Let us ‘Exodus’ right back to the boarders of the ‘Promised Land,’ Israel has just like us, finally reached the end of the ‘Exodus,’ just right there is the reality to the often spoken of words and promises. Balak, the king is petrified by the vastness of Israel, so urgently calls for Baalam, (the talking donkey Baalam) to curse these hoards, so that they will be weakened, and then he can irradicate and conquer them. God is not mocked; God cannot allow a curse on that which he is so abundantly blessing. Baalam comes up with the only solution, just get Israel to ‘sin,’ and then their God becomes their enemy, and God will destroy them for you, just separate the people from God by sin, and then just sit back and watch as God destroys them. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” So Balak seduced Israel with exciting worship, false and idol worship, with adulterous relations, sexual sins, seduction on many fronts, therefore Israel forgot her commitment to God, and went a whoring after foreign gods. Israel broke her ‘Covenant Commitment Relationship’ to be pure and true to God, (Marriage Relationship Terms,) and have total loyalty to God alone, thus plagues and disasters and death quickly overcame them.
Quote; “It was Satan’s studied effort [in the antediluvian age] to pervert the marriage institution, to weaken its obligations and lessen its sacredness; for in no surer way could he deface the image of God in man and open the door to misery and vice. Satan well knows the material with which he has to deal with in the human heart. He knows–for he has studied, with fiendish intensity, for thousands of years–the weak points most easily assailed in every character; and through successive generations he has wrought to overthrow the strongest men, princes in Israel, by the same temptations that were so successful at Baal-Peor. All along through the ages there are strewn the wrecks of character that have been stranded upon the rocks of sensual indulgence.
Tragedy in Israel. –The crime that brought the judgments of God upon Israel was that of licentiousness. The forwardness of women, to entrap souls, did not end at Baal-Peor. Notwithstanding the punishment that followed the sinners in Israel, the same crime was repeated many times. Satan was most active in seeking to make Israel’s overthrow complete. The licentious practice of the Hebrews accomplished for them that which all the warfare of nations and the enchantments of Balaam could not do. They became so separated from their God. Their covering and protection were removed from off them. God indeed turned out to be their enemy. So many of the princes and people were guilty of licentiousness. {AH 326}
Quote; “The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The observance of the false sabbath will be urged upon us. The contest will be between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will then yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. At that time the gold will be separated from the dross. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will then go out in darkness. Those who have assumed the ornaments of the sanctuary, but are not clothed with Christ’s righteousness, will then appear in the shame of their own nakedness. {PK 188} Just like at Baal-Peor, a sifting, a sorting, a separation will occur, those true to God will become more loyal and more Bible Based, for they are wheat, the latter rain, those showers of blessing, the Holy Spirit leading and correcting, they will confess and forsake their sins and failings, and in newness of life in Christ, will arise and cross the Jordan River; vertical river this time, straight up into the arms of Jesus at his soon appearing, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
Judgement, sifting, sorting, dross removal, examining, is always the work of the Angels, and not for you and me, Matthew 13:29-30 “But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers [The Angels], Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” Quote; “The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” {ST, March 12, 1894}
God follows a pattern, Israel (both the wheat and tares, sheep and goats, the prepared and unprepared Bridesmaids) all arrive at the Jordan river, the end of the Exodus is right there, they can see it clearly the Promised Land, the end is in sight, Baalam councils King Balack, and a corrupting influence comes in, the chaff is sifted out, the dross is removed from the redeemed, the tares are bound into bundles ready for burning, this is ‘Rosh Hashannah,’ or the ‘Feast of Trumpets,’ for it runs for 40 days, (40 is ‘Delay’) or delaying the crossing into the promised land, the sorting is done, the trash is removed, and then Yom Kippur, or “The Great Day of Atonement,” then is Judgement Completed, no records of sin or falling short is ever found amongst the wheat, the redeemed, so they are taken, shipped as one completed and full shipment of the Exodus and Redeemed, bound for Heaven, leaving the chaff and tares behind all ready for burning. Quote; “Just as soon as the people of God are sealed in their foreheads–it is not any seal or mark that can be seen, but a settling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved–just as soon as God’s people are sealed and prepared for the shaking, it will come. Indeed, it has begun already; the judgments of God are now upon the land, . . . that we may know what is coming. {FLB 288} Many will fall short of the Glory of God, Baal-Peor will reveal their real passions and desires, 2 Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” Baal-Peor will be the undoing of any semblance of righteousness, they are chaff, they are tares, they are unfitted for the purity of heaven, they fall short, God removes them from among his people, right there on the boarders of the Promised Land, the unready miss out by the tiniest of margins, will you also “Fall short of the Glory of God,” will sleeping on the job unfit you for Eternity, will the imminent Judgement, the Feast of Trumpets warning us to awake out of sleep, to set our souls right, to make our calling and election sure, Bible Based, rooted and grounded, or will the crafty deceptions like at Baal-Peor, sweep you away in a flood, never to be seen of again. Hebrews 3:12-14 “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;” Are you and I “Settling into truth and salvation,” or “settling into sin and death?” Baal-Peor is right here, how will you stand in that great day??
