|The Biblical Examiner
An Examination of Biblical Precepts Involved in Issues at Hand
1) False Hope
2) Godly Fear
Exodus 2:23 ff, gives two immutable laws of God which the fallen nature resists with all its might: False hope of Israel and faithless prayer.
The first which we want to look at is the false hope of Israel in Egypt.
In v. 23, the king that sought Moses' life dies, and, strangely enough, we now have the first record in the Book of Exodus of the people of God crying out to their God. Up to this point we have the record of their extremely bitter bondage (1:14; 2:11) in Egypt, including the command to kill all the Hebrew male babies, a command from which Moses was spared by Divine Providence. The minimum amount of time between the command to kill the babies and Moses' efforts to free Israel (2:11) is 40 years. The striking point which we want to look at is that Israel did not cry out to God during this 40 year period. We would think that, at the least, the murder of their babies by Egypt would cause them to groan and cry out to God, but it did not.
V. 23 tells us why that, in spite of all the oppression which Egypt placed upon Israel, "Their cry came up to God" only after the king of Egypt died. *1*
Apparently, the oppressed people of Israel had hoped that a change of government would ease their lot. They had hoped that a new king would change the circumstances in which they were suffering. It was probably something like this: "All we need is a new king [president]. He will see the difficult situation in which we are. He will change it." Their spirit saw no need to turn to God because they hoped that the new king would do better than the old one. It was not until they saw that this political hope was useless that they turned to the Lord, and God was reminded of His covenant with their fathers.
Observe these points about this political hope:
1) Although we see a dim spark of the true faith in the Sovereign God of the covenant in the midwives and in Moses' parents, as a whole, Israel had lost its faith; Israel was Egyptian in almost every way except birth. Israel's thorough Egyptianization is seen in the speed with which it built the golden calf under Aaron, and its constant stand against Moses.2 Israel's faith had been paganized to the same basic faith as Egypt, faith in the state: "If we can only get the state to do right, we will be saved." Israel had a political faith in Egypt: faith in the state, not in its covenant God.
Faithlessness says, "If we can only get the state to return to godly principles [the Constitution!], we will be saved." The pagans spell relief, P-O-L-I-T-I-C-A-L. Fallen man will grasp at any hope for a workable social structure apart from a total commitment to the law-word of God; he desires to be responsible to any authority except God's. Man, the sinner, especially enjoys being his own authority.
Because of its faithlessness, and because of its faith in the state (which said a new king would save them), Israel tolerated a great deal of oppression from its god, Egypt.
2) The faithless nation, Israel, foolishly looked to the state for relief from oppression; it expected impossible reform from the top down.
Biblical faith demands THEOLOGICAL REFORM, ie., reform that takes place within the individual's heart; reform accomplished by the Spirit of God in response to and in accordance with the law-word of God. Not every person must be saved for a national reform to take place, but the Christian influence must be so strong that a majority desires Christian laws as the basis for society.
In contrast to this THEOLOGICAL REFORM is social, political, or circumstantial REFORM which seeks to change the individual from the outside: "If we can only get better laws; If we can only get the civil government to do right; If we can only get the pastor to do right.." There are numerous 'DO RIGHT' scams, all centered around getting someone else to DO RIGHT.
Israel in Egypt dreamed of the day that it be released from bondage and oppression, but the dream was not of God releasing them; rather the dream was that a new king would release them.
Any child of God looking for relief from oppression through any means other than a theological shift in the people will be sadly disappointed, 2 Chronicles 7:14. In other words, godly civil government, no matter what form it takes (constitutional republic, democracy, theocracy, monarchy, oligarchy, &c.), requires Biblical faith in the subject people. Without Biblical faith, every form of civil government, even a constitutional republic, will simply be another means of oppression. In our situation in the US, the Constitution is no more than another man-made document of oppression without a Biblical based faith in the hearts of the people of the US.
Although I support the anti-abortion movement, I will use it as an example of a false political hope. Notice that the anti-abortion movement, as a whole, is not crying out for a theological shift in the people; rather, it is crying out for a political shift. They are not crying out for God's laws against Fornication and Adultery; rather, they are crying out for change in the laws of the land. Let me ask: "Was it a political hope in God's people that prevented them from crying out to God when Egypt started killing the Hebrew babies?"
Thus, it is readily apparent that any kind of political hope which replaces a theological hope is service to the false gods of Egypt. It denies God.
3) Only when Israel realized that hope in a change of circumstances to ease its burdens was groundless did it cry out to the Lord. When faith in the pagan gods of Egypt failed, then faith in the Covenant God of Israel was renewed; Israel cried out to the living God for deliverance. Notice 2:25; it was after loss of faith in the pagan gods of Egypt and Israel's crying out to the Covenant God that He knew them (marg.).
In conclusion to this first point, I am fearful that a great many professed Christians are seeking relief in our time from the top down, not from the outside in: "If only we can get the civil government to change and return to the constitution, all will be saved." The situation with the Children of Israel in Egypt shows us that this is an impossible dream. Even more severe, this false hope is in fact worshiping Egypt's false gods and is begging for God's judgment on both God's faithless people and on the Egyptians.
Any change other than a theological change in the people will only make matters worse because the cry must be to, and all hope in, the Lord, Deuteronomy 24:15; James 5:4. Any attempted change in any area other than a genuine theological change in the hearts of the people will only bring more oppression; the godly purpose of oppression is to bring about theological change in the people.
Furthermore, though we must work for a change in every area, our primary effort must be for the theological change in people. Release from bondage came when the covenant people cried out to the Lord, not when the king of Egypt turned to the Lord.
Who do we look to for release from bondage and oppression, the kings and rulers of this world, or to the Lord of the saboth Who alone can give rest (James 4)? Do we see our hope in the king submitting to the Sovereign God of the Covenant, or is our hope in His people submitting to the Lord God? Which option is according to the Word of God?
Now we come to our second thought to develop: faithless prayer, wherein we again have three points.
1. The people prayed in Exodus 2:23 & 3:7-9. Apparently Israel's prayer request centered around their suffering and desire to be released from that suffering, not necessarily for deliverance from Egypt itself.
We say this because Israel's succeeding actions in the wilderness show that its desire was to be released from suffering, trials, and difficulties in general. It expected a supernatural God to supply all needs apart from self-discipline, obedience to the law of God, and hard work. Ultimately, it took a new generation to actually desire true freedom under God and to have the courage and ability to claim that freedom.
Thus, we can safely conclude that Israel in Egypt only wanted relief from its burdens. The terror of the taskmasters, not the desire to separate from Egypt (and sad to say, not particularly the killing of their babies), caused Israel to cry out to God. In response to these cries, the Lord sent Moses to deliver them.
Observe: Prayer that seeks to influence God to our way of thinking or to do what we desire Him to do, is presumption at best. There are more than a few Scriptures which would seem to indicate that man can have great influence over God through prayer, but such thinking is little more than witchcraft.
2. Most assuredly, proper prayer reminds God of His promises, but it must also include the request for His Spirit to enable one to meet His conditions. In the case of Israel in Egypt, prayer moved God to fulfill His promises to their father [3:6, father, singular, showing all believers are one in the faith], but Israel was still corrupted theologically and the older generation had to die.
3. Proper prayer emphasizes God's will being done around, in, and through us. If God moves in response to prayer to perform His will, then proper prayer must be in response to God's spirit moving in the heart to pray according to His will. (Not my will, but thy will be done.. This is why we can expect God to give us the desires of our hearts; we are praying according to the desire placed there by His Spirit.)
Evidently, up until this time Israel was content in Egypt because we have no complaint from Israel to God up until 2:23. But by this time God's training of the nation and of Moses is complete, the wickedness of the Amorites is full (cf Gen 15:16), and it is time for Israel to go. The time is right, and God uses prayer to move.
In other words, God's people in Egypt prayed because of harsh bondage, not because they desired to leave Egypt. God moved in response to their prayer. This means that God is the One Who raised up the harsh taskmasters which caused Israel to pray. The purpose of prayer is not to change the plan, purpose, and/or will of God. Rather, the purpose of prayer must be for God to fulfill His plan and to supply man with all that is needed for man to fulfill the purpose of God.
Let's not underestimate the fact that Israel had been in Egypt for several hundreds of years. They were Egyptian in almost every way except birth. Israel was in Egypt, Egypt was in the heart of Israel, and they had to be severed. The harshness of the taskmasters which would be needed to cause the needed sorrows to separate Israel unto God would be beyond our comprehension.
We did a mailing some time ago (Needed, Bitter Bondage) in which we presented the basic thought that God's people today need bitter bondage and hard taskmasters to separate them from the Egypt they love so well; the more Egyptianized they are, the more harsh treatment they need.
The glorious and encouraging thing about Israel is that the sorrows which they endured for a season finally forced them to cry out to their God for deliverance. The result of their cry was the destruction of the world power (Egypt); their release from, and the spoiling of, Egypt; and their inheritance of the promised land.
To illustrate where Christianity is in relation to the world powers to day, let me give a personal observation: In the November '91's mailing we included a teaching on Coverture Marriage vs. Covenant and/or State licensed marriage. The Indiana Law Encyclopedia defines Marriage as a civil contract under the authority of the state:
The purpose of the statutory characterization of marriage as a civil contract is to place the subject of marriage under the control of the civil authorities to the exclusion of the ecclesiastical. Under this statute marriage is a status founded on contract and is an institution regulated and controlled by law [comment - not God's] upon principles of public policy. Marriage has been further described as a contract in which the public is interested, and to which the State is a party. (pg. 328)
In other words, a state licensed marriage is actually a three party contract (the state, the bride, and the groom), which, by their own definition, specifically excludes God and His law; the terms of this contract are determined by public policy. On the other hand, Coverture Marriage specifically makes God and His law the standard; it specifically makes the Lord the Third Party of the marriage at the exclusion of the state.
The reason we mention the position of the state on marriage is this: within the last two months we have had three couples contact us to perform a non-state licensed marriage for them (one couple was over 150 miles away). All three couples attended professed Bible-believing churches (one independent Baptist, two Reformed Presbyterian). When these couples went to their respective pastors for a marriage without a state license, the pastors refused. Not only did the pastors refuse to perform a non-state licensed marriage, but they also refused to let the couples use their church buildings. Furthermore, two of the pastors (one Baptist, one Presbyterian) said they would excommunicate the couples if they married without the state's approval (state license) because in their opinion, the couples would be living in fornication.
When those involved met with their respective pastors to explain their Scriptural reasons for marrying without a state license (the Baptist included the church board), all three pastors gave the same message either openly or covertly: they greatly feared offending the state; they were not going to do anything which might disturb the king of Egypt.
What is our point? I am not condemning pastors who desire to represent the state in the marriage ceremony, nor am I condemning pastors who do not feel they should do a ceremony which excludes the state, nor am I condemning couples who desire that the state be the third party of their marriage. The point which has struck my heart like an arrow is the total terror of the state by so called "Bible- Believing" churches and pastors. It is obvious to even a casual observer that the god of these churches and pastors is the king of Egypt regardless of what they say with their mouth, Matthew 12:33.
I am still in shock over the denial of professed men of God of the Lord Who bought them. They and those with them will not be spared the judgment of God, 2 Peter 2:1-4. Furthermore, they should open all their public and private prayers with, "Our father which art in Washington DC [or the name of their state capital]..." God help us!
The attachment to the king of Egypt assures God's covenant people of coming bitter bondage, affliction, oppression, persecution, and sorrow. God will permit no other gods before Him. His churches which are committed to the king of Egypt will especially feel the wrath of God. God's judgment against Egypt's false gods must begin in the house of the Lord, so God's people had better flee from the wrath to come, 1 Peter 4:17; Matthew 3:7.
But the result of the bitter bondage and of the resulting prayer will be the fulfilling of the Lord's promise: And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do [this], saith the LORD of hosts (Mal 4:3), & Blessed [are] the meek: for they shall inherit the earth (Mat 5:5). The separation of Israel from Egypt and the subsequent claiming of Canaan outlines for all the following generations how the inheritance spoken of by the Lord will be accomplished.
I feel sorry for the professed Christians who have not this hope in the God of the covenant. They serve a god who is unable to overcome the gods and powers of this world, gods which can only leave them in bitter bondage and sorrows. But the coming bondage, taskmasters, and sorrows will strip them of all political hope and self-help programs; it will force them to cry out to the Lord, Who will move to fulfill His promises made to the saints of old in Malachi and in Matthew.
Exodus 3:10. The Lord heard the cry of His people; He remembers His covenant to their father and now speaks to Moses. Note; I will send thee back..., the Lord is not asking Moses to go back on his own. The Lord also sends Moses to do a job, ie., bring forth my people. Furthermore, they were God's people, not Moses'. The Lord did not speak to send Moses back until God was ready to deliver them and they were stripped of all hope outside the faith of Abraham.
In conclusion: I am concerned that the fear of the state expressed by the pastors in their refusal to do anything which might offend the state, even at the expense of refusing to obey the clear plain teaching of the word of God, is a warning of what lies ahead for Christianity.
Let us ask, "How long will the Lord God tolerate the worship of the gods of Egypt by His people? What will He do to separate His people from the gods of Egypt and Egypt from His people? Has the God that changes not (Mal 3:6) changed? Will He deal with His people today differently than He did in Egypt? Will the Lord spare those who knowingly remain connected and supportive of the church which have other gods before the Lord God and who worship the gods of Egypt? How long will God's full wrath against American Faithless Christianity be put off?"
Any attempted change, in any area other than a genuine theological change in the hearts of the people, will only bring more oppression; the godly purpose of oppression is to bring about theological change in the people.
Faithless prayer which seeks to change God's mind and seeks to find an answer apart from a change in the people is presumption. It took hard bitter bondage to force God's people to pray; unfortunately, when they did pray, they only sought relief from the bondage: "Lord, make things easier for us." But the Lord would not have such a thing; He delivered them completely from Egypt.
Ex 2:23, the people only cried unto the Lord when all else failed. What will have to fail today before the people will turn from the king of Egypt and genuinely cry out unto the Lord?
Looming over us daily is the prospect of a total collapse of the false gods of Egypt which are all around us; sadly, only then will God's people turn to their God. Happily, then the Lord will perform His covenant promise to our father Abraham through his seed, Galatians 3:29.
The Scriptures talk a great deal about fear; fear of man, fear of God. As always, in order to develop a Bible based doctrine of fear we must look at the OT where we ar given two types of fear:
1. Proverbs 29:25, fear of what man can and might do to us.
2. Proverbs 16:6, fear of what the Lord will do to us.
Hebrews 13:6, the overwhelming teaching of the word of God is that fear is fear of something that will happen to us, IN THIS LIFE.
To illistrate let me mention a fimiluar sight in our area: I will not pass a slow moving piece of farm equipment on a hill even though the graval roads have no yellow lines on them. Why? Because I am fearful that I might have the opportunity to meet someone head-on. If I disregard common sense and continually pass on hills I will meet someone sooner or latter. In like manner, godly fear which causes one to depart from evil is that the Lord will permit the results of that evil to catch up with us or our children this side of death (He will allow the car to meet me on the hill).
There is an important observation by A. Edersheim in his reference to the midwives in Exodus 2. He points out that both Egypt and Israel believed in the same basic truths: the immortality of the soul, and future rewards and punishments. But Israel was taught that God is the God of the present as well as the future, "and that even here on earth [God] reigneth, dispensing good and evil." He goes on to say that this present reward and punishment was so much insisted upon in the Mosaic law that there was no special need to refer to sin's consequences in another life. On the other hand, the Egyptians knew of a future reward, but knew no temporal reward of good and evil. [Reward/punishment in this life.]
Furthermore, we should notice that two thirds of the word of God (the OT) emphasizes the temporal blessings of following the law of the Lord. In other words, the Lord says to man, "You do this and here is what will happen to you: If you do right, your life will be blessed and you will prosper. On the other hand, if you fail to follow My word, your life will be shortened, your enemies will prevail over you, you will have illness and sickness, or any number of physical problems."
As we move on into the other third of Scripture, the NT, we find surprisingly little of the eternal rewards for following the word of God.
Thus, the word of God presents two kinds of fear: 1. fear of getting caught; fear of the results of sin catching up with man before one dies. Over and over the Lord promises His people that if the results of their actions in this life do not catch up with them before death, the results will catch up with their children; either good results or bad results. 2. fear of eternal results of sin, ie., hell or loss of rewards in heaven.
There are a great many passages which bear this out, so we will only look at just enough to establish our thought and then to tie them together. As we look at these passages, please keep in mind two things: First, this is not Moses', Paul's, Christ's, nor any other authour's opinion; this is God's word. Second, we are not underestimating the fact of a literal heaven, hell, eternal reward or loss of reward, or eternal punishment. There is a literal hell to shun; there is a literal heaven with rewards for which to strive. Furthermore, the Scriptures teach degrees of hell and heaven.
Throughout Scripture, it was the fear of the temporal punishment for the violation of the law which produces the fear of the Lord in the heart of man. When the one tempted to do wrong saw what happened to others who did what he was tempted to do, the temptation was kept in check, Deuteronomy 13:10, 11 & 19:16-20. The Lord tells us that as His law was read with its curses and blessings, fear of Himself was developed in the heart of those who heard it read, Deuteronomy 31:11-13.
The Lord makes very little mention of eternal reward or punishment to motivate obedience to Himself. Rather, the Lord motivates man to obedience to Himself by calling his attention to the temporal results of their actions, Psalms 52:5, 6. Many times over we read warnings like Proverbs 1:24-26, where God says that the result of refusing to walk in His commandments is that He will not hear us in our distress when we call upon Him. It is the promised whirlwind for sowing to the wind in Hosea 8:7; it is the promised hemlock in the field for false swearing in 10:4; it is the warning of the temporal results of sin that God uses to warn His people to depart from evil. The OT shows us the principle of temporal results in action.
In other words, when God's people see the results of faithfulness or faithlessness cone to pass in the lives of others, it should motivate them to faithfulness. Clearly, the fear of God in the OT Scripture is fear of the physical, temporal results of sin upon the parents and unto the third and fourth generation.
The OT definition of fear is carried over into the NT by many connecting passages; the most obvious is Hebrews 12:18-24, which brings forward Exodus 19:12, 13. Everything about the mountain where the people assembled to receive the law was designed to invoke the fear of God in their hearts. It was the fear of physical death which caused the people not to touch the mountain. The author of Hebrews uses what took place at the mountain to illustrate the literal fear which is to be in the heart of Christians. He is referring to the temporal physical consequences of sin; treading under foot the blood of the new covenant, Christ.
Hebrews 10:23-31, gives us another connecting reference. The Lord is referring to the physical results of failure to assemble and wilful sin in general. Physical death was inflicted upon the lawbreaker under Moses' law; therefore, how much more physical punishment is deserved against the lawless under the new covenant of grace, Jesus Christ. Vs. 30, 31, does not release the lawless child of God from the physical results of his indifference; rather, it warns them that God will catch up with their indifference IN THE PHYSICAL REALM, just as sure as if a rebellious Israelite had touched the mountain.
Therefore, godly fear is fear of His righteous justice and judgment being recompensed upon the sinner (whether inside or outside of the covenant) on this side of death.
Ephesians 6:2, 3, gives us another connecting reference. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;).. The promise is a temporal promise clearly referring to Exodus 20:12. When Paul brought forward the fifth commandment, he left the physical results of obedience or disobedience connected to it for the church.
We will find, with few exceptions, that every instance of fear mentioned in the NT refers to the fear of the temporal consequences which are brought about by the Divine Providence of God against sin.
Philippians 2:12, Paul exhorted the people to obey God with fear and trembling over the physical results of sin. 1 Corinthians 10:5-11, Paul motivates the Christians at Corinth to avoid lust, fornication, murmuring, serving other gods, and tempting God. What does Paul use to motivate these people not to do these evils? Something very practical and easily understood by all, the literal physical judgement of God against sinners in the past who did these things.
Paul says that God recorded the history of Israel so that the child of God in the end of the age (that's us) would fear God and depart from evil. Why depart from evil? Because of the literal physical vengeance of God against evil.
Galatians 6:8, is a warning against the physical results of serving the flesh. In Ecclesiastes 8:11, Solomon tells us that men continue in sin because they do not think the results of their sin will catch up with them this side of death. The context of Proverbs 16:6, requires that the fear of the Lord be identified as fear of the temporal physical results of sin which the Lord will permit to come to pass. When men fear that the results of their sin will catch up with them and/or their children, they will depart from evil.
Now let's look at some logical implications of these two views: emphasizing eternal rewards for our actions, vs. emphasizing temporal rewards for our actions.
If people hold to the eternal view at the expense of the temporal view of rewards, the unholy desires of the heart can be justified; there is no immediate fear of God. To these folks, the temporal rewards are not truly important. "After all," they say, "the eternal rewards will outweigh any temporal discomfort that might result from compromised action." Although they claim to be Christians, their actions will be little, if any, different than the Egyptian's. The eternal view has no practical application of the law-word of God. "What does it matter? We are only worried about the eternal consequences."
On the other hand, if people hold to the temporal view by taking the law, with its threats and promises, seriously and literally, they will consider the temporal consequences of their actions upon their children, their community, their society, their nation, and the world in general. The emphasis in their message and life will be vastly different than the one who is only interested in an eternal reward. The temporal view presents primarily the temporal consequences of following the word of God; therefore, it does matter that we obey now. It matters to our children to the third and fourth generation.
Hence, if a person believes that their uncontrolled passions, thoughts, and actions will be judged against them, their family, and their society in the temporal realm, they will be far more inclined to bring everything under control to the word of God. If a person believes their indifference to what is going on around them in society will be judged against them, their children, and their society, they will be far more inclined to get involved in changing the things around them.
God emphasizes the temporal results of following His word while Egypt emphasizes the eternal results. The flesh has very little fear of something that might or might not happen sometime way off in the future after we die.
Anyone with children know exactly what I am trying to say. If we threaten them with some kind of distant future punishment or reward for their action, it has very little influence upon them. On the other hand, if we promise the reward for their action immediately, the influence upon them is astounding. And the more immediate, the more change.
It is the immediate rod of reproof that drives foolishness from the heart of a child, not the threat of some kind of reward or punishment way off in the future. Does this fallen nature change as a person matures? I think not. It is the assurance of soon, even immediate, punishment which causes men to depart from evil.
Obviously, the majority of professed Christians of modern Christianity have only an eternal view of reward and punishment. They get together and discuss heaven, sing about heaven, dream about heaven, imagine what kinds of rewards they will receive in heaven; they escape from reality to heaven. Yes, they believe in an eternal reward and punishment; so does Egypt; so do the devils.
The result of this 'heavenly mind' is no practical Christianity for action here on this earth. Paul says it best as he quoted Psalms 36:1 in Romans 3:18, there is no fear of God before their eyes.. Man's love for sin dismisses any fear of a temporal reward for his actions. This antinomian attitude has resulted in the logical conclusion of, "As long as it results in the glory of God we can do whatever we need to do."
Finally, let's look at the fallacy of emphasizing the eternal view of rewards for our actions here in this life at the expense of the temporal view.
1. It ignores that Christ is in heaven on the right hand of all power and authority, Ephesians 1:21, 22. 2. It ignores that our God reigns here and now, and that He does whatsoever He pleases in the kingdom of men, Daniel 5. 3. It ignores that God's rule is according to His law-word, and ignores that He has revealed to His creation how to please Him to inherit His temporal blessings. 4. It reduces Christianity to no more than mysticism; the old pagan Egyptian religion. It is paganism revived as it removes godly fear from mankind. An unbiblical emphasis on eternal reward and punishment will permit Christianity do disintegrate into no more than a powerless hope in heaven by and by, powerless to change society.
Some might ask, "What about Romans 8:6? Does not Paul tell us that we are to be spiritually minded? This means to be thinking about heaven, doesn't it?" The answer is in the context: The spiritual mind, and therefore the spiritual life, is, through the power of the Spirit of God, subject to the law of God, v. 7.
Christianity has forgotten that, first and foremost, God is the God of the present. Certainly, He is the God of the future, but His word and law is active right now.
Sinful man will fear God and keep His commandments because he fears the temporal results of not keeping His commandments. The idea of heaven is good and true, but when more emphasis is placed upon heaven than what the word of God does, there will be no fear of the Lord in this life; men will not depart from evil.
The logical result of the church refusing to instill a temporal confidence of reward and punishment from God in the hearts of God's people, is a society refusing to instill a temporal fear in the hearts of the lawless. Can we expect any different?
A religion which produces no temporal confidence in God rewarding our actions in this life, either good or bad, and either to us or our children, is not a Biblical religion.