Dear Reader,
Many greetings in the Name of Jesus. I give glory to God that once again we can share some truths from the Bible. The Bible is a unique book. It has so many treasures that can richly benefit us. Today I would like to meditate on the life of a particular family in this wonderful book. The family we are visiting is of a man called 'Recab'. The Recabites have special lessons which are useful in our Christian walk.
The story runs from the book of Jeremiah 35:1-19. In short, Jehonadab, son of Recab, a man of God,( see 2King 10:15-28) had instructed his descendants never to taste wine nor build a permanent house, but they should rather live in tents as sojourners in the land. In that way, he said, they would increase their days on the face of the land. One day, well after 200 years or so, the Lord spoke to the Prophet Jeremiah telling him to go to the house of the Recabites and bring them to the temple's inner rooms and urge them to drink wine. Jeremiah did so and brought jugs full of wine and cups urging them to drink. The Bible tells that to his astonishment the sons of Recab recounted to Jeremiah all what their ancestor had urged them in the past and how they have faithfully obeyed their father's words in their generation until that time. So they refused utterly to drink the wine set before them by Jeremiah. Now the Lord told Jeremiah to speak to the sons of Israel how they have disappointed the Lord for not obeying his commands and for not sticking to their covenant while the Recabites have been able to faithfully keep their vows which were made to their ancestor intact.
We have a lot to learn from this story.
1. The FIRST Lesson regards FAITHFULNESS . This is both: to our promises we make to one another and the Covenant we have with God. Faithfulness in keeping promises is an important thing in a Christian's life. God wants us to be faithful to ourselves, to him, and to his word or instructions. That is a sure way to successful Christian living. A faithful person never misses or loses a friend. In fact, he adds more friends to his side because many people consider him to be a trust worth person. God found the Recabites to be trust worth persons in whom he could invest. In Jer.35:19 the Lord told Jeremiah that Jehonadab, their ancestor would always have a person to serve before the Lord because of this. What a favour from the Lord!
The Recabites were faithful to the voice of their father, a mere fallible man. Their ancestor, Jonadab, had restricted them from indulging in wine-drinking business, and they were not hypocrites to this! Even when Jeremiah brought them in the inner chambers where no other people could see them drinking, they said in one voice: 'NO'. How many times many of us have failed to say 'NO' to sin and temptations when we are in secluded parts where no one is seeing what we are doing? To the Recabites, they knew that their vow and the voice of their father was still alive even if he was long dead! So they strictly adhered to the word of their father!!!
God is pleased by people who are faithful even when they are put in a corner of the boxing ring. In the book of Revelation 2:10, speaking to the Church in Smyrna, the Lord admonished them to be faithful unto death! This was a faithful church which, though considered poor in the eyes of the world, their faithfulness to God was a great treasure which the Lord was proud of. Perhaps, coming to the Recabites story, many of their peers were astonished why they do not drink wine and they might have considered them the poorest and miserable people who do not know how to socialize. But in the eyes of God, these people had a great treasure in their lives. Their faithfulness was more than riches and wine!
In our lives as saved people, faithfulness is a vital virtue to propagate in all times. God is never pleased by a double-minded person. God himself is not double-minded (see Malachi 3:6). A person who would drink wine in his closets while pretending to be a non-wine-drinker when he is in the company of others is a double minded, or a double standard person. You either be hot or cold but not lukewarm. Luke-warmness is never entertained in God's presence. To the Church in Laodicea, in Revelation 3:15-16, the Lord told it he wished that they were either hot or cold but not lukewarm.
We must understand that our covenant which was sealed with the blood of Jesus is a serious covenant- and we must be serious about it! It is a covenant of Peace and FAITHFULNESS just as the Lord said in Malachi 2:5-7.
2. The second lesson from the Recabites is about OBEDIENCE. These people demonstrated obedience to the voice of the father even if some did not know him in person but were only told about him. There are people who doubt the word of God because they want to see and prove his presence physically. This 'Thomasism' life is displesing. The doubting Thomas was told blessed are they who believes even without seeing (see John 20:24-29). For we move not by sight but by faith. The Recabites were obedient. The Bible in Mathew 5:20 says that our righteousness as the followers of Christ must go well beyond that of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. In other words, our obedience must go beyond the worldly standards. The big problem we have in Christian churches today is people who confess the Lord with their mouths but in their hearts they are at variance with him!! The Recabites were men of one standard throughout. Their standard was unwavered no matter what. They were not a kind of people who could be easily moved by what others are running after.
In John 6:26-27 Jesus was able to see people who never keep standards and are easily moved by whatever, even things that are temporal! In this life and world of technology and modernity, there is a possibility to run after things of 'the things of this world' which many are now running after to the extent of disobeying God and his everlasting word (bread). The Recabites could be enticed by the wine which was, by the way being freely offered by Jeremiah, (and in the inner chambers anyway!) But, alas! they did not water down their standards! Why? They had a word of their father in their heart. In the similar manner, though the world may try to impose its standards in our lives, as true followers of Christ, born in the family of God by an incorruptible seed, and purchased by the blood of the Lamb, we have the voice of our father, the Holy Spirit's voice and the word of God in our hearts!(1Corinthians 6:19. This word is our light and our standard. We have to measure everything in the light of it. (See Psalm 119:11, 105). The Recabites put the word of the father in their heart and walked in it. They rejected being unequally yoked with the unbecoming practices of the day which their father had renounced.
3. The third lesson from the Recabites is KNOWING WHERE TO REST OUR HEARTS. As we so in the preceding point, many have been and are being taken captive by the things of this world and its pleasures- the drinking, eating, sexual immorality etc. Many have rest their lives in such a temporal and materialistic life. But the sons of Recab were admonished to shun away from all these. They were reminded that they should live as people who are mere sojourning this world. They even did not build a house but lived in tents. Well, I am not saying we should live in tents. But we must understand where we should rest our lives for there shall we seek to invest most. The Bible in Hebrews 11:9-10 talks of those warriors of faith and what they knew about this life. In this life we are only passing by. We came with nothing and we will leave with nothing materially. So rather than spending much of our energy on materialistic life style we better invest in God and the welfare of the needy and the under-privileged. In 1John 2:15-17 we are told not to love the world and the pleasures therein. For he who loves the world he does not have the love of the Father in him. This means also that 'once the world and its affairs swallows a person's heart, God has no place in such a heart any more'. Remember Paul's words to Timothy in 1Tim.6:9-10.
4. The fourth Lesson: The Recabites were SATISFIED BY WHAT THEY HAD. 1Timothy 6:9-10 teaches us to be contented by what we have. God is all satisfying and our sufficiency is of him. We should not kill and fight for wealth as though when we depart from this world we shall part with anything. In fact not even a cent will be worth taking, if taking anything could be possible! For that which is of the heavens is far better than what is of this earth. Only what we have to take care in this life is our relationship with God, in Christ Jesus and with one another as beloved of God. In 2Corithians 7:1 the Bible says that since God has given us precious promises we must 'cleanse ourselves from anything that can defile our body, soul, or spirit. And, let us work towards complete holiness because we fear God.' Other translations of the Bible says we must walk while minding our salvation and in fear of God. Why? Hebrew 2:2-4 gives us the answer. It says that if the message God delivered to the Israelites through the angels stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished, what makes us think that we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus Christ himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose. We must therefore watch lest we fall trap by constant worrying about the cares of this life to the extent of being caught off-guard by the Lord (see Luke 21:33-36). The Lord said, that is how it will happen to the people of the world. We must know that we are not of this world and so we should not force ourselves into its pleasures.
5. The Final Lesson, at least for today, is that the Recabites were READY TO PAY THE COST. Being ready to pay the cost of protecting our salvation and its virtues such as faithfulness, holiness, godliness etc., is an important thing. The Recabites sacrificed pleasure for obedience and faithfulness to their father's word. The offered a sacrifice by denying their body that which it desired- the wine, the pleasure etc. The Bible also tells us who believe in Christ to 'present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy to God. It further discourages us being conformed to the standards of this world but rather we should transform them. (See Rom 12:1-2). The Recabites were such a people. People who would never be conformed to the world and its standards. People who were ready to pay the sacrifice of obedience and faithfulness to what they believe in. People who are true to their convictions and who would live to pursue them even when scorned by others! They were the overcomers! And do you know what the Bible says about the overcomer? Read the book of Revelation 2-3. There are sever promises to all overcomers!
* Revelation 2:7b says: 'To everyone who overcomes I will give fruit from the tree of Life in the Paradise of God.
* Revelation 2:11b says: 'Whoever overcomes will not be harmed by the second death'.
*Revelation 2:17b says: 'Whoever overcomes I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.'
*Revelation 2:26-28 says: 'To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end, to them I will give authority over all the nations . They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots. They will have the same authority I received from my Father, and I will also give thm the morning star!'
*Revelation 3:5 says: 'All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.'
*Revelation 3:12 says: 'All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to live it. And, I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God - the New Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.'
*Revelation 3:21 says: 'Those who overcomes will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.'
Wow! what a list of amazing promises! Will you or me be lazy to miss all these? God forbid! Seven precious promises! Remember, number seven Biblically is a number of perfection! These promises are true and perfect just as the one who made them is perfect. I believe that since nothing should be allowed in us which has the potential to separate us from the love of God,(see Rom 8:31, then we are destined to be all victorious in this life. The Bible says in Roman 8:37 we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. In him, with him and through him we can do all things and we cam be victorious to inherit a place before God just like the sons of Recabites. If they managed, why not me or you? Until then, God bless you richly.
In Christ Jesus,
Ev.Dr Deo J. Nangela.
Many greetings in the Name of Jesus. I give glory to God that once again we can share some truths from the Bible. The Bible is a unique book. It has so many treasures that can richly benefit us. Today I would like to meditate on the life of a particular family in this wonderful book. The family we are visiting is of a man called 'Recab'. The Recabites have special lessons which are useful in our Christian walk.
The story runs from the book of Jeremiah 35:1-19. In short, Jehonadab, son of Recab, a man of God,( see 2King 10:15-28) had instructed his descendants never to taste wine nor build a permanent house, but they should rather live in tents as sojourners in the land. In that way, he said, they would increase their days on the face of the land. One day, well after 200 years or so, the Lord spoke to the Prophet Jeremiah telling him to go to the house of the Recabites and bring them to the temple's inner rooms and urge them to drink wine. Jeremiah did so and brought jugs full of wine and cups urging them to drink. The Bible tells that to his astonishment the sons of Recab recounted to Jeremiah all what their ancestor had urged them in the past and how they have faithfully obeyed their father's words in their generation until that time. So they refused utterly to drink the wine set before them by Jeremiah. Now the Lord told Jeremiah to speak to the sons of Israel how they have disappointed the Lord for not obeying his commands and for not sticking to their covenant while the Recabites have been able to faithfully keep their vows which were made to their ancestor intact.
We have a lot to learn from this story.
1. The FIRST Lesson regards FAITHFULNESS . This is both: to our promises we make to one another and the Covenant we have with God. Faithfulness in keeping promises is an important thing in a Christian's life. God wants us to be faithful to ourselves, to him, and to his word or instructions. That is a sure way to successful Christian living. A faithful person never misses or loses a friend. In fact, he adds more friends to his side because many people consider him to be a trust worth person. God found the Recabites to be trust worth persons in whom he could invest. In Jer.35:19 the Lord told Jeremiah that Jehonadab, their ancestor would always have a person to serve before the Lord because of this. What a favour from the Lord!
The Recabites were faithful to the voice of their father, a mere fallible man. Their ancestor, Jonadab, had restricted them from indulging in wine-drinking business, and they were not hypocrites to this! Even when Jeremiah brought them in the inner chambers where no other people could see them drinking, they said in one voice: 'NO'. How many times many of us have failed to say 'NO' to sin and temptations when we are in secluded parts where no one is seeing what we are doing? To the Recabites, they knew that their vow and the voice of their father was still alive even if he was long dead! So they strictly adhered to the word of their father!!!
God is pleased by people who are faithful even when they are put in a corner of the boxing ring. In the book of Revelation 2:10, speaking to the Church in Smyrna, the Lord admonished them to be faithful unto death! This was a faithful church which, though considered poor in the eyes of the world, their faithfulness to God was a great treasure which the Lord was proud of. Perhaps, coming to the Recabites story, many of their peers were astonished why they do not drink wine and they might have considered them the poorest and miserable people who do not know how to socialize. But in the eyes of God, these people had a great treasure in their lives. Their faithfulness was more than riches and wine!
In our lives as saved people, faithfulness is a vital virtue to propagate in all times. God is never pleased by a double-minded person. God himself is not double-minded (see Malachi 3:6). A person who would drink wine in his closets while pretending to be a non-wine-drinker when he is in the company of others is a double minded, or a double standard person. You either be hot or cold but not lukewarm. Luke-warmness is never entertained in God's presence. To the Church in Laodicea, in Revelation 3:15-16, the Lord told it he wished that they were either hot or cold but not lukewarm.
We must understand that our covenant which was sealed with the blood of Jesus is a serious covenant- and we must be serious about it! It is a covenant of Peace and FAITHFULNESS just as the Lord said in Malachi 2:5-7.
2. The second lesson from the Recabites is about OBEDIENCE. These people demonstrated obedience to the voice of the father even if some did not know him in person but were only told about him. There are people who doubt the word of God because they want to see and prove his presence physically. This 'Thomasism' life is displesing. The doubting Thomas was told blessed are they who believes even without seeing (see John 20:24-29). For we move not by sight but by faith. The Recabites were obedient. The Bible in Mathew 5:20 says that our righteousness as the followers of Christ must go well beyond that of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. In other words, our obedience must go beyond the worldly standards. The big problem we have in Christian churches today is people who confess the Lord with their mouths but in their hearts they are at variance with him!! The Recabites were men of one standard throughout. Their standard was unwavered no matter what. They were not a kind of people who could be easily moved by what others are running after.
In John 6:26-27 Jesus was able to see people who never keep standards and are easily moved by whatever, even things that are temporal! In this life and world of technology and modernity, there is a possibility to run after things of 'the things of this world' which many are now running after to the extent of disobeying God and his everlasting word (bread). The Recabites could be enticed by the wine which was, by the way being freely offered by Jeremiah, (and in the inner chambers anyway!) But, alas! they did not water down their standards! Why? They had a word of their father in their heart. In the similar manner, though the world may try to impose its standards in our lives, as true followers of Christ, born in the family of God by an incorruptible seed, and purchased by the blood of the Lamb, we have the voice of our father, the Holy Spirit's voice and the word of God in our hearts!(1Corinthians 6:19. This word is our light and our standard. We have to measure everything in the light of it. (See Psalm 119:11, 105). The Recabites put the word of the father in their heart and walked in it. They rejected being unequally yoked with the unbecoming practices of the day which their father had renounced.
3. The third lesson from the Recabites is KNOWING WHERE TO REST OUR HEARTS. As we so in the preceding point, many have been and are being taken captive by the things of this world and its pleasures- the drinking, eating, sexual immorality etc. Many have rest their lives in such a temporal and materialistic life. But the sons of Recab were admonished to shun away from all these. They were reminded that they should live as people who are mere sojourning this world. They even did not build a house but lived in tents. Well, I am not saying we should live in tents. But we must understand where we should rest our lives for there shall we seek to invest most. The Bible in Hebrews 11:9-10 talks of those warriors of faith and what they knew about this life. In this life we are only passing by. We came with nothing and we will leave with nothing materially. So rather than spending much of our energy on materialistic life style we better invest in God and the welfare of the needy and the under-privileged. In 1John 2:15-17 we are told not to love the world and the pleasures therein. For he who loves the world he does not have the love of the Father in him. This means also that 'once the world and its affairs swallows a person's heart, God has no place in such a heart any more'. Remember Paul's words to Timothy in 1Tim.6:9-10.
4. The fourth Lesson: The Recabites were SATISFIED BY WHAT THEY HAD. 1Timothy 6:9-10 teaches us to be contented by what we have. God is all satisfying and our sufficiency is of him. We should not kill and fight for wealth as though when we depart from this world we shall part with anything. In fact not even a cent will be worth taking, if taking anything could be possible! For that which is of the heavens is far better than what is of this earth. Only what we have to take care in this life is our relationship with God, in Christ Jesus and with one another as beloved of God. In 2Corithians 7:1 the Bible says that since God has given us precious promises we must 'cleanse ourselves from anything that can defile our body, soul, or spirit. And, let us work towards complete holiness because we fear God.' Other translations of the Bible says we must walk while minding our salvation and in fear of God. Why? Hebrew 2:2-4 gives us the answer. It says that if the message God delivered to the Israelites through the angels stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished, what makes us think that we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus Christ himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose. We must therefore watch lest we fall trap by constant worrying about the cares of this life to the extent of being caught off-guard by the Lord (see Luke 21:33-36). The Lord said, that is how it will happen to the people of the world. We must know that we are not of this world and so we should not force ourselves into its pleasures.
5. The Final Lesson, at least for today, is that the Recabites were READY TO PAY THE COST. Being ready to pay the cost of protecting our salvation and its virtues such as faithfulness, holiness, godliness etc., is an important thing. The Recabites sacrificed pleasure for obedience and faithfulness to their father's word. The offered a sacrifice by denying their body that which it desired- the wine, the pleasure etc. The Bible also tells us who believe in Christ to 'present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy to God. It further discourages us being conformed to the standards of this world but rather we should transform them. (See Rom 12:1-2). The Recabites were such a people. People who would never be conformed to the world and its standards. People who were ready to pay the sacrifice of obedience and faithfulness to what they believe in. People who are true to their convictions and who would live to pursue them even when scorned by others! They were the overcomers! And do you know what the Bible says about the overcomer? Read the book of Revelation 2-3. There are sever promises to all overcomers!
* Revelation 2:7b says: 'To everyone who overcomes I will give fruit from the tree of Life in the Paradise of God.
* Revelation 2:11b says: 'Whoever overcomes will not be harmed by the second death'.
*Revelation 2:17b says: 'Whoever overcomes I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.'
*Revelation 2:26-28 says: 'To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end, to them I will give authority over all the nations . They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots. They will have the same authority I received from my Father, and I will also give thm the morning star!'
*Revelation 3:5 says: 'All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.'
*Revelation 3:12 says: 'All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to live it. And, I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God - the New Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.'
*Revelation 3:21 says: 'Those who overcomes will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.'
Wow! what a list of amazing promises! Will you or me be lazy to miss all these? God forbid! Seven precious promises! Remember, number seven Biblically is a number of perfection! These promises are true and perfect just as the one who made them is perfect. I believe that since nothing should be allowed in us which has the potential to separate us from the love of God,(see Rom 8:31, then we are destined to be all victorious in this life. The Bible says in Roman 8:37 we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. In him, with him and through him we can do all things and we cam be victorious to inherit a place before God just like the sons of Recabites. If they managed, why not me or you? Until then, God bless you richly.
In Christ Jesus,
Ev.Dr Deo J. Nangela.
