Angelic Conflict part 177: Human history – Exo 32:7-9; 25-33; Mat 5:43-48; Luk 6:27-38.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 176: Human history  - EXO 32:7-9; 25-33; MAT 5:43-48; LUK 6:27-38.

 

 

Rest:

People who don't get enough shut-eye have trouble learning and making decisions, and are slower to react. But despite decades of research, scientists can't agree on the basic purpose of sleep. Reasons range from processing memory, saving energy to regulating the body.

The latest work, led by scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center, adds fresh evidence to a long-standing view: When we close our eyes, our brains go on a cleaning spree.

The team previously found a plumbing network in mouse brains that flushes out cellular waste. For the new study, the scientists injected the brains of mice with beta-amyloid, a substance that builds up in Alzheimer's disease, and followed its movement. They determined that it was removed faster from the brains of sleeping mice than awake mice.

The team also noticed that brain cells tend to shrink during sleep, which widens the space between the cells. This allows waste to pass through that space more easily.

Though the work involved mouse brains, lead researcher Dr. Maiken Nedergaard said this plumbing system also exists in dogs and baboons, and it's logical to think that the human brain also clears away toxic substances. Nedergaard said the next step is to look for the process in human brains.

In an accompanying editorial, neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro said scientists have recently taken a heightened interest in the spaces between brain cells, where junk is flushed out.

It's becoming clearer that "sleep is likely to be a brain state in which several important housekeeping functions take place," she said in an email.

The study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. In a statement, program director Jim Koenig said the finding could lead to new approaches for treating a range of brain diseases.

 

PRO 3:24

When you lie down, you will not be afraid;

When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet [keeping sound wisdom].

 

PRO 4:16

For they cannot sleep unless they do evil;

And they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble [those who reject instruction].

 

PRO 6:22

When you walk about, they [instructions] will guide you;

When you sleep, they will watch over you;

And when you awake, they will talk to you.

 

PRO 19:23

The fear of the Lord  leads to life,

So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.

 

ECC 5:12

The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much. But the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep. [Anything easily attained is lightly esteemed]

 

PRO 20:13

Do not love sleep, lest you become poor;

Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with food.

 

Moses called what they did "a great sin" (vv. 21, 30-31), and his assessment was accurate.

 

Why did Israel commit such an evil act at such a glorious time in their history? To begin with, they were impatient with Moses who had been on the mount with God for forty days and nights (vv. 11-12), and impatience is often the cause of impulsive actions that are sinful.

 

Impatience is often the cause of impulsive actions that are sinful and reveals a lack of trust in God’s deliverance.

 

Instead of restraining the people, Aaron went along with them and gratified the desires of their sinful hearts and so failed as a leader.

 

Aaron chose popularity and acceptance above good and proper leadership of God’s people and he received his popularity along with discipline.

 

Moses' great test:

 

EXO 32:7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, "Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.

 

In leadership, the difficult experiences with our people either make us or break us, and Moses was about to be tested.

 

God called Israel "your people whom you brought out of Egypt," as though the Lord were abandoning the nation to Moses, but Moses soon reminded Him that they were His people and that He had delivered them. Furthermore, God had made a covenant with their forefathers to bless them, multiply them, and give them their land (GEN 12:1-3). Moses intended to hold God to His word, and that's what God wanted him to do. Moses chose the way of grace and mercy.

 

EXO 32:8 They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!'"

 

EXO 32:9 And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.

 

The second part of the test is God’s offer to wipe Israel out and start over from Moses’ descendants.

 

Moses loved his people, sinful as they were, and he wanted more than anything else to glorify the God of Israel and see Him fulfill His promises.

 

Moses wasn't worried about his own future; he was concerned about God's reputation. What would the Egyptians say about God if they heard that the whole nation of Israel had been destroyed at Sinai?

 

God has perfect self-esteem. He is unconcerned about what people think of Him, but He is also perfect integrity and full of grace and mercy, and He knows exactly what He is going to do, so this is nothing more than a test for Moses who passes it magnificently.

 

Virtue comes from receiving all that God has done for you and trusting in Him for deliverance in all situations.

 

[GAL 5:16-24]

I couldn't love unless I understood that God loved me and how much He loved me and why He loved me. I couldn't have happiness unless I knew of Christ's happiness as victor seated at the right hand of God and so knowing that I have victory over death and all things through Him. I couldn't have peace unless I knew that God has rested from His works, that all things have been accomplished before the foundation of the world and so I can cease from my works. I couldn't have patience if I didn't know that I could trust God for deliverance in my own life and in others' lives and how patient God is with me. I couldn't have kindness if I didn't know how kind God was towards me through the finished work of Christ. I couldn't produce divine good if I didn't utilize the word of God that God has graciously given me. I couldn't be faithful unless I knew how faithful God is, especially with me. I couldn't be faithful unless I loved God's faithfulness. I couldn't be gentle with others and myself unless I knew that I have been completely forgiven in Christ. I couldn't exercise self-control so as to reject my flesh when it doesn't want to do any of the first 8 for the simple reason that I have come to love and be passionate about those first 8 that God has graciously shared with me. I let the word of God and the Spirit graciously produces these in me because they are the fruit of the Spirit and not the fruit of the flesh.

 

Divine virtue is beautiful, attractive, admirable, and profitable. Seeing it in God towards me gives me the passion to enable it to fully influence my own life.

 

EXO 32:25 Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control —  for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies — 

 

EXO 32:26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, "Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him.

 

The Levites are the first to repent and may have done so out of respect for Moses who was of their tribe. But now their devotion to God will be tested. Notice how Moses grabs the reigns of leadership so well.

 

EXO 32:27 And he said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.'"

 

EXO 32:28 So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.

 

This passage is not without its difficulties. It is likely that the Levites knew who the ring leaders were, so out of roughly 600,000 men they selected 3,000 for capital punishment. Nothing is said of the guilty fighting back or resisting and so, as per usual, there is much speculation. The fact is that the Levites were obedient and the mutiny was stayed by this strict punishment.

 

EXO 32:29 Then Moses said, "Dedicate yourselves today to the Lord —  for every man has been against his son and against his brother —  in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today."

 

EXO 32:30 And it came about on the next day that Moses said to the people, "You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the Lord, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."

 

EXO 32:31 Then Moses returned to the Lord, and said, "Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves.

 

EXO 32:32 But now, if Thou wilt, forgive their sin —  and if not, please blot me out from Thy book which Thou hast written!"

 

Such a sacrificial lying down of life for an undeserving other could only be legitimate and virtuous in a world in conflict with great opposition against God.

 

Moses, though a sinner, is not guilty in this situation, but lends expression to what is in his heart, atonement for the guilty.

 

MAT 5:43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' 

 

LEV 19:18

You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

 

To this the corrupt teachers added ‘hate your enemy’ as if the one implied the other. That type of thinking is dualism, ying always has a yang, or for every thesis there is an antithesis. Unless the antithesis is stated in the Scripture it doesn’t always exist. 

 

MAT 5:44"But I say to you, love [virtue love and not personal affection] your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you