It's an unusual story. I can think of only two stories in the Bible, where we read about
a speaking animal. The first one, of course, is in the Garden of Eden, where the serpent,
the embodiment of Satan, the devil, speaks. And the consequences of what he says are,
of course, very important, very significant. The second one involves some events in the
Book of Numbers, which I think you're probably well aware of, a donkey that began to speak.
You know the story. There's a lesson in the story of Balaam and the donkey and the events
that took place. In fact, I think it's fair to say there are several lessons in that history
that takes place in the Book of Numbers. I'd like to begin not in the Book of Numbers, but
by picking up one verse in the Book of Revelation, Revelation 2 and verse 14. Let's turn there.
We just covered this in class fairly recently, and a very interesting portion of the Bible.
Revelation 2, verse 14. This is the third of the seven churches of Revelation, the church
in Pergamos. All of that, of course, is full of instruction for us as well. But I'd just
like to read that one verse in verse 14 of Revelation, chapter 2. Jesus Christ, the God
in the flesh, the pre-existent Jesus Christ, speaking to the church in Pergamos, or the
angel of the church in Pergamos. And he says, I have a few things against you, because you
have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam. The doctrine of Balaam. What did he do? He
taught Balaam to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed
to idols and to commit sexual immorality. We're going to look at some of the material in the
Book of Numbers. It's quite a bit back there. You're probably aware of the story. Balaam
was a prophet, and Balaam was the king of a nation that was a neighbor nation to the
nation of Israel. Balaam was the king of Moab, and Balaam apparently taught him some nasty
things. How to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed
to idols. And that's an interesting thought, because we discover in the New Testament that
elsewhere in the New Testament, Paul did not prohibit eating meats sacrificed to idols.
But in this context, it seems to go together with the next friends to commit sexual immorality.
Balaam is an interesting individual. I think there's a lesson for us here, as we're just
about two weeks prior to the Passover. Very interesting individual. Very interesting.
They're mentions of Balaam other than the Bible. I found this one online. I'd never
heard this before. But it's a little background on Balaam from Aish.com. Aish.com. It tells
us that the Talmud, Sanhedrin 106a, tells us that earlier Balaam had been an advisor
to the Pharaoh who enslaved the children of Israel and sought to destroy their male children.
Now, this is legendary. You take this with a grain of salt, but I think it's interesting
anyway. In fact, the plan to destroy the Israelites was masterminded by Balaam, according to this
Jewish tradition. The third century BC, Greco-Egyptian historian Manito mentions that it was the
prophet advisor of the Pharaoh who instigated the enslavement of the Jewish people, or
accurately, the Israelites. Josephus contra-Apium 126. More interestingly, recently, archaeologists
have found extra Biblical support about the existence of this man, Balaam, who is one
of the more fascinating individuals in the Scriptures. Now, of course, we don't have
to have extra Biblical support for what we read in the Bible anyway. But nevertheless,
I'll give you a little bit of this information. You may be aware of this. 1967, Deir al-Allah
in Jordan. The Deir al-Allah inscription, or the Balaam son of Bior inscription, was
discovered during a 1967 excavation in Deir al-Allah, Jordan. Of course, 1967 was the
year of the Six Day War when Israel conquered most of the West Bank. This was in Jordan
proper, I believe. The excavation revealed a many-chambered structure that had also been
destroyed by earthquake during the Persian period at the site on the wall of which was
written a story relating visions of the seer of the gods, Balaam, son of Bior, who may be
the same Balaam mentioned in Numbers chapters 22 through 24 and in other passages of the
Bible. I would interject here that I believe this is. I think they discovered an extra Biblical
inscription about the same individual. This goes on to say here, this quote, this Balaam
differs from the one in Numbers in that rather than being a prophet of Yahweh, he is associated
with Ashtar. There's a familiar name, Ashtar, one of the pagan gods, a god named Shugur,
SHGR, I don't know how you pronounce that, and Shaddai, gods and goddesses. It also features
the word Elohim, taken to mean gods, small G, S on the end, in the plural rather than
the Hebrew deity. That's from Wikipedia, the article about the year Allah. So they found
evidence about this individual from archaeological inscriptions. There's a little bit of discussion
because the chronology, according to some, doesn't seem to fit exactly. The inscription
seems to be a little bit later than the 15th century BC. But nevertheless, I'm going to
read you a little bit of the inscription later on in the course of the sermon. It's quite
interesting, by the way, from theosophicalwordpress.com. There was no extra biblical record of a
prophet by this name, but in 1967, Dutch archaeologists excavating at Deir Allah Jordan uncovered
one. They found 119 fragments of plaster with ink writing carbon dated to approximately
800 BC, the time of Ahab. So it's a little bit off from the time of the Exodus. Of course,
it was quite possible that the inscription was later than the time of the Exodus. The
language is a mix between Aramaic and Canaanite. The presence of archaic words indicates it
is based on an older text. I'll read you a little bit of this a little bit later. I
want to hold it for later in the sermon and get now to a little bit more of the biblical
material and we'll revisit this Deir Allah inscription later on. It's really all quite
interesting. I've always been fascinated by this individual by the name of Balaam. Who
was Balaam? And what does all of this have to say to us Christians in God's church in
the year 2014 and in particular roughly two weeks prior to the Passover? After all, 15th
century BC in the 21st century AD and we are somewhat approaching 3,500 years in difference.
But there is something here and I think it's a major lesson in going over this Balaam material
in class. It just struck me. There's something here that I think is a key lesson as we approach
the Passover. We heard about the Passover in the Sermonet. There's something else here
that I think will be helpful for us to take a look at. So please bear with me. I will
get to it. This is all going to take a little bit of time. We first of all need to look
at some of the history of Balaam. So let's go back to the book of Numbers and you can
open your Bible there. I want to be a little bit selective in the passages that I quote
in the book of Numbers but Numbers is actually a fascinating book. It's wordy when we go
through it in class. I try to paraphrase just a little bit. It's very, very wordy and it
is of course about Numbers, censuses, sensei, whatever, lots of Numbers, lots of names,
lots of place names, lots of tribal listings and one thing and another. And what we read
in the book of Numbers is a scene in the history of Israel when there is no stopping them.
This is the backdrop to all these events. Everyone knows and there are echoes of this
in the book of Numbers and elsewhere. Everyone knows that this very large number of people
has come out of Egypt and they are moving through the Sinai Peninsula and of course they will
eventually cross and come over eastward and everything that they seem to do works out
in a kind of a miraculous way. No one could stop them. The Egyptians couldn't stop them.
The plagues couldn't stop them. The gods of Egypt seemed impotent before the god of this
huge swarm of people. In Exodus it talks about 600,000 men of military age and so we've said
and I think this is probably accurate that the total number of the Israelites at this
phase in their history numbered somewhere between two million, two and a half million,
maybe as many as three million people, large numbers of people and they weren't a fighting
force and yet their god humiliated the great Egyptian sun god Ra or Rey with the plague
of darkness at the end. And we get to the book of Numbers and they're moving through
all of this and the little kingdoms are alarmed. There are a number of little kingdoms on the
eastern side of the Jordan and they don't seem to be able to do anything to stop these
folks. Numbers chapter 20 and I'll simply allude to it. We're not going to stop and
read all the way through but we've got the kingdom of Edom, inveterate enemies of the
nation of Israel and Moses approaches them very respectfully and says we'd like to pass
through and the Edomite king roughly says no and Moses says to him again we'd like to
pass through. We won't help ourselves to anything. We will not touch anything of you. If we drink
any water we'll pay you for it. We're not going to mess with your land, nothing. And
the Edomite king goes no and he comes out against them with armed men. In Numbers chapter
21 it's Sihon, king of the Amorites in a very similar situation where he denies them passage
in a rather hostile manner and a fellow whose name I love, Og, king of Baysham. If you ever
have a son please call him Bill or George, anything but Og. Baysham is an extreme north
eastern sector. It's roughly where the Golan Heights are today. So here's this guy, Og,
king of Baysham and I'll just give you the reference if you'd like to read an interesting
little detail about him. Check Deuteronomy 3 verse 11 sometime. We won't necessarily
turn, well maybe we should, maybe we should. Why not? This is fun. Keep your finger in
Numbers 21. We'll come back there. Deuteronomy 3 verse 11 because there's an interesting
detail about Og, king of Baysham. I love this detail. Only Og, king of Baysham, remained
of the remnants of the giants. Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead. How many people in the
Bible have the size of their bed and the composition of their bed recorded? Is it not in Rabab,
people of Ammon? It's right there, back then it was at least. Nine cubits its length, about
13 and a half feet long and four cubits its width, about six feet wide according to the
standard cubit. The California king size didn't even compare with Og's bed. Og was
a big dude and the point I'm mentioning here in Deuteronomy 3 verse 11 and commentators
point this out is that the mention of the iron bedstead highlights the fact that these
people from Baysham were much more advanced technologically. See they had iron and Israel
didn't and yet of course Og, king of Baysham, was no match for them because the god of
these Israelites was the supreme god. How do we stop them? What do we do to stop these
people? Military opposition doesn't work. It doesn't work. They keep on coming through
and no one can stop them. And then you've got another king over on the Transjordanian
area, Balak, king of Moab. Moab was roughly where at least part of the nation of Jordan
is today and Moab you may remember was the product of the relationship between Lot and
his daughters in the cave back in Genesis chapter 19 and Moab was allied with a nation
by the name of Midian. Midian was roughly where Saudi Arabia is today. So you've got
these alliances between these two nations and there's no stopping these Israelites.
What are we going to do? How do we stop them? Panic stations. Numbers chapter 22. Numbers
chapter 22. Let's read a little of this. Numbers chapter 22 where we begin to read about this
man by the name of Balaam. Numbers 22 and it mentions where they were at verse 1. They're
opposite on the other side of the Jordan in the plains of Moab across from Jericho. Jericho
was the first city that they conquered under Joshua. Later in the book of Joshua they'll
come across westward of course. But let's pick up this fascinating story about the fellow
by the name of Balak and the fellow by the name of Balaam. We're not to confuse them.
Balaam was the king of Moab. Balaam is, well let's hold the description. We'll get to that.
Verse 2. Balaam the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. It's fascinating
when you read this history. All of the nations of the ancient Near East there are these reverberations
going on. These echoes. Everyone knows what's going on. He sees it. Verse 3. Moab was exceedingly
afraid of the people because there were many and Moab was sick with dread because of the
children of Israel. So Moab said to the elders of Midian with whom they were apparently in
some kind of an alliance at the time. Now this company will lick up everything around us as an
ox licks up the grass of the field. Very colorful language. An ox chewing on grass. That's what
they're like. We don't want to be chewed on. And Balak, the son of Zippor, was king of
the Moabites at the time. He sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Bior at Pethor near
the river. That's the Euphrates. So this is much further east. This is going over to where
Iraq is. And interestingly enough, Balaam was known. Balak knew about him. The inscription
will read a little bit of it a little bit later on. The inscription indicates that the
man that he sends out to was a kind of a prophet for hire. He sends a message to him. Look,
the people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth and they're settling
next to me and I don't want them to be my neighbors and can you do something? Therefore,
please come at once curse this people for me. They're too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall
be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. I know that he whom you bless
is blessed and he whom you curse is cursed. So Balak hires Balaam. Military projects don't
work. No way to stop them. And Balaam over in the area of Iraq near the Euphrates is this
kind of a prophet for hire and apparently was quite well known. Can we do something in
a spirit world to stop them? Maybe a spiritual undertaking will stop these people.
Verse seven, the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the diviners theme
in their hand and they came to Balaam and they spoke to him the words of Balak. They
find him. Everybody knows where he is. And he said to them, large here tonight and I
will bring back word to you as the eternal speaks to me. You see, Lord, and of course
it's the sacred name of God, the YHVH, some think it's Yahweh. And it's very interesting
that Balaam who's not an Israelite and not a worshiper of the true God makes reference
to the true God by name. He knows about him. So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam
and God came to Balaam and he said, who are these men with you? Balaam said to God, this
is an unusual situation in which God is speaking to a false prophet, a prophet for hire. Balaam
said to God, Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me saying, look, a people
has come out of Egypt and they cover the face of the earth. Come now, curse them for me.
Perhaps I shall be able to overpower them and drive them out. Balaam, if you can curse
them, maybe I can undertake a military campaign and perhaps I can work what the others couldn't
work. Og failed. The Amorites failed. The Edomites failed. The Egyptians failed. Maybe I can
succeed if you do something in the spirit realm. Verse 12, God said to Balaam, you shall
not go with them. You shall not curse the people. They are blessed. One of the interesting
things in these Balaam events is something that I think we know from elsewhere in the
Bible. Balaam, who is not a true prophet, but God tells him what he can do and what
he can't do, and he's limited by that. We know that from the book of Job, don't we?
In the book of Job, where Satan, the devil, comes forth and all of those catastrophes
fall on poor old Job, and Satan wanted to put him to death, I would think, and God says,
no, no, no, you're not allowed to do it. God is in supreme power in the spirit world. Don't
go with them. You shall not curse the people. Verse 13, Balaam rose in the morning and said
to the princes of Balaam, go back to your land, for the eternal has refused to give
me permission to go with you. And the princes of Moab rose and went to Balaam and said,
Balaam refuses to come with us. All of this was a huge exercise in enormous frustration
for poor old Balaam has a lot more to come. Balaam again sent princes, verse 15, more
numerous and more honorable than they. He goes up in the chain of command. He's trying
to make Balaam feel good. Balaam, I'm sending my best men. You know, the most prominent,
you're an important guy, Balaam. Come on. They came to Balaam and they said to him,
thus says Balaam, the son of Zippor, please let nothing hinder you from coming to me,
for I will certainly honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore,
please come, curse this people for me. The second request, come and curse them, and it
has, it has juicy carrots hanging on it, so to speak. Come and curse them, and I have
the power to honor you, verse 17. Honoring, what's being implied here? Well, in 1 Timothy
5, verse 17, you can just write that down where it's talking about the ministry, it
talks about honor for ministers who serve well, and many commentators think it has some
kind of monetary implication. It may have meant, and either of two things, maybe has
to do with money, a lot of money, more money for Balaam, or perhaps with fame and prominence,
for his name to be out there. Don't you know, Balaam, I've got the power to give you all
kinds of goodies, and all you've got to do is curse them. Won't you curse them? Verse
18, then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balaam, though Balaam were to give me his
house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God to
do less or more. I know that looks strange. Balaam lays claim, at least at this point,
to being a worshiper of the true God. He's in contact with him. That doesn't make him
a monotheist. That doesn't make him a true prophet of God. He's actually a false prophet,
but at this point he acknowledges that the God of Israel is supremely powerful. He was
kind of a prophet for hire. You remember Herbert W. Armstrong's autobiography, there's a story
in that autobiography about a man that Mr. Armstrong met years ago, and this man approached
Mr. Armstrong and said, you know, I'd like to be a preacher for you. Mr. Armstrong, as
I recall the story, it's been a while since I've looked at it, and he began to talk about
the fact that what he taught was quite different from the other churches, you know. This man
said, oh, don't worry, I'll preach anything as long as somebody will pay me. You remember
that story? It maybe haven't read the autobiography in a while and it's a good read. Balaam was
kind of like that. He was a prophet for hire. He seemed to have been plugged in with demons,
but at this point he's also plugged in with the true God, and he knows things about the
true God. We'll see that very clearly, by the way, as we go through this. Verse 19,
now, therefore, please, you stay here tonight, Balaam to Balaam's servants, that I may know
what more the eternal will say to me, the Lord, that's the Y-H-V-H, the covenant name
of the true God. And God came to Balaam at night and he said to him, if the men come
to call you, rise and go with them. But only the word which I speak to you, that you shall
do. Again, we see emphasis on the fact that God is in charge and that in the spirit world,
God is supreme. But let's read this because here's where is the detail that we'll begin
to unlock. I know I've taken a bit of time at the beginning of the sermon, but I want
to get to the point of the sermon here because this is what I find so interesting. Verse
21, Balaam rose in the morning, he saddled his donkey, and he went with the princes of
Moab, and then verse 22, then God's anger was aroused because he went. What? Didn't
we read in verse 20, you may go with them? Balaam went with them and God is then angry
with Balaam. Why? Is God capricious? Did he change his mind? Didn't Balaam do what God
told him to do? Hold that thought. We'll come back to that shortly. God's anger was
aroused and the angel of the eternal took his stand in the way as an adversary against
him, and then this famous scene where he's riding on the donkey and the two servants
are with him, and the donkey sees, it's a wonderful paraphrase here just a little bit
as we go through this, this wonderful scene where the donkey kind of sits down under Balaam,
you know, goes on strike, and Balaam begins whacking the donkey. And of course part of
this is to highlight the fact that in a sense the donkey was a little more sensitive spiritually
than Balaam because Balaam didn't see the angel of the eternal. Verse 25, verse 24,
the angel of the eternal stood in a narrow path between the vineyards with a wall on
this side and a wall on that side. When the donkey saw the angel of the eternal, she pushed
herself against the wall and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall, so he struck her again.
Then the angel of the eternal went further and stood in a narrow place where there was
no way to turn, either right-hand or left. When the donkey saw the angel of the eternal,
she laid down under Balaam. Can you imagine how humiliating this was? The donkey goes
on strike. Balaam's anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff, and
then God opens the mouth of the donkey, and the donkey says, what have I done to you?
I've served you well, and you keep on beating me. Verse 29, Balaam says to the donkey, you've
abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand. For now, I would kill you. Now, of course,
it's a wonderful passage in the Bible that is amusing, but there's a purpose to it,
and we're intended to see from this that at least in this context, the donkey is more
sensitive than Balaam himself. Verse 30, am I not your donkey on which you've ridden ever
since I became yours to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you? He said, no.
And then God opens Balaam's eyes in verse 31, and he sees the angel of the eternal standing
in his way with the drawn sword in his hand, and he bowed his head and fell flat on his
face. And, well, you know, the rest of the story, I think you're probably very familiar
with this. Dropping down a little bit here, let's say, I've got it in my notes. Let's
read a few more verses. Verse 35, the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, go with the men,
but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak. So Balaam went with the princes
of Balaam. When Balaam heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the city
of Moab on the border of the Arnaum. And Balaam said to Balaam, didn't I earnestly send to
you, calling for you? Why didn't you come? And Balaam said to Balaam, look, I've succumbed
to you. Now, do I have any power at all to say anything? The word that God puts in my
mouth, that I must speak. And so they go together. And in chapters 23 and 24, which we're going
to paraphrase just a little bit, it's very interesting. I wish we had time to go all
the way through all of it. But there's actually four prophecies. Balaam takes Balaam up to
the top of a mountain. And they look down from the top of the mountain and Balaam says
to Balaam, curse them. And Balaam says to Balaam, I can only do what God lets me do.
Now, I'm not allowed to curse them if he won't let me. And you can see there, there's the
first prophecy in Numbers chapter 23. It's indented in your Bible, and we're not going
to read every bit of it, but verse eight there in Numbers 23, verse eight. How shall I curse
whom God has not cursed? How shall I denounce whom the eternal has not denounced? From the
top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I behold him. There are people dwelling alone,
not reckoning itself among the nations. These were God's people. It was the church back
then, if you wish to phrase it that way. Who can count the dust of Jacob or number one
fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous and let my end be like this.
And what happens here, of course, is that they're going to go hopping from one mountain
to another. Baelic, keep Baelic, pardon me, Baelic, I mustn't get myself confused here.
Baelic keeps taking Baelic from one mountain top to another. See, the pagans believed that
God's were localized. And so Baelic thinks if he takes Baelic over to another mountain,
he's out from under the thumb of this powerful God of Israel, and therefore he can do it.
He can curse them. And it doesn't work. Verse 12, Baelic says, must I not take he to speak
what the eternal has put in my mouth, the second prophecy. He's taken him to the top
of another mountain. And once again, he says, curse them for me. And once again, Baelic,
because God utilized him at this phase in the history, Baelic blesses them. And the
end of the chapter, chapter 23, verses 25 and 26, Baelic said to Baelic, neither curse
them at all, nor bless them at all. If you won't do what I'm asking you to do, can't
you go neutral? Don't bless them, please. Baelic answered and said to Baelic, didn't
I tell you all of the eternal speaks? That I must do. Interesting, isn't it?
The third prophecy, we won't take the time to read all the way through it. The third
prophecy is pretty interesting as well. And then the fourth prophecy toward the end of
Numbers chapter 24. And by the way, we see from this particular prophecy is very interesting
prophecy because it's a prophecy of the birth of Jesus Christ the Messiah, the Son of God.
Numbers chapter 24, verse 15, what's happening through all of this is that Baelic is getting
hopping mad because he's willing to give him a whole bunch of money. And every time
he takes him to another mountain, the blessing gets more powerful. And verse 14, Baelum
speaking to Baelic, he's talking to Baelic, and now indeed I'm going to my people. Baelum
says I'm going home. Come, I will advise you what this people, Israel, will do to your
people in the latter days, way off in the future. And much of this is actually millennial.
The fourth prophecy here, the most dramatic. Let's take a look at it here. Numbers 24,
verse 15. So he took up his oracle and he said, the
utterance of Baelum, the Son of Bior, and the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened,
the utterance of him who hears the words of God and has the knowledge of the Most High,
who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down with eyes wide open. I think I'm going
to just break here for a moment because I've got it in my notes. And let me just read to
you a little bit of that inscription, the Deir al-Ali inscription. It's interesting
because it records some fascinating information about Baelum. I do believe it was the same
individual. The misfortunes of the book of Baelum, Son of Bior, a divine seer was he.
The gods came to him at night, small G, S on the end. He beheld a vision in accordance
with El's utterance. They said to Baelum, Son of Bior, so will it be done with not surviving.
No one has seen the likes of what you've heard. Baelum arose on the morrow. He summoned the
heads of the assembly to him. And for two days he fasted and wept bitterly. Then his
intimates entered into his presence and they said to Baelum, Son of Bior, why do you fast?
Why do you weep? He said to them, be seated. I will relate to you what the shoddai gods
have planned and go see the acts of the god, small G in this inscription. The gods have
banded together. The shoddai gods have established a council. So we see from this that Baelum
did serve other gods, but in this instance he's actually serving the true god. And in
Numbers chapter 24, verse 17, we get the remainder of an actually very, very important prophecy
here. I see him but not now. I behold him but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob.
A scepter will rise out of Israel. Now you can find that reflected in the New Testament.
The star and scepter prophecy was known to the wise men out of the east when Jesus Christ
was born because it was prophesied many, many years earlier that Jesus Christ who was God
eternally existing but would come forth in human form. So what's Baelum doing here? He's
actually prophesying of the Messiah who will come forth. And in fact his second coming
in part of this, he will batter the brow of Moab and destroy all the sons of tumult. When
this Messiah comes forth, he's going to pummel your people. This is not what Baelum wanted
to hear. Verse 18, Edom shall be a possession. Say here also his enemies shall be a possession
while Israel does valiantly. Out of Jacob one shall have dominion and destroy the remains
of the city. Of course a reference to Jesus Christ. And Baelum was very, very unhappy camper.
End of the chapter. Verse 25, Baelum rose and departed and returned to his place. Baeluk
also went his way. And it looks as if it reads, the way it reads. But maybe there's something
more in this and maybe there's a lesson here because in chapter 25 something goes badly
wrong. Chapter 25, Numbers, Book of Numbers. Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, that
staging point across the Jordan. And the people began to commit harlotry with the women of
Moab. You know this story, somehow or other, and it's hinted at in the Book of Numbers.
Something goes very wrong. They couldn't be stopped militarily. The attempt to hire a
prophet for hire fails. Why? Because God is greater than any prophet, even a pagan prophet.
It doesn't work. And then suddenly in Numbers chapter 25 everything begins to go wrong. And
they begin to get corrupted from the inside. And this will jeopardize the entire series
of events. This is, it's really a watershed moment in the entirety of the Bible. You know,
you go down centuries. You come down to Jeremiah's time. And the idolatry and the paganism was
in fact, of course, one of the, perhaps the number one reason why Israel and later Judah
went into captivity. Verse 20, verse two, Numbers 25, verse two. They invited the people
to the sacrifices of their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel
was joined to Baal of Pior. And the anger of the eternal was aroused against Israel.
And here it doesn't relate it to Baalem. But as I think you probably know, because I'm
guessing many of you have read this and some of these fascinating details, we learn elsewhere
that it was Baalem who taught Baalek how to do this. Can't stop them militarily. Can't
stop them by appeal to the gods. I know what we'll do. We'll corrupt them, send a bunch
of beautiful Moabite women and win them over to the pagan side of things. Numbers 31, verse
16. Numbers 31 and verse 16. Numbers 31 and verse 16. This is when Moses got very angry
with the leaders, the tribal leaders, because they hadn't carried out what should have been
carried out. Numbers 31, verse 16. Look, these women caused the children of Israel through
the council of Baalem to trespass against the eternal in the incident of Pior. And there
was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. Baalem engineered it. God didn't tell
him explicitly not to seduce Israel from the inside. And here we have a problem. Baalem
did what God told him to do. Baalem refrained from doing what God told him explicitly not
to do. But there's something else here. Numbers chapter 22. Let's go back there. We read it.
I just want to pick up a couple of verses one more time, because I think this is a lesson
for us at this time of the year, lots of lessons. This time of the year is always an interesting
time of the year. We must take the pass over. We must look at ourselves with clarity, also
with an element of gentleness. Sometimes we're a little too hard on ourselves. Sometimes
maybe a little too easy on ourselves. But in Numbers 22, verses 21 and 22, these two
verses, Baalem rose in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab,
and then God was angry with him. But he did what God told him to do, didn't he? He was
angry with him, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary
against him. What's going on? Why was God angry with him? After all, on the surface
of it, it seems that he did exactly what he was told to do. And the key to unlocking this,
I think, is in the New Testament. And this is where I think it begins to lead us with
a lot of... I realize you spent some time on this, but we're to a lesson for all of
us, I think, as we approach the Spring-Holy Day season.
Jude, the short book of Jude, verse 11. It's interesting, these scattered mentions of
Baalem and the scattered mentions of Baalem draw out details about the entire sequence
of events that may not be obvious from the Old Testament account. Jude, verse 11. Jude,
verse 11. Jude says, short book, of course, one chapter, woe to them, for they have gone
in the way of Cain, they've run greedily in the error of Baalem for profit. Wait a second.
I thought he didn't get his money. Baalem tried to get him to curse them four times,
and he offered him lots of money. And Baalem turns him, no, no, I can't, I can't, I'm not
allowed to. God won't let me. And yet, and yet, they've run greedily in the error of
Baalem for profit and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Second Peter, chapter two. Second Peter, chapter two, verses 15 and 16. And here's where we
get to unlock this mystery a little bit. Second Peter two, verse 15. Second Peter two, actually
very similar in content to the book of Jude. They've forsaken the right way, and they've
gone astray, following the way of Baalem, the son of Bior, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.
Isn't that interesting? Now, Baalem, of course, is not an example for us. Jesus Christ obviously
is our example always. But Baalem loved the wages of unrighteousness. Here's this money.
Take it, take it, I can honor you. No, I can't. God won't let me. He loved the wages of unrighteousness.
Verse 16, but he was rebuked for his iniquity. A dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice
restrained the madness of the prophet. Are we beginning to get a clearer picture of what's
going on here? He followed the letter. When God told him, no, here's the limit. You can't.
He followed. They had no choice. This is the way things work. But at the same time, the
hints elsewhere are that he wanted it. He wanted the money for cursing Israel. He couldn't
because God wouldn't permit him. Now, to a transition, and I realize it's all an interesting
story, isn't it? But here's the transition. Here, I think, is a lesson for us in the spring
time of the year. We get to the Passover. And I know for many of you, brethren, this
will be many passovers for many of you. I knew some of you've been in the church for
decades, for a long, long time. I think we've probably got others here who may be young
folks, perhaps, who will be taking the Passover for the first time. And we examine ourselves
and we look at our record and we say, do I sin? Well, yes. We discover our weaknesses,
we see our sins, and if we're not careful, it can be a very discouraging time. That's
not the purpose of the Passover. It's not to discourage. It's so that we would indulge
in this self-examination and this reflection and then get up and walk, keep on going. And
we look at the matter of sin and we determine that we want to eradicate our sin. But the
lesson of Balaam takes us a step further than that because what we learn when we put the
whole picture together is that he wanted it. He didn't cross the line, but he wanted to.
And so perhaps a lesson for us as members of God's church today, not perhaps, let's
take out the word perhaps. The lesson from all of this involves the desire to sin. Perhaps
at this time of the year, with two weeks to go before the Passover, instead of saying,
do I sin? Am I a sinner? Are there things about my way of life that I've got to change?
That's a good question. But there's a deeper question here. What about the desire to sin?
Do I desire to? When we're weeding our gardens, we can pull a weed out and sometimes the top
of the weed comes up and the root stays in the ground and it grows back. How do you eradicate
the weeds? You pull the root of the weed out. The desire to sin, the desire to sin, subjecting
ourselves in the inner man or the inner woman. This is the lesson of Balaam and it's a lesson
that's carried out elsewhere in the Bible. And as we look at ourselves and we examine
ourselves, we need to look not just at, I did this and I did that and it wasn't right.
It was the wrong thing to do. We needed this time of the year to look at our intentions
and our heart and the way we think and what's inside of us. What's in our heart, our thoughts,
our impulses govern our words. What's in our heart, our thoughts and our impulses govern
our actions. The Bible tells us out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
So of course, this is a theme that is carried all the way through the Bible. I want to go
to the book of Zechariah. There's a reason I want to go there. Zechariah chapter 7 because
it's an interesting book. We haven't got to it yet this year at Foundation Institute,
but we will shortly. We're going to get to the post-exilic books, post-exilic minor
prophets. Zechariah 7 verse 10, because I just find it so fascinating that Zechariah
approaches this subject about what's inside of us. What's inside of me? What's inside
of you? Do we have a heart that is right or our intense right? Zechariah 7 verse 10.
Don't oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan
evil in his heart against his brother. Don't plan it. Don't scheme it. I think the old
King James version says, think evil. Don't think evil. Zechariah 8 verse 17. Let none
of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor and do not love a false oath. For
all these things I hate, says the Eternal. And it's an interesting, you know, the Old
Testament gets into the matter of the heart. Some people will say, well, the Old Testament
depicts a religion of actions only, and the New Testament gets into the heart, into the
inner man. And of course that's not true. I think we understand in God's church that's
not the case. God always addresses the matter of the heart. Balaam wanted to. That's the
point. We must not want to. We must not want to lie. We must not want to scheme. We must
not want to commit adultery. We must not want to break the Sabbath. I've known people who
sat in the church, you've known people as well, who when they were told to go ahead,
they were free to go ahead and work on the Sabbath, they turned around. Whoopee, you know.
I always hated the Sabbath. I hope we don't feel that way. I don't think we do. We've
been through enough. We shouldn't want to. Psalm 19. Psalm 19. Psalm 19. Let's turn there.
So many scriptures one could go to in this regard. Psalm 19. But I love this one in particular,
and I think it would be very, very good for all of us as we approach the Passover this
year to keep these wonderful words of King David in Psalm 19 and verses 12 through 14,
uppermost in our mind. What God is looking for, of course, is actions that reject sin,
but he's also looking for a heart in you and me, a heart that is clean and that doesn't want to.
People who are constantly battling because deep down they want to, but they
were constrained themselves from sinning. That's not a very profitable path and it can be very
frustrating. Psalm 19, verse 12. Who can understand his errors, cleanse me from secret faults?
A good thing to ask God at this time of the year, show me, show me where you want me to grow. Be
gentle with me, please, but show me. Verse 13, keep back your servant also from presumptuous
sins. The word in the Hebrew is sins with a high hand. Somebody got their fist in the air
in defiance against God. That's the meaning of that phrase. Let them not have dominion over me.
That would be very serious, wouldn't it? Very deliberate sins. Then I shall be blameless and
shall be innocent of great transgression. But then verse 14, let the words of my mouth and the
meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
The meditation of Balaam's heart was not acceptable in God's sight. That's why we
find these fascinating mentions elsewhere. The meditation of our heart should be acceptable
in God's sight, what we are inside, that we want to do what's right in God's sight. Ezekiel talks
about the same thing in Ezekiel 11 and verse 19. Ezekiel 11 and verse 19. Let's turn to the book
of Ezekiel because interesting, he talks about a new heart as well, so many scriptures. Ezekiel 11
verse 19. Ezekiel 11 verse 19, talking about the restoration of Israel in the future. It's going
to take place not yet. Ezekiel 11 verse 19, God says, then I will give them one heart and I will
put a new spirit within them and take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart
of flesh. One heart, a heart that desires to do what's right. Years ago I heard a minister in the
church characterize what new covenant Christianity is and I think he stated it really very well.
He said, for a new covenant Christian, if it's righteousness, it's what we want. If it's righteousness,
it's what we want. We need to desire righteousness and recently I thought Mr. Franks put it rather
well. I think he made a comment in one of the sermons you probably recall. He said, sometimes
we've emphasized so much what we're getting rid of. We don't emphasize enough what we're putting in.
We should put in a heart that wants to do right, a heart that cares, a heart that is sensitive to
God, a heart that loves the members of the body of Christ, a heart that is willing to do right by
every body. I think I'll just digress a little bit here from my notes, something that's been on my
mind a little bit. I think this is important for many of us because this whole thing of having
the heart right with God at times can be a challenge, can't it? When things have happened
where we've suffered something that wasn't right. I want to ask for a show of hands. How many of us
in services today have ever suffered an injustice, even maybe by a brother or sister in the church?
Something has happened or something has happened at work. It's very difficult sometimes when those
things happen. It's harder to get beyond that and to have this purity of heart that's described in
the scriptures. Let me venture a suggestion. There are times in life when a member of God's church
simply chalks up that kind of thing. They may not be resolved adequately and we can always sit there
waiting for somebody to come along and vindicate us because something happened
X number of months ago, X number of years ago. Now it's time to move forward. Ezekiel 18 verse 31.
Again, the same thought here. Ezekiel 18 verse 31.
Ezekiel says again, this emphasis on the heart, cast away from you all the transgressions which
you've committed and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit, a heart and spirit that wants
to do the right thing, not just rejecting, doing the wrong thing. Balaam refused to do the wrong
thing but it took him only up to one point, one line, one spiritual demarcation line and really
he wanted to do the wrong thing. We mustn't. Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel chapter 36.
Ezekiel chapter 36 and this whole section that one of my study Bibles describes this is Ezekiel's
description of the new covenant. He doesn't use the term new covenant by the way. The term new
covenant, I'm tempted to give a pop quiz. My students at FI know this and I imagine you may
know this as well. Term new covenant is actually only used once in the Old Testament. Jeremiah
was the only one to use that term but Ezekiel describes what in fact is a new covenant here
in Ezekiel chapter 36. He uses slightly different terminology but let's look at the way he describes
it here. Ezekiel 36 and verse 25. It's describing of course the fate of national Israel when God
will redeem them and he will. Ezekiel 36 and verse 25, then I will sprinkle clean water on you
and you shall be clean. And isn't it wonderful when we walked in newness of life and the blood
of Jesus Christ cleansed us. That's ongoing of course as long as we're in a repentant framework
of mind. And I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give
you a new heart and a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh
and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my
statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. Beautiful these Old Testament descriptions
of a time yet to come. See we're sort of the advanced party aren't we? We're not necessarily part of
national Israel. That isn't the point. We're part of the Israel of God, the spiritual Israel. But
God will do that eventually for physical Israel. He's doing that in you and me now. And as we
approach the spring holy days we need to be looking at our hearts. What motivates us? Are we pure in
heart? Looking inside of oneself you know. Again going through this thing that we go through every
year in the spring and you discover things and it's really a very healthy, very healthy experience
to discover areas where you know it may not be some horrible sin that you've got but motivational
patterns. What's my motivational pattern? What's going on? What drives me? Is it the same kind of
motivational pattern that Jesus Christ had? Is it the same motivational pattern that drives me to
do things that Jesus Christ my Savior would have me have? How then do we evaluate all of this as
we come to the Passover? Do I want to sin or do I want to serve God? We need to examine those
motivations inside of us. Examine our desires, our motives and ask God to give us right motives.
Matthew 5 verse 8. Sorry I preach a lot out of the Old Testament. I teach the Old Testament. I do
believe in the New Testament by the way. Just in case there's any doubts in anyone's mind. I
haven't rejected the New Testament. Matthew 5 verse 8. But I spend so much time in the Old
Testament that sometimes my sermons are Old Testament heavy. But of course we can find this
very same point throughout the Scriptures. Matthew 5 verse 8 and this wonderful, wonderful
beatitude, a beautiful attitude as it's referred to here. Blessed are the pure in heart for they
shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. I think we ministers
understand this. Sermon preparation is so much easier after a good dose of prayer. You draw close
to God and all of a sudden sermon prep, prep gets easier. But it's not just sermon prep,
it's everything in life. When we're pure in heart, we see God. He gives us his guidance.
We don't chafe against restrictions. We don't chafe against restrictions. We don't just follow
the letter of the law. It can't be with us like bailing. Well okay, I won't, but I'd really like
to. We approach Passover 2014. Let's ask God to help us to eradicate the desire to sin. To
eradicate the desire to sin. That doesn't mean we live an ascetic life. I think sometimes deep
down don't we have the thought that well if I completely eradicate every desire to sin, life
will not be quite as colorful and as exciting. No, life as we eradicate that desire can be every
bit as exciting. Every bit as rewarding and even more so. First Corinthians chapter five, let's
turn there as we wrap this up. First Corinthians chapter five and I think you know what this says,
but it's a very, very interesting scripture of course. First Corinthians chapter five versus
seven and eight and there's something I'd like to draw out here as we wrap this up for this afternoon.
This is about the days of unleavened bread. First Corinthians five versus seven and eight
and as we've often said in God's church, we know that the Corinthian church was predominantly
non-Jewish which makes this particular passage in First Corinthians all the more interesting.
It was predominantly a Greek church, a non-Jewish church. There was apparently a Jewish minority
in Corinth, but they were a minority and commentators really massacre this section of scripture
at times by the way, but look at what it says literally. First Corinthians five versus seven.
Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump. Some of us probably
deleavening our homes tomorrow and through this coming week, the next couple of weeks.
Since you truly are unleavened, we know the symbolism of leavening, we understand that,
for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us for ordain before the foundation of the world.
Verse eight, therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven nor with the leaven of
malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. We put something else
in, we feed on unleavened bread, righteousness, and we satisfy ourselves with that. The way it's
described here, it's interesting. There is something else that comes in instead of the
leavening instead of the leavened bread and the leavening is characterized here as malice,
interesting word in the Greek. I searched for this word study and I found it eventually
Hastings Dictionary of the New Testament, online edition, malice, the propensity to inflict injury
upon another or to take pleasure in his misfortunes. In early English it denoted wickedness in general,
but the modern meaning is found in Shakespeare, e.g. in Othello's words. Speak of me as I am,
nothing extenuate, nor set down art in malice from Othello. You remember that? I'm sure you've
got Othello on your nightstand, right? Maybe it's been a while since you've read that. I like Shakespeare,
by the way. The word in the Greek is kakia. Sounds nasty, doesn't it? Kakia changed its
connotation in much the same way. In classical Greek it was not a particular fault or vice,
but that badness of nature or character, which is the root of all faults. In the New Testament,
the context generally indicates that kakia is a specific fault or vice. The compound kakotheia,
malicious disposition, designates but one of the many elements or workings of the reprobate mind.
Christians recall the time before the washing of regeneration when they were living in malice
in kakia and envy. Kakia is one of the sins which a believer must resolutely put away.
He is not to eat the Christian Passover with 11 of malice, in the reference to the verse we just
read. In malice, he's to be a babe. Verse Corinthians 14, verse 20, without apparent cause,
the Revises preferred wickedness in James 1.21 for a speed or two one, relegating malice to the
margin. Only once is the wider meaning unquestionable. The kakia at which Simon the magician is
urged to repent is no specific fault, but the deep-seated wickedness of the man who is still
in the gall of bitterness. From Acts chapter eight. So we approach the Passover just a couple of
weeks away and I think there is a lesson in all of this fascinating history of this man who shows
up in the New Testament who apparently deep down really wanted it. But he didn't because there was
a line in the sand. You and I, we've got to be a little different. Put away sin and put away the
desire to sin.
