Acts: Opposition to the Gospel: Balaam's Error, Part 3

I would invite you to read Numbers 22-25, 31. I simply can’t walk you through all of these verses. But here is a summary. Balaam was sought to curse Israel; he brought good money by good princes; he refused; he was brought more money by better princes; God told him to wait and see if they would come again in the morning; he saddled up his ass anyway without waiting; the angel of the Lord prevented him from passing; the ass saved him and spoke to him for Balaam is after all an ass; the ass could see God; Balaam could not; Balaam blessed Israel three times; Moab was apoplectic; Balaam instructed Moab how to cause Israel to sin to bring God’s judgment; Israel sinned in the way Balaam had said; and they were judged; Moab was put to the sword; Midian was put to the sword; and Balaam was put to the sword.

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What about Balaam? He loved the wages of unrighteousness, Peter says. That he and his ilk remain a problem in the church Peter makes clear:

They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing . . . 2 Peter 2:14-15

Therefore, it is good to examine Balaam that we might find ourselves out of the way he chose and in the way everlasting. What is going on with Balaam? That will be evident soon enough as we look at the Book of Numbers.

Remember how John classified species of unrighteousness? Let’s turn to his first letter, chapter 2:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not from the Father but from the world. The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God remains forever . . . . 1 John 2:15-17.

The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life—these three. How do we says these things today as motivations? Money, sex, and power. These are powerful motivations that explain much if not all that happens in the world. Balaam follows at least two of these. And it is important to realize that he is very much a man of the world despite claiming a connection to the super-natural. His eyes, his purpose, and his life is here in the natural; the super-natural is simply the means by which he improves his position in the world. The super-natural is not an end; Balaam’s end is natural, material, and visible regardless of his trafficking in the invisible and immaterial. Miss that and you miss his error completely.

Contrast the life of a believer. Jesus is both beginning and end, Alpha and Omega. He is both way and the final destination. This life is simply the means by which we can learn from him, and of him, and move ever toward him through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Any intersection with the super-natural is to either affirm our faith in the resurrection and authority of Jesus Christ or to sanctify us spirit, soul, and body so that we may stand blameless before when he comes—both of these are for his glory. Our life is opposite of Balaam’s if we hold fast to the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

John the Baptist can say, as can we, “He must increase, but I must decrease” whereas Balaam says, “I am the center of, and the bridge between, two worlds, the natural and the supernatural, for a price of course. Balaam is an anti-christ, or if that makes you stumble, the antithesis of Christ. And so will we be if we walk in the same manner with the same purpose. Balaam in a perverse way is standing in the place of Christ endeavoring in counterfeit what Christ did in truth—that is joining together the human and the divine.

That’s why Paul highlights for us the mind of Christ, the polar opposite of Balaam’s heatt and mind:

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:3-8

There remains only one name under heaven by which men can be saved. There is no other. Balaam is a fraud, a counterfeit, but a powerful anti-Christ nonetheless.

Remember: in spite of the talking ass, the manifest presence of Almighty God by the Angel of the Lord with a sword and threat of cutting him down, and God’s pouring out blessing after blessing on Israel (something he should have learned from) (see Numbers 23 and 24, he still found a way to curse Israel and bring judgment upon them. See Numbers 25:1-9 and 31:1-18.

Balaam took what he knew about God and brought destruction, not life, to God’s people. That is, he was a devil, an adversary, and a son of perdition—the very things Jesus judged Judas Iscariot for. And that is the connection for us. If we take the things of God for our purposes—regardless of what those might be, whether money, sex, or power or all three—we too will be sons of perdition, and adulterers enticing others to sin. We too will be the antithesis of Christ, a grasper, and a deceiver.

If you have read Acts, and understand Balaam’s error, someone should immediately come to mind, Simon the magician or Simon the Great in Acts 8. I’ll set it out for you:

But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 

Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

Simon thought the power of God was something that could be wielded, for money. Peter sharply corrects that error and demands Simon to submit to the Person of God if he would live. Simon the magician shows us the intent of the heart, as Peter makes note of. Simon repented and did not act as Balaam did, as far as we know.

But this errant condition of heart exposed in Balaam, Judas, and Simon Magus continued to be a problem for the church. See 2 Peter 2:10-22. If we see God as a means to an end we have conceived for our fulfillment in this life, we will receive the wages of unrighteousness—death.

When Jesus came—the antithesis of Balaam—he humbled himself and was obedient to death, even death on a cross, as Paul relates. But it is important to complete that thought in verses 9-11 of Philippians:

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

With Christ ascended, you can choose in this life to be a pretender for the throne, whether individually in your heart, or corporately in the life of a local church. But you will have forsaken the right way, and gone astray.

Remember: we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. See Isaiah 53:6. So let’s examine our own hearts and be found in him not opposed to him or his people.