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Think and Thank Just before Thanksgiving, a motorcycle patrolman was rushed to the hospital with an inflamed appendix. The doctors operated and advised him that all would be well. However, the police officer kept feeling something pulling at the hairs on his chest. Worried that it might be a second surgery the doctors hadn’t told him about, he finally got enough courage to pull his hospital gown down far enough to see. Taped firmly across his hairy chest were three very wide strips of adhesive tape—the kind that don’t come off easily. Written on the tape in large black letters was the following sentence: “Get well quick…from the nurse you gave a ticket to last week.” If that woman would just think about it, she would be thankful for a “wake-up call” to slow down and not end up in the hospital herself—or even worse. Sir Moses Montefiore, the Jewish philanthropist, had as his life’s motto, “Think and Thank.” In the old Anglo-Saxon, thankfulness actually means “thinkfulness.” Today, many believe that life should be easy, pleasant blessings should abound, and God, in His love, will give nothing but what is pleasant and easy. And yet, the Scriptures point out just the opposite—God is indeed a loving God, but He also judges sin. Think about this—He is not only the judge; He is also the cop, the prosecutor, the judge, and the jury. Now, think about this— This is His undying love. Francois Fenelon once wrote, “God’s justice against the wicked and His love toward the righteous are the same thing.” Why? It is His mercy that He would judge your sin now, while you can still repent—later will be too late! Remember—the Bible never says, “Repent Tomorrow.” The prophets of the Bible, inspired by the Holy Spirit, were very clear about this. Referring to them, and Zechariah in particular, Matthew Henry, the great Bible commentator of the 17th Century, once wrote, “God’s prophets are not only His ambassadors, to treat with peace the sons of peace, but heralds, to proclaim war against those that delight in war with God, and persist in their rebellion.” Zechariah begins his fifth chapter with these words: “Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.” (5:1,2) Imagine—a huge scroll flying through the air! What could it possibly mean? So that we don’t have to guess, we are given its exact meaning: “This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.” (vs. 3) A curse? But wait a minute—how can a curse be a good thing? Certainly God and His word wouldn’t be about curses! Of course He would—you see, when the Holy Spirit speaks of being “cut off” here, He uses the Hebrew word “naqah,” meaning to be made bare and to be exposed—with the expressed desire for making one clean and innocent—utterly and wholly! His purpose in exposing your sin is not to send you to Hell with a grin on His face. Think about it—the Old Testament actually begins with a curse—“I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) And guess what? It ends with one, too—the last words of Malachi 4 are, “smite the earth with a curse.” Oh, but Praise God—that is not the whole story. Genesis 3:15 also reveals a promise—a promise for all who will submit to the King of kings and Lord of lords—Satan will be crushed; AND the text from Malachi actually says in it’s entirety, “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Yes, the coming of Elijah, fulfilled in John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, points inextricably to the coming of someone very special—the Messiah, Jesus the Christ. You see, the purpose of the curses is to get us to think—think about our need for salvation; think about our need for baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire; think about our need for spiritual growth—and be thankful, thankful for the One who will then provide it all! And lest anyone would wonder what that need is, God is very clear about that, too! Many think this curse is just against Israel for her rebellion, and that she is about to be exiled. Well, think again! This is after the exile—Israel is already back in her land. The flying scroll is a reminder that “the curse goes forth over the face of the whole earth”—both Jew and Gentile. Yes, all mankind is liable for judgment, in that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Oh, how welcome the Good News ought to be—a savior came to redeem us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Just like the pre-exilic prophet Jeremiah ate a scroll as a sign of receiving the judgment as being from the very hand of God, so did Jesus. In a sense, the holy Son of God, “ate” the curse against sin, taking it within Himself and literally becoming sin. Nowadays, many have the idea that God will only judge the “real sinners.” You know—the prostitutes, the drug pushers, the snipers, and, of course, the crooked CEO’s. No, the word of God is very clear on this—all have sinned and the sentence is Hell. To make this very clear, Zechariah’s vision narrows it down to only two sins. This is not because these are the only two that matter, but rather, they encompass all sin. What are the two sins? Stealing and swearing! Why these two? Well, remember when the Ten Commandments were first given to Moses? They were engraved by the very finger of God on two tablets of stone—the first four, having to do with our relationship with God, were on the first tablet, and, the last six, having to do with our relationship with each other, were on the second tablet. Now, notice—swearing falsely by God’s name is condemned in the middle of the first tablet, while stealing is judged in the middle of the second tablet. So, think about it, and be thankful—these two, reflect the abomination of disobeying the center of His heart and will. Ignore these, and you ignore all Ten. In fact, James 2:10 makes clear that if you break only one of the commandments, you have broken all of them-- simply because you have trampled the very core of His heart. You see, stealing and swearing are not just shoplifting and saying a few bad words—stealing and using His name in vain declare God to not be true. Many today are “stealing” from God when they hold to a so-called “prosperity gospel,” for example. They think they are relying on God as they “name and claim” their way through life, telling Almighty God what they expect to receive. Actually, this “steals” from Him in that it turns Him into a “Genie in a bottle” or a virtual “Santa Claus.” He is not our servant, with our every wish being His command. We “steal” from Him when we continue to insist that we are going to serve Him in our strength and with our abilities, filling our churches with Hell Houses, so-called “Christian” rock concerts, revival hype and all of the un-Biblical “signs and wonders” that go along with it, 15 minute sermons that are no more than “pats-on-the-back” pep talks, and a whole myriad of other such blatant forms of entertainment. We “steal” from God when we come up with what we want to do and then run to Scriptural bits and pieces in order to prove that it is of God. The true church will turn from this sin and hate it! The Lord wants the full tithe brought into the storehouse—not just 10% of our money; the tithe is far greater than that! He wants the full life surrendered to His will. Malachi 3:8-9 tells us, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.” Now, think about it! All of these things are not just stealing—they are also using His name falsely. You see, in all of these, people are claiming to be about the Lord, but it is in name only—they take the name of the Lord in vain. Many say the Lord told them to do “such and such,” but often it is what they want, with the Lord’s name just tagged on. Think about it—stealing and swearing falsely; injury and perjury. We all know that when the jury is still deliberating, trying to determine guilt or innocence, we say, “The jury is still out.” But when the jury has reached its decision, we declare that, “The jury is in.” When it comes to these spiritual issues, the jury is indeed in—in “inJURY” and in “perJURY.” The Jury is indeed in—sin is judged! You can run for awhile, but you cannot escape it—His judgment is swift and sure. Hold to sin, and down you go—BUT Praise God, when you repent and turn to the Lord to be your payment for sin, He is! And you are set free and declared to be utterly and wholly innocent—justified…”just-as-if-I’d” never sinned! Think about it AND be thankful! Copyright (c)
2005 Christ Our Rock Bible Church. |
