Friday, November 4, 2022

 

Friday, November 4, 2022


Psalms 11; 12

Nehemiah 13:1-14

Revelation 2:12-17


Observance: Day for Anglicans and Roman Catholics to pray for one another


I know where you are living, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny your faith in me.


Today we run into two old friends: the story of Balaam and Balak; and the mysterious Nicolaitans. I wonder what it says about God that 1) the story of Balaam and Balak was important enough for the Holy Spirit to inspire Moses to record; 2) that it was a big enough deal for Nehemiah to expel all the foreigners; 3) Peter thinks it is noteworthy enough to use it as a sermon illustration; 4) that Jesus in heaven would reference it too. Jesus is the One with the sharp, two-edged sword of His mouth, and in His victory parade on Palm Sunday, He rode a donkey. This paradox perhaps teaches us something about the power of staying true to Jesus: even a silly old donkey can, if speaking the truth of Christ, defy Satan.


Numbers 22-24 record the event of Balak, the prophet-for-hire, and his talking donkey. In the end, he couldn’t curse the Israelites on behalf of evil king Balaam, because God wouldn’t let him. So Balaam came up with a different plan. Numbers 25 records the Israelite camp being flooded with Moabite women, and Numbers 31:16 makes it clear this plan was cooked up by Balaam after his failure with Balak. Our reading in Nehemiah records that after Jerusalem was rebuilt, the people read in “the book of Moses… that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, because they did not meet the Israelites with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them – yet God turned this curse into a blessing.” The talking donkey rears his head yet again.


Instead of bread and water, the people were sent curses mingled with sexual immorality. Such is the depravity of Satan’s thinking, and the weakness of his logic, that the worst we humans can suffer spiritually is to be tempted with the tingling feeling between our legs. We are sent fleeting sexual pleasures in exchange for our souls.


Jesus promises the manna of heaven for those who stand firm. He is the living water, the bread of heaven, and the white stone of which He speaks is a continuation of the sports metaphor from the previous letter: the winning athlete is given a white stone, which is his special pass used to gain access to the after-party open only to winners. Christ promises no curses and fleeting sexual pleasure: He promises proper spiritual sustenance, bread and water, and blessings and partying after our race on this earth. The one thing He asks for is the one thing powerful enough to overcome Satan: holding fast to the name of Jesus.



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