Why?

Acts 1:11 KJV

Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Can you blame them?

The disciples had been on one whale of a ride. Having given up their lives for Christ they had gone from expectation to devastation to elation and now to amazement.

Jesus had called them and trained them. Then He had died right in front of them but He rose from the grave and spent forty days proving it to them. They were sure, just sure that the king preached kingdom of God must be just around their corner. But then, in the presence of all of them, Jesus ascended to heaven. I completely understand why they were gazing into heaven. But the angels didn't. They approach to bring them back to reality (can you imagine having lived in such a miraculous time that angels can bring you back to earth?) the Angels ask one question; Why stand ye gazing into heaven?

Why do you wonder?

This is the same Jesus who walked on water calmed stormy seas and raised the dead to life again. This is the same Jesus who had Himself died and risen three days later. Ascending to heaven is small in comparison.

Why do you wait?

Jesus had commissioned them to reach the world. They were still to wait on the power of the Holy Ghost but that wasn't going to happen gawking into the sky.

Why do you worry?

The angels seemed to sense dread and fear in the disciples. This, they had not expected. What would become of them now? Would that kingdom ever come? Would they ever see Jesus again?

The answer was affirmative. This same Jesus, not a replacement not a substitute not a stand in. This same Jesus they had watched go into heaven would return exactly as He had gone.

There was nothing left for them to do but:

·       To return

·       To pray

·       To be empowered of the Holy Ghost and

·       To turn the world upside down.

Be There

Exodus 24:12 KJV

And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.

There was a place for everyone near the mount:

·       The Jews at the foot

·       The seventy midway

·       Joshua (I suppose) farther up

·       Moses at the top

God commanded Moses to "be there"; be where he was called. Be at his station. Be where God had placed him.

Every Christian has a place God has assigned him.

·       For some it will be a pulpit.

·       For some a ministry in a foreign land.

·       Some will be called to serve the servants as the seventy seem to have done.

·       The majority will find their place in the much needed work of foundational support.

Their place will be at the foot of the mount, supporting in prayer finances and faithfulness those (of fewer number) called to go on.

They tell me that the term "be there" implies continuing. It's not a baseball game where we "touch base" as we move on. This is an abiding thing. Diligence faithfulness and endurance are the keys to genuine obedience.

Find that place God has assigned you and be there. 

I Hate Slavery

Exodus 21:20-21 KJV

And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.

Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.

Slavery is an abhorrent practice and this is, as I understand it, the earliest law protecting the slave of injustice. Still a person could wonder why God did not expressly forbid it. I offer a few explanations:

Had the Jews obeyed a law forbidding slavery, it would still have existed in other nations.

This series of laws would carry a message if humane treatment of others throughout the centuries and into differing cultures.

The sin nature would refuse obedience to God's command.

These laws bridle that nature if not killing it.  Remember, these Old Testament laws are intended to bring us to Christ, the answer for the sin nature. The Old Testament could not and was not designed to cure the sin nature but to point us to the cure.

Man in his sin nature is a slave to Satan.

Slavery itself and these laws serve to depict the helpless state of the man who is without liberty in Christ.

I hate slavery and I am certain God does too. But slavery's existence in the world, then and now, is the result of man's rebellion against God. God's cure for slavery is to cure the rebellion. That is the thrust of the whole Bible. It serves to cure the disease and not merely some of the worst symptoms.

Ye Shall be a Peculiar Treasure

Exodus 19:4-6 KJV

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

The account of Israel is literal and specific to Israel. But the New Testament says they are also our examples. I find in these verses a type of God's working in this church age. God is truly calling out of this world a kingdom of priests and an holy nation.

It begins miraculously as God supernaturally brings us to Himself in the new birth. It is nothing we can do for ourselves. God lifts us up as if on wings of Eagles to create in us a new nature.

His plan is that we be a peculiar people but this involves personal responsibility. We only become this peculiar treasure as we obey His voice.

Multitudes of those who were so supernaturally carried out of Egypt refused to obey the voice of God. Rather than becoming that peculiar treasure to God, they became a statistic; an unnamed skeleton buried in the wilderness. Too many Christians become that same thing today. It is not that they lose salvation (those Jews who died in the wilderness were nonetheless Jews) but that they do not become that peculiar treasure of God. They receive from God what He promises but He receives little to nothing in return.