Appearing Before God (Part Three)

The specific instruction in Deuteronomy 16:16 is that, during the three holy day seasons of the year, we should not appear before God "in vain" or "with futility." The context refers to how God has blessed us, and since God's blessings are far more than just physical, the application of this principle to other areas of life is extensive. Concluding that our obligation ended with a monetary offering on the holy days would be a serious error. David explains why in Psalm 40:6-8:

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; my ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, "Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart."

David recognizes that God is not interested in the sacrifices and offerings in the long run. He instituted them because of the sins of the people, and they served as a tutor—a schoolmaster—to point Israel to their Messiah (Galatians 3:19-25). Jeremiah 7:22-23 echoes this principle:

For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. [He instituted them at a later time.] But this is what I commanded them, saying, "Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you."

God mentions here the essence of the Old Covenant: "I will be your God, and you shall be My people." Israel considered this acceptable because of what they could get out of the arrangement. But when God defined the terms and explained what it meant for Israel to be His people—the fact that the Israelites now had to obey His voice and walk in His ways rather than their own—they rebelled. For this reason, God instituted the sacrifices and offerings to remind them regularly of their obligations to Him and their neighbors.

Returning to Psalm 40:6-8, David understood that God was not ultimately concerned about the rituals and the forms. They had their place as a means to an end, but they were not the end. David writes something similar to what God says through Jeremiah. Notice in verse 8 that he delights to do God's will and that God's law is in his heart. After stating that the sacrifices and offerings are not God's primary interest, he then tells what is: eager obedience to God's will, expressed through His law in particular and His Word in general.

God is not after our pocketbooks, and those of His servants who emulate Him will not be either. Every last thing of value we have to offer has its source in Him, and He distributes it according to His will. We have nothing to give Him that He has not already given to us (I Corinthians 4:7).

No, what God is after is our hearts. He is interested in our character, our attention, and our regard for Him and the other parts of His creation. He cannot instantaneously create these kinds of things. Because God's Word has gone forth (Isaiah 55:11), those things are being created, and so progress or its lack can be seen. Three seasons of each year, He asks us to come before Him so that He—and we—can see what His Word is accomplishing in us and how His creation is prospering.

Despite the sacrifices that God instituted for Israel not being principal elements of His purpose, they still play a part in what He is working out. Remember, none of God's words are unimportant. If He gives a command, He requires that it be fulfilled. Anciently, some of the sacrifices and offerings that Israelites gave supported the priests and the Levites. They helped to maintain the Tabernacle and the Temple so that the people could be represented before God. They also served to remind the people of God's providence and blessing in their lives, which applies just as well to us today.

But just as the animal sacrifices were a type, a symbol, of the work the Messiah would later do, so also freewill offerings, while important themselves, are also symbolic of something much more significant. When God instructs us not to come before Him empty, it contains a spiritual application concerning the words God spoke on the sixth day of Creation (Genesis 1:26), and the spiritual image into which He is forming us (II Corinthians 3:18).

In principle, He is saying, "Do not come before Me in futility or without a recognition of what My Word is accomplishing in your life." We can put it another way: "Come before Me with the spiritual fruit—the fruit of the Spirit—that I have been cultivating in you. Show Me the character that is developing. Demonstrate the faith, hope, and love that you are receiving from Me. Manifest what My Word is accomplishing and prospering in your life."

The Israelites could not have wasted their time during the growing season and expected to have something to harvest—and offer—for the holy days. Likewise, we risk coming before God in vain or with futility during the festivals if we have not been working with Him all along to cultivate spiritual fruit. Producing the spiritual qualities that God is interested in requires ongoing submission to Him, and it takes time. If He cannot develop those things in us overnight, surely neither can we!

When we obey the command not to come before Him empty, void, or without producing any effect, the physical application is easy. The spiritual counterpart is more difficult and far more critical. It requires us to be aware at all times of the words spoken thousands of years ago, words that are prospering within God's purpose this very moment. It obliges us to look continually for God's signature, to keep His written creation top of mind, and to submit to His will with a pure heart every step of the way.

Appearing Before God (Part Two)

As Part One closed, we considered what God says in Isaiah 55:10-11:

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

An important detail at the end of verse 11 is often overlooked: God says that His Word will prosper in what He sent it to do. The essence of the Hebrew word underlying "prosper" is "to push forward," "to promote," or "to advance" in the sense of "breaking out." It means "to be profitable" or "to cause prosperity." God is saying that this powerful effect of His Word goes beyond mere accomplishment; it is not a matter of merely checking an achievement off a list. God's Word prospers—it causes things to grow, to advance, and to increase.

For instance, in Genesis 1:26, Elohim said, "Let Us make man in Our image," and look at the prospering—the advancement, the increase—that is happening from that command! If it were just a matter of accomplishment, God's Word could have been fulfilled when human beings' physical forms resembled God's own spiritual body. But God's Word is still reverberating 6,000 years later, advancing and causing an increase. When His pronouncement reaches its full potential, humanity will also be in God's character image.

In essence, God's Word causes things to increase just as rain causes crops to increase, but with God's Word, the increase is not always numeric. Often, it is qualitative rather than quantitative.

The Hebrew word translated as "void" in Isaiah 55:11 is used in several other places, but one context is of particular interest:

Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you. (Deuteronomy 16:16-17)

Verse 16 uses the phrase "empty-handed" ("empty" in the King James Version), which is from the same word rendered "void" in Isaiah 55:11. The specific application in Deuteronomy is that God's people should not appear before Him without something of physical value to present to Him, but the spiritual application is much larger. While "empty-handed" is not an incorrect translation, it may serve to limit the instruction in our minds.

Remember, the Hebrew word translated as "void" and "empty" does not simply mean "without something to give." Its meaning is more general and not limited to a mere absence of something valuable. Combining the thought in Isaiah 55:11 and the fact that everything around us has its source in God, the phrase in Deuteronomy 16:16 could be paraphrased as "they shall not appear before the LORD without a demonstration of what God's Word has produced."

God's Word causes things to happen. God spoke, and plants fit for our food were created. He spoke, and the sun, which gives those plants light and energy, appeared. He spoke, and the seasons of the earth began their cycle. He spoke, and weather patterns were established so the plants would be watered.

As a result, in three seasons throughout the year, God commands us to appear before Him and offer proof of, not only what His Word has accomplished, but also what His Word has caused to prosper. In this way, offerings are beneficial to us as individuals, helping to remind us that God is the Source of everything and that His will determines how much is produced.

When we consider that the fundamental instruction in Deuteronomy 16:16 is that we should not appear before God "in vain" or "with futility" and that the context refers to how God has blessed us, the applications are vast, since God's blessings are far more than just physical. A monetary offering is just its most specific application for us on holy days, playing a large role in what the church can do in terms of feeding the flock and making a witness to the world.

But we would be in serious error if we concluded that our obligation ends there. More on this in Part Three.

Appearing Before God (Part One)

In Psalm 92:4-5, the psalmist proclaims:

For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands. O LORD, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep.

Upon hearing the phrase "the works of God" we may think of the various actions of God in protecting and providing for His people. God's works in slaying the firstborn of Egypt, delivering Israel from captivity, and finally crushing the Egyptian army in the Red Sea may also come to mind.

Biblically, His first works are seen in Genesis 1, His works of creation. We see Him creating light and separating it from darkness. We see Him terra-forming the earth to design continents and oceans and creating the heavenly bodies that provide light. We observe His works in all seven days of the Creation Week.

Perhaps we also are reminded of the natural world that surrounds us, in which we can easily perceive God's hand. We especially see His works in the springtime, as the plants and animals are full of new life. Only His hands could have made such a beautiful, productive environment for us and all life in which to thrive.

Humanity is the pinnacle of His physical works, and we are privileged to know that God's work with men also includes a spiritual dimension. Undoubtedly, the psalmist had an understanding of this spiritual work when he wrote, "I will triumph in the works of Your hands" (emphasis ours throughout).

But there is another work of God that we need to consider. The written Word of God is a truly magnificent work. Just as the physical creation was accomplished each day of Creation Week with things that "God said," so also His spiritual creation is being accomplished with things that He said—and which He has recorded for us. The inspired Word of God is part of His creation just as much as light, plants, animals, and man, and it reveals that the thoughts of God "are very deep," as the psalmist declares.

Within the physical creation, we see overwhelming evidence of divine intelligence. We not only notice beauty, but we can also observe structure, order, and relationships between parts. From the most complex mammal to the simplest bacterium, we perceive everything working together, everything serving a function, and everything demonstrating the genius of the Creator.

Within God's written creation, we likewise see overwhelming evidence of divine intelligence, not only in the content, but also in the structure. Psalm 12:6 describes the words of God to be like silver that has been purified seven times. If God uses a word in a verse, it is because no other would do. Nothing superfluous appears in the words that God has said.

Those in the world who believe that life happened by random chance also generally think that the Bible is a collection of the random writings of men. But those who recognize God's signature in the physical creation will also tend to see His signature in His written creation, and ultimately in His spiritual creation as well. Seeing God's hand in one area of life lends itself to seeing it in other areas as well.

Words have tremendous power. It is with good reason that playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote, "The pen is mightier than the sword," and before him, the Greek poet Euripides said, "The tongue is mightier than the blade." But when the words have their origin in God Himself, they have a dynamic force that we cannot fully comprehend. We can see only its effects.

Jesus says in John 6:63, "The words I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." Our words do not have this quality; we oftentimes spew a lot of hot air. When God says something, though, it is never petty or insignificant. When He speaks, things happen. Sometimes it takes thousands of years, but if He has spoken it, He has also unleashed the power and the determination that will see His Word fulfilled.

This is described succinctly in Isaiah 55:10-11:

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

These verses show that when God accomplishes something through His Word, quite often it is a process. Sometimes it is instantaneous, such as when Jesus said to the man at the Pool of Bethesda, "Rise, take up your bed, and walk" (John 5:8). But what we often see is God working through processes and courses that involve many elements and often a great deal of time. A great deal of time elapses between the rain or snow falling from heaven—the beginning of the process—and somebody eating a piece of bread at the end. But if a process begins with God's pure Word going out of His mouth, no matter how long it takes, the power behind that Word certifies it will be accomplished.

Verse 11 says that God's Word will not return to Him "void." This word means "empty" or "useless." It can also mean "in vain," "unfulfilled," "unsuccessful," or "with futility." The Amplified Bible renders it "without producing any effect." When God speaks, His words are never futile or useless. He never utters a word in vain. He never gives a command that goes unfulfilled. Recalling Genesis 1, consider what has resulted from God speaking just a handful of sentences!

In Part Two, we will pursue the word "void" and see how it applies to us when we appear before Him.

Jeremiah 31:21

Set up signposts,
Make landmarks;
Set your heart toward the highway,
The way in which you went.
Turn back, O virgin of Israel,
Turn back to these your cities.  Jeremiah 31:21

God Himself told Ephraim to mark their way so that they could return one day to the Promised Land: "Set up signposts, make landmarks; set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went. Turn back, O virgin of Israel, turn back to these your cities" (Jeremiah 31:21). How were they to do this?

One of the main ways involves the prophecy of Jacob about the tribe of Dan. "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a viper by the path" (Genesis 49:17). A serpent or snake leaves a mark behind it as it moves over the earth; some snakes, like rattlesnakes, leave very distinctive trails. So does the tribe of Dan.

Though Joshua had allotted land to Dan in Canaan, the Danites found it to be difficult to hold and settle because of its proximity to the Philistines. They began to look elsewhere for living space.

And six hundred men of the family of the Danites went from there, from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war. Then they went up and encamped in Kirjath Jearim in Judah. (Therefore they call that place Mahaneh Dan [Camp of Dan] to this day. There it is, west of Kirjath Jearim.) (Judges 18:11-12)

Finally, they came to the city of Laish, in the far northern reaches of Israel, and they took it. "And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. However the name of the city was formerly Laish" (verse 29).

And thus they have been naming places after their ancestor ever since! A good map of Europe will show dozens of place names carrying the name of Dan within them. 

The Don, Dnieper, Dniester and Danube rivers all flow into the Black Sea. The Romans knew the Rhine and Rhone rivers as the Eridanus and the Rhodanus. Denmark (literally, "Dan's Land") and Sweden are both northwestern European countries. The English escaped from Dunkirk (literally, "Dan's Church") during WWII. One can find similar place names sprinkled heavily throughout England, Scotland, and especially Ireland, where dun means "judge," just as dan does in Hebrew.

Luke 9:62

But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."  Luke 9:62

This "looking back" is not merely reflecting to evaluate the progress made since one decided to leave the world. Instead, it is like Lot's wife, who looked back with a degree of longing to return to what she had left. Her life was literally on the line, and rather than being fully engaged in surviving, she placed a higher priority on life's lesser matters than on the greater one of preserving her life through God's gift of protection.

She looked back, revealing her heart still to be in Sodom, a type of the world. Her action indicates regret for having left. Success in God's way requires following an awesome vision of future glory with devoted conviction. Abraham is a primary example: He looked for a city built by God, apparently leaving his homeland without ever looking back (Hebrews 11:8-10, 13-16).

Once we commit to Christianity, God's calling becomes our vocation, which requires our concentrated attention going forward. A vocation is a person's regular occupation. What happens when a Christian looks back with a measure of longing is similar to someone talking on a cell phone while driving his car. He frequently drifts all over the road, swerving this way and that because, at best, his attention is split between conflicting priorities. He is setting himself up for trouble, and all too frequently, an accident occurs. A Christian cannot make a beeline for the Kingdom with his attention diverted elsewhere. We are not to be anything but altogether followers of the Son of God. The stakes are that high, for the fulfillment of His promise is so great.

Dramatic, sudden death, as happened to Lot's wife, will not likely happen to us if we gaze yearningly behind us. For this reason, a person who has begun to fall away will most likely take the second step backwards with hardly a pause. Hebrews 10:39 says, "But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul." Almost invariably, longing for the old life is followed by gradually and increasingly believing that God's requirements are too exacting and difficult.

In Jesus' parable in Luke 19:11-27, did not the man given one mina complain something similar to this when asked what he had gained with it? "Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow" (verses 20-21).

We must be prepared to put God first in all things. There will be times when this will be exceedingly difficult, especially if the surrender of a thing involves the sacrifice of someone or something deeply loved or desired. It can happen, but such occasions are quite rare.

It has been said that he who is unwilling to sacrifice everything for the cause of God is really willing to sacrifice nothing. Drawing back happens despite God's promise that every trial is measured to the exact specifications needed by the individual Christian. In I Corinthians 10:13, God promises to provide relief from every problem: "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." The word-picture in Hebrews 10:39 portrays a person shrinking back from following through on the demands of faith. He is looking for an easy way out of some distasteful thing he does not wish to face. This eventually happens to us all.

A major appeal of the world's way is that it seems to be broader and easier. As Jesus says in Matthew 7:13, the easier, broader way it probably is - for a while. That deceptively effortless way draws the person ever-further from salvation, and he grows steadily weaker as he loses contact with God. The one who apostatizes thus permits himself to be drawn back.

The third step is taken when a person actually turns away. John 6:65-66 records such an occasion in Jesus' ministry: "And He said, 'Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.' From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more." In this poignant scene, Jesus watched people who may have been friends leave His entourage because they could not comprehend His teaching. He undoubtedly had spoken of things of an order far higher than they were accustomed to hearing, but rather than patiently facing it, as the apostles did, they simply gave up, proving themselves unfit for the Kingdom of God. Their loyalty could not stand the strain of what may have been merely a temporary misunderstanding. They had been followers, but apparently, they were seeking for something else.

By this stage, it is still not too late for a person to grab hold of himself and move forward, but the world's appeal has become almost overpowering. Spiritual decline has reached the tipping point, and he is in serious peril.

The fourth and final step backward is illustrated by Isaiah in the Old Testament: "But the word of the LORD was to them, 'Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.' That they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught" (Isaiah 28:13).

In examining the context carefully, we see that the people being described have reached the critical point where God's Word is falling on deaf ears. It is to them just jumbled noise. In New Testament terms, they had backslid beyond the reach of repentance and forgiveness. Here, the apostate reaches the point of no return; he has earned the Lake of Fire.

Romans 10:1-3

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.  For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.  For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.  Romans 10:1-3

What we observe in the world around us confirms that end-time Israel is following the same spiritual pattern that our ancestors established anciently. Human nature does not change. These verses verify that some knowledge of God remains within the Israelitish nations.

However, theirs is not an enlightened, discerning, and intelligent zeal for God. Rather, God says in Hosea 4:6 that His people—in this case meaning ancient Israel—are destroyed for a lack of true knowledge. God then lays the greater blame on the teachers for their failure to teach truth. The Interpreter's Commentary says that "ignorant" in Romans 10:3 can correctly be translated as "ignoring," revealing a deliberate disregarding of God's righteousness.

The broader history of Old Testament Israel shows that God's Word was available, but the people did not access it to seek God. Thus, their ignorance was not completely the teacher's fault; the people should have studied the Bible on their own. Paul explains in Romans 1:18-21 that man is without excuse before Him because knowledge of God is available. The contrast Paul provides in Romans 10:1-3 indicates that the teaching the Israelites received produced at best a vague, superficial base of knowledge about God. This is not a foundation of true knowledge that will work to produce a good relationship between God and man.

We can see an example of this kind of teaching in our time. Most of us have seen what is happening in so many churches these days, most especially in the mega-churches. Their services come across as superficial entertainment that gives people an upbeat social experience that contains some religious instruction. They come up short in teaching high-quality biblical truths to enhance people's relationships with God. It has produced a people who believe that they are saved and going to heaven immediately after death, and who think God's laws are done away. They keep Christmas and Easter, which are obviously pagan holidays, and at the same time fail to keep the Sabbaths, which both Jesus and Paul clearly kept.

How can they be following Christ when they do not do what He did and in fact do what pagans do? Where is God in the minds of those who conduct their lives like this? In truth, what they think about Him is nowhere near the truth because neither they nor their teachers make the effort to know Him (John 17:3).

They know some things about Him, but they do not know Him. If they did, they would be seeking Him, and He would be revealing truth. Where should they be seeking Him? They must begin in the Scriptures. In them, two things are beyond dispute: first, that God is the Supreme Sovereign over His creation, His purpose for creating it, and His plan for fulfilling it; and second, that man is responsible to this awesome Creator.

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  Revelation 3:20

The illustration at the end of the letter to Laodicea is striking. Our Lord stands at the door knocking. Christ then says, "If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." But what does the passage indicate about the Laodicean at this point? Since he cannot hear His Savior's voice, his mind must be focused on something else!

This is a common occurrence in our lives today. Concentrating deeply on a job or a project, our minds can block out sounds and movement around us. Some people never seem to hear someone calling them when their noses are stuck between the pages of a book!

Just describing this ability another way, Jesus judges the Laodicean to be blind. Paul uses a different metaphor in I Thessalonians 5:4-8, saying that he is in the dark. Spiritually, blindness and living in darkness are much the same. How good is one's judgment when he cannot see? Living in darkness is the equivalent of being morally insensitive or unstable, that is, not knowing right from wrong.

John 8:32

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  John 8:32

Freedom is what Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread are ultimately about. God's freeing Israel from bondage in Egypt is the object lesson that we are to apply spiritually. Truth and freedom go hand and hand. This is why the Christian world is in the condition it is in. The vast majority of Christians do not really mark the death of Jesus Christ in the way that God commands us to observe it. They may be very much aware of it, and it is a large part of their teaching: They understand that Christ died for our sins. But they miss its full importance—its full impact—because they do not observe the Passover. Thus the lesson is missed.

Truth and freedom go hand in hand, but truth will produce freedom only as it is used. That ought to be self-evident. We can know something is true, but if we fail to use it, what good is it? Its value is worthless unless it is used.

Freedom and truth come to those who press on. Freedom, the kind of freedom that God is involved in bringing us into, comes progressively, not all at once. These are lessons from the Days of Unleavened Bread. It took the Israelites seven days to get to and across the Red Sea. It took them another forty years to get into their own land, into their inheritance, the Promised Land.

Their freedom was progressive. There was a time when it began, but if they had never continued on the way, they would never have had their own land, never have had their inheritance, never have been free. This is a large part of the object lesson: We have to continue. If we continue, then we will truly be a disciple. We will understand the truth, and we will become free. The truth of God shows us the real values of life because it shows us what we are to give our life to.

II Corinthians 13:5

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. II Corinthians 13:5

We generally take one of two approaches to self-examination. The first is something on the order of, "I'm no good. I've never lived up to my expectations. I'm just worthless."

Some of us hail from some pretty painful backgrounds. A handful have been molested and feel worthless because of it. Others have been told they were useless from childhood and have a very low opinion of themselves. Many have just had terrible experiences that have left scars, making accurate self-examination very difficult.

We may not like ourselves, and we wonder how anyone else could like us—especially God. We may look at ourselves, at the plethora of mistakes that dot our past, and judge ourselves harshly. In some cases, we feel we are unworthy to take the Passover.

The second approach to self-examination is just the opposite. Here we give ourselves a quick once-over and go on our way. Like the man in James 1 who looks in the mirror, sees what he is, but immediately forgets, some of us fail to give our lives a thorough evaluation.

We may think, "Well, in Romans 7 it shows that Paul sinned. He didn't want to, but the sin in him caused him to. Man will never be perfect until the return of Christ. If Paul couldn't overcome sin, then I guess that God knows that we really can't get out all the sin. I'll try, but if it's too hard, I'm sure that God will understand." A person who uses this approach may feel he is taking the Passover seriously, but in fact has not done a proper self-examination.

Exodus 14:4

Then I will harden Pharaoh's heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD." And they did so.  Exodus 14:4

God makes some people very difficult to deal with. "And the Lord said to Moses, 'When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go'" (Exodus 4:21). It was not mere happenstance that this Pharaoh was particularly hardheaded, nor was he merely reacting to circumstance. God caused him to be intractable. God did a similar thing to Ezekiel before Israel:

Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. (Ezekiel 3:8-9)

If God will do this for one of His servants, a prophet, why can He not do it to Pharaoh, who, though an enemy of His people, is also serving God's purpose?

Exodus says Pharaoh hardened his heart nineteen times, and of that total, ten say God hardened Pharaoh's heart and nine that Pharaoh hardened it. This shows a balance. Undoubtedly, Pharaoh had a proclivity toward stubbornness, but God helped him along whenever necessary.

This suggests that on occasion God will disregard free moral agency to suit the purpose He is working out. If life and our destiny to be in the Kingdom of God is all a matter of free moral agency, then free moral agency is supreme God, not the Creator God. But it is true, the Potter has power over the clay to do with it as He pleases (Romans 9:21). Ultimately, God's power of choice trumps man's.

This is further underscored on other occasions revealed in the Exodus events. The sovereign God's power, when combined with Pharaoh's God-aided stubbornness, produced a calamity of monumental proportions for Egypt and glory for the eternal God. God says in Exodus 7:3-5:

And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

He was producing yet more because He makes a similar statement in Exodus 14:4, as Israel was about to be confronted with crossing the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army not far behind: "'Then I will harden Pharaoh's heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.' And they did so."

Where was the Egyptians' free moral agency throughout this entire affair? The Egyptians who died—in many cases, violent deaths during the destruction of Egypt's power—had little or no choice in the matter. In addition, they came to comprehend God's power only for a brief period of time, which did them no good and brought Him precious little honor. He may have received honor in the form of terror, and little or none in the form of grateful appreciation, admiration, and obedience from them. God, however, has a longer-range view: The time is coming when they will remember and give true honor to Him in thankfulness.

Amos 8:11-12

"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, 
"That I will send a famine on the land, 
Not a famine of bread, 
Nor a thirst for water, 
But of hearing the words of the LORD. 
They shall wander from sea to sea, 
And from north to east; 
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, 
But shall not find it. Amos 8:11-12

Unfortunately, during these terrible times when God's Word is most needed to help the people come to repentance, it will be almost impossible to find. When the people finally realize that God wants them to repent, it will be too late. The seeds of their destruction have been sown, and the crop is already ripe. The only truth available to them in the tumult of God's judgment is what they can remember. It is for this reason that God warns us in these times to "[redeem] the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:16).

If our hope in the Kingdom of God, the resurrection of the dead, and sharing life with God eternally are not sufficient to motivate us to repent, perhaps fear of a terrible calamity, the Great Tribulation, the Day of the Lord, or being spewed from God's mouth as a Laodicean will move us to use the present to secure the future. God prophesies to motivate us to cling to Him and His Word right now, and He is willing to scare us nearly to death in order to save us.

During this famine, "They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it" (Amos 8:12). Amos probably refers to the Dead and Mediterranean Seas, east to west, and adds "north to east," describing a triangle with the south direction left out. Why would he do this?

On a map of Palestine, the Dead Sea lies to the east, the Mediterranean to the west and the nation of Israel to the north. What lies to the south? Jerusalem, where the truth was! In Amos' day, the truth was taught in God's Temple in Jerusalem.

Israelites wanted to be known as seekers of the truth, but in reality they did not want it. Their pride would not allow them to pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the truth, for that meant they would need to humble themselves before the Word of God.

Wander can be rendered "stagger" like a drunk or "tremble" like lips quivering in agitation because one is so angry or fearful he is unable to speak. It shows the people in a state of panic and intense agitation. They are desperately searching for what they had regarded so lightly: God, the Bible, His truth. But they cannot find them anywhere!

Thus they will seek any kind of religion, and many will fall prey to false ones. This scenario is already happening in modern Israel. New Age, mystical, and Eastern religions are growing steadily, and many "Christians" feel free to borrow "truth" from other religions. Additionally, recent years have seen the rise of ecumenical movements within a broad spectrum of religious bodies.

Exodus 20:8

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Exodus 20:8

"Sanctified" in Genesis 2:3 and "holy" in Exodus 20:8 are the same word in Hebrew though in different tenses. In Genesis 2, God makes the seventh day holy; in Exodus 20, He commands us to keep holy what He has already made holy. A holy God is required to make holy time, and He made no time holy other than His Sabbaths. God can make man holy, but man cannot confer holiness to the degree God does. Any other day of worship has a mere man made holiness and is not holy as God's Sabbaths are holy. The Sabbath, then, is worthy of respect, deference, even devotion not given to other periods of time. It is set apart for sacred use because it derives from God.

The underlying implication of the usage of "holy" is difference. The verbal root literally means "to cut," "to cut out," "to separate from," or it can imply "to make a cut above," thus "to make special." A holy thing is an object that is different from that to which it is compared. In this case, the other six days are common and are given to the use and pursuit of the common, ordinary activities of life. Practically, it means that when the Sabbath arrives, we should stop doing and avoid the mundane things that make or promote turning the Sabbath into an ordinary day.

Exodus 3:1-5 provides a clear illustration of what the word "holy" implies:

Now Moses . . . came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn." So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground."

The principle shown here is what makes the Sabbath holy, different. Because God was present, Moses had to treat the ground differently, with a respect or a deference that he would not give to ordinary ground. For the called of God, this difference, this holiness, is a spiritual thing; it is not physically discerned.

Notice that, even though Moses was aware that there was something unusual about what He was observing, God had to tell him that he stood on holy ground. It is a spiritual state that cannot be physically discerned. As for the Sabbath, God puts His presence into the day for the sake of His people and His spiritual creation.

Consider the scenario Amos 3:3 presents: "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" If we want to be in God's presence in this special way and in agreement with Him, no other day will do. God has an appointment with us to meet with Him on a specific day, on Sabbath time. It is time, different from other time, just as an appointment time with a dentist is different from other time in one's life, as well as from another person's scheduled time.

Amos 8:11-12

"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, 
"That I will send a famine on the land, 
Not a famine of bread, 
Nor a thirst for water, 
But of hearing the words of the LORD. 
They shall wander from sea to sea, 
And from north to east; 
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, 
But shall not find it.  Amos 8:11-12

Unfortunately, during these terrible times when God's Word is most needed to help the people come to repentance, it will be almost impossible to find. When the people finally realize that God wants them to repent, it will be too late. The seeds of their destruction have been sown, and the crop is already ripe. The only truth available to them in the tumult of God's judgment is what they can remember. It is for this reason that God warns us in these times to "[redeem] the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:16).

If our hope in the Kingdom of God, the resurrection of the dead, and sharing life with God eternally are not sufficient to motivate us to repent, perhaps fear of a terrible calamity, the Great Tribulation, the Day of the Lord, or being spewed from God's mouth as a Laodicean will move us to use the present to secure the future. God prophesies to motivate us to cling to Him and His Word right now, and He is willing to scare us nearly to death in order to save us.

During this famine, "They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it" (Amos 8:12). Amos probably refers to the Dead and Mediterranean Seas, east to west, and adds "north to east," describing a triangle with the south direction left out. Why would he do this?

On a map of Palestine, the Dead Sea lies to the east, the Mediterranean to the west and the nation of Israel to the north. What lies to the south? Jerusalem, where the truth was! In Amos' day, the truth was taught in God's Temple in Jerusalem.

Israelites wanted to be known as seekers of the truth, but in reality they did not want it. Their pride would not allow them to pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the truth, for that meant they would need to humble themselves before the Word of God.

Wander can be rendered "stagger" like a drunk or "tremble" like lips quivering in agitation because one is so angry or fearful he is unable to speak. It shows the people in a state of panic and intense agitation. They are desperately searching for what they had regarded so lightly: God, the Bible, His truth. But they cannot find them anywhere!

Thus they will seek any kind of religion, and many will fall prey to false ones. This scenario is already happening in modern Israel. New Age, mystical, and Eastern religions are growing steadily, and many "Christians" feel free to borrow "truth" from other religions. Additionally, recent years have seen the rise of ecumenical movements within a broad spectrum of religious bodies.