And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.
My wife and I believe we are highly blessed. Our sons have turned into fine men. They are hard-working, successful, and dedicated children of the living God. They have sweet families. They are good husbands and fathers.
We strove to raise our children purposefully. We did not do it perfectly, but we did read books by Christians on parenting. We observed Christian families who had raised children to be of good character, and we asked questions of them. It paid off.
But whenever someone compliments us about our children, or behaves in some way envious of us because of them. My wife is very quick to point out, “The verdict is still out on them.” We don’t know for sure what their end will be. She then just as quickly reminds them, “The verdict is still out on all of us.” We’re Christians and can’t lose our salvation. In the end, we’ll go to heaven. But, just as with anyone, we’re one wrong choice away from ruining our testimony.
I can’t help but read the future into this chapter. God repeatedly gives instructions for the priestly family. At this time, that was Aaron and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. We know that in the not-too-distant future, Nadab and Abihu would offer strange fire and be struck dead.
There is in this a lesson of the nature of God. He obviously knew ahead of time what Nadab and Abihu would do. But God did not plan their life around what He knew. He gave them the same opportunities for serving the Lord as Eleazar and Ithamar had.
This, in my mind, debunks the Calvinist concept of election. Every human being, regardless of what God knows will be their eventual end, has the same opportunities to come to God, to be saved, and to glorify God forever.
To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.
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Thank you Pastor Marvin for sharing the Word of God to nurture our spiritual life.. God bless you.. brethren from Philippines
ReplyDeleteI am grateful to the Lord for the privilege to study and to proclaim HIS Word. Thanks for responding.
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