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Today we are going to look into the
Old Testament, to an obscure passage of Scripture that God has
planted there for every discerning eye to see. In fact, the message
these passage bring are ideally fit for this day in which we live.
So after we pause now for a refreshing moment of music, I'll return
to present today's talk entitled, RECALLING THE RECHABITES! ...
Of all the Old Testament books in the Bible, perhaps the Book of Jeremiah is one of the saddest. In fact Jeremiah is often called the "weeping" prophet, because of the tears he often shed for the tragedies of judgments that had to fall upon his beloved people Israel. Jeremiah was appointed a prophet of God at a very early age. He began his ministry among God's people during the reign of King Josiah, and through his years of ministry, sadly all the words of Jeremiah went unheeded. It appeared that God's chosen people Israel, had no more time for God in their lives, let alone His prophet. Jeremiah faithfully preached God's Word to his people the Jews, but never made a convert. What's worse, he was rejected by his people, hated by most of them, at times he was beaten, imprisoned and even charged as being a traitor. His message of judgment from God, broke his heart and even caused him to desire to resign, but God refused to hear of it.
From his beginning days of ministry
with the good king Josiah, he stood in office through the downfall
of Jerusalem and through the Babylonian captivity, which he predicted
would happen. Now, the main message of Jeremiah was one of judgment
from God for the disobedience of the Jewish nation. Jeremiah clearly
identified the sin of the Jews, and often called them to repent.
Finally, when no repentance came, Jeremiah called them to surrender
to the enemy - the time had come for them to be taken away in
captivity. However, just before God's final judgment occurred,
a strange happening appears in Jerusalem that Jeremiah takes note
of. I think today we too, can learn much if we take note of it.
Our story of the Rechabites begins
in Israel's darkest hour. The great city of Jerusalem that God
had promised would prosper, was now under siege by the armies
of King Nebuchadnezzar. It appeared that the final fall of the
invincible city was near, and that captivity under the Babylonians
was inevitable, for the "golden days" of Israel's glorious
past were over. Israel's greatest leaders were now but a memory,
and the rulers of mighty Jerusalem were now nothing more than
corrupt politicians and apostate religious leaders - both who
lived in full rebellion to the laws of God that founded their
nation and societal life.
It appears that one of the great sins
Israel was guilty of, was its societal denial of God's "law
of liberty". In Israel's past God said that an Israelite
could place himself in slavery to pay off debts, but no Israelite
could hold a slave longer than six years. We read this in,
Exo 21:1-6 (NIV) ""These are the
laws you are to set before them: 2 "If you buy a Hebrew servant,
he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he
shall go free, without paying anything. 3 If he comes alone, he
is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is
to go with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears
him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong
to her master, and only the man shall go free. 5 "But if
the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children
and do not want to go free,' 6 then his master must take him before
the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and
pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life."
Yet, as time went on the nation of
Israel forgot God's societal laws and began living according to
their own wisdom which was contrary to God's written in the Bible.
Now slavery was common in those days, and many Israelites who
were in debt became slaves, not for six years but for life! This
was gross disobedience to God's laws. Well when it seemed Jerusalem
would soon fall in 589 BC King Zedekiah and the city fathers -
they seemed to repent of this evil of secularism, and decreed
freedom to all the slaves. Jeremiah speaking on behalf of God,
blessed them for he said in,
Jeremiah 34:15 Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to his countrymen. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name.
At that point the armies of Egypt advanced upon Jerusalem and encountered Nebuchadnezzar's armies. To the Jews it seemed that Nebuchadnezzar's attack ceased, as his armies move way. For the inhabitants of Jerusalem, it appeared that God was going to save Jerusalem. How did the king and the leaders of the city respond? Listen to the Biblical record.
We read in,
Jeremiah 34:11 But afterward they changed their
minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them
again.
God seeing this false repentance and
mockery of His Word declared,
Jeremiah 34:16-22 But now you have turned around and profaned my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again. {17} "Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me .... So I now proclaim 'freedom' for you, declares the LORD--'freedom' to fall by the sword, plague and famine .... {20} I will hand you over to your enemies who seek your lives. Your dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. {21} "I will hand Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you. {22} I am going to give the order, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, take it and burn it down. And I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there."
Yes, the final act of this nation's
quest to be a secular culture without God and His laws guiding
them was the concluding act of rebellion and now God's judgment
of taking away the nation and its people were at hand. But before
Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem, and interesting byline occurs
in God's narrative. It appears that a whole tribe of Israelites
suddenly enter the city. A group of people who for centuries lived
outside the gates as nomads. These people were called the RECHABITES.
Who were these strange cousins of Israel? Most of the residents
of Jerusalem never had seen them, nor heard of them until now.
But there they were all their men, women and children - the whole
tribe seeking shelter from the armies of warring heathen around
them.
Now, in researching these people, we find that the Rechabites were descendants of Moses' father-in-law Jethro, who had followed Moses and the Jews in the great exodus from Egypt. Yet when Jethro's people reached the Promised Land, a great leader of this tribe arose named Rechab along with a son Jonadab. These two men saw the evils of the land of Canaan into which they were going to live, and made an important decision.
They made a covenant with God and their families, that when they entered the land they would not indulge themselves in the lifestyles and frivolity of its people. They promised God they would not partake in the degenerating influences of intoxicating wine, nor would they settle in towns and cities, nor would they engage in farm life. Rather they would live in tents, nomad style and through this austere way of life, they planned to preserve their clan from the evils that would come upon their brethren Israel. Well, for centuries these people honored this covenant with their ancestors, and when they entered Jerusalem for safety, Jeremiah took note of them.
The Bible reveals that God asked Jeremiah
to publicly test them. So Jeremiah calls them to a special test.
Listen to what God says he was to do. We read in,
Jeremiah 35:5-8 Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the men of the Rechabite family and said to them, "Drink some wine." {6} But they replied, "We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jonadab son of Rechab gave us this command: 'Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine. {7} Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.' {8} We have obeyed everything our forefather Jonadab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine."
Although Jeremiah tempted them according
to God's command, the purpose was not to compromise them, but
to show their faithfulness to obey the law of their ancestral
father. Now, it was at this point God speaks through Jeremiah
these words to the rebellious inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Jeremiah 35:14-19 'Jonadab son of Rechab ordered
his sons not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To
this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather's
command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have
not obeyed me. {15} Again and again I sent all my servants the
prophets to you .... But you have not paid attention or listened
to me. {16} The descendants of Jonadab son of Rechab have carried
out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have
not obeyed me.' {17} "Therefore, this is what the LORD God
Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'Listen! I am going to bring
on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I
pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen;
I called to them, but they did not answer.'" {18} Then Jeremiah
said to the family of the Rechabites, .... You have obeyed the
command of your forefather Jonadab and have followed all his instructions
and have done everything he ordered.' {19} Therefore, this is
what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'Jonadab son
of Rechab will never fail to have a man to serve me.'"
Now although the RECHABITES lifestyles
was not what God was ordering especially for Israel, the illustration
God used is applicable to us today. God has given us a nation
founded by a people who's God was the Lord. It is historically
incontestable to deny that America was founded as a Christian
nation to be ordered in its laws by the Word of God, and its societal
life was to reflect those laws in daily living.
Yes, friend, this nation was never
founded or established for people who rejected the God of Christianity.
Yet today, we have allowed the alien godless atheists of our land,
and false religionist to take over rulership and overthrow God's
law for a nation's life and living. As a result the peoples of
America, through the centuries of its existence, have likewise
cast off God's laws and established their own for living. Today
America and its citizen's mock the Bible, laugh at its precepts,
and boldly curse the God of Christianity. Yet the Rechabites stand
as God's warning and calling, not only for ancient Israel, but
also for true Christians, regardless of how others live around
us, that we would walk in the old paths wherein s the good way.
Now quickly, I see two important things in the Rechabites commitment
that we should consider today to preserve our heritage in godless
times. The first thing that characterized the RECHABITE'S lives
was they ...
HELD TENACIOUSLY TO THE GREAT
PRINCIPLES OF THEIR FOREFATHER'S WORDS.
In like manner, God has given us His Word the Bible, and it is
filled with the great principles of morality, justice, holiness
and righteousness. We too, must tenaciously hold onto them and
pass them faithfully on to the next generation. That is the main
duty of every Christian life. If we fail, we lose our inheritance
and children. Yet today how sad, so many Christians have failed
to pass on the faith once delivered to the saints. The great principles
of holy separated living is lost to many of today's Christian
lifestyles. Today in the church it is difficult to gather the
saints together for serious and deep study of God's Word. Many
churches have had to give up having Sunday School's, weekly Bible
studies and even Sunday evening and midweek services. Why? Well,
God's people today have no time for them and find them unimportant.
Yet, to give up the principles of our forefathers commitment to
fortify their children's spiritual lives is not without cost.
Our compromised Christian living and worship styles have lost
many of our youth to the godless world in which we live. Yes,
the Rechabites kept themselves apart from this by adhering faithfully
to the elementary laws their fathers taught them, and for centuries
never changed, although everyone else around them did.
Now the second great principle of the
RECHABITES lives, was the fact that they...
ABSTAINED FROM THE SPIRIT
OF THE AGE IN WHICH THEY LIVED. They
chose not to indulge in drinking intoxicating beverages, nor to
in the lifestyles of city dwelling, rather they chose to live
in tents, nomad style. This was their personal commitment to avoid
the lifestyles of the godless around them that they felt would
drag them down and away from God's holy living. Today in the areas
of worldly music and entertainment, many Christians are reveling
in the godless filth of Hollywood's trash, many Christians today
cannot be found in holy worship, but easily found in the music
and dance halls clapping and gyrating to the sensuous beat of
jungle occultic styles of music -- that now can be found in even
the best of the Christian world. Still others have adopted the
immoral living and dress of a world without God, and have fallen
into the cesspools of its makings. Beverage alcohol is now for
many Christians an acceptable part of social pastime. Wine and
beer are found in the refrigerators of so-called good church people
and their leaders. Many are saying - "we can handle it."
Gambling such as state lotteries, and bingo games and the like,
are becoming favorite pastimes of many Christians too.
Yet these compromises with a world
under judgment have only brought many believers and their children
into the same paths of sin, and temporal judgments that accompany
them. Unlike the compromising crowds, the RECHABITES stood firm,
they said we will not drink wine, nor will we live in the mainstream
city life of the peoples around us. We will keep ourselves separate,
and to their blessing, they did!
But note, when God's people had fallen
into the depths of the godlessness of the peoples round about
- these RECHABITES stood out, and God took notice of them. God
promised them that they would survive as a peoples, and God would
bless them for their faithfulness in keeping themselves from the
spirit of the age in which they lived. Do you know that today
there are tribes in the Palestinian regions that claim their heritage
to the RECHABITES, and they are still living separate from other
peoples? Yet the most important thing is, they preserved their
lives and maintained God's blessing by not compromising with the
world around them, and by living disciplined lives that avoided
the excesses and indulgences of the godless.
Today my friend, where does this message
find you? Like the Rechabites? Living holy separated lives? Or
have you like a dead fish, been flowing with the stream downward
to its end? I think it's time for revival in the land. For all
of God's people to come back to the good ways of the past. To
stand as the Scripture says, "in the old paths wherein is
the good way." To keep our homes, our lifestyles, our dress
different from those who live without God. Yes, there will be
a price for this, and there will be a measure of separation that
will seem lonely, but God will be with all of God's people who
keep the words of their heavenly Father. For God promises us and
our children, that we will stand in that day, and enter into the
His final blessings for life and eternity. Like Joshua of old
will you right now make a new commitment to say, "As for
me and my house we will serve the Lord." Or will you like
the multitudes in Jerusalem in that day of its darkest hour go
on living in rebellion to God and His word hoping you make it
on your own? My friend, the same outcome awaits us in this day.
We are commanded to repent, to change our minds and ways, or face
coming judgments too. May the story of the faithful Rechabites
in the time when God's people had fallen all around, be a clarion
call to you my friend to come to God through Jesus Christ, or
to simply renew your faithfulness to His Word, and His church
and people, until He comes for us in glory.
Yes, the RECHABITES dwelled in tents,
they lived differently from those around them, the made a commitment
to not soil their bodies and souls with the allurements of the
world without God - and doing so gave them a future and present
blessing. May you my listening friend hear through this story
from the Old Testament, the voice of God calling you to Himself,
and the call for you to carefully yield your family and life to
the ways of His Word. Like Israel of old, the days are drawing
near when the Lord will return, and with it, He promises to bring
the world to judgment. Oh yes, many laugh at such a statement,
but so they did to Noah and his family; so they did to Jeremiah
and Rechabites, but judgment did come and took them all away.
May God give us light and meaning, and may real repentance and
revival renew us today for Jesus sake. Amen.
The World, the Word & You! Broadcast is a non-denominational ministry based on the historic fundamental evangelical interpretation of the Scriptures.A copy of our doctrinal statement is available upon request.These weekly radio commentaries can be heard in selected areas around the nation. Dennis Finnan has been the speaker for 16 years, and serves as General Director. These transcripts are available free of charge to all who desire them. Also available are radio cassette tapes and printed booklets of each message. A free listing of all messages is available upon request also.
For further information, reprints, or a listing of all topics, please write to our speaker,
Dennis L. Finnan(wwyfin@sparc.isl.net), or visit our webpage at [ http://www.isl.net/wwyweb.html ].