November 16, 2008
Scripture:
1 Peter 3:18
Ministry - Norman Burgess:
We read in Hebrews about worshipers; let us think about their manner of worship for a moment: they were to take a spotless lamb, and bring it to the temple. The priest would prepare the sacrifice, and then the offerer would put his hand on the head of the burnt offering. This was the system God had given the Jews, but it fell short: it could not take away their guilt. I connect that with John 4:23, where we find the other side of this. God the Father was looking for worshipers who would worship Him in Spirit and Truth. Israel’s worship did not satisfy God or the Jews. True worship does not have the worshiper as a spectator, but as a participant; we are able to draw nigh to God, as we have done this morning, and offer a sacrifice of praise. What a privilege is ours!
Hymn 369 – I claim for my own a King on a throne
Prayer
Last week, we talked about the first genealogy in the Bible, and some of the types in it. We know that Adam and Eve were the first parents, they were the roots of mankind. This is a type of the Lord and His bride. Then we saw how Cain killed Able, and how God gave Adam and Eve another son, Seth. This is a picture of how the Jews killed the Lord; Seth speaks of resurrection. Then we saw how Cain’s descendants tried to live without God, but died at the flood. Enoch walked with God, and was not; here we have a type of the church. Noah’s family passed through the flood, which is a type of the Jewish remnant going through the tribulation.
Today, we’ll look at Genesis 6: what the world was like before the flood. Before we begin, note that time wise, this is about half-way through the Old Testament; it has been around two thousand years since creation. In Genesis 1, God said that His creation was very good. Read ch. 6:1 – 6; now God said that it is wicked; he saw evil in the hearts of men. This made God grieve, so much so that He wanted to destroy the whole earth, v.7. But there was one bright spot in this story: Noah. V. 8 tells us that he found grace in God’s sight. God came to Noah and explained to him that he found the actions of men to be corrupt and violent, vv. 11 – 12. First He saw their hearts, and now it is their actions; evil in the heart will lead to evil actions. Is there much violence and corruption in the world today? Yes, we read about it all the time; here we can see how God feels about it. This is as far as we will go today, but we should remember that there is sin in our own hearts as well, but that God has made a way for us to have pure hearts and actions.
There was not much left of Jerusalem at this time; that’s why we read in the last verse of this chapter that those who came back stayed in other cities. They had to begin the reconstruction!
In v. 2, we find the name of Zerubbabel. He is the leader of the first group of people that returned to Israel, which we have listed here. V. 64 tells us that this group amounted to 42, 360 people. If we look at the census David took of all the men of Israel—and add one woman and child for each man—there were about 5 million Israelites. If that is the case, less than one percent of the people of Israel returned to their land at this time. How sad it is that there were no more who cared about the reconstruction of God’s sanctuary!
So we see that there was a very small response to the call to return to Jerusalem. However, a few things can be gleaned from the list of people we have here. Before we look at that, note that there were Levites in v. 40 who returned with this group. Although it was only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin that were taken to Babylon, the Levites did not have an inheritance in the land; they took part in the inheritance of the other tribes, living with them. This is why they could return with the others. They also had priests with them, so that as soon as the temple was functional, they could worship the Lord. However, vv. 61 & 62, some of these people could not prove that they were priests, and therefore were not allowed to perform. This reminds us that some today who profess to be Christians may not truly be saved.
We can glean a good lesson from the porters in v. 42: there are responsibilities that come with being part of an assembly. For example, we are to receive all those who desire to remember the Lord. Who were the porters? In John 10, we see that a porter is a doorkeeper. We are responsible to follow the guidelines for the house of God and not allow compromise to sneak in the door.
There were other interesting groups that returned with the Jews. One such group was the Nethanims; it is thought that these people were descendants of the Gibeonites, and possibly the Moabites as well. The groups called “Solomon’s servants” might have been remnants of the Amorites who were not destroyed, but taken as servants for Solomon. It’s interesting to note that although these groups were not Jews, they received the blessing of being able to help in the rebuilding of the temple.
The fact that all these names were recorded here means that God valued each one who went back to help, though they were few; He was thankful for each one who cared. And God is still the same today: He values each one who comes to Him by faith and goes on in truth. The question to ask is, if I were there, what would I have done? Would I have gone back and been part of God’s work? Or would I have stayed in the ease of Babylon? What is my priority?
Hymn 149 – Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
Prayer