Separation as the People of God

9/6/2011 9:28:13 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                                             Focus:  Separation as the people of God

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                         Reference:  Nehemiah 10:28, 30-31

                Message of the verses:  “28  Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding.

                “30  and that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. 31  As for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the sabbath or a holy day; and we will forego the crops the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.”

                A former Pastor of mine who is now with the Lord, told me when he was about to retire from the active role  of  being a Pastor told me that in order to have a happy and fulfilled retirement you had to retire from something to something.  This statement goes along with what was happening to these exiles, for in order to be success in separation you have to be separated from something (the world) to something, and in that is to God and the Law of God.  Two things that are mentioned here are marriage to the foreigners who lived around them who were idol worshiping people, for the Law prohibited this.  The other thing that is mentioned is the Sabbath; for the exiles were breaking the Sabbath in that they were buying and selling on the Sabbath, which was also against the Law of God. 

                I wish to quote a portion of the commentary from Dr. Wiersbe on what he writes about separation:  “The Jews separated from the peoples around them and to the Lord and His Word (Nehemiah 10:28; 9:2).  They also united with their brothers and sisters in promising to obey the Law of God (v-29).  Separation that ignores God and other believers is isolation and eventually lead to sin.  Only the Holy Spirit can give us the kind of balance we need to live a godly life in this ungodly world.  The legalist wants to live by rules, but that style of life only keeps you immature and dependant on you spiritual leaders.  The only way to grow in a balanced life is to give yourself totally to God and follow Him by faith.”

                 All of what is being discussed here had a bearing on several of the purposes that God called the Nation of Israel into existence.  They were to be a different people, a holy people to the Lord so that others around them can see the difference that they had and then want to find out more about it so that eventually they too can turn to the Lord.  If the people of Israel would marry people other than from their nation then this would pollute the nation who was to bring the Savior into the world, the Lord Jesus Christ who was to be the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David. 

                When the text speaks of the seventy year or the Sabbatical year, that was to take place every seven years where the children of Israel were to, by faith, allow the land to rest on that seventh year, which would mean that they would have to trust the Lord for provisions for two years, the seventh year and then waiting for the crops to be ready on the eight year.  Then there was what is called the year of Jubilee that occurred every forty-nine years where their faith had to increase for then the land would rest for two years making it three years that they would have to trust the Lord to supply their needs.  The ironic thing about this that we read in 2Chronicles 36:21 that one of the reasons that the Lord brought about the captivity of Judah was that they had not kept one of the Sabbatical years in almost 500 years so the Lord was going to let the land rest for seventy years in a row to make up for the years that it missed.

                Now we have to speak of what this has to do with believer in the NT age, the age of grace.  I can say that there are nine of the Ten Commandments mentioned in the NT, and the one that is missing is the commandment concerning the Sabbath.  I have read different books that speak to this subject and there are different opinions on how a day of rest is to be handled in this age of grace.  In the first place the Sabbath day is our Saturday and the day that Christians are to come together in corporate worship is Sunday, the day that the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and I believe that this is why the commandment of the Sabbath is not mentioned in the NT.  However there are principles that can apply from the keeping of the Sabbath, and that is that man, for his own physical need does need a day off in order to better take care of his body.  There is another thing that I would like to mention and that is when you go back to the book of Genesis and read about the creation week you see that God rested on the seventh day after taking the first six days to create the world.  Now that “rest” does not mean that He was tired from all of His work, but that rest can be understood as one thinks of a artist, a painter who has just finished a masterpiece and takes a bit of time to be satisfied with what he has just accomplished, so he stands back and takes a long look at it.  Now what that has to do with believers today is that it would be good for us to think about and to praise the Lord on a Saturday for what He did when He created the earth.  Taking a walk outside in the woods or something like that would be good in order to get a look at God’s creation so we can praise the Lord for His awesome work of creation. 

                Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As a NT believer in the Lord Jesus Christ I want to make sure that I am separated from this world system and committed to the Lord and His cause here on earth.  It is no accident that the Church is called the body of Christ, for we are all a part of His body seeking to do His will while living here on the earth that He created. 

                I want to remember to praise the Lord specifically for His creation this Saturday.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.       Continue to learn contentment.

2.       Remember the commitment that our marriage vows were and keep them.

3.       Remember to bless the Lord for His creation.

4.       Be separated from the world.

9/6/2011 10:46:30 AM