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Judges 2:14-15 - How quickly Israel falls away - Day 200

Good afternoon friends,

Starting a new section of history.  Raises some challenging questions that I am not sure how to answer.  So here are some thoughts.  Maybe we need to be content with God being sovereign over all of history and not ask so many questions.

Blessings,

Jeff

Why was purity so hard to maintain in ancient Israel?  They had the complete law when the entered the Promised Land.  The rest of the historical books and prophets are documentation of how they fell away with occasional reformations.  There is no additional moral guidance.  We are back to the "Did God really say....?" question.  Despite the written code, they could not (inability) and would not (unwilling) therefore, they did not obey.  How quickly Adam and Eve fell is just foreshadow of how quickly all of Israel fell.  Yes there was a golden age (David and Solomon) but it was short lived and plenty of lawbreaking even then.  

If it was so obvious that keeping the law perfectly was impossible on an individual and national basis, or as the NT says no one is justified by the law, why did God wait so long to send the Messiah?  But wait, Genesis 3:15 promises a savior who will crush the serpent's head.  Abraham is justified by faith. The prophets not only called the nation back to God but spoke of the Messiah..  And all this time the ancestors of Mary and Joseph were being preserved.  

Then I think about Paul's farewell speech to the Ephesians in Acts 20.  I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.  And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things so as to lead the disciples after them.  Maintaining doctrinal and practical purity after the Holy Spirit is given is not a sure thing.

Yet God preserves a remnant of faithful followers.  If left to ourselves, none would be saved.  But thanks be to God that some are saved by grace.

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