Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the NET, netbible.org, all rights reserved)

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (emphasis added)

An entire nation undergoing a symbolic baptism by walking through the Aquaba finger of the Red Sea from Nuweiba Beach to Saudi Arabia (16.9 km over a 5% downgrade dropping 762 m and then heading back up), bordered by water on both sides (Exodus 15:8). The pillar of smoke and pillar of fire symbolising the covenant Adonai had made with Abram (Genesis 15:17-21). Once across they all had the same opportunities, heard the same message, and the Messiah walked with them as the rock (Deuteronomy 32) which followed their camp (Some Rabbis teach that a stream followed Miriam, others that it was a literal rock, both that it was the merit of Miriam that brought the water: the pure joy and thanksgiving she showed because of the miracle of the water that saved them – Exodus 15:20-27). Yet not everyone had in their hearts the same thing. Not everyone availed themselves of this spiritual food. Not everyone chose to partake in the things of Adonai – even in the face of such supernaturally miraculous events. We know this from the next verse: “But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness” (1 Corinthians 10:5). If we keep reading we learn they craved what Adonai had not set aside for them. They wanted something DIFFERENT than they had. So they spurned Adonai, chased after it, and ended up with exactly what they deserved – because they rejected His Grace.

We like to think that we wouldn’t do that. We’re not some ancient people who had been downtrodden for decades. We aren’t getting our first taste of freedom. We’re more advanced. More knowledgeable. We have more maturity. But I have to look around the world and wonder about that. For all of our ‘sophistication’, we are quite exuberant in our chasing of feelings. For all of our ‘advancement’ we often justify our thinking and actions based on what ancient people (or even animals in the wild) did/do. There is a stubborn streak in humanity that screams ‘I don’t wanna’ when we are asked to do something – anything – that someone else says it right. It doesn’t matter if it is a government, a scientific body, a teacher, a boss, a parent, or a friend. We often dig our heels in by instinct and say no. We’ve treated Adonai no differently.

In case you want to think that we would listen and obey if only it wasn’t so hard to understand, think about the bronze snake. The people had done wrong in the eyes of Adonai. Since they were in the period of judgment (prior to Jesus paying for sin), they received judgment. Poisonous snakes entered the camp (the camp had millions of people, so it was quite spread out). The snakes naturally bit the people. It caused suffering and it caused death, as poisonous snakes do. “The Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous snake and set it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, so that if a snake had bitten someone, when he looked at the bronze snake he lived” (Numbers 21:8-9). The Hebrew word order is “and it shall be anyone who is bitten when he looks at it he shall live.” How EASY was this? If you were bitten and you LOOKED at the snake, you would live. Period. Nothing else required. It makes me wonder, did anyone refuse to look? It doesn’t say anyone refused. We’re not told what happened after Moses raised the snake. But human nature makes me wonder. You’d have to admit you were bitten (easy). You’d need to get to where you could see it (fairly easy). You’d need to believe that it would work (maybe not so easy). And you’d need to look at it while believing that the God you’d been rebelling against would save you. Okay. Not easy. Simple, but not easy. No wonder Jesus used this analogy to teach about His death. “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). We also have it simple (Romans 10:8-9).

It is in the face of these simple things that we fail to connect the dots. We’re being handed activity sheets for preschoolers and whining that we’re college students. Shouldn’t the fact be that where we are in life should make the sheets easy to complete? Yet here we are saying no. Here we are ‘trying’ healing, but then backing off when it doesn’t work immediately. How many looked at the snake, then looked away claiming that it obviously doesn’t work? Wouldn’t everyone look since other people were doing it and it WAS working? Well, Jesus died on the cross. He was buried. People witnessed that. People who followed Him witnessed it. When Jesus rose, He did not reveal Himself to anyone who had not known Him before His death – at least no one recorded in scripture. But when He spoke to them for the last time it says: “So the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain Jesus had designated. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted” (Matthew 28:16-17). These were His disciples (more than just the Twelve). They had been with Him right up to the end. They were BELIEVERS a few days previous. Here He was. Living. Speaking. Touchable. But not all chose to believe. I don’t believe anything has changed. Jesus Himself wondered if anything would really change when He was here on Earth: “I tell you, he will give them justice speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8). If He was pondering the future, we have to ask ourselves whether or not we are developing our trust and refusing to choose otherwise.

It’s so easy to do. Things that are bad for you are always easy. Fast food is easy. Drinking is easy. Smoking/vaping is easy. Finding people to have sex with is easy. Having sex with someone else’s partner is easy. Drugs are easy. Putting lewd, violent, or fear-filled entertainment before our eyes and ears is easy. It’s easy to find a same sex partner to bed. It’s easy to dress up, present, and (increasingly) surgically alter yourself to another gender, shape, or identity. It’s easy to not read the Word. It’s easy to not go to church. It’s easy not to tithe. It’s easy to be full of strife, jealousy, and anger. It’s easy to be hurtful. It’s easy not to be kind. It’s easy to judge. It’s easy to be bitter. It’s easy to gossip. It’s easy to wave around our opinions. It’s easy to not live in harmony with Adonai’s point of view. It’s easy not to honour our parents. It’s easy to do things that are harmful – whether we enjoy them, are convinced they are correct for us, or even see the harmful effects. It is all so VERY easy. Do you think some of those are NOT harmful? Ask yourself this: if you participate in them by trusting in Jesus, would Jesus double-down and engage with you in that attitude, activity, or mindset? Because ANYTHING we do that isn’t motivated by our trust in Jesus who ONLY does or says things that Glorify the Father, is motivated by our trust in ourselves, our learning, our feelings, and our worldview, which is sin. It is rebellion against Him. It is a rejection of trusting in Him. Everything that isn’t trusting in Jesus is refusing to trust Jesus (Romans 14:23).

This is the essential issue of every believer. Where to put your trust. It’s easy to say Jesus, because that is what we’re supposed to do. But are our motivations REALLY based on trust in Him? It would mean that no matter what we did, we would be doing it to bring glory to the Father. That would mean using our bodies in such a way that honours Him and honours why our bodies were created. It would mean that maybe we wouldn’t do things that feel good, that we like, and that the world around us not only says are okay but give reasons and facts based on human thinking about how there is nothing wrong with doing them. Every word we say. All the thoughts we choose to entertain by dwelling on. Every book, magazine, news story, or social media post would be based on principles and encourage the same thoughts and kind of thinking we find in the Word – whether entertainment or education (remember that true science is the observation and exploration of the natural world). Everything of everything that makes up our lives – trivial, serious, or pleasurable – is supposed to be based on our trust in Jesus. Anything but that is sin. How many of us have success at that? “Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth. But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:5-10).

This is why Jesus came. So save us, not to judge us – that would have been like judging fish in a barrel (John 316-18). He gives us HIS mind (1 Corinthians 2:16) so we don’t have to rely on our own, which is prone to double-mindedness (James 1:6-8). So when we get a revelation about what a verse means – especially when dealing with promises, like salvation, healing, lack of lack, etc – we need to remind ourselves of it a LOT. Keep it in front of our eyes, so that it is easier to give weight to it. This is the GRACE we can be inside. This is the MERCY Adonai extends to us. This is the ROCK we can stand on so that we are NOT tossed around (Ephesians 4:14). This is the solid ground that keeps us from sinking (Matthew 7:24-27). This is the single minded focus on Adonai Elohim that keeps us on His path (Hebrews 13:2, Psalm 119:105).

Remember who our food and drink is (John 6:51). Remember our baptism that brought us into His superior covenant without doing away with the principles of the others (1 Corinthians 11:25-26; Galatians 3:26-29). Eliminate the double-minded person that prevents the acceptance of what Adonai is offering. Stay focused on Him and His work renewing us (Romans 12:2). Choose, on purpose and with clear intent, to let Him be Lord of your WHOLE life and trust Him with each and every part of it.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Daniel 2:34-35

“You were watching as a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its iron and clay feet, breaking them in pieces. Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were broken in pieces without distinction and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors that the wind carries away. Not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a large mountain that filled the entire earth.” Messiah would be the stone cut without hands. The stone that would fill the whole earth. “let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12). Jesus IS the stone which was the revelation of Who He Was (Matthew 16:15-16). He is the rock on which the church is built (Matthew 16:18). Jesus is the rock on which they stumble, but His kingdom will fill the whole earth (Revelation 11:15). Jesus IS Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b