The judgment of God is against all the nation, both Israel
(northern kingdom) and Judah (southern kingdom) and the three cities mentioned,
Gibeah, Ramah and Beth-aven, lay in a straight line out of Jerusalem. He is coming in judgment straight up the
road, a la a tornado in the Midwest but He is giving warning by sounding the
trumpet, via the prophet, that indeed they must take the necessary steps to
avoid the judgment. What must they
do? Repent. They must turn away from their sin and turn
to Him. This repentance must begin with
the leaders of the nations, as they fare, so does the nation. We can see it right through Israel's history
and we can see it in our own history.
His promise is true to the promise He has always made, "If my
people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive
their sin and heal their land." He is the same, yesterday, today, and
forever. The choice is always ours, are
we desperate enough?
Jesus is announcing, on these Sabbaths, who He is but they
will not hear Him or see the signs. In
the first instance, the disciples are plucking grain and rubbing it between
their hands to release the edible portion.
This was considered work and therefore the Pharisees called them on the
violation of Sabbath restrictions.
Jesus' response is twofold, comparing Himself with David who ate the
Bread of the Presence in 1 Samuel 21 when he and his men were on the run from
Saul, and then to refer to Himself as the Son of Man, a clear messianic term
from Daniel. In the second instance,
Jesus is again accused of being a Sabbath breaker because He healed a man on
the Sabbath. They were more concerned
about legalities rather than people, the prime mark of a Pharisee. Love God and love your neighbor are
absolutes. Healing a man on Sabbath was clearly
the loving thing to do. When rules are
more important than people you have lapsed over into religion. We still need to be clear on truth, the
loving thing can sometimes mean pointing out the mortal danger of sin.
Jews from the areas where Paul has just been on his
missionary work see him in Jerusalem. He
has hastened there, if you recall, to be present at Pentecost, so people from
all over would be in the city at this time, celebrating, in part, the giving of
the Law at Sinai. Since Paul has been
tagged as opposed to the Law, this is a perfect time to "get
him." Additionally, they have added
a false charge of bringing Greeks into the temple and defiling it. Luke has just told us that Paul himself
purified himself according to the Law that he might enter the temple, why would
he take Gentiles there who had not done the same? All this is starting to sound familiar isn't
it? The charges are quite similar to
those brought against Jesus, scofflaw and temple profaner. Ironically, though they don't know it at the
time, the days of the temple are coming to an end, just as Jesus said they
would. God has sent His salvation, His
final answer, the Messiah, and they have rejected Him, the temple no longer
serves its purpose. Salvation and
forgiveness of sins isn't through sacrifice, just as He said through
Hosea. "I desire steadfast love and
not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." The Law has been fulfilled.
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