Good Borders

Good Borders A. border: A side, edge, brink, or margin; a limit, or boundary; the part of anything lying along its boundary or outline. 1. Borders are necessary lines of demarcation in this life. They establish how far one’s influences or ventures may go, and what influences or ventures should be stopped from entry. c/w JER 5:22. 2. God establishes national borders for men’s good but antichrists reject them. ACT 17:26-27 ct/w ISA 10:13. 3. God respects property rights and demands that we do likewise. DEU 19:14; 27:17; MAT 20:15. a. This extends to personal property and relationships. EXO 20:14-17. b. This extends to one’s body. EXO 20:14. c. Good fences make for good neighbors. 4. Our liberties, rights, duties, beliefs and conduct are essentially defined by borders. 5. Those who will not respect borders/limits/boundaries will inevitably find that others do, especially God. B. God commanded Israel to make fringed borders in their garments. NUM 15:37-41. 1. fringe: An ornamental bordering, consisting of a narrow band to which are attached threads of silk, cotton, etc., either loose or formed into tassels, twists, etc. (Occas. spec. that worn by the Hebrews in accordance with the command in Num. xv. 38.) 2. They thus wore a constant reminder that their lives were to be ordered by divine revelation rather than feelings or desires (NUM 15:39) and this is a useful model for us when we get to close to the edge. 3. God’s commandments were their defined limits, as with us. DEU 4:2 c/w MAT 28:20. 4. They were to remember they were a holy people unto God, set apart from other peoples. NUM 15:40 c/w DEU 14:2. 5. In Christ’s day, the Scribes and Pharisees perverted this by enlarging their borders to set them apart from their own brethren. MAT 23:5-7. a. God sets the holy apart for Himself, not the haughty. PSA 4:3. b. Their enlarged borders concurred with their added traditions. MAR 7:4. c. The borders would have probably been even larger but they laid aside God’s commandments to make room for their own traditions. MAR 7:8. C. Our Lord Jesus would have worn such a garment as NUM 15 ordered. GAL 4:4. 1. The sick could be healed by touching that border. MAR 6:56; LUK 8:43-46. 2. Malachi prophesied that He would have “...healing in his wings...” (MAL 4:2) and the same word translated as wings there is rendered as borders in NUM 15:38. 3. A tangible article under the bondage of corruption could not impede His virtue, not even a cross. D. The Law of Moses with its varied ordinances was a shadow of Christ. COL 2:14-17; HEB 9:1-12. 1. There was “...upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue” (NUM 15:38). 2. The color blue was incorporated into: a. the tabernacle’s curtain. EXO 26:4. b. vail. EXO 26:31. c. the covering of the ark. NUM 4:5-6. d. elements of the sanctuary. NUM 4:7-12. e. the high priest’s garments and mitre. EXO 28:4-6, 36-37. 3. Consider that Christ was “...bruised for our iniquities...” (ISA 53:5), and the blueness of Good Borders 9-28-23 Page 1 of 2  His wound cleansed away evil (PRO 20:30), the evil of our sins. 4. Clouds, smog and chem-trails notwithstanding, blue is the normal color of the first heaven through which Christ’s sacrifice takes us to the third heaven. 2CO 12:3 c/w 1TH 4:17. 5. Looking with the eye of faith upon Christ's sufferings is a good way to remember His commandments and do them while ceasing to be ruled by our heart and eyes, similar to NUM 15:39. c/w 1PE 4:1-2. E. If you are as dedicated to Jesus Christ as Paul was, you are likely to be blessed to have this world consider you part of a fringe group. ACT 24:5; 26:24 c/w LUK 6:22-23. 1. The crazier the world gets, the crazier your sanity appears to them. 2. Paul didn’t worry about being thought “over the edge.” 2CO 5:13. 3. Calmly continue in the sober truth of Christ. ACT 26:25. Good Borders 9-28-23 Page 2 of 2