2 Peter 2: The Way of Balaam

Today’s reading is 2 Peter 2.

Peter’s descriptions of the false teachers in 2 Peter 2 are as creative as they are intense. We could spend pages and pages walking through each description. However, I want to home in on one allusion. This reference highlights the slippery slope even we in Christ can be on if we let our motivation shift from glorifying God to promoting our own gain.

In 2 Peter 2:15-16, Peter says the false teachers had forsaken and gone astray from the right way and instead “followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing” (ESV). Peter calls to mind events recorded in Numbers 22-25.

Though not part of Israel, Balaam was a prophet God had used. Apparently, God had used him in mighty ways which had been evident to Balak. “For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed,” Balak says to Balaam in Numbers 22:6. Of course, Balak didn’t realize the promise God had given Abraham to bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. If Balaam cursed Israel, Balaam and the one hiring him would be cursed.

God tells Balaam not to go with Balak’s servants. However, Balak sent more envoys. Balaam demonstrated he really wanted to go. He wanted the money. God permitted Balaam to go. However, the story reveals God saw beneath the external behaviors and recognized Balaam’s motivation wasn’t true obedience. God had already told Balaam not to go with Balak’s envoys. He shouldn’t have even sought permission the second time. God demonstrated he didn’t see this as true obedience by sending an angel to stand in Balaam’s way. Balaam was saved by his donkey. Certainly, a quick read through of Numbers 22:34-35 seems like Balaam desires to submit to God. But consider again what is happening there. Why would Balaam even need to say, “If it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” The evil of it had already been demonstrated. He should have simply turned back. He didn’t need to announce his willingness if God really wanted it. It was as if Balaam was giving God another chance to change His mind.

While the story is odd, God was allowing events to transpire in such a way that He could demonstrate Balaam’s desire to get paid and reluctant obedience while at the same time accomplishing the great blessing on Israel He wanted Balaam to give. That is exactly what happened. Despite Balak’s pleas for Balaam to curse Israel and despite Balaam’s repeated attempts to get God to curse Israel, God had Balaam bless Israel. And Balaam did follow the letter of that blessing law. He knew the rules. He couldn’t say anything but what God told him to say. He toed that one line, but love for gain was going to overcome his seeming technical obedience.

Numbers 31:16 provides some insight into the Israelite idolatry of Numbers 25:1-9. Balaam had refused to curse Israel. He had kept the letter of God’s “say only what I tell you” law. However, he had advised the Moabites and Midianites to lure Israel into immorality with their daughters, prompting them to follow them into idolatry. He wouldn’t directly curse Israel, but he advised Balak what to do so Israel would experience cursing. But, it didn’t last long. Israel still conquered the Midianites in Numbers 31 and Balaam was killed at the same time.

Peter’s allusion to Balaam highlights a real danger for us. We like to play mind games. We are good at thinking we can find loopholes. Balaam thought he could have his cake and eat it too. He thought he could somehow obey God while still getting paid by Balak. He tried to keep one foot in both camps, if you will. If we are not careful, we can get caught up in the same kind of games with God.

Balaam knew the rules. In hopes to get God’s reward, he would try to walk a fine line of rule following. But he really wanted the world’s goods. He really wanted what Balak had to offer. Peter, of course, is saying the false teachers are like Balaam. However, we should recognize the false teachers like Balaam have the most success influencing Christians who are like Balaam. These Christians have the same approach to spirituality. More concerned with avoiding hell and gaining heaven than with truly being devoted to God, they try to delineate the rules they believe have to be followed. They even do their best to keep those rules. But they really want what the world offers. They really want to please their fleshly passions. They really want to get away with as much sensuality as they think God might just allow but still let them into heaven.

Remember what Jesus said. We can’t serve two masters (see Matthew 6:24). One will win out. When Balaam advised Balak to tempt Israel to immorality and idolatry, his fleshly desires, waging war within him, won out. Of course, the Israelites succumbed to the temptation because they struggled with the same weakness Balaam did. They wanted the Promised Land, but they also wanted to fulfill their fleshly passions. The same thing can happen to us. If we do little more than pursue external shifts in behavior, trying to measure up to a set of rules we think will give us entrance to the eternal kingdom, we will not succeed. The changes which need to take place in our lives go far beyond external behaviors. We are to change at the very core of our being. Our attitudes, outlooks, priorities, perspectives, and values must change.

When we realize this, we come face to face with why we need the power and promise of God to grow us to partake in His divine nature. If all I had to do was change a few external behaviors, I might be able to pull that off. But change at a core level? I’ll never make that happen. I need God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to make that happen. This is why we spend time in the Word, in prayer, in worship, and with the saints. We don’t do these things because they are rules to follow to get into heaven. We do these things because through them we connect to the God who has given us all we need. Through them we respond to God’s offered grace. Through them we access the strength God is promising.

Don’t take the way of Balaam. Take the way of Christ. One master. One Lord. Yes, we’ll stumble, fumble, falter, and fall at times. But like Peter did when he sank in the sea of Galilee, we can cry out to Jesus and He will deliver us. After all, as we’ve learned repeatedly this week, He knows how.

Tomorrow’s reading is 2 Peter 2.

PODCAST!!!

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PATHS:
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How does 2 Peter 2 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Psalm 109: Blessing and Cursing

Today’s reading is Psalm 109.

Oh No! Another IMprecatory Psalm!

Here we are again face to face with one of those disturbing psalms often called imprecatory. That is, a psalm which calls down the cursing of God on others. When Jesus, on the cross, prayed, “Father, forgive them,” we can hardly understand how in another place we see a psalm that begs, “Father, punish them.” And this one begs for that in the most shocking and, to modern sensitivities, horrifying ways.

However, right out of the gate, let’s recognize calling the psalm an imprecation is slightly misleading. The psalmist doesn’t actually curse anyone. The psalmist actually prays to God. To be sure, the psalmist asks God to bring curses on to the enemy (see Psalm 109:17). This, however, is precisely the point. The psalmist himself does not take vengeful action. The psalmist does not even speak curses to the ones falsely accusing him. Rather, the psalmist speaks to God and leaves vengeance up to Him.

In fact, the psalmist says he gives himself to prayer (Psalm 109:4). Even should that notion of prayer include the prayer like the one we are reading in Psalm 109, the point is the psalmist talks to God about the situation. He does not take up arms against his enemies and false accusers. He determines God knows the right thing to do and leaves it up to Him.

A Covenant Promise

We have noticed before, though it has obviously been some time ago, all imprecations in the psalms should be read through the lens of the very first one. In Psalm 7:12, David prayed, “If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword…” (ESV). God Himself explains in Ezekiel 18:23, He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He wants even the wicked to repent and live. God does not want to bring curses on the wicked. He wants them to repent and find blessing (cf. Psalm 32:1-2). We are like God when we want that same thing. Those who refuse to repent, however, wrongly presume on the kindnesses of God and instead need to recognize God’s judgment will come upon them. With this in mind, all of the biblical imprecations, including this week’s, are prayed against those seen as actively impenitent, stubborn, and rebellious.

Let us take this a step farther. Because we tend to summarize God’s promises to Abraham in three easy to remember promises: 1) Land, 2) Nation, and 3) Seed, we forget some important aspects of the covenant. In Genesis 12:3, God explicitly says as part of His covenant with Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse” (ESV). When Isaac reiterated the blessing and passed it on to his son Jacob, he said, “Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” (Genesis 27:29, ESV). When Balak tried to get Balaam to curse Israel, Balaam instead said of Israel, “Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you” (Numbers 24:9, ESV).

The psalmist is simply asking the Lord to fulfill His covenant promise. His enemy “loved to curse” (vs. 17). He “clothed himself with cursing” (vs. 18). The question then becomes, do we take God’s promises to Abraham seriously? If we want the land, nation, and seed promises to be true, we need to recognize the truth of this promise as well.

Those who curse the Lord’s anointed people will not escape. If they curse and refuse to repent, they will be cursed. When the Lord’s people suffer under the hands of those who curse, we can take comfort knowing God will keep His promises. It is right for the Lord to bring cursing on those who refuse to repent from their own cursing. Further, we pray this because we trust God is the only one who knows rightly when cursing is the right response. Thus, by praying a prayer like Psalm 109, trust God to do the right thing. And, yes, we can then pray these prayers in Jesus Christ that God will keep His promise to curse those who curse us in Jesus Christ.

Praise the Lord!

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 109 prompt or improve your praise of God?

Revelation 16: Judgment on All the Gods

Today’s reading is Revelation 16.

Getting Back to Where We Started

Before I make the point of today’s post, we have to go all the way back to the beginning of Revelation. Recall, Revelation 1:4:

John to the seven churches that are in Asia… (ESV).

John wrote this letter to seven churches in Asia. No doubt, like all the books in our New Testament, it was ultimately to be read, studied, and applied by all churches of all times. But the letter is specifically to those churches.

Further, let’s recall at least two of the specific messages given to two of those congregations:

I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality (Revelation 2:14, ESV–to Pergamum).

But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols (Revelation 2:20, ESV–to Thyatira).

These Asian saints were being tempted to put other gods up on the dais with YHWH. One congregation even had a teacher calling herself a prophetess. She was claiming to speak from God while pointing the congregation to idols.

The Plagues on Egypt

With the messages in the early part of Revelation fresh in our mind, we turn back to Revelation 16. We reread the seven plagues. We remember God’s plagues on Egypt. Then we recall a statement God made smack in the middle of that battle.

For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD (Exodus 12:12, ESV).

In case we missed this one, God said it again in Numbers 33:3-4:

On the day after the Passover, the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them. On their gods also the LORD executed judgments (ESV).

The plagues were not merely a judgment on Pharaoh. They were not merely a judgment on the Egyptians. They were a judgment on the Egyptian gods. The plagues themselves attacked the provinces of Egyptian gods. Those gods could do nothing about the attacks of YHWH.

CoNsider the Frogs

After the Nile, itself connected to Egyptian deities, was turned to blood, Moses called forth a plague of frogs. One goddess connected to frogs was Heqet. She was a goddess of fertility and childbirth. She was considered connected to one of the Nile gods. After all, when the Nile would flood, you’d expect more frogs, wouldn’t you?

Under the sixth bowl (Revelation 16:12-16), though the plague is not specifically one of frogs, John’s vision calls the frog plague to mind. John wrote:

And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world… (ESV).

As the frogs in Exodus 8:6 covered the whole land of Egypt, the three frogs of Revelation 16 go abroad through the whole world. Their propaganda covers all the land.

I am intrigued when I go back to the Egyptian plagues. In Exodus 8:6, “Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt” (ESV). But then in Exodus 8:7, “the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt” (ESV). That is, the magicians performed signs which deceived Pharaoh and Egypt. They could copy the miracle themselves. Back in Revelation we are told the three frogs were demonic spirits performing signs deceiving all the kings of the whole world.

However, here’s the thing. Sure, the magicians could produce more frogs. I guess that’s amazing. But what good was it? They couldn’t get rid of the frogs. Heqet was useless to them. They could not call on their god to deliver them. In fact, it was not until Moses asked YHWH to remove the frogs that they went away.

All of the plagues were like this. Each of them demonstrated YHWH’s superiority over those false gods who were not gods at all. At the most, they were demonic spirits given freedom to work for a time. At the least, they were figments of the imagination created in the minds of people.

The Message for the Seven Churches

Pergamum and Thyatira, and the other churches as well, needed to perk up their ears. They seemed to believe no harm would come from compromising with the pagan gods. In fact, they may have believed positive blessing would come from it.

However, these bowls of wrath reminding us of God’s judgment on Israel make the point loud and clear. When the judgment falls, the false gods will be judged. Those who follow them will also be judged.

We can’t serve two masters. If we try, we must know one of them will be judged in the end. We will be judged alongside it.

The Lord, He is God. Let us permit no others on the dais with Him.

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 16.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
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How does Revelation 16 prompt or improve your trust in God?

Revelation 11: Heroes to Emulate

Today’s reading is Revelation 11.

And the Two Witnesses Are…

Drum roll, please…

…

Nobody.

And everybody.

Most folks today search the history books or the newspapers trying to identify two particular men who are these witnesses. However, I don’t think John is trying to send us on either of those wild goose chases. Rather, these two men do not represent two particular individuals. Instead, they represent the kind of person Jesus is calling all His followers to be. They are are not two individuals to be discovered but two ideals to be emulated. By the way, I love this concept of emulation in Revelation which I’m stealing from David A. deSilva’s book Seeing Things John’s Way: The Rhetoric of the Book of Revelation (usual caveats apply).

Faithful Witnesses in REvelation

The message to the angel of the church at Smyrna called those Christians to be “faithful unto death” (Revelation 2:10). While Pergamum had incredible struggles, they had stood up well in the days of “Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells” (Revelation 2:13). Despite the false reputation of the church in Sardis, some had not soiled their garments and would “walk with me in white” (Revelation 3:4). Further, they were promised that those who conquered would “be clothed thus in white garments” (Revelation 3:5). When the fifth seal was opened in Revelation 6:9-11, we discover the ones dressed in white are those who “had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne” (ESV).

In the initial messages to the seven churches and then as Revelation progressed through its apocalyptic narrative, the stage was well set for these two men in Revelation 11. They don’t represent particular individuals. They represent God’s people at their finest. They represent what Christ is calling His people to be and do. Two of the churches needed to hold fast and continue being these men. The other five needed to repent and become these men.

Balaam and Jezebel

When John rebuked Pergamum, he particularly called the church to repent of its Balaamite teaching. In Numbers 22-24, Balaam tried to curse Israel, but was prevented. Instead, according Numbers 31:16, Balaam advised the Midianites how to lead the Israelites astray bringing a plague on Israel at Peor (Numbers 25). Under Moses’s command, Balaam was killed in battle in Numbers 31:8.

When John rebuked Thyatira, he particularly called the false prophetess among them Jezebel. Jezebel was the foreign wife of Ahab who led him further astray into idolatry, killed Naboth, and killed prophets of God (1 Kings 16-21). This all happened in the days of Elijah who had a famous battle against the Baal prophets under Jezebel.

Recognize this connection. When the churches are called to repentance, they are rebuked for being like Balaam and Jezebel. When we see the two faithful witnesses, they are pictured as the prophets directly in battle with these two: Moses and Elijah.

Could the point be more clear? Repent of being Balaam and Jezebel. Instead, be like Moses and Elijah. Be faithful even unto death and God will give you the crown of life.

The Sixth Seal and the Sixth Trumpet

I can’t help but notice how parallel the sixth seal and the sixth trumpet are.

When the sixth seal is opened, judgment comes upon the enemies of God (Revelation 6:12-17). When the sixth trumpet is blown an army is sent in judgment on the world, killing a third of mankind (Revelation 9:13-19).

After the breaking of the sixth seal, the four angels who will be instruments of judgment are told to hold back until God’s faithful are sealed (Revelation 7:1-3). When the sixth trumpet is blown, the four angels are released (Revelation 9:14-16).

In the time of the sixth seal, the servants of God receive the protecting seal on their foreheads (Revelation 7:3-8). In the time of the sixth trumpet, the worshipers of God are measured behind God’s protecting measurement (Revelation 11:1-3).

Under the sixth seal, John sees those who had been killed for the witness they bore (cf. Revelation 6:9-11) clothed in white and worshiping before the throne and before the Lamb (Revelation 7:9-17). Under the sixth trumpet, John sees witnesses slain for their testimony, but then resurrected and called up to the throne room of God (Revelation 11:7-12).

As we see the parallels, we recognize these two witnesses do not represent anyone in particular anymore than the souls under the altar represented anyone in particular. Both the souls under the altar and the two witnesses represent the same thing: what Jesus is calling all His disciples to be and do.

These are the ideal heroes to be emulated. May we do so.

But We Don’t Consume People with Fire

Of course, let’s address the pink elephant in the room with what I’ve presented. Other than Elijah and Moses, we haven’t seen anyone of God’s people actually do the things described in Revelation 11:5-6. In fact, when the brother apostles James and John (yes, the John who is recording this apocalypse) asked to be able to do so, Jesus rebuked them saying that isn’t what His kingdom is like (Luke 9:54-55).

Not only do I not think these two witnesses represent two literal people either in our history or our future, I don’t think their actions represent what disciples literally do. In Jeremiah 5:14, God speaks of Jeremiah’s prophesying this way, “Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts: ‘Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them. Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, declares the LORD” (ESV). Fire went forth from Jeremiah’s mouth to consume the people, but not literally. His warnings were fire and the people were consumed because they didn’t listen. The consuming happened when God sent His judgment upon them. In like manner, these two witnesses prophesy and warn. They call fire down, but not literally. Their words are fire and the enemies are consumed when God brings His judgment against them as seen in Revelation 11:13.

Again, the two witnesses are not individuals to be discovered but ideal heroes to be emulated. Let us imitate them.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 11 prompt or improve your trust in God?