August 11, 2017
Deuteronomy 6:10-12
(All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated)
Now this is a strange title for a blog – Beware Of Blessings! We all want to be blessed of God with heath, prosperity, peace, and happiness. But there is a danger in being so blessed! God told Moses this in Deuteronomy 6:10 through 12:
And it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of
which He swore to your fathers…to give you large and beautiful cities
which you did not build, houses full of good things, which you did not
fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees
which you did not plant — when you have eaten and are full — then
beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, from the house of bondage.
The Lord was warning the Israelites – newly redeemed from slavery in Egypt, and headed for the blessings of the Promised Land of Canaan – to Beware of taking for granted His Blessings because of the human tendency to attribute such Blessings to ourselves or to false supernatural forces! That’s just what happened multiple times in Israel’s history (see for instance Judges 10:10-14). They finally lost their blessed land because of their unfaithful attitude! (See II Kings 17:6-23; Daniel 9:5-7).
The reason we need to be Beware Of Blessings is built into who we are in our innermost being! You see, we have a sin nature! And that nature, inherited from our first parents (see Romans 5:12) infects us all! (See Romans 3:10, 23). We naturally tend to pull away from God and gravitate toward that which is against His nature.
This Bible truth is not easy to accept, because it runs counter to what we are generally told and what we tend to believe about ourselves. This Bible truth is that we are under the dominion of Satan!
• Adam and Eve were given dominion over all the earth! (See Genesis 1:28, 30). They – and all descendants they were to produce – were to “…fill the earth and subdue it…” (Genesis 1:28). But they were to be benevolent and gracious rulers over creation, under God’s direction and headship! Mankind was not designed by God to rape and destroy His creation!
• But enter the devil! This rebellious super-angel, Lucifer (see Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:12-19 – speaking of the spiritual force behind the powerful king of Tyre), usurped the dominion of creation God gave to man when Adam and Eve bowed, as it were, to obey him rather than God! (See Genesis 3:1-6).
• That is why the devil is called “…the god of this world…” (II Corinthians 4:4 – King James Version). That is also why he could offer Jesus “…all the kingdoms of the world…and the glory of them…[because] ‘All this authority…has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.’ ” (Luke 4:5, 6)
• Satan controls all the kingdoms of the world because he controls the inner nature of man! We naturally carry the devil’s nature! That is why Jesus told the Pharisees (and all the rest of us!) in John 8:44: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.”
• The devil’s nature, imparted to us, includes a mighty desire to…
✞ “…steal, and to kill, and to destroy…” (John 10:10).
✞ …devour people! (See I Peter 5:8).
✞ …be a murderer and a liar! (See John 8:44).
✞ “oppose…and exalt…himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped…showing himself that he is God.” (II Thessalonians 2:4).
✞ “…accuse…[the followers of Christ], who accused them before our God day and night…” (Revelation 12:10).
And that is why we need to be redeemed out from under Satan’s dominion into the Lord Jesus Christ’s! As Paul put it in Colossians 1:13: We need to be “…delivered…from the power of darkness and translated…into the kingdom of the Son….” It is only by the power of the Son of God that this can happen!
• Only He left the glories of heaven to live as a human being upon the earth (see Philippians 2:5-7).
• Only He lived the perfect life before the Father that no one else could ever live (see I Peter 2:22).
• Only He voluntarily went to the cross and died bearing our sins, fully taking our punishment – our condemnation before almighty God (see John 10:17, 18; II Corinthians 5:21; I Peter 2:24).
• Only He rose again from the dead three days later, conquering sin, death, hell, and Satan himself! (See Micah 7:19; I Corinthians 15:26; Hebrews 2:14, 15).
• Only He offers us life – both eternal life forever and spiritually abundant life here and now (see John 3:16; 10:10; Galatians 5:22, 23).
• Only He “…is…able to save them to the uttermost…who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25).
For it is written: “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36) – free from slavery to obeying the devil’s nature within us! (See Romans 6:1-14).
Yes, God has truly blessed us. And we, especially Christians in the prosperous western world, need this warning – Beware Of Blessings! We need to be aware of the dangers of being so blessed that we are tempted to forget Who is the Author of all our Blessings!