22 May 2016
Dear Phyllis,
God loves violent people. I know that needs to be explained, but the evidence that it is true is overwhelming. I'm not talking about red necks with shot guns. My friend Paul, is the most violent man I have ever met. He is the product of being raised in gang warfare in New York and is as tough a man as they come. His stories of violence are endless, and personally, I find them very refreshing. He told of one time a school bully harassed his daughter. The next day he went to school and beat that kid senseless. That was the end of that problem. He had a very close friend that he had known since school days. The man came to see Paul some time after Paul was saved. Of course, he wanted Paul to go with him for their usual lark of sin. Paul explained to him that he is living for Jesus now and doesn't do that any more. The man continued use be very profane. Paul told him in measured terms, “You better get out of here before I kill you.” The man wisely left. But Paul has more of the Holy Spirit than any man I know at the moment. Every day he tells the most amazing stories of miracles, ranging from miraculous healing, finances, bad kids lives being transformed and prayer meetings like I haven't heard of in years. I see only one explanation – he has the spirit of Phinehas.
Phinehas is one of my heroes. At a critical time in Jewish history; Balaam had taught Balac that Israel was impervious to spiritual enchantment but if he could get them gunked up with idolatry and sexual immorality they would be dead meat (Num. 23:23; Rev. 2:14). The scheme was highly successful and the wrath of God came down on Israel (Num. 25). It was a time of national confusion. Israel was having a big idolatrous party with Midian and at a critical moment the son of the top man of Simeon took the daughter of the head man of Median and had sex with her in public as an open act of defiance. Bewilderingly Moses did nothing, Aaron did nothing. Eleazar stood there in silence. Then something came unglued inside the grandson of Aaron. Phinehas grabbed a spear and pinned the couple to the ground, spearing them right through the stomach. That act brought one of the rarest acts of God in the OT. God said, “Because Phinehas has turned away my wrath from Israel I will make a covenant of an everlasting priesthood with him and his seed (Num. 25:11-13). Later when Moses sent the men of war to war against Midian he sent “Phinehas the priest, to the war with the holy instrument and the trumpets to blow in his hand” (Num. 31:6). He needed a warrior priest and he had one in Phinehas.
Not surprisingly, we see his name mentioned six times in Joshuah in the conquest of the land, and, encouragingly, we see him mentioned again in 1 Chron. 9:20 where we read, “And Phinehas was the ruler over them, and the Lord was with him”. Very good testimony.
But the astounding thing was 400 years later we read about a relatively unknown priest who was perhaps the main instrument in the great Josian revival. It was Hilkiah who found the Book of the Law in the temple. Hilkiah was the high priest at the time of Josiah and his name is mentioned 29 times in 2 Kn. 22 and 2 Ch. 34. He certainly was very instrumental in that historic revival under Josiah, and he is best remembered as the man who found the Book of the Law.
But very few people know his greatest contribution. Hilkiah had a son who was very devoted to the Lord from an early age. For that matter Hilkiah's son went on to be one of Israels greatest prophets – Jeremiah (Jer. 1:1). There is little doubt but what Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah.
But there is one more astounding fact; another 100 years later there was another mighty man of God who led Israel back to the land from Babylon – Ezra. We all know about Jeremiah and Ezra. Very few have noticed that they were sons of Hilkiah. But the truly shocking things is that if we trace their linage all the way back we see that all these men were sons of Phinehas (Ez. 7:1-5).
There you have it. In the days of Moses when Israel hit a new low and even Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar didn't move there was one young man who came uncorked when he saw the vile act of defiance, picked up a spear and pinned the offending couple to the ground. Because of that act God made an everlasting covenant with him and we see hundreds of years later his descendants were Hilkiah, Jeremiah, and Ezra.
How does that apply today? We are watching a scene of national and international depravity never before seen on such a high level. In the face of this hundreds of pastors and theologians tell us that God loves everyone and we shouldn't be critical of others. Or some bold pastors tell us on the basis of the original Hebrew and Greek text we see that God frowns on immorality. But where are the men like Jim Dobson, wo says he will go to prison before he is silent about murder of infants and immoral depravity. And where are the men like CT Studd, William Booth? Those two men were as violent as they come, but Studd left a mark on
Africa and Booth saved London. We need men like Hudson Taylor, William Carey, Adoniram Judson, etc.; who couldn't stay home. Whose spirit stirred them up to the point of violence to give up all to go win souls for Jesus. This is what we need today. Jesus told us that the Kingdom is won by the violent (Mt. 11:12). That should tell us something. We need men of the spirit of Phinehas who can't stand idly by and do nothing. At any cost they must abandon all to see that the Name of Christ is held high and honored. God loves such men.
Lord Jesus help us to be such.
bill
Gomen for a long letter but there is another story that I must tell.
During the 1st WW there was an American soldier, Sergeant Alvin C. York. He was a hard drinking, frightened hillbilly from Tennessee and was noted as one of the finest turkey shooters in Tennessee. But before being inducted in the army he had a dramatic encounter with Jesus and became a dedicated follower of Christ. He was a good soldier but had very strong pacifistic convictions and refused to fight. But during the Battle of Argonne when a number of his buddies were killed something inside him snapped. The old instinct of the turkey shooter came rushing forward. He laid down a hail of deadly fire. He became so violent that he rushed the German position. The Germans were terrified. He single handedly took out 32 German machine guns, killed 20 Germans, and took another 132 German soldiers prisoners. Then the killing stopped. He said he did it to save lives. In all probability he saved hundreds of lives. Thank God for such godly violent men.
No comments:
Post a Comment