My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
260
GREAT GOD
Ezra 5:8 Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands.
This passage needs some context.
Ezra was a priest of the Most High during the return of the Israelites to Jerusalem. As we may remember, Cyrus the Persian King gave orders to release the Jews from captivity, returning the vessels of the temple to the people of God, and enabled the return to Jerusalem to build the temple of God.
A tremendous act of salvation, and restoration on the part of our God.
At first the Israelites were diligent in the rebuilding of the temple, but as many projects go, a delay here or there and a distraction over there caused the temple to be put on hold. And where there is a vacuum of religious purpose, self directed activities rise tot he surface.
Such was the case with the Jews. There began to redirect their efforts and materials to the construction of their own homes. Years passed until a prophet started asking some questions. His name was Haggai, and he wanted to know why the building of the temple had ceased.
He stirred up the people, and they got back at the temple building, but in this delay, a new king sat on the throne on Persia by the name of Darius, and a new Persian governor over the region Jerusalem was located.
That governor was a fellow named Tattenai, and from what I can tell, he seemed to be a fair type of Governor. In his research of the situation in Jerusalem, he found that the Jews claimed they had royal Persian authority to reconstruct their temple. Surely Tattenai had heard of the rebellious nature of Israel, and the focal rallying point of the temple for this nation.
He had the option to put the reconstruction on hold until he found out more on the rights these Jews enjoyed, but he seemed to be impressed by his trip to Jerusalem. Not only did he allow the men of Israel to continue in their rebuilding of the temple as he provided his report to Darius, he spoke highly of the God they Jews were dedicated to.
He allowed them to rebuild though he still needed to find out if they were granted authority under the throne of Persia. This is impressive, and not only in his actions, but in his communication back to the throne, he spoke of the temple as the house of the great God.
Was he a convert to Judaism? Did he begin to follow after God? How impressed was he of the object of Israel’s faith? He certainly, for the sake of the report could have simply referred to the temple as the house of a god, but he didn’t. He wrote a letter of record to the king of Persia regarding the temple in a foreign land as the house of the Great God!
Amazing.
For us in our daily lives, let me ask my reader. Do we live such lives that give evidence to those watching us of the Greatness of our God?
Do we have a message of the Greatness of our God that will turn the heads of those who are watching? I dare say we do!
We all have Tattenais in our lives and by the grace of God we can give witness of our God, hopefully impressing on those we interact with of the Great God we love and serve.
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
259
Great Shepherd
Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant
We considered Jesus as the Good Shepherd in post number 240. In that particular post, we found it convenient to consider the Good Shepard in relation to the bad shepherds so often described in the Word.
For our post this morning, to consider the Great Shepherd is not to consider Him in comparison to a bad shepherd. That is the task of calling Him the Good Shepherd.
For Him to be called the Great Shepherd is to isolate Him, to consider Him, not in relation to any inferior shepherd, but for who He is in his person and work.
He is the Great Shepherd, having been raised out of the grave. No one can claim the status of being the Great Shepherd other than the One who has accomplished two feats of salvation
1. He passed through death and out from the grave after three days.
No other religious leader, teacher or instructor has ever claimed to be able to perform this feat, yet we know our Messiah not only repeatedly prophesied of His own death and resurrection, He proved His deity by walking out of the tomb. He is a man of His Word!
2. He erupted out of the tomb through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
Now I am not sure if “everlasting covenant” is a synonym for the New Covenant, emphasizing its eternal longevity, continuing on into eternity. The “everlasting covenant” may speak of a covenant entered into prior to the fall of mankind, prior even to creation. Some think this term refers to a council within the Triune Godhead in eternity past, with all three members of the Godhead entering into to accomplish the salvation of rebel sinners, and to provide the greatest glory to the Person of God.
Either thought only lifts up the incredible work of the Lord in offering salvation to a people who were dead, blind and deaf.
He is the Great Shepherd, and as such, He provides us the promise of Life, since He has triumphed over death, and an ongoing covenant that will continue throughout out the ages.
He is the Great Shepherd!
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.
I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.
SEEING JESUS IN
Cyrus
Restorer
Ezra 1:7 Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.
1 Peter 5:10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
When the Babylonians rose to power, the nation of Israel sensed a hopelessness. They knew as a nation that without the hand of God actively taking the enemy out as He had with the 185,000 Assyrians centuries before, it was just a matter of time before they were completely defeated.
That time came, about 600 years before the Lord walked on earth, when the Babylonians entered the city of Jerusalem by force, capturing all the population, ransacking the heart of the city, and pillaging the Temple, gutting the Temple of all the holy instruments. All the holy tools used for the worship of their God was taken, simply for the value of the metal. The significance of the tools, in that they were used in the worship of the Most High God was of no difference to the Babylonians. The holy was treated as the unholy, eventually used in parties or debauchery by the royalty of Babylon. That very act of using holy utensils for a party seems to be the trigger on the very night of Babylon’s fall.
Although the passage we refer to speaks of the restoration of the vessels of the Lord, it is a fitting picture of how the Lord Jesus also restores us.
Now when I first came across this term restore, I imagined it spoke of simply returning something back to usefulness, back to it’s original purpose. And surely that is the core of the meaning. Cyrus took the defiled vessels that had been used for common, ordinary use by a heathen nation, and returned these vessels to the proper custodians, those of the Jewish nation who had some recollection of their use and purpose.
Jesus also took a defiled people, returning to them a purpose and usefulness in glorifying God throughout their lives.
But I would argue that beyond the mere restoration of physical vessels as Cyrus had, Jesus not only restored a people who had a defiant will against His love, He lifted each of us to a restored purpose, a restored usefulness and a higher calling that we had prior to the fall. For prior to the fall, our first parents Adam and Eve were merely innocent before the Lord. After our Lord’s rescue, He has restored us to a higher place, giving us a standing of righteousness far greater than mere innocence.
It is for us to take that standing of righteousness and work it out in our lives to produce a practical righteousness, a righteousness that mimics our Savior’s life.
We are not simply physical vessels of gold and silver. We are a complex, broken people having been restored by the Great Restorer, Jesus Christ.
Everything Jesus does is so much more than those who show us the shadow of His Person.
May His name be praised today.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
258
GREAT SAVIOR
Titus 2:13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Ok I admit it – at first glance, the name “Great Savior” is not specifically found in this verse.
There is a rule in the Greek – that when a singular article (the) comes before two nouns (God & Savior), both nouns refer to the same subject, which is Jesus in our verse.
Now I am no Greek geek by any stretch of the imagination, but I can’t imagine any argument from any who know the Savior that He isn’t a Great Savior.
The grammar may make my point, but experience seals the fact to our hearts that Jesus is a Great Savior. In our last post on this topic, we reviewed God’s name as “Great Salvation”, finding that David used it in relation to the imagery of a battle. God is our Great Salvation, or a Great Tower to flee to.
Now, instead of the act of salvation being referred to as Great, let us focus in on the Person of our Great Savior. I am so tempted to describe the work of salvation He has accomplished for our lives, including the abolishing of death.
2 Timothy 1:10 … our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
The abolishing of death! No that is for another time! But what an amazing accomplishment for those who knew nothin gbut death!
No, let us remember the One who is the Great Savior and in the remembering, consider the Person of the Christ. For He is a Great Savior, but unlike those who are great in this old world, our Great Savior is One who is humble, approachable, meek and gentle. But let us not hear that these characteristics define our Great Savior as weak, for when He speaks, He speaks with authority. He needs not raise His voice, for with authority – not volume – He makes His will known.
He is the Great Savior. Let us spend a moment considering how Great He is this morning!
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Psalm 34:6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
As many who follow may know, I have had the privilege to know the Lord for over 40 years. During those decades, He has proved Himself to be a faithful, kind and loving Savior. And as I have learned to lean on Jesus, He has shown Himself to be a merciful Savior, never wavering, even in some very dark times.
This topical series will try to provide a snapshot of an ol’ fools prayers, the weakness and selfishness of his prayers, and the ever increasing goodness of God in His responses the those prayers.
I hope my witness to the goodness and faithfulness of God will be an encouragement to those reading, and will spur us all on to a deeper, more consistent time of being in the Lord’s presence.
Please visit with me as I tell the story of a faithful God and His care for an ol’ fool. Though David considered himself a poor man, I freely admit, I am just an “ol’ fool” looking to the Lord.
That Missing Piece
This prayer was jointly entered into with a young boy who really wanted to go a splashing. Something desperate!
Our family had just moved into a rental home in Kirkland Lake, and the day was a hot one. Little did we know at the time that the future for our family involved Texas. We would learn about hot soon enough!
Nevertheless, my son and I were in the process of setting up a small pool for a bit of splashing fun. Now it is important for the story that you understand the type of pool we are talking about. It wasn’t one of those fancy dancy pools like nowadays, where you simply blow them up. No, I think we got this from a friend who no longer needed it, and it came in three pieces. Very similar to what is considered a doggy pool nowadays, it consisted of an upright ring for a wall for the pool, the bladder, or the skin for the pool, and the crimped edge that would hold the bladder on the wall, so the water could be contained.
We had the bladder. We had the wall. But in the move to Kirkland Lake, we had lost the crimped edging! We looked and looked and you could see my son loosing heart. He had worked so hard to help us move, being such a strong six year old! It just broke my heart to see him so disappointed.
At some point where we crossed paths, I pulled him over and sat down with him on the stoop. I told him I was so sorry we couldn’t find it, and he said he understood, but I knew he was was carrying a load of disappointment. I think he wanted the pool to be ready for when his brother woke up from his nap. They were the best of friends and they would just go crazy in that pool!!!!
You know son, why don’t we ask Jesus to help us find it? Can we pray about that? We bowed our heads, and I asked the Lord to help us find an old crimped edge for an roughed up used pool. I don’t recall hearing my son utter any words, but I am sure the Lord heard that which he did not utter.
After an amen, and a pat on the shoulder, we both got up and ventured off in different directions. Honestly, I had not considered the speed at which a prayer could be answered, but lo and behold, seconds later my son was running towards me down the driveway with a crimped edge held high in his hands, yelling “Jesus answered our prayer. Jesus answered our prayer!”
I can still see him running down the driveway, so excited. He was so loud, yelling a witness out, letting the whole world know that God answered our prayer. But it wasn’t just that he found the crimped edge, so he could have the pool that afternoon. God showed himself to my boy that day. And God showed Himself to a dad in a most insignificant (but significant) way!
God hears the prayers of His children, and in His wisdom, He provides evidence of His attentiveness to His children. Although the Lord has proven Himself in massive answers over the years for my family, this small response over 30 years ago, from the hand of a loving God still lingers in my mind.
He rejoiced. I rejoiced. A whole bunch of rejoicing that day! To top it all off, we got the pool set up in record time, and he got to push his little brother into the pool after his nap!
A great day all around!
Thanks for joining and Considering The Bible with me. Your thoughts are always welcome, and I look forward to hearing of the faithfulness of God in your lives.
I planted a tree yesterday. As a matter of fact, I planted six trees. As I was planting these trees for my wife’s new “orchard” in our retirement home, I considered the apparent conflict in what I was doing.
You see, both my wife and I are entering retirement age, and as such, have passed the optimum timing for planting trees for our benefit. Typical thinking is that early in life, plant trees so we may benefit from them for the long term.
As I was planting, a passage came to mind that reminded me of the captives in Babylon.
Jeremiah 29:5-6 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.
Of course this passage is typically speaking of the young captive in Babylon, teaching him to marry, have a family and to multiply, even to the point of having wee grandbabies! Establish a life in Babylon Jeremiah says, for despite the false prophets promise of an early return to the land of Israel, the Jewish captives were destined to be in the land of their captors for seven decades. As such, they were to plan long term! Build houses, plant gardens, and multiply.
To follow Jeremiah’s message of a long term settlement, the planting of gardens surely implies the establishment of orchards, trees that produce and take multiple years to establish and bear fruit.
Jeremiah told them to plant a tree!
Although we are not captives, the same thought continues with us, yet my wife and I are on the back side of life. Is there not an inconsistency with this effort? I loudly argue against this thinking, for though the Lord may come back at any moment, taking us home to be with Him, or that I may pass in my sleep, leaving behind this old world, I have chosen to be long term, and not be limited by short term thinking.
You see, Jeremiah told them to plant a tree!
I spent much of my early walk of faith only planning very short term, for we all supposedly knew we were not to be here much longer. All around me, I was being told – He will come at any moment! This teaching amongst believers that the time is short, that we are to simply maintain our positions, and that long term planning is unnecessary is identical to that which the the captives listened to in the early days of the captivity.
But Jeremiah told them to plant a tree!
It has been decades since I shook off this attitude of short term planning, of abandoning the responsibility of planning for my family for “the duration”. This new thinking of continuing on in His service, assuming a long term commitment continues in my latter days, for though the Lord may come back, He may delay His coming for centuries. We truly have no objective way to determine the future, despite all those who say otherwise!
He will determine the time of His return.
In the mean time, we are to be busy living for Him, having a hope filled faith in His guidance and grace, and making big plans that honor Him.
Go ahead my friend, plant a tree! Whatever season you find yourself in, “plant a tree” showing all that you have hope for great things from the Lord!
For He truly is good, and He is good all the time!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
257
GREAT SALVATION
Psalm 18:50 Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.
David, in the 18th Psalm, describes the saving power of God, having found safety and security in the Lord in the midst of being surrounded by enemies.
Psalm 18:1 A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.
David speaks of the Lord using military terms throughout this Psalm, using terms such as fortress, refuge, shield and horn of salvation.
Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
He gushes over speaking of the might of the Lord in his deliverance, for at the time when there seemed no hope, no salvation available for David, God provided salvation. The enemies were too many, and had all the advantage, but when God was introduced into the situation, the tables where flipped over!
He spends the Psalm describing his love for the Lord, his thankful heart and uses many metaphors in describing the Lord’s saving work in his life.
He describes God’s frontal attack on the enemies, even from heaven, speaking of lightning as being an offensive weapon in the arsenal of God for David’s sake
Psalm 18:14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
He speaks of saving him from drowning
Psalm 18:16 … he drew me out of many waters.
David can’t hold back from describing his God in the victory. He goes so far as to call God his Great Salvation, and though David was speaking of an instant in time, where he was saved physically from enemies, when he calls God his Great Salvation, he is touching a topic that expands exponentially as the plan of God develops in history.
For our verse this morning, let us consider our Great Salvation, and that this Name of God continues in the military imagery David uses through the Psalm. You see, in the repeated passage of Psalm 18 we find in 2 Samuel, we come across our Name of God again, but it has a translation note attached to it.
2 Samuel 22:51 Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.”
The translators of the ESV note that the phrase “Great Salvation he brings” may be rendered as “He is a tower of salvation.”
This imagery is pertinent to our lives, no matter where we are in our walk with the King, for we too are in a battle, even a war. Not only are we waging battle within our souls to submit to our Great Salvation, but also fighting a war for those around us, to represent the Living Savior as the Only Salvation for All.
The Great Salvation truly is for, through and about the Lord, for in our battle for Him, we need to trust in Him, to bring honor through Him to all. Although from a somewhat different context, Paul said it much better when he wrote
Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Yes He is our Great Salvation. He is the only One who is our strong tower in our battles, for if we believers do not run to Him for our safety, for our Great Salvation, we will find we have no defense against the ravages of this life!
Hebrews 2 speaks this truth much clearer when the author writes.
Hebrews 2:3a how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
May we run to our Great Salvation daily!
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Psalm 34:6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
Just last week, I was in church with my daughter and her family, when the preacher asked a parishioner to join him on the stage to discuss the faithfulness of God in answering prayers.
Even as they began their discussion, memories of the faithfulness of God, (even as I confess a sporadic, weak prayer life), flooded my mind. Times of comfort and challenge came to mind, sometimes including miraculous answers, and sometimes simply providing the gift of patience in waiting.
As many who follow may know, I have had the privilege of knowing the Lord Jesus for over 4 decades. During those years, He has proved Himself to be a faithful, kind and loving Savior. And as I have learned to lean on Jesus, He has shown Himself to be a merciful Savior, never wavering, even in some very dark times.
This topical series will try to provide a snapshot of an ol’ fools weak and selfish prayers and the ever increasing goodness of God in His responses the those prayers.
I hope my witness to the faithfulness of God will be an encouragement to those reading, and will spur us all on to a deeper, more consistent time of being in the Lord’s presence.
Please visit with me as I tell the story of a faithful God and His care for an ol’ fool. Though David considered himself a poor man in the Psalm, I freely admit, I am just an “ol’ fool” looking to the Lord.
Thanks for joining and Considering The Bible with me. Your thoughts are always welcome, and I look forward to hearing of the faithfulness of God in your lives.
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
256
GREAT PRIEST
Hebrews 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
For the New Testament believer, we have one Great Priest.
The book of Hebrews is full of descriptions of our Messiah as a priest, usually spoken of as a high priest, but in this one instance, throughout the Word of God, He is called a Great Priest.
Granted, Hebrews 4:14 modifies the Name of God we are considering this morning as our Great “High” Priest.
Hebrews 4:14Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
But for this morning, let us consider our Great Priest, and seek to cull a truth out of the context we find it in.
Our first question to consider. Why did our author use this particular name for this verse in his discussion of the glories of Jesus as our priest.
I would remind my reader that the context of this passage is speaking of the new and living way Jesus has opened up for the believer, to find access through the curtain. It is interesting that the author likens the curtain to His flesh. The typology of the curtain being torn speaks of access to the very holy of Holies. As our Great Priest, Jesus has not only proven His freedom and right to enter the presence of God, but if we are found in Him, we actually enter the presence of God also.
As our Great Priest, He has authority over the house of God, the Temple of God, the Church, the Body of Christ. He is the One who is not only the Head of the Church, but also the Great Priest, the One who has not only become the eternal sacrifice, but willingly gave His own Body on the cross as the sacrifice.
He was the Priest offering His Body on the cross as the sacrifice.
This morning as I was taking my walk in my favorite parking garage, I looked to the morning sky, prior to any sunrise, and was impressed with the knowledge of all that I don’t know.
Yes, it should come as no surprise that we sinners are incredibly ignorant. Sure, I comfort myself in knowing I can add and subtract, communicate (if I take my time), and continue to learn about earthly things, but when I consider the skies, the vastness of space, the depth and quietness of the skies, the immensity of this creation, I confess I am but an ignorant sinner caught by the grace of God.
But more importantly, Jesus is the One who is all knowing, all powerful, all wise and eternal.
Consider that just in the topic of knowledge, He knows all secrets, facts, motivations and hidden thoughts. All those things that I don’t know, and they are many, He is in complete control of each fact and piece of knowledge. He has all knowledge and has all authority, even over the house of God.
And because He is the Great Priest, our author of Hebrews is telling me that Jesus was the One who performed the sacrifice. He had the knowledge of the coming sacrifice, and drove the circumstances of His surroundings and His own Body to the cross. Yes He was the sacrifice, but in this passage, I suggest the action of sacrifice is the emphasis.
And to what end my friend? That we (poor simple sinners, washed in the blood of the Lamb) may draw near with a true heart.
Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
He is the Living Way, the truth and the Way of Life.
As this verse describes Him as the Great Priest we are reminded He was not an unwilling victim, but the motivating will to make the eternal sacrifice to provide us entrance with Him before the throne.
May His Name, our Great Priest, be honored in our lives.
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.
I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.
SEEING JESUS IN
Cyrus
Equipped
Isaiah 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me,
NT
How could a relatively unknown character such as Cyrus carry so many similarities to the Lord.
As a brief reminder, Cyrus has been described in the Old Testament in the following ways
Anointed One
Chosen
Shepherd
Liberator by peace
Temple Builder
Undefeatable
Light for the Nations
Man of God’s Counsel
Loved by God
Free Salvation
Identified
This post will consider Cyrus as one especially equipped by God.
To be equipped by God is often associated with the weapons of warfare, with the tools to wage battle. This is a common refrain through the Old Testament.
Psalm 18:39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me.
Cyrus was a leader of men who needed resources and the resources were supplied by a God he did not know. Victory after victory, Cyrus continued vanquishing the surrounding nations, having strength and might provided by God. His abilities to dominate over the nations were due to provided by the Lord, abilities that far exceeded the material goods that were required, but I imagine included the wisdom of strategy for each battle, the timing and execution of well laid out plans, the coordination of his generals in bringing a united front, and the manner he oversaw those he vanquished.
Few men have performed the accomplishments of Cyrus, and treated the vanquished in the way Cyrus did. He established a kingdom that was a world power. In the campaigns of defeating others and in the subsequent reigning over each people group, God equipped him with the tools, talents and endurance required for such a task.
Cyrus built a world power, equipped by God, only to have the power taken over by others. His was a glorious kingdom, elevating his name above many of his contemporaries, being equipped by the Lord Himself.
Jesus, in like manner was equipped by God to build a kingdom, though His equipping by God was for a battle that was much more demanding, with a much greater reach, and resulting in an eternal kingdom, a kingdom that could not be overtaken.
His equipping was that of the Spirit of God being displayed in mercy, laying His life down for others. This self sacrifice, this self denial and giving up is far beyond the equipping Cyrus received. For Jesus, it was the wisdom, trust and willingness to hear the Father’s voice and to obey to the very end.
He was equipped by God to provide, at the cost of His own life, a salvation that all can enter into.
Granted, it is somewhat difficult to understand the strength required to purposely be weak, to have the power of God, even the ability to call down of legions of angels, and yet have the inner strength of restraint to continue in His mission, even to be nailed to a cross.
Consider this strength!
We also are equipped by God to give, to provide for others at our own cost. The equipping by God is found in His Spirit, even as we walk with God in our daily decisions. This equipping by God will be evident in the fruit we produce through His Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23, 25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
May His name be elevated above all worldly powers.
Jesus is King!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
255
GREAT POWER
Deuteronomy 9:29 For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’
Israel had sinned. And sinned And sinned again.
Moses is recalling the times of failure for the nation of Israel. This time of remembrance for the nation is summed up as Moses calls the nation to remember in verse 7.
Deuteronomy 9:7 Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.
Moses is blunt. He openly speaks of their failure, disobedience, rebellion, stubbornness and corruption. He reminds them of the judgement that was imminent from God and how God was willing to blot out their name from under heaven, completely destroying them in verse 14.
Deuteronomy 9:14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’
They had no claim to the mercy of God in and of themselves. Death was their destiny if it hadn’t been for the exercise of His Great Power in bringing them out of Egypt. Not only were the Israelites drawn out from Egypt by the Great Power of God, their continued relationship with the God of Creation depended on the Great Power.
Moses reminded God of the Great Power He exercised in delivering His people and spoke of His commitment to the people, and of His commitment to the Fathers of the nation, sinners though they be also.
He also spoke of the hit the Lord would take if Israel were to “disappear”. All the nations would murmur and speak of how the Lord only sought to destroy the ones he delivered by His Great Power. Moses was reminding the Lord of His reputation before the nations. and that His treatment of the tiny nation of Israel would be seen far and wide by the nations.
Moses reminded the Lord that a job started was a job that needed completion. The difficulty of the task, the rebellion of the people He was leading, did not negate the need to complete the task. Faithfulness was the challenge Moses brought before the Lord, a faithfulness to the promise He made to the Fathers, and a faithfulness to His own reputation before the nations.
Did Israel deserve judgement? Yes. Would judgement occur in the future? Yes. Would the faithfulness of God to His people be abundantly evident before the nations? Yes.
Now we know as believers, the Great Power of God in delivering the nation of Israel is the Savior, the only One who has provided a physical salvation to a rebellious nation, but also a spiritual salvation to a rebellious sinful people, those who have heard the voice of the Great Power and followed after Him.
Have you heard the voice of the Great Power and decided to follow?
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 74:12 Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Psalm 74:13 You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. Psalm 74:14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. Psalm 74:15 You split open springs and brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams. Psalm 74:16 Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun. Psalm 74:17 You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.
Asaph is in the midst of a crisis of faith. He sees the desolation the enemy has performed on the sanctuary, and the apparent lack of concern of the God of Israel. And he is struggling. No matter how he views the conditions he is in, or the thoughts that pass through his mind, he is reminded of the God he worships, and the might of His Savior.
Even in nature, God has revealed His ability to take on the fiercest enemy with ease. For those of ancient Israel, to consider the creatures of the deep is to refer to the most dangerous and hostile region on the earth.
The Old Testament speaks of the sea, and of it’s characteristics to the faithful Israelite.
Isaiah 57:20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
The New Testament also gives witness to the contents of the sea, with the evil spirits seeming to want to return to the sea through the swine.
Mark 5:13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
Returning to our passage in Psalm 74, we see Asaph considering the topic of the deep. At first glance it may seem like he is going down a completely different road than previously, but as he is looking over all the desolation, he is reminded that God has worked in this condition previously.
At some time in the past, in the Psalmist’s mind, a creature by the name of Leviathan challenged God. Now I don’t know if Leviathan is an actual physical creature of the sea, or is a type of Satan in some way, or if Leviathan may be describing the overlords of Egypt prior to the nations escape. No matter for in a dark and desperate situation God was able to crush the head of His enemy.
As Asaph considered the God he worshipped, he confessed that God was able to crush the enemy, He was able to dominate and restore. Yet before his very eyes, he only sees desolation. God has crushed the head of the enemy before, but during Asaph’s musings here, God is silent, quiet – apparently gone.
Yet God is his King. Though God is silent, Asaph recalls the God he serves. God is able, but at times ability to do a task and the execution of that task are two different things. Asaph is living in that gap between God’s ability and God’s execution of His salvation.
In our next post, Asaph makes his plea, but for this mornings post, let us remember that sometimes God is silent, even in terrible times. It may be a testing time, a period of difficulty each of us have to go through. It is at these times that we need to stir up memories of how God has performed His mighty acts of salvation for us in the past.
Mighty Act of Salvation
For the believer in the church, the mighty act of salvation, when Jesus crushed the head of Leviathan on the cross, is to be the foundation of all our hope. Nothing can (or should) replace that monumental and mighty act of dominance over the serpent!
Above and beyond that foundational basis for our faith, the Lord often grants times in our lives when His hand is openly evident to the believer who has eyes to see. His activity in our lives, in acts of mercy, help, encouragement, miracles and protection are sometimes unnoticed by the believer.
I would strongly encourage those reading to take a few minutes and consider the work of God in your walk with Him. Remember who the King is, my friend. Even in the darkest times, His throne is still able, still present and still of grace.
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
254
GREAT PEACE
Psalm 119:165 Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
It may not be obvious in first reviewing the provided verse for this mornings Name of God, but none can argue that this description applied to God is worthy of considering.
Great peace. When I first considered this verse years ago, I glibly passed over it.
I was in a hurry to get to the weightier matters of the Word, teachings found in Romans or Hebrews, meaty teachings that challenge my thinking, make me wonder, let me argue with the text and sometimes allow me to come to a conclusion. At least for a time.
Then I tripped over this verse again, and caught the relationship of Great Peace and loving the Law of God. Of course, as God is the Great Peace, He is obviously the ultimate lover of Gods Law, the absolutes of it, the righteousness found in the Law. He applies the Law in perfection in all His actions, to those who love Him and to those who despise Him. In all ways in in every instance, God loves His Law and the outworking of it in His actions.
But I must get back to the books of greater importance, such as Revelation, where the end time mysteries reside, where it appears secrets are revealed and time schedules are ready to be deciphered.
Suddenly, without aforethought or anticipation, I arrived at this verse one more time. I slowed down for just a moment, and considered the last phrase.
Nothing can make them stumble. What is going with that claim?
Of course, in relation to God, nothing makes Him stumble. He is perfection, and in the midst of His mission to rescue the lost and sinful, He is still without stain. Though He may have many traps and hazards thrown before Him, He is holy, He is complete and He is without stumbling! This is without debate!
But for the believer, there is an opportunity for a life that includes Great Peace, and a life without stumbling.
How does this work itself out?
To stumble is to experience a tripping hazard, a slippage of the foot, a stubbing of the toe in our spiritual experience. A fall into a sin may be considered a stumble. To hear something about myself that upsets me may be a stumble opportunity.
An example may help.
I was on a conference call with a group of my peers and our project manager. Admittedly, I was a few seconds late getting on the call, but when I did, my manager asked how I was.
I am fantabulous boss – Having a great day!
I tend to provide an exaggerated response at times, but I wanted to approach the conversation in a positive way. A few seconds later, I heard her mutter something under her breath. Something that lodged in my mind, and to be honest, it lodged deep in my mind and settled down, making itself quite comfy in there.
What she said is of no importance in this discussion, but the remark was my stumbling opportunity for the morning. My joy evaporated, my peace was torn, and the inner grumbling began. Thankfully I had the foresight to not mention this insignificant issue to my working peers, but it simply galled me.
Until I remembered the Word. How the Word provides the perspective I needed to interpret this remark, for the Word reminds me of the conditions we all live under. The disappointments, the stresses, the conflicts we all experience. The poor choices we all make, and the continual outflow of hurting and sinful hearts that we may be impacted by.
Until I remembered the Living Word, the Savior and how He took insult, injury, attack and hostility without stumbling. How he did not please Himself, but accepted the reproaches aimed at others.
Romans 15:3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
Great Peace can be experienced by the believer as he follows the example of the Son of God.
What a great verse! Why did it take me decades to find it?
To follow after God, who is our Great Peace, should produce great peace in our lives. Turmoil, turbulence and tension do not belong in the believers heart and mind.
God, our Great Peace does!
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.
I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.
SEEING JESUS IN
Cyrus
IDENTIFIED
Isaiah 45:4 For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.
Matthew 3:17 ESV – and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Cyrus is a much fuller topic than I had first imagined in relation to seeing Jesus in the Old Testament. I have mentioned previously that my assumption would be a couple of posts on Cyrus, and then move onto Daniel. Wow – will there be multitudes of images of Jesus in Daniel. Can’t wait!
But this tour through the life of Cyrus has been alarming, for as I entered this topic, I will freely confess I had never considered his life as a reflection of the Master. Yet here we are at another likeness to the Son.
Isaiah speaks of Cyrus’s identification to the people of Israel, even centuries previous to his appearance. He named him, spelling out his name for the people long before his birth, in order to provide guidance to His people, to give them information in order to know He is God, that He is the One who protects, guides and provides to His people in their need.
Cyrus was identified. Clearly marked out by the prophet, described even to his name!
More than Cyrus, Jesus was also clearly marked out by the prophet’s of old. Prophecy after prophecy, type after type, the Master was identified throughout the ages, so that those who saw His life, would know of His Person.
Although this series is on the typologies throughout the Old Testament, pointing those who want to see the Messiah in the history of the Book, multiple prophecies also were provided for the seeking soul. For those curious, I provided a series on this very topic, calling it “Old Testament Messianic Prophecies” and it turned out to be overwhelming. Over 350 prophecies were considered, pointing to the King and Savior, the Great High Priest.
My friend – the evidence is overwhelming. We have been clearly informed of who the Messiah is. He has been identified in multiple ways and through various methods.
The Jews were provided a name. Cyrus.
We have been flooded with ways to recognize the Messiah. Will you confess and agree? Will you follow?
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
253
GREAT LIGHT
Matthew 4:16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
John had just been put in prison. Things were trending to be against this new movement in Jerusalem. Those in the spiritual center of the region were actively seeking to “protect” the people of Israel from heresy.
The time would come when the Messiah would enter the lion’s den in Jerusalem, but for now, upon the imprisonment of John, Jesus headed north, to an area that didn’t have any spiritual light, that was despised by the elite of Jerusalem. Yes He headed to Galilee of the Gentiles, an area that some have estimated inhabited close to three million souls, a fertile farmland region, with a thriving fishing industry. Formerly a part of Israel, with a pure Jewish population found, the region had been “overrun” with Gentiles, to the point that it was defined by their presence.
Galilee of the Gentiles.
This is the region the Lord headed for as John was imprisoned. A region that was in darkness, spiritually speaking, not only in the opinion of those elites in Jerusalem, but also in truth. No prophet had appeared in the region since the area fell to Assyria over 700 years before, and was considered by those who knew best in Jerusalem to be a spiritual write off. Jerusalem was to be the focus for the religious elite, for in it the temple resided, the place where the Light had once been in the Holy of Holies. Granted, the Shekinah glory had not been resident in the Temple for centuries, but the claim to fame was still being held onto by the elite. Those of Jerusalem guarded a tradition, a religion, a past light that had left centuries ago, but the tradition was fiercely guarded, defended against from all competitors.
Even when that Great Light was introduced to the elite, he was imprisoned by the elite.
No – those in the know would protect their truth, defend their light and fight against all who would bring heresy. Definitely a defensive stance!
Jesus, the Great Light was different.
He would go to them, for how could He not? Light is not defensive in it’s nature but outgoing, defeating darkness, proceeding forward. Yes, He saw the rejection of light by those who claimed the light, but then proceeded to take the light to those who had no claim of light, who did not assume a spiritual standing before God.
The region was Gentile! Oh my goodness, how could anyone think there was a spiritual component to the area, when it was overpopulated with Gentiles.
But Jesus, the Great Light was different!
Jesus, as He entered the region performed many miracles, taught many stories, and lived a charmed life amongst them. As the Great Light amongst a darkened people, these folk, even the Gentiles amongst them were exposed to truth, light and love as never before.
Sadly some in the region exercised their stubbornness and remained blind, even though the Great Light was in their presence. This condition is a relevant truth to consider, for if there is darkness, it may be due to a self inflicted, stubborn streak in the one in need of light. After all, when Jesus was closing out His ministry, He condemned some of the cities He had shone in,
Matthew 11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Matthew 11:22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. Matthew 11:23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. Matthew 11:24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”
The Great Light shone in darkness and some who dwelled in darkness judged the darkness to be preferred.
Was it that they were not of the pure Jewish blood, those of Abraham’s lineage that they couldn’t recieve the light? I think not, for as we read of Jesus condemnation, Jesus compared those of Chorazain, Bethsaida and Capernaum with other Gentile cities.
As the Word constantly teaches, bloodlines, nationalities and religions are not the key to seeing light. The key to seeing light is a loss of blindness. And the first step to the loss of blindness is an admission of being blind.
The Great Light is still shining for all of us, and each of us may still retain a certain blindness to His glory. I readily admit my own blindness, my own desire to be in the land of darkness.
Lord help me as I dwell in my own darkness!
It is truly amazing that He not only is the Great Light, but that He came to those in darkness, even a self inflicted darkness, willing and able to provide sight to those who want to escape the darkness.
Each of us, whether we be Jew, Gentile (or even Canadian) have the privilege and responsibility to open our eyes to the Great Light. Once you do, it is a decision that will never be regretted, and that will cause you to keep coming back to that Light, for He is the One and Only Great Light!
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 74:9 We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long. Psalm 74:10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever? Psalm 74:11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!
Asaph is continuing in his struggle with the decimation of the sanctuary of God. Note that in his very lamentation of the conditions the nation is in, he speaks of signs, and that there is no prophet among them that can provide a timeline.
That screams of the human experience, of a man who is desperate to know, to be given guidance, to have someone who can provide answers. There is only silence. Deafening silence.
When a believer in in such a condition, I would suggest it is the worst of times and the best of times. (with apologies to Mr Dickens!)
Worst of Times
The worst of times, since the committed believer has cast in his entire life before the Lord, committed to the way of God, and now is in the middle of a decimation, when all appearances are dire and dark, when there is no communication from on high.
Dare I say that this is not the expectation of the typical believer when he signs up for the faith. If he is taught properly, he should understand, that difficult days will come, that to enter the kingdom of God we should expect many tribulations.
Acts 14:22 …. saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
But in the midst of the tribulation, the trial or the struggle, the believer expects the presence of God to be available, to be near, to be with him.
After all, it is a promise of the very One who suffered for us, who died completely alone, under judgement and abandoned by all, so that we never need be alone.
Matthew 28:20 ….And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Yet it appears Asaph is voicing the very thoughts I have had when going through a trial. The very thoughts many through the years have voiced.
A very quick review of the psalms provides a small sampling of the cries of those before us, when the very presence of God seemed so far away, when He seemed so distant and reluctant to enter into the fight.
Psalm 35:17 How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions! Psalm 79:5 How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? Psalm 89:46 How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?
This feels like an abandonment, a loss of connection, an isolation from the source of life. From the Written Word, we find many instances when the prophet, priest or king has experienced this loss. It seems this is not an uncommon experience for the committed to go through.
It certainly appears we have a conflict in the message. Faithful men of God have voiced the experience of abandonment, as Asaph has in this psalm. And yet the Master has promised to never leave us.
What can we say about this? What is going on?
Best of Times
Given the conditions Asaph was facing, to describe them as the best of times may seem ridiculous. I admit it. To be under persecution, under desolation, to only see the bleak and dark times, AND to not sense the person of God in the midst of the trial is rough. Very rough.
As with Asaph, I could admit that all my thoughts during these difficult times swirl around the struggle, around the doubts and possible further disappointing news in the coming days. No news of rescue, or even hearing of future relief. No one is able to provide a schedule when the Lord will provide relief. The coming days stretch out to a hopeless horizon.
So how is this condition of seeming abandonment the best of times? I realize I have not made a good case for this, but let me try steer the discussion to make the point.
You just need to stay with me till the end.
Remember that the psalmist spoke of no signs for the believer? I think this may hold a clue for the believer to enter into the best of times, even though he has seemingly been abandoned by God.
Asaph seemed to be expecting a sign to find relief, even as I do in the midst of a trial. But even as I refer to signs, I realize I am opening up a pandora’s box of thinking.
What is the intent of signs?
The intent of signs may be multiple, but for this poor ol’ fella, signs were primarily provided to a people group that had depended on signs throughout their history. Even the apostle will give us the general truth of the Jewish mindset towards God.
1 Corinthians 1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
Some demanded signs. We will address that topic in the next portion, but for now, we need to consider that the intent of signs was to point the watcher to a subject. Specifically, signs were to bring the witness to the God who provided the sign. Whether it be Elijah with the fire from heaven or the Son providing sight to the blind, each sign was provided to direct the witness of the sign to the God who provided the sign.
In summary sign were to direct the focus of those who witnessed the sign to God.
Not to provide eye candy, or a mode of life to maintain relationship with God. Imagine the only time your son loves you is when you flash a $50 in front of his eyes? Not an exact comparison, but somewhat similar to providing signs to maintain a relationship. Somewhat beggarly in my mind.
Are signs required?
John 4:48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
It seems during the discussion with the officials request for healing of his son, Jesus declares to the crowd that they need signs. As you may know, I am a citizen of Texas and as a citizen, have learned that to include two or more in a conversation, I use the term y’all.
As far as I understand this passage, if we were to translate Jesus statement in Texan, it might be…..
Unless y’all see signs and wonders y’all will not believe.
It seems there was an element in the crowd that Jesus was calling out to, that had began to require signs from the Lord. Though He healed the officials son, it was remotely, without anyone in the vicinity seeing this miracle, therefore negating the benefit to those demanding it.
Are signs a replacement for faith?
Signs can be wonderful experiences in the believers life, even initiating the faith of the saint. During our walk with the Lord we may experience miracles, mighty works, and amazing coincidences.
As I have testified to many, my family recently experienced a miraculous healing of my little grandson. He was found face down in the pond, not breathing, blue in the face and not responsive. The ambulance came and many thought he was gone.
It was the mercy of God in restoring this little fella, and just a few short days after his recovery, he told his momma that he know who made him.
Amazing grace and mercy! I was on top of the world, telling those I know and those I had never met. It lasted for about a week. Interruptions, distractions and responsibilities brought about a fading of the experience. It is so with all signs.
Don’t get me wrong – I am so thankful for His mercy in restoring little Theodore. He is quite the youngin’
But for the believer, it is the promise of God that stands the test of time. At any time, for any reason, in the midst of any trial, the Word of God is available to strengthen the believer, to focus the believer, to guide the believer, to encourage the believer, even when all feels desperate, dark and hopeless.
When I think of an Old Testament saint who typifies this very truth, I think of David as he was on the brink of mutiny, with his men turning on him, having lost his family and every hope gone. I have spoke on this passage earlier, but 1 Samuel 30:6 is a precious truth in the worst of times
6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
David was delivered by God from death even as future king was on the cusp of the grave at this time. He found encouragement in the valley of death in God alone. The Greater Son of David was not delivered from death. Yet He trusted His Father when all was going wrong. And He was delivered through death! What an amazing life Jesus led.
To mimic Him is such a high calling. To simply trust His Word when all of life is in desolation, even when the enemy has run roughshod through our lives, let us always return to the promise of God. Let us experience the best of times with the knowledge that God is with us even when all is falling apart, when all is collapsing, when all is dire and dark.
It is the walk of faith. May we have strength from God to walk it, finding victory even in the midst of disappointments and discouragements.
How did the ol’ prophet describe this walk of faith?
Habakkuk 3:17-19
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
252
GREAT KING OVER ALL THE EARTH
Psalm 47:2 For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.
The more I read the Psalms, the more I understand that those in touch with God in the Old Testament understood the global reach of the God they worshipped. They openly boasted of the non tribal nature of God, of His dominance over not only the inferior gods of the Philistines and Amorites, but that these gods of their neighbors had nothing in common with the God of Israel.
He is the Great King over all the earth, and in including all the earth, those old prophets included lands they knew of and beyond.
These men who wrote the Psalms would not be surprised millennia later, when the Lord Jesus claimed to have all authority, that He was King over all in heaven and on earth.
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
I can’t imagine that Jesus’ claim of authority, extending even into heaven, and not only over all the earth, would cause a stumbling for these prophets of old. These prophets described the God they worshipped as a Great King over all the earth, and didn’t only dwell on Israel’s immense privilege as the chosen nation that would produce the Messiah.
As the Great King over all the earth, He is to be feared, as the Psalmist describes. But it is important to understand that this fear is not the self crippling fear that causes inactivity in the Kingdom, but the very opposite.
Believers, in understanding that our God is the Great King over all the earth, have available the boldness required to take on tasks, or missions, that are unattainable in our own strength, that are of a “foolish” goal in the eyes of the world. The fear of the Lord, best understood, is to drive us from inactivity and into a confident faith that will require a dependance on our King for strength and wisdom.
This Great King may call you to a task that is beyond your capabilities, beyond your strength and beyond your wisdom. Fear the Great King, with a confidence that the Great King will provide that which is necessary for the one who fears Him.
For He is the Great King over all the earth!
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
I was tripping through some you tube shorts and found an amazing video of young boy about to get a needle.
Needles. Another topic that I loath.
I have confessed my distaste of anything related to eyeballs and my general reluctance to visit the optometrist, as I spoke in an earlier post, but I also am somewhat queasy when it comes to needles.
Yes I know – I am a bit of a weak kneed type of guy, a bit of what we used to call a sissy. (Is that word allowed any more?)
But in my tripping over you tube shorts, I found this kid with an attitude! (see the embed below) Nothing of the standard style attitude of self serving, or reluctance to get the nasty deed done.
Nothing like my own experience.
No – this kid was all over getting this needle. Even though tears fell, he was not delaying the inevitable, nor he was whining about how unfair life was, or trying to find a way to get out of the pinch.
No. Through the tears his attitude was amazing, and it speaks of the power of our outlook on life. Somehow this youngin had been taught that life was for the living, that though some things may hurt, let’s keep pushing forward. Avoidance of difficult things is for those who do not want to live!
Watch this little boy tackle a problem, and tell me you don’t want to face troubles and difficult times with the same energy this youngin’ had.
Super impressive!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
251
GREAT KING ABOVE ALL GODS
Psalm 95:3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
We have considered the simple adjective “Great” in an earlier post, (Names of God – GREAT IS OUR LORD – 249) with it’s varied meanings that may be applied to the subject, our God.
In our post this morning, we find the psalmist describing our God a a great King above all gods. Now when I read that, I confess, the comparison seems to be that of an apple with an orange.
Let me explain.
The psalmist is declaring God as a King, and then comparing this King against all other gods.
Yes it may seem like I am splitting hairs here, but the message is that God is not simply One who is creator and sustainer, but that He is ruler as a King, One who is a Monarch over the believer.
He is not One who is far away, having brought this creation into being, and One who simply provides for His creation, out of a self imposed responsibility, but One who is actively ruling over the people, One who has authority in the Kingdom, One to whom His subjects bow to willingly and out of deep devotion.
Notice the Psalmist speaks of our God as a King above all gods. This speaks to the competition we find in our lives as to the gods we listen to. There truly are other gods, and the Psalmist openly confesses to this tension, this competition that those in the Kingdom must wrestle with.
For the Psalmist though, it is a cut and dry position, a declaration for him that though there are other gods, there are none as high and lofty, none that exercise such a loving and righteous sovereignty over His subjects as the King we worship.
He is God, and He is Great, and He is a Great King. All of these descriptions describe our Savior, and this truth offers no real confusion when we consider how He has stepped into humanity, taken our weakness, proved His love and given righteous guidance as found in His Word.
He is King, a Great King over all other authorities!
May we worship Him in truth today.
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 74:4 Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they set up their own signs for signs. Psalm 74:5 They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees. Psalm 74:6 And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers. Psalm 74:7 They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground. Psalm 74:8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
Asaph is describing the complete desolation of the sanctuary of God. Not only a desolation of the sanctuary, but the apparent overpowering of the God behind the sanctuary. This is the overarching struggle for Asaph, for his faith in the God of Israel is in a God who parts the water, who delivers nations from bondage, who provides offspring to barren women and wins battles by unconventional means.
How could this desolation be happening? Asaph knows God can do something, but there is no response. It is as if God has abandoned His people. As we spoke of in our last post, Asaph called out for God to run to their rescue. God had abandoned them, and He needed to be reminded of His covenant with His people, for how could the foes find victory if God was still present?
Those foes in the sanctuary had no regard for the importance of the structure, what it represented and what they were doing.
Or did they?
Notice the last verse in our reading this morning. In their effort to subdue those of the land of Israel, the foes knew they needed to cripple the faith of the people. The synagogues (or local meeting places) along with the temple/tabernacle needed to be destroyed for victory over the people.
In order to subdue the people, all the meeting places of the people had to be destroyed. This is and has been the adversaries strategy for eons. Subdue the people, by destroying community, by tearing apart the body of Christ.
Even as the enemy took wild stokes of their axe on the structure of the sanctuary, so today we find an onslaught of attacks on the truth of God, the faith of the believer and the desire of the enemy to keep believers separate from each other.
During my weekday commute, I have been listening to the beatitudes in Matthew. Since it is not a time of study, I have been listening to the passage out of paraphrase called the Message. The passage in chapter 5 speaks of another reason for persecution by the enemies of faith.
Matthew 5:10-12
You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom. Not only that – count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens – give a cheer, even! – for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.
Not only do our foes know that to “defeat God”, they need to defeat the people of God. They hate the truth, for as they vigorously deny it, they are witness to the undeniability of its reality. Every time we join together in true worship, whether it be in massive congregations or small home studies, the sanctuary of God is revealed to the lost, the truth of the gospel is displayed to the foe, and an illogical hatred erupts in the heart and mind of those opposed to God and His people.
The foes destroying the sanctuary of God in our verses were not haphazard in their strategy of desolation. The battle plan has never been altered for time immemorial. Sure – the specific conditions are different, the faces may be unfamiliar, but the intended results are always the destruction of a unified, cohesive body of Christ, a congregation that is focused on the holy, and that seeks to follow the Truth.
As we seek to follow the truth, opposition will come in some form or another. It is the way of the world, that the god of this world does all he can to “swing the axe” within the sanctuary.
May we be strong believers, seeking to honor God, even as we may be entering a time of contradiction, when it appears God is quiet.
May we be faithful, knowing the heart of God even if He is quiet.
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
250
GREAT KING
Malachi 1:14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.
There are a number of issues going on with this passage. As I read it, certain New Testament passages are erupting in my mind.
That Swindler
Who is this cheat, this swindler that Malachi is pointing his finger to?
Although I rarely am reminded of this fact, Malachi is communicating to a very specific group of Israeli people. He is speaking to the priests, those men called by God to represent the people before Him, to receive the offerings God has prescribed for the nation.
This passage begins in verse 16 with the Lord’s direct charge to the priests.
Malachi 1:6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’
Malachi goes so far as to claim the priest “snort” at the offerings, and claim it is a weariness. Malachi then speaks of this cheat, this swindler, this priest who vows a male sheep of his flock.
That Land Hold up now – Were priests and Levites provided land in the original covenant? I know there is no mention of land in this verse, but where did the priest keep his sheep? Something tells me the Levites were to have no inheritance, no portion of the land of Israel.
Deuteronomy 18:1-2 “The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the LORD’s food offerings as their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the LORD is their inheritance, as he promised them.
Granted, by the time of Malachi, the Levites and Priest’s may have established a reason to have land in order to “manage” the sheep for offerings, but is that not similar to the Lord’s message in Mark?
Mark 7:9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! Mark 7:10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ Mark 7:11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”‘ (that is, given to God)–
Somehow I think the priest’s conveniently set up a tradition of owning land, but of course, it was a burden they accepted in order to serve God.
That Vow
We have noted that the priest looks down on the offerings, even snorting at them, and then we find he makes a vow. A vow of providing a male of the flock.
An acceptable sacrifice before the Lord is a male of the flock, an unblemished offering before the Lord. Multiple verses in the book of Leviticus, the handbook for the priestly order, speak of offering up an unblemished male.
Is it fair to understand that when the priest vows to offer a male, he is referring to an unblemished male according to the handbook of the priests?
I think this is a safe assumption!
But let us consider the vow for a minute more for making that vow seems to be a problem in my mind. Was it not the priest’s responsibility to offer up the correct sacrifice, so what is going on with this vow? Was it necessary?
As the Lord reminded us in the Beatitudes, those who shout out their acts of righteousness have their reward.
Matthew 6:2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. Matthew 6:16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
By making this vow, the priest may have been looking for his reward. But let’s think about that for a moment. What reward did a priest deserve? He was simply performing his religious duties. Do I want a pat on the back if I go to church? Do I look for a hooray if I give a missionary 50 bucks? Am I to expect accolades if I show mercy to one less fortunate?
Luke 17:9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? Luke 17:10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
Something is so wrong in this picture!
In Summary
We have a cheating priest, owning contraband land, and offering up left over, unwanted sheep to the Great King. How utterly amazing that the religious leaders of the chosen people had sunk so low.
Malachi was the last prophet to appear before John the Baptist introduces the Great King to Israel. Much of Malachi’s prophetic message decries the state of the priesthood of Israel. Over and over again Malachi represents the Great King as deserving of so much more respect, honor and devotion than He is receiving.
Is it not the same today? It is too easy to relate Malachi’s message to the ruling religious class of our modern church!
Prior to the crucifixion, Jesus spoke to one of the ruling religious class, and summarized Malachi’s message to the ruling religious class of his day.
Matthew 22:37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
For the laymen in the Body, let us also fear that we are also of the same ilk, providing to the Great King far less than He deserves!
For He is the Great King, the Ruler over all.
May we recognize our own sin before the Lord, our own disregard of the Great King, and humbly ask Him for forgiveness and power to love Him with all our hearts, soul and mind.
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
I finally went to the optometrist this Saturday. My glasses had become scratched, and my last checkup was close to two years ago.
It was time.
Now for most folks, a trip to the optometrist is no biggee. A puff of air on the eye, and a few drops in the ocular space, some flashing lights and staring through some fuzzy glass for ten minutes. For most, simply an inconvenience, a necessity to acquire a new set of eye crutches!
But for me, something went wrong in my mind a long time ago. Anything to do with eyeballs simply grosses me out. I get all gurgly inside, and simple leave a group if I think a conversation about eyes will get too graphic. And to think of contacts? No – not even a consideration!
So when I ended up in the optometrist’s chair, I was somewhat preemptively apologetic. Almost immediately, as the doctor came in, I warned her I was not going to be a very good patient, that I was really particular about eyeballs, and that I don’t mean to be difficult, but that is the patient she had.
She looked at me and asked me if I was an engineer.
Pardon me? What makes you ask me that?
She mentioned that many of her patients that are “particular” about their eyes are engineers, and that got me thinking. A subtle characteristic that I didn’t even realize was placing me in that group of humans known as engineers!
As I walk this life, I pray that more and more subtle characteristics of the Lord Jesus may be found in my life. Actions and attitudes that have “rubbed off on me” by being near the Master, things that I don’t even think of.
May it be so!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion
Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.
I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.
SEEING JESUS IN
Cyrus
FREE SALVATION
Isaiah 45:13 I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward,” says the LORD of hosts.
1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
We are in Isaiah once again, with the Lord Jesus clearly being seen through the eyes of a redeemed, freely purchased sinner.
Ok – I am getting ahead of myself, but when I see the setting free of exiles, and that freedom from exile is not for price of reward, that simply screams grace grace grace!
Can’t you sense the completely surprising freedom that is spoken of here? Imagine those who had lived under the Babylonian captivity all their lives, for by the time Cyrus came around, the Jews had lived in Babylon near to 70 years. Bondage in a strange land, amongst those of a strange tongue had been their lives, and though there had been prophecies of the captivity only lasting 70 years, the outworking of this freedom may not have been clearly communicated to those under the yoke of their captors.
Yes – the Jews had heard of the prophecies relating to the 70 years of captivity, from Jeremiah, and of that Daniel fellow. Details may have been a bit sketchy, and not much was understood about the one through whom this freedom would come. Maybe a powerful Jewish prophet like Moses would bring the people out of their Egypt. Or better yet, maybe a mighty Jewish king, like David could rally the downtrodden to escape from a world power such as Babylon.
No – not only was the freedom to come completely without cost, but was to be from a completely unexpected instrument in God’s hand.
A heathen king names Cyrus would provide a freedom from exile for the Jewish people, a freedom that would cost them nothing but a willing heart to follow after.
The cost for this freedom was expressed with two words, amplifying the freeness (is that a word?) of the freedom.
מְחִיר mᵉchîyr
This term is commonly referring to as a price or hire. For Cyrus, this was not a consideration in releasing the Jewish community.
As a contrast, when the Word refers to Antiochus Epiphanes, he made rulers, dividing the land for filthy lucre*.
Daniel 11:39 He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price.
שַׁחַד shachad
This term may refer to a bribe or a present, even in the bribing of kings
1 Kings 15:19 “Let there be a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.”
No bribing, or convincing with filthy lucre* was required for this freedom from exile to occur.
Cyrus was not provided any kickback, leverage, or influence – other than the character appreciation this act added to his stature – in the release of the Jews from his newly acquired kingdom. As a matter of fact, he added his influence to those who remained behind to fund those who ventured out!
Surely, with very little imagination, we can recognize a glimmer of the grace of the Lord Jesus in this heathen king, for Jesus surely rescued us from our captivity, giving us the water of life without price.
Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
May we remember the costly salvation we have been offered without price, and be a thankful people!
*BTW – for those younger than I – and I suspect most of my readers are, filthy lucre is an old phrase the KJV used for money, and it is just so appropriate at time to use the old term. As a curiosity, how many of my readers connected with the term prior to reading this footnote? Let me know.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
249
GREAT IS OUR LORD
Psalm 147:5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
As we consider the names of God, we see the same modifier describing different aspects or characteristics of our God. Such is the case for our current streak of Names.
Since we began in Post 245 – Great and Awesome Name, we have considered the modifier “Great” included in our descriptions. This should not surprise us, for our God is Great, but what does that mean?
Let’s consider some shades of meaning in relation to the term “Great”.
SIZE The first possible meaning might include the concept of size. You know – the fire was great, as in it was a large fire!
SIZE (in comparison) We sometimes call animals of the same genus “great” to differentiate them from others of like nature. An example might include the “Great Blue Heron”, or the “Great Grey Owl”. Great in this case relates to a comparison amongst the same type of animal
SIZE (numerically) How about the way great is used in relation to quantity? There was a great number of students waiting to go into class.
QUALITY Quality may be described when using great, as in – the cheese was great, better than I had ever tasted!
SUPERIORITY Great may be used in relation to character, to the noble and good life lived by a man or woman. She was a great servant of those in need.
SKILLFUL I have a friend that is adept, very skillful at learning languages. She is a great linguist!
CHIEF OR PRINCIPAL Great is sometimes used when describing the principal or main building on a site. I recently visited a ranch in Texas and had meetings in the “great” house.
ENTHUSIASTIC To be considered great in relation to enthusiasm would describe one who loves a certain topic or activity, and then be described as great. Something like – Frank was a great lover of hotdogs. (He wasn’t passive towards those dogs!)
There may be more shades of meaning I have missed, but to call our God Great may include some or all of these shades of meanings.
Which shade of meaning might you consider your favorite? Is there any shade of meaning that you might consider not applicable to God?
Let me know in the comments.
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Considering the Bible 