Again we see that every promise that was made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is being fulfilled. From Abraham to Joseph being sold into Egypt, Joseph coming into power in Egypt eventually bringing the Nation of Israel to Egypt that numbered 70. Following 400+ years of slavery in Egypt, deliverance through Moses the wilderness experience and now...finally the promise land! It is strange to think about it, but that is close to being 2 times the history of our United States. God is really quite patient. Absolute confidence that God will keep HIS promises is an incredible faith builder, for us to know that "all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us 2 Cor. 1:20.
Joshua 21:43-45--The Lord’s Promises Fulfilled
So the Lord gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44 The Lord gave them rest on every side according to all He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies were able to stand against them, for the Lord handed over all their enemies to them. 45 None of the good promises the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed. Everything was fulfilled.
Joshua gives another warning to the Israelites in Joshua 22:5, "Only carefully obey the command and instruction that Moses the Lord’s servant gave you: to love the Lord your God, walk in all His ways, keep His commands, remain faithful to Him, and serve Him with all your heart and all your soul.” The "if then" clauses fill God's Word. HIS blessing and protection are available to those who walk in obedience to the LORD. THERE IS FORGIVENESS FOR SIN AND THAT IS AWESOME, AWESOME FOR THE LIFE TO COME...BUT THERE ARE STILL CONSEQUENCES IN THIS LIFE FOR OUR SINS.
Consider the response of the Israelite community when they think that their brothers are committing idolatry.
Joshua 22:16-20 “This is what the Lord’s entire community says: ‘What is this treachery you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the Lord and building an altar for yourselves, so that you are in rebellion against the Lord today? 17 Wasn’t the sin of Peor, which brought a plague on the Lord’s community, enough for us, so that we have not cleansed ourselves from it even to this day, 18 and now, you would turn away from the Lord? If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow He will be angry with the entire community of Israel. 19 But if the land you possess is defiled, cross over to the land the Lord possesses where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take possession ⌊of it⌋ among us. But don’t rebel against the Lord or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. 20 Wasn’t Achan son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath on the entire community of Israel? He was not the only one who perished because of his sin. ’ ”
Our sin infects our walk with the LORD, we must seek forgiveness, but it also has consequences in the lives our our children, spouse, and communities. The community points out their past experiences with the tragedy of sin in the camp...it is clear that they understand the fear of the LORD.
None of us have to look very far in our own lives or in the lives of those we love to see the horrific consequences of sin. Jesus told us that "the thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." Don't you find it strange that in the movies it's the bad, really bad guy that people find fascinating. Our flesh is intrigued with evil...IT WORKS ONLY BECAUSE WE BELIEVE THE LIE! "YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE...FOR GOD KNOWS THAT WHEN YOU TASTE YOU WILL BE LIKE HIM" THE TEMPTATION HOOKS YOUR FLESH AND PULLS YOU IN!
I could go on and on their, the reality is look at the news and the news paper...what is real...all of those lies will leave you in the garbage heap of deceived humanity. Those created in the image of the God of the universe, created to have dominion and reflect HIS image forth in creation...find themselves fallen, diseased, dead...DECEIVED INTO BUYING THE LIE!
I have to include this on our reading in Luke this is a huge passage, I know, they are all huge, but I believe we miss this too often today. Read the text, the commentary and check out Michael Card's lyrics to Scandalon at the end:)
Luke 20:17-19 But He looked at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected— this has become the cornerstone? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and if it falls on anyone, it will grind him to powder!” 19 Then the scribes and the chief priests looked for a way to get their hands on Him that very hour, because they knew He had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.
20:17 Then what is the meaning of that which is written? The perfect participle “written” ( gegrammenon ) is frequent in Luke-Acts. ?29? For the sense of the tense see comments on 2:23.
The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone? The capstone refers to the head cornerstone that bore the weight and stress of the two walls built upon it. Its function and importance was like that of a capstone in a cathedral without which the vaulted ceiling would collapse. Without the cornerstone the two walls built upon it would collapse. Jesus, rejected by official Israel, is the key, foundational element in God’s building, the church. This verse found in all three parallel accounts (and also immediately following the parable in GT 65–66) comes from Ps 118:22 and was an important OT text in the early church. ?30? For “rejected” cf. 9:22.
20:18 Everyone who falls … broken to pieces. The quotation from Isa 8:14–15 demonstrates that those who are offended by the gospel and reject the stone will experience a disastrous judgment. Simeon in Luke 2:34 had already alluded to this. Jesus is the divine divider who separates the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats, the blessed from the damned.
But he on whom it falls will be crushed. The same thought of 20:18a is repeated, but the image now involves not the Jewish leaders’ falling on the stone but their being crushed by having the stone fall upon them. Compare Isa 8:14; Dan 2:34–35, 44–45 for the source of this imagery. Compare Midr. Esth 7.10 on 3:6, which quotes Isa 30:14 and follows with the proverb: “If a stone falls on a pot, woe to the pot! If a pot falls on a stone, woe to the pot! In either case, woe to the pot!”
20:19 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way. Luke revealed the audience to whom the parable was addressed was the same as that in the preceding pericope (Luke 20:1; cf. 19:47–48).
Immediately. “Immediately” is literally in that hour . The time for the judgment of the wicked tenants had not yet arrived, but it would arrive shortly (cf. 22:53).
Because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. The meaning of the parable is self-evident.
29 Luke 18:31; 21:22; 22:37; 24:44; Acts 13:29; 24:14.
30 It is also found in Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:7b. It is also connected with Isa 8:14 in 1 Pet 2:7–8.
Stein, R. H. (2001, c1992). Vol. 24: Luke (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (493). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
The seers and the prophets had foretold it long ago
That the long awaited one would make men stumble
But they were looking for a king to conquer and to kill
Who'd have ever thought He'd be so meek and humble
Chorus
He will be the truth that will offend them one and all
A stone that makes men stumble
And a rock that makes them fall
[ Find more Lyrics at www.mp3lyrics.org/8coa ]
Many will be broken so that He can make them whole
And many will be crushed and lose their own soul
Along the path of life there lies a stubborn Scandalon
And all who come this way must be offended
To some He is a barrier, To others He's the way
For all should know the scandal of believing
Chorus
It seems today the Scandalon offends no one at all
The image we present can be stepped over
Could it be that we are like the others long ago
Will we ever learn that all who come must stumble
Repeat Chorus
The gospel is scandalous, it is scandalous to human pride...no one wants to admit how bad he or she really is! WE ARE ALL SINNERS, DESERVING OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, HELL, WHERE THE WORM DOES NOT DIE AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED...UNLESS YOU REPENT YOU WILL ALL LIKE WISE PERRISH!
I'M SORRY BUT IT IS TRUE! WE MUST BE BROKEN ON THE ROCK TO BE MADE WHOLE OTHERWISE THE ROCK WILL DESTROY YOU.
Father in heaven,
Enable us to humble ourselves, to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness...break me for YOUR glory and my joy in YOU.
love,
m