AN ONGOING CYCLE OF CONFLICT AND TEMPTATION
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is full of conflict. We find many stories filled with blood, swords, stoning, conspiracy and deceit that entertain but do not edify if we do not understand what they represent. It is instructive to compare all this trouble to the attitude of religion which does its best to avoid conflict that keeps everyone happy and content in their own little kingdoms by preaching peace when there is no peace.

The Old Testament stories of conflict are neatly summarized and condensed in the New Testament in the lives of Jesus and his apostles. What God wants us to learn from these stories is the truth that religion is his enemy and that he uses religious conflict, including slavery and oppression, to discipline his people so that they will reject religion and turn to him.

It is through the story of Jesus’ death (because he was a lawbreaker with respect to matters of the written laws and traditions), that God shows how former slaves to religion who suffer persecution by daring to speak out against religion can live again (i.e. be resurrected), even though they have suffered agonizing emotional and relational death at the hands of religious people. In other words, Jesus’ death and resurrection is a picture of the new life we experience after we leave religion and the ongoing infusion of life that God invests in us while we suffer at the hands of religious enemies. We may die daily while battling religion, but we are also resurrected to new life daily by God’s spirit that gives us strength and courage to suffer whatever persecution may come our way.

STUDY TIP: See Death, Resurrection and New Life.

We should interpret warfare with those ancient religions (e.g. Moabites, Amalekites, Canaanites, etc.) and nations (e.g. Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, etc.) symbolically as conflict between religions and human leaders who use their religious resources (e.g. doctrines, rules, charismatic leaders, people, buildings, music, programs, ceremonies, etc.) to keep their kingdoms intact while enticing citizens of another religion to join their religion.

More specifically, the goal of all religions and nations is to prevent people from following God or tempt those who do follow God to reject him in favor of their religion. Religious leaders don’t consciously think that way, of course, but that is the ultimate motive of kings, queens and princes who work hard to hold onto their kingdoms for themselves and their children. The reality for them is that people who follow God will not be following them. Then they lose their position and income.

STUDY TIP: See The Lord’s Prayer for understanding of kingdom warfare.

Old Testament stories symbolically represents this competition for hearts and minds as warfare between nations with physical weapons that cause physical death. God also represents this competition as testing.

Symbolically, this represents spiritual death that results from following religious rules and listening to false prophets who preach false doctrines. When God loses the battle with religion, he says that his people have turned from him and intermarried and intermingled with religious people. He also says that they worship at the altar of Baal which God instructed Israel to destroy.

What we are trying to describe here is the religious environment of the land promised to Israel. Before Israel arrived, it was already occupied by many religious nations (i.e. Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites) that competed with each other for people to populate their kingdoms. After Israel arrived they were also in completion with God, for the hearts, minds and money of God’s people as well. And, as we read the stories of the Old Testament, these nations were often successful in turning Israel away from God to worship their gods.

These stories symbolically describe the religious environments in which we all live. Even though the promised land (i.e. Kingdom of God) is within us, we are still surrounded by multitudes of religious organizations and people that offer attractive, seductive temptations to backslide into one kind of religion or another. These temptations, often coming from well-intentioned friends, family and neighbors, are difficult to resist. We know that from the story of Adam and Eve who, even though they had it all in terms of their relationship with God, still chose to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (i.e. religion) over listening to God’s voice. But if God’s laws are written on our hearts, we have strength resist the temptations that Eve, Israel, Jesus and everyone faces to participate in Baal worship (i.e. religion). Of all of these, Jesus was the only one who resisted the temptation to practice religion. The way he resisted was by countering false, literal interpretations of the Bible with true, spiritual interpretations.

STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of Jesus’ temptations.

Reinterpretation of literal scripture was Jesus’ job as a mediator of the New Covenant. It is also the job of all New Covenant disciples. In order to reinterpret the religious laws based on literal scripture, Jesus was compelled to break the religious laws based on those literal scriptures. This is also the job of all New Covenant disciples.

Many people might be willing to reinterpret scripture and break religious laws until they learn that breaking religious laws will incur the wrath of religious people just like what happened to Jesus when he took on the religious establishment of his day. What we learn from his experience is that anyone who reinterprets scripture and breaks long-standing religious rules will become enemies of people who were once close friends in their religious family. If we can trust the Bible, it is predictable that trouble will come to anyone who goes against the religious grain. This is the substance of warfare that ensues when we say and do things that challenge the religious status quo by following God’s commands to tear down and utterly destroy religious kingdoms and set captives free from religion.

This challenge is not for the faint of heart. It requires much courage to confront enemies who are members of your religious household. The challenge comes with a blessing and a curse. The blessing is entrance into the promised land. The curse is that there is no rest and eventual death in the wilderness of religion.  It is a choice between life and death.