Hi all,
Last week, I shared how Israel received much less of a revelation of God than we who have Jesus have received. The Father spoke ‘in many ways and parts’ in times past to ancient Israel, but in these last days has revealed His Son: “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” (John 14:9) Israel didn’t have that.
The Mosaic Law was a revelation in 3 categories:
Worship, moral, and sanitary in 613 laws. When talking about behavior, Paul writes of the moral law. The 613 laws of Moses were summarized in the 10 Commandments. Those 10 were summarized in 2 parts; The first four had to do with loving God. The last six had to do with loving your neighbor; the lead command in that section was ‘honor your father and mother.’ The remaining commands not to lie, murder, steal, lust, commit adultery flow from first honoring mom and dad. Mark 12: 28-31
When God issued to Israel what was to them brand new revelations about God’s standards, He made examples of people when they chose to break those laws. Once the law was given, judgement had to be according to that law. It’s like a parent threatening to discipline a child harshly, though that’s not their nature. Once they lay down the threat, they must follow through. If they don’t, they teach the child to obey, but they train them that mom and dad aren’t people of their word. God IS His word, so once the law was given, He had to follow through with discipline.
Among the examples God made of people under the category of worship:
Korah and 250 Levites, who challenged the order of the priesthood in Numbers 16. The ground opened up and swallowed them. Another example is Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons who offered ‘strange fire’ on the altar and were immediately executed by the Lord.
An example made of breaking the moral law was the man gathering firewood on the Sabbath. Numbers 15: 31-36. God had just finished telling them the consequences of breaking the law in v31, but the man ignored God and purposely broke the command. He was stoned to death.
God has made an example to us of our past mistakes and His grace towards us
We too have had tough times, and like Israel, He forgives us our sin, but He allowed us to suffer the consequences of our own poor decisions as examples that we not go that way again. And perhaps more importantly, to see His grace, to see from what we’ve been saved.
He forgives us our sins, but allows us to retain the memory of past sins and mistakes in judgment that they may be examples to us, that we might learn from them. Our lives, past and present, are examples not just to us, but for others, as seen in the Great Commission:
“Go therefore and teach all nations…teaching them to observe all things I’ve commanded you…” Matthew 28: 19-20. That means our lives are examples God uses to teach others His ways, to bring them to Him.
Paul said his past life and grace shown him was an example for all:
In I Timothy 1: 12-16 he wrote that he was ‘chief’ among sinners because he persecuted the church. He said he received mercy because of 2 things: One, because he persecuted the church in ignorance and unbelief; Two, that the Lord wanted to make his life an example and pattern for those who would come to the Lord as a result.
Paul said he was ‘chief’ among sinners. He used the Greek word ‘protos’, which means first, foremost, leading. Each person with a past carries in their mind an idea of what ‘bad’ sins are, and very often those ideas of ‘bad’ sins are sins they have done before or even after coming to know the Lord. But Paul said him persecuting the church made him chief among sinners – the first and foremost of sinners.
The word translated ‘pattern’ is ‘hupotuposis’ and means to ‘sketch a pattern for imitation’ or prototype. This is partly why Paul would write in I Corinthians 4: 16 and 11: 1 to; “imitate me as I follow Christ.” See also I Thessalonians 1:6-7; 2: 13-14; II Timothy 1: 13; Titus 2: 7; Hebrews 6:12.
If he is first and foremost among sinners because he persecuted the church, then we must apply that measuring stick to ourselves. The worst sin, according to Paul, is to persecute the church. He realized this perhaps from the very start, for when he was blinded and fell to the ground at the brightness of our Lord in Acts 9: 1-9, he asked; “Who are you Lord?”
The Lord answered: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Jesus took, and takes, the persecution of believers personally. “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” Jesus was in heaven. Paul was arresting believers, helped execute Steven in Acts 7, and evidently much more. It was his persecution that Acts 8:1-2 caused all believers except the apostles to move out of Jerusalem. Estimates I’ve seen are 10,000 people!
In the Great Commission, we see our lives are examples to others. We carry Christ in us, the hope of glory. We are watched, observed, and noted. Some may get to know us well enough to learn our story before and with Christ. Also, consider that if you have a hard time forgiving your past or struggle with believing Jesus has really forgiven you, remember Paul. He forgave Paul, who persecuted Him. He certainly has forgiven you!
Next week: Ananias and Sapphira and others…until then, blessings,
John
