Faithful believers are participating in and growing the kingdom.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 – “First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
This passage fascinates me because of the simplicity of its intent. Paul is encouraging Timothy, for himself and for Timothy’s congregation, to remain in an attitude of petition and intercession for the secular leaders of that day. The purpose behind this is so that they would be able to lead a “tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” This is Paul’s godly dream for the people of God, that they would be able to prosper in the grace and peace of the kingdom of God in that day and time. We know it was a godly dream because he immediately adds that “this pleases God our Savior.”
I believe this godly dream of Paul is the ultimate fulfillment of the kingdom of God on the earth. While it may only be hinted at here, it is the theme of the Old Testament, and also the goal of the New.
Zechariah 8:12 – “For they will sow in peace: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the skies will yield their dew. I will give the remnant of this people all these things as an inheritance.”
Isaiah 65:21-23 – “People will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and others live in them; they will not plant and others eat. For my people’s lives will be like the lifetime of a tree. My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor without success or bear children destined for disaster, for they will be a people blessed by Yahweh along with their descendants.”
Revelation 22:1-5 – “Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because Yahweh God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.”
In Paul’s admonition to Timothy, he says God “desires all men to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” Here are a few representative passages demonstrating how all nations would come and worship before Yahweh.
Isaiah 66:23 – “All mankind will come to worship me from one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another,” says Yahweh.”
Revelation 21:23-26 – “The city [the New Jerusalem] does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there. They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.”
This godly dream is the reality of the kingdom of God come to the earth. It is my belief that through our faithful petitions, intercessions, and righteous examples, we, too, can participate in and grow God’s great plan for the ages, where all men know him and come to him, bringing their glory and honor into the everlasting New Jerusalem.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Now also on YouTube! Just getting started, but new videos will be added regularly on many different topics, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.
Many of the same aspects still exist to this day among his people.
Ancient Israel had the privilege of being set apart from all other nations by a very significant factor, the Torah, or instruction, of God.
Deuteronomy 4:7-8: “For what great nation is there, that has a god so near to them, as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him? What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you today?”
In the 20th chapter of Leviticus, Moses is continuing to present specifics of God’s instruction to the people. In the midst of laws on sexual purity, food purity, and spiritual purity, God relates why these restrictions were significant.
Leviticus 20:26: “You shall be holy to me; for I, Yahweh, am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, that you should be mine.”
These purity laws, recognized as the wisdom of God, would be the things that set God’s people apart from the other nations.
Today, most believers consider these laws “done away,” and that believers in Messiah are no longer are required to follow them. But by doing so, they are removing the very thing that makes them holy, or set apart, from the surrounding nations.
Additionally, I find it odd that if you go to almost any traditional Christian congregation today, you will find that even if they maintain that the law was “done away,” their congregational culture is still based on some of these same conservative imperatives of sexual purity, healthy eating, and spiritual purity.
Things like purity rings are endorsed for teens and singles, along with encouraging couples to maintain the sanctity of their marriages. Divorce is still to be avoided through various types of marriage counseling. Many congregations also promote food and healthy eating programs, whether vegetarian, vegan, or other similar dietary plans. And these same congregations would also maintain that believers should avoid any involvement in the occult. It would seem that even when men attempt to define godly behavior, it typically includes these same types of restrictions that God provided in his Torah 3,300 years ago.
So remind me again why these things are considered done away?
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Now also on YouTube! Just getting started, but new videos will be added regularly on many different topics, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.
How can these differences help us understand our purpose?
Many of you who follow this blog may recognize that I have made this distinction between the “church” and the kingdom in the past. You may also notice that is one of the reasons I typically avoid using the word “church” in my articles, not because I don’t believe in it, just because I think that word has evolved over time to take on non-biblical meaning.
What do I mean by that? Well, when we drive down the road and see a building with a steeple, we may call that a “church.” This building may technically be where a “church” (that is, a group of called-out people) meets, but it is only a building, not an actual church. In reality, the church is the group of people that meet in that location, the building is just a building.
The word that we translate as church in our bibles is actually from the Greek word ekklesia, which simply means an assembly of people. In Greek usage, it doesn’t even really have any religious overtones; it could be an assembly of people at a rally, or a political event. This is why instead of using the word church, I will typically employ the word congregation, as I think that conveys more of an accurate meaning.
Why is this kind of semantic difference important? It is because I think in today’s culture, just like the confusion between the building and the people who meet in the building, the lines between church and kingdom have become blurred, to the point of the terms being used interchangeably. This has no biblical precedent and was never intended by any of the biblical writers, or even by Yeshua himself.
I believe Yeshua defined how the term ekklesia should be used when he introduced the concept to his disciples in Matthew 16.
Matthew 16:15-18 – “…who do you say that I am? ” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Yeshua responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my ekklesia, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
Yeshua said this his ekklesia would be built on the “rock” of the declaration of Peter: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” This is all that is required to be a “member” of the local assembly: faith in Yeshua as Messiah. Based on that statement, assemblies would be formed to live out his teachings in their local communities. Neither the death of Yeshua nor the death of any of the believers (i.e., the “gates of Hades”) would be able to stop the number of local congregations from continuing to grow.
However, the ekklesia is not the kingdom, it is simply the local outpost of where the kingdom principles are being exhibited in the lives of the believers. The kingdom is the everlasting reign of God over all the earth; the congregation is the local gathering of believers in Messiah who are living out the kingdom values in that community.
In an excerpt from his article titled “The Church vs. the Kingdom,” a church-planting minister by the name of Jim Botts provided how he views some of the following differences between the church and the kingdom.
“KINGDOM PEOPLE OR CHURCH PEOPLE? Though the church and its activities can fit into the Kingdom, you cannot squeeze the Kingdom into the Church. When we try to fit the Kingdom into our church-box, we create church people, instead of Kingdom people! And there is a huge difference between the two: Church people – have reduced ministry vision and can’t see past church-bound categories for ministry (i.e., usher, greeter, children’s worker, inviter-of-lost-friends, etc.). Kingdom people – have Kingdom vision to think/dream/act outside the box (read church here). They want to heal the wounds in their neighborhood, workplace, and community (fatherlessness, addictions, marriages). Church people – see the gospel in terms of good news about the afterlife (it’s how you can be sure you’re going to heaven after you die). Kingdom people – see the gospel in terms of good news about Kingdom life (it’s about life in God and with God, both now and forever). Church people – understand discipleship as primarily about enjoying a closer relationship with God that grows me to spiritual maturity. Kingdom people – understand discipleship as the call to lose their life for Christ’s sake so they can participate in His family for His mission. The Kingdom is not a means to a bigger church; the church is a means to demonstrating the Kingdom!”
I think these are some healthy distinctions, and help us understand that Yeshua’s primary mission was to usher in the kingdom, not to start a new religion which would become called “the Christian Church.” This is a primary misunderstanding of all that he came to accomplish.
Instead, as we work through our local congregations (i.e., “churches”) to live out the overarching principles of the kingdom, we will find that the kingdom itself will continue to grow on the earth with each succeeding generation, just as the Bible prophesied it would.
Daniel 7:14 – “He [one like a Son of Man] was given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.”
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Now also on YouTube! Just getting started, but new videos will be added regularly on many different topics, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.
If God is our Father, exhibiting compassion is in our spiritual DNA.
Core of the Bible podcast #50 – Being compassionate is not what you do, but who you are
Today we will be exploring the topic of compassion, and how our relationship with God obligates us to demonstrate compassion with others. Through our shared experiences and trials in growing the kingdom of God, along with our close communion with God as our Father, we should be sharing the comfort we receive with those who need it most.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 – “Praise the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua Messiah! He is the Father who is compassionate and the God who gives comfort. He comforts us whenever we suffer. That is why whenever other people suffer, we are able to comfort them by using the same comfort we have received from God.”
This wise admonition of the apostle Paul contains within itself the makings of a simple truism: If we have received comfort from God through some trouble, then we have the ability, and the responsibility, to comfort others with that same comfort that we had received. In this sense, these verses contain a kind of “pay it forward” mentality. God comforts us, therefore we comfort others.
While this is a good and worthy application of this truth, looking at the passage in context can give us a broader perspective of how Paul was directly applying this truth with the Corinthian congregation. Perhaps as we see how he was applying this truth, we may find new perspective for our own application today.
First of all, let’s look at the entire context of this passage to get the wider margins of understanding about what Paul is speaking about here. The passage itself kind of breaks evenly between verses 3-7 and 8-11. Let’s look at the first section up through verse 7.
2 Corinthians 1:3-7 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua Messiah, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as the sufferings of Messiah overflow to us, so also through Messiah our comfort overflows. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will also share in the comfort.
Okay, so now we can see that the kind of suffering or affliction that Paul is referring to, he labels as the “sufferings of Messiah” which have “overflowed to us.” So these are not just generic sufferings or troubles he is talking about here, like sickness or car troubles or losing one’s job; no, these are sufferings related to the Messiahship of Yeshua. What kind of sufferings were associated with the Messiahship of Yeshua?
Roy Yates, in an article in the Evangelical Quarterly, provides an overview of Paul’s hardships that he encountered during his ministry due to his conviction of the Messiahship of Yeshua.
“During the period of his Ephesian ministry (Act 19: 1-20: 1) St. Paul suffered several traumatic experiences, including personal dangers and possible imprisonments. The Acts of the Apostles mentions only the riot caused by Demetrius the silversmith (Acts:19:23-41), but there are a number of references in the Epistles which lead us to suppose that the troubles Paul experienced at Ephesus were more serious and more numerous than Luke would have us believe. The opposition reachedsuch a pitch that Paul refers to it as ‘fighting with wild beasts’ (1 Cor. 15:32). He also uses the language of the spectacle in the arena to describe the ignominy to which he had been subject in his work as an apostle (1 Cor. 4:9). At a later date he was in such serious trouble that he considered death to be the inevitable outcome of his afflictions (2 Cor. 1:8-10), and his escape as a divine deliverance. He gives a lengthy catalogue of sufferings and hardships endured for the sake of the Gospel (2 Cor. 11 :23-9), some of which must have happened to him during his stay at Ephesus. He tells of Prisca and Aquila who risked their necks for him (Rom. 16:4); warns Timothy of his adversary Alexander the coppersmith who had done him great harm (2 Tim. 4: 14-17); and describes his work in Ephesus in terms of ‘an open door . . . and many adversaries’ (1 Cor. 16:9).”
As Roy mentions in his article, later in the 2nd Corinthian epistle, Paul catalogues a list of many troubles he encountered during his ministry that were endured for Messiah.
2 Corinthians 11:23-28, 32-33 – “Are they servants of Messiah? I’m talking like a madman — I’m a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, many times near death. Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing. Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the congregations. … In Damascus, a ruler under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to arrest me. So I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands.”
Even a cursory review of these events demonstrates how all of these tribulations were endured for the sake of Messiah. These were the types of hardships encountered during his missionary journeys throughout Europe, Asia, and Greece.
Now in the second section of the 2 Corinthians 1 passage beginning in verse 8, we find Paul zeroing in on some event that was so overwhelming, he and his companions despaired of death.
2 Corinthians 1:8-11 – We don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed — beyond our strength — so that we even despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and he will deliver us. We have put our hope in him that he will deliver us again while you join in helping us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many.
Thankfully, Paul maintains they were delivered by God “who raises the dead;” a sort of allusion to what must have seemed like a type of resurrection from the type of living death they were experiencing in their persecution in Asia.
Quoting again from the Roy Yates article provides some interesting background on this event:
“Paul’s troubles in Ephesus came to a head in the experience referred to in 2 Cor. 1 :8-10. He had come so close to a terrible death that he had given himself up as lost. When deliverance came it was greeted as a miracle of resurrection, and as the action of God in response to prayer. The nature of the crisis is not specified in the epistle, but the Corinthians knew well what he was referring to, for they are meant to take comfort and hope from Paul’s suffering and deliverance (2 Cor. 1:3-7). He is eager to open up his heart to them on the matter and tell them of the joy and the sorrow which are inseparably and paradoxically joined together in the preaching of the Gospel. The weakness and suffering of the Apostle only serves to make him rely even more on the power of God, who works through him, and not on himself (2 Cor. 4:7-5:10).”
Regardless of what the event itself was, it was something that caused the apostle to rely even more upon God. This is the crux of what Paul is getting at. Because the “sufferings of Messiah” had “overflowed” to them, they were then able to provide comfort to the disciples as they experienced their own versions of the “suffering of Messiah.
Psalm 34:19 – One who is righteous has many adversities, but Yahweh rescues him from them all.
The Psalmist writes that the righteous don’t just coast through life with the best of everything. To the contrary, those who are righteous have many adversities to endure. Paul also confirms this as he writes to Timothy:
2 Timothy 3:10-12 – But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured – and yet Yahweh rescued me from them all. In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Messiah Yeshua will be persecuted.
The apostle Paul pulls no punches; anyone wanting to live a godly life in Messiah Yeshua will be persecuted. But the good news is that through these shared tribulations, Yahweh will deliver them, just as Paul was delivered through his. He is encouraging the disciples to build one another up in their most holy faith by providing the comfort and insights they had received through these common experiences of persecution and affliction; this is what builds up the faith of the congregations.
In a moment, we’ll take a look at another aspect of why this type of shared compassion is necessary, and it has to do with a type of spiritual DNA.
As we look back to the beginning of the passage in 2 Corinthians 1, we are instructed here by Paul that God is “the Father who is compassionate.” Other versions render this phrase as:
the Father of mercies
the Father who is merciful
merciful Father
Father of compassion
The Pulpit Commentary puts this phrase into perspective:
“This corresponds to a Hebrew expression, and means that compassionateness is the most characteristic attribute of God, and an emanation from him. He is the Source of all mercy; and mercy is an attribute of God himself. He is ‘full of compassion, and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth’ (Psalm 86:15). ‘The Law,’ says the Talmud, ‘begins and ends with an act of mercy. At its commencement God clothes the naked; at its close be buries the dead’ (‘Sotah,’ f. 14, 1).”
As compassion is one of the primary qualities of God himself, Paul is right to encourage believers to provide the same level of compassion and mercy to others that they have received themselves. It’s only fair that we should do so; in fact, it is our obligation. When we neglect acts of compassion towards others, we are in effect rejecting a key component of our spiritual DNA. Exhibiting compassion for others is not only something we are expected to do, it is who we are expected to be, just like our Father.
Matthew 5:48 – “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
So many believers today are so overly focused on God’s comfort for them, or on striving after how they can receive more comfort and encouragement from God, that they overlook the glaring and unmistakable needs of the those who are all around them.
One of the reasons I believe we are not faithful in sharing the comfort we have received from God is because we are not truly experiencing the “sufferings of Messiah” to receive God’s comfort in the first place. When was the last time any of us were beaten or imprisoned for our faith in Messiah? Have any of us been excommunicated from our local congregation because of some radical belief we hold about Messiah? Have any of us been in physical conditions of hardship such as no food or shelter during a missionary journey? These are the types of situations that can be considered the sufferings of Messiah, and these are the types of things that God sustains believers through. Some of you listening to this may indeed have experienced some level of this type of suffering, and I’m certain you would carry some great testimony of God’s faithfulness through your trial.
Ultimately, we have to remember that being a believer in the God of the Bible is not about us, it’s about him. When we take great personal risk in order to continue to grow the kingdom of God, we then are forced to rely on God’s care and provision for our needs. Even the Lord’s Prayer contains the clause, “Give us this day our daily bread.” The provision of God that Yeshua teaches us about is for each day, one day at a time, not for unending provision with no consequence. It is when we are in the situations that cause us to rely fully on him that he is able to provide real, tangible comfort for our needs.
I can recall as a young, single, idealistic believer, I had become convinced that God was calling me into a local ministry at our congregation, yet I had no formal training or college. I was so convinced that was where God wanted me that I had quit my job and put the offer to work for the congregation for only $400 a month. At the time, that would meet all of my immediate needs, and I was trusting God for the opportunity. It took weeks while I remained steadfast in prayer, and ultimately, it came to pass. In that role of music and leading some small study groups, I grew spiritually by leaps and bounds as I was forced to rely on God for just about everything. I continued to grow in faith as I saw God’s provision, sometimes daily, and I experienced many powerful spiritual lessons that I still carry with me and share today, many times through these podcasts and daily articles. And because of that period of relying on God’s provision, I can testify today that God is sufficient.
Through our faith in Messiah, and because we believe God is our Father, we should, if for no other reason than this close spiritual and familial association with him, begin to exhibit the same characteristics that he has demonstrated in our lives. If God is compassionate, we should be also. If God has comforted us through affliction and sharing the sufferings of Messiah, we are obligated to comfort others also with the same comfort we have received. This is who we are in Messiah.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Now also on YouTube! Just getting started, but new videos will be added regularly on many different topics, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.
Luke 6:31 – “Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.
This saying, which has become known as the “Golden Rule,” has appeared in many other cultures in some form or another, even other religious traditions.
Christianity: “Do for others what you want them to do for you: This is the meaning of the Law and the teaching of the Prophets” (Matthew 7/12) Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not to you fellowman. That is the entire law: All the rest is commentary”. (Talmud, Shabbat 3id) Islam: “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself” (Sunnah) Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful: (Udana-Verga 5/18) Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty! Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you. (Mahabharata 5/1517) Confucianism: Is there one maxim which ought to be acted upon throughout ones life? Surely it is the maxim of loving kindness. Do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you? (Analects 15/23). Taoism: “Regard your neighbours gain as you own gain and your neighbour’s loss as your own loss” (Tai Shang Kan Ying P’en) Zoroastrism: “That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto others whatsoever is not good for itself”. (Dadistendinik 94/5)
Yet, if we really desire to understand how Yeshua interpreted and intended it to be applied, we would do well to keep it within the context of the rest of the passage of his teaching. Each bullet point provides its own convicting refinement of this principle.
Luke 6:27-31 – “But I say to you who listen:
Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
If anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also.
And if anyone takes away your coat, don’t hold back your shirt either.
Give to everyone who asks you, and from someone who takes your things, don’t ask for them back.
Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.”
But what if, instead of being written as admonitions to believers, these maxims were instead originally directed at those who reject God? What if Yeshua wanted to teach non-believers how to be able to truly identify God’s own people? Perhaps Yeshua might have phrased this teaching a little differently.
“Because I have instructed my disciples to follow me, they are obligated to act only in ways that I would act; in ways that honor God and bring glory to his name. “Even though you consider them your enemies, they will have to demonstrate genuine love to you. “Even though you may hate them, they will only be able to do what is good for you. “If you curse them out, they will be forced to pronounce blessings on you. “If you mistreat them, they will stop to pray for your needs. “If you hit them, they will still stand by you to absorb your anger. “If you take their coat, they will offer you additional clothing you may want. Whatever you ask, they will give. If you take from them, they won’t ask for it back, because God provides for all of their needs. “They will only be able to respond in a way they would want to be treated themselves. “These are my people, these are the ones who truly believe in me.”
Perhaps if Yeshua’s people acted more like this, the kingdom would be growing even faster than it is.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Now also on YouTube! Just getting started, but new videos will be added regularly on many different topics, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.
Matthew 5:44-48 – “But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
We have looked at this passage in several different articles regarding different aspects of meaning that are present here. But one of the key questions that can be brought up is this, does God expect more of us than he expects of himself? Yeshua instructs us to love our enemies. Has God really demonstrated love for his enemies?
Romans 5:6, 8, 10 – “For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Messiah died for the ungodly. … But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Messiah died for us. … For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.”
I remember a preacher once teaching on this topic and saying, “If your salvation depended on my only son dying in your place, then I’m sorry, you would not be saved.” This tongue-in-cheek statement drove home the point of how much love God demonstrated for those who could be considered his enemies due to their rebellion and sinfulness. And yet God was willing to have his own Son die for them.
Romans 10:20-21 – “And Isaiah says boldly, I was found by those who were not looking for me; I revealed myself to those who were not asking for me. But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.”
Does Yeshua exhort us to love our enemies? Yes, so that we might become “children of God.” As we have seen from the apostle Paul, God indeed demonstrated love for those who had made themselves his enemies, enough to have his own Son die for them. If in this fashion we become his children, then we must exhibit the same characteristic of our Father. All day long, we must hold our hands out to the disobedient and defiant people of our generation.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Now also on YouTube! Just getting started, but new videos will be added regularly on many different topics, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.
2 Chronicles 1:11-12 – “God said to Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, nor yet have you asked for long life; but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge my people, over whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and knowledge is granted to you. I will give you riches, wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had who have been before you had, and none after you will have.””
This request that was granted to Solomon by God was a huge measure of trust and faith in God on the the part of Solomon. He was in the perfect position to understand the need of the moment and he did not let it go to waste. His request demonstrated how in tune he was with the promise of God. Because of his faith and trust in the promise of God, his request was granted. Note the conditions just prior to God’s response to him:
2 Chronicles 1:8 – And Solomon said to God: “You have shown great and faithful love to my father David, and you have made me king in his place.
Solomon recognized his place in the scheme of the kingdom. He had been entrusted with the representative role of king in the shadow of one of the most charismatic and influential leaders of Israel, ever. More importantly, he knew that his role was one of promise.
2 Chronicles 1:9 – “Yahweh God, let your promise to my father David now come true. For you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.
His statement of faith was one of complete trust in the promise of God that had been bestowed previously upon his father David through the prophet Nathan.
2 Samuel 7:16, 28-29 – “Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’ ” … Lord Yahweh, you are God; your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now, please bless your servant’s house so that it will continue before you forever. For you, Lord Yahweh, have spoken, and with your blessing your servant’s house will be blessed forever.
Solomon’s request was granted because it was in complete accord with the will of God for David’s house; to have his throne endure forever. The question isn’t in asking how God could answer Solomon’s request, but how could he have not?
For us to have an audience with God is not in a thousand sacrifices, but in a sincere and honest heart of trust and faith in his Word, recognizing our place within the kingdom of God. We need to know his instruction so fully that when we do provide requests, what we ask for is in alignment with his purpose and will. This is the type of faith that moves mountains, when God’s will, not ours, is for a mountain to move.
God desired to bless Solomon because he had promised David he would do so. God has also promised that his kingdom would fill the earth. Any requests and prayers we may ask that are in line with this purpose of God are sure to be answered in haste.
Matthew 6:10-11 – “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Psalm 119:169-173 – Let my cry reach you, Yahweh; give me understanding according to your word. Let my plea reach you; rescue me according to your promise. My lips pour out praise, for you teach me your statutes. My tongue sings about your promise, for all your commands are righteous. May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Now also on YouTube! Just getting started, but new videos will be added regularly on many different topics, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.
Praying all the time demonstrates what’s really important…to you.
While common to all major religions, prayer is viewed differently by different belief systems. Prayer is typically viewed as requesting something from God, and therefore prayer becomes an instrument of communication only when some desired object or situation arises.
Biblical prayer should be something that sets believers in Messiah apart from others; this is a dynamic of the holiness of believers. There are many different biblical aspects to prayer, and one of the main facets that is encouraged is an idea of constancy; we are to pray continually.
Luke 18:1 – “Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up.”
Yeshua provides the example of the “persistent widow” who continued day after day to bring her request before the judge. When we pray for some need we may have or situation that arises, do we have the perseverance to continue in prayer, or do we simply give up after mentioning it once or twice in an off-hand way? I believe Yeshua desires our prayers to be genuine, and genuine prayers that remain at the forefront of all of our thinking and actions. These are the requests that demonstrate real needs exist. Flippant or careless prayers for this or that only show that whatever that issue is must not be a real need, otherwise urgent prayer for that thing would continue. So the persistence is not a demonstration to God of how important something is (since he already knows), but it is a demonstration to ourselves of what we consider important enough to bring before him day after day.
Ephesians 6:18 – “Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.” Colossians 1:3 – “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you…”
Whew, that is a lot of praying! Again, the emphasis is on the constancy for every and all situation that can relate to the kingdom of God in our daily lives, and the lives of our brothers and sisters in Messiah. Praying in the Spirit of God implies that those things that are prayed about relate to the kingdom of God, since that is God’s overarching purpose in the world: seeing the kingdom manifested in all things. When our prayers align with God’s purpose all the time, we will find that God’s Spirit will enable us to better accomplish his will, and it will happen all around us in real time!
Constancy in prayer is one of my personal challenges, and I hope that by highlighting these few examples, you are challenged to review your own prayer practices, as well. If we can unite in prayer for one another as brothers and sisters in Messiah, then we can both experience his kingdom coming to pass in our respective circles of influence!
1 Thessalonians 5:17 – “…pray constantly…”
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Now also on YouTube! Just getting started, but new videos will be added regularly on many different topics, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.
When we act disobediently, God appears to reciprocate in kind by providing negative experiences, or what can be called his curses.
Core of the Bible podcast #49 – Is there a biblical curse in withholding forgiveness?
Today we will be exploring the topic of forgiveness, and how the forgiveness we extend, or don’t extend, toward others will likely be evidenced within our own relationship with God.
John 20:23 – “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
The context of this passage is the day of Yeshua’s resurrection, in the evening of that very day. The disciples were still trying to understand what had happened since their Teacher had been crucified a few days before. A strange report of Messiah’s appearance had come from Mary, and Peter and John had both been to the tomb and found it was empty.
Suddenly, Yeshua is among them all, proclaiming peace and wholeness (shalom), and providing an admonition to remain receptive to the holy Spirit of God and to exercise the privilege of forgiveness with others.
Most commentators view this as a special privilege, anointing, or commissioning of the twelve disciples (or, in this case, the ten disciples, since Thomas and Judas were not among them). However, there is no indication this admonition was just to Yeshua’s closest circle, but it was conveyed to all of those present.
How much value should we place on these words? Let’s put this in perspective. If you were to die and then to be raised back to life and to visit once again with your closest friends and confidants, what words would you say? Do you think those words would be considered important words by those who were were seeing you alive again? I believe wholeheartedly, yes, they would be extremely important words!
And this is why I believe the significance of what Yeshua is teaching here cannot be minimized: the first collective teaching Yeshua provides his followers after being resurrected is to remain receptive to God’s Spirit and to be mindful of how they exercise forgiveness, because to whomever forgiveness is not extended, then the state of unforgiveness remains.
In reality, this should not be surprising to us, since Messiah consistently taught of the importance of forgiving others, and how the believer’s use of forgiveness with others will be an indicator of God’s forgiveness with them.
Matthew 6:12, 14-15 – “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. … “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. “But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.”
Mark 11:25 – “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing.”
Luke 17:4 – “And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and comes back to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
Therefore if we withhold forgiveness from someone, for whatever reason we may have, we may in a very real sense be creating a situation where God withholds his forgiveness from us. It is not that our actions can restrict the workings of the all-powerful God, but only that he has chosen to align himself with the human ideals as a means of communicating his love and mercy to us.
Charles Ellicott has the following to say in regards to this idea of forgiveness and unforgiveness:
“In the very act of prayer we are taught to remind ourselves of the conditions of forgiveness. Even here, in the region of the free grace of God, there is a law of retribution. The temper that does not forgive cannot be forgiven, because it is ipso facto a proof that we do not realise the amount of the debt we owe. We forget the ten thousand talents as we exact the hundred pence, and in the act of exacting we bring back that burden of the greater debt upon ourselves.”
I believe this is a critical, yet often-overlooked aspect to the forgiveness of God. In all things God desires us to be true and honest, and he abhors dishonesty and hypocrisy. If we are withholding forgiveness from someone for some offense they have committed against us, what should be God’s logical reason for continuing to provide us forgiveness that comes from him?
This seems to create a bit of a paradox for us. Yeshua appears to be teaching us that we hold within our grasp the key of forgiveness or the lock of unforgiveness toward others, and our experience with God will mirror how we apply this privilege.
God, it seems, desires that we model ourselves after his characteristics, such as holiness, mercy or compassion, and forgiveness.
Leviticus 19:2 – “Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy because I, Yahweh your God, am holy.
Psalm 145:8-9 – Yahweh is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love. Yahweh is good to everyone; his compassion rests on all he has made.
Colossians 4:6 – Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.
1 Peter 3:8-9 – Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing.
He has made us in his image, and yet when that image becomes marred through our own selfish ambition and disobedience God appears to reciprocate in kind by providing negative experiences, or what can be called his curses.
Here’s an example of how this principle is exhibited with personified Wisdom in the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 1:22, 25-26 – “How long, inexperienced ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge? … “since you neglected all my counsel and did not accept my correction, “I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you…”
Notice, the mockers who rejected the knowledge of God would be mocked by personified Wisdom as their own calamity would befall them due to their rejection of God’s instruction.
In the apocryphal book of the Wisdom of Solomon, there is a passage which identifies this type of thinking of the Hebrew culture in the time of 2nd temple Judaism. Speaking in the narrative about the Israelites wandering in the desert, it says:
Wisdom 11:15-16 – “In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts, which led them astray to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals, you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them, so that they might learn that one is punished by the very things by which one sins.”
This is the state of those who live in rebellion against God. It becomes a natural course of events due to their unwillingness to abide by God’s righteous ways, and the things through which they sin against God become the very things that plague them later on.
This idea of retributive justice is all through the Bible. The apostle Paul also presents a view of the fleshly life vs. the spiritual life as he encourages the Galatian believers to be sure they are sowing seed in the appropriate place:
Galatians 6:7-8 – Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
I tend to believe this retributive justice of God is this ancient biblical principle from which the Eastern concept of karma has been derived. That’s certainly my opinion and one that would require a whole other group of research to fully substantiate, but I believe the biblical principles were at one point understood by all mankind and other religions have since become corruptions of these truths over the millennia.
Let’s take a closer look at this idea of the retributive justice of God in some of the final words of Moses to the Israelites.
One of the most glaring passages to illustrate this concept of retributive justice is in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Moses is reminding the people of all that God has done for them from Egypt up until the eve of their entering into the promised land. In this chapter he lays out blessings that would be evident for their obedience, and also curses for their disobedience. When viewed together, we can see that the curses are essentially the opposite of the blessings.
28:3 – “You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.”
28:16 – “You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.”
28:4 – “Your offspring will be blessed, and your land’s produce, and the offspring of your livestock, including the young of your herds and the newborn of your flocks.”
28:18 – “Your offspring will be cursed, and your land’s produce, the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks.”
28:5 – “Your basket and kneading bowl will be blessed.”
28:17 – “Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed.”
28:6 – “You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.”
28:19 – “You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.”
28:7 – “Yahweh will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you from one direction but flee from you in seven directions.”
28:20 – “Yahweh will send against you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything you do until you are destroyed and quickly perish, because of the wickedness of your actions in abandoning me.”
On and on it goes through the whole chapter. It would appear that curses for disobedience are essentially corrupted and inverted blessings for obedience. This implies that God desires our obedience in righteous actions. When we do so, he demonstrates we are acting in accord with his purposes by providing certain blessings towards us. However, when we choose not to do so, then he matches his actions towards us by our actions towards him. And those actions meant to be blessings then become inverted and appear to us as curses.
Here’s another example from the book of Daniel. Daniel appears to be well aware of how they were living out the very warnings and curses that Moses had provided 700 years earlier:
Daniel 9:11 – All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. The promised curse written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against him.
Yes, Daniel is lamenting the curse that Moses warned them about had come to pass! Specifically, here again from Deuteronomy 28.
Deuteronomy 28:36-37, 49-52 – “Yahweh will bring you and your king that you have appointed to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods, of wood and stone. “You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the peoples where Yahweh will drive you. … “Yahweh will bring a nation from far away, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you won’t understand, “a ruthless nation, showing no respect for the old and not sparing the young. “They will eat the offspring of your livestock and your land’s produce until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine, fresh oil, young of your herds, or newborn of your flocks until they cause you to perish. “They will besiege you within all your city gates until your high and fortified walls, that you trust in, come down throughout your land. They will besiege you within all your city gates throughout the land Yahweh your God has given you.”
Daniel has these warnings in mind as he continues his admonition to the people of God in captivity.
Daniel 9:12-14 – He has carried out his words that he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing on us a disaster that is so great that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done under all of heaven. Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of Yahweh our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to your truth. So Yahweh kept the disaster in mind and brought it on us, for Yahweh our God is righteous in all he has done. But we have not obeyed him.”
Daniel recognized that the Israelites were experiencing the fruit of that which they had sown. They rebelled against God and he responded in the way that he told them he would. This resulted in a horrific overthrow of the city of Jerusalem, and the final remaining Israelites to be carried off to Babylon. Daniel connects the two concepts in no uncertain terms, and this is a clear demonstration of how God’s curse, the opposite of the blessing in the land, came to pass.
It seems to me that people today enjoy talking about blessings and how much God has blessed them, but curses are viewed as medieval superstitions. While there is in truth a measure of superstition to the idea of people placing curses on other people, if we understand that biblical curses are essentially blessings of God that have been inverted due to disobedience, it helps to make sense of some of the struggles non-believers face as they live lives in rebellion against God.
If, for example, we choose to live lives of treachery and deceit for our own pride and selfish gain, there is a good likelihood that our lives will be filled with not knowing who to trust, and being fearful of being taken advantage of at every turn. This is the natural result or consequences of those decisions. Yet if we choose to live humbly with integrity and honesty, it is more likely people will interact with us in similar ways, and we will have friends we can trust and experience less stress overall.
Proverbs 3:33-34 – Yahweh’s curse is on the household of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous; He mocks those who mock, but gives grace to the humble.
Now I’ve kind of gone off into the weeds in regards to retributive justice of God, but if you’ll remember, it was not without reason in light of Yeshua’s teaching on forgiveness.
Matthew 6:12, 14-15 – “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. … “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. “But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.
If we truly believed this was the case, then we would never remain unforgiving toward anyone. If we desired God to be forgiving toward us, we would do everything we could to ensure there was no form of outstanding unforgiveness among any of our relationships.
We saw that when Yeshua returned from death, he exhorted his disciples to receive the holy Spirit, and to extend forgiveness to others, otherwise, unforgiveness would remain. If we can cautiously peel back the prejudice of our religious orthodoxy regarding the historical commentary of John 20 and simply consider the Messiah’s words for what they say, the importance of forgiveness in the teaching of Yeshua cannot be understated.
So, is there a biblical curse in withholding forgiveness? I think a case can be made to demonstrate that God actively resists those who resist his will, and I’ve included a few examples here to illustrate this idea. If we are allowing the Spirit of God to guide our lives, then we need to always be mindful of how important the role of forgiveness plays in our interactions with others. For to whomever forgiveness is not extended, then a state of unforgiveness remains. And if we are to maintain a consistent view within the larger context of Yeshua’s teaching during his life and ministry, that state of unforgiveness can be measured against our own standing with God.
The fact that the operation of the Spirit and forgiveness are knit together so closely should cause us to evaluate how recep
Today we will be exploring the topic of forgiveness, and how the forgiveness we extend, or don’t extend, toward others will likely be evidenced within our own relationship with God.
John 20:23 – “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
The context of this passage is the day of Yeshua’s resurrection, in the evening of that very day. The disciples were still trying to understand what had happened since their Teacher had been crucified a few days before. A strange report of Messiah’s appearance had come from Mary, and Peter and John had both been to the tomb and found it was empty.
Suddenly, Yeshua is among them all, proclaiming peace and wholeness (shalom), and providing an admonition to remain receptive to the holy Spirit of God and to exercise the privilege of forgiveness with others.
Most commentators view this as a special privilege, anointing, or commissioning of the twelve disciples (or, in this case, the ten disciples, since Thomas and Judas were not among them). However, there is no indication this admonition was just to Yeshua’s closest circle, but it was conveyed to all of those present.
How much value should we place on these words? Let’s put this in perspective. If you were to die and then to be raised back to life and to visit once again with your closest friends and confidants, what words would you say? Do you think those words would be considered important words by those who were were seeing you alive again? I believe wholeheartedly, yes, they would be extremely important words!
And this is why I believe the significance of what Yeshua is teaching here cannot be minimized: the first collective teaching Yeshua provides his followers after being resurrected is to remain receptive to God’s Spirit and to be mindful of how they exercise forgiveness, because to whomever forgiveness is not extended, then the state of unforgiveness remains.
In reality, this should not be surprising to us, since Messiah consistently taught of the importance of forgiving others, and how the believer’s use of forgiveness with others will be an indicator of God’s forgiveness with them.
Matthew 6:12, 14-15 – “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. … “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. “But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.”
Mark 11:25 – “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing.”
Luke 17:4 – “And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and comes back to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
Therefore if we withhold forgiveness from someone, for whatever reason we may have, we may in a very real sense be creating a situation where God withholds his forgiveness from us. It is not that our actions can restrict the workings of the all-powerful God, but only that he has chosen to align himself with the human ideals as a means of communicating his love and mercy to us.
Charles Ellicott has the following to say in regards to this idea of forgiveness and unforgiveness:
“In the very act of prayer we are taught to remind ourselves of the conditions of forgiveness. Even here, in the region of the free grace of God, there is a law of retribution. The temper that does not forgive cannot be forgiven, because it is ipso facto a proof that we do not realise the amount of the debt we owe. We forget the ten thousand talents as we exact the hundred pence, and in the act of exacting we bring back that burden of the greater debt upon ourselves.”
I believe this is a critical, yet often-overlooked aspect to the forgiveness of God. In all things God desires us to be true and honest, and he abhors dishonesty and hypocrisy. If we are withholding forgiveness from someone for some offense they have committed against us, what should be God’s logical reason for continuing to provide us forgiveness that comes from him?
This seems to create a bit of a paradox for us. Yeshua appears to be teaching us that we hold within our grasp the key of forgiveness or the lock of unforgiveness toward others, and our experience with God will mirror how we apply this privilege.
God, it seems, desires that we model ourselves after his characteristics, such as holiness, mercy or compassion, and forgiveness.
Leviticus 19:2 – “Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy because I, Yahweh your God, am holy.
Psalm 145:8-9 – Yahweh is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love. Yahweh is good to everyone; his compassion rests on all he has made.
Colossians 4:6 – Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.
1 Peter 3:8-9 – Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing.
He has made us in his image, and yet when that image becomes marred through our own selfish ambition and disobedience God appears to reciprocate in kind by providing negative experiences, or what can be called his curses.
Here’s an example of how this principle is exhibited with personified Wisdom in the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 1:22, 25-26 – “How long, inexperienced ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge? … “since you neglected all my counsel and did not accept my correction, “I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you…”
Notice, the mockers who rejected the knowledge of God would be mocked by personified Wisdom as their own calamity would befall them due to their rejection of God’s instruction.
In the apocryphal book of the Wisdom of Solomon, there is a passage which identifies this type of thinking of the Hebrew culture in the time of 2nd temple Judaism. Speaking in the narrative about the Israelites wandering in the desert, it says:
Wisdom 11:15-16 – “In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts, which led them astray to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals, you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them, so that they might learn that one is punished by the very things by which one sins.”
This is the state of those who live in rebellion against God. It becomes a natural course of events due to their unwillingness to abide by God’s righteous ways, and the things through which they sin against God become the very things that plague them later on.
This idea of retributive justice is all through the Bible. The apostle Paul also presents a view of the fleshly life vs. the spiritual life as he encourages the Galatian believers to be sure they are sowing seed in the appropriate place:
Galatians 6:7-8 – Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
I tend to believe this retributive justice of God is this ancient biblical principle from which the Eastern concept of karma has been derived. That’s certainly my opinion and one that would require a whole other group of research to fully substantiate, but I believe the biblical principles were at one point understood by all mankind and other religions have since become corruptions of these truths over the millennia.
Let’s take a closer look at this idea of the retributive justice of God in some of the final words of Moses to the Israelites.
One of the most glaring passages to illustrate this concept of retributive justice is in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Moses is reminding the people of all that God has done for them from Egypt up until the eve of their entering into the promised land. In this chapter he lays out blessings that would be evident for their obedience, and also curses for their disobedience. When viewed together, we can see that the curses are essentially the opposite of the blessings.
28:3 – “You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.”
28:16 – “You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.”
28:4 – “Your offspring will be blessed, and your land’s produce, and the offspring of your livestock, including the young of your herds and the newborn of your flocks.”
28:18 – “Your offspring will be cursed, and your land’s produce, the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks.”
28:5 – “Your basket and kneading bowl will be blessed.”
28:17 – “Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed.”
28:6 – “You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.”
28:19 – “You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.”
28:7 – “Yahweh will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you from one direction but flee from you in seven directions.”
28:20 – “Yahweh will send against you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything you do until you are destroyed and quickly perish, because of the wickedness of your actions in abandoning me.”
On and on it goes through the whole chapter. It would appear that curses for disobedience are essentially corrupted and inverted blessings for obedience. This implies that God desires our obedience in righteous actions. When we do so, he demonstrates we are acting in accord with his purposes by providing certain blessings towards us. However, when we choose not to do so, then he matches his actions towards us by our actions towards him. And those actions meant to be blessings then become inverted and appear to us as curses.
Here’s another example from the book of Daniel. Daniel appears to be well aware of how they were living out the very warnings and curses that Moses had provided 700 years earlier:
Daniel 9:11 – All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. The promised curse written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against him.
Yes, Daniel is lamenting the curse that Moses warned them about had come to pass! Specifically, here again from Deuteronomy 28.
Deuteronomy 28:36-37, 49-52 – “Yahweh will bring you and your king that you have appointed to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods, of wood and stone. “You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the peoples where Yahweh will drive you. … “Yahweh will bring a nation from far away, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you won’t understand, “a ruthless nation, showing no respect for the old and not sparing the young. “They will eat the offspring of your livestock and your land’s produce until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine, fresh oil, young of your herds, or newborn of your flocks until they cause you to perish. “They will besiege you within all your city gates until your high and fortified walls, that you trust in, come down throughout your land. They will besiege you within all your city gates throughout the land Yahweh your God has given you.”
Daniel has these warnings in mind as he continues his admonition to the people of God in captivity.
Daniel 9:12-14 – He has carried out his words that he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing on us a disaster that is so great that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done under all of heaven. Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of Yahweh our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to your truth. So Yahweh kept the disaster in mind and brought it on us, for Yahweh our God is righteous in all he has done. But we have not obeyed him.”
Daniel recognized that the Israelites were experiencing the fruit of that which they had sown. They rebelled against God and he responded in the way that he told them he would. This resulted in a horrific overthrow of the city of Jerusalem, and the final remaining Israelites to be carried off to Babylon. Daniel connects the two concepts in no uncertain terms, and this is a clear demonstration of how God’s curse, the opposite of the blessing in the land, came to pass.
It seems to me that people today enjoy talking about blessings and how much God has blessed them, but curses are viewed as medieval superstitions. While there is in truth a measure of superstition to the idea of people placing curses on other people, if we understand that biblical curses are essentially blessings of God that have been inverted due to disobedience, it helps to make sense of some of the struggles non-believers face as they live lives in rebellion against God.
If, for example, we choose to live lives of treachery and deceit for our own pride and selfish gain, there is a good likelihood that our lives will be filled with not knowing who to trust, and being fearful of being taken advantage of at every turn. This is the natural result or consequences of those decisions. Yet if we choose to live humbly with integrity and honesty, it is more likely people will interact with us in similar ways, and we will have friends we can trust and experience less stress overall.
Proverbs 3:33-34 – “Yahweh’s curse is on the household of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous; He mocks those who mock, but gives grace to the humble.”
Now, let me be quick to add that Yeshua provides additional perspective on what a blessing from God may look like. Based on what we have seen so far, blessings are good things and curses would be bad things. However, Yeshua also mentions how some things that can look bad can actually be blessings when based on the truth of God and viewed from his perspective:
Matthew 5:3-4 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Being poor in spirit doesn’t appear to be a blessing, yet Yeshua says it is. Mourning in and of itself does not appear to provide a blessing, yet Yeshua says there is a certain type of mourning that does. For those who are of humble heart and circumstance (poor in spirit) and who mourn for righteousness to be expressed will have those yearnings fulfilled.
Matthew 5:10-12 – “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. “You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Certainly, being insulted and persecuted and having false and evil things said against you cannot possibly be considered a blessing, could it? Yeshua confirms that they are, but ONLY IF those things are being conducted against you specifically because of your expressed faith in Messiah, who is the truth of God revealed.
Psalm 5:11-12 – “But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them shout for joy forever. May you shelter them, and may those who love your name boast about you. For you, Yahweh, bless the righteous one; you surround him with favor like a shield.”
Consistent with all blessing is that those who exhibit righteousness are blessed by God. To have faith in Yeshua was to have many negative consequences for the believers, and may still to this day; however, those negative consequences could be considered as blessings because they were and are based on the truth of God.
So returning in summary to our topic of forgiveness, you may have noticed I have kind of gone off into the weeds in regards to retributive justice of God. But if you’ll remember, it was not without reason in light of Yeshua’s teaching on forgiveness.
Matthew 6:12, 14-15 – “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. … “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.”
If we truly believed this was the case, then we would never remain unforgiving toward anyone. If we desired God to be forgiving toward us, we would do everything we could to ensure there was no form of outstanding unforgiveness among any of our relationships.
We saw that when Yeshua returned from death, he exhorted his disciples to receive the holy Spirit, and to extend forgiveness to others, otherwise, unforgiveness would remain. If we can cautiously peel back the prejudice of our religious orthodoxy regarding the historical commentary of John 20 and simply consider the Messiah’s words for what they say, the importance of forgiveness in the teaching of Yeshua cannot be understated.
So, is there a biblical curse in withholding forgiveness? I think a case can be made in the affirmative to at least demonstrate that God actively resists those who resist his will, and I’ve included a few examples here to illustrate this idea. If we are allowing the Spirit of God to guide our lives, then we need to always be mindful of how important the role of forgiveness plays in our interactions with others. For to whomever forgiveness is not extended, then a state of unforgiveness remains. And if we are to maintain a consistent view within the larger context of Yeshua’s teaching during his life and ministry, that state of unforgiveness can be measured against our own standing with God.
The fact that the operation of the Spirit and forgiveness are knit together so closely should cause us to evaluate how receptive we are to the influence of the God’s Spirit in our lives. In my estimation, a life guided by the Spirit is, by default, a life of forgiveness. And forgiveness always brings a blessing.
tive we are to the influence of the God’s Spirit in our lives. In my estimation, a life guided by the Spirit is, by default, a life of forgiveness. And forgiveness always brings a blessing.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Now also on YouTube! Just getting started, but new videos will be added regularly on many different topics, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.
The kingdom of God is based on the people of God following the Ten Commandments of Yahweh. This was dramatically demonstrated in Exodus 19-20 as God was preparing to reveal himself to the assembled congregation.
Exodus 19:4-6 – “‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. “Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, “and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”
God was urging the people to listen to what he had to say and then to keep these commands as his covenant. If they did so, they would be his kingdom of priests and his holy, set apart nation.
Exodus 20:1 CSB – Then God spoke all these words: [the ten commandments]
Deuteronomy 4:13 – “He [Yahweh] declared his covenant to you. He commanded you to follow the Ten Commandments, which he wrote on two stone tablets.
The people only had to listen to God (the Words he had pronounced as the Ten Commandments) and then to keep them as his covenant in order to be his kingdom of set apart people.
The Ten Commandments had at least three distinguishing characteristics:
They were spoken directly by God to millions of people at once. Everyone assembled at the foot of Sinai heard the voice of God for themselves. He spoke the commandments to them directly so there would be no mistaking what he intended to say. This group included not only Israelites but a “mixed multitude” that also came up with them from Egypt. This was not an exclusively Israelite covenant, but for everyone there who would listen and obey.
They were written in stone as an everlasting memorial. The ten commandments were not written on parchment like the rest of the law of Moses, but were carved into stone to demonstrate the permanence of their nature. Even when Moses broke the first set, God had him make two more stone tablets which he then engraved a second time with his commandments.
They were written by God himself. God’s own finger inscribed the tablets with the commandments; this was not the mere writings or philosophy of men.
I can think of no other way for God to ensure that he is making clear the permanent nature of some instruction: he spoke it himself to masses of individuals at once, and wrote it himself in stone.
This is why the Ten Commandments are so critical to the gospel of the kingdom. It remained only for Yeshua to emphasize the attitude of the heart in truly keeping the ten commandments. Not only was it wrong to kill, but no one should think evilly of another. Not only was it wrong to commit adultery, but no one should even consider lusting after others.
This is why the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments are tied together. God’s unchanging standards for his kingdom were brought to life by Yeshua demonstrating how the heart attitude should be toward keeping them. The good news of the kingdom was that the instruction of God was now able to be kept from the heart through the indwelling Spirit of God.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Now also on YouTube! Just getting started, but new videos will be added regularly on many different topics, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.
The Core of the Bible 