 8:6 says "You made him (man) ruler over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet." Man has dominion over all creation, all humanity, the devil and ourselves. Now this isn't to say that God isn't sovereign, He is. But he chose to give us rulership of these things. Not that God doesn't have His own plan for these things but so that we could work His plan together in relationship. At least that was the hope before we chose otherwise. So when we sin it effects that which we have dominion over. It separates us from God, creation from God, humanity from God and the devil from God. Now with the devil it gets a little interesting. The devil wants to be separate from God. He chose that before man first sinned. So when we sin it further separates the devil and we come in line with his will instead of God's. So our sin gives the devil allegiance in his separation and we end up by default glorifying the devil instead of God.

Let's look at Adam and Eve and what fell prey to their sin. After they sin God says to Eve your pains in childbirth will increase and man will rule over you. (Gen 3:16) This is the consequence over humanity. Physical pain, disease and death. On an emotional level He says you will seek mans rule instead of God's. God was not saying men will now rule women. (Though it has been interpreted incorrectly that way) It was broader than that. You have chosen humanity to rule you instead of God. Your desire is humanity and not God.

To Adam God says "cursed is the ground because of you..." Gen 3:17. This is the consequence over creation. This is natural disasters, global decay, drought etc. I even believe that some of the carnage and suffering that we seen in the animal kingdom is due to our sin. If you think in the simple terms that sin=death and prior to sin there was no death...then our sin has had a huge affect on the animal kingdom.

To the devil God said "cursed are you...I will put enmity between you and the woman." Gen 3:14 God goes on to say that the seed of the woman will crush his head. This being the first prediction of Jesus. I also want to note here that in the original Hebrew of these verses God only personally curses the devil. To both Adam and Eve he is just stating fact. That because of their sin things are going to change. Not God's curse/consequence the sin's curse/consequence.

Finally sin separates us from God personally. Notice the first words out of God's mouth after Adam and Eve sin. "Where are you?" Now why is an all-knowing God asking where someone is? Because sin had brought separation. This was further illustrated by Adam and Eve being sent forth from the garden. God didn't banish them. The Hebrew word is "shalach" which means to let go, set free, or send away.

So when we sin it effects all humanity, all creation, the devil and ourselves. It effects that which we have God given dominion over. And the effects are from the sin not from God. Remember sin is stepping out of God's plan so the result of sin is not God's plan. Sin is the punishment. More on this in a bit.

Let's see if our little formula works with the next recorded sin in the bible. The murder of Abel by his brother Cain. What I first want to point out is that God did not stay in the garden after Adam and Eve left. God came out of the garden because of his longing for relationship with man. And now that sin has entered the world He comes out of the garden to protect us. So God sees that Abel's heart isn't in his sacrifice the same way that his brother's is. He isn't giving God his best, not offering wise but relationship wise.

So what does God do? Well he doesn't curse him or cause him to burst into flames. God comes to Cain and sits down for a little chat. A heart to heart if you will. "Why are you angry?" God asks "And why has your countenance fallen?" Countenance meaning face. Since we are created in the image of God our countenance is the reflection of God in us. See with Cain God can feel the same separation as He did with his parents in the garden. "Why has your countenance fallen?" is similar to "Where are you?" God already knows that Cain has sinned in his heart. So God is desperately trying to intervene before this sin goes any further. God is trying to protect Cain. God goes on to say "If you do what is right will you not be accepted? But if you don't do right, sin is crouching at the door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Gen 4:6-7

This is a wonderful visual of the battle that the devil has wages for mans dominion. It is also a fantastic showing of God's longing to protect us from the destruction of sin, that is the devil. See it is sin that is crouching at the door with desire to destroy man. It is not God waiting for us to screw up so He can punish us. The sin is the punishment. Just as God is trying to save Cain from that punishment so it is through the whole old testament. The battle of good vs evil.

Cain then by his own freewill chooses not to listen to the warning of God. Cain murders his brother. Then God comes back to Cain to have another little chat. "What is this you have done? Your brother's blood cries out from the ground. Now you are under a curse...the ground will no longer yield crops...you will be a restless wanderer on the earth." Gen 4:10-12. Now lets check our formula. What has Cain's sin affected?

Creation-"the ground will no longer yield crops".

Humanity-"your brother's blood cries out".

The Devil- his desire has been fulfilled.

Cain himself- "will be a restless wanderer" a wander from God

Woo Hoo it worked!

Now where is God in all this? I mean He must be pretty pissed since this is the first murder in all history. He should probably make an example of Cain so man will know not to piss off God by sinning. Nope! Not our loving, gracious God. Cain comes to God and says "My punishment is more than I can bear!" This is exactly what mankind does. We blame God for the consequence of the sin that we chose over the better advise of God. God is no more sending Cain from His presence than Cain has chosen to leave His presence by sinning. Just like in the garden. But God sees Cain's heart is in a place of repentance. So God puts a mark on Cain to protect him from the death he fears in wandering the earth. This is the loving, gracious God of the old testament.

Now let me point out in this little chat between Cain and God it is the first time that we see the word "punishment" in the bible. The Hebrew word used here is "avon" (no not the make up lady) which means iniquity or guilt. The root word is "avah" meaning to bend, twist or distort. What does iniquity mean? Websters says "wickedness or evil". Does God heap guilt on us? No, the devil does. Does God twist or distort his beloved creation? No, the devil does. So see the sin is the punishment. Punishment is the will of the devil, not of God. So when Cain is saying "My punishment is more than I can bear". What he is really saying is this wickedness and distortion of the devil is not what I wanted. He is repenting and that is why God accepts his heart and puts a mark on him. A mark that takes Cain out of the will of the devil and back into the will of God.

Click here to read part three...