God's House, Dwelling, and Divine Abode: The Temple of God in Man

God’s House

God broke the bonds the Egyptian empire had on His people after more than 400 years of suffering in that land.  He called Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness, where He shepherded them for forty years. God gave Moses instructions to build His house in the wilderness—the tabernacle. God instructed the Israelites to meet Him in the Tabernacle.

“Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them” (Ex. 25:8). God provided Moses detailed instructions about this tabernacle—its dimensions, rooms, adornments, articles of worship and sacrifice, etc.  Fifteen chapters in the Book of Exodus describe the construction of God’s house. A complete description is beyond the scope of this article. The book of Exodus ends with this description: “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Ex. 40:34). God communed with His people in His wilderness house for forty years and beyond.

The Jews subsequently conquered Canaan and dwelt in their promised land for several hundred years.  The Bible describes much of this time in the Book of Judges.  God anointed King David to lead His people, but did not allow David to build Him a house—a  temple—because  David was a man of war.  God spoke to King David through His prophet, Nathan:

When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (2 Samuel 7:12-13)

David’s son, Solomon, built God’s temple after David died. God’s own Son, Jesus Christ—a descendant of David—will rebuild God’s house and rule the world on God’s throne for one thousand years. God repeatedly promised Israel this Millennial Kingdom through the prophets of the Old Testament.  God allowed Solomon the privilege of constructing His house. It was subsequently destroyed, rebuilt and destroyed again by wicked gentile empires (Babylonian and Roman). God used these gentile nations to inflict punishment on His people for their disobedience.  Jesus will one day build God’s temple and it will never be destroyed by human hands.

God’s temple on earth is a reflection of His holy temple in heaven.  “The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven…” (Ps. 11:4).  King David wrote the following in Ps 27:4-5:

One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.  For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock.

David spoke, not of God’s earthly temple. He did not hide in a tent when troubles arose. But David spoke of God’s spiritual, heavenly house.  God hid him there—away from all his enemies, in an eternal abode. This is a privilege of Divine protection. David was lifted up on a rock—the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul provides interesting information in 1 Cor. 3:16-17: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” Each born again believer is a temple of a holy God on this earth. God’s wrath will fall upon any who destroys His temple in this world.  Paul instructs believers in 1 Cor. 6:19-20: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God; and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” God purchased each of His children.  He gave the ultimate price—the blood of His only Son, Jesus Christ.  God intends that each of His many temples in this world bring glory to His name.

Jesus drove out the money changers from God’s house and proclaimed the following prophecy in John 2:19. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Subsequent verses explain that He spoke of the temple of His body and prophesied of His resurrection.  But it also implies that at His resurrection, He created the spiritual temple of God, which houses all God’s children over the ages.  His resurrection made this possible.

The Bible explains that God chose us before He created the world. “…just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” (Eph. 1:4). We are fellow citizens in God’s house, which is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (their teachings and writings—the inspired Word of God). The cornerstone of this structure is Jesus Christ. God’s children are added through the ages to complete the house, which is God’s present and eternal dwelling. God dwelled in His tabernacle and subsequently in His temple in Old Testament times. The house of God represents believers of all times – each age is pictured as a different room of the structure in Eph. 2:19-22:

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

 “He has made known to us the mystery of His will…” (Eph 1:9). God seals His children for eternity through God the Holy Spirit. Our Savior has eternally secured us!  The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of a new body and heavenly inheritance:

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1: 13-14).

 God will one day sum up all things and programs in Christ in ‘the New Heavens and New Earth’ (Eph 1:8-10):

In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.

The book of Revelation 21:22-23 explains that during this time (the new heavens and new earth) there will be no physical temple at all!  The Lord God almighty and His Son, Jesus Christ will be its temple:

I saw no temple in it, for he Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.  And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the Glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

Even the sun and moon, which have provided physical light and energy in this world, will no longer be necessary.  God, who has created these and all things, will be the energy powerhouse of the new heavens and earth.  Humans look upon a physical temple, the sun, and the moon and marvel at their greatness.  But these are but a physical representation of a spiritual reality, which dwarfs all that can ever be apprehended with physical senses.  Someday all of God’s children from all ages will gaze upon this spiritual reality – God the Father and God the Son—the absolute truth, the life, the light, the temple, the creative power of all that was, and is and is to come!

Nimrod, Semiramus,Inanna, Tammuz, Cush, the Queen of Heaven & the Mystery Religion of Babylon

Nimrod – Part 3

The first book of the Bible introduces this wicked man and his kingdom – centered in Babel.  The last book of the Bible, chapters 17 and 18, describes God’s utter destruction of Babylon in the last days.  The prophetic destruction includes the wicked city itself, as well as the rebellious religion it generated.  This article will focus initially on the Nimrod’s wife, Semiramis, as she was instrumental in the formation of the wicked ‘mystery religion of Babylon.’  It will then explain how Nimrod’s father, Cush and ultimately Nimrod, himself, were incorporated into this system of worship. Euhemerus was an ancient Greek mythographer who lived around 300 BC.  He wrote that gods and their associated legends arose from the deification of dead human heroes.[i]

One legend of ancient history regarding Semiramis describes Nimrod meeting Semiramis while she was a brother owner in Uruk.[ii]  This probably occurred when Nimrod was consolidating control over that city.  The history of queen/goddess as prostitute/brothel owner is not the material of good legends.  Therefore, subsequent legends arose which portrayed her as a mythic fertility goddess and mother of the gods.  All attempts to trace the origin of goddess worship lead ultimately to one single woman of ancient history – Semiramis.[iii]   She promoted deification of Nimrod and herself after his death.  God’s judgment and Nimrod’s execution forced the ‘mystery religion’ underground for a while.  Its adherents realized the danger of practicing their religion in the public domain.  Hence, the name “mystery religion of Babylon” refers to its secretive nature.  However, Semiramis commanded total authority over her subjects and clandestinely indoctrinated the priesthood with this mystery religion.  Priests and astrologers obeyed her commands and aggressively marketed the mystery religion.  Ancient Sumerians knew Semiramis as the goddess Inanna.  People adored her, especially in her home city of Uruk.  They erected many temples to commemorate her as the goddess of sexual love and fertility.  This description of her mythical duties was likely an exaggeration of her true life as a prostitute.  Historical truth often grows to superhuman feats in mythology. Ancient mythology depicts Semiramis as ascending to heaven as a dove, where she became the fertility and queen goddess, Inanna.

Inanna’s son and husband was Tammuz, the sun god.  Sumerians worshipped the mother/son duo.  After human dispersion at the Tower of Babel, worship of the fertility goddess and mother/son duo continued across the ancient world, but the names changed in different locations – due, of course to the different languages.  Inanna (Semiramis) was known as Ishtar in Babylon, Isis in Egypt and the son/husband was Osiris – the sun god.  There is an inscription engraved in an Egyptian temple of Isis that reads: “I am all that has been, or that is, or that shall be.  No mortal has removed my veil.  The fruit which I have brought forth is the sun.”[iv]  The sun was Osiris – deified Nimrod. 

She was worshipped as Venus in Rome (counterpart Cupid), and Aphrodite in Greece.  She was also called Diana/Artemis – great fertility goddess of the Ephesians.  Worship of this goddess became a roadblock in the apostle Paul’s early mission to the city of Ephesus, as mentioned in the book of Acts 19:23-41.  The Old Testament records the name of this fertility goddess of the Canaanites as Ashteroth (Baal’s counterpart – Jdg. 2:12; 3:7, 1 Kings 18:19; 2 Kings 21:7).  She became a stumbling block for the Jews and their leaders who first settled this area for many generations.  The prophet, Jeremiah, prophesied about the worship of this goddess:

The women added, ‘When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes like her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?’  Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, who were answering him, ‘Did not the Lord remember and think about the incense burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem by you and your fathers, your kings and your officials and the people of the land? When the Lord could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did your land became an object of cursing and a desolate was without inhabitants, as it is today.  Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed Him or followed His law or His decrees or His stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see.’  - Jeremiah 44:19-23

Semiramis became a powerful ruler in Mesopotamia following the death of Nimrod.  The Sumerian name Sammur-amat was the original name of this woman.[v]  This suggests the ancient civilization of Sumeria may have taken their name from her.  The name Sammur-amat is translated ‘Gift of the Sea.’  The first part of this name, Sammur, becomes Shinar when translated into Hebrew.  The land of Shinar is the Biblical name for the region of southern Mesopotamia.  Both the Sumerians and their land of Shinar (Sumer) were likely named after this notorious woman!  Most anthropologists credit the Sumerians with the beginning of human civilization.

Semiramis ruled for more than forty years after Nimrod’s death.  Her son was likely Gilgamesh, and he ruled after her.  The famous Gilgamesh epic is quite similar to the Biblical flood story, except he is the central figure.

The ‘mystery religion of Babylon’ probably originated in the evil mind of Semiramis.  Nimrod and Cush also contributed significantly to its development. Many learned individuals have taught polytheism was the evolutionary forerunner of monotheism.   However, polytheism began in the minds of Cush, Nimrod and Semiramis, who heavily suffused the mystery religion of Babylon with human deification.

Deified Cush was revered as several gods of ancient mythology.  Canaanites worshipped him as Bel or Baal, and he was their most important God.  Baal worship was an abomination to God and a major factor provoking His judgment on the Canaanites and Israelites.  The prophet, Jeremiah, spoke the Word of God to the Israelites who had participated in Baal worship.

Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.  For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned sacrifices in it to gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.  They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.

God executed that judgment shortly thereafter, when King Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem.  Many Jews who survived the onslaught were taken to Babylon to live the rest of their lives in slavery.

Babel means ‘the gate of god,’ but it can also mean “son of Bel.”  Perhaps Nimrod named the city of Babel after himself, as the son of Bel (Cush). 

The Egyptians commemorated Cush as the god Hermes, which means ‘son of Ham.’  Hermes was recognized as the author of religious rites and the interpreter of the gods.  Ancient mythology describes Hermes as the interpreter of languages.  Mercury was another name for the god Hermes.  Mercury purportedly divided the speech of men.  The name, Bel, also means “the Confounder.”[vi]  Cush likely assisted in the planning and building of the Tower of Babel.  He initiated the rebellion against God. Indeed, he named his son Nimrod, which means, ‘to rebel.’  The mythological names of Cush suggest his sin was an inciting cause for God’s worldwide judgment – the confusion of languages.  Cush was known as the ancient god Janus, and all gods supposedly originated from him.  People of antiquity recorded a statement Janus reportedly made about himself: “The ancients…. called me Chaos.”[vii]  Chaos is the “god of confusion” and is derived from the name Cush.  The symbol connected with Janus is a club, and its Babylonian name means ‘to break in pieces,’ or ‘to scatter abroad.’  The sin of Cush broke the one language of mankind and caused the chaos of languages that scattered men abroad.  Janus and Vulcan are names for the same god.  Vulcan broke and divided the world with a stroke of his well-known hammer.[viii]

Nimrod forced his subjects to worship him as a military and political hero.  He proclaimed himself high priest of the ‘mystery religion of Babylon.[ix]   Semiramis deified Nimrod after his death.[x]

Nimrod’s Babylonian followers worshiped him as Marduk – the god of war and fortresses.  The Sumerians built the gigantic ziggurat of Etemenanki to honor their supreme god, Marduk.  Many believe this ziggurat was the Tower of Babel.  The name, Marduk, was altered by various civilizations of the ancient world due to the languages given at the Tower of Babel.  His Akkadian name was Amarutuk.  The Egyptians named him Osiris, the Phoenicians referred to him as Tammuz, and in Canaan he became the sun god of fire – Molech.  Canaanite parents often sacrificed their first born to this god by placing the child in the outstretched hands of a large statue of Molech, while a blazing fire raged beneath.  This horrible form of idol worship incited God’s judgment upon the Canaanite people and also upon the Israelites, as they participated in this worship.

Leviticus 20:2 Say to the Israelites: Any Israelite or any alien living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. – Also refer to Jer 49:1 and Jer 32:33-35.

Should people of this present age be concerned God might judge a world of people who have murdered millions of their children on the altar of abortion?  Indeed, clear scriptural references suggest the detestable practice of child sacrifice incited God’s terrible wrath on multiple occasions.  God often judged His own people, the Israelites, more severely than the pagans adhering to these practices.

Nimrod became the Roman god Bacchus, which means, ‘the son of Cush.’  Bacchus was god of wine and revelry.  Marduk was also the Roman god Kronos, whose name means, ‘the horned one.’  Ancient artists often depicted Nimrod wearing a crown of bullhorns.  Kronos was also the Roman god Saturn, who devoured his own sons as soon as they were born.[xi]  “The Phoenicians every year sacrificed their beloved and only begotten children to Kronos, or Saturn; and the Rhodesians often did the same.” [xii]

Nimrod’s followers assigned him many mythical names that implicate works achieved only by the true Son of God, Jesus Christ.  These counterfeit names deceptively attracted multitudes to worship Nimrod.  People north of Mesopotamia commonly knew him as Ninus, “the son.”[xiii]  Nimrod was called Zoraster, which means “the seed of Aster” (Ishtar-Semiramis).  People revered Zoraster through the generations as the promised seed of the woman, destined to bruise the head of the serpent in Genesis 3:15.[xiv]  Zoroastrianism rests on this foundational doctrine.  Greeks deified Nimrod as the god, Adonis.[xv] Adonai means “The Lord.” Greeks also knew Nimrod as Dionysus, “the sin bearer,”[xvi] and gave homage to him as Zeus, ‘the savior,[xvii] and Mithras, “the mediator.”[xviii]  The Babylonians worshiped Nimrod as El-Bar, or “god, the son.”  Archeologists in the ancient city of Nineveh have unearthed sculptures inscribed with this name.

People of ancient civilizations worshiped deified Nimrod in conjunction with snakes, serpents, and dragons.  Nimrod appropriated the dragon and the snake as his personal emblems, and from this association various myths about gods and serpents originated in antiquity. (www.1dolphin.org/Nimrod.html; author Bryce Self).  These likely symbolized his satanic connection.  Many Scriptures in the Bible identify Satan as the great serpent.  Greek and Roman mythology abound with serpent lore, and their artisans frequently sculpted popular gods with serpent representations.  Many Hamitic civilizations (Ethiopians, Hittites, Chinese, Japanese, and American Indians) have favorably portrayed dragons and serpents.  The Egyptians depicted their sun god, Osiris, as the sun surrounded by a serpent.[xix]  Artists generally painted dragons and serpents a fiery red color to suggest their association with the sun.  Sun and serpent worship began simultaneously in antiquity.[xx] The Canaanites clearly understood the connection between sun god, Molech, and serpent worship.[xxi]  Even Roman mythology repeatedly illustrates an affiliation between a serpent and the fire god and they were worshiped together. 

The Apostle Paul wrote in the Epistle of the Romans 1:21-23:

For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God, nor gave thanks to Him; but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man, and birds, and animals, and creeping things.

Perhaps the last word in this verse refers to the worship of serpents – even Satan, himself.

A very interesting Biblical reference describing a dragon is located in the prophetic New Testament Book of Revelation (Rev. 12:1-5):

A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.  She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.  Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.  His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.  The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.  And her child was snatched up to God and to His throne.

The pregnant woman described in this passage is God’s chosen nation, Israel.  The infant represents the Seed of the woman, prophesied thousands of years earlier in Genesis 3:15.  The child awaits delivery by the laboring woman (Israel).  She is God’s chosen nation through which His Seed – the Son of God – would come.  The fearsome red dragon depicted here is the same fiery red dragon portrayed with the sun god in the mystery religion of Babylon.  The dragon is none other that Satan, himself.  He is portrayed here, eagerly awaiting the birth of the prophesied Seed so he can devour Him.  Satan has feared the prophesied Seed since God pronounced the curse in the Garden of Eden.  God has provided clues throughout Biblical history suggesting the lineage of His Seed.  From the beginning of time, Satan has done everything in his power to destroy that lineage.  Old Testament Scriptures record the history of this momentous conflict over the millennia preceding the incarnation of Jesus Christ.  Satan’s multiple attempts to destroy the Seed are chronicled in the pages of God’s Word.  A thorough discussion of these attempts is not within the scope of this article.  Nevertheless, the dragon did await the birth of that infant (Jesus).  When the woman (Israel – Mary) bore the child, the fiery serpent finally had an opportunity to devour her Seed.  Herod’s massacre of infants in the city of Bethlehem was a horrific attempt to accomplish that goal.  Satan ultimately attempted to destroy God’s promised Seed by crucifying the Christ.  The crucifixion initially appeared to accomplish his goal, but Satan failed that attempt also – fortunately for mankind.  He had not anticipated the resurrection of God’s Son.  Thereafter, Satan realized his time was short, for the son’s destiny is to terminate Satan’s reign over the world of mankind.

The previous verse from the Book of Revelation explains the Child was taken up to God’s throne.  The resurrected Seed ascended to sit at God’s right hand.  The Seed of God lives today, and one day He will deliver the mortal blow to the dragon.  That Seed is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who will rule the nations with an iron scepter, as illustrated in this same verse.

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[i] Diodorus of Sicily: The Library of History – book VI.

[ii] http:www.onesimus @ix.netcom; author Bryce Self

[iii] Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., 1959), 5, 20-21, 30-31, 74-75, 141.

[iv] Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., 1959), 77. 

[v] http:www.assyriansocietycanada.org/legend_of_semiramis.htm; http:www.onesimus @ix.netcom; author Bryce Self

[vi] Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., 1959), 26.

[vii] ibid.

[viii] ibid., 26-28.

[ix] Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary On the Book of Beginnings (San Diego: Creation-Life, ©1976), 265.

[x] Alexander Hislop; The Two Babylons; pp. 5, 69-70.

[xi] ibid.  p. 231.

[xii] Eusebius; “De Laud, Constantini;” chapter 13; p. 267.

[xiii] Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., 1959), 23-25.

[xiv] ibid., 59, 61-67, 71, 120-121, 170, 180.

[xv] ibid., 70.

[xvi] ibid., 71-72.

[xvii] ibid., 72.

[xviii] Ibid.,70.

[xix] ibid., 227-228.

[xx] ibid., 227.

[xxi] ibid., 228-232.

Bibliography

11.      The Bible (NASB)

22.      Eusebius, De Laud, Constantini.

33.      Herodotus. The History of Herodotus.

44.      Hislop, Alexander. The Two Babylons. Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., 1959.

55.      The Jerusalem Tar-gum

66.      Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities of the Jews.

77.      Merrill, Steven C. Nimrod: Darkness in the Cradle of Civilization. United States of America: Xulon        Press, 2004.The Book of Josher

88.   Nibley, Hugh. Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol. 5, Part 2.Morris, Henry M. The Genesis                  Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary On the Book of Beginnings. San Diego: 

           Creation-   Life, ©1976.

  9.  Siculus, Diodorus. Library of History.

What the Bible says about Orphans and Widows

What the Bible says about Orphans and Widows

There have always been poor people in the world.  Jesus told his followers that in Mark 14:7.  Orphans and widows are a special class of the poor.  The Bible gives believers guidance in looking after these unfortunate souls.  A multitude of Scriptures in the New and Old Testaments paint a clear picture of God’s intentions for these people.  This article will present and explain several of these Scriptures. 

Before discussing God’s commands for caring for these souls, it is important to ask the question, “Why is it so important for God’s people to care for the downtrodden in this world?”  God will provide the answer to the reader who completes this article.

Jesus instructed His followers in His Sermon on the Mount and quoted in the book of Mt. 5:3-4: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Jesus reached out to the poor and disenfranchised of this world with a wonderful message of hope.  The poor and those who mourn will one day be comforted.  God sees their plight and He will provide from His heavenly riches.  But in this world, He has provided the Body of Christ, His representative, to reach out and apply soothing ointment to the wounds of the poor, orphans and widows.

The brother of Jesus, James, instructed the believing church in Chapter 1:27: “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

Religions of this world are defiled in God’s eyes.  Many are simply false teachings that do not promote or glorify the One God of creation.  But the piercing gaze of our God even exposes the nakedness and darkness of Judaism and the Christian religion.  These religions abound with rules, regulations, dress codes, idol worship and a drive to impress the world.  Jesus repeatedly castigated the Pharisees for their religious practices.  Jesus implored them to examine their hearts and remove the filth of their ways.  James subsequently defined what simple, pure and undefiled religion is in the mind of God.  He explained that God desires His followers to remain unstained from the worldly religious system and simply visit the orphans and widows—ministering to their needs.  Why strive for complex laws and regulations?  That is the worldly system.

Early in the history of mankind—even before God gave the law to Moses and His people—God instructed His followers to give special attention to the orphans and widows.  The Book of Job was written before Moses lived and possibly even before Abraham was called by God.  Several Scriptures recorded there suggest God was very interested in providing for the poor orphans and widows. “You have sent widows away empty, and the strength of the orphans has been crushed.  Therefore snares surround you, and sudden dread terrifies you…. (Job 22:9)” Job asserts his integrity and pleads his case:

If I have kept the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the orphan has not shared it (But from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and from infancy I guided her); If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or that the needy had no covering; If his loins have not thanked me, and if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep; If I have lifted up my hand against the orphan, because I saw I had support in the gate, let my shoulder fall from the socket, and my arm be broken off at the elbow.  For calamity from God is a terror to me….(Job 31:16-23)

The Bible explains Job attempted to please God by extending his hand to orphans and widows.

          

Hundreds of years later God delivered His people, Israel, from a wicked worldly oppressor, Egypt.  He gave them the Law through his servant, Moses.  He instructed His children that His ways were different and distinct from those of Egypt and the world.  He commanded them:

You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless  (Ex. 22:22-24).

The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do (Deut. 14:29). 

The blessings of God follow the obedience of His children—especially when the orphans, widows, and aliens are cared for.  It is noteworthy that God defines aliens as those who dwell in a foreign land without hope, without promises, of which the world is not worthy.  (Eph. 2:19, 1 Peter 2:11; Heb. 11: 9, 37-38)  All Christian believers are aliens in a foreign land – previously without hope and without promises.

You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment in pledge … When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands (Deut. 24:17,19).

He (God) executes justice for the orphans and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing (Deut. 10:18).

 God clearly intends that His people care for the orphans and widows, or His justice and consequences will prevail.

    

One thousand years before the birth of Jesus Christ, King David wrote about the orphans and widows:

God is “helper of the orphans.” (Ps. 10:14)… a father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows is God in His holy habitation. (Ps. 68:5)… Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.  They do not know nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness. (Ps. 82:3)…The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow. (Ps. 146:9)

King Solomon wrote: “Do not move the ancient boundary or go into the fields of the fatherless, for their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you.” (Pr. 23:10)

Once again, the Scripture implies consequences and God’s judgment for His people who do not minister to the orphans in their midst.

God later used the prophets as His mouthpiece to castigate Israel for not reaching out to the orphans and widows living among them.  They heaped God’s judgment upon their heads.  Ultimately, God made them orphans and widows.  He banished them from their own land.

Jer. 5:28, 29 reads:

“They are fat, they are sleek, they also excel in deeds of wickedness; they do not plead the cause, the cause of the orphan, that they may prosper; and they do not defend the rights of the poor.  Shall I not punish these people?” Declares the Lord, “on a nation such as this shall I not avenge Myself?”

Is. 1:17 reads:  Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

  

Jeremiah goes on to say:

“If you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.” (Jer. 7:6)… “Leave your orphans behind, I will keep them alive; and let your widows trust in Me.” (Jer. 49:11)

Then God poured out His judgment upon His people.  He allowed other nations to destroy their homes, ravage their wives and children and kill many.  They were carried off into foreign lands.  Then they cried and mourned like the orphans and widows they had previous ignored.

Lam. 5:3 reads:

“Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; Look, and see our reproach!  Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to aliens.  We have become orphans without a father, our mothers are like widows.

Generations later, God allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple and the walls around Jerusalem.  Once again, God used His prophets to command them to look after the poor:

Zech. 7:9-12 reads:

Thus has the Lord of hosts said, “Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.”  But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing….therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.

Mal. 3:5 reads:

“Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me, says the Lord of hosts.”

 God’s people did not hearken to His commands.  Over and over again they disobeyed Him.  His judgment fell and they were nearly destroyed by their enemies.  God dispersed the remaining Jews far from their homeland into the wicked nations of the world.  Their “promised land” lay uninhabitable in ruins, malaria infested swamps, and controlled by their enemies.

Human nature is selfish and sinful – as before.  Today, we are God’s people – the Body of Christ in this world.  God’s command to care for the poor and orphans is no different.  God does not change.  He is immutable—unchangeable.  Yet the poor are ignored, and the orphans remain homeless.  They have little hope in this wicked world.

          

When Jesus came into this world, He was born to a poor couple from Nazareth.  They had no home, no hospital, and no help to birth their infant son.  People of the world paid no attention.  The Son of God was born in a cow’s feed trough and clothed in burial cloths—in abject poverty.  Jesus had the riches of the universe at His fingertips prior to His incarnation, yet He chose to come into this world through a poor, insignificant family with virtually no material possessions.  He lived His entire life as a poor person and died without possessions. 

The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 8:9: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that through His poverty you might become rich.”

Every human soul born into this wicked world is born with a sinful nature and in spiritual poverty – an orphan, without a Father God.  The child’s spiritual father is Satan, God’s enemy.  Given to his natural inclination, the child will grow and embrace the worldly system of his father.  Then someday he will die and his spiritual father will drag him into an eternal abode—hell.  Father God intervened in this hopeless situation.  He sent His only Son into this world as a poor helpless human infant—at the mercy of a wicked, worldly system.  Jesus, as God’s human extension, reached out to all the fatherless children who have lived since the beginning of time.  He ministered hope to them.  He redeemed them from the crooked fingers of His enemy, Satan.  We are those orphan children.

The Apostle Paul, once again, exhorts believers to look to Jesus as their role model in Phil. 2:4-11:

Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.  Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God’s adopted children, believers in the Body of Christ on this earth, must continue living the example of Jesus.  This is God’s command.  Christ’s followers must reach beyond their personal interests and grasp the needs of the widows, orphans and poor of this world to provide food, clothing and spiritual hope.  As this calling is heeded, the poor of this world will become spiritually rich in Christ. 

All believers were once poor, downtrodden, and without hope—without a Father in Heaven.  But, thanks be to God, He has adopted them as His children!  Jesus became poor that we might become rich.  We must reach out to the poor in like manner.

 Contributing Author: Dr. Steven Merrill