Old and Stil Going Strong - Caleb - Joshua 11-15

Joshua 14:13-15 (ESV)

Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel. Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war.

As the nation of Israel conquers this promised land, there is now coming a time for Joshua, the leader after Moses, to give each tribe their inheritance.  Besides Joshua, Caleb is the oldest living person in Israel, at this time. He may have been older than Joshua.   Caleb is now 85 years old.  To better understand the above text (Joshua blessing Caleb with this land called Hebron), we have to read the prior few verses:

Joshua 14:10-12 (ESV)

And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said.”

Caleb is not waiting for Joshua to decide what lands he wants to give Caleb.  No, instead Caleb goes to Joshua to explain to him what he wants.  At 85 he does not want a retirement village along a riverbed, where he can rest and recreate all day.   No, Caleb goes to Joshua demanding the hill country, where the giant Anakim are located, in their fortified cities.  This persistence paid off and Caleb gets his wish.   Note hat happens later for Caleb and his family:

Joshua 15:13-19 (ESV)

According to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, he gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion among the people of Judah, Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak). And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the descendants of Anak. And he went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir. Now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher. And Caleb said, “Whoever strikes Kiriath-sepher and captures it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife.” And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she got off her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water.” And he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

Caleb should be the story of every believer today.  We are not to get saved and sit in the most comfortable pews of the church.  We are to conquer.  We are to go out and kill giants.  The older we are in the faith the more work we should demand and in Spirit led faithfulness, we should demonstrate strength from the Lord.   You might retire from an occupation and gather your pension, but there are spiritual giants that are still needing to be conquered and it is aged and spiritually strong that makes that happen.  

The Power of Common Language - Genesis 8-11

Genesis 11:8-9 (ESV)

So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

The story referred to in the above verses is centered around the Tower of Babel.   After Noah came off the Ark, man and animals started to mulitple and inhabit the earth.  God told Noah to go and fill the entire earth.   Apparently the people of Babel, decided to disobey that command and, instead, in egotistical ambition, decided to build a tower.  The building of the tower had these motivations to it:

1. Bring the people together - God told them to disperse throughout the earth. The text actually reads they did this least we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. 
2. Build something that would make a name for themselves - not for God.  
3. Build something very large that reached to the heavens - exalting their name and not God’s name.  In the ancient world, building pyramids and/or large edifices was a type of worship to man’s accomplishments.

It is interesting in the parallels between this text and the temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Both point out the temptation for man to want to self-exalt and to leave God out of their equation.   Man does not want to be like God, man wants to be God.   

Just think of what God could have done here.  He just wiped out the entire earth with a flood for this very reason.   He did make a covenant, sealed with a rainbow, to never use a flood again, but that didn’t exclude Him from other methods (He will one day pour out His wrath in a variety of forms ... read Revelation).   It isn’t recorded that God sabotaged the bricks or the mortar.   It isn’t even recorded that God actually destroyed this so called tower.   God did a very simple act that completely messed up this power hungry group.  He simply changed their language.   He made it so they lost communication with each other.   Imagine where you work if everyone suddenly started to speak different languages.   What would happen with your productivity.    This is not so far fetched.   Corporate communication is a multi-million dollar business.   Getting everyone in an organization on the same page and speaking the same language is more important than trust.  If fact, to have trust you must be able to communicate.  A great sign that couples quit trusting each other is their lack of communication with each other.   

Another interesting parallel of this story is what God did a Pentecost.  Note:

Acts 2:1-6 (ESV)

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

In the opposite move from the Tower of Babel story is the spread of the Gospel story where God had everyone of different languages hear the Gospel in their own language.   God can separate or bring others together based upon the power of language.  

He Has Granted Us Righteousness - Romans 3-4

Romans 3:21-26 (ESV)

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 

22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 

25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 

26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The title of this section in the ESV Bible is, “The righteousness of God by faith.”   As seen, the world righteousness is used four times in these few verses.   Paul is writing to tell his readers that righteousness does not come by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus.   That is the theme of Romans.  That is the center of all Christian faith.   In Paul’s day and in our day there are those who want us to earn our way to forgiveness of sin by doing works, rather than believing in faith that Jesus saved us and gave us His righteousness by His works on the cross:

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

God wants us to have His righteousness.  His plan was to send His Son to keep all the Law, thereby representing us and dying for us.  Someone had to pay for the sins.  Jesus did that and through faith in Him we are clothed in God’s righteousness.  

The entire plan of God is to restore the damage that was done in the Garden of Eden.  At that time man sinned against God.   That broke the relationship between man and God.   Jesus, God’s Son, came to repair that relationship and grant us God’s righteousness.   This was necessary becuase without righteousness (holiness) no man will see God:

Hebrews 12:14 (ESV)

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

He has granted to us righteousness through faith, not by works of the Law.  

Repent! - Matthew 3-4

Matthew 3:8 (ESV)

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

There are three other times in this section where the word repent is used, besides the above verse. Two of them are by John the Baptist and one is my Jesus:

Matthew 3:2 (ESV)

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 3:11 (ESV)

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Matthew 4:17 (ESV)

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The word repent (Greek: metanoeō) means to change one’s mind about something. It literally means, in this context, to change your mind about your sin and agree with God about it, that is sin (failing to hit the mark God has for us of holiness).  It is used in some very powerful ways in Scripture.   

Jesus tells the religious leaders how important repentance is here:

Luke 10:13 (ESV)

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

Peter’s first words after he preached at Pentecost were:

Acts 2:38 (ESV)

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Paul warns the spiritually carnal Christian’s at Corinth to repent:

2 Corinthians 12:21 (ESV)

I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

And, finally, in one of the most powerful uses of the word, Jesus warns five of the seven churches in the book of The Revelation to reprint:

Revelation 2:5 (ESV)

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Revelation 2:16 (ESV)

Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

Revelation 2:21 (ESV)

I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

Revelation 3:3 (ESV)

Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

Revelation 3:19 (ESV)

Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

God wants us to agree with Him about sin in our lives.   We can’t ignore sin.  We can’t sugarcoat it.  We can’t marginalize it.   When we sin, God is expecting us to repent of it.  

Faith Triumphs Fear - Isaiah 7-11

Isaiah 7:5-9 (ESV)

Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” thus says the Lord GOD:

“‘It shall not stand,

and it shall not come to pass.

For the head of Syria is Damascus,

and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

And within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.

And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.

If you are not firm in faith,

you will not be firm at all.’”

Resin, the king of Syria and Pekah, the king of Ephraim (a northern tribe of Israel) have conspired to take down Judah.   Judah’s king, Ahaz, is in fear of this plot.  Isaiah is sent to calm his spirit and to let him know that the wicked might plan against us, put they will not prosper.   The wicked plan, but God is sovereign over even their plans:

Esther 8:3 (ESV)

Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil PLAN of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews.

Esther 9:25 (ESV)

But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil PLAN that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

Proverbs 26:27 (ESV)

Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,

and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

The heart of man PLANS his way,

but the LORD establishes his steps.

Psalms 33:10 (ESV)

The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;

he frustrates the PLANS of the peoples.

The evil plans men have for God’s people will come back onto them.  

Isaiah wants Ahaz to simply trust in God and that God will bring to nothing the evil plans that Syria and Ephraim have for Judah.   God’s words through Isaiah are simple, but also powerful:

If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.   

God’s message to Ahaz is trust me in faith and I will take care of it.  

Counsel In Context - Job 3-5

Job 4:17-21 (ESV)

‘Can mortal man be in the right before God?

Can a man be pure before his Maker?

Even in his servants he puts no trust,

and his angels he charges with error;

how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,

whose foundation is in the dust,

who are crushed like the moth.

Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces;

they perish forever without anyone regarding it.

Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,

do they not die, and that without wisdom?’

You can’t read Job without reading one of the first verses and reading one of the last:  

Job 1:8 (ESV)   And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”    

Job 42:1-2 (ESV) Then Job answered the LORD and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Job is being tested by Satan to prove God wrong.  God boast about Job and Satan wants to thwart Job’s character and conduct.   Although he does destroy all that Job has, he does not, in the end, succeed.  But along the way he certainly did try. 

In the above passage one of Job’s first friends comes to Job to critique how Job is handling this mess.  Eliphaz and his friends have no space in their heads about innocent suffering.  Job is of course, not innocent, which is Eliphaz’s point in the above passage.  No one is right before God.  Eliphaz reminds Job that he is easily beaten to pieces.  But, as the verse in chapter one states, Job was a righteous man.  

Eliphaz does rightly characterized Job’s plight as a tent-cord plucked up as if blown by the wind. Imagine a tent in a hurricane.  That is an apt picture of Job’s plight.   But Eliphaz, like his friends, is not helping the situation.   He is not there to walk beside Job, he is there their to point out the reason for Job’s demise.  Yet, God already said that Job was righteous.  The struggle we face when when we counsel people who are hurting, is that we don’t have the context for what God is doing.  God is, in reality, doing a work beyond the mindset of Eliphaz.  He often does.  Let’s realize that we can be doctrinal true (what Eliphaz says is true), but contextual wrong.   Eliphaz has his doctrine right but his application completely off.   This is the entire story of Job’s three friends.   They will draw from their experience and their philosophy and even from some good theology.  But they will miss the point on the steadfast love God has for Job.  We ought to practice compassion in dealing with others and realize that God has plans for people that are well beyond our own grasp.