The Vow That Israel Forgot...

Joseph didn't believe in political correctness. He had been high command in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh, but he didn't allow this political weight to interfere with justice, truth, or accountability. Joseph was humble, tender-hearted and kind, but he could also be frank and painfully honest. He knew he would not be in this position if God had not put him there. He also knew it would be temporary, a season in this life alone, for another life awaited him and his soul had best be prepared for that one when the time came...

Joshua didn't believe in political correctness. He had succeeded Moses in leading the Israelites across Jordan and into Canaan. For forty years he had been, and still was, the Commander of the Israeli army. He was a no-nonsense kind of guy. He had been ever since the day he had sat quietly praying in a shadowy corner behind the tabernacle door at Sinai. When Moses entered the tabernacle there was no time to make his presence known, nor was there any need to until suddenly, he was trapped, overhearing a private conversation between God and Moses (Exodus 33:7-11).

God knew Joshua was there but Moses did not. The encounter left Joshua in a state of shock - in reverential fear and trembling - and from that day forward, as far as Joshua was concerned, serving Moses was the same as serving God.

He learned quickly and he learned well, developing a keen readiness of faith and a keen preparedness for action. He learned to temper his enthusiasm with patience and in time he learned to lead a million people while holding their trust and respect. But he never received any instructions on political correctness. I don't know that he spoke softly - probably not - but he carried a big sword...

Moses had delivered God's command to Pharaoh: "Let my people go." It was both a foreign and a domestic issue. Aaron had been made Secretary of that first Israeli State Department and he did not use diplomatic niceties, platitudes or back-room deals. There were no complex negotiations on the table for not one Israeli goat or rooster would be left behind. Nor did Moses tremble or bow before Pharaoh. His message was simple: "Obey God or you're gonna get hurt..."

Moses had no need and no time for political cobwebs. He had no stomach for idolaters. He had no intention of quitting God or the people. He was definitely not in it for the money - or the prestige. He was not in it for some transient fame. He was in it because God had volunteered him. He could do battle with Pharaoh if need be, but he couldn't fight God.

Some seventy-three years later, after forty years of wandering in the wilderness, after Moses had passed away and the nation of Israel had been in the Promised Land some thirty-three years, Joshua was 110 years old and nearing the end of his own life. He called all the tribes of Israel with the elders, heads, judges and officers to gather at Shechem to hear his farewell address to them. They presented themselves there before God and Joshua began to speak: (Joshua, Chapter 24 - paraphrased)...

"Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers lived on the other side of the Euphrates River, even Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, and they worshipped and served other gods. And I took Abraham out of there and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, gave him Isaac and multiplied his seed. I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau and I gave Mount Seir to Esau to possess but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.

"In the fourth generation I sent Moses and Aaron as deliverers and after I had plagued Egypt I brought your fathers out. When Pharaoh came to the sea and saw that the Israelites had crossed on dry land, he sent his army to pursue them with chariots and horsemen. But these all drowned when I brought the sea back together upon them and covered them.

"You wandered in the wilderness for a long season where your enemies fought with you. I destroyed them before you. I gave them into your hands that you might possess their land. You went over Jordan and came to Jericho and I delivered them into your hand. I sent hornets before you which drove them out, even the two kings of the Amorites but not with the sword or the bow.

"I have given you a land for which you did not labor and cities which you did not build. You dwell in them, drink of the vineyards and eat of the oliveyards which you did not plant. Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the Euphrates and in Egypt and serve now the Lord. And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord then choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

(Joshua had never forgotten that day in the wilderness tabernacle when he had heard God speaking to Moses as to a friend, face to face. He had never forgotten God's promise to be with him as He had been with Moses, saying he would not fail him nor forsake him. He was to be strong and of good courage, he was to have no fear, neither be dismayed. Joshua, the son of Nun, would never forget...)

And the people answered Joshua, "God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods."

And Joshua said to the people, "YOU CANNOT SERVE THE LORD FOR HE IS A HOLY GOD, HE IS A JEALOUS GOD, HE WILL NOT FORGIVE YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS NOR YOUR SINS. IF YOU FORSAKE THE LORD, AND SERVE STRANGE GODS, THEN HE WILL TURN AND DO YOU HURT, AND CONSUME YOU, AFTER HE HAS DONE YOU GOOD."

And the people said, "Nay, but we will serve the Lord."

And Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him." And the people said, "We are witnesses. We will serve the Lord our God and his voice we will obey."

So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem (modern-day Nablus). And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And he said to all the people:

"Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us. It shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest you deny your God."

Then Joshua let the people depart, every man back to the place of his inheritance.

Joshua died, being 110 years of age, and they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Mount Ephraim on the north side of the hill at Gaash. And the children of Israel served the Lord all the days of the elders, the judges, the reign of Saul and the reigns of David and Solomon. After the death of Solomon, the ten northern tribes of Israel abandoned the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and set up the northern Kingdom of Israel in rebellion against the southern Kingdom of Judah.

Then the Kingdom of Israel began to serve the pagan gods of the Canaanites and you know the rest - Many of the Levite priests deserted the northern kingdom and returned to Jerusalem. In time the northern kingdom was taken captive by Assyria, eventually scattered to the four winds of the earth, lost in identity for millennia, and are only today returning to the land of their fathers.

With more than a dozen decades of warning, Judah passed through good kings and bad until the southern kingdom also fell into idolatry and was taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. And so it was that the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob forgot their Covenant with the Almighty God who consumed them with hurt because they turned their faces to serve other gods...

Seventy years later Cyrus conquered Babylon and in time the kings of Persia allowed the Jews to return to Israel where they repaired the Temple, the walls, the cities and thus began to repair their lives as a people surrounded by hateful enemies. Jerusalem was always a city desired, a city challenged by many nations but only after David conquered it from the Jebusites and made it the City of the King, The City of God, The City of Holiness, capital city of all Israel...

Four hundred years passed without a prophet in Israel. It was a time of much trampling of the land by such notables as Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies, the Seleucids, the Maccabean revolt, the Hasmoneans and finally, the Romans and Herod the Great...and you know the rest.

Israel as a nation did not recognize the birth of their Messiah, nor did they recognize the Cross and the unbelievable suffering of Isaiah 53. They did not connect the prophecies with the reality that was before their own eyes. God's Grace slipped through their fingers like water through a seive. Many men were crucified daily in Jerusalem and most looked upon Him as just another criminal hanging between two thieves.

The people were blinded by fear of their cruel Roman occupiers, and their lack of understanding. They were impoverished, weary, afflicted and oppressed. Their own spiritual leaders, the Pharisees, had put upon the masses more burdensome man-made laws than the people could carry, intimidation - legalism - torture - false witnessing - death administered through accusations only, much as when the Catholic Church ruled kings and courts in Europe's Middle Ages.

Jesus wept. Israel had not recognized their Messiah. Not even the Apostles understood. They had fled in fear. Forty years later Jerusalem was burned, destroyed, people were slaughtered by the thousands and thousands more were exiled to all four corners of the globe. They suffered rejection everywhere they went, they suffered the inquisitions, they suffered a holocaust...

Israel forgot to remember - and sometimes we forget as well. We must awaken and arise, and we must be mindful of the cost of forgetting...

It is a lesson for the individual, for the Church, for the nation. We can all learn from Joshua's words, words that he received from the Lord. If we turn back from serving God, after we have tasted of his glory, after we have vowed our faithfulness, well - you know the rest -

Why would God bless us before hurting us? To draw us back to Himself, so He can forgive us and restore us - and so He won't have to hurt us. But if we ignore that drawing, reject His calling, and turn away from His face, He has no choice but to take us to the woodshed.

Perhaps in the Millennium people will grow to understand - but I doubt it. There will be one last battle at the end of the millennium, Act II of the previous and infamous Gog of Magog invasion, and this gives us a pretty good indication the people of this world will not yield to righteousness. Even with Jesus reigning for a thousand years...

We cannot weigh this issue any more. It is too heavy to ponder. How can one just walk away from the sweetest love that ever lived? It is a way with the mortals, they are so easily lured, so easily deceived. They want both worlds and they cannot have both...

We must give this load to Jesus, He will know what to do with it...

All who have walked with Jesus have occasionally stumbled, but we were lifted to our feet again to keep reaching for the glory. Its precious essence is found in the Word, and with the Holy Spirit showing our own spirits the way, we have crossed the Red Sea on dry land to the other side. We have climbed Mt. Tabor to scout the camp of Sisera. We have lapped the water with our hands at the brook with Gideon.

We have walked the roads to Immaus, to Bethany, to Jericho and to Jerusalem. We have climbed the hill to Calvary, we have repented before His weeping flesh. We have sat in the cold dark tomb and wept.

We sat with Him at breakfast and watched Peter drag a huge net of fish onto the beach all by himself. We watched from Mt. Olivet as Jesus ascended to the Father. We've watched Peter's shadow moving among the sick, Paul's witness to his jailers after the earthquake, John on the isle of Patmos, and a thousand times we have thrilled to the words, "Behold, I come quickly..."

We must now do what Jesus said to do, "When you see all these things beginning to happen" (the things that are happening in this world today), "look up...for your redemption draweth nigh."

Yes, Lord Jesus, we will look up and we will remember -

And when we remember all the things we have already seen through the eyes of the Spirit, watching and listening with expectant hearts for the one smile we have yet to see, is it any wonder we cry with John, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come..."

Joan Krempel
April 21, 2010
joan@joankrempelministries.com