Humility

There are two very different groups of people in the world today, who claim to be the descendants of the ancient Israelites. Now I do not proport to endorse or oppose either claim as I am not God. He is the one Who scattered ancient Israel and Judah, He is the one Who knows who they all are, and He is the one Who can and will inform them of their identity at the appointed time (Isaiah 43:5-7; Jeremiah 31:10; Amos 9:9; Zechariah 1:19). And when that identity is revealed no one can refute it. So, with this being my opinion on that matter why do I mention these people? I am using these two groups as an example. Both of these groups claim Jacob as their father, both claim to be serving the One True God, both claim to be following the ancient Hebrew scripture and both, like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, have missed the lessons that Israel was to learn in being scattered, and the task Israel was appointed to accomplish. The Jewish people, during the time Jesus was physically on Earth, preferred the teaching that the Messiah was to come as a conquering king that would destroy their oppressors and elevate them to a high and lofty race in the earth. The spiritual leaders of the Jews did not accept or teach the truth of the Messiah’s true purpose – to die in our place paying the debt for sin (Isaiah 53:3-5 Daniel 9:24-27). They desired temporal elevation over eternal salvation (Luke 12:16-21).

Ancient Israel, because they were chosen, by The Almighty God, to be the bearers of the special message of hope for redemption, became haughty and proud and self-confident. They forgot that God did not choose them for their “profound righteousness”, He repeatedly informed them of their superior stubbornness (Exodus 32:9; 33:3-5; Deuteronomy 9:6-13, 27; Judges 2:19). God stayed with them because He made a promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and any promise God makes He keeps (Genesis 12:1-3; 22; 15-18; 26:3-5; 28:13-15). The peoples currently claiming to be the descendants of these faithful men cause me concern because their rhetoric echoes heavily of the sentiment of Ancient Israel, a proud, haughty, self-serving, self-defending, self-exalting spirit that does nothing but drive people away (John 8:37-45). God’s true people, by this point, should have learned or at least should be learning the lessons of humility (Romans 11:16-24; Galatians 3:29). God will only use the truly humble to carry out His work, because only they will rely fully on Him (Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11). In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we hear from God, Himself: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land.”

God is so willing to forgive our sins, but we need to acknowledge them and repent. There are three major sin categories defined in scripture: “the lust of the flesh”, “the lust of the eyes”, and “the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). These are all deadly. The first two – lust of the flesh and eyes – in a humble man are more likely to bring about a repentant heart than the third – the pride of life. Viewing the outcomes of one’s actions to gratify physical desires and the pain caused, can bring a conscientious person to genuine sorrow for sin. However, when the pride of life is brought into the mix it is very difficult to change course. The feeling that “I am justified in all my actions” and “what I am doing is right because that is how I see it”, makes one less likely to assess one’s course in accordance with The Standard. This is the reason it is “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25). The rich, whether rich in finances, education, friends, even scriptural knowledge tend to rely of what they have as opposed to relying on God.

Scriptural knowledge is vital. However, without God it will not get anyone anywhere. It is for this reason, when Jesus sent out His disciples to preach, that He told them not to bring a script (Mark 6:8). They were to have the Word of God in their hearts through diligent study, but when presenting, the Holy Spirit would guide their words (Luke 12:11, 12; 2 Timothy 2:15). Self-reliance needs to be completely gone in order for God to work fully and mightily (Proverbs 3:5, 6; Jeremiah 33:2, 3). These groups claiming to be God’s chosen conduit of truth have a great wealth of knowledge of the words of Scripture, but they have missed the meaning and have not gained the transforming influence that scripture is to have in the soul (1 Corinthians 13). The same can be said to us as spiritual Israel. We too have a wealth of knowledge, for which we are responsible and until we let God transform our lives we will only be “sounding bass and tinkling cymbals”. When the Word of God is truly known we will gain a clear perspective of where we fit into the grand scheme of life (Isaiah 45:9, 10; Romans 9:20, 21). We are His workmanship, wonderfully designed to uplift God and Him alone thereby drawing all of humanity to Him (Psalms 139:14; Ephesians 2:10; John 12:32).

Humbly,

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