Isaiah Roman

Security of the People of God

Way of Balaam: Selling prophetic gifts for gold, silver and worldly honor.

“…And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. And he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor … saying, Behold! A people has come out of Egypt. Behold! it has covered the face of the earth, and it is setting next to me. And now please come, curse this people for me, for it is stronger than I. Perhaps I will prevail, that we may strike them, that I may drive them out from the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed. And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian left with the rewards of the seer in their hand. And they came to Balaam and spoke the words of Balak to him.” (Numbers 22:4-7)

Error of Balaam: God is incorruptible. His word cannot be broken! If God had allowed Balaam to condemn Israel it would have forced God to curse those whom He had blessed, for the sole motivation of profit and gain. God did not allow this curse, though Balaam tried many times to see if God would change His mind;

“How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his”

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him… (Balaam, Numbers 23: 8-10,19-21).

“… Balaam the son of Beor hath said… which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty… How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! … He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesses thee, and cursed is he that curses thee” (Numbers 24: 3-9).

Council of Balaam: Draw Israel into worship of “Baalim” false gods of fertility, thereby forcing God to curse them.

“Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel” (Numbers 25: 1-3).

Results of Balaam’s Folly: Drawing God’s wrath down on people who at one time were righteous before God.

“And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Execute the vengeance of the sons of Israel against the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people… And they warred against Midian, as Jehovah had commanded Moses, and killed every male. And they killed the kings of Midian, besides the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. And the sons of Israel took the women of Midian captive, and their infants, and all their livestock, and all their purchased things. And they plundered all their wealth. And they burned all their cities with fire, their homes, and all their towers. And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, among man and among animal… Behold, these through the counsel of Balaam caused the sons of Israel a deliverance of treachery against Jehovah in the matter of Peor; and the plague was on the company of Jehovah… And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses; Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abides not the fire ye shall make go through the water.” ( Numbers 31:1-10,16,21-23)

Prescriptions for marriage and the sanctity of marriage in both the Old Testament and the New Testament are warnings against the effects of marriage on the soul. Story after story in the Bible describe the allure of sex and it’s effects on every other aspect of life. These laws stress strict rules regarding family relationships between men and women. It is not just extra-marital relationships that cause problems. The greater problem is bonding one’s heart to someone who holds other gods above God. Through the influence of emotion and the promise of pleasure even the devout fall prey eventually.

Skeptic commentators are quick to point out the “genocide” ordered by God against the Moabites and the Midianites. These actions were not “blood lust” but purification. What person with cancer leaves that cancer in their body? Do we place cancer in prison, isolate it for a time in the hopes that it will repent? Or, do we destroy it, remove it, eliminate it from the body to give the rest of the body a chance at life? Only the foolish invite the wolf into the pen, only the wicked feed their master’s sheep to the wolf.

Secret of Balaam: “And he took up his parable and said, The saying of Balaam the son of Beor, and the saying of the man whose eyes are opened; the saying of him who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, yet with open eyes: I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not near. A star shall come forth out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel and shall dash the corners of Moab, and break down all the sons of tumult.” (Numbers 24:15-17)

God used Balaam to proclaim the Messiah. God’s will works through both the wicked and the righteous, because God is sovereign. Even through the wickedness of Balaam God made His will known. Through God’s cleansing of the Israelites He has shown that all those who seek destruction through the lust of the flesh will receive their desire.

“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (II Peter 3: 11-14).

Modern society embraces and encourages the same precarious practices that preyed upon the Israelites (see Romans 1:21-32). The decline and destruction of moral values condemn present and future societies to the same destruction faced by all previous societies. Fornication, rampant divorce, meaningless marriage, explicit pornography and sexual perversions are abomination to God for a reason. They turn people into props for the mental play of the selfish mind.

We invent meanings for others and fail to realize that they already have meaning. We prey upon those meanings, use those imaginings, twist reason to fit our will. By centering on our own pleasure, we forget other’s pain. Through this pleasure we seek to end our own pain. Because we seek to avoid displeasure, we allow pleasures to influence our lives, our thoughts, our souls. When God asks us to give up the temporal in exchange for the eternal, the drunken binge in exchange for the continual contentment, we only see the loss of the immediate pleasure.

For this more than any other degradations God will “… come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (II Peter 3:10).

There will be no unholiness, ungodliness in the world to come; therefore, those unwilling to submit to God’s holiness in this present life will not find themselves on the earth to come. All unrighteousness will be cleansed by fire. That which is righteous will be purified even more by the same.

“Because you say, I am rich, and I am made rich, and I have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy from Me gold having been fired by fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, and your shame and nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. I, as many ‘as I love, I rebuke and I chasten.’[Prov. 3:12] Be zealous, then, and repent.” (Revelation of John 3:17-19)