Joseph.

Joseph wanted his bones to be brought back to Canaan. Somehow Joseph understood that physical death was not the end of life and that in the future he would stand once more in the land of promise.

And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. (Joshua 24:32)

True faith in God always looks past physical death to the eternal ages ahead of us. Every hope and dream we have must look past this life, realizing that our present existence is like that of an unborn child in the womb. We have yet to be born into what will be our real home. God is not ashamed to be called our God when we count that this world is temporary, that it is becoming nothing more than a garbage heap, and that the wonderful world God has for us is waiting for us in Heaven and will return with us to the earth in the Day of the Lord.

If we place all of our hope in the present world we will never be able to wait for God. We will see the years slipping away and will force our way out of the prison God has placed us in.

We would faint if we did not believe to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. But for the true saint, the land of the living extends beyond the grave.

Moses.

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. (Hebrews 11:23)

Believers have wondered if the time would ever come when they would have to break the law. Christians have pondered if they should attempt to smuggle Bibles into a country when it is against the law to do so.

Christians are law-abiding people. They desire to obey the laws of their land. But there are instances when Christians are required to break the law, and sometimes to lie to officials of the government, in order to behave righteously or to obey God.

The midwives kept the Hebrew male babies alive, and lied to Pharaoh, and God blessed them even though they were breaking the law and lying. The parents of Moses broke the law by hiding their baby. The Bible looks upon the action of Moses' parents as being faith.

A lie is a lie when we are telling a falsehood in order to gain personal advantage. A lie is not a lie in God's sight when we are confronted with Satan-filled people and have to lie in order to save an innocent person's life, as in the case of those who in time past have had to hide Jews from an evil government. God will lead in these situations. They are very difficult because of the desire of the man or woman of God to obey the government and to always tell the truth.

Nazi officials reminded the German Christians they were commanded by the Scripture to obey the government. Some broke the law and hid Jewish people. The Jewish people rightly refer to them as "righteous Gentiles."

"We ought to obey God rather than man." But the Christian who scoffs at the laws of his country when those laws are not unrighteous, who believes that because he is a Christian he is above the law, will soon be corrected by the Lord.

To be continued.