Looking Back
By Alan Breitenstein
July 7, 2019
Scripture Reading: Joshua 24:15
“And if it seems evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Exodus 19:16-17; 24-26:
16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plains.
24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”
Lot and his wife had 4 daughters; 2 married... and the sons-in-law mocked him. Lot would not have been able to take his daughters from them if they were already married. Had they had Lot’s grandchildren, I, being a grandfather, would have had those servants of God put their hands on them and remove them from the city also.
Lot’s wife quite likely looked back longing for the other daughters, and she could have been longing for her home life. Ever try moving someone out of a place that they have been in for a while? It is not easy. Now Lot’s wife, because she looked back, was turned into a pillar of salt.
However, salt is life. The body is around 85% water, and minerals are needed in that water to create electrolysis and the bio-electric charge of life. Even when you get low in calcium you develop cramps. Get too low beyond that and other things start to shut down.
Salt is life. Thus, the irony. Christ said he who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven, and he who loves father, mother, daughter, son more than me cannot be My disciple, is not worthy of Me.
Don’t look back. It was a command. It was issued by a supernatural being. Looking back was irrational, it was also rebellion. Maybe it was not for her daughters (or merely for her daughters), but the life of Sodom, other friends, etc. It is hard to lose family, but when the choice is “life” or “death” and your death will accomplish nothing for the others, only a fool thinks death is something to be sniveled at or ignored. What if the others followed...? Her looking back was death and so she would have died, and the others would have had to leave her corpse behind.
Maybe Lot and his daughters (who were not allowed to look back) did not know that she turned into a pillar of salt; thus, if they tried to return to find her body to bury it, they could not have found it. Salt was not used anciently as much as a flavoring as for preserving. Salt acts as a preservative because it kills bacteria (light also does so).
However, Christ said, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”
This Greek word does NOT mean savour, it means “if it has become insipid—moronic”. While that does not seem to explain the analogy of salt too well, it does explain the analogy to God’s sinful people. In order for salt to remain salt, it must be separated. If it is not segregated, it absorbs the pollutants in the environment and is no longer salt, but a salty bastard solution... and good for nothing except breeding bacteria and corruption.
Thus, Lot’s wife, instead of a testimony to godliness, became a lasting testimony of shame and judgment. Those who think it cruel that God did so for such a slight infraction ought to remember that Moses, after a lifetime of faithful, unequaled service, was denied entry to the Promised Land for having struck the rock twice, rather than spoken to it. Such persons need to be reminded who God is (not them) and what God even means. They don’t know God’s Attributes or His Word, or they would not so judge Him. As great as David was, he recognized that in comparison to God he was a worm--or the more precise translation, “maggot” (which is what the Bible refers to when it mentions worms; it is not talking about earthworms / night-crawlers). Ants in a small plastic ant farm thinking they know all about a universe they can't even comprehend and don’t even know is there. Imagine a newborn infant thinking he knows better than his parents (even though his mind really cannot think much, if at all, yet).
- Shall the clay say to the Potter, “You don't know what you are doing”...?
- “Woe unto him that striveth with His Maker!”
- “The LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
These words were taken from various books from the Sacred Truth Ministry.
Exodus 16:2-5:
2 "And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:
3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”
Exodus 17:3-6:
3 “And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”
In the book of Exodus God was merciful with the Israelites. He has had enough in the book of Numbers for it was in their 2nd year of their journey.
Numbers, chapter 11:1-13; 18-21: 31-33:
1 “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. (It is at this time that God had enough of showing mercy, for this came about in the 2nd year of their journey.)
2 And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched.
3 And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.
4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
7 And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.
8 And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.
9 And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.
10 Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased.
11 And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?
12 Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?
13 Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.
18 And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.
19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days;
20 But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?
21 And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.
31 And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.
32 And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.
33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.”
Numbers chapter 13 tells of the spies that searched out the land and all but 2 came back with a bad report.
Numbers, chapter 14:1-4; 16-23:
1 “And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
16 Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
17 And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
19 Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20 And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:”
Numbers chapter 20:3-6:
3 “And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
4 And why have ye brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?
5 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.
6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them.”
It was at this time that cost Moses from entering the promised land.
Numbers 21:5-6:
5 “And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.”
Now it seems that it wasn’t so much that the people complained for water and meat, for each time that they did complain they were looking back and wishing that they were in Egypt. They apparently would rather have been a slave than to follow the laws of God. Are not our people like that today? They look at the burdens that are upon them as being a part of life. Burdens are a part of life but not like what the enemies have put upon us. We all complain, some more than others, especially when we are hungry or thirsty.
I wrote a pamphlet on complaining and, little did I know, that at times it is almost impossible to not complain. The woman who repeatedly complained to the king for wrong doing was granted her wish. We talked about this before and how we should ask God with impunity or constantly. Some would call this complaining but as long as we don’t throw it in the face of God that we were better off under the laws of men, complain on.
Let's give an example of God not looking back.
Matthew, chapter 27:45-46:
45 “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Forsaken means to abandon to turn aside. God turned his back on His only begotten Son Why? Because His Son took upon Himself all the sins of His people and the Father could not bear to see the filth that was put upon His Son.
Today looking back is no different than our ancestors in the wilderness. I knew a man who studied to be an attorney and got a job with a law firm. After a month of seeing how that firm handled its clients, he left and became a paralegal. He told me that the attorneys would meet with each other and with the judge to discuss how much they thought they could soak out of their clients, whether it would be delaying the trial or constantly giving continuances. He said that he could not do that to people and instead helped them help themselves by doing paperwork or teaching them how to file a case instead of getting an attorney. He put lawsuits on judges and law firms that made it difficult for them to get insurance for their corrupt practices.
The system hated him and dreaded when he walked in the courtroom. Before he died he had won, I believe, 32 cases by simply filing the judge’s oath of office as an exhibit to be used in court. The judges would just dismiss the case. I remember asking him if he ever regretted leaving the law firm and his reply was “not for one moment.”
He told me that you know that the law says to love your neighbor as yourself, try to love your neighbor more than yourself. He dedicated all that he done for the Lord. There are many just like him in our eyes, but only a remnant in God’s eyes, and we should continue to pray for them.
If we were a nation living under the laws of God, there would be those people who want to remember with the system established by man. And when we are living under the laws of men. there are those who want to re-member with the Laws of God, the Father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Take note next time of all the God-haters that come out against anything that is Godly righteous, and then equate that to the size of the group making Moses’ life miserable in the wilderness. Is it any wonder that Moses lost it when he did?
One of many of the righteous that looked back was Josiah.
2nd Chronicles chapter 34:1-5; 14-21:
1 “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
4 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses.
15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do it.
17 And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen.
18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.
19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.
20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying,
21 Go, enquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the leaders of this nation cared enough to tear their clothes and inquire to the Lord? So, in conclusion to this part of the message, if you are going to complain it could sound like this, “Father why have you awakened us and yet no one hears? Why bring us out in this wilderness to see our brethren being destroyed in our sight? How long Father will you hold back your justice? How long will you keep the blinders on our brethren so they cannot see? Show us Your mercy and awaken them as You have awakened us.”
Follow up on my last message, "The Worldwide Flood":
Now I want to do a follow-up on the flood issue which in a sort of way relates to the above. I passed a questionnaire out and got 1 response. I have been given new light from the Holy Spirit and would like to share it with you.
I may have said in that message that it was a theory, but I always believed it to be a fact. I highly recommend the book by Sacred Truth Ministries “Who was the Serpent in the Garden” and “The Waters that Covered the Earth” all in one book. He answers every question asked in regards to the flood being local. The time and energy spent on research on this matter is phenomenal.
776 'erets eh'-rets from an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land):--X common, country, earth, field, ground, land, X natins, way, + wilderness, world
I put an emphasis on the word “world” and the response I got back was that it is my choice and what the context indicated if anything. So let’s look at the context.
Genesis 6:7: And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
God went on to repeat this in verses 13 and 17:
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
Chapter 7:19-21:
19 “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:”
All flesh? Reads pretty clear to me. Yes, I am aware that all does not always mean all, but where does it suggest otherwise in regards to this verse?
Genesis 7:22: “All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.”
All that was in the dry land? Is that not what earth means? Once again refer to Genesis chapter 1 verse 10.
Genesis 7:23: “And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.”
Don and Randa invited “all” back to their house after services today. Does that mean that we should go out and declare that “all” are invited to their house or is all just limited to us in this service?
There is not one instance throughout history where one man can say that he controls all the world or everything on earth. It is impossible. Man can only control that which he has created.
God is Spirit, Perfect, Immutable, Eternal, Omniscient Spirit, Omnipotent, and He is perfect Thought.
Omniscient: having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding; perceiving all things.
Omnipotent: almighty or infinite in power, as
God. Having very great or unlimited authority
or power.
All: the whole of (used in referring to quantity,
extent, or duration): all the cake; all the way;
all year. the whole number of (used in referring
to individuals or particulars, taken collectively):all students.
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pronoun
the whole quantity or amount: He ate all of the peanuts. All are gone.
the whole number; every one: all of us.
SEE MORE
noun
one's whole interest, energy, or property: to give one’s all; to lose one’s all.
(often initial capital letter) the entire universe.
We do not know how many years passed between Genesis verse 1 and Genesis verse 2.
When God started the development on Earth it is like a husband and wife fixing up a bedroom or nursery for their newborn. All that exists is by a thought, a thought by God and God gave us the ability to think and the Serpent attacks that ability by inducing false doctrines and anything that would make those of God's creation to fall and adhere to a lie such as evolution. Evolution created the black man 40,000 years ago and all other living creatures past the 6000 year mark that God took a planet called earth that was formless and void and thought it all into existence. Evolutionists have a problem with a God creating the universe without any matter but by a thought, but they do not have a problem with creating a false religion with a thought.
Isaiah 55:8 | View whole chapter | See verse in context
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.”
Isaiah 55:9 | View whole chapter | See verse in context
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 66:1, 2:
1 “Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD:”
Psalms 50:7-12:
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.
8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.”
What I am trying to get at is “all” to man is limited. “All” to God is whole for He created the whole. He is Sovereign. He can do with His creation as He pleases, just as the Potter can do with the clay. As for me, I will obey what God has said and declared for God is not limited to anything or anyone in His creation unless He declares it so.
