The Mixed Multitude

9/12/2011 8:19:50 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                                                      Focus:  The separation problem Part-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                                  Reference:  Nehemiah 13:1-3

                Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  On that same day, as the Book of Moses was being read to the people, the passage was found that said no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be permitted to enter the assembly of God. 2  For they had not provided the Israelites with food and water in the wilderness. Instead, they hired Balaam to curse them, though our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3  When this passage of the Law was read, all those of foreign descent were immediately excluded from the assembly.”

                In today’s SD we begin the last chapter in the book of Nehemiah, and the second to last chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Nehemiah “Be Determined.”  He entitles this chapter “Standing by Our Promises,” and as his usual practice goes he give a brief paragraph on what the chapter is going to be about.  He writes:  “If you compare this chapter with chapter 10, you will see that the people failed to keep several of the promises that they had made to the Lord.”

                At the beginning of this chapter Dr. Wiersbe gives a quote from the founder of the Salvation Army, General William Booth, “I want you young men always to bear in mind that it is the nature of a fire to go out; you must keep it stirred and fed and the ashes removed.”  This quote from William Booth has a lot to do with what this last chapter in the book of Nehemiah has to say for in this chapter we see that the exiles from Israel who had just made some wonderful promises to keep have in a short time forgot those promises and were in need of having their fires stirred up.  Paul wrote to Timothy these words, “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”  Timothy was in danger of losing the gift that God had given to him because he was not using it and so Paul tells him to stir up that gift as one would stir up a fire that is about to go out.

               

                There are three sub-points under this first main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary that I want to address this morning and I will try and address the other two in the next SD.  This first sub-point is entitled “The mixed multitude” and it covers the verses seen above.

                The story of how the Ammonites and the Moabites came about is in the very first chapter of the Bible, and it is a very sad story indeed for their beginning was the result of two incestuous relationships with Abraham’s nephew Lot and Lot’s two daughters.  The results of these two unions were the nations of the Ammonites and the Moabites, and they were great trouble for Israel throughout their existence in the OT.

                As far as Balaam is concerned his tactics are still going on today in the church.  He was one who was being paid to curse Israel while Israel was wondering in the desert but God turned his curses into blessings.  After that Balaam encouraged the Moabites to invite some of the Israelites to some of their pagan religious feasts, which involved immorality and idolatry that can be seen in the book of Numbers and chapters 22-24.  The result of the Israelites going to this religious feast was immorality and so there were 24,000 people who were in the camp of Israel who died.

                  Next I want to quote several people to show that this problem that Israel experienced is still alive in today’s church and it is written about in the NT in Jude 1:11 “Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”  “The old Youth for Christ slogan is still true:  In ministry, we must be ‘geared to the times and anchored to the Rock.’  Oswald Chambers in his book ‘The Servant As His Lord’ writes ‘Today the world has taken so many things out of the church, and the church has taken so many things out of the world, that it is difficult to know where you are.’”  “Vance Havner writes ‘Today the world has so infiltrated the church that we are more beset by traitors within than by foes without.  Satan is not fighting churches—he is joining them.’”   

                Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is good to be reminded of the sin of Balaam so that I can be on the lookout in my life to make sure that I am not getting to close to the world.  A believer is to be in the world and not of the world and that is a difficult thing to do in this day and age that we live in.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.       Remember that I am to be in the world but not of the world.

2.       Continue to learn contentment.

9/12/2011 9:45:09 AM