Holy Retribution 09-21-09 J.A. Matteson

“And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.” Leviticus 10:1-2

The same divine fire which earlier sanctified Nadab and Abihu to the priesthood now lethally consumes them. The office to which they were divinely elected represented a sacred [..more..]

J.A. Matteson
03.09.09

I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered. Deuteronomy 10:2

Intimacy between the Lord and His bond-servant can place the servant on the slippery precipice of selfrighteousness. Indignation at sin is a fruit of the Spirit, to hate what God hates is praise worthy; however, assuming the seat of divine judgment is of the flesh, “Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain” (Exodus 32:19).

It was not due to any inherent worthiness that Israel received the Law, to the contrary, it was due to transgressions, “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions….” (Galatians 3:19). Shattering the tablets before the people may have served as a theatrical visual illustration of their breaking the covenant of the Lord, yet the reality is that as Adam’s progeny their breach of the Law occurred prior to it being written. The Lord did not command Moses to shatter the tablets—he took that bit upon himself. Moses’ display of human anger was raw emotion and it did not further the redemptive purposes of the Lord, “for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:20).

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PSUEDO-SOVEREIGNTY J.A. Matteson 03.23.09

Be anxious for nothing….Philippians 4:6

Pseudo-sovereignty reveals itself in apprehension, whereby the bewildered Christian soberly calculates himself to be a living contradiction—a spiritual schizophrenic—rather than a living sacrifice; one moment he affirms the sovereignty and Providence of God, and in the next instant he is annoyed by both. Born into [..more..]