THE LORD AS A RESISTER OF BALAAM

            Mohammedan necessitarianism has found a strong foothold in human philosophical existence such that fatalistic beliefs have taken complete control of man’s reasoning. Man forgets that his mentation is governed by only two external forces of good or evil (and never ever from the two: for Amos 3:3 quizzes, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”). Is Jehovah the author of moral evil? To most people, especially faithful Moslems, the Creator does all things both good and evil. How true is this philosophy?

            A scripture an unwary reader of the Bible is very likely to quote in an argumental defence is Isaiah 45:7 “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” Does it not look so convincingly true that God Almighty should be very likely held responsible for these global evil acts? If, as He has by His very Self asserted, God formed, created and made these things He, from the English reading, will find it an impossibility to wriggle out of culpability! But to start with the gospel truth, God, the Creator can never be culpable of any evil. It is absolutely impossible.

                The Hebrew interpretations are the needed solutions to a pellucid understanding of Isaiah 45:7. The word ‘form’ is yâtsar (yaw-tsar’): ‘to mould into a form; especially as a potter; figuratively to determine (that is, form a resolution).’ Bârâ’ (baw-raw’) is the Hebrew for ‘create’ and it means: ‘to create, shape, form (out of nothing). ‘Make’ is ‛âśâh (aw-saw’): ‘to do, fashion, accomplish, make (out of an existing material’). The technicalities involved in these definitions bring the true import of God’s asseveration. Amen. Before I go into the exegesis of the subject let me delve into the historical background leading to this verse.

            The prophetic utterance of Isaiah began, in the first verse, with, “Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;” about one and a half centuries before King Cyrus came into being, to disabuse his religious belief concerning the true Supreme Being, Jehovah God. He, Jehovah, is the One who controls creation and not the ill-conceived Oriental belief which teaches that there are two coexistent Oromasden and Ahrimanen, ever struggling with each other, where Oromasden is the deity responsible for light or good, and Ahrimanen as the god who creates darkness or evil. God gave this prophecy to assert His sovereignty over both. 

          As the first Potter, God formed the sun and the radiation of it. God said that to prove His eternal supremacy over their universal veneration of Nimrod, the heathenish sun god, Baal. Of truth is the fact that the apprehended Truth is the Liberator (John 8:32)! ‘Make’ and ‘create’ are slightly different, technically. When God said, “I make peace,” the information is simply that He brought it out of Himself: the LORD God is an Existing Object. Is Jehovah not the epitome of peace? One of His names is the Prince of peace. In the creation of darkness it has to be called forth out of nothing, which the Greek Septuagint calls ex nihilo. “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” [1John 1:5]. Peace, the LORD God gives to His children, Israelites, contextually, and to Christians, by extension. It is for the same reason God must bârâ’ evil: to serve as punishment. Errors are attractions of negativity. Lucifer creates nothing.

            Why would God give a restrictive law of “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” [Genesis 2:17], if not to save them from the consequences of the negativity of erratic ill. Another prevalent truth stems from the facticity that Eden is God’s home; and rules must guard every abode, not forgetting that the entire earth is the LORD’s. God made us free moral agents as attested to in Genesis 2:16 “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:” The same God expects us to follow His revealed will. Your refusal to honour His word will place you before His celestial assizes. God’s irreproachability, having told man what to do, is evident.

                Rid your mind of unscriptural thoughts. Get born again. Say this simple prayer, believing it with all your heart. Say:

“Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I receive Him now as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory. Amen!”      

(…to be continued…)

Read part two here

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