Transcript of Radio Show #399:
Book of Judges, Part 4
Continuing from last week, on our study in the Old Testament, with the book of Judges...

Radio Show...

This program continues on various series of different topics of Bible studies and theology such as end times, prophecies, Old Testament, New Testament, daily living, etc. as the subject matter comes up.

The e-book on End times, Prophecies and Revelation, answering the questions “where are we in the events of the end times?” and “Are we now in the tribulation?” is available on this web site, which you can find throughout the pages.

Opening Narrative

Hello and welcome to another exciting radio program today on end times and prophecies and scriptures to live by... which is all about old-time gospel and worship music, praying for needs and preaching the Word of God....

And remember this radio programs Virtual Church for the Spiritual Unchurched is broadcast every Sunday at 7 am and 7 pm pacific time... and if you unfortunately miss it for whatever reason at any time, you can hear the program any time after that for 4 weeks...at my web site TimingRevelation.com

And I did mention to you before that with this series begins the start of the 9th year of these radio programs Virtual Church for the Spiritual Unchurched.

So, we continue today, with the new series from the book of Judges in the Old Testament, which is the book following Joshua.

We will begin here right after this opening music, prayer and worship...

Prayer
Praise God Doxology
Worship music

Narrative 1

So last week we ended with the warnings of God to the children of Israel, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice. ”

and so we saw that again and again the cycle of deliverance, disobedience and judgment was repeated... this time the oppression from the Midianites -- doubled with the Amalekites who joined with them -- was even more severe than the previous ones...

... as we saw the extent of this covered areas from the north down to the south in the territory of the Philistines... the devastation from the enemies who literally rushed in like grasshoppers upon their agricultural produce, covered the land and devoured everything in their path...

and as we saw also the people called upon their God again and cried out for His deliverance...

and God was already dealing with His next pick for the job of delivering the people... his name was Gideon who was also a prophet of God like Deborah was that we saw earlier, and who was also a man whom God deemed to be able for the task...

And so let's get back to our story in the book of Judges in chapter 6, and read about the call of Gideon... and as I said last week, there is quite a bit to cover here on down to the appointed time of this next judge of God, who gives God quite a bold conversation...

We'll start reading from verse 11 on down to v. 35 and see that....

And I will read this from the New King James, unless otherwise stated...

Verse 11_”Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak (terebinth) tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. '

So the oppression of the Medianites is still going on as we speak – or as we read this...

Remember the Medianites would raze their fields and steal and destroy all their produce.

v.12 “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

Wow, they also had questions about their difficult times that they were facing, just like us today, we ask “Why Lord, Why do you let these terrible things happen all around us?”...

v. 14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, (or God is saying go into this strength that you have – remember God called him “man of valor!”... so we can see that he was a strong man and God knew He was the man to deliver the people at this very difficult time... he was the man for that job.

... so go into this strength that you have He said, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

And Gideon answered: “Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. (And this I read from the Old King James Version because it sounds more accurate or easy to understand)...

and now v.16 , back to the NKJ, “And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”

17 Then he (Gideon) said to God (Him), “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me.

18 Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.”

Now, here, many Bible scholars say that this Angel visiting Gideon was actually God Himself – or Christ – in what is called a theophany... hence why Gideon wanted to bring an offering...

The Liberty Commentary Bible writes this: “In spite of this promise (that he would smite the Midianites as one man”... Gideon still asked for a sign to confirm the angel's message. He was requesting a supernatural event to confirm the fact that this was no mere angelic being, but an appearance of God Himself ! Cundall (a writer of Biblical interpretation) notes that the ephah of flour weighed over thirty pounds and was certainly a considerable gift to be given in the time of scarcity.”

In other words, Gideon knew that this offering had to be worthy of God's presence.

Narrative # 2

So getting back to where Gideon still asked for a sign to confirm the angel's message. He was requesting a supernatural event to confirm the fact that this was no mere angelic being, but an appearance of God Himself!

So let's continue from there...

And He (the Angel or the Lord) said, “I will wait until you come back.”

... and verse 19, “So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the oak (terebinth) tree and presented them.

v.20_“The Angel of God said to him, (--so the Bible still refers to the personality as “the Angel of the Lord)... it seems that from one verse to another the reference is given sometimes as “the Lord” and sometimes as “the Angel of the Lord”... it is possible that “the Angel of the Lord” may be “an image of the Lord Himself” or what is called a “theophany”...

....even though the word in the original text “mal-awk'” is interpreted as “messenger” or as a theophanic angel... however Gideon seems to respond as if responding to the Lord Himself... represented by this heavenly personality...
... we will have to wait until we get to heaven to check on this mystery also!

So, again v. 20, “The Angel of God said to him “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so.

21_”Then the Angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

This is quite reminescing of the story in the old testament where Elijah challenged 450 prophets of the false god Baal on Mount Carmel as to who was the true God... you can read that story in the book First Kings chapter 18.

STATION I.D.

22 “Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.”

So here we are again puzzled by this reference and this exclamation of Gideon to the Angel of the Lord, “Ah, O Lord God for I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.”

... so it must mean the image of God Himself ? So, again, we'll see... but it may also mean I have seen the image of the Lord face to face...

This reminds us of the time when Moses was given a divine look of the Lord “face to face” back in the book of Exodus... even though the Bible has said that one could not see God face to face... So we will have to wait and see what this is all about some day...

Verse 23_”Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.”

So again the Bible writes “the Lord said to him...”

Now what does this mean... Well it is said that the Jews commonly believed that seeing God would bring about their death. That's why Gideon said, “Ah O Lord God for I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.”
Therefore the Lord reassured him verbally, saying “Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die”.

Verse 24_”So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it The-Lord-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. -- change to an Ophrah of...
and of course “to this day” means when this was written.

And so Liberty Bible Commentary adds, “This left such an impression upon Gideon that he built an altar on the spot where the theophany had appeared to him and called it Jehovah-shalom (the Lord is peace).

v.25 Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it;

26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.”

27 So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night.

And we will continue from here right after this and see what happens next...

Music Interlude

Narrative #3

So let's continue from where we left off...verses 28 to 35...

So let's continue from where Gideon and his ten servants took down his father's altar to Baal that he had built, and cut down the grove during the night...

Verse 28_”And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built.

29 So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they had inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.”

v. 30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it.”

31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!”

v. 32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar.”

33 Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.

v. 34 But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him.

v.35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

And now we will get to the signs that Gideon requested of the Lord.

And if you are a believer and have read the story of Gideon before you will recall this one where Gideon asked the Lord to deal with a 'fleece' in two certain ways, which Gideon would put out...

So let's get into that...

So now you see what I meant when I said earlier that there was still a lot of things to deal with as we got into the time of God having raised up Gideon for the next deliverance of Israel... we are still within all of that, leading up to the time when Gideon will finally respond to the call of God...

Let's go on with the fleece test...

verses 36 to 40 still in chapter 6...

36_”So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said—

37 behold, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.”

38 And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.

39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.”

v.40, And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.”

Then Gideon still needed proof that God would be with Him and deliverer Israel through him... so he had another test for God to answer...

And again if you're read about Gideon before you will know that the next test was that of the reduction of the men of 3,000 would be to a mere 300 that would go with Gideon to the battle.

So first Gideon was told by God to ask all the men who were fearful and afraid to return and depart from there. And there were 22,000 who did leave.

So God told Gideon that there were still too many. He told him to bring the men by the water and God reduced the number further.

And we'll pick up from here right after this...

Music Interlude

Narrative #4

So we pick up here at verse 5, In chapter 7:

verse 5 says: So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.”

v.6_”And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water.

7_“Then the Lord said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.”

8_”So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men.

Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

9_”It happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.

10 But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant,

11 and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp.

v.12 Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.

13 And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.”

and v.14_” Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.”

Wow, so the two men heard this conversation taking place at the camp of the enemies, and Gideon worshipped God... then they went back to the camp of Israel's men and told them that God showed them He would deliverer the enemies into their hand...

And I don't think we can finish this story here today because there isn't enough time.... so we will pick up from here next week and see how the Lord had all this worked out for them....

Closing Narrative…

Oh how wonderful to appreciate what Jesus has done in our lives to save us from sin by Grace... and how He continues to keep us by His on-going and unlimited Grace...

...that wonderful Grace that comes into our life the moment that we receive Him as for who He is -- the Saviour of mankind and of every individual like you and me personally...

... and this Jesus the Son of God who came to give His life for you and me is the same Jesus who's life we've been reading about in these series of programs right now, and who's death on the cross we will see as we go through the gospel story to where He gave Himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God that took the sin of the world...

...but right now, the question is:

...do you know this Jesus that we're talking about? If you don't know the Lord...

...Just say this prayer, “Lord come into my heart, come into my life, I turn to you right now and ask for forgiveness, I repent of my sins and receive your work on the cross... I receive your gospel as it was delivered through your blood shed on the cross in my place, and I thank you, Amen...

The Blessing

Before I dismiss the service today, I want to read to you the Blessing that was read to the people of God in Numbers 6:24-26 which is the benediction from God to you today:

“The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."

I hope and pray that you will come back next Sunday at SpiritFM.ca, 7 am and 7 pm pacific time. And if you want to hear the service again at any time, you can go to my website at TimingRevelation.com, and click on the Radio Shows navigational tab along the left side. The replays are available there for five weeks, then they are transcribed into articles as new radio shows are put up.

I encourage you to go to your Bible and read further on the scriptures that were given throughout the program today. And if you like these programs and you've been blessed, call or write the station and let them know... if you said the prayer and have accepted the Lord or you've been healed or touched in some way by the Holy Spirit, write to me on the contact form of this web site...

...and this web site is also where you will find the Free Offer of the “Christian Growth and Maturity Chart” that I talked to you about in the last weeks... you will see the graphic on any page called “Get your free CGM Chart”, click on it and it will take you to a page that will tell you about it and how you can subscribe to my newsletter to get your free copy of the Chart sent to you.

Until next week, Maranatha, the Lord is coming, very soon. Goodbye and Blessing.

/DMH

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Blessings,