Allen Jackson - I Choose Life - Part 2
Do you happen to remember who wrote the Book of Revelation? It's not a trick question. The apostle John, the one that Jesus recruited. By the time we get to the Book of Revelation, John is near the end of his life. By at least church tradition, all the other apostles have been martyred. John's alone. He's been exiled to an island by civil authorities. And the scripture says, "On the Lord's Day, he has a vision of Jesus". Jesus trust his old friend with the revelation of the end of the ages. He knows John will write it down as it's given to him. And we still benefit from it. But in Revelation chapter 4, John has a vision of the throne room of God. Sounds familiar to Isaiah 6.
Now, I just gave you one verse. You can read the larger context at your leisure. But when John looks towards the throne room of God, he said, "There were four living creatures," the seraphs again, "They had six wings and were covered with eyes all around, even under their wings. And day and night, they never stopped saying, 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come". Sound familiar? We just read it in Isaiah. Hundreds of years earlier in a completely different historical context, the consistency of the character of God. It reaches all the way back to the Negev, to the deserts of the Middle East in the book of Leviticus, when God begins his journey with his people, and he said, "I'm a Holy God". It's noteworthy that the word "Holy" is used three times.
It's the only word I know of in scripture that's used three times in succession in identifying a characteristic of God. It's a very clear emphasis. For instance, God says of himself that he's a God of love or a God of wisdom or a powerful God or a God of mercy. All accurate characteristics of the character of God. All of them can be reflected, admittedly in some broken way, it reflected in our lives as human beings, the love of God or the mercy of God or the grace of God or even the wisdom of God. But when in holiness is described, it's done in triplicate. God is holy, holy, holy. And holiness isn't something intuitive in us. It comes from the character of God formed in us, but it brings us to a better place, to the glory of God, his power and his majesty.
So we wanna incubate a desire for holiness. If we don't have the desire, it's highly improbable it will ever emerge within us. Now, here's the real challenge. I don't think we've cared that much about it. Most of us begin our God journey in some sort of a church experience. And, you know, we come to church and we learn to sit and stand, sit and stand, sit and stand, stand, then run. Not bad. It's just kind of how we learn and we kinda get coached towards the idea that you want your get-out-of-hell-free card. And you wanna keep it in your wallet with your driver's license and your other important papers. Because if you ever need it, you want to be able to play that bad boy. "No, no, no, I get out". But we really haven't been invited to have an imagination that the character of God would be formed in us. I haven't cared that much about it.
Now, I don't want to add to your burden of guilt and shame today, but I do wanna hand you an invitation. And I would encourage you to be just as honest with the Lord as you know how to be. Say to the Lord, you know, Lord, it really hadn't mattered that much to me. I've been a lot more interested in who my favorite team was recruiting or drafting. I've been more interested about if the fish were biting. I've been more interested in the fashion trends or my kids getting on the team I wanted them on. None of those things are inherently evil. But let's be honest enough. Say, you know, God, I could have cared less about being holy. I just didn't care. But, God, I would like to learn. Would you help me? You know what? If you'll say that, he will. He will. In fact, "Let's pray" is kind of a theme around here right now, huh? So, I think on that topic, how about let's pray? All right. You want to just bow with me?
Father, you have said be holy, and we would like to learn. Help us. In Jesus's name, amen.
All right. One sentence and then move on, right. I'm not looking to you for a wow. That's Leviticus where we're introduced to the holiness of God. The book of Numbers is an equally exciting read. And you're in the midst of it right now, I can tell, with your enthusiasm. But there's some very important things in the book of Numbers. There is a location shift in the book of Numbers. Leviticus is principally centered around Sinai. It's a mountain, but it refers to a season in the Israelites journey. After they came out of Egyptian slavery and crossed the Red Sea, God takes them to Sinai. And there's a covenant put in place and all the aspects of the covenant and how to worship and who's to worship and what the tribes are gonna do and all that stuff is involved. But God moves them from Sinai in the book of Numbers to the plains of Moab on the banks of the Jordan River.
They can see into the promised land. In rather short order, God has taken them from the brick pits of Egypt and has walked them to the borders of the land that he said, "I will give it to you. It's a prosperous, good land". And that's what's happening in the book of Numbers. Now, there's hundreds of thousands of people that have made this journey through a barren, barren place. The Negev wilderness is not a lush place. There's no vegetation there. And for hundreds of thousands of people, not simply to survive there, but to thrive there is a powerful statement to anybody that's paying any kind of attention whatsoever.
So the surrounding nations and the surrounding peoples are being, they're very threatened by the Hebrew people because they are thriving in a place where people can't thrive. And it's apparent to them that there is some force working on their behalf other than themselves. There is no food there. There is no water there. And they're thriving there. So they are terrifying the surrounding peoples. God is preparing them to occupy their inheritance. And in the book of Numbers, we get a little window into that. In chapter 22, one of the local kings wants to hire a prophet. His name is Balaam. Now, he's not a prophet of God, but he's a spiritual fellow. He's a man who has insight and understanding into spiritual things. On your notes, I called him a "spiritual hireling". He has no allegiance to God or to the character of God or the purposes of God or the plans of God.
Candidly, he could care less. He understands spiritual things, their influences, and their impacts, to some degree, and he will sell his services to the highest bidder. He is spiritual motivated by selfish ambition. Some things haven't changed a lot. We have those folks in the 21st century. Now, the Israelites, the Hebrew people, are on the shores of the Jordan. Balaam lives over by the Euphrates River. He's quite a ways away. So he has a reputation that is rather broad and expansive. He's a well known character. And a local king says, "We will hire Balaam to come and curse these people because there's a spiritual force for them that if we can't disrupt it, we can't defeat them". We can read a portion of it. It's in your notes.
It's Numbers 22. Says, "The Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and they encamped along the Jordan across from Jericho. Now, Balak, the son of Zippor", don't let the names and places bother you. If you call him Barry from Smyrna, it helps, "saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, they were filled with dread because of the Israelites. And the elders said, 'This horde is gonna lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.' So Barry from Smyrna, who was king of Moab, sent messengers to summon Balaam, who was near the river, it's the Euphrates River, in his native land. And Balak said, 'If people has come out of Egypt, they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me, come and put a curse on these people because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps, then I'll be able to defeat them and drive them out of the country for I know that those you bless are blessed and those you curse are cursed.'"
The king says, even though we're an established country with a standing military, and these people are not, I recognize there is a force with them that I cannot overcome. So I'm gonna hire the most spiritual person I know to put a curse on them that we might be victorious on a battlefield. He believes that a spiritual force has a physical impact, not only on individuals, but on a nation. And remember, we're reading our Bibles, not just to gain historical information, but to understand the character and the working of God in the earth. And the principles that were introduced to us early in the story, many of them are continued to be carried throughout the rest of the book. And I believe this is one of them, the impact of spiritual forces in our lives. We began our year with several weeks talking about prayer and let's pray.
And one of the comments that was made was that prayer is a general term in the same way that food is a general term or sports. And that beneath those general terms, there are many layers of more specific terms. Well, if prayer is general, I would submit to you a prayer of blessing or a prayer of curse is a more specific kind of prayer in that general category. And for the most part, we'll either say, well, you know, I don't believe that, and you're certainly entitled to believe whatever you choose, but it is biblical. And the fact that you say you don't believe it does not remove you from its influence. If it did, I would just say, I don't believe in aging. I don't believe in fat. You can not believe in it all you want and get fluffy and just keep eating. All right. Or sometimes you'll say, well, I didn't know about it as if ignorance should remove you from the consequences.
I mentioned Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob a bit ago, the patriarchs. Well, Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau. Some of you remember that God said, "Jacob I loved, and Esau I hated". From birth it seemed a bit unjust. Jacob, after all, was a conniver, a manipulator, a deceiver. And, yet, God said, "I loved him". Well, by birth order, the family birthright inheritance was to be Esau's. But Jacob manipulated the circumstances until he secured it from Esau. And Esau sold it to him. But Jacob manipulated the events to make them in his favor. And now it's time to receive that blessing. And the father wouldn't willingly give it to Jacob.
So Jacob deceives his father. By this point in the story, Isaac is blind. Esau was a hairy man, the scripture says. He was a hunter, an outdoorsman, and he smelled of the outdoors. Jacob, not so much. So Jacob covered his arms with animal skins and put on clothing that smelled of the outdoors and came to his blind father and said, "I want the blessing". It's in your notes. It's Genesis 27 and verse 19, Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your first born". Look at that sentence. Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau". In the contemporary lexicon, we would say Jacob misspoke. Jacob lied. He is a thief. "I am Esau your first born. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing".
And Isaac doesn't recognize Jacob. So he gives him the blessing. And I put the blessing in your notes. It's in verse 28, same chapter. He said, "May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed". That's what all the drama was about, that blessing. And not long after this, Esau comes in. He's been hunting, and he's prepared the game. And he's bringing it to his father, and he's expecting to receive the blessing.
Same chapter, verse 32. He comes in and, "His father, Isaac, asked him, 'Who are you?' And he said, 'I'm your son, your firstborn, Esau.' And Isaac trembled violently". Remember, he's blind. And he said, "'Who is it then that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came, and I blessed him. And, indeed, he will be blessed.' When Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, 'Bless me, me too, my father.' And Isaac said, your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing".
Now, there's something in this story that's a little blind to us because when we think about a blessing, we think, I can bless you and I can bless you and I can bless you. And if you want a blessing, I'll bless you. A blessing is a blessing is a blessing. I got a pocket full. But clearly that's not what's being communicated in this narrative. They're treating that blessing as if it is contained in the chest. And Jacob came in and took the chest and carried it out. And there's not another one for Esau. It has a very concrete sense to it, doesn't it? And it's expected to, to be a pronouncement that defines the future has bearing on his physical life.
A prayer, something spiritual. And we get to the book of Numbers. And there's this rogue, spiritual person that's paid an enormous amount of money to curse the Israelites. And God says to him, "Don't you do it"? God doesn't say to him, ah, there's nothing to it. Let him do what he wants to do. Look at the verse you have from Proverbs chapter 26. "Is like a sparrow and it's flitting like a swallow and it's flying. So a curse without cause does not alight". This isn't some random idea in scripture. We're introduced to it early. It's revisited to us in the formative chapters of the scripture and it carries right forward. Now, let's go back to Balaam for a minute. He's about to have some real transportation trouble. He's offered this enormous amount of money to curse the Hebrew people and God appears to him in a dream and says, "Don't you do it"?
So he goes back and declines the invitation, and the king doubles his offer. And Balaam, this time, he says, well, you know, maybe just a small curse. The prophet's just too great. He can't be walked past. So he loads up and he heads for a place. He wants to see the people that he's gonna pronounce this curse over. And God is so angered with him that he sends an angel to execute Balaam. It's a pretty insignificant principle. God's intent for his people is so pervasive, his desire is so consuming, that someone that would disrupt it, God intends to limit their existence. Now, Balaam doesn't realize that he heard God's instruction, and he treated it casually. But he's chosen the profit over obedience. I don't mean, P-R-O-F-I-T.
And that's where we step back in. "The angel of the Lord", this is the one God has sent to execute Balaam, "moved ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord". He's riding a donkey, and the donkey has more discernment than the prophet. "She laid down under Balaam, and he was angry, and he beat her with his staff". Now I grew up around horses, so this is fun to me. I used to train young horses. And if they're young enough, you can pretty much intimidate them. They're stronger than you, but with loud words or something, you can move them, scare them, you can get them to move and through that you can train them. I contributed to my college fund with that. But later in life, I had a donkey a time or two I had to train. That is an entirely different experience.
And on more than one occasion when I was trying to get a donkey to co-operate with my intent and they'd had enough, they did exactly to me what they did to bail them. They just laid down. And I'm here to tell you, at the point that donkey lays down, you might as well take a break because you don't have the strength or the vocabulary to get it to move. I have expended myself in that initiative. I can tell you from experience, it's break time. And in this particular case, Balaam's donkey lays down. I'm smiling. I'm thinking, I'm with you brother. I'm feeling your pain. And Balaam begins to beat the donkey with his staff. He has lost his mind with anger.
And the Lord opened the donkey's mouth and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times"? Balaam is so angry when the donkey speaks to him, he doesn't break stride. He just talks right back. Now, I'm thinking, if you go home and your dog greets you at the door with, "How was church"? that you wouldn't just reach in and pull out your sermon allies and say, "Well, let me tell you". You'd be looking for a phone or a video. This was news. Not Balaam. Donkey is talking to him, and he's still got the staff in his hand. Listen to what he says. He said, "You've made a fool of me". Oh no, son. You're doing that all on your own. "If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now".
There's an irony that isn't lost on the reader. There's an angel from God standing there with a drawn sword to execute Balaam, and he's threatening a donkey. And the donkey says to Balaam, this is so fun to me. The the donkey reasons with Balaam. He doesn't point out the angel of the Lord that he can see. He's actually gonna try to talk him off the ledge. He said, "Am I not your own donkey, which you've always ridden to this day. Have I been in the habit of doing this to you"? Balaam's still ticked because he's still talking back. "No". "So the Lord opens Balaam's eyes and he sees the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn".
Now, the text doesn't say it, but at this point in my imagination, Balaam leans down and he hugs that donkey's neck. What the text does say is he bowed low and fell face down. "And the angel of the Lord asked him". Now, the angel of the Lord is gonna speak to him. "Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me". I know the book of Numbers can be a little dry. But, folks, there's some life lessons in it. The path you have chosen is a reckless one before me. Balaam knew about God. He knew about spiritual things. At the moment, he's just more consumed with making a profit, with selfish ambition.
In fact, that reckless path that he's on, it's paved with the stones of pride and selfish ambition, and greed and personal opportunity. He could care less about the things of God. And the description we're given at that point is that's a reckless path to walk. God's not opposed to you doing well. God's not opposed to you flourishing. But what did God say? We read it back in Leviticus. Be what? Holy because I am holy. And if in the short run it looks like you're forfeiting something because you choose holiness, God will make up the difference. He will. Don't walk a reckless path. We've been a little sloppy with the Lord. We've wanted to figure out how to get our card that says we get out of someplace we don't wanna go at the end of the run.
And then we've wanted to live on our terms and do what we want when we want to*. And God's kind of a nuisance or an intrusion or a limit or it's a misunderstanding, but it's caused us to be reckless and to not pay attention. Remember, our goal is to invest a few minutes every day in the word of God. Why? So we can learn the character of God. So we can understand the purposes of God. So we can know what it means to be the people of God. Doesn't mean that every day you'll have a revelation.
Some days it'll be dry and dull and boring, but there'll be days when God will open your heart to his purposes. And it will be like a beacon of light shining into your life. Invest the time. Don't walk a reckless path. The consequences are too high. All right. With God's help, we're gonna do the book of Deuteronomy tonight. All right. I brought you a prayer. I almost finished your outline. Why don't you stand with me. We're a people learning to pray. Lots of layers to that. Lots of implications to that. What we're not willing to do is to stay on the sidelines. We're not gonna remain silent. We're not gonna remain disinterested. We are learning God is helping us. His spirit is helping us. And one aspect of that is we're learning to pray out loud in public with other people. Wow, it's a breakthrough. Let's read this prayer together:
Heavenly Father, I choose truth. Order my steps that I may walk in paths of righteousness. May your joy lift me above every challenge. Give me rest in the shadow of your great strength. My hope is secure in your faithfulness. Lord Jesus, I long for your return. Amen.