The Curse of the Earth Touch - Part 2

[The first part of this hub is at http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Curse-of-the-Earth-Touch]

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Remember this: "We are not united with this cursed earth, but we are united with Christ in heaven!" The cross has separated us from this earth, which is under a divine ban. There is no hope for this perishing world. The Bible looks to a new earth and a new heaven. 'For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.' Rev 21:1.

The Bible has many lessons to teach regarding the dangers of the earth-touch, carnal methods, earth-thinking. We learn from the examples of men of God in the Old Testament.

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Abraham was a man of God, but when he went through the sore trial of faith for many years, his wife couldn't take it. And he too, broke down. Without waiting for God to do what He had promised, Abraham resorted to his own way, a traditional way of producing a child for a barren wife; I believe it was a legally acceptable custom in those times. He who had believed God when He declared that his seed would be like the stars in heaven, Gen 15:5-6, listened to Sarah's complaint and went into Hagar his handmaid, under her compulsion. The child that Hagar produced, Ishmael, 'a wild man, whose hand will be against every man' (Gen 16:12), the progenitor of the Arab race, is a warning to all true Christians of the calamitous consequences of earthly thinking, a single fleshly decision. You cannot bring in the ways of the world, no matter how legally acceptable they are, to achieve the purposes of God.

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Jacob was chosen by God, who said, 'The elder shall serve the younger', but his impatient mother (to whom the promise was given) connived with him in securing his father's blessing. This was done deceitfully. Jacob sought spiritual things, but his methods (in keeping with his name) were clever and crafty. It was the earth-touch of carnal methods. God took Jacob through twenty years of hard labour to break him of his crafty nature and crafty dealings. After Peniel, we find him a different man; one who dared not take a step without consulting his God in heaven. We are told that he worshipped God, leaning on his staff. Every true believer has to be broken, and we go through life, limping. We dare not trust in ourselves, not in our wayward and deceitful hearts, but as spiritual Christians we trust continually in the living and faithful God.

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Take the example of Moses. With misplaced zeal, he tried to set wrongs right, depending on his own position (as a prince in Egypt) and using his own strength, but he had to flee into the desert, where he remained forty years. One who was brought up in all the learning and skills of Egypt and was a trained leader of men, had to flee for his life because he had committed manslaughter. One who was once eloquent in speech had developed a stammer. He had become like that dry burning thorn bush, nothing to boast about, but aflame with the glory of God! The Lord told him, "Take off your shoes from off your feet!"
No, Moses, there will be no 'earth-touch' in My presence. You who were once a proud prince in Egypt and son of Pharaoh's daughter have, in My hands, become the meekest man upon the face of the earth.

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And we know, how in the days of Joshua, Achan took the accursed things. It was a memorable victory. The walls of Jericho fell of their own accord. The weapons used were utterly spiritual. Just the blowing of trumpets, and the going around the walls. They saw with their own eyes the amazing victory of God. There was a warning not to touch the accursed things of Jericho, lest they make the camp of Israel a curse. But one way, but one man motivated by greed and ambition and selfish lust, took a beautiful Babylonian garment, a heap of silver, and a wedge of gold. It brought national disaster. Achan confessed: 'I saw, I coveted, I took', Josh 7:21. In the days of the early church, hypocrisy by Ananias and Sapphira brought a sudden, terrible judgment. In this fleshly, self-serving age, we have forgotten the awful holiness of God.

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And what about David's census? Despite Joab's warning, he persisted in counting his men of war. It was as if he was showing to everyone that his army had brought him those great victories. He who had experienced 'sure mercies', great deliverances and amazing victories by the hand of the Lord, stopping looking at the Lord of hosts, and directed his commander in chief to start counting his valiant soldiers. How often we boast in our talents and blessings, and fail to give glory to God. It was nothing but pride. And so David was chastized, and brought to the threshing-floor. There the chaff of human wisdom, human strength, human glory, was removed completely. And there in Ornan's field the site of the Temple was shown. We all have to come to that threshing floor, and be thoroughly emptied of the chaff of human achievements and learn the truth: 'Not by (human) might, nor by (human) power - not by human armies -, but by My Spirit...' says the Lord of hosts.

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Let us never adopt earthly ways, carnal methods, fleshly thinking, popular schemes, worldly devices, in the work of God. Even in our own personal and family lives, we should beware of the earth-touch. Whatever is of the flesh and of the world brings death.

Let us like the Psalmist learn to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and be seated with Him in the heavenly realms, spiritually minded, walking strictly in accordance with the Spirit. Only then can we bring glory, satisfaction and pleasure to our great and gracious God.

© Roland N Oliver/Pratonix

[The first part of this hub is at http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Curse-of-the-Earth-Touch]