Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Good morning, dear ones.
I’ll lay aside the jog this morning. It’s raining, Becki is busy with the little ones, and I have an appointment with an engineering firm at 10am in Portland.
Our trip to the mountain yesterday was a success. I carried both boys separately on a couple runs. They sure had fun. I did too. A highlight on the way home was consumption of chocolate ice cream cones from the Rhododendron Dairy Queen.
My sawmill work in the afternoon, however, was not so successful. Sequoia logs I intended to use to fill an order have proven to be overcome with rot. I’ve kept them too long. Hmmm—could we make a lesson here?—Good intentions, left inactivated too long will turn to rot.
Have a great day. Love, Dad/Ray.
Let’s consider a comparison between Rahab and Achan. Rahab was a member of a pagan nation that reached such a point of depravity so as to warrant God’s total destruction. However, she, as an individual, came to embrace the clearly superior true God. This has to be the main basis for her salvation—not just because she protected the spies. To them she made a profound statement of faith—“…for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below” (2:11). Her decisive conversion brought blessings beyond what anyone could have anticipated—even to participate in the ancestry of the Messiah (Matthew 1:5-6). Notice that her personal conversion also brought saving influence and blessing for her entire family.
Achan, on the other hand, was a member of a blessed nation that was to be characterized by holiness unto the LORD. He made a personal conversion from pleasing God to pleasing self (SIN) and brought judgment upon his nation along with untold destruction to himself and his entire family.
We can’t avoid arriving again at the same bottom-line conclusion—seeking God with heart-level repentance (a HEART AFTER GOD) results in divine protection and blessing, while rejecting God with heart-level disregard results in divine destruction and cursing. Times and circumstances change, but this is the bedrock that never changes. A wise man will build here (Matthew 7:24-27).
Please don’t choke on these divine orders for the complete destruction of the people of Jericho and Ai, as though it were incompatible with our New Testament orientation. Let’s be reminded that this is really not out of step with a sound Biblical overview. Remember the flood? Remember Sodom and Gomorrah? Remember Jesus’ words announcing future judgment and destruction? Remember the last book of the Bible? Remember the themes of heaven and hell?—eternal life and eternal death? To be sure, heaven is a picture of incredible blessing. And hell is a picture of…well, how else can we say it?—incredible HELL! I don’t know how to avoid accepting these as bedrock facts that cannot be altered by human opinion or democratic process.