Life Walk Bible Lesson 79 — God’s Way
Romans 10:12-13
12 “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” [Joel 2:28-32; Acts 10:34-38]
1Enoch 1:8-9
8 “But with the righteous He will make peace. And will protect the elect, and mercy shall be upon them. And they shall all belong to God, and they shall all be prospered, and they shall all be blessed. And He will help them all, and light shall appear unto them, and He will make peace with them. And behold! He cometh with ten thousand of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly: and to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have committed, and all of the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” [Jude 1:14-15]
God Brings His Chosen Ones into His Kingdom of Light
God’s original and ongoing intent is for us to live in a state of light, that being righteousness, wherein there is no darkness to prevent us from seeing His goodness, and knowing how to walk in His ways.
Genesis 1:2-3
2 “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
Revelation 22:5
“There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”
As we have learned from the first Chapter of Genesis, God separated light from darkness, calling the light Day, and the darkness, Night. We have also learned, from Scripture, that God uses darkness and light as metaphors to describe sin and righteousness, admonishing us to live in the Day.
Scripture Reading: 1Thessalonians 5:4-11
The ancient nation of Egypt, during the time of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was a place of refuge in times of famine, as the fertile area around the Nile river afforded people ample provision for their families and livestock.
However, there came a time when the Pharaohs were no longer kind to the foreigners among them, erroneously believing that the people of Jacob’s household and their descendants would turn on them, and fight against them in times of war. The Egyptian nation began to enslave the descendants of the patriarchs, and consequently massacred many, in their attempt to retain domination over them.
To God, because of this great evil done to the people He had made a covenant with, Egypt became a symbol of, and metaphor for, sin. And God came down to see for Himself what the people were going through. He chose Moses and Aaron, and sent them to the Pharaoh to rescue His people out of not only a nation and their enslavement, but also the darkness of sin, and the worship of idols and false gods.
God ensured, from the moment Jacob’s family arrived, however, that there would be a distinction between the ways of light and dark.
Let’s see how He protected Israel even before they needed protecting:
Genesis 46:30-34
31 “Then Joseph said to his brothers and to its father’s household, ‘I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me.
32 The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’
33 When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’
34 you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”
Herein lies a nugget of wisdom, worth paying attention to, which reveals a mindset of human beings who do not like shepherds and their sheep.
There is a difference in leadership style wherein one enslaves people, and the other guides people into all things good, which separates the ways of sin and righteousness, as darkness is separated from light. For we have learned that God Himself is our Chief Shepherd, and He calls us His sheep, the sheep of His pasture. [1Peter 5:4; Psalm 23:1; Psalm 100:3]
God Chooses a Shepherd
Moses — a Shepherd
Exodus 3:1-4
1 “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the Priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within the bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.
3 So Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight — why the bush does not burn up.’
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’”
Exodus 10:21-23
21 “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt — darkness that can be felt.’
22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all of Egypt for three days.
23 No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.”
David — a King
Psalm 78:72
“And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.”
Ezekiel 34:23
“I will place over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd.”
Amos — a Prophet
Amos 1:1-2
1 “The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa — the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
2 He said: ‘The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers.”
Isaiah 9:2
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”
God comes Himself — our Shepherd
Isaiah 40:11
“He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young."
Isaiah 42:16
“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.”
Psalm 112:4
“Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.”
John 1:5
“The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
God Takes on our Darkness and Overcomes It at the Cross
Mark 15:33
“At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.”
Isaiah 60:1
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.”
2 Corinthians 4:6
“For God, Who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”
John 16:8-15
8 “When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:
9 about sin, because people do not believe in Me;
10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see Me no longer;
11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
13 But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.
14 He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you.
15 All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you.”
A Heavenly Perspective
2Enoch 8-10
Chapter 8
1 “And those men took me thence, and led me up to the third heaven, and placed me there; and I looked downwards, and saw the produce of these places, such as has never been known for goodness.
2 And I saw all the sweet-flowering trees and beheld their fruits, which were sweet-smelling, and all the foods borne by them bubbling with fragrant exhalation.
3 And in the midst of the trees, that of life, in that place whereon the Lord rests, when He goes up into paradise; and this tree is of ineffable goodness and fragrance, and adorned more than every existing thing; and on all sides it is in form gold-looking and vermillion and fire-like and covers all, and it has produce from all fruits.
4 Its root is in the garden at the earth’s end.
5 And paradise is between corruptibility and incorruptibility.
6 And two springs come out which send forth honey and milk, and their springs send forth oil and wine, and they separate into four parts, and go round with quiet course, and go down into the Paradise of Eden, between corruptibility and incorruptibility.
7 And thence they go forth along the earth, and have a revolution to their circle even as other elements.
8 And here there is no unfruitful tree, and every place is blessed.
9 And there are three hundred angels very bright, who keep the garden, and with incessant sweet singing and never-silent voices serve the Lord throughout all days and hours.
10 And I said: How very sweet is this place, and those men said to me:
[Revelation 22:1-1-2; Ezekiel 47:12]
Chapter 9
1 This place, O Enoch, is prepared for the righteous, who endure all manner of offence from those that exasperate their souls, who avert their eyes from iniquity, and make righteous judgment, and give bread to the hungering, and cover the naked with clothing, and raise up the fallen, and help the injured orphans, and who walk without fault before the face of the Lord, and serve him alone, and for them is prepared this place for inheritance. [Genesis 2:4-17]
Chapter 10
1 And those two men led me up in to the Northern side, and showed me there a very terrible place, and there were all manner of tortures in that place: cruel darkness and unillumined gloom, and there is no light there, but murky fire constantly flaming aloft, and there is a fiery river coming forth, and that whole place is everywhere fire, and everywhere there is frost and ice, thirst and shivering, while the bonds are very cruel, and the angels (spirits) fearful and merciless, bearing angry weapons, merciless torture, and I said:
2 Woe, woe, how terrible is this place.
3 And those men said to me: This place, O Enoch, is prepared for those who dishonor God, who on earth practice sin against nature, which is child-corruption after the sodomitic fashion, magic-making, enchantments and devilish witchcrafts, and who boast of their wicked deeds, stealing, lies, calumnies, envy, rancour, fornication, murder, and who, accursed, steal the souls of men, who, seeing the poor take away their goods and themselves wax rich, injuring them for other men’s goods; who being able to satisfy the empty, made the hungering to die; being able to clothe, stripped the naked; and who knew not their Creator, and bowed to the soulless and lifeless gods, who cannot hear, vain gods, who also built hewn images and bow down to unclean handiwork, for all these is prepared this place among these, for eternal inheritance.”
[Luke 16:19-31, The Rich man and Lazarus; The Apocalypse of Peter describes much the same as does Enoch, of both Paradise and Hell]
Ancient Book of Jasher 18-19 sins of Sodom and Gomorrah; 26:13-17 birth of Esau and Jacob, and their character; 28:19-21, Esau’s unchanged character — “one who hunted after the hearts of men and inveigled them [Hebrew: he stole their minds ].”
Definition of inveigled: to persuade to do something by means of deception or flattery; to tempt, entice, lure, seduce, or beguile the unsuspecting and innocent; a con-artist. As it says by Hebrew definition: he stole their minds, which God said He hates [Malachi 1:2-3, quoted in Romans 9:13]
According to the story in Jasher, Esau was famished because he had been hunting. But he was hunting Nimrod with intent to kill him. He did indeed kill Nimrod, and some of his men, and then met Jacob in that state of being exhausted and hungry, and despised his own birthright because he has just stolen what he was after — the garment God had made for Adam which Nimrod wore.
It was Jacob’s right to begin with, and God promised it to Jacob from birth, even though Esau wrested with Jacob in utero and was born first. God kept His promise to both Rebekah and Jacob.
What God Hates
God hates all sin. Those who inadvertently make a mistake once in a while, or even daily, and repent and ask for forgiveness for it, are far different from those who practice sin, get really good at it, and boast about their sin.
The greatest sin, which is unforgivable, is blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. There is another sin, almost as great in the eyes of God, but forgivable upon repentance, and that is the sin of unbelief.
There are sins which keep humans out of the Kingdom of God, and we have dealt with all of these in previous Lessons and will not revisit them here again. Suffice it to say that sin keeps us in the dark, and it is the better choice to walk with God in the Light, for then we will always have good success, and godly outcomes.
Proverbs 8:13
“To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”
Proverbs 13:5
“The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked make themselves a stench and bring shame on themselves.
Proverbs 12:1
“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.”
Proverbs 14:17
A quick tempered person does foolish things, and the one who devises evil schemes is hated.”
