Wednesday, June 11, 2008
A Parent's Presumptive Prerogative Part Two
Continuing in the study, we come to Psalm 51:5:
"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me."
Again, a reminder that the children of the covenant are conceived in sin and in need of a Savior. It is important to remember that I am not denying that.
Now, here's a verse that is very familiar to parents. Proverbs 22:6:
"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it."
This goes along with Deuteronomy 4:10 and 6:7 in the last post. God has given clear commands that must be obeyed, regardless of the ultimate situation. Here God commands that a parent must train a child for keeping the covenant. I would also point out that "when he is old he will not depart from it" demands presumption on the parent's part.
We're all very familiar with Jonah and his fish. But have we missed what God said to Jonah in 4:11? "And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left--and much livestock?" God said He pitied Nineveh for her many infants. If God would spare a wicked city for the infants, why would He not extend the blessings of the covenant to them as He even promised He would?
In Isaiah 55:3, the Lord said, "Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you-- The sure mercies of David." If you would agree to the covenant and apply the covenant to yourself, then God will make covenant with you. It is an everlasting covenant, a covenant that extends beyond your earthly lifetime. It is a covenant of mercies. Acts 13:34 applies this to Christ as the Mediator of this covenant. And this covenant with David included his seed, his children (Psalm 89:28, 29).
Daniel 2:22 said, "He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him." This points back to Deuteronomy 29:29. These belong to God. God has not revealed everything to us. But He has revealed to us what is necessary for us to obey Him, to glorify and enjoy Him. You have in Genesis - Revelation everything you need to know to live a life pleasing to God. But you do not have revealed to you the deep and secret thingsdeep and secret things. You do not know God's plans for this day, this year, or your great grandchildren to a thousand generations. You do not need to know these things to be faithful to God and His Word.
Whose children are they? Ezekiel 16:20-21 said, "Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire?" When you bear children, you bear them to the Lord. They are His children. Again, He speaks to those in covenant with Him. (Consider this with Genesis 3:15 where God distinguished between the redeemed and the reprobate.) Also consider that the parents' breaking the covenant was a small matter to God in comparison with what they did with His children.
In 20:39, "As for you, O house of Israel," thus says the Lord GOD: "Go, serve every one of you his idols--and hereafter--if you will not obey Me; but profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols." There were covenant blessings and there were covenant cursings. Here, the Israelites had proven by their rebellion that they were covenant breakers and had called the covenant curses upon their own heads. Yet God would show His mercy to them again.
For in Jeremiah 32:40, He said, "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me." Again, it is an everlasting covenant, beyond their lifetimes, extending to their children.
Back in Ezekiel, 36:24 and 25 read, "For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols." And this is that great promise, the promise of the New Covenant, which continued, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this," says the Lord GOD, "let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!"
In Zechariah 6:15, "Even those from afar shall come and build the temple of the LORD. Then you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you. And this shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God." The big, dreaded if. He is not your High Priest, unless He is also your King.
Psalm 105:8-12 describes the covenant this way:
Remember, "Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). In keeping with Deuteronomy 29:29 and Daniel 2:22, God's will is for you to follow what He has revealed.
Joel prophesied in 2:28-32, "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls."
Tuck this one in your memory, it will come up next time.
One last beautiful gem from the prophets. In Malachi 2:15, we read, "But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth." In reminding the people of God's intention for the marriage covenant, He expresses this purpose: He seeks godly offspring. It is literally, "a seed of God." This goes back to Ezekiel 16. The children of the covenant are God's children.
Next time, I'll look at the New Testament passages.
"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me."
Again, a reminder that the children of the covenant are conceived in sin and in need of a Savior. It is important to remember that I am not denying that.
Now, here's a verse that is very familiar to parents. Proverbs 22:6:
"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it."
This goes along with Deuteronomy 4:10 and 6:7 in the last post. God has given clear commands that must be obeyed, regardless of the ultimate situation. Here God commands that a parent must train a child for keeping the covenant. I would also point out that "when he is old he will not depart from it" demands presumption on the parent's part.
We're all very familiar with Jonah and his fish. But have we missed what God said to Jonah in 4:11? "And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left--and much livestock?" God said He pitied Nineveh for her many infants. If God would spare a wicked city for the infants, why would He not extend the blessings of the covenant to them as He even promised He would?
In Isaiah 55:3, the Lord said, "Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you-- The sure mercies of David." If you would agree to the covenant and apply the covenant to yourself, then God will make covenant with you. It is an everlasting covenant, a covenant that extends beyond your earthly lifetime. It is a covenant of mercies. Acts 13:34 applies this to Christ as the Mediator of this covenant. And this covenant with David included his seed, his children (Psalm 89:28, 29).
Daniel 2:22 said, "He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him." This points back to Deuteronomy 29:29. These belong to God. God has not revealed everything to us. But He has revealed to us what is necessary for us to obey Him, to glorify and enjoy Him. You have in Genesis - Revelation everything you need to know to live a life pleasing to God. But you do not have revealed to you the deep and secret thingsdeep and secret things. You do not know God's plans for this day, this year, or your great grandchildren to a thousand generations. You do not need to know these things to be faithful to God and His Word.
Whose children are they? Ezekiel 16:20-21 said, "Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire?" When you bear children, you bear them to the Lord. They are His children. Again, He speaks to those in covenant with Him. (Consider this with Genesis 3:15 where God distinguished between the redeemed and the reprobate.) Also consider that the parents' breaking the covenant was a small matter to God in comparison with what they did with His children.
In 20:39, "As for you, O house of Israel," thus says the Lord GOD: "Go, serve every one of you his idols--and hereafter--if you will not obey Me; but profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols." There were covenant blessings and there were covenant cursings. Here, the Israelites had proven by their rebellion that they were covenant breakers and had called the covenant curses upon their own heads. Yet God would show His mercy to them again.
For in Jeremiah 32:40, He said, "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me." Again, it is an everlasting covenant, beyond their lifetimes, extending to their children.
Back in Ezekiel, 36:24 and 25 read, "For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols." And this is that great promise, the promise of the New Covenant, which continued, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this," says the Lord GOD, "let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!"
In Zechariah 6:15, "Even those from afar shall come and build the temple of the LORD. Then you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you. And this shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God." The big, dreaded if. He is not your High Priest, unless He is also your King.
Psalm 105:8-12 describes the covenant this way:
He remembers His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,
And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
Saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance,"
When they were few in number,
Indeed very few, and strangers in it.
The covenant was to Abraham and his children.The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,
And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
Saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance,"
When they were few in number,
Indeed very few, and strangers in it.
Remember, "Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). In keeping with Deuteronomy 29:29 and Daniel 2:22, God's will is for you to follow what He has revealed.
Joel prophesied in 2:28-32, "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls."
Tuck this one in your memory, it will come up next time.
One last beautiful gem from the prophets. In Malachi 2:15, we read, "But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth." In reminding the people of God's intention for the marriage covenant, He expresses this purpose: He seeks godly offspring. It is literally, "a seed of God." This goes back to Ezekiel 16. The children of the covenant are God's children.
Next time, I'll look at the New Testament passages.
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