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We are God’s chosen ones in Christ Jesus. We are the elect of God in Christ Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One. And because we are in the Beloved, the Anointed One, we are also anointed. Anointed with His anointing, we are God’s anointed ones and God will defend His anointed ones. We are children of the Covenant; He will watch over us. He will preserve us.
“As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it” (Isa 31:5).
Yes, the Lord Himself is the “saving strength of His anointed” (Psa 29:8). And as the Psalmist states, “the Lord will hear him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand” (Psa 20:6). The Lord pays attention to His anointed ones in the day of trouble to deliver them. He hides “them in the secret of His presence from the pride of man: and keeps them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues” (Psa 31:20).
“The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee. Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion” (Psa 20:1,2).
It is appropriate, at this juncture, to meditate on and possibly sing this old inspirational hymn that asserts the heritage of the saints of God. The Lord is our refuge, the Lord is our rock, and it’s in Him that we hide in times of trouble. This is the heritage of the saints of God; this is the portion of His anointed ones.
The Lord’s our Rock, in him we hide,
A shelter in the time of storm;
Secure whatever ill betide,
A shelter in the time of storm.
Chorus:
Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,
A weary land, a weary land,
Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,
A shelter in the time of storm.
A shade by day, defense by night,
A shelter in the time of storm;
No fears alarm, no foes affright,
A shelter in the time of storm.
The raging storms may round us beat,
A shelter in the time of storm;
We’ll never leave our safe retreat,
A shelter in the time of storm.
O Rock Divine, O Refuge dear,
A shelter in the time of storm;
Be thou our helper ever near,
A shelter in the time of storm.
….By Vernon John Charlesworth
No Enchantment against Israel:
At the close of their forty-year wilderness journey, shortly before the death of Moses, the children of Israel arrived at the plains of Midian east of the Jordan River and camped there. At this time, they had defeated two kings on that side of the Jordan River: Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan.
“And Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are around 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.
“He sent messengers therefore to 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 has 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 for me this people; for they are too mighty for me: it may be I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed” (Num 22:2-6).
Balak, king of Moab, seeing what the children of Israel had done to the Amorites and the Bashanites, became alarmed and sent an emergency message to Balaam the prophet to come and help him curse Israel. Balaam sent word back to Balak that he could only do what Jehovah God commanded him to do, and that God had told him not to. Balak therefore sent another set of messengers to Balaam; this time he sent high-ranking officials with offers of honor and special reward for Balaam if he would comply. Balaam, because of covetousness and love for reward, continued to press God for permission to go to Moab. So God gave him over to his greed and love of reward and told him he could go.
Balaam eagerly got on his ass and set out early in the morning with the princes of Moab. Balak the king was already waiting for the prophet Balaam, and he brought him to the high places of Baal. There he prepared seven altars, and Balaam offered upon each altar a bullock and a ram. And God put a word in Balaam’s mouth to speak to Balak. And so he returned to Balak and said to him:
“Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse Jacob for me, 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!” (Num 23:7- 10).
Balaam spoke what God had put in his mouth, but Balak was not pleased, because the prophecy blessed Israel. Balaam reminded him that he could only speak the words put in his mouth by God. Balak took him to another high place to try again. He built another set of seven altars here and sacrificed a bullock and a ram on each of them. However, Balaam provided another prophecy that blessed Israel.
“And Balak said to him, What hath the LORD spoken? And he took up his parable, and said, Rise, Balak, and hear; hearken to me, thou son of Zippor:
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoke, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
“He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel; the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.
“God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a unicorn.
“Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!” (Num 23:17b-23)
Strong’s dictionary defines the word “enchantment” used in the verse of Scripture above as “incantation or augury.” There is no incantation against Jacob.
For those of us from Africa, this word “incantation” needs no definition. We are all familiar with it. But those from the West and elsewhere may need additional illustration. Incantations are mysterious words or chants used to charm or cast a spell on someone. They are mostly used to invoke evil or evil spirits on the person who is the subject of the attack or curse. Incantations are used in occultism and witchcraft with the intention of casting a spell on an object or on a person. This is what Balak had in mind for Balaam to do. But God said there is no incantation against Israel.
“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” (Isa 54:17).
The second word, “augury,” used by Strong in the definition of “enchantment” is even more mysterious. Those familiar with Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar or Macbeth or with ancient Roman tradition would immediately understand the import of this word. An augury is essentially a foretelling by divination done by a seer or an augur. In Julius Caesar, a seer warns Julius Caesar to beware of the ides of March, which is when he is later assassinated.
God spoke through Balaam to Balak and said that not only was there no incantation against Jacob, but no augur who could see into or alter Israel’s future, because God Almighty had already appointed Israel for greatness and for blessings. There was no need to ask a seer because God had already fixed and established Israel’s future. “The LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.” No seer can see it, and no augur or diviner can alter it.
Let all the heathen rage, and their priests divine and prophesy evil against the anointed of the Lord; it will always be in vain. No one can curse the ones whom God has blessed.
We are the blessed of the Lord. You are His anointed. No one on earth, in the heavens, or underneath the earth can put a curse on us. It will never stick. There is no incantation against Jacob and no divination against Israel.