21 August 2011

Psalm 146, 147; 2 Samuel 24:1-2,10-25; Gal. 3:23-4:7; John 8:12-20

David decides not only to count the people but also to enroll them in his army. The passage begins by telling us that the Lord was angry with Israel “again.” What does “again” refer to? The other time we see the anger of the Lord in the life of David was when Uzzah irreverently touched the ark. Here, the Lord has promised Abraham that Israel will be countless as the stars in the sky and the sand on the shore and yet David undertakes to count them. We live in the church world that constantly counts people, and I always wonder whether we should do so. We are told that the Lord used this sin of David’s to bring his judgment against the people with whom He was angry. The sin cost 70,000 people their lives, diminishing the count quite a bit. Remember the story of Gideon’s army here, the Lord will either be their hope or they will have no hope. We are called always to rely on the Lord, not on the numbers of people we have in our “army.”

Jesus makes a bold statement about Himself, “I am the light of the world.” That is one of the most extraordinary statements ever made and if it isn’t true, it will absolutely get you into a mental hospital. The leaders of the people want corroboration and Jesus says that the Father will stand behind that statement but they want to see Jesus’ father to get his opinion on the matter. At this point, there were 12 uncertain men who were following Jesus and sometimes believed and sometimes doubted. There were times when 5000 or more were ready to believe and yet weren’t there yet. Jesus only needs one other to bear witness to the truth, the only One who truly knows. Today, we stand shoulder to shoulder with billions on earth and in glory who testify that Jesus is indeed the light of the world. More importantly, we stand with Jesus and the Father and in that we stand secure.

When you start including Gentiles you can certainly get the numbers of God’s people up quite a bit and Paul says that in Jesus we all count as Abraham’s offspring. It is hard to count God’s people because we don’t know who they all are or where they are. Remember Elijah standing before the Lord believing that he was the only true believer? What did God tell him? There were 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal in Israel, Elijah didn’t know enough to count God’s people. Did Elijah need to count or did he need faith in the one with whom he stood? The heart cry of Abba! Father! is all we need to know we are never alone and that is all that matters.

We are called to be God's people,
showing by our lives His grace,
one in heart and one in spirit,
sign of hope for all the race.
Let us show how He has changed us,
and remade us as His own,
let us share our life together
as we shall around His throne.

Tune