God’s Word is absolute, and there are no exceptions. The only way to receive God’s blessings and salvation is to regard God’s word as absolute. This is because God pours out blessings only upon those who absolutely obey His word.
1. Noah’s Ark
God commanded Noah to build an ark, a wooden ship, on the top of a mountain, even though it had not rained up to that time. In fact, it was unimaginable to build an ark of this size; it was 450 feet (137 meters) long, 75 feet (23 meters) wide, and 45 feet (14 meters) high. In those days, it was almost impossible to build a ship of that magnitude. Of course, with modern-day technology it could be constructed much more easily, using various kinds of quality materials. However, it must have been difficult to build a huge ark in those days because of the great expense and high level of skill needed, comparable to building a space shuttle these days.
Even under those circumstances, Noah never complained against God and obediently constructed the ark, believing that God would help him. Scientists estimate that it took between 40 and 120 years to build the ark. From this, we can realize how great Noah’s perseverance must have been in order to complete the work. As a result of absolutely obeying God’s word, without adding to or subtracting from it, only Noah and his family were saved while all the other people were destroyed by the flood.
2. The City of Jericho
When the Israelites arrived in the land of Canaan, the city of Jericho stood dreadfully before them. They could not enter Canaan without conquering the strong, fortified city of Jericho. They were ordered to march around Jericho once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh day—this was God’s strategy for conquering Jericho.
Typically, the way to conquer a fortress would be to plan operations and then execute them: build siege ramps, make ladders, arrows, spears, shields, battering rams, and so on. However, God’s strategy was not based upon common sense, so that only those who believed in God absolutely could carry it out.
On the first day, they marched around the city once, but nothing happened. On the second day, they marched around the city in the same manner, still nothing happened. On the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth days, they did the same thing and still nothing happened. Those who did not have absolute faith must have been quite anxious; most people might have fallen into the trap of thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be better to sharpen our swords, make spears, and build battering rams to break down the gates?’
On the seventh day when they marched around the city seven times, they might have fallen into deep despair, thinking, ‘Will it really collapse?’ or, ‘We will collapse from exhaustion before the walls do.’ However, what did God do for the Israelites who obeyed His word absolutely? When they all shouted loudly toward the city of Jericho, the walls collapsed in an instant. Thus, they were able to conquer the city of Jericho, paving the way for their inheritance of Canaan, the land of promise.
Through the history of those who received blessings by absolutely obeying God, we can see that we too will receive blessings in this age after obeying God absolutely. God always leads us to the righteous path for our own benefit. Let us receive abundant blessings from God by making every effort to follow His word with all our heart and mind.
- Food for Thought
- What was God’s strategy for conquering the city of Jericho?
- Let’s think about the times where we received God’s blessings by absolutely obeying His word.