"Accursed Children!"
[II Peter 2:10b-16]
July 13, 2008 Second Reformed Church
Chapter two of II Peter is all about the false teachers – how to recognize them and why to reject them. Peter’s language is violent and unforgiving, and that should cause us to take notice.
Last week we looked at the first third of this chapter, and we saw that it is a truth, that where true prophets prophesy, false prophets will prophesy, and where true teachers teach, false teachers will teach. And this is the same for us as it was for the first century Christians. Nothing changes – there are always liars combating the truth. We also saw that the godly have a promise that they will be rescued in Jesus, but the wicked will be damned. Although it may not look like it now, sometimes, God will recuse the godly and damn the wicked in His Time.
In this second third of chapter two, Peter tells us three things about the false teachers:
First, he tells us that the false teachers blaspheme those who are above them. Peter tells us that they blaspheme the glorious ones – these are some sort of heavenly being that are worthy of blasphemy, because Peter also says that the angels who are greater in might and power than the glorious ones do not dare to blaspheme and pass judgment on them – that is the prerogative of God alone.
These false teachers who claim to have knowledge of one type or another, are not knowledgeable at all, Peter explains. They are merely following their natural instincts, they are behaving like wild animals – wild animals that will be caught and destroyed. And we’re told that God created them to be destroyed. They are an example to us of receiving wrongdoing for wrongdoing.
Second, the false teachers engage in their sin in the daytime and before witnesses. Rather than having any conscience of modesty and hiding their sin in the darkness, they flaunt their sin, calling it liberty. They engage in their orgies of flesh and food before anyone who happens to be there. They seek out sin – they desire to sin as much as possible – because, in truth, they hate God.
Third, the false teachers are unsteady souls whose primary motive is greed and whose primary goal is gaining wealth. What a contrast to the words that Jesus spoke, “And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food” (Matthew 10:7-10, ESV). And “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21, ESV).
And Peter’s summary judgment of them is “accursed children!” Children under the curse of God. Damned, false teachers. They are not knowledgeable – they are not even adults – they are evil, condemned children, trying to get others to follow in their evil ways.
Peter is very serious – urgently serious – about rooting out the false teachers. He is very serious about making sure they are stopped from teaching and not allowed to deceive more people. In our age of “toleration,” we do not find it so easy to condemn and banish false teachers, but we must. We cannot allow them to draw people away for the faith.
Peter then gives the example of Balaam the prophet, that they might understand what to look for and the seriousness with which we must attend this subject:
Balaam was a prophet in the days of Moses as the people of Israel were battling their way to the land of Canaan. God was leading Israel to kill all those who lived in Canaan and all those who opposed their taking the land of Canaan.
Now, Moab was a nation to the south-east of Canaan, and Balak, the King of Moab, was afraid that Israel and the God of Israel would destroy Moab. So Balak sent messengers to Balaam, who was known as a prophet of the God of Israel, to ask Balaam to curse Israel, so they could not defeat Moab – so Moab would be victorious in a war against Israel. And Balak sent his messengers with the usual fee for prophesying a curse.
Now, if Balaam was truly a prophet of God, he would have cursed Moab and sent them home. But that’s not what Balaam did. Balaam told the messengers that he is a prophet of God, and he has to pray to God and ask if God will permit him to accept their bribe and curse Israel. So Balaam asked God, “Lord, would it be alright with You if I pronounced a curse in Your Name against Israel, Your chosen people, in exchange for the money I am being offered.” And God told him to go back and tell the messengers that Israel was blessed of God and Balaam was not allowed to curse them. So Balaam went back to the messengers and said that God said “no.”
The messengers came back, bringing princes and high officials of Moab and lots more money, gold, and silver. And they again pleaded with Balaam that he curse Israel. And instead of telling them that God had already spoken, he said, again, “Well, I have to go pray to the Lord and ask Him if He will allow me to curse Israel for this big a bribe.” And God told him that if he wanted to go with them, to go, but to only do what God had said.
Balaam, thinking God has just given him the “O.K.” to curse Israel, took the bribe and headed off with the messengers of Moab. And God was angry. Balaam started down the road, and his donkey turned into a field. So Balaam beat the donkey and started out on the road again, but the donkey pushed him against a wall so he couldn’t get loose, and he beat the donkey again. Balaam pushed the donkey to go forward, and she lay down on the ground. And Balaam was filled with wrath and beat the donkey with a staff.
And, then, as Peter mentions in this morning’s text, “Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ And Balaam said to the donkey, ‘Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.’ And the donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?’ And he said, ‘No.’ Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face. And the angel of the Lord said to him, ‘Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live’” (Numbers 22:28-33, ESV).
And, as we might expect, after being rebuked by his donkey, and then being told that the Angel of the Lord was there to kill him, Balaam cried and pleaded and repented and promised that he wouldn’t curse Israel. And the Angel of the Lord told him to stand and go with the messengers, but not to curse Israel – in fact, the Angel of the Lord said that He would give Balaam the words to speak.
Balaam arrived and Balak asked where he had been – why it had taken him so long – the army of Israel was approaching. And Balaam told him not to worry, he was there now. So they went up on the mountain, offered sacrifices, and Balaam began to speak. And the Lord filled his mouth and Balaam blessed Israel. And Balak said, “What are you doing? You were supposed to curse them, not bless them!” And Balaam said, “It’s not my fault, God made me bless them.”
But Balak said, “Alright, maybe this isn’t a good mountain for you. Let’s go over to that mountain and offer sacrifices there.” So they do. And Balaam opened his mouth, and the Lord filled it with blessings for Israel. And Balak was dumbfounded. Yet, he suggests they try one more mountain, but again, Balaam blessed Israel.
Balak was now furious, “I hired you to curse Israel, and you have blessed them three times! What is wrong with you?” And Balaam again responded that it wasn’t his fault, that God made him bless them. So Balak called out to his men and told them that they were going home – they’re going to get away from this Balaam. But Balaam stopped him and said that God wanted him to hear one more prophecy – and Balaam prophesied that a king of Israel would come and slaughter the Moabites, and not only that but God would deliver the Amalekites, and the Ashurites, and the Eberites, into the hands of Israel. And they both went home. (Numbers 22-24).
Then we’re told that during the war with Midian, the Lord commanded Moses to kill all of the Midianites, but Balaam went behind Moses’ back and spoke to the soldiers, telling them it would be a waste to kill all of the Midianites, “After all, the virgin women of the Midianites are extremely beautiful, and we need to increase our population. So, let all the virgin women of Midian be saved as wives for the soldiers.”
And when the war was over, Moses was enraged and demanded to know why all the virgin women of Moab were still alive. And the soldiers told Moses that Balaam instructed them to kill all the males and all the children and all the women who had known men, but to save the virgin women for themselves. So, Moses told them to purify themselves for a week, according to the law. And he ordered that Balaam be beheaded (Numbers 31).
Remember Balaam.
Remember that Balaam blasphemed God by saying that God might change His Mind and allow the prophet to curse Israel.
Remember that Balaam was openly contradicting God before Israel and the Gentiles – his meetings were not in secret.
Remember that Balaam was driven by greed and for sexual pleasure.
That’s what a false teacher looks like. A false teacher may teach the truth 90% of the time, but if he teaches falsehood 10% of the time, he is a false teacher And the only way we will know if a teacher is teaching the truth or not is to know our Bibles, to read them, to search them, to compare the teachings we hear with them.
Balaam was a wild animal, and accursed child. The sake of our eternal souls depends on our being able to recognize the Balaams in our midst. Let us work hard to know the truth that when they do come before us, we will be able to remove them quickly, before they lead some astray.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, help us to recognize the false teachers and to put them out. Give us True Knowledge and Wisdom that we would recognize the Truth, and not be led astray. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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