THE THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
The Value of God’s Wisdom
God gave us His Word to teach us how to live a godly life. At the start at any learning institution, you go into it with only the wisdom (worldly) you have, regardless of any prior education or books. You count on that institution to give you that particular education (wisdom) you paid for. You cannot put a value on the wisdom that God has to offer us. When you dedicate your life to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you have signed the admittance paperwork of the school of godly wisdom.
So many have decided to skip this education and continue through life status quo. This, in my opinion, would be the difference of once saved, always saved. If you skip the course that God so graciously left for us, you risk the issue of ‘falling off the truck’.
“My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”
Proverbs 2:1-5 (KJV)
Genesis 6 The Wickedness and Judgment of Man
God’s initial command to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiply
Genesis 1:28 (KJV), “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
Again, we have the usage of the word ‘men’ or ‘mankind’
Genesis 6:1a (KJV), “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth.”
Strong’s Concordance (120) – adam: man, mankind.
The Hebrew word used here is Adam but, the word could be used as mankind, as we see here
Brown-Driver-Briggs – 2. collective man, mankind.
Who are the SONS OF GOD?
Here we have the first use of the words, ‘sons of God’
Genesis 6:1b-2 (KJV), “…and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.”
Though, the literal word used for sons is the Hebrew word ‘ben’ translated as son
Strong’s Concordance (1121) – ben: son.
The placement of this word here, ben (son) has a uniquely different meaning
Brown-Driver-Briggs – d. בְּנֵי האלהים applied to supernatural beings.
Many have believed the sons of God were those from the line of Seth, and the daughters of men were from the line of Cain, and this describes an intermarriage between the godly and the ungodly, something God specifically prohibits
Deuteronomy 7:1-4 (KJV), “When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: 3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.”
In this particular case, it is more accurate to see the sons of God as either demons (angels in rebellion against God) or uniquely demon-possessed men
Let’s look at verse 4 where these ‘sons of God’ seems to be defined
Genesis 6:4 (KJV), “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”
Why would God have to destroy the entire human race?
Satan tried to pollute the genetic pool of mankind with a satanic corruption, to put something like a genetic virus to make the human race unfit for bringing forth the Seed of the woman – the Messiah
Genesis 3:15 (KJV), “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Just as God knew Adam and Eve would disobey Him, He also knew that the corruption would come upon mankind. The actual realization and visualization of God’s children acting in this corrupt manner physically hurt and disturbed God as to be repentant of His creation
Genesis 6:5-6 (KJV), “5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
While God commanded all the earth to be cleansed of this pollution, He found one man with whom to begin again: Noah, who found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Noah didn’t earn grace; he found it. No one earns grace, but we can all find it.
Genesis 6:7-9 (KJV), “7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. ”
Perfect is not a good choice of words here
Strong’s Concordance (8549) – tamim: complete, sound. Brown-Driver-Briggs – 4. sound, wholesome, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity: of God’s way.
The word, ‘ark’, is actually the same word used for the vessel in which infant Moses was laid among reeds
Exodus 2:3 (KJV), “And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.”
Genesis 6:14 (KJV), “Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.”
God’s initial covenant with Adam as the first of his kind was now passed onto Noah
Genesis 6:18 (KJV), “But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.”
Micah 7
On behalf of the sinful nation, the prophet Micah confessed the sin of God’s people
Micah 7:1-2 (KJV), “Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. 2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.”
Micah spoke for those brought low by personal sin and the sin of the community. In spite of their humiliation, he warned their enemies to not rejoice over their condition
Micah 7:8 (KJV), “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.”
There was complete confidence in the salvation of God and their vindication before their enemies; this shows that God’s people knew their sinful state, but they also knew the greatness of God’s redemption
Micah 7:9-10 (KJV), “9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. 10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.”
God cares for His people as in days of old
Micah 7:14-15 (KJV), “14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. 15 According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.”
The glorious mercy and pardon of God
Micah 7:18-20 (KJV), “18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.”
2 Corinthians 5
The salvation of God guarantees us eternal life with God
2 Corinthians 5:1-5 (KJV), “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.”
True salvation provides us with a new life and we are to leave our earthly flesh behind
2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV), “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
We are to represent Christ in all of our actions
2 Corinthians 5:20 (KJV), “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
Ephesians 6:20 (KJV), “For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
Webster’s 1828 – EMBAS’SADOR, noun 1. A minister of the highest rank employed by one prince or state, at the court of another, to manage the public concerns of his own prince or state, and representing the power and dignity of his sovereign.
Proverbs 2
Understanding the value of wisdom
Proverbs 2:1-5 (KJV), “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”
Romans 7 Freed from the law
Those who are in the law are bound to the law (a married woman as an example)
Romans 7:2-3 (KJV), “2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.”
We become dead to the law with our ‘marriage’ to Christ
Romans 7:4 (KJV), “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”
Revelation 19:7-9 (KJV), “7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”
Romans 7:6 (KJV), “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
Delivered or released
Strong’s Concordance (2673) – katargeó: to render inoperative, abolish.
The ‘law’ defined what sin was
Romans 7:8-11 (KJV), “8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.”
Grow in the Word of the Lord 