A second reason, related to the first reason, is that God knew that by doing His miracles through Moses, Moses would then in turn give glory to God. They intend to be their own god. Copyright 2002-2023 Got Questions Ministries. 1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: 2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Paul also made this clear in Romans 9-11. Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice. At times, God enlisted non-believers to help His people through the ages. A prophecy we can imagine would have seemed quite improbable to those who heard. God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne ( Psalm 47:8 ). Verse Concepts. 2:11). When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, It is enough! God sees. God uses pathetic people for his glorious purposes to show his superior power. He used sinners to accomplish His sovereign will. Will we show forth Gods glory in our obedience and in our receiving of His covenant blessing? Habakkuk learned that the material success of the ungodly is not a reliable measure of their true success. For I work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, Though one were to declare it to you., Jeremiah also spoke of the same thing about which God warned Habakkuk. We pray because God is sovereign and all powerful. Their end will be most awful. They had no weapons to fight Pharaohs army, no experience in war, no ability to defend themselves, and no way of escape. The evil ones believe pridefully that their own imagined gods have blessed them. You truly never know God could be doing something right that we wouldnt understand even if He told us. A most astonishing way of fulfilling that prophesy. Zechariah 11:1230 pieces of silver (see Matthew 26:15). Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ. WebGod was about to turn to the Gentiles as He judged Israel as a nation for her unbelief. But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now., but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the. Because God is utterly unimpressed by my rsum. At first he ordered the Israelite babies to be killed at birth by the midwives (Ex. Third, it is necessary for us to remain silent, to not fret, grumble, or complain, while we wait for the Lord to deliver us from whatever trial we are suffering. Paul used this verse from Habakkuk to warn the foolish despisers of the gospel. Believer, dont think that your faithful service to your local body of believers is insignificant or accounts for little or nothing. It forces us to live by faith, which is how He wants us to live all the time because it gives Him glory. Thus they plundered the Egyptians ( Exodus 12:36 ). He clings to his sin like a drowning man to an iron life preserver. Here are the two great texts to keep in mind regarding Gods providence and our own personal experience: The first is the famous statement by Joseph to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good. The second comes from the familiar words of Romans 8:28, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. These verses teach us that God is able to take the worst things that happen in life and turn them for our good and his glory. The gospels writers emphasize that although the Jewish leaders earnestly sought for witnesses who could testify against Christ, they found no one willing to come forward. But we can find hope in knowing that God is in control, He works all things for our God, and no suffering we face know will even be able to cast a shadow on the glory we will receive in Heaven. He stands behind it indirectly, but He directly stands behind good. That doesnt make us anything more in Gods eyes. According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. Literal Standard Version. Now relax your hand! And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. God was rejecting their national privilege, and turning to the Gentiles to populate his Covenant Nation on Earth. Do you merely profess Christ and trust in your religious habits to save you, or do you possess Christ in your heart by faith? Often in the confusion of life, we cant see the ends, much less the means God intends for us. Jump to Previous God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne ( Psalm 47:8 ). A man who lived in a time in which only Jews served the one true God. Do not lament your insufficiency. But we need to grow in faith and obedience. And did not believe in His wonderful works. During this period, foreign powers invaded Israel again and again, and inside the nation known as Gods people, evil and immorality raged. God scoffs at any attempt by me or you to prove our worthiness. This is the attitude of the evil heart in all ages. Soon they will be raised up from that struggle to full power. Philippians 3:4-7 - although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. At the beginning of their sojourn, Joseph was ruler of Egypt, a son of Jacob, and watched over his own. We turn now to consider how the sin of Judas served many good purposesnone of which were seen that night and none of which diminish his true moral guilt. It even included the price Judas would receive for his act of treachery30 pieces of silver. Rejoice that Christ is all-sufficient and always dependable. He has many means to accomplish that holy purposeincluding some that are difficult to understand. Scripture even points to the fact that God used Cyrus even though he didnt know God. His words imply that all the torment will be tolerable. He may for a time use the ungodly to bring deserved chastising upon the hypocrites among His own people, and to show his uncompromising wrath upon those left to what we all deserve aside from the work of his grace. We need to remember that God uses the foolish. God is not finished with you yet, so dont give up on him. What Jesus Wants Emphasized In His Church! but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. In our text, Ex. Grace be with you. How does this truth apply to Judas? When we do that we become His instruments to accomplish His sovereign will. God is unimpressed by our collection of readers, likes, retweets, friends, connections, or admirers. Here are five specific prophecies that were fulfilled when Judas betrayed Jesus: Psalm 41:9Close friend will betray Christ (see John 13:18). God picks the scrawniest little girl to lead off on his kickball team. God promised to precede Cyrus and destroy all opposition that Cyrus would face: 'I will go before you and make the 3. Are we becoming more like Jesus by the power of the Spirit? First, the people of Israel were for the most part leaderless. WebGod also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. First, we see the faith of Moses. God promised to precede Cyrus and destroy all opposition that Cyrus would face: 'I will go before you and make the 3. For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son for those who believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.. Jesus immediately restored the ear and told Peter to put down his sword. Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness. WebGod will never set man's will aside and use him for a good purpose without his being willing to be used. (see Matthew 27:5). They heap judgment on themselves. God strengthened Cyrus so that he could conquer nations and overcome opposition Thus says the Lord God to His 2. That literally means, I find no basis for any of the charges brought against this man. In modern terms, you might call it a Summary Judgment in favor of Jesus. God has already determined the end from the beginning (Isa. Everything fits into Gods plan. Its okay to be a nobody, if in all you do, you serve Somebody. If not, we have reason to question whether our faith is real. Our prayers do not alter Gods eternal decree. I run into people in different countries or am contacted by those from different countries who have been blessed by my preaching. Guiding our world whether we are able to see it or not. Every evil in the world must somehow serve Gods purpose. Also, be sure to stop by our prayer wall. 1 And Saul approved of his execution. The evil nations God was raising up to judge his rebellious people were self-centered. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. He recognized what was evil because he believed Gods law. So the emphasis of the chapter is on Gods working out His purpose through ordinary people who obey Him. Lest he misunderstand, I also told him that going to Calvary Memorial Church cannot save anyoneor help save anyone. In the words of a 19th century writer, hatred, treachery and deceit will not prevail against the church of God. We see this all the way through the Bible. I sit on no boards. For this reason God purposefully led the wondering multitude to a place where there was no possible way of escape from Pharaoh and his army, humanly speaking. Eternity will reveal how your faithful service was used by the Lord in amazing ways. Egypt made his brother, Jehoiakim, the new king over the Jews. Solomon was DaVinci, Einstein, Bach, Jordan, Augustus, and Shakespeare rolled into one superior man. Including those who dont believe He exists. God uses all those who humble themselves before the cross, boasting only in him his strength, his wisdom, his righteousness, his accomplishment. for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. God can use anyone and anything. This is the grace of God as revealed in His merciful covenant. In spite of all this they still sinnedAnd did not believe in His wonderful works. The gospel writers record many Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Do not lament your insufficiency. He told Moses, Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. But how? Christianity is not about religion, its about a life-changing relationship with the Son of God. Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say,read more.Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness. But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations. Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. So the Lord said, I have pardoned them according to your word; but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. Having all the wisdom in the world didnt guarantee fidelity. His son Jehoahaz became king. My ministry is small locally, but gigantic because of the faithful service of others. Anxiety, worry, anger, never help remedy the situation, they are emotions that compound our trials and betray that in our hearts we dont believe God, dont trust God, and dont think He is good. The Lord can never be blamed for evil, but evil does not take p. God never does evil Himself. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Genesis 12: 3). Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife? Two verses later, in Rom. 10 people that God used to accomplish his purposes I. Paul: The one with a shameful past and challenging present (4:18) Colossians 4:18 - I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. A lesson worth considering, but not the main lesson I want to focus on, is that God often put us into situations where only He can deliver us. Pastor, Expository Preacher, Author, Trainer of Preachers and Bible Teachers. Before the Apostle Paul wrote his letter he was known as Saul. So through his death, he can have everlasting life on earth. Questions? When we pray, we strive to pray according to Gods will (I Jn. Though absolutely sovereign, all knowing, all wise, and everywhere present, God uses sinners to accomplish His will. God may ordain to use their wickedness, but this does not make it morally right. He is the preeminent insider who knew Jesus as well as anyone has ever known himyet in the end never really knew him at all. Because God does miracles by His own power. Anyone who resists God risks falling into spiritual deception (2 Steven Lee is the Pastor of Preaching & Vision at. Do not lament your insufficiency. Dont mistake temporary material victories for true success. This shows the mercy and compassion of God to help the Israelites. Moses was sent by the Lord multiple times to Pharaoh asking for the release of the Hebrews. God uses pathetic people for his glorious purposes to show his superior power. So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe. God uses all those who humble themselves before the cross, boasting only in him his strength, his wisdom, his righteousness, his accomplishment. But through the lens of the New Testament, he is seen as a wicked man. 12:35-36). How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? The mind of evil changes from bad to worse being taken in by successes in conquest. This New-Babylon marched through Canaan and took hostages (one of them was Daniel). For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you.. His words imply that all the torment will be tolerable. Here are some examples: The new Pharaoh saw the Israelites as a plague in the land. The people of Israel, were backed up against the Red Sea with Pharaohs army charging at them. Today, the weapons of force have improved, yet all the more they take whatever they want, and give only when it serves their purpose. Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say. Comments? But sometimes we forget that when God ordains a particular end, he also ordains the means to that end. In spite of our slownessand even sinGod will bless and use us to fulfill His purpose of blessing all nations through Christ, because of our relationship to the Father through the Son. He uses believers and unbelievers. God had not yet told Moses what He was going to do, but Moses knew the Lord did not redeem the Israelites from Egypt to have them slaughtered. We all understand that God intended that Jesus would die for the sins of the world. Get your Bible. The fact that we cant conceive of free choice coexisting with Gods predestination simply reminds us once again that he is God and we are not. International Standard Version. 28:25, The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives. God answered him. Two questions stand out: 1) Did Jesus actually descend into hell? WebThe one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. The phrase all this refers to the betrayal, the circumstances surrounding it, and the circumstances flowing from it. An unlikely person to be used by God. Your children, however, whom you said would become a preyI will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. I am sure God has many reasons for doing the things He does in the way and timing of His choosing, but lets consider some likely reasons He used Moses, a sinner, to be the instrument of His sovereign, miraculous work of dividing the Red Sea. Thus they plundered the Egyptians ( Exodus 12:36 ). The manner of the judgment would be unexpected. And He *said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. Anyone who resists God risks falling into spiritual deception (2 Nothing that happened to Jesus that night or later on Good Friday made sense when it happened. WebWhat if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 1 Peter 2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. Pharaohs heart was hardened again. The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him. His covenant is always enforced. When Judas actually betrayed Jesus in the Garden, Peter immediately sprang to his defense. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land. They were in an impossible situation with no way out. I believe that t he Lord is here suggesting that the eternal torment that unbelievers will experience will be on a scale from more tolerable to less tolerable. The greater the pain, the harder it is to see Gods fingerprints. This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask I find it remarkable how consistently the New Testament writers see the hand of God in the events surrounding the death of Christ. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die. As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord. WebJohn 3:16. God calls the autistic man to give the most profound articulation of his simple faith. Does God sometimes use evil to accomplish His plans (Habakkuk 1:5-11)? One of the most remarkable things about the Scriptures is how they preserve for us what we regard as our highest dignity, which is the right to exercise our own will. They live as if there was no Creator, no moral law, no accountability. God was revealing that He was going to use this ungodly power for judgment upon his own straying people. But it does mean everything will happen as God sees fit. They deride every stronghold, For they heap up earthen mounds and seize it. (Video #2), Lesson 2: Gods Use of the Ungodly Habakkuk 1:5-11. 1:22). In their very act of oppression, they unknowingly serve the glory of the Creator. Nothing is ever left to chance with God. Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. His words imply that all the torment will be tolerable. To say it another way, there is a man in hell today who has been there for 2000 years even though what he did advanced Gods plan to save the world. Even those who dont believe and even speak against. More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free! God will deal with them according to his plan, but first, He will use them for His own covenant judgment. Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation., Truth Of God Is denied by Unbelievers, the Truth of God Is denied by Unbelievers, Unbelievers Are blinded by the God of this world, Unbelievers Will be classed with outbreaking sinners in eternity, Unbelievers Their lifetime spent in vanity, Unbelievers Shall be judged by God's word in the last day, Will be classed with outbreaking sinners in eternity, Shall be judged by God's word in the last day. If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience sake. The ungodly show the futility of their rebellion, the awful penalty of sin, and the just wrath of God. 14:11). Gods Ability To Use Unlikely People Even Unbelievers. But Habakkuks confusion was not doubt. His betrayal proved that the Jewish leaders were far from innocent bystanders in the death of Christ.
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