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Spiritual Hierarchy & Authority, Part 3
November 3, 2017
This week -- and next -- I would
like to examine the numerous pictures and examples that exist in the picture of
Balaam and Balak. The demonstrations of
demonic strategies are many.
Let’s
take a look now at some of these demonic princes and consider their operation
and activity. We’ll begin with Balak,
the King of Moab, since he is among the first of the kings recorded in
Scripture in whom an arché is very clearly demonstrated.
We
will be going through Numbers 22, 23 and 24 today in order to capture the full
essence of this demonic prince.
Numbers 22: And
the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this
side Jordan by Jericho. And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel
had done to the Amorites. And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were
many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. And Moab said
unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are
round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the son
of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.
Notice
Moab’s very first reaction to Israel.
That reaction is fear, and specifically, the Fear of Man.
He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to
Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people,
to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold,
they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me: Come now
therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty
for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that
I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he
whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.
Not
only is Moab – the nation – suffering from the Fear of Man, but their king –
Balak – likewise suffers from the same fear.
What
does this spirit of fear seek to do?
Bring curses upon the people of God – those whom they fear.
And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with
the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake
unto him the words of Balak.
The
next thing that appears is witchcraft and divination. With that witchcraft and divination come
bribery.
And he said unto them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring
you word again, as the LORD shall speak unto me: and the princes of Moab abode
with Balaam. And God came unto Balaam,
and said, What men are these with thee?
Notice
also Balaam’s reaction. He too suffers
from the Fear of Man.
And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab,
hath sent unto me, saying, Behold,
there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth:
come now, curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to overcome them, and
drive them out.
But
God isn’t putting up with this. Remember
what He said through Isaiah the prophet?
Isaiah 54:17: No
weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that
shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me,
saith the LORD.
Numbers 22 (continued): And God said unto
Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are
blessed. And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak,
Get you into your land: for the LORD refuseth to give me leave to go with you.
And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak, and said, Balaam
refuseth to come with us.
And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honourable than
they. And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of
Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me: For I will
promote thee unto very great honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this
people.
If
anything at all is evident in this, it is that when a person is ruled by fear
they will go to great lengths to get rid of those whom they fear.
And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If
Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the
word of the LORD my God, to do less or more. Now therefore, I pray you, tarry
ye also here this night, that I may know what the LORD will say unto me more.
Can
you believe Balaam’s responses or his actions?
Huhh? He gives the right (make
that “religiously correct”) answer, and then turns around and says, “Wait a
minute. Let’s see if God might say
something different to me. Perhaps He
might change His mind on this matter and actually let me go with you!”
Good
Grief! How stupid can you get? See what the Fear of Man does to a person!
And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men
come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I
shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. And Balaam rose up in the morning, and
saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.
So….despite
the fact that God had already said NO to Balaam – Balaam already knows the will
of God concerning this situation – he goes nevertheless with Balak’s
representatives.
See
how this fear drives a person?
And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of
the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon
his ass, and his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the angel
of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass
turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass,
to turn her into the way. But the angel of the LORD stood in a path of the
vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side.
And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she thrust herself
unto the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall: and he smote her
again. And the angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place,
where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And
when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and
Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.
Yup! When the Fear of Man can’t have its way, it
resorts to violence!
And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto
Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three
times? And Balaam said unto
the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand,
for now would I kill thee. And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine
ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day?
was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay. Then the LORD opened the
eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his
sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.
Finally! Balaam falls flat on his face before the
Angel of the Lord. He should have done
that a long time ago! Think maybe he
might listen to the Lord now?
And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou
smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee,
because thy way is perverse before me: And the ass saw me, and turned
from me these three times: unless she had turned from me,
surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive.
And Balaam said unto the angel of the LORD, I have sinned; for I
knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it
displease thee, I will get me back again.
Nope. Balaam hasn’t heard anything. The Fear of Man has deafened him
completely. He hasn’t come to the
realization that his every step in Balak’s direction is displeasing to the
Lord. So God is going to turn this event
against both Israel’s enemies and against a rebellious prophet who is so
blinded by the Fear of Man that he can’t perceive the heart of God.
And the angel of the LORD said unto Balaam, Go with the men: but
only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak. So Balaam
went with the princes of Balak.
And when Balak heard that Balaam was come, he went out to meet
him unto a city of Moab, which is in the border of Arnon, which is
in the utmost coast. And Balak said unto Balaam, Did I not earnestly send unto
thee to call thee? Wherefore camest thou not unto me? Am I not able indeed to
promote thee to honour?
And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now
any power at all to say anything? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that
shall I speak.
No
kidding!
And Balaam went with
Balak, and they came unto Kirjathhuzoth. And Balak offered oxen and sheep, and
sent to Balaam, and to the princes that were with him. And it came to
pass on the morrow, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high
places of Baal, that thence he might see the utmost part of the
people.
Notice
where Balak took Balaam in order to pronounce his curses upon Israel: “the high
places of Baal” – in other words, the places of worship to Baal, the places
from which the spirit of Baal would look down upon the people.
Numbers 23: And
Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven
oxen and seven rams. And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam
offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. And Balaam said unto Balak,
Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to
meet me: and whatsoever he showeth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high
place.
And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven
altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram. And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s
mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. And he returned unto him, and, lo, he
stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.
One
of the things that make this picture interesting is the repeated use of the
number seven. That is not a number
associated at all with Baal.
If
we’re going to hear from God, we’re going to hear from Him within His framework
– NOT the enemy’s!
And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab
hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying,
Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse, whom God hath not
cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks I see him,
and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall
not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the
number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the
righteous, and let my last end be like his!
Are
you beginning to get the picture here?
Balaam was not of the house of Israel.
He was of Aramean lineage – the progenitors of the Jordanian, Syrian and
Lebanese people. The Arameans had spread
abroad throughout the Mesopotamian region.
Balaam
was a “Pator” of the “Pethor” temple of Mesopotamia. Historians tell us that the Pethor was a
sacred high place where there was an “oracle temple” – meaning that this was a
place of interpretation. Hence Balaam
was the chief among a college of priests.
Balaam’s
name in the Semitic language (the language of the Arameans) meant: Conqueror of
the People.
As
a Mesopotamian priest of the Babylonian religion – the religion of Baal worship
– he had access to spiritual power and he used that power to control and
manipulate people. It just wasn’t the
power of God.
Balak’s
choice of Balaam to curse Israel was, therefore, entirely logical. You have fear, witchcraft and divination
working hand in hand.
The
fact that God spoke to Balaam, and the fact that the Angel of the Lord appeared
to Balaam no doubt frightened him in no small degree!
Balaam
wasn’t going to speak anything but what God spoke. The presence of the Angel of the Lord made it
clear to Balaam that he wasn’t in charge this time: God was!
And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took
thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them
altogether. 12And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to
speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth?
And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another
place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of
them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence. And he brought
him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and
offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. And he said unto Balak,
Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the LORD yonder.
Zophim
(“field of watchers”) was a high place on Mount Pisgah, a neighboring mountain
peak to Mount Nebo where God took Moses to show him the Land of Promise. From Pisgah the whole of the Jordan Valley is
visible. The hills of Ephraim are
visible to the northeast and Mount Hermon fades in the heat toward the
Mediterranean.
There's
a lot more of this picture to share, so let's pause for today and pick it up
here next week.
For
those of you who’ve been participating in our Monday night Healing Prayer
Conference Call, we just want to let you know that beginning with the month of
July and continuing until the first Monday night in October, we will be taking
a break for the summer. We’ve found
during the past three years of doing this call that participation during the
summer months drops significantly because of folks taking their vacations, and
being involved in other activities. That
said, we will resume our prayer calls on Monday night, October 2nd.
At the same time, in
case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our
Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about
10:45AM Pacific. That conference number
is (712) 770-4160, and the access code is 308640#. We are now making these gatherings
available by Skype. If you wish to
participate by video on Skype, my Skype ID is regner.capener. If you miss the live voice call, you can dial
(712) 770-4169, enter the same access code and listen in later. The video call, of course, is not recorded –
not yet, anyway.
Blessings
on you!
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Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76504
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CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com
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