Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. No prophecy, whether past,
present, or future, in the scriptures can be rightly understood apart
from the revelation of Christ Jesus as the Redeemer King, who
has shed his own blood for the remission of his people's sin
and triumphed over death. Worship God, for the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. When Christ is revealed to the
awakened mind of the sons of God, the light shines in the
darkness and crooked things are made straight. Blind eyes are
opened and deliverance is wrought. The people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light, and they that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Paul spoke
of the principle of perfection, displacing that which is partial
when he wrote to the Corinthians of the superiority of substance
over shadow. But when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When
I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought
as a child. But when I became a man, I put
away childish things." The unfolding of the gospel reveals the purpose
of God in giving to his children the many teachings which he provided
to the Old Testament saints. Balaam is a mysterious figure
in the Old Testament. He is the only person that we
know of who has ever had a meaningful conversation with a donkey. Though
he was a false prophet of the highest order, yet he spoke much
truth concerning the Lord's blessing upon his elect children, even
expressing a desire to be like them in death. It is difficult,
if not impossible, to ascertain what his error was by simply
reading the narrative concerning him in the book of Numbers. It
is plainly revealed, however, in Revelation 2.14. But I have
a few things against thee, because thou hast here them that hold
the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block
before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto
idols, and to commit fornication. Balaam is an example of a man
who is eager to find a way, as he supposed, to overturn the
will of God. In this quest he is not unlike
those who exalt the free will of men, making men the sovereign
rather than him who sits upon the throne of the heavens. Balaam
was so determined to collect a reward from the king of Moab
for cursing the children of Israel that he would not stop his efforts
to do so, in spite of the Lord's constant reminder to him of the
folly of his quest. He ultimately failed to cause
God to curse them by his divinations and even wound up blessing them
instead with his prophetic utterances. Since he could not place a curse
upon the children of Israel, he ultimately convinced Balak
to send Moabite women to seduce them and bring upon them the
result of their own sin. In order to teach the children
of Israel of their own innate corruption and the terror of
the law, the Lord ordered this chain of events. Moralists of
all sorts will gasp at the thought of such, but we are certain that
nothing can occur in the earth which is not according to the
good pleasure of the Lord. We are also equally certain that
all events occur to ultimately result in the blessing of the
Lord's people. The whole 40-year journey of
the nation of Israel in the wilderness was ordained by God for the benefit
of His people, even though it did not appear so at the time,
even as the prophets of old had no clear understanding of those
things which they were led to write, of which salvations the
prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of
the grace that should come unto you. unto whom it was revealed
that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the
things which are now reported to you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
All of the activity of Balaam and the results thereof, including
the folly of Israel in worshiping Baal at Peor, occurred for our
learning. In these things we are taught
the natural propensity of every one of us to depart from the
way of the Lord, if he does not restrain us. Just as surely as
false prophets and physicians of no value arise in order to
turn the eyes of the sons of God away from Christ and Him
crucified, the Lord will lift up a standard against them. As
the plague raged in Israel, the Lord raised up Phinehas, who
wielded a javelin to destroy the sin of the Israelites in
piercing it at its source. Thus the plague was stayed. There
is one of whom Phinehas is but a foreshadow who has pierced
his own body on the tree of Calvary in order to stop the plague of
sin and deliver the house of Israel. We speak of him who is
the subject of all of the scriptures from the beginning to the end.
He is the savior of sinners whom God has sent forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. Do you believe in him? For a
free CD containing 15 of these radio broadcasts, send an email
to forthepoor at windstream.net