Question:Can a Christian wear Jewelry or we should abstain from it like the Israelites were commanded by God? What is the spiritual significance of the New Testament message that God wants to convey to us through this particular event? Thanks in advance for your answer. God bless You!
Answer: Greetings in the glorious name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
We see what you have discussed in the following Scripture in context:
"4 And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. 5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.’” 6 So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb." (Exo 33:4-6).
Here in the above verse God told the children of Israel to take off their ornaments, because in the previous chapter "the people were unrestrained...among their enemies....(thus) the Lord plagued because of what they did with the calf that Aaron made." (Exo 32:25-26, 35). In other words, these people were not serious enough to follow the Lord in holiness, but rather like the pagans around them and godless idolaters, they became like them in making a golden calf for themselves which had caused the Lord to remove the Angel of His Presence in their midst and told that he will make him rather go before them, who was none other than Jesus the Christ in His pre-existence state of his incarnation, accompanied the nation of Israel everywhere they went (Exo 32:1-4; 1 Cor 10:4). Do we not fast from something wrong we have done and our attitude towards the means that caused us to fall in to temptation (Isa 58:6-9)?
Thus because the golden ornaments from their ears went straight to make a god of golden calf for themselves to say that it delivered them from Egypt, and that even Aaron the High Priest who is supposed to speak for the people to the Lord and make sacrifice for them heeded their voice to make that idol because of their coercion, what else is left but to say to the people to remove their ornaments that led them to idolatry.
The god of golden calf that they saw in the Egyptian land never left their heart, even though their own LORD GOD has taken them supernaturally out of the land of Egypt to enter in to the land of Canaan. God has to intervene to make them serious about the offence they have committed, for if God has judged them all, in a fraction of a second they would have all be consumed. Moses intervened with God to plead for their lives and for the Angel of His Presence to continue with them and be in their midst. God heard Moses hear felt cry for the children of Israel and promised to continue in their midst to guide them to the Canaan land despite their failings (Exo 33:13-23).
We must understand that it was God who told Moses to instruct all the people to ask the Egyptians for gold, silver and all the ornaments and clothing from the Egyptians because they were defrauded and used as wage less laborers for many many generations, so that they could rightfully plunder these people and instead clothe their own sons and daughters (Exo 3:22; 12:35).
Then it teaches us the lesson, that gold in itself is not evil, but gold to become a god is the problem for the stubborn-hearted unsaved people of Israel. Though they were saved from the sinful slavery of Egypt, within their own heart the attitude of sinful slavery of Egypt remained in them to cause rebellion against the Lord God their redeemer and Creator. In other words, knife in itself is not prohibited by God, when it is used for good things like cutting household vegetables and all other daily uses, but when it is used to kill a neighbor, God will always tell the human judge to take the knife out of the reach of the killer lest he kill many more like that. That is what had happened with the children of Israel.
Remember, in the sinless state of the Garden of Eden, the river Pishon which flowed right through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, God Himself has revealed that "the gold of that land is good" (Gen 2:11-12).
But the same gold became a snare to humans in the fallen state of sin, after Adam and Eve fell in to sin (Gen 3:6-7). That is why God for the redeemed humans have kept the gold under their feet in the city of God, the holy city, New Jerusalem where the streets are paved and made fully of pure and rare gold (Rev 21:21).
When God blessed Abraham in "all things", silver, gold and many livestock's and servants increased and multiplied so much that he became great (Gen 24:1, 34-58), but the eyes of Abraham did not settle on earthly things, but on God and heavenly things, who gave Him everything and made him great. So this is pattern for all believers, one can have all things, but should never be mastered by any except God and His heavenly things (1 Cor 6:12; 10:23). All things are lawful for a Christian doesn't mean all things are helpful and good for building up our spiritual life, qualifying us for eternal heavenly life, which is the primary improvement that God desires in us more than our temporal comfort and easy going life.
So like Abraham God may bless us with gold and silver, but what do we use it for, (i.e.) our self-indulgence or like building the Kingdom of God on earth, will decide how effectively we have used it to be helpful and build up our spiritual lives. As we know that the joy of sharing, and the peace of keeping all people edified and filling our lives through good deeds in the godly way to build it righteously will decide how well the Kingdom of God is built in our lives through the help of the Holy Spirit who gives all these things (Rom 14:17).
Even in the New Testament, the apostles said the same in a couple of places, "3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." ( 1 Pet 3:3-4) and "8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; How women should be attired 9 in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety (accepted standard) and moderation, not (just elaborately) with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, 10 but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. 11 Let a woman learn in silence with all submission." (1 Tim 2:8-11). In the above verses, it does not prohibit women in any way to wear gold ornaments, but it clearly outlines that their heart should not be on gold and external makeup, but on the God who has given them all gold and everything they needed in life, so that their character can be gentle and submissive to God by being submissive to their husband. Beauty outwards should never be at the cost of inner beauty of the women, which is gentle and quiet spirit, because the inner beauty is all the more important than just the outer beauty (Prov 11:22)! The ostentatious and showy display of wealth, beauty and luxury to impress others should be avoided at all cost by all godly men and especially women, this is the bottom line message that the New Testament conveys. Praise the Lord!
The believers love for the law, commandments, knowledge and instruction of the Word of God should be much much more than for gold and silver or for that reason anything else, only then the soul can benefit from the Presence of God (Psa 119:72, 127; Prov 8:10).
In the New Agreement that Jesus has made with God, the believer is not to be conformed with the world's attitude of do's and don'ts, but rather as a living sacrifice each one give their body voluntarily for God, with a renewed mind within them through the Word of God, so that He could use them all for His Glory (Rom 12:1-2).
In my life personally, I have seen covetous namesake believers without proper understanding of the Gospel, when they lost gold by their own conspiracy, they were sick to the stomach so that even their blood pressure shot up, which showed how much they trusted in their temporal gold. Shame on such people, their God is not Jesus Christ but their god is gold. May God help them repent and become a responsible citizens of the Kingdom of God!
Through this event that happened to the children of Israel, Paul the apostle clearly revealed, that it is an example to us who believe in Jesus Christ at the ends of the ages, that we must not trust in gold and become idolaters, or covet for anything of the material likeness of the earthly temporal riches, and become unpleasing to God, and thus waste our earthly life to fall to die, being destroyed by the sinful bite of deceptive serpent the devil through tempting Christ, or complain about God and His appointed earthly leaders to get destroyed by destroyers spiritually (1 Cor 10:1-11). May God help us to keep our eyes on God and not on gold, even if God provides in abundance. Instead let us use our earthly treasures of gold and all other material things to collect treasures in heaven, and not waste it on earth by only using it for ourselves where thieves steal and moth eat everything over a period of time (Matt 6:19-21). If we now do not use the gold or our earthly riches for the Kingdom of God now, we might lose it soon forever, and also losing our opportunity of limited time which God provided for us to make a eternal impact in our generation for the Glory of God (Acts 13:36). Hallelujah!
Much Blessings....
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