Hi all,
I am the oldest of 4 children who are roughly 2 years apart. When I was in a senior in high school my mom apologized for treating me like an adult, explaining I was just so big she forgot I was still a child. (From ages 11-18, after my dad had left the family. I am 6'6" tall, 1.98m)
The first child is the first time parents have ever been parents. When Chris, our first born was just a couple months old he would cry in the middle of the night. We didn't know why - wet? Hungry? Wanting to be in bed with mom and dad? Exasperated, Barb asked a friend who was the mother of 4 for help. Jeanne asked Barb to show her how Chris was clothed and covered at night. She concluded:"Chris is cold. Cover him better." We did that, and Chris immediately started sleeping through the night. How were we to know he was cold? He was our first child. We were young and stupid, lol.
We first borns are the experiment. We are the first time they had a baby play in the dirt. I think when I got dirty mom would stop whatever she was doing, in a panic clean me with a full bath, wipe out my mouth with the strongest soap in the house, hoping I would not get sick. By the time my youngest brother and sister came around, she probably shrugged and said 'It's only dirt' and turned back to whatever she was doing.
When it came to discipline...
For the same offense I got a spank on my rear end when I was a child, my younger siblings received much softer discipline. What a double standard! They'd get:"You may go to the game, but not the dance after." Really? I'd have been swatted on the rear end, had no TV for a week, no dessert for a week, AND not been able to go to the game OR dance.
The birds and the bees...
When a 4 year old asks:"Where do babies come from?" a parent will explain it to them on a 4 year old level. When that child is 14 and wants specific answers about babies and relations between a man and woman, a parent will explain it to them on a whole different level. A 4 year old gets one level of revelation, a 14 year old gets another level of revelation.
Similarly, the Lord viewed Israel as His first born. *"When Israel was a child I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." In the Father's mind, Israel was born, birthed, coming through the Sea. Israel was a child in His eyes back then. *Hosea 1:1
Being the first born child, they received the first revelation of the Lord and His ways. They are like the 4 year old, we are like the 14 year old. They received a most basic revelation of God and His ways, we receive and received a much higher revelation.
Hebrews 1:1-3 tells us this:
"God spoke in many ways and many parts (bits and pieces, here and there) to our fathers (by the prophets). But in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son, who He made heir of all things, by whom He created the universe, who is the brightness of His (Father's) glory, and the express image of His (Father's) character, and who upholds all things by the Word of His (Father's) power..."
Jesus is the highest revelation of the Father; He is the Word of the Father's power. This shows us the Father revealed His ways to Israel more like a 4 year old, with the full revelation of His character being revealed in the person of His Son made flesh; Jesus Christ.
But even that isn't a complete revelation, for we are in a closed system so to speak, with the age of man coming to a close at His return. "Now we are the sons of God, but it hasn't been revealed what we will be. For when He comes, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope purifies himself." I John 3:2-3
This time of the government of man will come to an end, and then a greater revelation of the Father and Lord will happen:We will see Him in full glory, without the veil of man's mortal earth-made body shielding us, as our heavenly made bodies will be able to see and become part of His full glory. Amazing!
Back to Israel as His young first born
Being the first born, given limited revelation of the true nature of the Father, they often received harsher treatment. We are Israel's younger sibling in my example. Indeed, Paul writes in I Corinthians 10:6 and 11 that what happened to Israel happened as examples for us. We may think of it the same way a first born child receives harsher discipline than later siblings, with the youngsters taking what happened to the first born as a warning and example to them.
Israel was born when they came out of the Sea in the 1400's BC, some 4,000 years ago. There was no modern communication, travel, access to food, health care, or education. They lived in a culture that kept slaves their whole lives. They lived in a culture that killed men, women, and children in warfare with intent and without mercy. They lived in an age when a monarchy changed the prevous king's family and extended family were brutally murdered. They lived in an age of perverted pagan practices ranging from sacrificing babies and adults to self-mutilation in various forms.
God doesn't endorse any of that, but He had to deal with it because His son, Israel, had to deal with it. (The same is true of Paul writing of slavery under Roman rule; God doesn't condone it, but He has to deal with it because man deals in human trafficking.) So God made laws on how Israel should deal with these issues.
If you have 4 children and your oldest steals the family car for the night for the first time ever, their punishment will be far harsher than the true nature of their parents. But they need to be made an example of for their younger siblings, because the nature of the act could have fatal consequences.
If your child comes home from school and talks of class mates involved in a crime or dangerous behavior, or even something rising to the level of criminal, you would have to deal with that child and those influencing your child in a drastic fashion, perhaps aggressively. Your response isn't your true nature, but you don't condone that kind of behavior, and you have to make rules for your child to deal with it.
Sometimes the actions of others force you to do what you don't want to do
Look at this:Even Hebrews 10:5-6 says God took no pleasure in the sacrifices and burnt offerings of the Old Testament - yet He made them part of the Mosaic law anyway. The sending of His Son is where He found pleasure. The same with Israel. God spoke one level of revelation of Himself and His ways to the fathers 'in many parts and many ways', but the ultimate revelation, the full revelation of Himself, is Jesus.
This series is about the examples the Father or Lord has made of certain people in the Bible, and why they were made examples for us. There are many times in the New Testament He made examples for us as well.
We will start there next week. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
I am the oldest of 4 children who are roughly 2 years apart. When I was in a senior in high school my mom apologized for treating me like an adult, explaining I was just so big she forgot I was still a child. (From ages 11-18, after my dad had left the family. I am 6'6" tall, 1.98m)
The first child is the first time parents have ever been parents. When Chris, our first born was just a couple months old he would cry in the middle of the night. We didn't know why - wet? Hungry? Wanting to be in bed with mom and dad? Exasperated, Barb asked a friend who was the mother of 4 for help. Jeanne asked Barb to show her how Chris was clothed and covered at night. She concluded:"Chris is cold. Cover him better." We did that, and Chris immediately started sleeping through the night. How were we to know he was cold? He was our first child. We were young and stupid, lol.
We first borns are the experiment. We are the first time they had a baby play in the dirt. I think when I got dirty mom would stop whatever she was doing, in a panic clean me with a full bath, wipe out my mouth with the strongest soap in the house, hoping I would not get sick. By the time my youngest brother and sister came around, she probably shrugged and said 'It's only dirt' and turned back to whatever she was doing.
When it came to discipline...
For the same offense I got a spank on my rear end when I was a child, my younger siblings received much softer discipline. What a double standard! They'd get:"You may go to the game, but not the dance after." Really? I'd have been swatted on the rear end, had no TV for a week, no dessert for a week, AND not been able to go to the game OR dance.
The birds and the bees...
When a 4 year old asks:"Where do babies come from?" a parent will explain it to them on a 4 year old level. When that child is 14 and wants specific answers about babies and relations between a man and woman, a parent will explain it to them on a whole different level. A 4 year old gets one level of revelation, a 14 year old gets another level of revelation.
Similarly, the Lord viewed Israel as His first born. *"When Israel was a child I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." In the Father's mind, Israel was born, birthed, coming through the Sea. Israel was a child in His eyes back then. *Hosea 1:1
Being the first born child, they received the first revelation of the Lord and His ways. They are like the 4 year old, we are like the 14 year old. They received a most basic revelation of God and His ways, we receive and received a much higher revelation.
Hebrews 1:1-3 tells us this:
"God spoke in many ways and many parts (bits and pieces, here and there) to our fathers (by the prophets). But in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son, who He made heir of all things, by whom He created the universe, who is the brightness of His (Father's) glory, and the express image of His (Father's) character, and who upholds all things by the Word of His (Father's) power..."
Jesus is the highest revelation of the Father; He is the Word of the Father's power. This shows us the Father revealed His ways to Israel more like a 4 year old, with the full revelation of His character being revealed in the person of His Son made flesh; Jesus Christ.
But even that isn't a complete revelation, for we are in a closed system so to speak, with the age of man coming to a close at His return. "Now we are the sons of God, but it hasn't been revealed what we will be. For when He comes, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope purifies himself." I John 3:2-3
This time of the government of man will come to an end, and then a greater revelation of the Father and Lord will happen:We will see Him in full glory, without the veil of man's mortal earth-made body shielding us, as our heavenly made bodies will be able to see and become part of His full glory. Amazing!
Back to Israel as His young first born
Being the first born, given limited revelation of the true nature of the Father, they often received harsher treatment. We are Israel's younger sibling in my example. Indeed, Paul writes in I Corinthians 10:6 and 11 that what happened to Israel happened as examples for us. We may think of it the same way a first born child receives harsher discipline than later siblings, with the youngsters taking what happened to the first born as a warning and example to them.
Israel was born when they came out of the Sea in the 1400's BC, some 4,000 years ago. There was no modern communication, travel, access to food, health care, or education. They lived in a culture that kept slaves their whole lives. They lived in a culture that killed men, women, and children in warfare with intent and without mercy. They lived in an age when a monarchy changed the prevous king's family and extended family were brutally murdered. They lived in an age of perverted pagan practices ranging from sacrificing babies and adults to self-mutilation in various forms.
God doesn't endorse any of that, but He had to deal with it because His son, Israel, had to deal with it. (The same is true of Paul writing of slavery under Roman rule; God doesn't condone it, but He has to deal with it because man deals in human trafficking.) So God made laws on how Israel should deal with these issues.
If you have 4 children and your oldest steals the family car for the night for the first time ever, their punishment will be far harsher than the true nature of their parents. But they need to be made an example of for their younger siblings, because the nature of the act could have fatal consequences.
If your child comes home from school and talks of class mates involved in a crime or dangerous behavior, or even something rising to the level of criminal, you would have to deal with that child and those influencing your child in a drastic fashion, perhaps aggressively. Your response isn't your true nature, but you don't condone that kind of behavior, and you have to make rules for your child to deal with it.
Sometimes the actions of others force you to do what you don't want to do
Look at this:Even Hebrews 10:5-6 says God took no pleasure in the sacrifices and burnt offerings of the Old Testament - yet He made them part of the Mosaic law anyway. The sending of His Son is where He found pleasure. The same with Israel. God spoke one level of revelation of Himself and His ways to the fathers 'in many parts and many ways', but the ultimate revelation, the full revelation of Himself, is Jesus.
This series is about the examples the Father or Lord has made of certain people in the Bible, and why they were made examples for us. There are many times in the New Testament He made examples for us as well.
We will start there next week. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
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