Love Not the World (Part 3)

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Defining the World (Part 1)

Old Testament Foundations

“The Nations” in the Old Testament

Israel among the Nations

Israel is unique among the other nations of the world. Her origin and development is a product of God’s miraculous activity.
What were some of the miraculous ways God brought about the nation of Israel?
Enabled Abraham and Sarah to produce their first child at an old age.
During the time of Joseph, God engineered the family’s migration to Egypt.
While Israel was in Egypt God used social barriers to prevent assimilation into Egypt’s empire.
Over a period of four centuries Abraham’s family grows into a nation.
When the time is right God worked mighty miracles to lead Israel out of Egypt, through the wilderness and into Canaan.
Why did God do all of this? What was his purpose in calling out Israel amongst the other nations of the world?
Deuteronomy 4:32–39 ESV
32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. 36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, 39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
What reason does Moses give for why God invested so much of his attention on the nation of Israel? “That you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.” How would you paraphrase that reason? God chose Israel for the purpose of manifesting Himself to them as the true God of all the earth.
Did God do this for Israel’s benefit alone? No, we have already seen that God through Israel spoke to all the nations.
God makes this intention know in Exodus 19.
Exodus 19:6 (ESV)
6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’
What is one of the important functions of a priest? To mediate between God and man.
That means that God intended Israel to serve as a priest among the nations, to testify to the other nations this truth:
Deuteronomy 4:35 ESV
35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
Deuteronomy 4:39 ESV
39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
Did Israel accomplish this priestly task? What went wrong? What was the biggest problem that prevented Israel from mediating between God and the other nations?
Exodus 19:5 ESV
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
Israel failed to meet God’s conditions. Israel did not obey God’s voice nor keep His covenant. Because of her disobedience she forfeited much of her ability to serve as a testimony of God’s greatness to the Gentiles. Does that though have any relevance on us today?
Why did Israel disobey God? There are many passages in the OT that affirm Israel’s intention to obey God.
Exodus 19:8 ESV
8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
Deuteronomy 5:27 ESV
27 Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’
Joshua 24:24 ESV
24 And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.”
Scripture does not leave us guessing as to why Israel disobeyed however.
“The root of Israel’s disobedience was not disaffection with God; it was affection for the ways of the nations. Israel did not wake up one morning with a sudden resentment against God; rather, she increasingly pursued her appetite for the fleshly ways of her pagan neighbors.” — Randy Leedy (24)
This appetite for the ways of the nations afflicted the family of Abraham from the beginning.
Lot was the first example
Jacob’s sons were no shinning testimony or righteousness other than Joseph.
What was the attitude of the nation of Israel just a few weeks after they were delivered from Egyptian captivity?
Exodus 16:2–3 ESV
2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
What happened to the nation of Israel when Moses and Aaron were on Sinai receiving the law?
Exodus 32:4–7 ESV
4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. 7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
Listen to Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7 when he describes this event,
Acts 7:39 ESV
39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt,
An appetite for the ways of the nations plagued Isreal when she entered into the promised land under Joshua’s leadership.
Joshua 24:14 ESV
14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
Joshua 24:23 ESV
23 He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
“The thunderings at Sinai compelled from Israel an intent to obey, but the attractions offered by the nations were simply too much for her to resist.” — Randy Leedy (25)
The fact that Israel had a heart inclination to be like the other nations did not take God by surprise.
Deuteronomy 17:14 ESV
14 “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’
God goes on to list the warnings that setting up a king like all the nations would inflict upon the people in vv. 15-20.
And yet what did the people do?
1 Samuel 8:4–5 ESV
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
God did not just warn Israel about setting up a king over her like the other nations.
Deuteronomy 18:9 ESV
9 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.
God told his people over and over again, do not behave like the nations, especially to serve their gods, because that would bring judgement.
Deuteronomy 8:19–20 ESV
19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
But, despite God’s warnings, this is exactly what happened to Israel.
Key Dates:
722 BC?
586 BC?
God leaves no doubt as to why these captivities took place.
2 Kings 17 gives us the reasons why God judged the Northern Kingdom of Israel:
2 Kings 17:7–8 ESV
7 And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.
2 Kings 17:11 ESV
11 and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger,
2 Kings 17:15 ESV
15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them.
The Southern Kingdom suffered the same fate for the same reason:
2 Chronicles 36:14–16 ESV
14 All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem. 15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.
What was the primary reason then for Israel’s downfall? She had an appetite to live like the nations.
And what was the worst part of such an appetite? Israel’s appetite to live like the nations cased her to worship false gods- a very serious breach in God’s covenant.
Exodus 20:2 ESV
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Exodus 20:5 ESV
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
Exodus 19:4 ESV
4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
Over and over again God proclaims that He is their God and they belong to Him. So to violate that relationship is an extreme betrayal.
In fact God most often likens the sin of idolatry to what sin? Adultery.
Isaiah 1:3–4 ESV
3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” 4 Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.
Isaiah 1:21 ESV
21 How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
The entire book of Hosea hinges upon the prophet marrying an adulterous.
Ezekiel 16:33 ESV
33 Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings.
In fact, God denounces Israel by saying that her sins even outdid the sins of the heathen nations themselves.
Ezekiel 16:48 ESV
48 As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.
Ezekiel 16:51 ESV
51 Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed.
2 Kings 21:9 ESV
9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.
And because of her appetite for the to live like the nations how did God respond?
Lamentations 3:45 ESV
45 You have made us scum and garbage among the peoples.
Psalm 44:14 ESV
14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.
Ezekiel 36:20 ESV
20 But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’
What then is the ultimate fate of Israel? What will God do about her insatiable lusts for being like the nations?
In Ezekiel 20 God gives a startling answer to that question. In the chapter God first recounts the rebellion of the nation of Israel in the past.
Ezekiel 20:4–13 ESV
4 Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Let them know the abominations of their fathers, 5 and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I chose Israel, I swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob, making myself known to them in the land of Egypt; I swore to them, saying, I am the Lord your God. 6 On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands. 7 And I said to them, ‘Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.’ 8 But they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. “Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9 But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. 10 So I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live. 12 Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. 13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statutes but rejected my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned. “Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to make a full end of them.
Over and over again, when Israel deserved God’s destruction, instead he saved them for the sake of His name.
Ezekiel 20:14 ESV
14 But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.
Ezekiel 20:22 ESV
22 But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.
Then God confronts Israel on her rebellion in the present.
Ezekiel 20:30–31 ESV
30 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go whoring after their detestable things? 31 When you present your gifts and offer up your children in fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.
Then God says something very striking!
Ezekiel 20:32 ESV
32 “What is in your mind shall never happen—the thought, ‘Let us be like the nations, like the tribes of the countries, and worship wood and stone.’
No matter how much Israel wanted to be like the nations, God said, “It ain’t never going to happen!”
It would be a very painful process, but God had a plan for His people. Breaking Israel’s desire to be like the nations would require some stern measures and a whole lot of grace, but God will faithfully do just that.
Notice how God begins his solution with wrath, but then ends with a tender note of grace.
Ezekiel 20:33–34 ESV
33 “As I live, declares the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out I will be king over you. 34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out.
Ezekiel 20:41–44 ESV
41 As a pleasing aroma I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered. And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations. 42 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country that I swore to give to your fathers. 43 And there you shall remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, and you shall loathe yourselves for all the evils that you have committed. 44 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name’s sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”
Praise God, the bottom line is that Israel’s desire to be like the world is only temporary. Ultimately God will graciously resolve this heart issue. It will be a long hard road, but in the end Israel will not have even the slightest temptation to credit herself for her well-being. All glory will belong to our all-glorious God.

Summary

The OT theme of the nations reveals that the godless world in the current age is destined for destruction.
Out of this godless world, God has called into being a people of His own choosing. He promised to bless them and to make them great. He promised to use them to be a channel of blessing to the rest of the nations of the earth. This will ultimately be fulfilled during the millennial age to come.
God’s own people, even with their very best intentions, are overcome by the powerful urges of their flesh to pattern themselves after the surrounding pagan nations. It does not seem to matter that God clearly warns and shows his people the devastation of such a desire. The urges of the flesh are not to be denied, and Israel will be like the nations, no matter the cost.
Israel’s Redeemer lets His people go their own way far enough to taste the bitterness of being like the world. Ultimately, God in His grace, insists that Israel will not be like the nations. He Deliverer will turn her once and for all from her sins to Himself, and then will turn the rest of the nations to Himself as well.
And Lord Haste the day when the faith shall be sight!
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