Tree Of Life Ministries Association
http://www.treeoflifeinc.org
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GOD Is Weird !
CHRISTmas
Is 55:6-12
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Is 55:6-12
6) Seek ye the LORD while HE may be found, call ye upon HIM while HE is near:
7) Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him
return unto the LORD, and HE will have mercy upon him; and to our GOD, for HE will
abundantly pardon.
8) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the
LORD.
9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10) For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither,
but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the
sower, and bread to the eater:
11) So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent
it.
12) For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills
shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their
hands
GOD is weird!
Have you ever stopped and looked at the way GOD does things on earth? It’s weird! It’s
not the way we think things should or would be done!
One of the earliest examples of this in scripture is found in Genesis when GOD tells
Abram to leave Ur of the Chaldees and not to take any of his family with him.
Apparently not happy with Abram’s disobedience, (he took his nephew Lot with him)
GOD doesn’t speak to him again until he separates himself from his nephew. Even
though Abram takes Lot with him GOD still sends angels to save Lot from the sins of
Sodom and Gomorrah.
Next GOD saves the world, (sort of) by having Noah build a huge ark on dry land
warning him of a flood that will be caused by excessive rainfall when previously there
has never been rain! Beyond that HE chooses a man who when the flood is over gets
drunk and naked.
A little later HE appears in a bush, setting it ablaze and yet not consuming it? HE then
speaks to a man through the noise of the burning bush and tells him to take off his
shoes! Now HE wants this man to tell Pharaoh, the King of the most powerful nation of
the world and the lowest of all the gods of this world, to give away the most useful
thing he possesses; his slaves(!) all because some burning bush GOD named “I AM”
says so!(Ex 3:13-15)
Now backup to Abram. Place yourself in the position of Sarai his wife. Her husband
says to her one day that GOD has told him that they are to leave and leave everything
and everybody they know behind them. Quite naturally she might ask, “and where are
we to go?” Abram then says, “I don’t know, HE didn’t say! HE said HE’ll tell me.” Put
some wet towels on his head and tell him to lie down in the shade! That would be my
first thoughts. Does Sarai do that? Nooooooo, she packs up the old Studa-camel and
without even touching up her make-up jumps on the old band wagon and is ready to
go.
Later she allows him to lie to a king and the king’s men about her relationship to
Abram which almost makes her the newest concubine of this king. Then she allows
him to take their only child,(that they had waited roughly 20 years to conceive) and to
offer him as a sacrifice to this “unknown” GOD!
This GOD is weird! HE’s just not normal! HE’s just not natural and comprehensible!
What? You still don’t think HE’s weird?
How about the story of Jonah? You know Jonah from the Old Testament. The part of
your Bible that still has the goldleaf on the edges and the pages still stick together.
Jonah, the “great fish” story where the fish has to try and convince his friends about
“the one that got away!”
Jonah, chronologically is the first of all the writings of the prophets. Very little is
known about him nor really needs to be.
On the other hand, Ninevah, the place where GOD wants Jonah to go to is very well
known. As far as a Jew is concerned, it is Hell on earth! The Ninevites were the sworn
enemies of the Jews. They were known to have boiled Jews alive. To have used them
for target practice. To have skinned them alive and then dragged them behind a horse
or chariot through the streets of Ninevah or to have skinned them and then staked
them over an anthill.
With this knowledge what would be your response to a god that tells you, a Jew, that
HE wants you to go to warn the Ninevites that the GOD of the Jews is going to wipe
them out if they don’t repent?
I’m thinking - NO! Wipe them out!
You’ve got to see how weird this all looks?
So you’ll admit this looks weird but there’s just not enough of a history to qualify GOD
as being weird?
OK, let’s look at Gideon. He has 32,000 men to fight with him. GOD says he has “too
many.” TOO MANY? How can you have too many to fight a conventional ground battle?
That is how you win! You simply overwhelm your enemy by shear numbers. GOD has
him cut his ranks to 300 men to fight all of the Midianites and Amalekites (Jud 6:33).
What do you think of someone who would feed one of HIS greatest servants by the use
of ravens? Is that weird enough? No! What about someone who then sends you to meet
a widow woman elsewhere whom HE says HE has commanded to sustain you. You go
and ask the woman to fetch you some water. As she’s going you also ask her to
prepare you a “morsel of bread”. She then says she has only “an handful of meal in a
barrel, and a little oil in a cruse... for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” This
is whom HE has commanded to sustain you? A widow woman with no means of
support and a son who is in herself preparing to die?(I Kings 17)
This is a weird GOD!
This is the same GOD who tells us to “...love (our) neighbour as (ourself)...”(Mark
12:33). Then in II Kings 2:23-24 when some kids call the servant of GOD “baldhead”
HE has two she bears emerge from the woods to eat the 42 kids!
Weird, I’m telling you; Weird!
Generally today, we accept that the reason the Jews never accepted JESUS as The
MESSIAH, was because HE didn’t come to them the way they wanted. The way they
expected The MESSIAH to come. By using such scripture as Psalm 45 and 68 as well
as Is 9:5-6 they had constructed a MESSIAH who would be a great conquering hero!
One that would establish a new world order with them as the elite ruling class. They
believed that as this elite class, that all the rest of the world would then suffer under
them as they had under the rule of the world. They had established through the
teachings of the priest an elitism that was built on scripture. That was built and then
established walls of “tradition”. Tradition that bound them from seeing the other side
of The MESSIAH. They had used scripture to put GOD in a box! They had, by the use
of scripture, established traditions that constructed a spiritual Jericho. They had so
used scripture as to build such great walls that you could drive chariots, 3-a-breast on
top of them. These walls were constructed to keep the people from ever transgressing
“the Law” as well as to keep the people and GOD separated.
In Mark 7:13 we read, “Making the word of GOD of none effect through your tradition,
which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”
Tradition is another name for the spiritual Walls of Jericho! In chapter 7 we see further
how these walls are constructed. First let us address what precipitated the entire
chapter 7 discussion. The Pharisees and certain scribes saw that the disciples of
JESUS ate without washing their hands and as they noted that this is a violation of
Jewish tradition. They further discuss how this is extended(or the walls are thickened)
to include the washing of utensils and tables.
JESUS then constructs a gate through the middle of spiritual Jericho, when in verse 6
HE says, “...This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” HE
then leads up to verse 13 (as above quoted) by way of explaining the traditional
teaching concerning the honoring of ones parents.
If you are a “religious” person, a modern day equivalent to the scribes and Pharisees,
you do the same thing. You concern yourself so much with what goes “into” a person
that you fail to see their heart! You fail to see that it is not the “law” and the keeping of
the law that saves a person but rather that it is the quickening of the spirit that gives
you eternal life. That the law does not bring life but rather kills it.
A modern day Pharisee or scribe acts much like they did during the days of CHRIST.
They use GOD to construct an elitism for their own benefit and ostensibly for “your”
good or best interest. Also worth noting is that just as in the days of CHRIST most of
them do so out of tradition more so then out of understanding.
A modern day scribe or Pharisee often sits in a pew every time the doors of the church
are open. Many of them even stand in the pulpit. Most of them teach, anyone that will
listen, the same things they have been taught without ever really checking out the
scriptures for themselves. They simply accept what their Pastor taught them as the
gospel and even quote the same scriptures as their proof that it is true! They will
profess this doctrine or that doctrine as “true” simply because this is what “my
denomination” teaches or “my Pastor” or because this preacher or that preacher and
they are on TV or have written these books! They are or become products of their
environment or tradition. They have replaced the Old Testament “Law” with a New
Testament “Law” and as a result are being held captive. They have exchanged the old
gods of Egypt for a new sacred cow of gold that they have constructed from what they
brought with them from their time in captivity.
After being confronted by satan in the wilderness JESUS went to Nazareth and to the
synagogue there. HE went to HIS Home Church! There the book of Isaiah was handed
to HIM to read from. HE found what we call Is 61:1 and said, “The SPIRIT of the LORD
is upon me, because HE hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor(the down
in the spiritual dumps); HE hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach
deliverance(proclaim release from satan’s influence and control) to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind(to open the eyes of those who depend on others to
show them the way), to set at liberty them that are bruised(to free those that have
been hurt),
To preach the acceptable year of the LORD(the year of Jubilee; the time when all
indebtedness to mankind was forgiven).(as quoted in Luke 4:18-19)
The Nazarenes were astonished by the “gracious words which proceeded out of HIS
mouth.”(vs22) They knew HIM! They proclaimed HIM to be the son of Joseph. Even
HIS cousin, John the Baptist wrestled with the idea of JESUS as The CHRIST; The
MESSIAH! In Matthew 11:2-3 we see where John is on this issue.
2)“Now when John had heard in the prison the works of CHRIST, he sent two of his
disciples
3) And said unto HIM, Art thou HE that should come, or do we look for another?”
Generally, as earlier stated, the Jews were looking for a MESSIAH that would establish
a ruling monarchy on the earth that would place them as HIS special, chosen people.
That HE would come and subdue all the peoples of the earth and place them(the Jews)
in positions of aristocracy, in positions of authority. They were so steeped in this
tradition that they were unable to fathom the possibility of any of the prophecies that
said HE would come any other way.
Modern day scribes and Pharisees do the same things with their “Statements of Faith”;
their church or denominational doctrine. Since the WORD tells us that “all scripture
is good for doctrine,” then these beliefs or statements of faith are not bad or wrong
until they are held up as the only acceptable truth! Then they box GOD in just as the
Jews had done.
In many ways we all approach life as a “product of our environment”. We have
established a bias based on a group of beliefs, “a statement of faith” that we hold onto
as truth. When Philip found Nathanael to tell him about JESUS, Nathanael replied,
“Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”(John 1:46)
JESUS, HIMSELF teaches us how we need to look at GOD when in Mark 10:14-15 HE
uses children to illustrate the point when HE says,
14) ‘...Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the
kingdom of GOD.
15) Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of GOD as a little
child, he shall not enter therein.”
In an unpolluted, basic sense children approach life without a bias. Without an
environmentally influenced point of view. As they age this changes but this is the
point JESUS is attempting to address. HE is attempting to tell us to put down our
upbringing and to accept HIM for what HE is and by what HE does! To look outside of
our box! This is the prevailing concept that was ever-present in the ministry of JESUS.
HE was constantly trying to drive home the fact that the Jews had boxed GOD in and
that we needed to let GOD be GOD!
Whenever you box GOD in HE starts looking “Weird”! It is man’s desire to be the
center of the universe. To be the reason why this life exist. To be the focal point of the
eternal battle between satan and “I AM”. We want to consider ourselves more
important than we are.
This is why we see things of GOD as “Weird”. We see what is around us and call it
“normal” when in reality it is all “abnormal”. What would be normal is a divinely
controlled environment like that which Adam(Heb. for mankind) first lived in. That was
the way we were to exist in this world. A world with GOD’s presence seen in everything
we experienced. A world where interaction and communication between the creation
and The CREATOR was common place. A world where what we consider today as
“supernatural” was in fact natural. We were designed to exist, in a world within the
world. We were designed to exist within the Garden.
When Adam sinned part of him died. There was now a void within mankind.
Something that was drawing him back toward his CREATOR. Some of us are led to fill
this with a relationship with GOD by GOD loving parents. Some of us are led to fill this
with the world by world loving parents. Yet others of us have little or no parental
direction provided.
When Adam sinned, this creation to creator relationship ended and we were removed
from it. We were kicked out of the Garden. We were no longer protected by the hedge
that GOD had placed around us. Now satan’s ways; the world’s way were the “natural”
way. After all, this is his kingdom!
The Jews were the focal point of GOD’s desired relationship with mankind. HE had
chosen them to represent HIM in this world and to take the message of HIS love for all
mankind to all mankind(Jonah). HE had chosen them to place special favor upon in
order to draw mankind to be desirous of that type of relationship with HIM. HE had a
weird relationship with them in this world. Even though they did an admirable job in
attempting to develop a relationship with “I AM”, they failed to take HIS love to all of
mankind. Instead they groomed an elitism that fostered hatred for themselves from the
rest of mankind. Their relationship with the FATHER perpetuated the view of HIM as
being “weird”. Their relationship with HIM was a natural one. Thus the rest of the
world was somewhat repelled by this way.
The Jews, themselves started drawing further from GOD by depending on their
knowledge of HIM and what the world would call natural acts to place parameters on
HIM. They boxed HIM in! They knew that HE would react to them in certain ways if
only they first would act in a particular method. Thus their lives started to become
routine. They started explaining HIM by natural means. They developed a controllable
existence based on past experiences; A BOX! They knew that if they acted in a
particular way; that if they offered a particular offering, that GOD would be obliged to
respond in a particular way. Thus when it came to The MESSIAH they knew that GOD
had said that HE would come in one particular way and that the other predictions
were for a different time or that they were just a different side of HIM that would only
be experienced by those who had lived a Jewish life.
The Jews had so established this one sided MESSIAH that even the world, the Gentiles
believed it. In Matthew 2:3, “When Herod the king heard these things, he was
troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” They knew HE would be coming from the
house of David, but they had placed expectations upon HIM to be “somebody”! They
expected that HE would come from the house of doctor, a lawyer or maybe even a
priest. They expected that HE might be part of the Sanhedrin. That HE would be raised
in respect and privilege. They never expected HIM to be a working stiff; a carpenter’s
son? From Nazareth? GOD stepped out of their box! This was not “natural”. How could
this be? This was “weird”!
When HIS mother Mary first heard that she was pregnant with The SAVIOR, she
responded in tradition. Look at Luke 1:31, where she and the angel Gabriel are
talking.
31) And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son and shalt call
HIS name JESUS.
32) HE shall be great, and shall be called The SON of the HIGHEST: and The LORD
GOD shall give unto HIM the throne of HIS father David:
33) And HE shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of HIS kingdom there
shall be no end.
34) Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”
What happened here? Did she not hear him say that HE would “be called The SON of
the HIGHEST?” HE wasn’t supposed to be called the son of Fred, Wilber or Joseph! HE
wasn’t even to be called Mary’s son, but The SON of The HIGHEST! HE was to be
known as The SON of GOD!
With her traditional ears she heard only that she was to bare a son. Then from time to
time she seems to vacillate between understanding and not. Her apparent
understanding of The MESSIAH didn’t allow for HIM to be born of flesh and blood. Her
apparent understanding didn’t allow for HIM to be born to a person of “low estate”. She
had been taught to Box GOD in, yet here HE had sent the angel Gabriel to directly tell
her that HIS ways were higher than ours. That HIS thoughts were far above all we
could dream or think. That HE was stepping out of the Box and that something “weird”
was about to happen!
Weird was and weird is that, “GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten
SON, that whosoever believeth in HIM should not perish, but have everlasting
life.”(John 3:16)
Step outside your box today and celebrate the birth of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS
CHRIST, The MESSIAH!
Merry CHRISTmas!
