Author: theparacleteshammer

God, am I leaping ahead of your plan?  Or have I contented myself with the discipline you have set aside for me while you are preparing your plan for me. Lord, may I never leap ahead of your plan or turn aside from it.  Help me today, since your mercies are new every morning, to stay singularly focused.  Help me to take the counsel that is from you as I wait on you, so that my waiting does not turn into sloth.

Wow…
The nerve.
You would think that they would be greatful.  You would think they had learned to trust God after the seven, eight, or ten times (depending on which events you counted in the Torah) that they rebelled and the Lord punished.  From death by quail, to plagues and heathen Canaanite troops.  However, here is the oncoming foolishness of yet another rebellion, this time among the Levite tribe.  Moses’ near relative, Korah, whose clan was responsible for the holy things, including the Lampstand, Incense altar, Presence table, plates, utensils, dishes, bowls, and the ark (Numbers 4:1-20).  Yet, they want more.  Let’s read
 

¹ Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; ² and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown.

Leadership has an internal breakdown.  Leadership of the nation of Israel gathers together.

 ³ They gathered together against Moses and Aaron,

They gathered against Moses and specifically against Aaron, who had the role of Priest.

and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”

Arguing for the priesthood of all the Jews.  I mean that sounds pretty fair, given the rest of the Levites equality to appear before God.
However, there was something deeper at work here.  What Korah was doing was much more devious. He was violating what was already set down in Torah.  He wanted to rewrite his duties and he wanted more than God had called for him to operate in.  God had already set a process down just a few chapters earlier, and other aspects of the same process were set up in Exodus.

⁴ So when Moses heard it, he fell on his face;

A sign of humility in Moses (Numbers 12:3).

⁵ and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will show who is His and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to Him.

As if they were needed any other confirmation.  Even in their rebellion, God was willing to give them more proof.  Nevermind that they were about to lose their lives in the process of God’s establishment of the priesthood.  However, that is what happens when you speak against an actual anointed person.  God guards his true priests and his true prophets.

That one whom He chooses He will cause to come near to Him.

This was what God was going to do anyway.  He was going to cause Aaron and his descendants after him to come before Him.
Another thing that this demonstrates is the following.  Korah was challenging God, who can arbitrarily set things up any way He wants.  God does respond well to questioning when it arises from a heart of honest humble inquiry.  Nevertheless, God does not respond kindly to questioning when it arises from a heart that wants to challenge His authority and holiness.  This challenge from Korah and his associates arises not from humility and honest inquiry but from a heart that seeks to challenge the authority and holiness of God.

 ⁶ Do this: Take censers, Korah and all your company; ⁷ put fire in them and put incense in them before the LORD tomorrow, and it shall be that the man whom the LORD chooses is the holy one.

Moses is saying, “You want to function as a priest, and pretend to be holy and set apart for that task.  God ahead and try.  See what God does when we choose to flagrantly disregard what He has told us to do.”

You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!”

Exactly.
⁸ Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: ⁹ Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the work of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to serve them; ¹⁰and that He has brought you near to Himself, you and all your brethren, the sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking the priesthood also? ¹¹ Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the LORD. And what is Aaron that you complain against him?”
As if Aaron was something that they should complain against him.  What they were really doing, if you read the Torah to this point, and saw the duties assigned to different groups, was to violate God, and assault His order, and to gather together against Him.

¹² And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up! ¹³ Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you should keep acting like a prince over us? ¹⁴ Moreover you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!”

The promise of a land flowing with milk and honey did not come from Moses, but from God (Exodus 3:8).

¹⁵ Then Moses was very angry, and said to the LORD, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them.”

God respected Moses’ plea, even though it could have come from a heart of anger and vengeance.  Thoughts?

¹⁶ And Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow, you and all your company be present before the LORD—you and they, as well as Aaron. ¹⁷ Let each take his censer and put incense in it, and each of you bring his censer before the LORD, two hundred and fifty censers; both you and Aaron, each with his censer.” ¹⁸ So every man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the tabernacle of meeting with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ And Korah gathered all the congregation against them at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

So, here is the process by which they were going to decide who was the priest set apart by God for God.

Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the congregation.

The judge gets ready to fulfill His role.

²⁰ And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²¹ “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.”  ²² Then they fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You be angry with all the congregation?”   ²³ So the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’”  ²⁵ Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶ And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart now from the tents of these wicked men! Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins.” ²⁷ So they got away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, with their wives, their sons, and their little children.
²⁸ And Moses said: “By this you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. ²⁹ If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the LORD creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the LORD.”

If…then….   So many of us do not understand if/then statements.  Rather, we take them as accusations, when they are not.

³¹ Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, ³² and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. ³³ So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly.

Wow! So they really were challenging the Lord.
³⁴ Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up also!” ³⁵ And a fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense. ³⁶ Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ³⁷ “Tell Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, to pick up the censers out of the blaze, for they are holy, and scatter the fire some distance away.
³⁸ The censers of these men who sinned against their own souls, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar. Because they presented them before the LORD, therefore they are holy; and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel.”
Signs are useful for caution, for dangers, for warnings, for direction, for locations, for marking routes, and for setting limits.
³⁹ So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned up had presented, and they were hammered out as a covering on the altar, ⁴⁰ to be a memorial to the children of Israel that no outsider, who is not a descendant of Aaron, should come near to offer incense before the LORD, that he might not become like Korah and his companions, just as the LORD had said to him through Moses.
Even though they violated God’s order, they did things that caused their tools, the censers, to become set apart.  God still respected the use of the tools, and incorporated them into the work of the temple, and to function as a reminder of God’s judgement that day.  And Judson Cornwall tells us in “Incense and Insurrection” that bronze was used in the tabernacle in places that dealt with judgement, most notably the brazen altar, where God dealt with and judged the sins of Israel on all days, except for once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  He judged and acquitted at the brazen altar.  He judged Korah, and had that bronze attached to the brazen altar.  It was a memorial and a testimony that God had confirmed his word.

Okay, Lord, so I am ready to hear what you have to say, so say it.  Am I too late for this thing.  No, nothing is too late for You, and nothing is impossible for You.  I haven’t done certain things, and You know what is still lacking.  So, I ask you, to help me out here, and do what I cannot do.  If I am supposed to take that test and move or transfer because I am supposed to be in a different area, then let me know.   Help me, and lead me, instruct me in the way I am to go. If I am supposed to be in this realm, then let me know.  Finally, if I am doing the right thing right now, then please let me know that too.  Thank You for Your amazing patience and for Your grace in my life.  I appreciate what you have done for me.  I am very excited about what is in store for me.  Your will is to be done.

Today was a really weird day…

Okay, so after choir, I found myself in Sunday School class and made a little bit of a fool of myself.  Got into a heated disagreement with the teacher over the nature of people following their salvation.  I took one of my teachers’ positions on the nature of our identity in Christ.  A segment of people at our church, it seems, appear to believe in the existence of a dual redeemed-spiritual/fleshly-sinful nature in the believer, and use Romans 7 as their basis.  I was asked to leave the class.  May God forgive me for not conducting myself with more humility and temperance.  I will eat the humble pie given me.  God, I felt like such a hypocrite today.

You have no idea how frequently I deal with and fight those thoughts.  And how frequently that happens to believers.  We need to learn as believers, the measure of potential within us, and learn an attitude of consistency. We also need to give thought to the fact from Scripture is that, once redeemed, we are not this twisted, dualistic person with two natures.  This still fallen carnal sinful nature and this spiritual holy nature, both residing inside us.  Rather, from Scripture, it would seem, that the sins are erased and we are transformed into a new creation.  The blot of original sin and our nature is erased, and we are given a new nature.  The nature “in Christ.”  We are now reworked trash cans, or poor old sinners save by grace.

Now when the temptation to sin comes, that temptation comes from without, and we still live in the carnal world.  However, in the moment of our temptation (which is not the act of sinning), we have a choice.  We choose how we are going to respond to that temptation, which is external to us.  And we can choose every single time to sin, or not to sin.  Every single time.  And we can choose to live a life of humility in Christ 100 percent of the time, or we can choose to…whatever the temptation is, to yield to it.

The question is, as my friend Matt Barksdale used to say, when we co-led a bible study, “Whatcha gonna do?”

See this day, I have set before you a choice, living or dying, blessing or cursing.  Therefore, choose life.  Choose it, every single time.

On another topic…

I am somewhat convinced that some of my friends think I have gone off the deep end, applying to Yale Divinity School and all.  Some people have told me to “only go where the truth is preached.”  Odd thing about that advice is there is only one place where the truth really is preached, and that is at the throne room of Christ.  Others have said, “why Yale? Do you know how liberal it is out there? Do you know how many professors out there are ready to yadda yadda?”

On the other hand, I have had some very supportive people who have said that they always knew this about me, and like the idea of my application.  I have always known something since 2001 when Dr. Witek, my British Modernist Poetry professor said to me that I would make a great teacher.  I have known I would make quite a fit in the lecture hall, ready to mold the next generation of young minds who were going to go on to become the leaders of the world to come.

To those of you who have supported me, I appreciate your support.  To those of you who have questioned my intents or choices, I appreciate your willingness to be honest with me.

I hope we both like what we see, should I get accepted and a good scholarship, on the other side of this experience…

I am so ready and glad to step out into my calling that I can hardly wait another minute, let alone three months to find out if I have been accepted.

Besides the usual resolutions…


To the left is a picture of my wife, Kresha, and me at the home of a friend of ours.  We had just celebrated our 5th anniversary and my 30th birthday (both on the 14th).  


Last Sunday morning, she told me about some conviction she was experiencing in our life.  That is, she was planning all of these various good resolutions, which in and of themselves are good.  While preparing them, the Lord said to her, “these resolutions may be good to you, but this year, I want you to focus on Me.  Make your one resolution to know Me this coming year.”


This is what we have been failing to do in the past year.  We have been failing to make the Lord and our communiity’commmunion with him a priority.  Instead, we were chasing things like, “beat debt” and “burn fat.”  We have been seeking a revolutionized marriage without including him in the equation.  The focus had become the resolutions.


This year, our resolution is Psalm 27:4, as we have been hearing reiterated from the multitude of witnesses, not the least of which has been each other, our church, and Mike Bickle, among others.  It is our desire to “dwell in his house, and to gaze upon his beauty, and to inquire at his temple.” Our intent will be to make that the context for our other activity, and for me, not the least of which includes my blogging.  


I appreciate the few and far between visits my blog receives and trust it is as much a blessing to my readers as it is to me to publish it. 


I am honored to know several in the blogging community, notably Brian Fulthorp, Joel Watts, and to a much lesser extent, Jim West.  Their valuable insight has pushed me to the furthest ends of reflection on the things which matter most, and I am honored to call two of these friends.  


I look forward to the New Year, and the new challenges that come alongside it. 


May this year be the best yet, and in the words of one list, may we “live life to the fullest.”  Jim, my condolences on the loss of your grammatical sanity, as I know what constitutes this rankling.  

Not sure how I feel out this. It seems to me that Judaism is a bit of a mixed bag for the believer.  Even if that sounds like a contradiction for me to make, based on some of my previous sentiment.  I am always open to readjustment on these issues.


The following was from Aviad Cohen, the believing rapper and ex-Jew.  It would be interesting to know what some of my believing friends, both Jewish and non-Jewish, think about this.  Note, I stay away from the term Gentile.


I recieved this from a brother. It appears there is another witness to the Truth that I believe Yahweh is revealing concerning Messianic Judaism. Unleavened Torah is unleavened by both professing Christianity as well as Messianic Judaism and must be exposed. -bk

As for “Lashon Hara” that is from the oral traditions of man (Pharisees).
People in the movement told me to shut up about what I saw was really going on in the Todd Bentley false revival. They rebuked me and then emailed me a bit later to say they were sorry and that I was right. Some of you forget where I have come from. I know what all these forms of Judaism are and the road of destruction these sects lead people astray in. Funny, how the editor of Charisma called out everyone who was threatening and rebuking people who called out Todd Bentley’s ministry.
People were pushed to “not judge this move of God.” Now they realize they had no discernment. Again, if your heart is not in the right place, you follow man’s traditions, are involved in witchcraft – you will not have much discernment, if any at all. You will just feel puffed up. Match it up to the Scriptures. If someone starts justifying their traditions by certain things that are not in the Scriptures or if they are twisting Scripture to make it justify their Pharisaic traditions, you need to undertand the red flag there.


Thoughts???

I will be honest, I have been stuck in Leviticus for some time.  And, you know what, it’s really been a great eye-opener into the Scriptures.  Leviticus deals with everything relevant to the Levites, those descendants of Levi who shared the responsibility for the temple, and particularly those connected to Aaron and his lineage through Eleazar.  What has really blessed me in this reading is the casual friendship I have with one of my Facebook friends who is out in Chicago at their Divinity School, I presume, who happens to be Jewish.  He has spoken some things that were in part corrective to my understanding, and the understanding which is connected to our understanding as believers (note: I did not use the term Jew of Gentile there, because in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, ultimately, except as we self-designate). 

If we fail to embrace the Torah as believers, then we forget our history and the purpose of our L-rd.  The offerings expound, to the letter, what Jesus did.  Jesus was not only the burnt offering, wholly self-offered to the Father, for the joy set before himself,  he was also the sin offering, scapegoat, freewill offering, tresspass offering, grain offering, guilt offering, and fellowship offering. Every verse between Leviticus 1:1 and 7:21, Jesus fulfilled, operated, and functioned on our behalf, and on behalf of the nation of Israel, making completely unnessecary any sacrificial system for the Jews.  I know you will probably reply, “yeah, Dave, but He fulfilled everything.”  Those of  whose response is this are missing the point, and there are six and a half chapters you need to ingest and commit to memory.  This is one of the most critical parts of all Scripture for the purpose that it shows the full weight of what Jesus did in fact fulfill as the Messiah.  Verse by verse, read it and let it sink in.  

Repeatedely it says, :”a male without defect,” “an offering made by fire,” “an aroma pleasing to the L-rd,” skin it, “cut it in pieces,” “wash out and offer the very heart and soul of this creature on the altar,” “no mutilated sacrifices,” “an offering of fellowship,” “roast the grain in the fire,” “take eat, and drink, this is my body,” “perfection in both animal and priest, and “no uncleanness in the camp.”

Wow.  If this does not get your blood pumping, that Jesus did all of this for us, and created all sorts of doors for us open to the Father, that were better than the covenant under Moses, though he spoke with G-d face to face as a man speaks to his friend, then something drasitcally needs to happen in your heart.  

Moreover, I enjoyed this comment from the desk of Gary Shapiro, my Jewish friend, who said the following on a reading of Leviticus 19.

I read Lev 19 as a rich and powerful articulation of what it means to bring God’s holiness into all corners of life. Underlying this articulation is the affirmation (19:2) that it is possible (and commanded) to possess the same holiness which is God’s holiness.

It is possible to possess the same holiness that G-d possess.   Does that not just blow you away?  That really gets into me every time I read it.  Leviticus 19:2.  We are commanded to be holy, and the reason we are commanded to be holy is because He is holy.  He does not give us an easy path or set of directions that, when followed, will imbue us with holiness.  Rather, the L-rd gives us the illustration of Him as G-d and his own character and behavior as a model for us to follow.  We are to follow the creator of the universe who has enabled us to be holy.  Note, He did not say, DO holy.  He said, BE holy.  It is to be who we are, not merely something we do.  

 What I fail to get concerning Judaism is that since He is the L-rd and does not change, yet the sacrificial system seems to not have changed, at least as to it’s requirements, where does that leave Judaism.  If they are commanded to offer these sacrifices, and they are not doing so, where does that leave them.  Jesus offered the sacrifice for them, and, at least, from the writings of the New Testament, claimed to be the Messiah of the Jewish people, and indeed of all people, and perfectly, once and for all, fulfilled the requirements of the entire sacrificial system, where does that leave Jews as Jews.  I would suggest that that leaves them in the perfect, albiet uncomfortable and offensive position of accepting Jesus for whom He claims to be and in fact is: the Messiah of the Jews and the perfect sacrifice for all sins.  If they accept Him, He will take care of, indeed has already taken care of the system, making it unnecessary.  The New Testament book of Hebrews makes this clear, and was written to bear witness to the Hebrews, the Jewish people, concerning the Messianic prophecies.  If this is the case, I would even push the envelope one level further and say, at the risk of offending some of my Jewish brethren that, except one receive the Jewish Messiah, one cannot be truly Jewish in ones heart, no matter the nationality, genealogy, the forms of worship, and the culture. 
  
That is, without Jesus, there is no real Judaism, since Judaism is marked by the sacrificial system, which he satisfied. 

No, this is not replacement theology.  This is Roman 11 speaking.  I have been grafted in, and the bible speaks of addition theology.  That is, that believers are grafted into Israel by faith, as Abraham was made righteous, or as we call it in Jewish terms of Leviticus 19, holy. 

X-mas or Christmas