Deliverance! Deliverance!Lorraine Day, M.D.
What will heaven be like? Heaven won’t be “heaven” if sin persists. If sin persists, then “heaven” will be just like this earth – full of liars, thieves, fornicators, adulterers, pedophiles, murderers, and every other kind of degenerate people.
Are you perfect? The Bible says, “ALL have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.” In order for heaven to be “heaven” – all sin must be removed from every person who is there.
After all, Jesus, the Lamb of God, came to “take away the sin of (every person in) the world.” (John 1:29)
Is Jesus able to do that?
God said, “Behold, I make ALL new.” (Revelation 21:5)
Is God able to do that?
If so, just how does God accomplish that? How will God remove ALL the sin from ALL the people in the world – and create them ALL new?
Let’s digress a moment.
The Old Testament
What is the overwhelming, dominant, theme of the entire Old Testament?
Deliverance! Physical Deliverance of those who knew, followed, and trusted God (the Believers – the Israel of the Old Testament), from their Physical enemies so God could lead them to the (Physical) Promised Land.
a. Deliverance of Noah and his family from the flood.
b. Deliverance of Lot from Sodom
c. Deliverance of Abraham and Sarah from Egypt
d. Deliverance – repeatedly – of the Israelites from Egypt, through the wilderness and into the promised land, even though the Israelites time after time turned their back on God.
e. Deliverance of the Israelites from many different captor nations, including Egypt and Babylon. Every time the Israelites turned their back on God, another nation would overtake them and make them slaves. Then, when the Israelites had had enough trouble, they would cry out to God, put away their idols and false gods, and He would send someone to deliver them.
f. Deliverance of Daniel from the Lions’ den
g. Deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fiery furnace
h. Deliverance of David from King Saul
And this is just a short list of all the incidents of God’s physical deliverance of His people.
One important fact is that the Israelites of the Old Testament were NOT “Jews.” The word “Jew” is not in the Bible – in the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. The word “Jew” has been incorrectly “written into” the Bible by the translators to accomplish the agenda of the Adversary, Satan.
The Israelites of the Old Testament were Christians – they were looking forward to Christ, the Messiah. (For more information on this subject, see “Who is the Church? Who is Israel? at www.goodnewsaboutgod.com)
However, because of occult corruption in the midst of the Israelite people, beginning with the worship of the golden calf in the wilderness and progressing through the time of Ezekiel, who wrote of the occultism, sorceries, and paganism that were infiltrating the hierarchy of the Israelite Priesthood, and culminating with the Pharisees’ complete take-over of the Israelite nation, the group that had been given the most spiritual information about the coming Messiah had become so totally corrupt that they did not recognize Him.
He came as a Prince of Peace who loved His enemies, One who came to change hearts, rather than set up an earthly kingdom. The Pharisees were expecting a warrior who would free them from their enslavement by the Romans, an earthly, carnal “savior” who would allow the Pharisees to rule over their enemies. They wanted a “messiah” like themselves.
They were far too evil to even recognize Christ as their Messiah – so they murdered Him.
The New Testament
What is the overwhelming, dominant, theme of the entire New Testament?
Deliverance! Spiritual Deliverance of the “Spiritual Israel” of the New Testament (the TRUE Believers in Jesus Christ) from sin – from the Adversary (Satan) - to make us ready for the (Spiritual) Promised Land: heaven and the New Earth.
a. Jesus came to destroy the Works of the Devil (the sin in our life).
b. Jesus came to “take away the Sin of the (whole) world.”
c. Jesus came to be the “Savior of ALL mankind, especially of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:10)
d. Jesus came to destroy ALL His enemies, including death and the grave (the unseen – hades)
e. Jesus came to “make ALL new.”
f. Jesus, after His death and resurrection, returned to heaven to “prepare a place for us.”
g. Jesus will preside at the Great White Throne Judgment – where Judgment turns sinners back to right-doing (righteousness). Psalm 94:15
Good Parents Discipline their Children – to turn them “back to right-doing.”
If a parent does not discipline his or her child, that child grows up to become a menace to himself and to society, he or she has a difficult time getting through life and often ends up as a criminal behind bars.
Do children enjoy being disciplined? Of course not. Does discipline cause pain – either physical, emotional, or psychological pain? Yes, it does.
But when the child grows up and becomes mature, he or she understands the absolute necessity of discipline and will, in turn, discipline his or her own children accordingly.
A grown child will realize that his parents disciplined him because they loved him and wanted him to do right, even though it was painful at the time.
God Disciplines HIS Children – to turn them “back to right-doing.”
God loves us even more than we love our children. But “God disciplines those He loves” (Proverbs 3:12) by trials and tribulations because they lead to the development of patience, character (Romans 5:3,4) and the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith (trust in God) meekness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23), the life of Christ (eonian life) being exhibited in us - attributes that prepare us to live forever with Christ in heaven and the New Earth.
Do we enjoy being disciplined with trials and tribulations? Of course not. Do trials and tribulations cause pain – either physical or emotional or psychological pain? Yes, they do.
But when we grow up in Christ, becoming “mature” in Christ, we understand the need for discipline. It is necessary to perfect our character.
When we “grow up” in Christ, we understand that Christ disciplines us because He loves us – and wants us to do right, to prepare us to live with Him forever in perfect peace.
Why do WE believe that it is right for us to discipline our children, but that it is not right for God to discipline HIS children – us. We get upset with God because our discipline is painful, yet we understand that the discipline of our children must be painful – whether physical, emotional or psychological – because that is the only way they learn to change their behavior.
We must understand that the only way we learn to change our behavior is - - to have pain, whether physical, emotional or psychological pain. As long as everything is going fine, we will never change.
Human beings will do almost anything to avoid pain. That is why we are a nation of drug addicts – mainly addicts to prescription drugs, drugs prescribed by doctors. We are constantly trying to avoid physical, emotional and psychological “pain.” That is why we turn to prescription drugs that the Bible defines as “sorceries and witchcraft.”
“. . .the whole world will be deceived by their sorceries (pharmakeia in the Greek – pharmacy in English.)” (Rev 18:23)
Rather than turning to God to learn to trust Him, rather than letting Him discipline us and therefore purge us of the problems in our life that are causing our pain, we refuse! Instead, we turn to “man” – doctors – who “treat” our symptoms of pain with sorceries and witchcraft (pharmacy) to ease our pain. And we NEVER change!
But God will not lose a single one of His children. ALL of us eventually will learn to be like Him – by going through the “fire” – the fiery trials of God’s discipline, the fiery trials that are the result of our reaping what we have sown.
We don’t want to think about what’s coming in the future because we want to avoid – at ALL cost – ALL pain. Yet we freely admit that our parents were correct in disciplining us, even though it was painful for us at the time, and that we are correct in disciplining our own children, even though it is painful for them.
When our children are young, we “own them” (even though they are given to us by God temporarily) and we have the right and obligation to discipline them.
But somehow we believe that when we grow up, we are just fine and have NO NEED of discipline. We believe that we have the right to live our life as we wish and that God has no right to discipline us.
But God owns us even more than we “own” our children. He created us and by His death on the cross, He bought us back from the clutches of Satan. He has the right and the obligation to discipline us to make us ready to live with Him forever.
We must “grow up” in Christ – become Mature in Christ – by spending time alone with Him daily in Bible study and prayer so we can learn to Trust Him with our life.
God will be with us
Whatever is coming, God will go through it with us. He will “never leave us nor forsake us.” (Hebrews 13:5)
“Fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am thy God.” Isaiah 41:40
“Let not your heart be troubled.” John 14:1
“A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand. But it shall not come nigh thee.” Psalm 91:7
God never forsook the Israelites in the wilderness, even thought they turned their back on Him repeatedly, and went “whoring” after other gods.
The Bible is filled with instances of God’s deliverance. As stated above, that is the overwhelming theme of the whole Bible.
Gideon and his Army of 300
In the Bible there are many powerful stories of Deliverance, but one of the most amazing is the story of Gideon, recorded in Judges, Chapters 6-10. Here is the setting:
Once again the Israelites have turned their back on God.
1 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.
Remember that when God says, “God did it” that means “man did it to himself.” (See the Bible study entitled, “What about this Old Testament Killer God?” at www.goodnewsaboutgod.com)
God is the “playwright.” He wrote the script of our life long before we were born. “Man” is the actor. “Man” walks through the steps that God has prepared for him – yet all the time “man” believes that he (“man”) has “Free Will.”
“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Jeremiah 10:23
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5,6
“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works ALL things after the counsel of HIS OWN WILL!” Ephesians 1:11
2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them dens in the mountains, and caves and strong holds.
The Israelites were hiding from their persecutors and captors – the Midianites.
3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them:
4 And they encamped against them and destroyed the produce of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.
The Israelites had planted their food and the enemy came and destroyed their produce and their animals – their entire food supply.
5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were innumerable; and they entered into the land to destroy it.
6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.
7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites
8 That the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt (symbolic for sin), and brought you forth out of the house of bondage (literal word: slavery, also symbolic for sin)
9 And I DELIVERED you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land.
10 And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God; fear NOT the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but you have NOT obeyed My voice.
God had delivered the Israelites repeatedly, but they always drifted away to return to worshiping pagan gods. Why? Because at Sinai, the Israelites had REFUSED to allow God to personally run their lives, to put His Law (the Ten Commandments) into their hearts. When God wanted to talk to the Israelites directly, they refused saying, “Moses, YOU talk to God, then YOU talk to us and we will hear. But let not God speak with us (directly), lest we die.” Exodus 20:19
The Israelites wanted a “man” – a human being – to lead them, rather than God leading each one of them directly. They refused to let God into their heart. They preferred to have God’s Law, the Ten Commandments, written on stone rather than having the Ten Commandments written in their hearts – which would have given them the power to keep them.
11 And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak tree which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash, the Abiezerite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
Obviously, if the Midianites had known that Gideon was threshing wheat, they would have confiscated the wheat for themselves, just as the Jewish/Russian Bolsheviks did to the Christian/”Gentile” Ukrainians, to starve them to death in 1932-1933, while the United States President (Roosevelt – a Jew) and his cabinet looked the other way.
12 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him (Gideon), and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord (literal Hebrew word: Adoni), if the Lord be with us, why then is all this happening to us? And where are all His miracles that our fathers told us of, 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
How many times have Christians blamed God for the mess they have caused themselves? God does not punish us for sinning. We REAP what we have SOWN. The Israelites had left God. They had decided to go their own way. When trouble came as the result of their foolish, selfish ways, they blamed it on God.
How soon do we forget the times that the Lord has stood by and delivered us in the past? How many times do we not even realize that the Lord has delivered us from harm? Or delivered our children from harm? Or delivered us from financial difficulty? Or even delivered us from embarrassment?
If our eyes were only open to the Lord’s protection of us and our family every day, we would be ashamed of our lack of trust in Him.
Adoni: The lower levels of Freemasonry are perceived as being “Christian” - which they are NOT. Levels above the 32nd degree cannot be obtained by “climbing the ladder.” One must be “asked” to go on to the 33rd degree. Only those who are considered “safe” to know – and keep – the secrets of the mysteries of Freemasonry are allowed to proceed.
The high-level Mason then learns that one of the “mysteries” (the secrets of Freemasonry) is that there are TWO gods – Lucifer, the “good” god, who the Masons worship because Lucifer allows everyone to do as he pleases (no rules of conduct, no right or wrong) – and Adoni, the “bad” God, who has high standards of conduct and rules (such as the Ten Commandments), a God who considers debauchery, degeneracy, consorting with prostitutes, lying, stealing, and corruption, to all be an abomination.
Like the little boys that they are, Freemasons don’t want anyone, including the Creator God, to ruin their degenerate “fun.” They have no intention of bowing down to God and letting Him run their life. They prefer to follow “Lucifer” – the god of darkness.
14 And the Lord looked upon him (Gideon), and said, “Go in this thy strength, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: Have not I sent thee?
Even though the Israelites had turned away from God repeatedly, “whoring” after pagan gods, God was willing to rescue them IF they put away their fascination with occultism and paganism, and again would return to the Lord.
Second Chance: Did God give the Israelites a second chance, and a third chance - - - and a fiftieth chance? Israel repeatedly left God, and God repeatedly took Israel back when they repented. Eventually, God brought them into the Promised Land, in spite of their “hard hearts” and their “stiff-necked stubbornness.”
There is no cut-off point in God’s mercy. He searched for the one lost sheep – until He found it! (Luke 15:3-7)
15 And he (Gideon) said unto Him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Mannaseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.
God frequently picks the weakest and the “least” to lead His people.
David was the youngest in his family, almost forgotten when the prophet Samuel was sent to David’s father’s home to anoint the new king of Israel;
Jacob, the younger (twin) brother of Esau was, according to existing inheritance laws of the time, NOT supposed to receive the birthright;
Joseph was not only the next to the youngest of twelve brothers, but was hated by his older brothers, yet Joseph was chosen by God to lead Egypt through the coming famine, and to save his entire household plus the fledgling group of “believers” – the Israelites.
Mary Magdalene, a woman (in a culture where women were considered no better than an animal) who had been inhabited by seven demons, was the person chosen to see Jesus first, after His resurrection from the dead.
The bottom line is that God does not work like man. God says, “I’m NOT like you.”
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts (higher) than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9
16 And the Lord said unto him (Gideon), Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt defeat the Midianites as one man.
No matter how big the challenge, or how daunting the enemy, if God sends us, He will go with us.
But in order to trust God, we must spend a lot of time with Him in Bible study and prayer, getting to know Him, getting to know Him well enough that we understand and believe that He is trustworthy.
17 And he said unto Him, If now I have found grace in your sight, then show me a sign (literal: give me some evidence) that Thou talkest with me.
18 Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my offering, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until you come again.
Then Gideon prepared an offering of cooked goat meat and unleavened cakes which the angel of God told Gideon to lay on the rock and pour the broth over it. And he did so.
21 Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.
22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O lord God! For because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. . .
Clearly, Gideon was afraid he would die.
23 And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.
Then Gideon built an altar to God.
In verses 25-27 we read that God told Gideon to demolish the pagan altar of Baal and pagan god, Asheroth, the god of the Midianites, the captors of the Israelites. Gideon waited until dark to do so.
Naturally this enraged the Midianites.
28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove (asheroth – wooden images of a Canaanite goddess) was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock offered upon the altar that was built (with the wood from the asheroth goddesses)
29 And they said one to another, Who has done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.
30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die; because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the grove that was by it.
Notice that Gideon is now in BIG trouble for doing what God told him to do!
31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him. Will you plead for Baal? Will you save him? He that will plead for him, let him be put to death by morning: if he (Baal) is a god, let him plead for himself, because someone has cast down his altar.
Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the “children of the east” gathered together and camped in the valley of Jezreel (ready for battle).
Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all Mannasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, asking for the men to come together to help him fight their enemies.
36 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,
37 Behold I will put a fleece of wool on the ground; and if the dew is on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the earth around it, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said.
38 And it was so; for he rose up early on the next morning, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
But even after that miraculous sign, Gideon still didn’t trust God enough. So he asked for a second sign.
39 And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground, let there be dew.
40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
Notice that God gave Gideon a “Second Chance” just as Jesus gave (Doubting) Thomas a “Second Chance” to believe that Christ had risen from the grave, something Thomas would not do UNLESS he “put his fingers in the scars of His palms, and thrust them into the healed wound in His side.”
Judges, Chapter 7
1 Then Jerubbaal (who is Gideon), and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the well of Harod; so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
2 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, “Mine own hand has saved me.”
We learn later that the enemies camped around Israel numbered 120,000, whereas the Israelite volunteer army was 33,000.
Yet God said, “That’s too many. If you conquer your 120,000 enemies with 33,000 men, you will take the credit for your success, rather than giving it to Me.”
3 Now therefore go to proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And 22,000 left, and there remained 10,000.
4 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are still too many; bring them down to the water’s edge and I will test them for thee there: and It shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee,; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall NOT go with thee, the same shall NOT go.
5 So he brought the people down to the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that laps the water (in his hand) with his tongue as a dog laps, him you shall set by himself; likewise everyone that bows down on his knees to drink (shall be set apart).
6 And the number that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men; but all the rest of the people bowed down on their knees to drink water.
7 And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand: and let ALL the other people go every man unto his home.
So God gave Gideon 300 men – to go against an enemy army of 120,000.
And Gideon divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers with torches inside the pitchers.
During the night, Gideon sent 100 men to each of the three sides of the encampment of 120,000 enemy warriors. At the pre-arranged signal, all 300 of Gideon’s men broke their pitchers revealing the torch lights (which obviously looked like a great multitude of attackers), all 300 men blew their trumpets, and cried out, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.”
21 And all the (enemy) army ran, and cried, and fled.
Then Gideon’s 300 men ran after them and eventually they, and other Israelites who joined them, slew the entire army of 120,000.
"Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon." Judges 8:28
God’s Deliverance
Gideon’s band of 300 men conquered an army of 120,000. But it was NOT “of them.” God did it. God heard the cries of the enslaved Israelites, the Israelites turned back to God, and once again, God delivered the Israelites from their enemies.
And the country was quiet for forty years.
God truly is a wonderful, kind, and loving God, and His Word repeatedly tells us of His Deliverance of those who turn to Him.
But How SOON We Forget! See Judges, Chapter 8:
33 And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.
34 And the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:
35 Neither showed they kindness to the house of Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had showed unto Israel.
The Deliverance of Joseph
We also have the amazing story of the deliverance of Joseph from his brothers who wanted to kill him, of Joseph’s being sold by his own kin, as a slave, of Joseph being falsely accused of rape by the wife of his boss, Potipher, of Joseph being falsely imprisoned for doing the right thing.
These were terribly difficult trials for Joseph, but he continued to trust God, understanding that God knows what is best for us – far more than we do.
Gideon learned to trust God.
Joseph learned to trust God.
Moses learned to trust God.
Abraham learned to trust God.
Daniel learned to trust God.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego learned to trust God.
David learned to trust God.
And WE must learn to trust God.
“Without faith (trust), it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6)
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body more than raiment? Matthew 6:25
Once we learn to know God, once we learn to trust God when we finally understand that He is trustworthy, once we understand that He WILL fulfill the promises He has made to “never leave us or forsake us”, to heal ALL our diseases, to forgive ALL our sins, to strengthen us, to uphold us, to shelter us, to feed us, to love us MORE than we love our own children, we will learn to love Him “because He first loved us.”
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear; because fear involves torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love.
“We love Him, because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:18,19)
In God’s Word we are told over 250 times to, “Be not afraid.” God promises to be with us through every trial in our life. But in order to have that “peace that passes all understanding,” we must learn to trust Him. And the only way to do that is to spend time with Him alone in Bible study and prayer every day, getting to know Him up close and personal.
If one refuses to begin that journey – to take the first step – to develop the habit of personal time alone with Jesus every day, their fears will overwhelm them.
But there is a way out, a way that brings peace and removes all fear, by learning to trust in God, understanding that His ways are always the best, understanding that He will not lead us through anything more than is necessary to purify us to make us ready to live with Him forever.
What is coming – is coming. There is no place to hide – except in Jesus Christ.
