This is a strange little passage. What we know of the people called the Rechabites
we know from this enigmatic passage. Jeremiah
hears a word from the Lord to go and find these people, bring them into the
house of the Lord, into a chamber and there offer them wine to drink. The problem is that they don’t actually drink
wine, they have foresworn it generations before and have kept the command of
their forefathers perfectly. They live a
countercultural lifestyle, not building houses, living in tents, avoiding wine,
not sowing seed or planting vineyards, living simply but incredibly
faithfully. Because they have been
faithful to the commandments not of God but of their father, they become a
paradigm for Israel in the eyes of God.
They keep lesser commands that arose from a man while Israel has
commands from God and they don’t keep them.
Because of their faithfulness, their faithful and obedient character,
they will escape judgment and receive honor forever before the Lord. They are models of discipleship. For a tiny bit more about this clan, here is
the Wikipedia link to the Rechabites,
all else is speculative.
Jesus has compassion on those who follow after Him and says
to pray for laborers for the harvest. His
ministry of spirit and truth, accompanied by signs and power, drew people like
flies to honey. He was healing not only
the sick but the world by His actions. The
things Jesus healed are all results of the Fall and in healing and restoring
these things Jesus was restoring all things to their original state of
blessedness and wholeness. He saw the
people come and used an agrarian metaphor of the harvest. Do we see the harvest or the sowing ahead of
us? When He called the twelve they were
His disciples but then He sent them out “and gave them authority over unclean
spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.” In the sending with authority they became
apostles. In the church we often talk of
making disciples but only refer to a few as apostles. I think we have it wrong, the point of making
disciples should be that they become apostles.
Does the church have the authority Jesus gave the twelve regarding
unclean spirits and healing? If not, why
would we think that?
Was Paul speaking only to the church in the apostolic age
when he referred to gifts of “miracles, then gifts of healing, helping,
administrating, and various kinds of tongues”?
I believe that he was speaking first to the local church at a given time
but also that these should refer to all churches at all times who profess the
Lord Jesus. Churches should be filled
with power to proclaim the kingdom not only in word but in deed as well. All this, Paul says, must also be balanced by
love which surpasses all things. If we
have not love but all these other things, we are as nothing at all in the
kingdom of God. The command to love is
primary and the exercise of the gifts must flow from that source. Like the Rechabites, obedience to the command
must precede all things if we are to stand before Him and not hear the words, “I
never knew you” when we recount our deeds.
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