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Hosea
13:4-8, God’s judgment on Israel
Acts 27:27-44, Shipwreck
Luke 9:18-27 On discipleship
The Lord is God; there is no other savior. Israel
had a close relationship with the Lord during the wilderness wandering,
when they were dependent on the Lord’s providence for day-to-day
survival, but when they came into the Promised Land and began to be
prosperous they began to rely on themselves and their material
resources instead of the Lord. Because they turned from the Lord, the
Lord became their predator and adversary. The Lord will tear and devour
them as would a wild beast.
Paul was being transported by ship to Rome for trial before Caesar. The
vessel had encountered a great storm. On the fourteenth night they were
drifting near land. The sailors determined that the depth of the water
was decreasing, so they let out four anchors from the stern, hoping to
avoid running aground in the dark. The sailors were intending to escape
in a small boat on the pretext of laying anchors, but Paul told the
centurion that without the sailors, the passengers would have no chance
of surviving. The centurion ordered his soldiers to cut the small boat
free, preventing the crew from escaping.
At dawn Paul urged all aboard
to eat some food, since they hadn’t had anything in fourteen days. Paul
repeated the Lord’s promise that none was to perish (Acts 27:24, 34).
Paul took bread, gave thanks to God, and then began to eat. The others
were encouraged and also began to eat. When they had eaten, they threw
the remaining food into the sea to lighten the ship.
When there was
sufficient daylight, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a
sand beach on which they hoped they could land the ship. They cast off
the anchors, unbound the rudder, hoisted a sail and headed for the
beach, but the ship ran aground on a reef and broke apart in the surf.
The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to keep them from escaping,
but the centurion wanted to save Paul, and he ordered the soldiers not
to harm the prisoners. The centurion ordered those who could swim
to jump overboard and swim for the beach. The rest came ashore using
pieces of wood from the ship for flotation, and all survived.
When Jesus and his disciples were alone, he asked them who people were
saying that Jesus was. They said that some thought Jesus was John the
Baptist; some thought he was Elijah, and others thought he was one of
the prophets of old who had risen (from the dead). Jesus then asked his
disciples who they thought Jesus to be, and Peter said that Jesus was
the Christ (Messiah) of God. Jesus told them to tell no one (because he
wanted each individual to decide for himself who Jesus is).
Referring
to himself as the “Son of man,” Jesus told them that he must suffer and
be rejected by the Jewish leaders and be killed, and be raised from
death on the third day. Then he said that if anyone wanted to follow
Jesus, he must take up his own cross daily and follow Jesus’ example.
Whoever wants to preserve his life in this world will loose it
eternally, but whoever is willing to loose his life in this world for
Jesus’ sake will save his life eternally.
What good does it do a person
if he were to gain everything in this world if he perishes eternally?
Anyone who is ashamed of Jesus and his words now will experience Jesus’
scorn when Jesus returns in glory and the power and authority of God.
Jesus declared that some would not experience physical death before
they witness the kingdom
of God.
The Lord is God, whether we believe and obey him or not; there is no
savior apart from him. The Lord had a plan of salvation from the
beginning of creation (John 1:1-18; see also God’s Plan of Salvation,
sidebar, top right). The history of God’s dealings with Israel
is also a parable; a metaphor; an illustration of that plan of
salvation. Jesus is the fulfillment of that plan of salvation.
Jesus is the “Moses” who leads us out of bondage to sin and death in
the “Egypt”
of this world, through the "sea" of baptism into Jesus Christ, and
leads us through the "wilderness" of life, where we
learn to walk in obedience to his word, through the "river" of physical
death, and into the “Promised Land” of
his eternal kingdom in Heaven. The wilderness experience is intended to
teach us to rely on God’s providence rather than our own resources.
Because Israel
forgot the lessons taught in the wilderness, when they came into the
earthly Promised Land they turned from trust and obedience of God to
reliance on their own will and their own resources. God warned them
through the prophets over and over to return to the dependence on him
that they had known in the wilderness, but they refused and ignored his
warnings. The Lord declared that because of their disobedience they
would be destroyed. That prophecy was fulfilled; the Northern Kingdom
of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians; the ten northern tribes
essentially ceased to exist.
Because God’s word is eternal, it also applies to us today. It applies
to all people, but particularly to the Church, which is the “New People
of God;” the "New Congregation of Israel,”
and to America,
which in a sense is the “New Promised Land” on earth. America
was founded by Christians seeking religious freedom. When this country
was still a wilderness, they were aware of their dependence upon the
providence of God; but as we have prospered in the new land we have
turned from the Lord, and have come to rely on our material wealth and
our own abilities.
Paul is an example of a disciple of Jesus Christ, who has learned to
walk through the “wilderness” in trust and obedience, carrying his
cross daily, and relying on God’s providence. A prisoner, on his way to
trial for the Gospel of Jesus, in the midst of a terrible storm, after
fourteen days without food, facing imminent shipwreck on some unknown
land, Paul is trusting in the promise of God that Paul will testify to
the Gospel in Rome,
and that all on the vessel will survive the shipwreck.
In the midst of
the storm, Paul is calm, and he gives thanks to God and proceeds to
eat. God’s promises were fulfilled; in spite of the intentions of the
soldiers to kill the prisoners, the Lord moved the centurion to use his
power to preserve Paul. The sailors’ hope of escaping disaster in their
small boat was a false hope; if they had done so they would have
removed themselves from God’s protection. If those on board had
attempted to hang on to their food resources after they had eaten,
instead of trusting God’s providence, the provisions would have been
lost anyway in the resulting shipwreck, and the added weight would have
caused them to run aground further from shore, perhaps costing them
their opportunity for survival.
All survived the shipwreck, just
as the Lord had promised. Paul did eventually reach Rome. [Paul had earlier written the
Church in Rome,
“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel: it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who has faith…” (Romans 1:16a).]
Each of us must decide for himself who we believe that Jesus is. If we
believe that Jesus is the Christ; the savior promised by God, then we
must follow him. We must trust and obey him, and follow his example. We
must be his disciples. We must be willing to leave the comfort and
security of “Egypt”
and be willing to go through the “wilderness” in order to reach the
“Promised Land.”
Any attempt on our part to secure our salvation
through any other means than through faith (trust and obedience) in
Jesus is false security. Jesus is God’s only plan for our salvation
(Acts 4:12; John 14:6). If we try to hold on to any worldly resources
in an attempt to provide our own security and salvation they will weigh
us down to our own destruction. Jesus promised that he would be killed
and would rise from the dead on the third day, and that promise was
fulfilled. The Disciples testified to that truth, and Paul testified to
his personal encounter with the risen and ascended Jesus on the road to
Damascus
(Acts 9).
Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting
and obeying Jesus? Have you received the Holy Spirit since you first
believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and
teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do
you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13;
Ephesians 1:13-14)?
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