Joseph’s Alabaster Box

God knows every thought and intent of our heart. We must always be careful about accusing people of having a bad motive because we cannot get inside a person’s head and learn why they did something. The Lord knows the motives for our actions because He knows what goes on in our soul. It may be a puzzle to some folks why God would ask man questions in view of the truth that God knows what is in our mind. God asks a question in Genesis 2:9 that is very interesting. Let’s read verses 8 – 10: “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I wast naked; and I hid myself.”

Of course, God knew where Adam and Eve were. He could plainly see them there among the trees trembling and dreading to face Him. You remember how surprised Nathanael was when Jesus told him that He saw him while he was standing under the fig tree. John 1:48, “Nathanael saith unto him, whence knoweth thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.” Don’t play hide and go seek with God. You may hide in a coal mine deep in the earth, but God will tag you out. Nathanael had been a long way off when Jesus saw him under that fig tree, and Nathanael knew that only the Son of God could see a man who was well out of sight.

In the next chapter of John, the last two verses reveal to us that God knows everything that is in man. John 2:24, 25, “But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”

Adam and Eve were clearly in the sight of the Creator when He came to walk with them, though they thought they were well hidden. But God’s vision is not limited by such things as wood and skin and bones. It should not come as a surprise to us that God Who knew where they were, would ask them where they were. When God deals with man, God must deal with man with human attributes, or on human terms, for man can never deal with God’s divine attributes. And so, when God talks with man, he must talk with him as a man would. He wrote His Word in man’s language, for man could not read a Bible written in a heavenly language. The Bible, composed of man’s language, must be severely limited in explaining matters that concern Heaven and eternity. Man’s language is proficient in cursing God, and expressing doubts about His love, His grace; His very existence. Man’s language composes eulogies to gods of wood and stone and philosophy. God did not hide things when He gave us His Word in 1611.

Man’s language declares that life and beauty could arise from the soil. Man’s language extols time as a virtual god, and we are made to believe that life could have sprung from dying things. Doesn’t the blooming symphony of spring sing of a Creator? Why is language so devoid of praise to God? Listen as long as you will to the voice of the world, and you find that man does his best to hide truth and righteousness in clamor of vulgarity.

But God must force upon human language that which speaks of eternal matters. In mercy God uses man’s language to beckon man to the reason he was given the power to speak in the first place. God does speak to His minority in heavenly language. Heavenly language is heard by the soul and spirit. The machinery in the physical ear does not pick up sound waves when heavenly language is used. It is the heart strings that move when heavenly language is heard. Only the redeemed ear can hear and understand the language of the Lord. The devout soul communicates with the Lord God

Throughout the Word of God we learn of people being spoken to by the Lord. In Genesis 8:15, “… God spake unto Noah, saying, …”, and proceeded to give him orders to leave the ark. God spoke to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses; and all through the Bible, we find instances where God spoke to man.

Poor miserable Hagar, whom Abraham took to wife, and who bare his son, was cast out by Abraham’s other wife, Sarah. Hamar fled into the wilderness to a fountain of water where the angel of the Lord spoke to her, as recorded in Genesis 16:9, “And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: . . .”. Incidentally, note what God said to Hagar as He was speaking to her about her son, Ishmael, in verse 12: “And He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him;. . .”. God prophesied that the descendants of Ishmael would be “. . .wild men. . .”, and today the whole civilized world trembles in the presence of Arabs who commit acts of terror that only wild men could perpetrate.

Of all the creatures on this planet, only humans talk. We call upon the evolutionist in vain to offer some explanation for this fact. At what point in his evolution could man have learned to speak? The evolutionist admits that they do not even know when man became man. The ability to communicate is another evidence of the existence of the human soul. If the eye was beyond the understanding of Darwin, then human speech would also have been beyond the scope of his thought if he had been perceptive enough to have thought about it. “One of the most obvious and unequivocal proofs of the uniqueness of man in contrast to the animals is the ability to communicate in terms of intelligible, abstract, symbolic human language.”¹ The most primitive peoples on Earth speak languages that are very complex, requiring skilled persons many long hours of study to decipher.

Today, God speaks to all men through His written Word. He has revealed to us through His Word all of the most important knowledge man must have to conduct his personal life according to God’s purpose for him, and in the most satisfactory way for himself. Man has created a babel of voices in the many different books that have been labeled “bible,” but in truth there is only one Bible. It is the King James Bible, having on its pages the grandeur of the old English which is Bible language. The other books may be classified as commentaries, or Bible story books, but they are not the divinely sanctioned and preserved Word of God.

The most important matters in God’s Word are clearly and plainly stated so that no man can be confused therein: namely, how to be saved, and how to conduct his life according to the basic plan for a child of God still on Earth. Matters of less importance, such as the creation, the history of the Jews, and the last days, are covered less thoroughly, and are therefore more difficult to understand. Translations of Scripture other than the King James, do not make these matters any more understandable.

God speaks to every man through His works. All the calendars on Earth show a seven-day week, speaking of God’s creative work. The heavens reveal the Creator’s triune person. All of the universe speaks of design and direction. The Lord God is the Creator. God calls to all of us, “. . .Where art thou?” “Where are you?” could mean where is a great group of people, such as you Jews. “Where art thou?” is more personal. It means one individual to whom God is speaking. The question is to the individual – every individual. Jehovah knows where you are, just as He knows all about your sins, but He wants you to think about where you are. Are you where you ought to be? He wants to know where your affection is, where your loyalty is.

Where would I want to be when God asks, “… Where art thou?” I would like to answer, “Here, Lord, by the altar.” How can one ever go wrong if he is by the altar? Just as Noah, Abraham, and Jacob built altars where they were, we should build altars where we are. The tool box, the washing machine, the computer, the school desk, the automobile, the bedroom; wherever we tarry a moment, could be an altar. To answer from the altar is an indication that we are ready for whatever task the Master has for us

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1. Henry M. Morris, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1984), p. 406.

Recently I sent the people on my mailing list a very joyous message relating what I had just heard Dr. Adrian Rogers say on bbnradio.org. Dr. Rogers, who has been in glory for several years, said that we invite people to walk down the aisle of our church because a bride should walk the aisle to meet her husband-to-be. A bride is dressed in white, and places herself to be seen by everybody. A sinner who has just trusted Christ Jesus as his Saviour has suddenly been made pure white by the blood of the Saviour. He will want everybody to see that he has trusted Christ Jesus as Saviour. My email message was well received by the Believers on my mailing list, and many wrote me to express their joy in hearing it. Most, like me, had never heard such an application of truth.

But there were some folks on my mailing list who were offended that a man could be a bride! And they didn’t believe it. This did not surprise me in the least, because I know that people who don’t believe the Bible give all sorts of reasons why the Bible can’t be believed. Culture and time seem to be the biggest hangs ups. Some, of course, like some atheists on my mailing list, don’t even believe there is God. The idea of a man-bride is so repulsive to me that it churns my stomach as it does the unsaved man who is not perverted. The notion that two men can marry is offensive in the extreme. I love sodomites, but I hate what makes them that.

Marriage is so holy that the least impurity in it makes it the foulest of corrupted things. Like a fly in the ointment, it stinks. Of course, perversion is the first thing that pops into the mind of the natural man when a man-bride is mentioned. Christians must remember that a great number of unsaved people are good, fine, honest, decent people. They are not wicked. They are not guilty of gross sins. We must somehow convince people that it is not the sins of the flesh that send people to Hell; it is refusing to be saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Most people don’t understand that all human beings are born sinners; they do no become sinners by sinning. By sinning they only increase their punishment.

The idea that being a member of the bride of Christ makes a man effeminate is also repulsive to me. I can’t list the things that prove I am a man (truck driver, bass fisherman, etc.) because women do those same things. But I am a man. I am not effeminate. God hates that. Yet, I have walked as a bride down the aisle to meet my Saviour at the altar. I have a friend not three miles from me who is a Medal of Honor winner (and has a half dozen other medals, besides: silver star, etc.). When he enlisted as a country boy private, he was blind in one eye. He fought in Korea and Vietnam. It is unbelievable what he did as a foot soldier. He retired a bird colonel. He loves one of my sons and his family. He claims Jim as his own son. This man loves the LORD, and faithfully serves Him each week in worship, in spite of his disabilities from being shot to pieces. He is a member of the bride of Christ.

A past president of the Southern Baptist Convention was at our church last year in a men’s conference, and I had the privilege of shaking his hand. This man was a marine captain in Vietnam. His camp was under attack every night by the enemy. One day it became necessary for the captain to lead a patrol into the jungle to eliminate this problem. As he went through the jungle, he came to a trail he had to cross. As he stepped out of the growth onto the trail, he was shot in the right chest. The bullet went through his chest, and exploded out the other side of his body with a large chunk of his body tissue. The colonel who commanded his company landed in a helicopter nearby, and found the captain’s body. It was carried to the helicopter, and thrown in on a pile of dead marines. When the helicopter landed at their headquarters, they noticed that the captain was still alive. They loaded him on a medivac helicopter, and flew him to a nearby hospital. The captain is now traveling over the world connecting American churches to foreign churches in a missionary work. He is a man. He is a member of the bride of Christ.

“And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” Revelation 21:9. The Lamb’s wife is made up of men and women, boys and girls of all denominations and races who have claimed Jesus as Saviour. This great conglomeration is called the Church, as well as “the Lamb’s wife.” Right now, we are the bride.

But I must stop now, and tell you something that is apt to raise your hackles, and cause you to be offended if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ. I would be offended, too, if I were you. I understand. The Bible not saying that you are not intelligent, or that you do not know anything. This is what God says, and it will explain to you why the business of man-brides doesn’t make any sense to you. The statement is in I Corinthians 2:14: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.” You see, you cannot understand the Bible because it is a spiritual book, and you’ve rejected the spiritual. Isaac Asimov was as educated and brilliant as a man could be, but he didn’t understand the Bible, even though he wrote commentaries on it. Isaac Asimov was an atheist. God did not write the verse to insult anybody, but simply to state a fact. Natural men do not understand spiritual things. They shouldn’t expect to, since they have rejected the spiritual God. A natural man is one who has not acknowledged Christ Jesus as his personal Saviour and LORD. The natural man can understand the Gospel, and he must be saved thereby. But he understands the Gospel by the faith that God will give him at the time. The truth of what I am saying is demonstrated by the fact that the saved people, the Believers, on my mailing list understood perfectly what I reported, and rejoiced in it as I do.

When a couple has been married for many years, they often lose their reproductive drive. Drugs and weakness make the reproductive act impossible. That doesn’t mean the marriage is over. On the contrary, the marriage ripens into a delicious, warm relationship that exceeds in benefits the relationship they had before. An old man looks upon his wife as his precious lamb whom he nourishes and cherishes, protects and shelters. She belongs to him. She is his child-bearer who has borne him children. She is a divine gift that he delights in after the inward man (his heart, his soul). It is no longer her outward beauty that he glories in. It is the beauty of the inward person that he gazes upon with such satisfaction. This is exactly the relationship of Jesus Christ and His bride, and the thoughts of Christ Jesus toward His bride.

The old bride takes the confident attitude that makes her leave locking the doors at night in the hands of her husband. She leaves the provisions of food, shelter, and raiment in the hands of her husband. She revels in his loving care of her. She does little or no worrying about the affairs of the family. She loves being his pet. She understands him, and knows about him. The old bride has a sense of security because of the fact that she is loved and claimed. She delights to serve him. To her, the greatest thing in the universe is to belong to a good man. I know all these things because it is written for our learning in the Bible, blessed book. And I also know that these are the very things that women’s lib hates, and has, for the most part, destroyed in our society. Result? Divorce. Unhappiness.

There are many Saints all over the world who endure great persecution for their faith. Some are tortured and killed. Some suffer worse fates. The Muslim child who ran away from home a while back, ran away because of a fear of her father. She had become a Christian. These persons are strong, courageous people whom we can admire.

I have likely made a complex (spiritual) subject even more complex, but in the hope it might be of value, I offer it. You natural men, I urge you to rely on Jesus Christ to save you from eternal loss, and put light into your mind.

The Resurrection and the Priesthood of Christ Jesus

The Resurrection of Christ Jesus was the most important event in the history of Earth. Saying “most important” raises many questions. Life on Earth demands certain elements. Which is the most important? Is oxygen the most important, or is water? How about sunlight, hear, food, favorable environment? All of these are essentials, but which one is the most important? What criteria shall we use to decide? Will our opinion be only our opinion, or can we establish it as a fact? Life can survive without water for several days. Life can survive without food for about 40 days outside. A favorable environment can probably be tolerated for many years. But oxygen is required to live for only a few minutes. I assert, and I thin I have proven, that oxygen is the most important element to life.

In his fine compilation of what he believes to be the greatest sermons on the Resurrection, Dr. Curtis Hudson, my friend of long ago, writes, “The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation for all Christian belief. It is the keystone in the arch which holds the other stones in place. … The resurrection of Christ distinguishes Christianity from all other religions of the world.” (Curtis Hudson, The Sword of the Lord Publications (Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 1984), Preface.)

The word “resurrection” does not occur in the Old Testament, and concept of resurrection only appears in the types. Since no one could go to Heaven without the resurrection of Christ Jesus, the fact of resurrection was generally unknown, and we are left to wonder what was in the minds of the Jews. If anyone knows, I would be grateful to learn about it. There was something there, however, for Job, the perfect man who repented (Job 1:8; 42:6) believed he would rise from the dead in the presence of God. In chapter 9 of Job, and verse 25-27, he makes that startling statement, Job 19:25 “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:” Job 19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Job 19:27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” But what about historical events? There would be a debate about which events were actually important to the entire world. There is the Creation, the Exodus, the dispersion, all very important to the Jews, and therefore important to all of us. There is the birth of Jesus, and His crucifixion, both essentials to human kind. Consider the importance of the discovery of America, the Magna Carta, and the 1611 King James Bible. Both of these we consider essential to the salvation of man, even eastern men. Can we discover the importance of these events by placing them in chronological order? All events before the Resurrection led up to the Resurrection, and all events afterward were made possible by the Resurrection. For that reason, which obviously, is only my opinion, I choose the Resurrection as the most important event in world history.

The resurrection of Jesus established His eternal Priesthood. As a sojourner on Earth, Jesus could not be a priest because of the tribe into which He was born. Jacob fixed the futures of his twelve sons as he lay dying, as recorded in Genesis chapter 49. Levi was the name of the third son, and his descendants became the priests in Israel. They became priests because God showed His unlimited grace in choosing such a criminal to be the progenitor of the priests. Jacob said, “… I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” (vs. 7) The priests were scattered in Israel, for they had no inheritance in Israel, and had to live among the other twelve tribes. Jesus was not born into this tribe.

Jesus was born into the tribe, as we call the descendants of Judah, the fourth-born son. Judah had not been a good man, but he was about the best of the twelve sons (ch. 38). Jacob gave him the scepter (49:10). Judah, therefore, would become the progenitor of the kingly family, David, Solomon, etc. Jesus descended from David (Matthew 1:6-17). Therefore, Jesus could have been a king. You see the implication of this? Mary and Joseph both were descendants of David. Therefore, they and their divine Son were princes – members of the royal household.

Let’s check the Old Testament’s authentications of the priesthood. It is found in Exodus 17, but first we will look briefly at chapter 16. In chapter 16 is recorded the rebellion of Moses’ and Aaron’ cousin, Korah, backed by many others of the Levitical family, and Reuben’s descendants. Korah complained that Moses and Aaron took too much upon themselves. The result of Korah’s rebellion was getting his name into the New Testament: Jude 11. The result also included the act of God by which He opened the earth, and swallowed the Korah Levites, and all that pertained to them. Then God sent fire to destroy the rest of the rebels. The people still complained, and God’s wrath carries over to chapter 17 where we learn a matter that is important to all saved people. Read and rejoice.

God told Moses to command the twelve princes of the twelve tribes to produce a rod upon which they would write their names. Aaron, too, as the prince of the tribe of Levi, must provide a rod. The princes brought their rods to Moses as he commanded, and he told them the rods would be laid up in the Tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony. In the morning the rods would be examined before them all, and in the presence of God. The rod that budded would designate God’s chosen priest. The dead rod that would come to life would point to nothing else but the fact of resurrection.

During the black night in the cold desert air, the dead rods lay on the sand before the Ark of the Covenant. But God did a marvelous thing. He chose Aaron’s rod, and caused the thing to bud, to bring forth buds, “blossomed blossoms”, and even almonds. What sort of wood the rods were we do not know. They may have been acacia, shittim or even hyssop, whatever, but God made Aaron’s rod and almond stick! No doubt all the rods were the same sort of wood, but they were all dead, perhaps even worn smooth by years of us by the owner. God disturbed none of them buy Aaron’, the high priest, and founder by the grace of God of the Levetical priesthood.

God had already chosen Aaron, Moses older brother (by three years, Exodus 7:7) for the task of being Moses’s “prophet,” or spokesman. That was before the exodus. In Exodus 28 Aaron and his four sons are consecrated as priests. The events of Numbers 16 and 17 occurred was twenty years (Usher’s chronology according to Scofield.) after Aaron and his sons are consecrated as priests (sons: Nadab and Abihu, who were slain for offering strange fire [Leviticus 10:1; Numbers 3:4; 26:6; and Eleazar and Ithamar). for more than twenty years the Israelites had be bellyaching, and God was fed up with it.

After the destruction of the “men of renown” (15:2), and the rest of the rag tag rebels with fire from Heaven, God sent a plague among the people who were still complaining, and killed 14,700 of them (16:49). (Since the Israelites went up out of Egypt as “a mixed multitude” [Exodus 12:38] I believe God never harmed a Jew who believed Him when He sent these plagues and killer animals among them, I believe it was for the persons in the “mixed multitude” who were the instigators of the problems, and the objects of God’s wrath.)

Now we enter the great seventeenth chapter where the business of the rods is recorded. I would put this chapter down here, but everybody has a Bible (1769 A.V), and I strongly urge you to read this chapter there. After God performed His creative miracle during the night, Moses went into the Holy of Holies where the rods spent the night, and gathered them up and brought them out before the congregation. He likely held Aaron’s rod aloft, and proclaimed that God had divinely, miraculously caused Aaron’s rod to come to life. This was God’s absolute authentication of Aaron’s priesthood. The rods the were placed into the Ark of the covenant, where they remained, fresh and living and grand as long as the Ark remained as a testimony to resurrection and Aaron’s call.

Next, let’s turn to that character Jonas. Jesus was very gracious and generous when He called Jonah a prophet. I’d call him a low-down rascal, but in that, I’m guilty of sin. As I’m sure you remember he is the man who ran from God, and detested the very people God sent him to minister to. God had to put him through a grinder to make him obey. I guess anybody would be revolted to have to minister to the Ninevites. Anyway, when God commanded him to go preach to Nineveh. Jonah 1:3 tells us that when God commanded him, “… Jonah rose up to flee … .” That means he ran like a hant (or Haunt, if you like hat bennter). I spend time in prayer begging God to make me one of His servants, pleading for opportunities to speak for Him, and here this bird receives a special privilege, and he flees! Shame.

Jesus also said that Jonas was a sign to the Jews. It is important to note every word Jesus said in this verse: “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Notice that Jesus said “as.” A type must be a picture of the actual thing it is a type of. If Jesus died, then Jonah died in the fish’s belly. Note what Jonah said in 1:17 – 2:2, “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, [and] thou heardest my voice.”

No need for argument about whether Jonah was dead in the fish’s belly. He was a type of Jesus’ Resurrection, therefore Jonah was dead for three days and nights in that fish’s bell just as Jesus was dead for three days and night in the tomb of Joseph. Jonah was not down in the fish sitting on a pile of fish bones, ankle deed in digestive juices trying to breathe. He was as dead as Aaron’s rod, and the crucified Lamb of God. Cold in death. While he was in the fish, the digestive juices must have bleached him as white as snow. When Jonah completed the required three days and three night, God made the fish sick, and the fish hurried to a beach, and puked up this rotten prophet. (Forgive me, LORD.) And Jonah made haste to Nineveh.

Jesus and Jonah were dead for three days and three nights. Let’s count: Thursday 1, Friday 2, Saturday 3 = three days; Thursday night 1, Friday night 1, Saturday night 3 = three nights. In the absence of any Bible declaration that a miracle was involved, we can conclude that Jesus was crucified on Thursday, not Friday – right? Wrong. I believed that for a long time because I read it in a book. But when I research the Bible on the matter, I learned I was wrong. “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19 see also Matthew 26:61; Mark 14:58). “Now when [Jesus] was risen early the first [day] of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.) (Mark 16:9 see also Mark 16:2; Matthew 28:1). These two verses settled the matter of what day of the week Jesus was crusified. He was crucified on Friday. Sunday 3, Saturday (Sabbath) 2, Friday 1 – right? Right.

Don’t believe anything you hear or read (including here) without checking it out in the Word.

Jonah had a greater ministry than he thought. He was actually a type of Christ Jesus.

Just as the “resurrection” of Aaron’s rod authenticated the priesthood of Aaron, Jesus’ Resurrection made His priesthood possible. As a man born in the tribe of Judah, the royal tribe that held the scepter (Genesis 49:10), He could be a king, but not a priest. Priests had to be born into the tribe of Levi, and be descendants of Aaron. Jesus rose from the dead as a High Prist, but not a High Priest after the order of Levi or Aaron. Jesus’ priesthood is after the order of Melchisedec (Hebrews 17:7) , that ancient, mystical priest to whom mighty Abraham paid tithes (Hebrews 7:2; Genesis 14:10), and who blessed Abraham.

The Resurrection is the authorization, the foundation, the genesis, the enablement of Christ Jesus’ priesthood. It is this priesthood to which we belong who are saved (I Peter 2:9).

Believest thou this? Believing it honors God,  and saves you. Denying it infuriates God, and, well, if you don’t know, write me, and I’ll tell you plainly.