But if we doubt and disobey Him, the consequences may be serious and irreversible. The Assyrians deported the population en masse from its homeland in Canaan, transplanting it virtually in toto to the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. This is why He calls idolatry "adultery." Daughters, in Ezekiel 16:44-48, includes everybody within the city. 31-33). 31). (From Forerunner Commentary). The same is true of God when we cheat on him. In Ezekiel 16:46-51,56, God not only compares Jerusalem to both Samaria and Sodom, but He judges it to be more immorally vile than even those two well-publicized examples of ancient sin run wild! Questions about Faithfulness - As He Leads is Joy What we may not realize is that Why? Oh that I had in the desertA wayfarers lodging place;That I might leave my peopleAnd go from them!For all of them are adulterers,An assembly of treacherous men. 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. Creating a relationship with a supernatural other takes effort that can lead to meaningful change, says . Joshua 6:17 And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the . For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the Lord. In the past, we have been taught that this refers to the Roman Catholic Church. God had left these leaders of physical Israel in Moses' seat, but they beat His true servants and even rejected His Son. Yes! They will play the harlot, but not increase, Because they have stopped giving heed to the. After living in Egypt for 430 years, the children of Israel were rescued by God from slavery. If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemiesor if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. In the same book, He calls Jerusalem "Sodom and Egypt"! 3:17-18). All of the members of His Father's houseall His brothers and sisterscan confidently look to Him for stability and support, yet one of His main purposes has been to glorify HisourFather. We must not fail as Israel did, for the stakes for us are much greater. Thus, the least of all peoples had a faithful seed (beginning), and this seed likewise grew because of faith. Avoid the sorrow and frustration of missing Gods plan by being diligent about growing your faith. Jacob would dress like Esau and take the food to Isaac so he would get the blessing instead of Esau.) Jerusalem remains distinct as she whose Husband is the One God, Yahweh. If I have put my confidence in gold,And called fine gold my trust, If I have gloated because my wealth was great,And because my hand had secured so much; If I have looked at the sun when it shoneOr the moon going in splendor,read more.And my heart became secretly enticed,And my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, That too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment,For I would have denied God above. There are many things he could have gone into in great and specific detail, but he gives an overview of how they turned away from the one way that God showed to them. They caused others to suffer. Psalm 78:39-42 reveals ancient Israel's forgetfulness: For He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again. Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is . No, both. They made things worse by trying to correct their disobedience without the help of God. Its first human king, Saul, even protested that he was from the smallest tribe, and his family was the least of all the families (I Samuel 9:21). In the first metaphor, God is a faithful husband, and in the second, a loving and long-suffering parent. Whose house we are is a solemn reminder of our responsibilities to Christ in this deceptively perilous time. In the pressure of battle, it does not shoot arrows where the archer aims them. A marriage covenant implies an intimacy limited only to those making the covenant. God did this so the church can make better sense of what is happening regarding the fulfillment of prophecy as the return of Christ approaches. . Assyria, a kingdom known as much for its innovative weapons as for their brutal implementation, conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 718 BC. They believed the world's word and practiced as it did, thus rejecting God and His Word. Conversely, evangelical writers and a few mainstream groups focus exclusively on the tiny nation of Israel in the Middle East. It may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. yielded to fear and refused to obey the Lord. However, under the tests of life, she did not behave like a faithful wife. . Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. In the end of this age weJesuss churchwill prepare ourselves for our Savior, made ready and beautifully dressed for our betrothed. How have you been affected by someone elses disobedience. Two thousand six hundred years later, at the time of the end, we find Israelitish people scattered all over the world and a small number of Jews back in the ancestral homeland God originally gave to all the tribes of Israel. Nehemiah's prayer to God showsa legal description of what literally happened in real life and real times. Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right. Therefore thus says the Lord God, Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand along with some of the articles from the temple of God. It shall come about when they say, Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? then you shall say to them, As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.. God specifically draws attention to idolatry and Sabbath-breaking as powerful irritants to His relationship with Israel. However, the key to understanding the significance of Israel's demand in I Samuel 8 is that she desires a king just like the other nations. In other words, a "mystery"in the biblical sense, in the Greek senseis something that is unattainable by common human research but is revealed by God so that His children, His people, can understand. Thus Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel. Where Is the Beast? The relationship God entered into with Israeland now with usinvolved an intimacy normally associated only within marriage. Everybody can relate to it. In Lamentations 3:51, God also refers to all of Jerusalem's inhabitants, male and female, as "daughters." The Great Harlot of Revelation 17 and 18 is not a Gentile church or a Gentile nation because neither of these has ever qualified for that title by corrupting a covenant relationship with God as Israel has. 29-30). These verses put Israel's conduct into a perspective that we find difficult to accept, but it is true nonethelessit is God's own judgment and testimony! A primary characteristic of adultery is faithlessness. Even today, mustard plants in the area of modern Israel are found with branches an inch in diameter. The Word of God helps us to remember God's faithfulness, giving us continued confidence in His goodness. When we rebel against, or depart from, it is not against or from some dead doctrine, but it is from a living and dynamic Being - the Father or the Son. John W. Ritenbaugh He was faithful in praying and remaining being faithful landed him in the middle of a lion's den. Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood. And he said, You have acted treacherously; roll a great stone to me today.. Is Pain Punishment for My Sin? | Desiring God This usage does not mean that the mustard seed is faith, but faith is nevertheless a component of the growth or increase to which Jesus refers in the symbol of the seed. When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, he and all Israel with him forsook the law of the Lord. And they do. She revealed her infidelity in the wreckage of millions of her citizen's marriages and child-training practices. For they provoked Him with their high placesAnd aroused His jealousy with their graven images.read more.When God heard, He was filled with wrathAnd greatly abhorred Israel; The wicked is a ransom for the righteous,And the treacherous is in the place of the upright. The prophet is especially creative in metaphorically describing Israel's spiritual condition and relationship with God. The Berean: Daily Verse and Comment Sign up for the Berean: Daily Verse and Comment, and have Biblical truth delivered to your inbox. LIVE: Daily Mass at the Manila Cathedral presided by Fr. They can be presented with proof, not from the Bible, but from the worldfrom historical researches and suchand they still do not believe it. The primary one is Israel as a faithless wife, and the secondary one is Israel as a rebellious child (rebelling against God's law). She quickly broke her vows to be submissive to Him and Him only, and unfaithfully behaved worse than a common street harlot. Israel's insatiable curiosity and the desire for variety and control continuously led them astray. And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunders, until He had cast them from His sight. The ten-tribed nation of Israel in the north, dominated by the Joseph tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, had its capital city in Samaria. Ezekiel's charge from God is to judge (to pronounce judgments on Israel on God's behalf), to tell them plainly why they went into captivity. In defiance of God, Israel has rebelled against her responsibilities and played the harlot with the world. What does the Bible say about faithfulness? tested Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. (Part Seven). God's judgment was occasioned by Israel departing from duties agreed to in a contract, the Covenant. God did not marry just Jerusalem; He married all of Israel. (verses 9-11). For why should you die, O house of Israel? The chief priests and Pharisees perceived He was talking of them (verse 45). He calls Judah's unfaithfulness, her idolatry, her spiritual adultery "treachery." And so the inhabitants of Jerusalem showed the characteristics of Jerusalem. This enraged them to the point of trying to kill Christ on the spot (verse 46). For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. It is not that other nations do not have these characteristics, but Israel has less excuse to be this way because God gave the Israelites His Word. It is spiritual in nature. No. Here, clearly stated, is cause and effect. Despite the commands of her Husband, Israel simply did whatever she wanted to do, when she wanted to do it, and how she wanted to do it. God entered into no other relationship with any other nation in all of the history of mankind. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. At the end of the seventh century BC, He raised up and sent the Babylonian nation to conquer and take the Jews into captivity. . John W. Ritenbaugh They cheat on him. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. They are designed to ensure that the king does not elevate himself above the people and rule as a despot. God praises him in various ways, but especially for being courageous. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested and will have tribulation ten days. Had the making of the covenant been a literal marriage between two humans, her conduct would have been as God called it, harlotry. When we come to God, the process of forsaking the world begins. The Protestant churches that revolted from the Catholic Church were certainly not unfaithful to God as churches. Ezekiel 33:10-11 clarifies and adds emphasis to this: Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: "Thus you say, 'If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?'" Israel rejected God and His way right from the beginning of their relationship. Aside from this parable, His only other mention of a mustard seed relates to faith (Matthew 17:20; Luke 17:6). Then we will unite with Jesus and live with him forever. I thought, After she has done all these things she will return to Me; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. How degenerate is you heart!" Notice, however, Revelation 11:8: "And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." Almost all Protestants claim, as Herbert Armstrong did, that the Woman is the Roman Catholic Church, against which they have a prejudice. of believing that His promise was certain, they made the biggest mistake of their lives by listening to the wrong voices and rejecting the Lord and His land. . us. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord God.. This sermon was recorded before COVID-19. She rejects her divine Husband as her Ruler because she wants a king "just like" the other nations. Because they never entered into a covenant with Him! Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say. Haggai received the last two prophecies on the same day. We are beginning to see that the term "wife" can include both male and female people, depending on the context in which it appears. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do as their fathers. Colossians 3:15 says, "Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart.". God does with us individually as He was willing to do with Israel and Judah as nations. Return, O faithless sons, declares the Lord;For I am a master to you,And I will take you one from a city and two from a family,And I will bring you to Zion.. 2 Corinthians 3:18. This third point is central because Jesus uses birds as a symbol for Satan and his demons (Matthew 13:19). What scriptural truths about the Lord could Why? declares the, Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the, For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the, But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the, For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the. Each in the name of his god, As for us, we will walk. For by it the people of old received their commendation. . God is not looking for perfect people, He is simply searching for those who will be devoted to Him. Is it really wild, unjust, and perhaps outright wrong that God could refer to Israel as a great prostitute, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots? Virtually the entire Bible is devoted to God's purpose for and relationship to Israel and the church. Israel alone of all nations has rightly earned the title "the Great Whore," as she alone came to know God through His revelation of Himself to her. This new way of living is not just about submitting to God's moral code. . Hebrews 3:8-11 summarizes the matter: "In the day of trial in the wilderness, [the children of Israel] . . They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. . Because of the peoples' recalcitrance, God withheld His blessings, ultimately separating Himself from them by casting them out of the land He had promised the patriarchs. But they will find no effects of godly spiritualityrighteousness, justice, and mercy. Ezekiel 16:53-55 describes the Jews coming back to their former estate in Jerusalem. Your duty is to obey and pray for godly church leaders. You have loved harlots earnings on every threshing floor. Then we forget His past faithfulness to us, develop a distorted view of the situation, and back away in fear from the opportunities God places before us. We all know the perversity of Sodom's sins. God is speaking about the two nations, Israel and Judah. Our stakes are much higher: This is addressed to "Christ's house.". Although Moses interceded for Israel, and God pardoned them for their sin, the severe consequences of their disobedience remained. This word then parallels Daniel 12:10, which says that at the end "the wise shall understand." Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. The penalty for their disobedience was death. The book of Hosea's dominant theme is Israel's faithlessness. In Psalm 27:4, David adds that he did this "all the days of my life. For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness. When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled.read more.Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering. God is represented as the husband of His people. So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'". So Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. When someone commits an act that breaks trust, it is an act of infidelity. She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. Though she transgressed every commandment in multiple ways, collectively, the spiritual sin through which her unfaithfulness is most frequently demonstrated is gross idolatry. The title is of little importance. However, God dealt somewhat differently with the Jews. This verse is written to Christians and hinges on the word if. See what over 150,000 subscribers are already receiving each day. Her sins are described in sexual terms because sexual sins are the most common way infidelity in marriage is shown to the public. Would he be pleased with you? A child shows the characteristics of its parents regardless if it is a male or female. Charles F. Stanley is the founder of In Touch Ministries, and a New York Times best-selling author. The Beast and Babylon (Part Six): The Woman's Character. This daily newsletter provides a starting point for personal study, and gives valuable insight into the verses that make up the Word of God. Both the Tabernacle and Temple featured such pegs (Exodus 27:19; 38:20), and Ezra, reflecting on God's graciousness, refers to being given a peg in His holy place (Ezra 9:8). As the Bible has recorded in great detail, mankind has shown that it wants to retain this authority to itself. The Israelites were taken into captivity, became assimilated amongst their conquerors, and migrated with them as time went on. so the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse." Who Are the 'Guests at the Wedding'? They believed the world's word and practiced as it did, thus rejecting God and His Word. . Faith in a time of crisis - American Psychological Association (APA) This enemy has attacked the Word of God from the beginning (Genesis 3:1-5). In a literal family, God could have expected a happy marriage and children from her (Isaiah 5:1-2). We need to set the record straight. 3. Signs of Not Trusting God (Genesis 27) | Bible.org When others look for proof of this great nation's fate, they will find all the accouterments of opulence, luxury, self-indulgence, indolenceproducts of their self-concern and self-satisfaction. What are the causes of adversity, and how should we view it? They were like a wife to the Lord. Metaphorically speaking, as Jesuss followers, we will collectively become his bridethe bride of Christ. Subscribe to print, email, and mobile updates and well send free resources directly to your home and inbox. Additionally, God shows Israel committing spiritual adultery by trusting in other nations rather than God (Isaiah 31:1-3), and the destroyed bed and couch would depict His destruction of the nation for her unfaithfulness. 1:4 ), Peter also warns us to be sober and alert against Satan's devices ( 1 Pet. However, to seek God diligently by faith is the opposite of Israel's destructive process. Nor does the widows plea come before them. He must comprehensively know that his own nature is just like those he serves and be humbled. The condition, however, is repentancereal change in attitude and behavior. Now the word mystery is Strong's #3466 in the combined Strong's Concordance and Vine's Expository Dictionary. Thus in Revelation 17:5, "harlots" is to be understood as including men involved in what the Bible specifies as harlotry. This serves as a warning. Proverbs 28:20a - "A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished." Revelation 2:10 - (NKJV) "Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover,So you have dealt treacherously with Me,O house of Israel, declares the Lord. There Are Consequences For Not Trusting God's Plan However, the citizens of the nations of Israel were certainly unfaithful to God within a covenant relationship. Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Like an inexperienced and immature teenager, Israel usually believed she knew better than the Creator. We need to set the record straight. . Caleb and Joshua encouraged the people to trust God and warned them not to rebel against Him or fear the people of the land since the Lord was for the Israelites and had removed protection from their enemies (vv. God is relating what Judah did after it saw that Israel had gone into captivity for its sins. Being faithful to someone involves being truthful, consistent, and available. Kyiv has made "steady gains" around the Russian-held city of Bakhmut as Moscow's soldiers struggle with "poor morale . Putting it all "in God's hands." Staff Can we see the way "daughters" is used? All rights reserved. Today marks the 500th day of war in Ukraine and fierce fighting is continuing. Peter's Newsletter: Peter's weekly newsletteroffers encouragement and updates on his latest news. They are the focus of God's intention to reproduce Himself, beginning with His promises and then His covenant with Abraham. Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say,Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord;I will not look upon you in anger.For I am gracious, declares the Lord;I will not be angry forever. . Yet, the naked truth is we cannot retain sovereignty to ourselves and still have what God is offering, entrance into the spiritual Kingdom of God. If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me. In Psalm 78:10-11, 40-42, 56-57, the psalmist mentions that Ephraim (meaning Israel at large). In Revelation 17:5, "harlot" is to be understood as including men too, involved in what the Bible specifies as "harlotry," something that in normal circumstances would only be said of a female, but biblically includes both men and women. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. Historically, this date has been highly significant on several occasions. It does not take a lot of brain power, but it takes instead a gift from God to believe, which His children will do. It was Israel's unbelief that was the breeding ground for her capriciousness. It shall come about if you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. LIVE: Daily Mass - July 03, 2023 (7:30am) - Facebook Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver." Spiritually, this demand confirms Israel's whorish behavior, and thus God tells Samuel to describe the national effects of her demand. Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding. When Moses told the people of the Lords decree, they mourned God entered into no other like relationship with any other nation or people in all the history of mankind. Hate evil, love good; establish justice in the gate. . But they became disobedient and rebelled against You,And cast Your law behind their backsAnd killed Your prophets who had admonished themSo that they might return to You,And they committed great blasphemies. Symbolically, adultery is used to express unfaithfulness to God, and we can easily see this in Israel's idolatry. However, after 70 years, because of prophecies involving the coming Messiah to come out of Judah, a remnant of Jews returned to Judea, reestablishing themselves as a nation in Palestine. The fact that we may be doing God's will should not lead us to expect God will prevent us from facing the consequences imposed by the powers that be.

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