HULDAH MINISTRY

No,55　　4Apr. 30th 2000

　　　【 EXPOSED BEFORE GOD 】

"Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir; prophesy against it and say: '… I will turn your towns into ruins and you will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the LORD. … Because you have said ,"These two nations and countries will be ours and we will take possession of them," even though I the LORD was there, … then you will know that I the LORD have heard all the contemptible things you have said against the mountains of Israel. … You boasted against me and spoke against me without restraint, and I heard it. … Because you rejoiced when the inheritance of the house of Israel became desolate, that is how I will treat you. … Then they will know that I am the LORD.'"
Ezekiel 35:2~15.

This is a passage of God's sentence of punishment against Edom, descendants of the half-brother of Jacob, in which the solemn reality of an all knowing God is emphasised. Likewise, there are many references in the Scriptures of people having to reap the consequences of their utterance, to say nothing of deep-seated slanders or, some times, references to situations where careless mutterings of a person came true subsequently. These exemplify the fact that we cannot escape the convictions of our sinfulness by an omniscient God. Unknowingly, we are all, without any exception, exposed before God.
Elihu was one of those who correctly acknowledged God's incompatible sovereignty that He would never fail to punish evildoers: 'His eyes are on the ways of men; he sees their every step. There is no dark place, no deep shadow, where evildoers can hide, God has no need to examine men further, that they should come before him for judgment. Without enquiry he shatters the mighty and sets up others in their place. Because he takes note of their deeds, he overthrows them in the night and they are crushed. He punishes them for their wickedness where everyone can see them, because they turned from following him and had no regard for any of his ways. They caused the cry of the poor to come before him, so that he heard the cry of the needy. But if he remains silent, who can condemn him? If he hides his face, who can see him? Yet he is over man and nation alike, to keep a godless man from ruling from laying snares for the people.'
Job. 34:21~30.

Let's look to some examples in the OT. An account in Jeremiah 29:24~32 is one example, in which Shemaiah prophesied a false allegation against the prophet Jeremiah whom God had ordained. Subsequently, God raised a judgment of death sentence against the other false-prophets, 'Ahab son of Kolaiah' and 'Zedekiah son of Maaseiah', who had prophesied lies to the Jewish exiles in Babylon in the Lord's name and Shemiah's fallout soon followed. The sentence was not only a punishment upon himself but also upon his descendants. The cost of giving a false prophecy and of leading people to believe in a lie i.e., preaching rebellion against God was by no means small. As also seen in the case of Jehoiakim king of Judah, who fearlessly cut off the entire scroll of Jeremiah's words of prophecy and threw them into the brazier to burn, such rebellious attitudes against God could not have slipped from God's eyes. Even if at that time there had been no-one who could have condemned the king's outrageous act, the all knowing God had already pronounced to bring disasters on him, his offspring and even on his attendants for their wickedness( Jer.ch.36).

An account of the proclamation of freedom for the slaves by King Zedekiah in Jeremiah ch. 34 conveys a warning to us of the dreadful consequences of a sworn self-curse. 'The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves. Everyone was to free his Hebrew slaves, both made and female; no-one was to hold a fellow Jew in bondage. So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free. But afterwards they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again. Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: "… Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to his countrymen. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name. But now you have turned round and profaned my name; each of you has taken back … slaves you have set free to go where they wished. … Therefore, … I now proclaim 'freedom' for you, … 'freedom' to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth. The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces. … I will hand over to their enemies who seek their lives. …"' With the Babylonian attack intensifying, and having been informed of God's stern judgment upon Zedekiah king of Judah and the fate of Jerusalem, the king pronounced freedom for the slaves and even made a covenant, in the hops of winning God's favour. In ancient Israel, making a covenant involved the two parties passing between sacrificial animals cut in two. That is why making a covenant was sometimes expressed as 'cutting a covenant ', indeed, the two words in Hebrew are identical. Accordingly, 'walking between the pieces'(verse18, quoted above) implied that the covenant breakers deserved death, because whenever they made a covenant they made a self-maledictory oath such as 'If I do not keep this covenant, may such and such curses befall me'. After cutting a covenant of such scale involving many leaders and ordinary people, when the crisis had gone and peace returned to Jerusalem because of the temporary lifting of Babylonian siege thanks to a timely intervention by the Egyptians, (attested to the historical fact in 588BCE), they broke their covenant. The slaves were forced to be placed under bondage again. Consequently, God's anger fell and what they swore by a self-maledictory oath materialised upon themselves.

Lastly, a case of Thomas' experience after Jesus' resurrection in the NT, is fascinating: 'Now Thomas ( called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and My God!"'(John 20:24~28). Thomas' immediate expression of utmost faith in Jesus as 'God' here betrays his utter astonishment at the fact that the words of doubt he spoke a week earlier had been heard by the Lord. No doubt he felt completely exposed at this realisation. The risen Lord Jesus had been with him, or Jesus' eyes had been upon him wherever he had been. It must have been the same experience as the Psalmist who sang; 'From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling-place he watches all who live on earth― he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do' (Ps. 33:13~15). This experience of exposure before God, for good or evil, was also the first experience of human-beings after the Fall. Adam and Eve and also the first murderer Cain, after sinning, all reacted to God's gentle convictions with fear, because of exposure. When the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened after rebellion against God's command, what they discovered for the first time was the fact that they were naked. However, such disclosure was what God had already seen and had known from the beginning. According to a rabbi, Jonathan Magot, throughout the Bible, the Hebrew word of nakedness, "eyrumim" is used in different cases, yet pointing to the same implication, helplessness like a babe: Cases of captives being taken away naked into slavery ( Isa. 20:2~4), and of the hero running naked from the field of battle on the day of defeat ( Amos 2:16).

　　Man, having never learnt the lessons from his rebellious history, having forsaken God, 'the spring of living water', has been leaning on his own strategies and wit. However, now that we have acknowledged the fact that no-one would be able to escape the consequences of his or her own chosen ways, the word, 'The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.'( Pro. 9:10) would be a good reminder as a plumline of God-man relations. Yet, at the same time, we are reminded of the fact that God covered the Adam and Eve's nakedness by giving them protective clothing; he will perfectly protect those who admit their vulnerability and lean on Him. 　

Thought of the Month……….

Don't you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. … For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin … Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again ; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Rom. 6:3~10) In early Judaic tradition, it was understood that the dead were free of 'mitzvot', i.e., free from religious obligations such as commandments and good deeds, as reflected in Paul's teaching: 'The law has authority over a man only as long as he lives' (Rom. 7:1).
Accordingly, Paul adopted this very Judaic idea to explain the significance of the baptismal rite in the name of Jesus Christ. Jewish people had practised the symbolic act of death and resurrection through their rite of "Tumah(Unclean)" and "Taharah(Cleanliness)". While Tumah reminded them of mortality and led to darkness, Taharah reminded them of immortality and the way to light. Paul wanted his fellow Jewish believers to understand, in terms of this Judaic concept, that Jesus' death had released them from the bondage of the law. At the same time, since through sacrificial death, sin has been atoned, Jesus' death meant to free believers from sin, which Paul expresses in verse 7, 'Anyone who has died has been freed from sin'. In other words, through the baptismal rite, those who accepted Jesus as their Lord are to be freed from the obligation of the law for their salvation, and after having died with Him (baptised into Jesus' death) they will also be united with Him in His resurrection.Our Lord has indeed given us this assured hope of resurrection by opening the way by Himself!
　

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This month a money gift has been sent to Christian-Aid to rescue people in Ethiopia.
As widely broadcast, they are being horribly afflicted by man-made famine. The country’s border war with Eritrea is said to be preventing the use of the nearest Eritrean ports. Sadly, donated money to projects designed to tackle the country’s poverty is feared not to be used for that purpose but for military reinforcement. Pray for the Lord’s intervention in such an outrageous situation.

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