All our rose bushes are blooming so bountifully and beautifully! But I cannot rush out and just grab a rose or two from a bush to bring into the house and put in a vase. I have to be mighty careful where I reach for the many sharp thorns guarding the roses on the bushes seem to attack me if I get near. Their pricks have me running for Band-Aids.
As I was reading and taking notes on 2 Samuel 23 preparing to write the homework for an upcoming Tuesday class, my thoughts flew to my rose bushes and their terrible thorns when I got to verse 6.
But the sons of rebellion (Hebrew is Belial which translates UNGODLY, wicked, worthless) shall all be as THORNS thrust away, BECAUSE they cannot be taken (up) with hands. (2 Samuel 23:6 NKJV)
Jerry Bridges defines UNGODLY as those who do not have GOD in their thoughts and the WICKED are those who do bad things.
JESUS talks of believers in JESUS as being held in both GOD the FATHER’s and HIS (GOD the Son’s hands.
John 10:27 MY sheep hear MY voice, and I know them, and they follow ME:28 And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of MY HAND. 29 MY FATHER, which gave them ME, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of MY FATHER’s hand.
The people spoken of in 2 Samuel 23:6 cannot be held in the hand, for they like THORNS push away/ attack any attempt of being held.
That verse so vividly described for me the ones refusing to come to GOD through faith in JESUS (Hebrews 7:25, John 3:16, 36). By rejecting JESUS and suppressing the truth they, like THORNS, are worthless except to harm and need to be thrust away into the fire.
That one little verse declares once again that it is man’s choice to come to GOD through JESUS or be a THORN and refuse to come to GOD and be held that determines his end.
But since we do not know if one will choose to be a THORN or not, we need to tell everyone about JESUS. Remember Paul at 1st acted like a THORN persecuting believers in JESUS. But later he believed and was used in a great way by GOD and wrote much of the New Testament.
Hugs
Sharon
wakemyear 