'No Other Gods Before Me'
"Qanna" Jealous
*Exodus 20:5-6, "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."
Mark Twain's writings of the adventures on the Mississippi River with Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer have been some of America's most favorite books. The term "blood brothers" became a household word which was spawned from the dialect between the two boyhood friends. Children have become mesmerized by words that paint vivid pictures of America's frontier age. The term "blood brothers" has often been incorporated into their vocabulary through these books.
The term "blood brothers" derives it's meaning from a compact or covenant made by passing between pieces of flesh. The Greek word for covenant is diatheke "testament" meaning a disposition, a contract, to put apart, dispose (by assignment, compact or bequest). It is a contract agreement that is more than signing your name in blood on a piece of paper. It is a contract that assigns all that you have and all that you are to another individual or group of individuals.
By one man's transgression death reigned from Adam to Moses in all mankind even over those who had not sinned in the same manner as Adam. Mankind had made a covenant with death through the knowledge of sin. It sent him swirling backward enveloped in a circle that lead nowhere but to death, hell, and the grave.
The covenant agreement which God contracted with the nation of Israel was one of deliverance and redemption. Through Moses the Law revealed righteousness that if a man accomplishes the works of the Law he must live by them. The Law which God placed in the earth revealed the righteousness of God and displayed the unrighteousness of man. Before the Law was ever given there wasn't any blame for sin because sin is the inherent nature of mankind. Neither the children of Israel nor the world could comprehend the sin in which they were living. The Law was given to reveal how utterly sinful mankind's nature truly was.
In Israel's First Year Moses lead them out into the wilderness to the foot of Mount Sinai. The mountain thundered as a cloud enveloped it. For forty days God outlined the plan of deliverance for His people. He had showed Moses the precious diagrams of His plan. He had given Moses the Law which His people were to follow and inscribed them on two tables of stone.
However, Israel became discontent as they awaited the return of Moses. They were ready to return to Egypt. They went to Aaron, Moses' brother, and encouraged him to make them a golden calf. He instructed them to bring him the spoils of Egypt while he fashioned a molten image. They declared the golden calf their god while they played and sacrificed before it. As Moses returned to the camp of Israel he heard the noise of singing. In a moment of anger the precious tables laid at his feet broken and in shards because the nation of Israel had sinned against their true God. They needed a mediator to go before Him. Moses stood in the presence of God and begged for mercy on their behalf.
The tables that had been broken were restored by God. The sound of thunder arose as He spoke the words they contained in the ears of all the people. But they feared to hear His voice and trembled at the sound of it. They went before Moses and asked him to speak to them as God's mediator unless they died. Although dismayed Moses spoke all the words of the Law to the people and they vowed before God to observe to do all the commandments and obey them. Moses sprinkled the children of Israel with the blood of the covenant. They were now the inherent children of God.
From the time of Adam to the giving of the Law the desire of God's heart has always been that mankind would choose life . *Deuteronomy 30:19-20, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."
V
Nearly 1500 years after the Law was given Israel stood at the site of another mountain called Golgotha, the place of the skull. Once again they were discontent. They had stood and taunted the man Who had been nailed to the cross and set before them. The man Whom the Romans had cynically called the King of the Jews. The words which He had spoken had been a derision in their ears. The only way to silence His voice was to have Him put to death.
Darkness had covered the land for nearly three hours. As the man breathed His last breath and commended His spirit to God suddenly the ground trembled, the earth shook, and the curtain in the temple separating the holy place was torn from top to bottom. In the evening dusk His friends gently lowered His body to the ground. Lying there at their feet lifeless, bruised, beaten, and pierced. Looked upon by most as nothing more than a dead dog. Yet there laid the Son of Man, heir to the throne of David, Yeshua Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Once again Israel had sinned against their God. They needed a mediator to go before Him. Three days after His death God called forth His Mediator, Jesus Christ, and He arose from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God having conquered death, hell and the grave. He removed the curtain, the dividing wall, separating man from God. He arose victorious having accomplished all things that were spoken of Him by the prophets and finished God's work here in the earth. Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant.
The Word of God tells us that wide is the gate and broad is the path to destruction. But straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to eternal life. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He came to show us that the only way for our redemption was through His death upon the cross because without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. He came so that the Law might be written on our hearts and in our minds. For the Law was given by Moses but grace and truth was given by Jesus Christ. He came so that we might know God in the truth which sets us free and in order that we might receive the Spirit of truth. Through His resurrection from the dead we receive the promise of eternal life. Because God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him. That all those who believe in Him should not perish but might have eternal life.
The desire of God's heart is that you should choose life. He has shown us the way. He has given us the truth. All it takes on your part is faith and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall receive life everlasting. Enter His covenant through the blood of Jesus. He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
O The journey that Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn had taken took them farther away from home and deeper in peril than they desired. The journey that the children of Abraham took lead them away from Egypt out of the the house of bondage toward a promised new land. It was their disobedience and unbelief that kept them from their place of rest for 40 years.
*January 12, 2004