Common Sense Reborn

May 2

¹⁵Then he spoke his message:

“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,

the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,

¹⁶the prophecy of one who hears the words of God,

who has knowledge from the Most High,

who sees a vision from the Almighty,

who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:

¹⁷“I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not near.

A star will come out of Jacob;

a scepter will rise out of Israel.”  (Numbers 24:15-17, The Jesus Bible)

Good morning Family!  I was able to spend some time working on my reading of the Holy Bible for 2023 yesterday.  I can not believe it is May and I still have not conquered the first five books of the Bible.  I am reading these words over our baby, SGZ3, so that the blessings from the Word of God will be with her for her entire life.  Yesterday, I read through the story of Balaam, a prophet who is summoned by the King of the Moabites.  The Israelites have arrived at the plains of Moab, and King Balak is in fear of their might, as they had just captured many cities of the Amorites (Numbers 21).  King Balak calls for Balaam to curse the Israelites, but God sends the “angel of the Lord” (Numbers 22:24) to speak through Balaam’s donkey and warn Balaam about speaking anything other than what God tells him to say.  So when Balak seeks a curse from Balaam, instead, Balaam speaks three beautiful prophetic blessings that offer an foreshadowing of great prophets to come, such as Isaiah, and written with poetic prose much like King David in the Psalms.  Balaam gives three blessings over the Israelites, which enrages King Balak.  Balaam states that what he spoke came directly from God:  

“I could not do anything on my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord-and I must say only what the Lord says” (Numbers 24:13)

This leads us into the verses above, which some may take as a prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ, as the “star” that will “come out of Jacob” who will hold the scepter to lead Israel to become the mightiest nation of Earth.  Well, what I did not include above is the final two and a half verses from Balaam’s fourth message which read:

¹⁷…He will crush the foreheads of Moab,

the skulls of all the people of Sheth.

¹⁸Edom will be conquered;

Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,

but Israel will grow strong.

¹⁹A ruler will come out of Jacob

and destroy the survivors of the city.”  (Numbers 24:17-19, The Jesus Bible)

And now you can see why when Jesus came preaching a message of peace and love, the Jewish people rejected Him as the Messiah they had long sought for.  The nation of Israel was waiting for a mighty conqueror, who would “crush the foreheads of Moab”, and “destroy” all the enemies that opposed them.

The Israelites will soon march into the land God has promised them and begin murderous campaigns to clear out the people who were living in those areas, but this will not be recounted until we get through the Book of Deuteronomy.  Due to the Israelites not believing in God (the Golden Calf in Exodus), and constantly complaining over the work God required of them (grumbling about food and sustenance throughout Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers), these generations will not be able to enter the Promised Land.  Only Joshua, son of Nun, will be able to lead the Israelites into the Land flowing with Milk and Honey.

I pray that when you read a post like this, if you have never read the Holy Bible in its entirety, from cover-to-cover, that this sparks your interest to pick up the Bible and dive in.  I promise, it is an experience you will never regret.  Put down all the distractions and pick up the greatest story ever told. You are part of that story, you might as well know how it all began.

As I mentioned yesterday, Jesus is alive, and Mr. Jordan Feliz just released an energetic new single that has a great vibe and beat to remind you that “The King is Alive”.  Click and enjoy!