SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/6/2011 9:28:13 AM
My Worship Time
Focus:
“Separation
as The People of God”
Bible Reading
& Meditation
Reference: Nehemiah 10:28,
30-31
Message of the verses: “28 Now the rest of the people, the priests, the
Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all those who
had separated themselves
from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons
and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding.
“30 and that we will not give our
daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. 31
As for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the sabbath day
to sell, we will not buy from them on the sabbath or a holy day; and we will
forego the crops the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.”
A
former Pastor of mine who is now with the Lord, told me when he was about to
retire from the active role of being a Pastor, told me that in order to have
a happy and fulfilled retirement you had to retire from something to
something. This statement goes along
with what was happening to these exiles, for in order to be success in
separation you have to be separated from something (the world) to something,
and in that is to God and the Law of God.
Two things that are mentioned here are marriage to the foreigners who
lived around them who were idol worshiping people, for the Law prohibited
this. The other thing that is mentioned
is the Sabbath; for the exiles were breaking the Sabbath in that they were
buying and selling on the Sabbath, which was also against the Law of God.
I
wish to quote a portion of the commentary from Dr. Wiersbe on what he writes
about separation: “The Jews separated from the peoples around them and to the
Lord and His Word (Nehemiah 10:28; 9:2).
They also united with their brothers and sisters in promising to obey
the Law of God (v-29). Separation that ignores God and
other believers is isolation and
eventually lead to sin. Only the
Holy Spirit can give us the kind of balance we need to live a godly life in
this ungodly world. The legalist wants
to live by rules, but that style of life only keeps you immature and dependant
on you spiritual leaders. The only way to grow in a
balanced life is to give yourself totally to God and follow Him by faith.”
All of what is being discussed here had a
bearing on several of the purposes that God called the Nation of Israel into
existence. They were to be a different
people, a holy people to the Lord so that others around them can see the
difference that they had and then want to find out more about it so that
eventually they too can turn to the Lord.
If the people of Israel would marry people other than from their nation
then this would pollute the nation who was to bring the Savior into the world,
the Lord Jesus Christ who was to be the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Judah, and David.
When
the text speaks of the seventh year or the Sabbatical year, that was to take
place every seven years where the children of Israel were to, by faith, allow
the land to rest on that seventh year, which would mean that they would have to
trust the Lord for provisions for two years, the seventh year and then waiting
for the crops to be ready on the eight year.
Then there was what is called the year of Jubilee that occurred every
forty-nine years where their faith had to increase for then as the land would
rest for two years making it three years that they would have to trust the Lord
to supply their needs. The ironic thing
about this that we read in 2 Chronicles 36:21 that one of the reasons that the
Lord brought about the captivity of Judah was that they had not kept one of the
Sabbatical years in almost 500 years so the Lord was going to let the land rest
for seventy years in a row to make up for the years that it missed.
Now
we have to speak of what this has to do with believer in the NT age, the age of
grace. I can say that there are nine of
the Ten Commandments mentioned in the NT, and the one that is missing is the
commandment concerning the Sabbath. I
have read different books that speak to this subject and there are different
opinions on how a day of rest is to be handled in this age of grace. In the first place the Sabbath day is our
Saturday and the day that Christians are to come together in corporate worship
is Sunday, the day that the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and I believe
that this is why the commandment of the Sabbath is not mentioned in the NT. However there are principles that can apply
from the keeping of the Sabbath, and that is that man, for his own physical need
does need a day off in order to better take care of his body. There is another thing that I would like to
mention and that is when you go back to the book of Genesis and read about the
creation week you see that God rested on the seventh day after taking the first
six days to create the world. Now that
“rest” does not mean that He was tired from all of His work, but that rest can
be understood as one thinks of a artist, a painter who has just finished a
masterpiece and takes a bit of time to be satisfied with what he has just
accomplished, so he stands back and takes a long look at it. Now what that has to do with believers today
is that it would be good for us to think about and to praise the Lord on a
Saturday for what He did when He created the earth. Taking a walk outside in the woods or
something like that would be good in order to get a look at God’s creation so
we can praise the Lord for His awesome work of creation.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As a NT believer in the Lord Jesus Christ I
want to make sure that I am separated from this world system and committed to
the Lord and His cause here on earth. It
is no accident that the Church is called the body of Christ, for we are all a
part of His body seeking to do His will while living here on the earth that He
created.
I
want to remember to praise the Lord specifically for His creation this
Saturday.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Continue to learn contentment.
2.
Remember the commitment that our marriage vows were
and keep them.
3.
Remember to bless the Lord for His creation.
4.
Be separated from the world.
9/6/2011 10:46:30 AM
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