cursed – Praying Pint

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”.

1 John 5:11-13    And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

John 3:36     Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

John 5:24   Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 6:40     For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:47    Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

John 8:51    Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

John 11:26    and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Mark 16:16    Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

1 Peter 1:21   who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

John 10:27-30   My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”

1 Thessalonians 5:9     For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

1 John 3:14    We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

Ephesians 2:5     even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

The second we were born we were given a “death sentence”. Seems harsh, doesn’t it? Some may be born and live 70 to 100 years. Others are much shorter. However, the fact remains that every last one of us will die. We will experience death. Our time on this side of eternity will stop. All of the pleasures, trials, blessings, troubles, love, anger, joy, hate, worry, fear, peace, hope, etc…… on earth will cease for us. We do not know the day or time of our death but it is as sure as the sun rising and setting. We don’t give much thought to our death, but we sure give much thought to our living.

We try to prolong life and delay death without giving much thought to death. It seems as though it is something that happens to others and not so much to us, when in fact, it will. We don’t know when our time will be over. And yet it will happen.

When we don’t give thought to death and what is on the other side of it, our lives become full of only what this world has to offer us. temporal things, things that will decay, things that give us short-lived satisfaction, and they are all left behind when we die.

There is a spiritual side to every single person born just as there is a fleshly side. We tend to the flesh but give little thought to the spiritual. Think about it, how much of your time any given day is given toward God and eternity compared to things of this world.

Scripture tells us that though our flesh dies our spirit lives forever. It also reveals that there are two destinations to which our spirit will arrive. Eternal life in heaven with God or eternal total separation from God in hell. How important then is it to give time to thinking about the eternal over what is temporal? How important is it to give thought to eternal life in heaven and eternal separation in hell?

Scripture says – Death

Romans 5:12     Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Hebrews 9:27. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”.

Job 14:5    Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

Job 30:23     For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.

Psalms 89:48     What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?

Ecclesiastes 3:20    All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

Ecclesiastes 9:5     For the living know that they will die

Ecclesiastes 12:7   and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Scripture says – Judgment

Ecclesiastes 11:9    Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

Ecclesiastes 12:14     For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Matthew 25:31-34     “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

41  “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

2 Timothy 4:1     I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead

Romans 2:5   But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Romans 14:12   So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

2 Corinthians 5:10    For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Jude 1:15    to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

Scripture says – Life

Jhn 3:16    “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 Timothy 1:15-16    The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

John 3:36    Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

John 5:24     Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 6:40     For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 20:31    but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Romans 5:21     so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23     For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 John 5:11-12    And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

53.j. Wilderness – 17.p. “Yhere is no rock like our God”

Deu 32:31  For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves.

Numbers 23:8   How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?

1 Samuel 2:2    “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

Jeremiah 40:3   The LORD has brought it about, and has done as he said. Because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey his voice, this thing has come upon you.

Daniel 2:47   The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries

Daniel 3:29    Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.”

Daniel 6:26-27    I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.  He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.”

Firm foundation: the solid eternity of the rock on which we can build. Refuge: ‘refuge from the storm’; ‘my rock and my fortress and my high tower.’

Every man’s experience shows him that there is no such refuge anywhere else. We do not assert that every man consciously comes to that conclusion. All we say is that he would do so if he rightly pondered the facts. The history of every life is a history of disappointment. Take these particulars just stated and ask yourselves: What does experience say as to the possibility of our possessing such blessings apart from God? There is no need for us to exaggerate, for the naked reality is sad enough. If God is not our best Good, we have no solid good. Every other ‘rock’ crumbles into sand.

Every man’s own nature tells him that God is his true Rock.

Again I say that here I do not appeal to the surface of our consciousness, nor to men who have sophisticated themselves, nor to people who have sinned themselves, into hardness, but to the voice of the inner man which speaks in the depths of each man’s being. There is the cry of Want: the manifest want of the soul for God. There is the voice of Reason. There is the voice of Conscience.

Yet many of us will not take God for our Rock.

Surely it is a most extraordinary thing that men should be ‘judges,’ being convinced in their deepest consciousness that God is the only Foundation and Refuge, and yet that the conviction should have absolutely no influence on their conduct. (MacLaren)

God is certainly ever-present and a rock and refuge for those who are His children. Disobedient, complacent, neglectful, unappreciative, deaf, blind, self-reliant, self-worthy, lovers of self, proud, greedy, jealous, etc… as we may be, He has reached out to us and sent His Son to redeem us for His own purpose, pleasure, and plans. How are we to act in light of His blessings? How are we to think and speak? How are we to honor God the creator of all there is? By continually renewing our minds through His word and intentionally desiring to live to honor and glorify Him.

52.o. Wilderness – 16.u. ““But if you will not listen to Me”

Deu 28:15-20  “But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.  Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. “The LORD will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.

Leviticus 26:14-16    “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments,  if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you:

I will set my face against you

I will visit you with panic

I will set my face against you

I will discipline you

I will break the pride of your power

I will continue striking you

I also will walk contrary to you in fury

I will bring a sword upon you

I will send pestilence among you

I break your supply of bread

I myself will discipline

I myself will devastate the land

I will unsheathe the sword after you

I will send faintness into their hearts

“But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity, I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers

I am the LORD their God.

Isaiah 3:11     Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.

Daniel 9:13    As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.

Malachi 2:2     If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.

Romans 2:8-9     but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.  There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek

Galatians 3:10    For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

We enjoy and turn our ears toward scripture where grace, peace, love, joy, hope, refuge, eternal life, salvation, redemption, and forgiveness are found. Our ears open up and our hearts are encouraged by them. And they should be, for in them we find eternal hope and reasons for living to the honor and glory of Jesus Christ.

I fear we stop short of our understanding of the holiness of God though. We truly enjoy hearing about the blessings of God but much of the time we skim over or deafen our ears to the warnings and curses of God. When we do this our understanding of our fleshly desires, sinfulness, and worldly temptations get watered down. We live in a make believe mindset that views God as a blessing giver and all we have to do is to the God-ATM and withdraw a blessing when we are running low. It is as though we keep a ledger book of the good works we do in the hope they will over shadow the wrongs, and thereby, add blessings into our account. It is as if we don’t even consider the need for confession and repentance because our minds are set on receiving blessings. Many times the blessings we seek are worldly and not of God. Other times we seek blessings while we are openly walking in sin.

A weak understanding of the curses, which points out the sinfulness of our hearts and minds, severely hinders our understanding of God’s grace, mercy, and love. Without this understanding of our sinfulness and the greatness of God’s grace, mercy, and love we live blinded to worldly and fleshly lusts and unable to discern between Godly and worldly. It is through His Word and the Holy Spirit that we are able to examine our hearts and minds of worldly and fleshly desires.

How can we be careful to do all the Lord commands without knowing His Word? How can we know the fullness of God’s grace without knowing the full extent of our intent to disregard holy living? God is not mocked. If we sow neglect to His Word we will harvest the rotting flesh of the fruit of neglect. If we sow desires for what this world has to offer we will harvest nothing that will satisfy our hungering soul. If we sow the busyness of life we will harvest nothing that gives us peace, joy, or rest.

The whole Word of God is given to us so that we will grow and mature in our understanding of His holiness, grace, mercy, and love. It is in this understanding that we continue to grow and mature in our desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all of our thoughts, words, and actions every second of every day.

43.d. “Wilderness” – 7.k. Sinai – “You shall not steal.”

Exodus 20:15  “You shall not steal.

Leviticus 19:13   “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

Deuteronomy 24:7    “If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Deuteronomy 25:15-16   A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.  For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God.

Proverbs 11:1    A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.

Micah 6:10-11    Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed?  Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?

Matthew 15:19    For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

1 Corinthians 6:10   nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 4:28    Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

1Thessalonians 4:7-8  For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Malachi 3:8-9 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me

This command is another important foundation for human society, establishing the right to personal property. God has clearly entrusted certain possessions to certain individuals, and other people or states are not permitted to take that property without due process of law. (Guzik)

This command forbids us to rob ourselves of what we have, by sinful spending, or of the use and comfort of it, by sinful sparing; and to rob others by invading our neighbour’s rights, taking his goods, or house, or field, forcibly or clandestinely, overreaching in bargains, not restoring what is borrowed or found, withholding just debts, rents, or wages; and, which is worst of all, to rob the public in the coin or revenue, or that which is dedicated to the service of religion. (Benson)

Thou shall not steal. Which is to take away another man’s property by force or fraud, without the knowledge, and against the will of the owner thereof. Thefts are of various kinds; there is private theft, picking of pockets, shoplifting, burglary, or breaking into houses in the night, and carrying off goods; public theft, or robbing upon the highways; domestic theft, as when wives take away their husbands’ money or goods. (Gill)

Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land!

We never have the right to Steal, taking that which belongs to another and claiming it for ourselves either by theft, fraud, or utilization of fine print in contracts, obscure laws, or any other means. Stealing something from another person is wrong. There is no justification for it. We might say it is due me, they owe me so I am going to steal something back from them, or we might even say they have said or done something to me so I am going to steal from them. There is no justification for it. The heart says I want it, I need it, I will take it or swindle it away from he that owns it. There are many areas in a person’s life where stealing can manifest itself. Easily enough is outright theft or defrauding. How about stealing time from your employer, or underpaying employees for their work, finding a purse or wallet without returning it, falsely claiming something is yours, underreporting taxes, overstating expense reports, etc…. Not only are there many ways the heart and mind can find ways to steal, equally there are many ways the heart and mind justify it.

Let’s look at this from heaven. God is the Creator and author of each of us. Everything we have is ultimately His, especially our talents for they too are God-given, everything from brains to physical abilities. When we use these talents to honor and glorify God, this is true, right, and good for us to do. When we use these and claim them as our own talents, boasting publicly or privately as though through our own efforts they are worth our boasting and pride, we rob God of His glory and honor and praise and worship for what He has given to us. This too is stealing and this does not even touch on the tithed giving unto God.

We do well in our desire to honor and glorify God in all we think, say, and do, to ask for discernment in our hearts to recognize the seeds of whatever may allow us to justify taking that which is not ours.

42.y. “Wilderness” – 7.f. Sinai – “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain”

Exodus 20:7  “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Leviticus 24:11-16    and the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name, and cursed. Then they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.  And they put him in custody, till the will of the LORD should be clear to them.  Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,  “Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.  And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.  Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

James 5:12    But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

There are at least three ways this command is commonly disobeyed.

· Profanity: Using the name of God in blasphemy and cursing.

· Frivolity: Using the name of God in a superficial, stupid way.

· Hypocrisy: Claiming the name of God but acting in a way that disgraces Him

Jesus communicated the idea of this command in the disciples’ prayer when He taught us to have a regard for the holiness of God’s name (Hallowed be Your name, Matthew 6:9). (Guzik)

You shall not use the name of God, either in oaths or in common discourse, lightly, rashly, irreverently, or unnecessarily, or without weighty or sufficient cause. (Poole)

Thou shall not take the name of the Lord God in vain,…. Make use of the name Lord or God, or any other name and epithet of the divine Being, in a light and trifling way, without any show of reverence of him, and affection to him; whereas the name of God ought never to be mentioned but in a grave and serious manner, and with an awe of the greatness of his majesty upon the mind. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name is vain; will not look upon him as an innocent person, and treat him as such; will not acquit and discharge him as just and righteous; but on the contrary will consider him as a guilty person, a profaner of his name, and a transgressor of his law, and will condemn and punish him, if not in this world, yet in the world to come. (Gill)

The word prohibits all employment of the name of God for vain and unworthy objects, and includes not only false swearing, which is condemned in Leviticus 19:12 as a profanation of the name of Jehovah, but trivial swearing in the ordinary intercourse of life, and every use of the name of God in the service of untruth and lying, for imprecation, witchcraft, or conjuring; whereas the true employment of the name of God is confined to “invocation, prayer, praise, and thanksgiving,” which proceeds from a pure, believing heart. (Brown)

It is important for each of us to have a proper reverence for God. There are so many ways to get this wrong in our lives. Proper reverence will seek and desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all we think, say, and do. When our lives are consumed with worldly stuff and the busyness of life we will become neglectful and complacent in the Word of God and Things of God will become less and less important. What do we suppose will influence our lives, one hour on a Sunday listening to a sermon, or careful and desire-full daily reading of His Word with the intentional choice to be led in both thought, speech, and acts that honor and glorify Him? How much time a day do we not even give a thought to or about God? How many times is God’s name profaned by minimizing it with “omg” in response to something on social media? How many times is God’s name used in jokes about heaven and hell? How many times is His name used cursing? Far too many! The shallowness of commitment to the Word of God and the Things of God will leave a person void of reverence for God. In this shallow commitment, there is no concern for Honor and Glory to God. “this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain” (Mark 7:6-7)

The ease with which people are neglecting God’s Word and the Things of God is surely a sign of the times and the return of Jesus Christ.

42.v. “Wilderness” – 7.d. Sinai – “You shall not make for yourself a carved image”

Exodus 20:4  “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Leviticus 19:4    Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 26:1    “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 4:15  “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully.

Deuteronomy 4:23  Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you

Deuteronomy 27:15   “‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’

Psalms 97:7    All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols;

Isaiah 42:8   I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.

Isaiah 44:9   All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.

Isaiah 45:16    All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together.

Jeremiah 10:3  for the customs of the peoples are vanity.

Jeremiah 10:8-9    They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood!

Romans 1:23   and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Revelation 9:20    The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,

God would have no likeness made of Him, no representation that might cloud the conception of His entire separation from matter, His purely spiritual essence. (Ellicott)

As the first commandment forbids the worship of any false god, seen or unseen, it is here forbidden to worship an image of any sort, whether the figure of a false deity or one in any way symbolic of Yahweh. (Barnes)

“After declaring in the first commandment who was the true God, He commanded that He alone should be worshipped; and now He defines what is His lawful worship” (Calvin). “Thou shalt not make to thyself a likeness and any form of that which is in heaven above,” etc. עשׂה is construed with a double accusative, so that the literal rendering would be “make, as a likeness and any form, that which is in heaven,” (Brown)

There is no God but Me. Don’t worship or place in worship anything but Me. Also, don’t make an image of Me or anything else, and indeed don’t worship it. We may find this type of worship foolish and even a bit old fashion. No one in the western world would do anything like this. Maybe some satan worshipers or others hope to find peace of mind through some eastern religion. For the most part, we think this is foolish to fashion an idol and place it in our home or church to worship it. The western world is far above this, but I might say, much further away from knowing God. The western world, for the most part, denies God, things of God, and the Word of God. They say there is no God and then live a life that is void of Him and any worship of Him. The idolaters at least try to have a god to serve – howbeit ever so wrong and God-defying. No, the western world is a place of self-reliant enlightenment. In this, they find what the world has to offer pleasing and though it never seems to satisfy an inner hunger, they keep chasing after it. Their idol is things of this world and what it has to offer. Though they may not make it an animate object of worship, it is an inanimate object of worship.

Note the verses above to those who deny and reject God and His commandments.

41.x. “Let My People Go” – 6. Boils

Exodus 9:8 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses.

Deuteronomy 28:27  The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed.

Isaiah 47:12-14   Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed; perhaps you may inspire terror.  You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you.  Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before!

Psalms 81:11-12    “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.

Revelation 16:10-11   The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

Previously, God announced that he would harden Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 4:21 and 7:3), and this was the fulfillment of it. Yet it is said at least six times before this that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 7:13, 7:22, 8:15, 8:19, 8:32, 9:7). We see that God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was the strengthening of what he already had set himself towards. (Guzik)

“This is the first occasion on which this form of words is used after an actual plague. Previously, the position has always been put from the other side: pharaoh has hardened his own heart. The moral would be that God hardens those who harden themselves.” (Cole)

“‘Harden’ is the expression, not of the divine purpose but of the result of disobedience to the divine appeals. As a matter of fact, all the plagues were intended and calculated to soften, if Pharaoh had been willing to yield.” (Thomas)

Hardness of heart is a figurative expression, denoting that insensibility of mind upon which neither judgments nor mercies make any abiding impressions; but the conscience being stupefied, the stubborn rebel persists in determined disobedience. (Unknown)

Every heart from birth has a root seed of defiance and stubbornness, (sinfulness) that results in a divide between all mankind and God. In this separation, man will come up with millions of ways to accomplish the same thing – deny and disobey God allowing this unholy root to take firm hold of the heart and mind. This is the curse on all man and it will justly be judged by God. The judgment is eternal hell and torment. There is no escape through any of man’s attempts to be made right (should they choose this on their own accord). Separation from God is separation from eternal heaven. Families, cultures, and societies with people with the responsibilities of teaching and governance who are rooted firmly with the seeds of defiance and disobedience will lead whole families, cultures, and societies straight to Hell. This is a fact and not a fairytale. Mankind is separated from God in such a deep and endless way that all are without chance or hope of bridging the gap – forever separated, forever doomed, forever without hope!!

But wait, John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

There is HOPE. Jesus Christ died for the sins of every single person and those that repent of their rooted sinfulness, believe, trust, follow, obey, and rely on Jesus Christ will be saved from eternal hell to inherit eternal life – Heaven.

There is no reason to deny or disobey God other than to promote self-reliance, self-wisdom, and self-assurance.

There is hope in Jesus Christ – yield to His redemption, salvation, and forgiveness and believe/trust/rely on Him alone. There is no need to harden your heart more and more to the point of no return. Hell is no place you want to be. No matter what you may think, Hell is real. Hell is for eternity. Hell is torment. Hell is total separation from God and without any hope of redemption – FOREVER!

39.r. “The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.”

Genesis 49:5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

Psalms 26:9    Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men,

Psalms 64:2    Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers,

2 Corinthians 6:14    Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Proverbs 1:15-16   my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths,  for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.

Proverbs 12:5    The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

Our soul is our honor; by its powers we are distinguished from, and raised above, the beasts that perish. We ought, from our hearts, to abhor all bloody and mischievous men. Cursed be their anger. (Henry)

Simeon and Levi are brothers,…. Not because they were so in a natural sense, being brethren both by father and mother’s side, for there were others so besides them; but because they were of like tempers, dispositions, and manners (f), bold, wrathful, cruel, revengeful, and deceitful, and joined together in their evil counsels and evil actions, and so are joined together in the evils predicted of them, instruments of cruelty. (Gill)

Being in agreement with someone and joining together in an act does not necessarily make that act right, good, or just. It may make us think it is, but that will never make it so. Being angered at an act of another person(s) will surely come to us at some point in our lives, whether it be an act against us, our family, our friends, our community, or our nation. For some reason, anger is a part of our nature, and rightly so. Having the ability to recognize right and wrong, good and bad, just and injustice, and have either indignation or pleasure from it seems to be within our nature. How we treat this recognition in light of our knowledge and application of God’s Word is the difference between that which brings honor and glory to Jesus Christ or not.

By faith, trust, and reliance on God and His promises we can choose to lay the burden of our hearts about wrongs, injustice, and other sinful actions of others at His feet. Why???

Beloved, never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of God
Vengeance is mine; I will repay
Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all
Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
“O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon them.
Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.
O shameless nation, before the decree takes effect —before the day passes away like chaff— before there comes upon you the burning anger of the Lord, before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the Lord.
the Lord will repay him according to his deeds
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
the Lord is an avenger in all these things

I think it is good that we can see wrongs and feel indignation and anger. This means we have the ability to know the difference. However, some people may be angered by good. The civil war is an example of two groups of people who saw the same thing, one calling it wrong and one calling it good. When we look at abortion there are those who call killing unborn babies good and those who call it bad. The same can be said about pornography, sex trafficking, LGBTQ, looting and burning businesses in an outcry of retaliation, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, etc…. Let us know that it is from the heart that seeks and desires to honor and glorify Jesus Christ that a person will discern what is right, true, just, and good. Praise God that we have been given the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us unto truth in all matters. Praise God that we have been given discernment. Praise God that we have been given His promises of handling all wrongs, injustices, and cruelty. Praise God who gives us promises that allow us to lay these at His feet and know, in His Holiness and in His time they will be justly handled. Praise God we can rest and have peace when all around us are in fear and anger. Praise God and rejoice for He is God and in Him, we have hope for today and assurance for tomorrow.

35.k. “The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this”

Genesis 3:14 The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Isaiah 29:4 And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

God passes sentence; and he begins where the sin began, with the serpent. The devil’s instruments must share in the devil’s punishments. Under the cover of the serpent, the devil is sentenced to be degraded and accursed of God; detested and abhorred of all mankind: also to be destroyed and ruined at last by the great Redeemer, signified by the breaking of his head. War is proclaimed between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. It is the fruit of this enmity, that there is a continual warfare between grace and corruption, in the hearts of God’s people. Satan, by their corruptions, buffets them, sifts them, and seeks to devour them. Heaven and hell can never be reconciled, nor light and darkness; no more can Satan and a sanctified soul. Also, there is a continual struggle between the wicked and the godly in this world. A gracious promise is here made of Christ, as the Deliverer of fallen man from the power of Satan. Here was the drawn of the gospel day: no sooner was the wound given, than the remedy was provided and revealed. This gracious revelation of a Saviour came unasked, and unlooked for. Without a revelation of mercy, giving some hope of forgiveness, the convinced sinner would sink into despair, and be hardened. By faith in this promise, our first parents, and the patriarchs before the flood, were justified and saved. Notice is given concerning Christ. 1. His incarnation, or coming in the flesh. It speaks great encouragement to sinners, that their Saviour is the Seed of the woman, bone of our bone, Heb 2:11,14. 2. His sufferings and death; pointed at in Satan’s bruising his heel, that is, his human nature. And Christ’s sufferings are continued in the sufferings of the saints for his name. The devil tempts them, persecutes and slays them; and so bruises the heel of Christ, who is afflicted in their afflictions. But while the heel is bruised on earth, the Head is in heaven. 3. His victory over Satan thereby. Christ baffled Satan’s temptations, rescued souls out of his hands. By his death he gave a fatal blow to the devil’s kingdom, a wound to the head of this serpent that cannot be healed. As the gospel gains ground, Satan falls.(Henry)

From the very beginning Satan is a tempter, liar, and searcher of souls to confound, win over, and lead away from listening to, obeying, and following God. We do well to understand nothing has changed in satan’s determination to destroy God’s communion with mankind and their devotion to Him.

35.z. “Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.”

Genesis 9:18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed. Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”

Ham . . . saw . . . and told.—The sin lay not in seeing, which might be unintentional, but in telling, especially if his purpose was to ridicule his father. To have seen it accidentally and involuntarily would not have been a crime. But he pleased himself with the sight and then proclaimed this pleasure to his two brothers who did not see it as something to pleasure in but rather to be shameful of it. The world starts fresh and once again the sinful nature of man raises its head again and another curse is applied. (Barnes)

I am not quite sure what to make of this other than to say sin and sinful people will boast of their sin and think it is perfectly alright and assume this to be the norm for all people. Each of you could list personal examples of being a witness to the likes of this and many more can surely give witness to hearing about it if not witnessing it personally. Women’s rights (abortion – killing unborn babies), adult entertainment (pornography), alternative lifestyles, Pride-day, Pride-week, Pride-month, (LBGTQ), and sex (human trafficking and pedophilia) all proclaim and boast of their sin in some manner or another. If the curse of Ham was carried out in his son and generations to follow what keeps anyone from thinking this will not be so now? Is there redemption and salvation for them – absolutely? The problem is that if the sin is never repented of there is no forgiveness of sin. Herein is the dividing line. No matter how loud and fervent a person proclaims these acts to be approved and acknowledged as “normal”, they are sin in the eyes of God.

Let no one think they are above any of these sins listed above. It is but by the grace of God we are saved and born again, made new, a new creation, and filled with the Holy Spirit. Being born again does not mean our sinful nature has magically disappeared, but rather we have been given discernment and power through the Holy Spirit to resist it and intentionally choose to reject the thought, word, or deed to manifest in our lives. It is by the grace of God we have been given new life and the purpose to live it through the Holy Spirit for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ.