stopped and he led the Israelites across on dry land. And now God said, “ Build me a monument, a memorial.” Contrast this memorial, if you will, with Kennedy’s memorial, with the proposed Roose velt memorial. The cost, the square footage, the vision. God said, “ I want you to build a memorial to the fact that I backed up water and two million of you walked across on dry land.” He bade twelve men, one from each tribe, to go back and pick up a stone. “Bring the stones and put them in a head.” Compare that to what architect Morton Per- reira o f California would have designed for God. Compare that to some of the newspaper and bank monuments that have been built throughout the nation. Compare that to some o f the monuments in which we ourselves live! But for God? A heap of twelve stones—that was good enough! Think of Jericho, that fantastic city. God is going to demonstrate His power and His method is going to be so ridiculous that no one in history will ever miss it. “You walk around it with rams’ horns (which are called trumpets) and on the seventh day you blow those things and then you shout together, and this city—I tell you now in advance of the week—is already yours.” And Gideon? “ I want you to defeat the Midian- ites,” God said. “Ten thousand are too many men. Some are conscripts. Some didn’t want to be draft ed. Some came along for the ride. Some honestly want to fight. You’ve got too many men! Three hundred are enough for my battle!” Now think of Samson, an overgrown juvenile delinquent. In his day, when an animal died, they left it in the open air. From a field Samson picked up a jawbone of an ass—it was a jawbone when he picked it up, it was a jawbone when he put it down, it was a jawbone while it was in his hand— but with it he slew one thousand men—and glori fied God! That jawbone it not the kind o f thing you would hang in a museum in Jerusalem, or in Rome, or in New York, or in Moscow. It’s not the kind of thing that would attract a crowd, but it was all God needed. Then came David—apparently so weak at this tender age that he could not put on Saul’s armour and still fight. All he had was a slingshot. Not the kind made out of the rubber from an inner tube that we used as boys, just a common slingshot. He
G od is simple . H ow different God is from man! He took dust and made a man. No advertis ing, no new element, no test tubes—just plain dust. From dust—and to dust that man will go, and without fanfare. God made a promise to Abraham that his descendants should be “ as the sand of the sea shore . . .” and “ as the stars o f the heavens” for number. Abraham got anxious and his wife Sarah got anxious. Hagar, who was a young woman, bore Abraham a son. But God waited until Sarah was 90, and He said, “Now, Sarah, you bare the son.” And God said, “Build me a tabernacle. Not ac cording to man’s specifications, but according to mine. I’ll tell you every intricate detail.” Now if you were to build a temple worthy o f God, could the earth embrace it? What would it cost per square foot? What would be the construction plans? But listen to the tabernacle God specified for Himself and His glory: planks, simple planks, covered by badger skins, crude and unimposing! “ I’ll dwell there,” God said. And God raised up a chief priest. Was he a man o f great persuasive power? Some zealot for God who was constant in his faith? Some man that all of us would admire? Not at all! He chose a man who was vacillating, who tended to cater to the crowd! A man who actually fashioned a golden calf the Israelites might worship instead o f the Lord God Jehovah. To this Aaron, God said, “ I’ll make you my chief priest.” Then, Joshua succeeded Moses. And God said, “Joshua, I want my people to know that I am be hind you, exactly as I was with Moses. When you get to the Jordan River, have the priests who are carrying the ark wade into the Jordan—I am going to show the people the confirmation of my power in you.” When Joshua obeyed, the waters actually A bout the author : Dr. Ben Haden, pastor of 1st Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga, Tenn., is the featured speaker of “ The Bible Study Hour," Philadelphia. Mr. Haden, with degrees from University o f Texas, Washington and Lee University and Columbia Theological Seminary, has had wide experience as a publisher, attorney, author and evangelist.
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JANUARY, 1968
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