Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The initial command: FAITH ONLY, OR OBEDIENCE?

Was the nature of this initial command from God a requirement for the children of Israel to merely believe in His power to provide ~ faith ‘only’; or to trust AND obey Him? 


Exodus 19:5 — Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

Numbers 14:11 — The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?


Consider the message of Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 7:13 — And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you but you did not answer,

Jeremiah 7:24 — Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.

Jeremiah 7:26 — Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.

Jeremiah 9:14 — but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,”

Jeremiah 11:8 — Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked, each one, in the stubbornness of his evil heart; therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.’”

Jeremiah 11:10 — They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”

Jeremiah 13:8-11 — Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,  “Thus says the Lord, ‘Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.  This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless.  For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise and for glory; but they did not listen.’

Jeremiah 16:12 — You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me.

Psalm 81:11 — “But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey Me.
2 Chronicles 36:15-16 — The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy…

4/24/2013
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