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Awesome Hands – part 77

“The judgments” Part H

April 17th, 2015

In the previous study, we covered the restriction the Lord placed on His people to not charge interest to a brother or sister when they were in need.

In today’s study, we are going to cover not keeping a security which is given as a promise to repay.

“Returning a pledge”

The verses in reference for today’s study are:

Exo 22:26  If thou at all take thy neighbour’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down:

Exo 22:27  For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.

The first thing that is emphasized in these verses is that we are talking about our neighbor again and specifically his or her “raiment” and “covering”.

Since we are always looking for the spiritual significance of these types and shadows in our lives, it should jump off of the page that we are speaking about the “covering” of someone in the spiritual sense.

In contrast of someone “taking a loan” to help them with an issue as was discussed in the previous study, these verses deal with someone who is so desperate yet so poor that all they have to offer is the coat and/or clothing off of their back.

Truly, Jesus Christ is all we too have in the world today if indeed we are disciples of Jesus Christ.

Rev 3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

There is also an addendum to Exodus 22:26-27 which is found in Deuteronomy.

Deu 24:10  When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge.

Deu 24:11  Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee.

Deu 24:12  And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge:

Deu 24:13  In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.

It’s interesting to note that a house and raiment are mentioned here. If someone has a physical house, then they are doing well and their covering is their house. If someone is seeing rough times, then the only raiment they have is the coat or cloak they can sleep in.

Is it possible in both situations that we could be talking about the same spiritual type when we compare one which is blessed with a lot (a house) with one who is blessed with a little (coat on their back)?

While we are poor now in this world, though some may have worldly riches, we will be given riches beyond measure when we get the fullness of the purchased possession.

What then is the spiritual example of this house we are speaking about in Deuteronomy?

2Co 5:1  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

2Co 5:2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

2Co 5:3  If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

2Co 5:4  For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

2Co 5:5  Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

2Co 5:6  Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

2Co 5:7  (For we walk by faith, not by sight🙂

2Co 5:8  We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

2Co 5:9  Wherefore WE LABOUR, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

Notice, we are told in Exodus to “not let the sun go down” before we give back that which was pledged. We are also given the reason they need that pledge back, it is where they “sleep”, where they rest.

Heb 4:1  Let us therefore FEAR, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being MIXED WITH FAITH in them that heard it.

Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Heb 4:4  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

Heb 4:5  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

Heb 4:7  Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, TO DAY, after so long a time; as it is said, TO DAY if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Heb 4:8  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

Putting this all together, we see that our neighbor who is in need, who is poor “in the world”, has only Jesus Christ to pledge, the same Jesus Christ who is used for their REST which happens to be the Faith that has been given to them.

It is TO DAY, not another day, which we must RECOGNIZE who our neighbor, brother, sister and mother are in Christ Jesus and be sure to return to THEM what was promised to US when the poor of the world gives Jesus Christ to us for safe keeping.

Didn’t Jesus Christ tell us He was taking notice of how we treated the hungry, the poor, the widow, and the fatherless?

Don’t Christians URN to be FEED, to be CLOTHED, to BE RICH, to have a HUSBAND, to see their FATHER, to be given FREEDOM and to no longer be a STRANGER but to arrive to their COUNTRY?

Jas 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Mat 25:34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Mat 25:35  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Mat 25:36  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Mat 25:37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

Mat 25:38  When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

Mat 25:39  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

“Faith with Works”

What then do we do with Exodus 22:26 and 27? How do we live it out daily?

Exo 22:26  If thou at all take thy neighbour’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down:

Exo 22:27  For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.

The only thing Christians have in this world, spiritually speaking, is Jesus Christ the Word of God.

When a brother or sister “pledges” to you about anything, our Faith in Jesus working in them all things according to the Father’s will, should produce in us a like-mindedness, to want to return in kind, what we have received from Jesus in them.

The only thing we can give each other is Jesus Christ, the Word of God, which the Lord has given us all to share with one another.

We are not to wait until some future date to return that covering, that rest, that Faith back to the person who gave us what the Lord had given them.

In a practical sense, the law of Moses being read in Exodus was to be practiced literally, but we must be searching the Word of God while diligently seeking to find how this applies to us today otherwise we will have the mind of “all that is in the world …. of our father the devil” and not the mind of Christ which is a “right” mind.

In order to solidify what house we are seeking, and the mind of the husbandmen of said house, we do not have to look very far to see a very familiar story bearing out to us the spiritual Truth of having the proper covering and it being Jesus Christ who provides that covering.

Mar 5:1  And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.

Mar 5:2  And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,

Mar 5:3  Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:

This man did not dwell in a house.

Mar 5:4  Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

Mar 5:5  And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

Mar 5:6  But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,

Mar 5:7  And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

Mar 5:8  For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

Mar 5:9  And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

Mar 5:10  And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

Those who have their country, do not seek a country. Those that have no country SEEK the PLACE where they are no FOREIGNERS.

Mar 5:11  Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.

Mar 5:12  And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

Mar 5:13  And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

Mar 5:14  And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.

Mar 5:15  And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

This scenario is enough to make anyone who witnesses legion being cast out of someone, back into the sea of humanity where it belongs, to be sorely afraid.

To witness someone suddenly SEATED with Christ in the heavenlies, CLOTHED, and in his RIGHT MIND is truly miraculous and like lightning hitting the person in front of them.

Mat 28:1  In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

Mat 28:2  And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

Mat 28:3  His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

Mat 28:4  And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

Mat 28:5  And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

Mat 28:6  He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

Are we not angels of the Lord when we give to others what the Lord has given to us to give? We point to Jesus Christ.

When we do, we point away from “your Father the devil” and this is the result:

Luk 10:18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Luk 10:20  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

We are seated with Him.

Mat 24:27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Mat 24:28  For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Mat 24:29  Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Indeed, the Lord has arrived and His work begins with us, being mixed with FAITH while we rest and are covered with his righteousness, within the heavens.

Amen, praise the Lord, even so Lord, COME QUICKLY!