City Life Starter

The Word: Matt 5:17

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

Deut 20:16-18

 “But of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, 17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.”

Reflection Questions:

1. Do you think God is cruel? Why or why not?
2. Have you read the cruel stories for yourself and asked God Himself about them?

By Heather Mattingly

“How can the Old Testament God be the same as Jesus? The Old Testament God was so cruel.” Have you ever spoken with a person who had this thought and/or thought this yourself? Reading the Old Testament can be difficult enough (pronouncing names, places, following genealogies, etc), but then reading certain stories on top of everything else in the Old Testament can make you stop and wonder about this good and gracious God you sing to God telling Abraham to kill his own son as a sacrifice (Genesis 22)? Not letting anyone with a physical defect offer sacrifices (Lev 21:16-23)? Everything He did to Job (Job)? Capital punishment for adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22), killing an entire people (Lev 25:17-19), and wiping out entire cities, including women and children (Deut. 20:16-18)? These are just a few examples…..how do you reconcile these things with a God who “has loved [you] with an everlasting love,” and “draws [you] to Himself with unfailing kindness?” (Jer. 31:3).

There is no easy answer, but have you taken your question(s) directly to God Himself? This means praying and reading your Bible, His Word, for yourself. This does not mean listening to what someone else, even a pastor, says about your questions (although we love and appreciate our pastors!), but this means sitting down before God and asking Him directly and spending time with Him in His Word, studying His Word, and letting Him reveal Himself directly to you. If you have been listening to the messages and reading this blog throughout our current “I Want To Believe, But….” sermon series, one of your takeaways is hope that, despite all of the questions and deal-breaker objections about the Christian faith, God desperately wants to reveal Himself to you. God is invisible, and as such, you physically cannot see Him, hear Him, or understand Him unless He reveals Himself to you. And He wants to! He made you, you are His child, and He wants to talk to you Himself! When you take your own deal-breaker doubts and questions directly to Him, He will answer you. You and your questions are not a burden to Him.

Well, what does doing this look like, practically? Let’s walk through an example together from the above text: Deuteronomy 20:16-17 tells us that, “But of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, 17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you.” How could God order the annihilation of an entire people? Basically a genocide? Multiple genocides? One of the things Pastor Chris explained on Sunday was that we lose much by not knowing the full context of a situation. The next verse tells us that, “lest [these people] teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.” (Deut 20:18). The context of this situation is that if you put two things together, eventually they will mix. And God is holy; it’s not that He won’t be in the presence of sin, He can’t be in the presence of sin. God’s people were (and still are) called to be pure, holy, and set apart – just like God Himself is. This involves ruthlessly pulling out everything that is not pure. Something that is overlooked in this story is God’s mercy in not destroying these peoples at a prior point in time – back in Genesis 15. The story in Genesis 15 is when God cut a covenant with Abram [better known as Abraham] and told him that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land, but then they would return to Canaan. Gold told Abram, “But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (Gen. 15:16). Over 400 years before, God foretold of the destroying of the Canaanites but pronounced to Abram that it wasn’t yet time. There was a bigger picture going on that He was working out, and their “iniquity was not yet complete.”

Jesus teaches this same concept about ruthlessly separating impure contaminants from pure things in the New Testament in Matthew 5 when He teaches, “[i]f your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30 And if your right-hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” (Matt 5:29-30). Our idols are not pets, we must be ruthless and merciless in casting them out completely. It is a matter of life and death. In the Old Testament, God was creating a holy people, a royal priesthood, for Himself, and drawing them out from the world around them. Now in the New Testament, God is doing the same thing: creating for Himself a holy people, a royal priesthood, drawing them out from the world and its contaminants surrounding them. Just a few verses prior, Jesus taught that “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” (Matt 5:13). How does salt lose its’ flavor? The only way it can lose its’ flavor is if it is mixed with other elements, thereby becoming not pure. Thus, the salt is only good for being thrown out and trampled upon. What would have happened to the Israelites had they let the peoples of the land remain? Deut 20:18 tells us the answer: they would have mixed with the local people and committed adultery with the local gods against the Lord. There’s no playing with sin; you’re either pure, or you’re not. God was in the right to command the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites, just as He is in the right to command you to destroy the sin in your own life at any cost. This seemingly ruthless command is real love and is for you, not against you.

This is just one example of walking through a concerning story or question in the Bible, and this was done in an abridged manner. I challenge you to identify one story that you have an issue with and take it to God yourself today. See what He tells you and shows you in His word. Let Him reveal Himself to you. The question is: will you take the time to allow not only yourself to talk to God and study His Word, but will you take the time to let Him answer you?

As a final note, it’s also important for us to remember Who it is we are dealing with. The Bible says that “Your way was in the sea,

Your path in the great waters and Your footsteps were not known.” (Psalm 77:19). God is He Who “walks through the sea.” Can you imagine that? Dialoguing with Someone whose footsteps go through the sea! God is also He who tells us, “My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together” (Isa. 48:13). My own hand can barely wash two dishes at the same time, much less “lay the foundations of the earth.” He is God, and we are not. I am so grateful He welcomes my questions and doubts, and that He answers them. But He won’t if I don’t bring them directly to Him.

Go directly to Him today with your own doubts and questions and let Him be your loving Daddy. Spend some extra moments in your quiet time today seeking Him, and yet He “who speaks out of the storm” (Job 38:1) speak directly to you.

Prayer:

“Father, how could You have commanded the death of so many people in the Old Testament and done other things like _________? And how are You the same today in the New Covenant? I don’t understand it; how can I explain my faith to others when I can’t even understand parts of it, parts of You, myself? I have placed my trust in you, but I still have these questions. Help my unbelief! (Mark 9:24). Holy Spirit, will You please answer me? I will wait on You in Your Word today to hear Your answer. Speak, Lord; for your servant is listening.” (1 Sam 3:10).”