day no. 16,830: both day to day and eternal life

Deuteronomy 4:39-40

Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever.

The Lord is God in Heaven above, and upon the earth beneath. There is no conflict between the visible and the invisible. Both are united in their submission to Him. There is no tension between the material and the immaterial. Both bow to God. There is no one else. There is not God the Father in His invisible heavens and then someone else as god of the visible earth. 

Since there is only one God and He rules over absolutely everything, we should keep His statutes and His commandments. He knows what is where we are and where He is. He understands all aspects of day to day life and eternal life. There is no place where He is not relevant. There is no detail outside of His control or notice. 

If we do what He says, it will go well for us, and for our children after us. Our kids will grow up watching their parents do the word that they hear. They will be blessed in seeing faith lived out and this will fuel their conquest of the future. The future is Christian.

day no. 16,829: deviled eggs

Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Today (9/15/23) , while working on a poetic verse commentary on Revelation 12, I came up with the term, "deviled eggs," to refer to the serpent's seed and its opposition to the seed of the woman.

day no. 16,828: Moses vs. Hezekiah (Biblical Deathmatch)

Numbers 27:12-17

And the Lord said unto Moses, "Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered. For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin." And Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd."

Moses' primary concern in being removed from power was the people over whom he had been given responsibility. His first request was for God to take care of those he had given his life to take care of. He did not plead for an exception to be made for his sin. He did not plead for his reputation or despair of the relinquishing of his power and authority. He looked to the people who would outlive him and begged God to provide someone to guide them in his absence.

Consider this in light of Hezekiah's response to a changing of the guard.

2 Kings 20:16-19

And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord. Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, "Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken." And he said, "Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?"

Hezekiah's first response to future calamity inside his house was relief that it was future calamity and not present destruction. His sins would be visited upon someone else and for that he counted himself blessed. 

Proverbs 13:22

A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children.

The difference between a good man and a bad one is the difference between legacy-minded maneuvers and self-interested manipulation. Moses was a good, humble man who genuinely looked not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others, considering them better than himself. Hezekiah was a selfish man who looked only to his own interests and considered the suffering of others better than him suffering himself.

day no. 16,827: the two who wanted to take the land

Numbers 26: 64-65

But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, "They shall surely die in the wilderness." And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

No one numbered in the initial census was numbered in this final one, save Caleb and Joshua. Those who grumble in the wilderness die in the desert. The only ones who entered their Father’s land of milk and honey were those who entered the wilderness drinking their mother’s milk.

Not a single sourpuss survived. A diet of grumblecakes makes one wax fat… and kick.

Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

The faithful spies survived. The two who wanted to take the land for King and kingdom lived to see it taken. They inherited milk and honey and everything else along with it.

Matthew 6:33

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Seek Christ and His kingdom comes.

day no. 16,826: strange fire and flesh

Numbers 26:61

And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the Lord.

"Fire is fire," said Nadab and Abihu. "No, it's not," saith the Lord.

Leviticus 10:1

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.

Nadab and Abihu cannot claim that they didn't know their fire was strange. God had commanded what kind of fire was required and what kind was forbidden. God snuffed out any excuse by stating things clearly up front.

1 John 4:8

God is love.

"Love is love," the culture says. "No, it's not," saith the Lord.

Love is not God. God is love. He is not defined, or redefined, by our our definition of love. Love is defined by Him.

Jude 1:7

Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

"Flesh is flesh," the people said. "No, it's not," saith the Lord and reinforced His insistence with fire that fell and burned forever.

There is a fire that purifies, a love that glorifies, and a flesh that is sanctified, but these are all defined by God, and their definitions are not hidden. He has stated clearly the terms of the covenant. There is such a thing as strange fire and strange flesh. Not all fires refine and not all flesh is in line.

day no. 16,825: tongue lashed and pistol whipped

While listening to Douglas Wilson's Plodcast #296: The Smell of Resentments, he mentioned James' use of the word, "deadly," while continuing his study of sin, i.e.. Hamartiology. He briefly compared the tongue to a gun which prompted me to connect the dots between John Lovell's Universal Firearm Safety Rules and Biblical advise on holstering and firing off with your tongue.

James 3:8

The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

A tongue is full of bullets. It has an endless supply of ammo  being manufactured inside the wretchedness of the human heart. Like a gun, it can be used for good and to protect those that you love, but like a gun it can misfire and hurt the ones you love if you are not governed by God and His grace. Here is where the Universal Firearm Safety Rules scan well with God's Word for speech.

The Universal Safety Rules

(1) Treat Every Gun like it's loaded--even simulation guns or training guns with blanks.

(2) Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are aligned and you're ready to shoot.

(3) Never point a gun at anything you don't intend to destroy.

(4) Know what's beyond your target, what's behind it, in front of it, to the left and right of it. And remember, bullets can go through walls and other structures.

Treat every tongue like it's loaded. Keep your comments holstered until you've thought through what you're going to say and to whom you're going to aim them. Keep your tongue concealed until you're ready to use it. Never aim a harsh comment, even in jest, at someone you are not willingly to risk losing relationship. Do not destroy anything by accident. Know what is behind your target and who else might be struck by your words. 

Tongues are like guns. They are dangerous and deadly. The goal is not to be mute anymore than it is to be unarmed. The goal is to be dangerous in the right direction and to kill only that which God has commanded. The Gospel preached will either inspire men to want to kill you or it will inspire them to die to themselves and repent. Words are dangerous and the tongue can kill men.. and that is a good thing! Praise God for it killed me and raised me to life.

day no. 16,824: live not by their liturgy

Numbers 13:30-32

And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.

Caleb is what contemporaries would call a "Christian Nationalist" because he had the audacity to take God at His Word and the arrogance to apply it in real time to real estate.

As difficult as the Canaanites were going to be to tackle, the doom scrollers back in his camp at home base were just as prickly and resistant to God's rule. 

The people had placed their faith in unbelief. They were sure they would be defeated. They believed in the indomitable nature of their enemies and the insufficiency of their Commander's intent. 

Today, we look out over a landscape of advertisements communicating the indomitable nature of the ruling elite and the great stature of their scientific and political achievements. They broadcast their permanence and the futility of your resistance. But they do not have the final word. Their lies need not be our liturgy. They might be giants... or they might just imagine themselves mighty men. They can think themselves to be larger than life, but that just means they need to be knocked down a few pegs and we, as God-fearing men, ought to be happy to oblige.

"One of the paradoxes of politics is that only the man who is brave enough to challenge dragons can discover that they are only lizards." — G.K. Chesterton

Numbers 14:9-10

Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones

The bad guys are our bread. The enemies of Christ have no gates that can hold. If God is with us, how could they stand against us? 

Yet, there are still those in the congregation who fear the wrath of the super men instead of the wrath of the Savior of men. They insist that the giants of the land are too big to take on even when faith points out that they are too big to miss. The benefit of aiming at the broad sides of barns is your ability to hit them rather easily.

Faith overcomes. It conquers the land. It faces down giants and lives to sing about it. Unbelief retreats every time. It flees at the rumor of trouble, but the righteous are as bold as lions in standing against real trouble.

1 John 5:4

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Faith is indomitable. It is a weapon against which the enemy has no shield. No gates can stand against the battering ram of belief. Wicked walls will fall and sinful men along with them. Hear the encouragement of Jesus, the greater Joshua, and obey the greater commission and take the land for King and country for when He said, "Disciples the nations!" He was echoing this sentiment, "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it" for He punctuated His prescription with a promise and said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Numbers 21:1-3

And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, "If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities." And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah. 

Christendom is constantly attacked, but how often have we asked to have the nations as our inheritance in response to these aggressions? The request cannot be a compromised secuarlism. God will not grant a truce between the seed of the serpent and the Seed of Eve. If we beg for compromise, our prayers will fall on deaf ears. But if we are so bold as to ask to see compromise utterly destroyed and the evil purged from our presence, we just might hear God's voice of approval and hand of blessing on our initiative as He gives us the land of our inheritance.

Numbers 13:6

Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

May Christ increase the sons of Jephunneh. God give us men who believe Christ's command to take the nations on His behalf that we may see Him with us, always, even to the end when every enemy has been allocated its place under His blessed feet.

1 Corinthians 15:25, Romans 16:20

For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.