Righteousness is the
avaunt garde of our inherited riches in CHRIST, sin their
spoiler. "Who gave Jacob for a
spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, HE against
whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in HIS ways,
neither were they obedient unto HIS law."
The 300 golden shields
King Solomon had made held a combined worth of $13,000,000. give
or take, in today's dollars. The greater loss, however,
was symbolic, what the shields represented ... that being the blessing and
power of GOD upon Israel. Decadence had driven Rehoboam to
squander all that his father Solomon had left him. He
tragically, and in short order, prodigal-ized an entire nation's
wealth and power through riotous living (cf.
1 Kings 14:22-24). Thus GOD
sent a spoiler named Shishak, and the rest is history.
Israel, to this day, has yet to regain what Rehoboam forfeited
in his sin. "Lo, this is the man
that made not GOD his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his
riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness."
Have we, in our
Christian lives, become lax in temple guard? Are we,
through willful sin, allowing the robbers to plunder the gold of
HIS grace in our lives? The painful truth regarding these
questions for many a child of GOD is: Yes. But more obtuse
than that is the smug arrogance rampant in today's church which fashions cheap
imitations of the real blessing of GOD. We are generally
bereft of the obvious and apparent power of CHRIST. Our
response though, has not been humble repentance, but a grand opening of
the Brasen Shield and Brass Works Factory. We are working
overtime in the busy attempt to pass off our brass of flesh as
the gold of GOD ... and no one is buying, except us.
Let us pray that the
LORD opens our eyes:
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you ..."