Recent news trumpets the headline; Top figure on most wanted list meets his end. Some think it's a good time to celebrate, while others entertain questions over the proper way to handle this event before God. Let's take a brief look at God's word to give us an idea how He sees such events and how He would want us to conduct ourselves.  

First It's important to recognize that His kingdom functions on a different value plane than the world we live in today.

Isa 55:8-9   "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

So with this in mind is it O.K. to gloat or celebrate the misfortune or destruction of our adversaries.

Prov 24:17-18   Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;  Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from him.

How can this be? Perhaps it's because The Lord loves even the most vial person as much as He loves anyone else. A Father's greatest hope is that his child grows up to be a loving, compassionate adult. His greatest heartache occurs if His child rebels against those values and gets in trouble. Whether his greatest hope or his greatest heartache becomes reality, he will always love his child  

Yahweh told his prophet Ezekiel in Ezek 33:11:   'As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.

In death the actions of a life are made final! No more opportunities to repent for what we have done nor opportunities to do better next time. The pages allotted to a person in God's book of works has been stamped "FINAL COPY".  

Rev 20:12 and 15   I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

In the book of life on the line where their name should have been, perhaps a note sums it up. Invitations unanswered, Destiny unfulfilled.

Yes, The Lord had so many great plans for that person First among them was to help that person know Him in an intimate personal way. Someone made in God's image failed to accept The Father's invitation. Someone allowed their desires and a lifetime of bad choices keep them from fulfilling The Lord's purpose for their life.   These cases are never isolated. Just as we are affected by the bad that was done so we would have been blessed by the good that person was designed to do, and we are all the poorer for it   

Have you received your census form yet? A few days ago we received ours. As I looked it over I found the questions to be those I expected. Name? Birth date? How many live in your house? Married or single and ethnic background? As we participate in the 2010 edition, I wanted to discuss some biblical considerations linked with this topic because I haven't heard anyone talking about it. So consider with me The Lords' warning and  instruction for His people as they prepare to participate in a census?

The census David ordered Joab to take (1 Chronicles 21) resulted in the wrath of God coming on Israel! 70,000 perished! The outbreak stopped because David purchased Ornan's threshing floor, built an altar and offered the oxen as a sin offering. The tally was stopped before it was complete and the number never recorded.

Why would this census trigger such loss? After all, The Lord instructed Israel to take a census before. (Numbers Chapters 1, 4, and 26).  Where did the idea for David's census come from? 1st Chronicles 21:1 reads: "Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel."

The concept of a census didn't come from satan, but satan knew if God's people failed to practice God's instruction for participating in a census it presented an opportunity to accuse them before God.

In Exodus 30:11-16 we read: "When you take the census of the children of Israel then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord  that there may be no plague among them. Everyone who is numbered shall give half a shekel. This shall be an offering to the Lord. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and it shall be for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves."

The silver collected was not to atone for sin. The shed blood of a spotless sacrifice is the price of forgiveness for sin.  According to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Hebrews 9:22  Murderers, thief's, liars, idolaters and others who sin are required to bring blood, not silver; to atone for their sin.  Yet here in Exodus and again in Numbers, silver is called for.

Numbers records Jehovah trading the firstborn of Israel for the Levites. The Levites were then to be His possession. The numbering was so precise that even their cattle were numbered. The first born were found to be 273 more than the Levites so the Lord said:  For the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, who are more than the number of the Levites, you shall take five shekels for each one individually; you shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs. And you shall give the money, with which the excess number of them is redeemed, to Aaron and his sons." Numbers 3:46-48  

Neither the Levites, the firstborn, nor those counted in a census were atoning for sin with silver. God's scales were being balanced. David and Joab failed to collect the half shekel redemption fee from those numbered and gave satan legal ground to accuse Israel. This was the reason for the plague.  

There are many reasons we should pay attention to these things but we only have a few minutes. So I'll keep it brief.

Let's not fall into the same trap David did by giving the devil ammunition to use against us.

Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Ephesians  4:25-28

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:2-3)   NKJV

What is a half shekel anyway?  In searching the web I found answers ranging from 6 to 10 grams. This page, http://begedivri.com/shekel/SagesQuestions.htm seems the most authoritative and the one I used. At the bottom of question 12 it says... "We have established that the Half-Shekel today is 7.8 grams of .999 silver."   7.8 grams equals .275136 oz. Silver closed at 17.88 an ounce on April 2, 2010. .275136 X $17.88 = $4.919 or we can say a half shekel is worth $4.92 at this price. This allows 3 people on a 1 oz silver bar with $3.12 left over.

At the time this law was given, the silver would have been given into the tabernacle to make implements used for ministry; bowls, trumpets, ladles ect. Today, no tabernacle exists! It's my opinion that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If there were to be a plague how many doctor visits or prescriptions could we buy with $4.92? We looked for a ministry that was doing kingdom work and gave it there, knowing they would put it to good use.

Yesterday, as I ended a conversation with someone; I wished them Merry Christmas. This person looked at me and said, "There won't be much Christmas at my house this year".  This took me by surprise! I couldn't recall someone telling me that before. Usually I get, Yeah! And Merry Christmas to you as well!

As I took a seat, I began to think about how it was possible less Christmas was available to them than anyone else. Certainly the economy has been tough on many of us this year. I thought this could be a factor if we allow Christmas to be wrapped in the tradition and expectations modern society applies to the season.

My mind shuffled through a stack of Christmas memories, opportunities and traditions.  Possibilities of less snow, fewer friends, smaller decorations and fewer gifts  than years past can define your commemoration, if one chooses it.  There can be an endless number of things someone may need to trim from their list so their celebration more closely matches their resources.

Then I settled on a final thought which has become a meditation for me in the hours since being confronted with the sentiment of less Christmas.  It's impossible to have more or less Christmas by any standard. The real truth of the Christmas was born in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. Not on December 25th but perhaps in the March, April time frame.  

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting." Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren Shall return to the children of Israel.  And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth;  And this One shall be peace.   (Mic 5:2-5   NKJV)

At the end of a shaft of star light lay heaven's gift to men. Angels announced its sentiment; "Peace on Earth, Good will toward men".  Enough salvation to forgive all who ask. Enough deliverance to break sins grip on any who cry out. Enough healing  to restore even the most wounded spirit. Enough peace to calm the storms in every soul.

Anyone can have real Christmas! Just as much as anyone else! Right now! Ask Jesus to forgive you for any sins. Ask Him to write His laws on your heart and to help you live by them. Ask Him to heal your wounds and give you peace! Now that's real Christmas!