Roll up the title figures
roll the numbers
2006-01-01
I. Background of the text
God gave a name to a land with a special story, so that when they thought of the land, God used the method to remind them of the story, as was Gilgal. Gilgal was the first place the Israelites encamped after crossing the Jordan River. Gilgal means “to roll away the dirty and shameful things.” Thus, whenever Israel went to Gilgal or heard a place name, they were reminded of God's special love that took away their shame and became grateful.
II. Israel's shame
A. The shame of Egypt: the shame of slavery
When Israel first entered Egypt, Prime Minister Joseph and his family received a great welcome from the Egyptians. However, as the years passed, Israel was reduced to slavery in Egypt. Although they were a prosperous nation, they were engaged in hard and dirty work and were in a miserable state under the rule of Egypt. To the neighboring peoples, the Hebrew nation was nothing more than a ‘people who were slaves to Egypt’. But God rolled away all the shame in Egypt. He promised to deliver Israel from Egypt, make them miraculously cross the Jordan River, and give them the beautiful land of Canaan. As a result, the neighboring nations saw and heard the work of God, and they began to tremble in fear. Israel is no longer a dirty and weak nation, but a mighty nation established by God. In the past, we believers were also miserable, slaves to the sins of this world. Our old names, who were bound by our own sins and lived like prisoners, were sinners, slaves to sin, children of unclean spirits. But God delivered us, stripped us of our old identity, and made us His children and His people. What a wonderful gift of salvation!
B. Shame in the Wilderness: The Shame of Disobedience
Israel received God's constant guidance in their wilderness life, but on the other hand, they received many disciplines from God. Despite their status as completely free men without oppressing and monitoring Egyptians, they themselves became slaves to sin and disobeyed in the wilderness.
The people of Israel reacting to God in disobedience while seeing God's great miracles are just like our believers. Israel's disobedience in response to God's mercy and faithfulness is the same as the longing for a return to the world in which our believers, sent on the pilgrimage wilderness, once lived. There were times when the word of God was sweeter than honey, but I missed the love of the whole world more than the word of truth.
All the old generations, called children of disobedience in the wilderness, died in the wilderness, and the new generations crossed the Jordan River and rolled the shame of the past at Gilgal. Our old man must also be killed in a world like the wilderness together with the last year, and the man of the new nature must move forward toward the new year unfolding into the promised land. Instead of the old person who was easily hated and bloody, a new personality that was born again, a new personality that is patient, loving, forgiving, and merciful, must live.
Ⅲ. The day I rolled the shame
A. The time God was with - The time when Israel became a new people was when God was with them. When they came out of Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea and crossed the Jordan River to claim the Promised Land. In the former case, when crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites were unbelievers who complained and complained against Moses, their leader. But the Red Sea parted and they crossed the sea. In other words, because of the miracle God showed, Israel came to believe in God. But in the wilderness, seeing by their faith, God performed a miracle. In the latter case, the water was neither cracked nor dry, but the miracle of the Jordan River drying up only when they stepped on the promise of God. This is God's guidance. God sees our faith as saved believers first and tries to work miracles.
B. Circumcision - Circumcision is a mark on the body of God's people. Circumcision has two meanings: first, to be set apart from others, and second, to be dedicated to God alone. Then, what was the reason for circumcision at the time of crossing the Jordan River? This is because, ahead of the conquest of Canaan, they wanted to further imprint their identity as a ‘separated people of God, a people dedicated to God’.
The greatest blessing a believer will receive is a great change in ourselves. No one can say that they have lived uprightly before God throughout the past year. The true happiness of the soul lies in being transformed. After turning into a good believer in God, even if all kinds of trials come, we will live more dependent on God.
It is not easy for us to change. Therefore, the suffering and pain we experience are the indescribable love of God. The Lord gives suffering to change us so that we can live longing for the order of things that God has established. In order to become God's children and people, our hearts must be fervently favored and circumcised. Only then will it be beautifully molded into the hands of the Lord. Are you willing to go to the Lord, willing to endure hardships to change and refine yourself into the “I” that the Lord wants you to be? This is the circumcision of the heart. Let us circumcise our hearts on the threshold of the new year. Let the place where we stand become Gilgal by throwing away the dirty and old things in our hearts.
IV. Let the place where you are
We are not here by chance. It is in the will of God in the place that God has appointed. Let's live like God's people who understand the love and will of God rather than complaining and resenting in times of trouble. Let's be circumcised in our hearts and devote ourselves to God. Let's look to God who wants the place we are standing now to be like Gilgal. 2006-01-01