The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/judges/2.htm

I usually refer to this webpage to get an idea of the timeline of the events of the Bible. https://timeline.biblehistory.com/home. And while it is a good reference, it is just that, a reference. It was developed using scripture, the ages of those mentioned in the Bible, then working backwards from the birth of Jesus to Creation. But it is just an estimate, I have no idea how they calculated years back then or even if they did, because those years were “Before Christ” and no one knew when that was coming. That said, it is also difficult to develop a totally accurate chronological Bible.

If you’ve been following, you know the “chronological” estimate of the Bible when from the Book of Joshua to the last four books of Judges, then brought us back to the first chapters of the Book of Judges. And while the account of Joshua’s death was covered at the end of the Book of Joshua, it is now covered again in Judges Chapter 2. No, Joshua wasn’t resurrected then died all over again, it is just one of those things where time got out of sync. Probably the events of the last four book of Judges coincided with the death of Joshua.

In Judges 1, we read where most of the tribes of Israel failed to move all of the Canaanites out of the land as instructed by God. Either a lack of faith in God stopped them, or perhaps they had already started to intermingle with them. But the inhabitants of Canaan were pagans, worshiping false God’s, sacrificing children. And God wanted them eradicated, and He charged the children of Israel to do that task, and they failed.

In Judges 2, we read about the consequences of the actions, or rather inactions, of the children of Israel.

1Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you. 2And you shall make no [a]covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? 3Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns[b] in your side, and their gods shall [c]be a snare to you.’ ” 4So it was, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept.

Notice how the word “Angel” is capitalized meaning the name was Holy; in other words, the “Angel” was Jesus, pre-incarnate. As we will study later, Jesus has always been, He was with God at Creation. And forgive me for repeating myself, but Jesus is not an angel, but rather the Archangel, the Head of all angels, therefore He was considered the Angel of God. Normal angels are not holy beings, but Jesus is Holy. And in this case, God sent Jesus to tell the children of Israel the consequences of failing to obey Him.

And it is pretty straight forward; Jesus reminds them that they were slaves in Egypt, performing slave labor daily, ill fed, not given time off to worship, not allowed to worship, beaten and abused. And God saved them from that. God gave them their own lives back, freedom to live as they choose, worship as they choose. And all God asked in return was to love Him and obey Him, and they had failed to do that.

As we read further, we see that the Israelites had began to intermingle with the pagans, had turned from God, had started worshiping idols, living exactly as the pagans, living exactly the life God did not want them to live.

It was Satan. Satan caused the inhabitants of Canaan to sin. He drew them away from God, tempted them to worship idols and sacrifice their own children to those idols. And in the battle between good and evil, God and Satan, God wanted them eradicated.

Look at it this way. The people of Canaan were God’s children. God loved them dearly. He gave them free will, just like the free will He gave to Adam and Eve. If had to, if He had dictated their lives, He would have been the type of God that Lucifer (Satan) was trying to portray. So they were given the choice, and they chose wrong. Adam and Eve made the wrong choice, and all throughout history, they’ve made the wrong choice.

God gave the people free will to turn away from sin, repent, and return to Him. They chose wrong, and they perished in the Great Flood. God didn’t kill them as often as it is portrayed, but rather He warned them, He urged them to turn back to Him. He wanted His children to live. And instead, they rebelled, they scoffed at God, and as a result, they failed to board the ark that Noah built. That ark was their salvation from sin, and they did not accept it.

Now, the children of Israel have been given the promised land, land this is fertile, perfect, some of the most desired land in the world, still to this day. And all they had to do was love and obey Him. That land was their salvation from sin, just like the ark, and they failed.

We have that same free will today. God loves us, despite our sins. God loves the petty thieves, God loves those who have immoral thoughts, God even loves the most despicable serial killers out there committing atrocious acts. But while He loves them, He hates their sin, and He wants them to repent and turn back to Him. He is their Salvation, and even more to the point, He sent His Son, Jesus, to be our Salvation. Just like the ark, just like the promised land, all we have to do is repent of our sins and turn back to God.

Will we make the right choice? Will we join Noah and his family and get aboard the ark? Will we join the children of Israel in obeying God, driving out sin, and occupy His “promised land” in Heaven? Or will we make the wrong choice, and end up perishing for our sins?

God promises eternal life, the most wonderful and beautiful life, so grand that we do not have the ability as humans to comprehend how wonderful it is going to be, an eternal life, living with Him in Heaven. Will we choose the life He offers, or will we choose the life Satan offers, a live of short-lived pleasures that will eventually lead to our own death.

Thing of it this way. Would you kill yourself? I know many do, many have separated themselves so far from God that they are in total desperation and they take their own life. But the vast majority of ourselves would not commit suicide. Most of us prefer to live, prefer to enjoy our lives with family, and most fear death. They don’t want to die, they want to live.

If you live a Godly life, you are choosing to live. If you choose the opposite, you are committing suicide, a slow suicide, but suicide is what it is. Our life on this earth is short. It seems as if it were just yesterday that I was a young fireman, newly married, living life at it’s best, and in the blink of an eye, 40 and 50 years have passed. God is giving us eternal life, Satan is giving us 70, 80, in some cases 90 years, in rare cases 100 years. What will you choose? Obedience to God, or a short life of pleasures with Satan.

Pray for me, that I make the right choice, and I’ll pray you make the right choice as well.

God bless.

(And forgive the rambling).