JACQUES GAUVIN, RELIGION

THE KING

The world has been on a war path. The history books are full of wars. Our past and present are bombarded with wars and rumors of wars. The immediate future looks bleak. This is the way of man, the way of the world, not the way of God.

Do you know your Saviour? The following is an insight into His character and what He expects from His disciples.

The next passage explains how God intended to have the Israelites possess the promised land. Notice that it involves no killing. There are no armies or warriors required.

25And ye shall serve Jehovah your God, and he will bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. 26There shall none cast her young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. 27I will send my terror before thee, and will discomfit all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. 28And I will send the hornet before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. 29I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. 30By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. 31And I will set thy border from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness unto the River: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand: and thou shalt drive them out before thee. 32Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me; for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee. Exodus 24:25 to 33

Notice that the people wanted a king to rule over them, it was not God^s idea.

14When thou art come unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me; 15thou shalt surely set him king over thee, whom Jehovah thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother. Deuteronomy 17:14 and 15

Notice that the people with their king will turn to pagan worship.

36Jehovah will bring thee, and thy king whom thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation that thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. Deuteronomy 28:36

God^s explanation and understanding of the people choosing to have a king is that they rejected Him, they rejected God. This king, the people were warned would burden them heavily.

4Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah; 5and they said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 6But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto Jehovah. 7And Jehovah said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them. 8According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. 9Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit thou shalt protest solemnly unto them, and shalt show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. 10And Samuel told all the words of Jehovah unto the people that asked of him a king. 11And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them unto him, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they shall run before his chariots; 12and he will appoint them unto him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he will set some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots. 13And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. 15And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. 16And he will take your men~servants, and your maid~servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. 17He will take the tenth of your flocks: and ye shall be his servants. 18And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king whom ye shall have chosen you; and Jehovah will not answer you in that day. 19But the people refused to hearken unto the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay: but we will have a king over us, 20that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. 21And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of Jehovah. 22And Jehovah said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city. 1 Samuel 8:4 to 22

Is your God a God of peace or a God of war? Repent and choose life. Our Saviour is Prince of Peace and He will rule someday.

6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this. Isaiah 9:6 and 7

The heart of the people of those days is pointed out in the New Testament. The warning from God is as relevant today as always. Harden not your hearts.

7Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith, Today if ye shall hear his voice, 8Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, 9Where your fathers tried me by proving me, And saw my works forty years. 10Wherefore I was displeased with this generation, And said, They do always err in their heart: But they did not know my ways; 11As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. 12Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God: 13but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called Today; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: 14for we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end: 15while it is said, Today if ye shall hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16For who, when they heard, did provoke? nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses? 17And with whom was he displeased forty years? was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient? 19And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief. Hebrews 3:7 to 19

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yea and for ever. Hebrews 13:8

In case you don^t know it, Jesus is the God of the Old Testament.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made. 4In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not. 6There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. 7The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light. 9There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not. 11He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not. 12But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth. 15John beareth witness of him, and crieth, saying, This was he of whom I said, He that cometh after me is become before me: for he was before me. 16For of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. John 1:1 to 18

And he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and his name is called The Word of God. Revelation 19:13

Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each man according as his work is. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Revelation 22:12 and 13

He who testifieth these things saith, Yea: I come quickly. Amen: come, Lord Jesus. 21The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. Amen. Revelation 22:20 and 21

Jesus will be King. He will have His way.

And he hath on his garment and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. Revelation 19:16

And he will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning~hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Isaiah 2:4

Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me: 6But whoso shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble, it is profitable for him that a great millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:3 to 6

1901 American Standard Version, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1994. (Throughout)

2007 Jacques Gauvin

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