Another Party…Lost & Found
Our OT passage for today is found in Joshua 5: 1-7:15 and it reads like an episode out of "The Lost TV Series"! It is full of drama and the people are truly lost in the woods... again!
When I begin reading the passage of the day, I generally start writing down the questions that come to my mind. Today I have more questions than I have answers. I can tell you that most of my questions began with the word "Why?" and they end with "I don't get it!" Sin sucks... Just sayin'.
The Old Testament law never-ever-ever could change the hearts of stubborn people. So, there they go again, and again, and yet again! (This is a country song where every verse is worse than the first!) Before you know it, we are reading about more punishment and death. Why are the sins of the fathers passed on to their children and those around them?
Why does the loving God of the New Testament, that I know through grace, dispense such a harsh discipline?
After a mighty deliverance through the Jordan River and building stones of remembrance, we see the Israelites engaging in a seven-day Worship Encounter. They march around the gates of Jericho without a single word being uttered. They are just "tooting a horn" as instructed by their God. After seven days of faithfulness, their enemies are delivered into their hands.
They are instructed to save Rahab, the prostitute, and her family and bring them safely out. However, they are NOT to keep any of the “silver, gold, bronze, or iron that were to be kept for the treasury of the Lord". (Joshua 6:24)
However, Achan was "Achin' for a breakin’'" and so he not only took some of the dedicated things; he also lied. To make things worse, the Israelites who were now "tooting their own horns" with an overabundance of confidence went to battle without God leading them in that direction. They made their own plans and were badly defeated! Here was the result of that encounter, "The Israelites were paralyzed with fear at this turn of events, and their courage melted away." (7:5)
Reading the OT is not for the fainthearted; it is almost as bad as the nightly news! (The messes that men get themselves into and the lying that follows.)
The Israelite's enemies were ruthless, heartless, and evil. Pure evil!! If your family were peaceful people that lived in Ukraine right now and their sweet children were taken out by pure evil, what would you want to happen to your enemy? We generally want justice for the evil done to us and mercy when we have done what is wrong.
Evil begets evil, and sin begets more sin. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death, but why did whole groups of people including children get punished and wiped out by a Holy God?
Then again, why is a blood sacrifice the only atonement for sin? Why would they have to roll the people's sin away each year by the sacrificing of sins in the OT? This sure seems like it is not working at all to me! What is the answer to all of this mess?
The answer is best found in today's NT passage. It is a story that you have heard over and over, but let's allow it to really sink in this time.
There is a father whose son leaves home. He has wandered off and is truly lost. Scripture tells us that this son finally came to his senses, and finally decides that he will go home to his father. Here is what he says, "Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant." (Luke 15: 17-19)
Notice the father's response. He sees his son "while he was still a long way off". He ran to his son and embraced him and kissed him.
The prodigal's brother was jealous. He didn't want the lost to be found and the sinner to be saved. He was not rejoicing, but the father was rejoicing indeed.
That, my friends, is the best answer that I know of to answer all of my questions about the OT period of law, sin, rebellion, and death. It didn't work. It would never work!
We know that God is holy, merciful, and forgiving, but he is also JUST. This holy God can not abide with evil. That is something that we cannot begin to fathom. There must be a price, a penalty, and punishment for sin.
Jesus came to take upon himself the debt of sin because sin demands justice, punishment, and death. We deserve punishment too, but because of Jesus, everything is different. We will never, ever understand the OT, because we live under the law of love; grace, and the age of the Holy Spirit who dwells in the believer. Praise God for that!
Yes, there is a party; it is for the lost who are now found. The child who does not deserve his father's inheritance is bestowed with everything the father has and the celebration reminds us that it was the cross that changed everything... EVERYTHING!
So, when you are looking for those missing Easter eggs this weekend, remember the real story of what has been found.
The prodigal son reminds us that in the OT they were “hired servants” but in the NT through the atonement for sins we have been adopted to become sons and daughters! The father’s arms are wide open and he receives us through grace!
We are that prodigal child and our father now welcomes us home through the eyes of grace. The law has been fulfilled and we can come to him through repentance because of Jesus.
"I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see."
By Betty Predmore
Another thought on the OT reading... everyone's life was taken in Jericho except for the ones waiting in the home of Rahab the Prostitute. Here we see that, despite poor choices and sins of our past, none of us are exempt from being able to be used by God for his purposes. This theme follows through to that sinful Prodigal in the NT who was forgiven for his greed and poor choices.
The moral of this part of the story is that No matter what darkness your past holds, there is the light of forgiveness to be found in God. He can use you. You can make a difference. If a prostitute and a wretched son could change, so can we.
