I Chronicles 19-21
“Satan stood up against Israel.”(21:1) This is one of the few times in the Old Testament history that Satan is mentioned. Until a man has the Spirit of God on the inside of him, he can’t understand the spiritual war we are in. Neither can he fight against the enemy. So until man was ready, God didn’t want His people focusing on the devil.
What temptation did the devil bring? He tempted David to count his people, and David did just that.
Joab immediately knew that this was wrong. In the II Samuel account (24:3), Joab says “Now may the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are.”
With God, a few are like many. If they are depending on the strength of God to protect them, the number isn’t important. So for David to count the men, he is turning his faith to his men, and not to God.
Remember that all of the natural wars we see in the Old Testament are pictures of the spiritual wars we are fighting now. Satan was behind the scenes always trying to tempt and destroy God’s people. He is still doing that today.
For some the present day war is in the persecution of Christians around the world. For others of us it is in trying to tempt us to give up on our walk with God. He tries to harrass and discourage us.
Yet we are to stay strong. We are to remember that it is the Lord who is with us, His Spirit inside of us, leading, guiding, and giving us the power ot overcome him.
Our strength is not in our own natural strength, but in the strength of God Himself. “Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world.”(I John 4:4)
John 8: 1-27
“He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.”(V.7)
The woman who is caught in the very act of adultery is brought to Jesus. The Pharisees are testing Him, because the law of Moses says that she is to be stoned. (The law also says the man is to be stone; it’s interesting that they didn’t bring him also).
As Jesus seems to be breaking the law of Moses again and again, He is signaling a new Covenant on the horizon. The New Covenant is one of love and mercy. Forgiveneness is there for all who turn to Him.
For all of those years the Lord was leading the Jews, He could only deal with natural entities. He had to be very strict and even harsh to keep these people on the right track. They didn’t have the Holy Spirit resident within them yet, and they had to be treated differently just to keep them in His fold.
The New Covenant was about to emerge, and Jesus was letting us take a peek. He was showing God’s mercy toward the sinner.
Now one thing is important to note. After all of the Pharisees had wandered off, Jesus says to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more.”(V.11)
There are some erroneous teachings today which say that it’s okay to continue in sin because Jesus paid the price. No way is that what He is saying!
The grace of God is a remarkable gift He has bestowed upon us. He has forgiven us from our sins. However, the grace is the ability He puts within us not to sin. The grace is not to keep sinning, but to stop. In fact, when we continue to sin, we are denying that ability He put within – and in effect, denying Him.
He clearly says, “Sin no more.”
When we receive and appreciate the grace we’ve been given, our lives are transformed. The very ability of our God is put within us to overcome any sin which tempts us or any personal lack we my have. His empowerment and His favor are there for us to live our best life.
I want to honor this grace and partake of it in every area of my life. I know that you do, too.
This new dispensation
