The mixed conditions in the first chapter of Exodus show the mixed conditions of life. The blessings to Abraham of making him the father of many had come to pass, but the many are oppressed. Ultimately the oppression will result in the liberation of Israel. They probably would have stayed in comfortable Egypt had Pharaoh not oppressed them. God often has to use difficulty to get us to finally do what we were meant to do. Even with all they endured, they were still tempted to go back. (Numbers 14:3-4[notes1] ) And what suffering have you endured that turned your heart from this world and fixed it upon God? It’s not so easy to look at conditions in life and label them as the favor or displeasure of God. His ways are certainly different from man’s ways. (Isaiah 55:8[notes2] ) Some of our greatest blessings come from our deepest trials.

The midwives’ faithfulness to God made Pharaoh come out in the open with his social engineering plan. If the job can’t get done in secret, if there is enough power in the hands of the one that leads, he will just come out and openly declare his intentions. It’s a familiar pattern of human nature. You can bet there was a lot of explanation and justification given for this decree. ²² Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

Now all Egyptians were to participate in Pharaoh’s ethnic cleansing program. The Nile was considered to be one of the great gods of Egypt. While it brought the much-needed water, it also carried away the waste. If the baby disappeared in the waters of the Nile it was thought to be the Nile’s judgment and thus take the guilt from the one that threw the baby into its waters. The Nile was viewed as both the giver and taker of life. The Egyptians may have even considered it an act of worship of the Nile. What the Egyptians have sown they would soon be reaping when they chase Israel through the Red Sea. (for the whole sermon see bible-sermons.org next week or join the free weekly sermon club)

3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

[notes2] Isaiah 55:8 (NIV)

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.

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Jude 1:1-3 (ESV)
¹ Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: ² May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. ³ Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Written in the midst of the Jewish revolt (68-70AD) to answer the false teachers and warn of their presence. More damage to the church is done from the inside than the outside. Second Peter is future tense when referring to persecution, while this letter has the troubles in present tense.

Jude – Judah, a common name of that time. Half-brother of Jesus. He did not declare himself to be an apostle. How ironic that the letter on apostasy would come from Jude, who had the same name as Judas that betrayed Jesus. John 7:5; Mark 3:31-35 Rather than mentioning he was half-brother of Jesus, the term bondservant was more important to him. Perhaps not all the brothers believed. Or perhaps he realized it was more important than having the same earthly mother.

He writes to fellow believers, those called to believe (and accepted the call Jn 6:44 ) God loves them/us. 1Jn 3:1 He uses the word ‘Kept” just as Peter did or NASB/ESV “kept for”. See 1Pt 1:5

Mercy and peace were a common Jewish greeting but Christians often added love. Multiplied -plethuno -be increased to the fullest measure. Mercy Heb 4:16 upon our sins Rom 9:23; Peace Jn 14:27; 16:33; Ro 5:1 Love Ro 5:5; 8:39; (what a warm greating – receive it!)

It sounds as if Jude was going to write in regards to salvation – but the presence of false teaching forced him to change his topic. Contend earnestly – epagonizomai – continually and vigorously, from which we get the word agonize. Faith Acts 2:42 Gal 1:9 2John 9-11 We are not to tolerate any distortion or deviance from the Apostles doctrine. Just as the Jews were to hold fast to the Torah and not allow any other religion to enter into Israel (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 – though we don’t stone the false teachers now as we are not a theocracy), so we are to defend the fulfillment of the Torah, Jesus. Obviously we don’t execute those who turn away as the Jews were supposed to, but we should just as vigilant in watching for error. Look what the lax attitude of the Jews caused – idolatry that ended in captivity and distortion of their message in countless rules to keep the rules.

We must contend for the pure message of the Gospel so that we don’t go down the same road. Those things happened to them as examples for us. We are bombarded with diluted doctrine, denial of the atonement, rewriting of history, figments of man’s imagination to draw us away from the eyewitnesses that Jesus handpicked to convey his message.

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Dan with Ethan

Sorry, no Scripture passage today, but a prayer request. As you may have seen in a previous blog, my son Daniel has chiari symptoms: continual headaches, fatigue, random stabbing pain, sore throat, tingling scalp, difficulty concentrating, random trouble with vision, and I could go on and on. They change over time. He has had the symptoms since August. We finally got an appointment with a specialist. He said most people have had the symptoms 8 years before they get to him.

If his insurance company oks it, we’ll leave for Milwaukee on the 8th of February and by the afternoon of the 10th have a diagnosis and suggested plan of treatment, surgery or otherwise.  Thank you so much for your prayers! Daniel was very proactive in learning to read his MRI and finding what caused the symptoms. He can talk like a doctor about the brain stem. You can tell I’m a proud dad. I’m also aching for him all the time knowing he is constantly suffering as he tries to hold down his job (programmer). He’s a fighter, but a very quiet, mellow one that trusts the Lord.

So here is my prayer request. Pray that we do get approved, get the right diagnosis and treatment plan, and a safe trip on the icy streets of Milwaukee. This AZ boy (Paul) isn’t use to driving on ice. BUT ALSO, pray for the thousands of undiagnosed and misdiagnosed people with chiari that are suffering day in and day out. Here is a link to the Discovery Health story of one young lady with chiari malformation. http://www.chiaritvspecial.com/chiarivideo.html

Her chiari condition is very similar to Daniels in that it was difficult to diagnose. Thank you all so much for your prayers!

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