God Talks when Man Listens – The Cycle

Ever wonder if God hears you? 

Think about the vicious cycle man has put God through and yet God has always been patient with man.

The Bible is the recorded evidence of man keeping this cycle going and of God being faithful.

God created the Garden of Eden and walked in it talking with man.  Genesis 1-3

Man quits talking to God and begins listening to other voices.  The results: getting kicked out of the garden.

God is in regular communication with the offspring Cain and Abel.  Cain decides God is not worthy of his best. Genesis 4

Man quits talking to God and decides to take things into his own hands.  The results: further separation from God.

There are only two recorded cases of men communicating with God BEFORE the flood.  In Genesis 4:26 when Enos the grandson of Adam is born it states that “then began men to call upon the name of the Lord”.  Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God

By the time Noah comes along; in Genesis 6:9 and is recorded as having walked with God, the world is so corrupt and evil; God has to destroy it

Noah’s sons repopulate earth, but forget to keep talking to God.

God has attempted to communicate with the entire race, but now plans to work thru one man!

He chooses a select group and sets up a chosen nation. It works Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph all talked with God.

But then, their descendents over the next 400 years forget to talk to God.  Until they “decide they need his help again”.

When they cry out, he raises men who will talk to Him again.

Out of the pages we see great men by the name of Moses and Joshua.

Then right on cue, as expected, they quit talking to God. Then come all the Judges.

When a Judge is around they call on God. Once the Judge is gone back they go to forgetting the deliverance.

Then the Reign of Kings begins.  People demand a king, since they had already proven they did not want to listen to God.

God talks to Saul, the First king; he eventually forgets who gave him the throne and the throne is removed.

God gives the throne to David; a man after God’s own heart.  What does David do with that High Praise?  One word: Bathsheba.

God puts a son of David on the throne.  Solomon: A man so “in tune” with God.  So much so, that God gives him whatever he wants. Solomon asks for “wisdom”.    He has so much wisdom that he is not smart enough to realize how much idolatry and evil his hundreds of wives bring in!

Generations of evil men rule a kingdom that ends up divided in two.

Prophets talk with God but the two nations do not.  The results:  the two nations scattered

400 years of silence……Was God silent? He had been trying to talk for thousands of years and no one would be quiet and listen!

 

So, the NEW plan….

Then the ultimate attempt to talk with man; sending His Son to be born in a stable in Bethlehem.  God talks DIRECTLY with man. In person this time, down at man’s level, walking among them.

Many believe and listen.  Many sadly do not. Christ is crucified on Calvary.  The ultimate refusal man can make to say that he will not talk with God.

Those that believe go into the entire world with the power of the Holy Spirit.  Man kills the believers and gets silent once again.

What a surprise………

From the seeds planted by the early church, coordinated religion is birthed.  In order to talk to God, one now is expected to perform ritualistically and a God will answer.

In response men who walk with God begin to speak out concerning the reality of worship to the true God. The results: Revivals throughout the world.

Man goes silent again. He has EVERYTHING he needs. What is God?

Israel becomes a NATION once again and steps onto the stage. The end of the Book has now begun!

 

WHERE ARE WE NOW TODAY?

Man has gone silent…………….

God is talking……………..

DOES ANYONE HEAR HIM?  WHEN HE HAS TO SHOUT THIS TIME…… EVERYONE WILL LISTEN TO THE END OF THE SCRIPT

The Importance of the Shepherd

The most important part of the Christmas story is the Shepherd.  What? That probably surprised you. Let us start with a little foundation first and then see if you don’t agree when finished.  There is a reason that the shepherds were the first to be told of the birth of the Christ Child.  A Shepherd’s sole mission was to safe guard the sheep. If a new lamb was born, everything revolved around that little lamb until it was on its feet. Everything stopped the night the Lamb of God was born.

The Shepherds had taken care of their flocks since the dawn of creation.  Genesis 4:4, Abel brought unto the Lord the “firstlings of his flock” for an offering.  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were nomadic.  They lived off of the animal herds they controlled.  This continued until the children of Jacob went to Egypt.  In Genesis 46, because they were shepherds they lived in the land of Goshen.

The raising and shepherding of livestock continued when they left Egypt and settled in Canaan.  Two tribes (Rueben and Gad) had so much livestock they wanted to remain on the opposite side Jordan for the grazing (Numbers 32). During the forty years in the desert they had been given laws by God.  These laws instituted the priestly line of the Levities and the atonement for sin with the sacrifice of a lamb. These practices continued up and through the establishment of kings in Israel.  David as the youngest had to protect the flocks while his brothers went to war.  His son Solomon dedicated the Temple with 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep being sacrificed. 1 Kings 8:63

Lambs would continue to be the focal point of Temple worship and sacrifice.  The logistics that were in place for daily sacrifice are beyond the scope of this document. Without the quantity and quality of lambs being raised, the daily sacrifice would have come to a stand still. With that many sacrifices the shepherd had a huge responsibility in the daily life of the Jew at the time of the birth of Jesus. 

The prophets and Jesus himself often referred to Israel as “sheep” or “flock”.

Isaiah 40:11 -  He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

Jeremiah 31:10 -  Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.

Ezekiel 34:5 -  And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.

Ezekiel 34:12 -  As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are

scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

Matthew 26:31 -  Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

Then we come to the Chief Shepherd.  In the larger herds the Chief Shepherd was in charge.  At the time of the sacrificial offerings in the temple; the Chief Shepherd was a man of extreme importance.  In the tenth chapter of John; Jesus called himself the “good shepherd”.

Paul not only calls Jesus the “Shepherd” in 1 Peter 2:25 but he goes on in 1 Peter 5:4 to state:

“And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”

Jesus is the Chief Shepherd.  Now let’s head back to the scene at the birth of Christ.  When the shepherds were worshipping the baby, they knew they had not only been the first to be told, they knew there was a new King born that was also the CHIEF SHEPHERD and the only spotless lamb on the planet!

That is why THE Shepherd is important.

Silence from Exodus to the Church

 When Exodus starts there is a “new king of Egypt” (Exodus 1:8) who did not know about Joseph.

He is worried that “children of Israel are more and mightier than” he is (Exodus 1:9). He plots many ways to fix the problem.  We then step into the story of the birth of Moses, his growing to adulthood (Exodus 2:11), now age 40 he kills an Egyptian and flees to Midian for 40 more years. This Egyptian King dies while Moses is gone and a new one comes to the throne. (Exodus 2:23)

This one would have been “raised in the same court” with Moses.  Therefore, the purpose God had Moses spend his first 40 years a “prince” of Egypt because as a nomad, Moses would have had trouble getting “audiences” before the king but not as a prince.

Then we FINALLY get to the last half of verse 23:

“…Israel…cried, and their cry came up unto God…”

THEY JUST NOW CRIED OUT TO GOD!

God Never Left……..the People Did!  Do we wonder how much sooner they could have left Egypt if they had only asked?

Scholars have all written of the “years of God’s silence” while the Jews were in bondage in Egypt.  Their mistake, it was “years of silence by the children of Abraham”.

One other side note in the story….that is often “MISSED”

When this Pharaoh decides to give chase to Moses…Exodus 14:7 says Pharaoh took 600 “chosen chariots”.  These chariots were the ELITE vehicles in the army.  They were inspected for all faults!

That adds more flavor to verses 24 and 25 when the “Lord….took off the chariot wheels…” in the middle of the sea.

Then there is the fact that World Historians have had trouble pin-pointing the story of the Exodus because they cannot prove which “Pharaoh Ramses” was the king during the Exodus. The records for those years are all “jumbled” as thought some MAJOR catastrophe happened!  DUH! Three Pharaoh’s died during the first 80 years of lifespan of Moses (remember the heir to the throne also died in the plaques). This Pharaoh (unlike what Hollywood depicts) died in the river at the HEAD of His army. He was…

“Washed from History”….. Imagine the “recovery period” for Egypt.  Economically, environmentally and militarily alone would take decades to recover.  All caused by the plaques and the total annihilation of their army in the river.

Egypt would once again provide sanctuary for the seed of Abraham when Joseph would flee there with Mary and their child.  Egypt also has the promise of a significant part in God’s plans for the children of Abraham in the Last Days.

The Pharaoh in chapter 1:8 was worried about the eventual downfall of his empire from the Jews taking sides with an eventual enemy.  If he had lived long enough he would have seen the death of the next 2 generations caused by his own throne.

Silence of Israel

For 40 years the Children of Abraham would wander until they could get their lives in servitude to God.

They would eventually get into Canaan and go through years of ups and downs always forgetting God. They did not listen when they had Moses.  They did not listen when he sent Judges one after another to “bail out” the children of Abraham.  Then through the generations of Kings and their guilty pleasures, they would not listen and time came for the Prophets.

That did not work so, God allowed them to go back to “Egyptian Bondage” that they wanted so badly.  Five more empires over the generations to come would chastise (oh, I love that word) them.

Assyrians, Babylonians, Medo-Persians, Greece and the Roman Empire all would take them captive. Every time, ONCE the children would “cry out” for HELP, their Father would rescue them!

The last time he did….God sent HIS Son!  What did they do?  They killed him…….

Now enters the Gentiles, now enter the “Church”, now enters “Christianity”……

Silence of Christianity

The Jews turned their backs too many times and the door opened to the rest of the world.  Scripture from beginning to end is still about His plan for the Children of Abraham.  However, the Church and Christianity have now been added to the script that is playing out before our eyes.

The Church and Christianity that came into existence upon the message that Jesus preached. They have had 2000 years to do what the Jews did not. Has it been done? Christians might be eagerly awaiting the return of Christ but what are they doing in the meantime?  The best effort they can generate usually comes on Sunday mornings.  As long as it occurs early enough on Sunday to be done before the sports kick-off at noon.  And the preacher does a good job on the sermon; they have succeeded in doing their requirement for the week. Out the door on Sunday, turn on the electronics and get caught up on what was missed during the hour in church!

How is that any different than what has gone on for the past 6000 years? How is this any different than the Children of Abraham in Egypt or in Canaan?   Silence from the Church and Christians.  TOO BUSY FOR GOD.

WHERE IS THE DESIRE TO SPEND EVERY BREATHING MINUTE WITH THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE?