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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

II Corinthians 6:14-7:1 ESV

14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
"I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty."

1Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Jacob, whether by consent or not, is the great Biblical example of the principle of separation. All Jacob’s continuing associations, whether business or pleasure, were pursued according to whether they prospered his relationship with God.

Any reader would have to be quick to admit Jacob’s relationships with others were not exemplary nor were they pleasant for those with whom he had business dealings and social relations. A quick examination of Jacob’s life will help to understand this.

A. Jacob traded his brother Esau out of his birthright and cheated him out of the Patriarchal blessing. Nothing Jacob did - or what he and his mother did - are excusable. He got nothing that was not by prophecy given to him. How he would have gotten this honestly there is no way to know, but that he would have had it is certain. It is to be noted that God did not require Jacob to give up what he got in such a rascally way. It is also to be noted that Jacob, by the time he went to Egypt, had all his father’s land and wealth.

Jacob and Esau were separated. Personally, locally, and everlasting separated by their spiritual inheritance. Jacob had one, Esau didn’t.

Jacob 1 – World 0

B. Jacob entered into a business deal with his cousin Laban. It would be hard to find a sleazier fellow that Laban in the Scriptures. If he was alive today, you would expect to find him doing the sleaziest job you can imagine. It seems he met his match in Jacob. He lost his daughters, grandchildren, and wealth to Jacob. Also he received a warning from God to leave Jacob alone. After he met Jacob nothing went his way either terrestrial or celestial.

Jacob 2 – World 0

C. The next associate Jacob makes is a social one. This one breaks bad for him from the beginning. His daughter is seduced and the deal placed before his was the worst thing in the world for him. Genesis 34:8-10.

8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, "The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife.

9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it."

Jacob should have demanded his parental rights and explained his separation from the people of the land. He doesn’t. He slides the responsibility onto his sons and gives them no leadership in what to do about it. In anger they murder every man in the Shecemite community. Jacob knew this was both wrong and dangerous. But he is delivered from the association through marriages with which he was faced.

Jacob 3 – World 0

D. Jacob was faced with severe famine and with the direction of God goes to Egypt. There he is received with honor and prospers greatly. His family grows. He ends his life with dignity and it looks as if finally there is someone who can have a safe association with Jacob. But fast-forward to the first 14 chapters of Exodus and read the song in Exodus 15:1-21.

There is a warning for those who would be separate in Israel’s stay in and departure from Egypt. They came out with two continually troubling features. One was the mixed multitude who came with them and the second was their taste for the produce of Egypt.

We are going to have to say Jacob 3 ½ - The World ½

It is God’s purpose for His people to be separate. And there can be many an ache in the process.

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