The Israelites had seven cycles of sin in the time of the judges. Sin is
cyclic and works this way: “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his
own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin:
and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” (Jas 1:14-15).
That’s why the Lord’s Prayer asks that God not lead us into temptation.
(Luke 11:4). God does lead unto temptation, but temptation is not from
Him! (Jas 1:13). God allows temptation to test His people. The period of time
of the judges (over 300 years), God tested the fidelity of His people with cycles
of sin, contrition, and pardon. He did that for them seven times, but for us,
seventy times seven (Mat 18:22) since he expects from us what he does himself.
6 And the children of Israel did
evil again in the sight of the Lord… 7 And the anger of the Lord was hot against
Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands
of the children of Ammon. 8 And that year they vexed and oppressed the
children of Israel… 10 And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying,
We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God. 13 Ye
have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.
14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in
the time of your tribulation. 15 And the children of Israel said unto
the Lord, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee;
deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. 16 And they put away the
strange gods from among them, and served the Lord: and his soul was grieved for
the misery of Israel. (Jud 10)
After several times, God tired of Israel’s sinning, and sold them into
the hands of the Philistines. In scripture, Philistine represents “perdition”
or “utter destruction.” In other words, Philistine represents the Devil. Apply
those passages from Judges to what Paul said:
1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor
by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let
no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come
a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God… 13 But
we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth… 15 Therefore,
brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught,
whether by word, or our epistle. 16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself,
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting
consolation and good hope through grace… (2 Thes 2)
I hope that when you read the two passages together that you find that
God always worked by grace, and what he did in patriarchal times is what He
does in apostolic times, and yet today! The Israelites gradually fell away
until they were fallen, and once fallen, by grace God lifted them up. They “cried
out” to the Lord and admitted that they were sinners because they had forsaken Him!
The old saying goes, “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” That’s what the
Israelites did. Whoever’s land they were in, they did what the people therein
did. Each kingdom had their own gods, and it was customary to honor their gods,
even for those who had their own god!
“Syncretism” in the case of religion is having no problem worshiping
various gods at the same time.
It is to be noted here what defines a “god.” Gods are those with creative
power. If truly a “god” then they need no one to assist them. In other words, the
term “gods” is oxymoronic. To be God, there can only be One! Having more than
one god is cognitive dissonance. Mankind must delineate who to serve. Jesus
said that man cannot serve two masters, but must inevitably select one. (Mat 6:24).
Well, it was decision time for the Israelites, and they cried out to God. They
chose God as their Master.
Man cannot serve God and mammon. We think of “mammon” as men or wealth.
However, it is essentially doing what we want to do: When in Rome serve
the Roman gods. When in Canaan, serve the Canaanite gods, when traveling to
distant cities, serve yourself. Being a Christian is allegiance to God when no
one you know is present. It’s when in Rome do as God would have you to do. God
took them to Philistine. Finally, when they thought they were free from God,
they were in bondage to the Devil, and they cried out.
People, when they secretly sin, are convicted by God, and if they truly
love God and feel sorrow for disappointing Him, they cry out for forgiveness.
God will do so “seventy times seven” or endless times. There were seven cycles of
pardon to the judges, but throughout the history of Israel, God has surely forgiven
them seventy times seven times.
Being put into the hands of the Philistines was not the last cycle of
punishment for Israel. They were put into the hands of the Assyrians, Babylonians,
Greeks, Romans, Muslims, Turks, Russians, and many more until they were finally
contrite with the re-establishment of their homeland in 1948. The last time God
has grace on the Israelites is in the end of time when 144,000 are delivered
out of the hands of the Beast, who I believe is some Muslim religious leader
assuming the name Isa (Jesus).
Now back to the sin cycle: There are cycles of temptation, lust, then
sin. Then once sin is finished it brings forth death. Before sin is completed,
God allows infinite cycles, but only until the person no longer cries out to
God. When a Christian quits crying out to God that is called reprobation.
God, by grace, saved the Israelites from the Philistines, but they still cried
out: “We have sinned against thee because we have forsaken our God.” Doing what
we want to do without regard to God’s Will is forsaking God. Christians can apostatize
when they continue in sin and fail to ever cry out in remorse.
Because God is graceful, He will never leave or forsake us, but we can
Him. Christians are “safe” as long as they have fidelity to God, and that is enduring
faith to the end of our days. (Mat 10:22). 144,000 Jews will endure to the end
during The Great Tribulation.
Christians must also endure to the end because “Goliath” still tries to
slay us. That Philistine giant still taunts us as he did the Israelites. God
slayed Goliath one time with the arm of David, and on the Holy Cross at
Calvary, Jesus slew the “giant” Satan. And you thought God died on the Cross! You
are looking at the wrong “tree.” Judas, symbolic of Satan, died on his tree.
The Holy Cross and the Man on it slew the old Serpent on his tree when Judas
hung himself. Note that Jesus could have saved Judas but Judas took it upon
himself to do what he willed. The central point of being born again is that we can
neither judge nor save ourselves.
The mystery of God is that salvation was by Jesus during all times, for
all people, and always by grace. When are the Jews going to learn that they and
Gentiles are “peculiar people” and when in Gentile land, we still do what God
would have us do!
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