The Lord’s Gracious Approach to Deliver His Idolatrous People
Text – Judges 6
Reading – 2 Corinthians 4:1-12
Suggested Hymns : BoW 145; 44; 159; 529
People of God,
Those of you who are familiar with the book of Judges will be aware that the history recorded there has a cyclical pattern. A pattern painfully found in the history of the Church and our own lives. That well known pattern of falling into sin, then suffering the Lord’s faithful chastisement, bringing a painful cry for God’s mercy, till He finally responds with forgiveness and deliverance.
Judges 4 and 5 tell us that the LORD had delivered the Israelites from Canaanite oppression through Deborah and Barak. The land then had peace for 40 years. But, as is often the case for the Church today, Israel did not handle peace very well. With peace comes the temptation to stop trusting God and to pursue other options in life which seem to work for a time.
Israel again drifted into an idolatrous mixture: token worship for the LORD along with a zealous pursuit of self indulgent idolatry, so popular in the surrounding nations. The LORD’s response was faithful to His promises in the Mosaic covenant – He MUST chastise His children so that they would be cleansed from idolatry. This time He did not use the sword. Instead, hordes of Midianites, Amalekites and other Eastern tribes would swarm into Israel like locusts – eating and destroying their crops.
The Midianite involvement is particularly treacherous. As descendants of Abraham, through his wife Keturah, they were related to Israel. Despite this, the book of Numbers reveals they had tried to destroy Israel in the wilderness, first by hiring Balaam to curse them and then by luring them into idolatry. Now they threaten to destroy Israel economically. After 7 years of food shortages and hiding families and goods in caves, the Israelites cry out to the LORD for help.
This chapter further illustrates something we should point out to those with whom we share the gospel – that is, unlike man-made religious stories, there are no real heroes in the Bible except God Himself. Everyone in its pages, with the exception of the God/Man Jesus Christ, is flawed, just like us. Those who achieve anything outstanding for God’s Kingdom do so despite themselves, because God has intervened and used them.
This brings us to our first point:
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GRACE COMES FIRST, THEN REPENTANCE
God’s chastisement brings the intended result (read vs6). God’s gracious response is not to simply rid Israel of her suffering, but to point out the cause (read vss7-10). God is not about the business of simply delivering us from the frustrations of life. Rather, He wants to deliver us from our constant habit of finding ways to live independently of Him. That’s why His answers to our prayers often take us through a complex road to deliverance, dealing with our idolatrous habits along the way.
What is surprising about this chapter is that God begins the process of saving Israel despite the fact that repentance has not accompanied the nation’s cry for help. Idolatry still has a strong hold on the nation (read v30). Don’t get me wrong, whenever God delivers people, repentance is an essential part of His process of deliverance. In fact, before God rescues the people from the Midianites, He will first use Gideon to deal with their idolatry. But the wonderful thing about God is that we are invited to cry out to Him even though we may not have our “act together”!
If you have not cried out to God for mercy and salvation because you have been tricked into thinking you must first clean up your life – you need to know that you will never be ready enough! While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Cry out to the Lord today! Now is the day of salvation!
But keep this in mind, if you cry out to God for help or salvation on the basis of His promises in Christ. He will respond to bring changes in your life. A saved life involves a lifelong process of repentance from our lives of independence. God loves us too much to leave us in the grip of sin.
So God hears the cries of His afflicted people even though they are still hopelessly addicted to sin and idolatry. The way He does this is heart warming – which leads us to our second point:
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GOD IS GRACIOUS IN HIS APPROACH
Picture Gideon. He is virtually hiding as he threshes wheat in a winepress, in order to avoid the attention of the invading peoples (read v11). The winepress was usually a flat rock or pounded earth at the bottom of a hole. While Gideon busies himself, God approaches as a Man, Who comes and sits under an oak tree to watch and have conversation.
The passage makes it clear that the Angel of the LORD, appearing as a Man, is in fact God (read vss 10,14,16, 22). This is so amazing that Gideon asks for a sign that the Man is in fact God (read 17,18). He says “show me a sign IT IS YOU!”
Congregation, just as an aside let me point here, we have no reason to doubt that this appearance of God as a Man is none other than God the Son, before He permanently took on human flesh at His birth 2,000 years ago. There are other clues that Old Testament appearances of a Man are those of the Pre-incarnate Son of God. For instance, the Man Who appears to Daniel in Daniel chapter 12 has an appearance that is almost identical to that described by John when He saw the risen Jesus in Revelation chapter 1.
Now back to our text. The description of this visit to Gideon once again highlights the contrast between God’s Might and man’s helpless state. God’s “mighty warrior” is a man hiding, and rushing to get some wheat threshed before the Midianites come and steal it (read v11,12). Gideon is the perfect choice for God to show His strength through weakness (read v15).
God’s gracious hand continues to be shown as He tells Gideon to make an offering even though Gideon is not a Levite (read v18,26). Like our Lord Jesus, Gideon will be a Priestly leader.
Finally, Gideon himself realises that this visit from God brings peace to a sinner, not the well deserved judgment he so much dreads (read vss22-24).
But, let’s not forget, God’s forgiveness and peace comes to us in order to deal with sin. We are called to trust in Him as He challenges habits and dependencies that are dear to us. In this passage:
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Grace comes first, followed by repentance
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God is gracious in His approach … but this is to lead us to our third observation:
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DELIVERANCE IS NOT ONLY FROM SIN’S CONSEQUENCES BUT SIN ITSELF
God has allied Himself with Gideon – now Gideon and the people must ally themselves to God.
God’s visit is one of peace and assurance but there is no doubt what needs to be dealt with immediately! We read in vss 25-32 that very same night Gideon must pull down the altar built for Baal, which stands in his father’s village, and build an altar to the LORD. He is to cut down the Asherah pole and use it for firewood to make sacrifices to the LORD.
Israel’s greatest enemy is NOT Midian, but idolatry. Anything that compromises our commitment and trust in the LORD is a form of idolatry. Sometimes we’re not even aware of idolatrous tendencies in our lives until someone or something comes along and challenges them. That TV show or time slot that CANNOT BE MISSED – and then Bible Study gets rescheduled or ongoing witnessing opportunities to neighbours force a choice of priorities.
Gideon chooses the darkness of night to vandalise the Baal site. This is not so much because he is afraid of being caught (he will be anyway), but because he knows the whole town will stop his group from getting the job done if he does it in broad daylight.
Well, the hearts of the people are revealed the next day. They are outraged and ready to kill for their commitment to their false god. No doubt it was not just superstition that fuelled their anger, but also hurt pride.
The tragedy is that they speak only of the loss of their idol but give no recognition to the new opportunity of dedication at the LORD’s new altar. Gideon’s act was not destructive but constructive. It was not simply tearing down a site dedicated to Baal and Asherah but the building of an altar devoted to the LORD. Delight in sin can be replaced with delight in our Saviour! As sinful habits are removed from our lives, may Christ fill our hearts with joy by His Spirit!
It seems Gideon’s father, Joash the village leader, had only tolerated the idol in the village under pressure of popular opinion. Now he is forced to challenge the people to test the legitimacy of Baal worship (read vss30-32).
Gideon, of course had nothing to fear. The power of Baal was in his followers and nowhere else. In the space of a few days, a reluctant Gideon had not only torn down Baal’s altar but, as his nickname suggests, Baal’s reputation as well.
Gideon was the first to point out to the LORD that he was an unlikely choice to become a “valiant warrior” – and so our final observation is simply another example of:
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POWER CLOTHED IN WEAKNESS (read vss33,34)
These verses contrast the power of power of man pitted against the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Vs 33 speaks of the swarms of the eastern tribes. In response, God’s Spirit comes upon Gideon.
Actually the Hebrew expression, which is found elsewhere, is more colourful. It suggests that “the Spirit of the LORD clothed Himself with Gideon”!
Doesn’t Paul say that God has entrusted the wonderful message and work of the Gospel to weak people like us?
2 Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.”
And what a self confessed earthen jar Gideon proved to be! In vs 14 he points out to the LORD he is an unimpressive choice. Then in vss 36-39, Gideon feels he must put the LORD’s promise to the test with that famous fleece of wool, not once but twice!
In all of this God kindly indulges Gideon, because Gideon confesses it is not the LORD’s ability that is in question but Gideon’s inner strength and trust (read vss39,40).
Isn’t this the God we’ve come to know in the pages of the rest of Scripture?
Psa. 103:13-14 “Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”
Isn’t this the God Who calls us to His Son as to a SYMPATHETIC High Priest. Scripture commands us to come to Christ with all our weaknesses and doubts! Satan would have you believe that it is wrong to come to God with doubts and struggles. Satan would have you believe you cannot cry out to God for deliverance until you have sorted yourself out … THAT IS BECAUSE SATAN KNOWS IF HE CAN CONVINCE YOU OF THIS THEN YOU WILL NEVER COME TO CHRIST.
The Son of God comes to us mindful of our helpless condition … not under an oak tree, but on the basis that He hung upon a tree for our forgiveness and acceptance. Today, God calls us all to accept His offer of Grace.
Hebrews 4:15-16 “… we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
AMEN