04/05/14

Replacing Gold with Brass

2 Chronicles 12:9, 10 - So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, that kept the entrance of the king's house.


I just attended a marriage of an anointed worship leader and the ceremony took rather a long time. Later I came to know the Pastors were murmuring that it pasted the 6:00pm deadline. It was not a Church deadline but deadline according to local belief that all vows should be done before the sun goes down and they wanted to keep the law of the land. The Pastor who was telling me this was upset with their behaviour and he was stating 'we are not under law but under grace'. I also came to know they had caused the couple to do some Hindu ceremonies performed before marriage in the name of tradition.

Surely anyone with little discernment will feel sad at the first lot who believe in keeping pagan beliefs and follow pagan ceremonies of the land as Christians. But a person well rooted in scriptural understand will also feel pity for the second lot who do not know what law Paul spoke about when he stated we are not under the law but under grace. If they read the very next lines Paul talks about, we being set free from the law of sin and have become servants of righteousness. Do people know the meaning of righteousness? Can anyone be righteous without Law?

Righteousness means one who keeps the Will of God and the Will of God is the Commandment of God and the Commandment of God is the Law of God, so righteousness is when we abide by the Law of God. Can we be lawless people and be under grace? Grace comes by faith and faith means believing in the truth. This believing does not mean just verbal believe but also in our doings. James says if I state I believe but do not put what I state into action then I am a hypocrite and liar when I state I have faith.

In today's message during the time of King Rehoboam the Egyptian king raided Israel and took away the treasure of the Lord's house (temple). If we read about the things that were in the treasure in the Bible, there were many things but you will notice here the Lord brings our attention especially to the shields made of gold.

If we read in Ephesians, Paul talks of we being armed with a shield of faith. He also specifies this equipment being a very important part of our spiritual armament. He goes on to specify it protects us from the fiery darts (missiles) of the enemy (wicked).

The Hebrew word 'zahab' translated as gold comes from the root word which means shimmering, gold symbolizes spiritual riches. The Hebrew word 'nechosheth' translated as brass means dubious. The Hebrew words Mitsrayim translated as Egypt comes from the meaning double strait, it symbolizes those who live a double life, a worldly life while knowing God.

Today's message is telling us because we have been living a life that is worldly, lost in worldly pleasures we have been robbed of our spiritual gold and we have replaced them with brass. We have replaced the truth with worldly things.

Once one comes more to the knowledge of the Truth, one would be surprise at what the Bible states as Christianity and what Christians follow as Christianity, how opposite they are. We are so filled with worldly understanding that looks like gold but is just dubious brass.

It is time we stop doing our own things in the name of the Lord and start doing things which the Lord has commanded of us if we need to protect ourselves from the fiery missiles of the enemy.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, You gave your Word to us so that we be saved and receive life that is eternal and abundant. The enemy desires we do not receive this abundant, eternal life thus causes us to go against your Word. He fills us with corruption in the name of worldly knowledge and traditions. Lord, help us to grow in discernment and know right from wrong so that we keep your Word in truth...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference ]
Romans 6:14-18
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Ephesians 6:16 - Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)