A few days back I discovered some additional shorts from Dr Leighton, teacher at Soteriology 101.
As I may have spoken of earlier in my posts, I spent many years consumed with the Calvinistic teaching, only to break free because of men like Dr. Flowers, who offer alternative views that make more sense and glorify God, making Him purer, and more loving.
I do hope you will consider the teaching with an open mind.
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.
127
EYE OF THE LORD
Psalm 33:18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,
The psalter has been reminiscing of the exodus and of Gods power exhibited in the overthrow of the the Egyptian army. Prior to our description of God as the eye of the Lord, the psalter speaks of warriors and horses.
Psalm 33:16-17 – The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.
Might he be thinking of the Egyptian army being vanquished by the Red Sea. Of course the conclusion after considering the Egyptian army is that the strength of men is a vain strength, a false confidence. Though the power nation of the time, their strength was consumed in a matter of seconds.
Exodus 15:4 “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
God has exhibited His care and power over the small and great nations through His wisdom. This is a wonderful truth, and yet the psalter starts our verse with “Behold”.
Though God is active in the national affairs of mighty nations, that is not all there is to God. God is also resting His eye, His attention on the one who fears Him. This is not an aggregate of thousands or tens of thousands that gather as a nation, but refers to an individual, a lone person, a solitaire and single person that is of the right spirit, that is humble, fearing the Lord.
Behold the Eye of the Lord is on the individual. The solitaire man, woman or child, that fears Him and trusts in His mercy.
As I grow older in the Lord, I realize I have so little to offer Him, such an insignificant servant. One who had great dreams and aspired to much. Missionary work in far flung nations, self sacrifice for the poorest of the poor. So proud. So full of myself.
And yet my life is a “common” life, that of a husband and father who gets up every morning to go to work and comes home at night to help out around the house, watch my grandbabies occasionally and then fall asleep, only to repeat again the next day.
Yet the Eye of the Lord has been my ever present protection and guide. He is the One who works in the insignificant, amongst the common man who fears the Lord. He is the One who exhibits mercy to us, and as I get older, I see His steadfast love in the day to day experiences of His protection, guidance and comfort.
Oh to recall that His eye, the Eye of the Lord is upon those who trust the Christ. May we fear Him and to depend on His mercy for more in our lives!
For He truly is the One who is good.
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.
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
I am somewhat surprised that in our trek through passages that address the conditional security of the believer, we are just now considering 2 Corinthians 9 & 10. It may be that as a lengthy passage I felt overwhelmed in approaching it, or that it hits a few sensitive spots that need to be addressed in my own walk with the Lord. What ever the issue, let us not be fearful of the truth.
Paul begins this passage with a picture of an athlete, a runner whose goal is to run and win a race. The connecting theme between the runner and the believer is the exercise of self control in all things. He is looking to provoke the believers into exercising self control for the sake of obtaining a prize.
Yet this passage has somewhat bothered me, in that it conjures up in my mind a competitive spirit between believers. Is Paul seeking to pit believer against believer in this passage. Only one can win! Run (against your brother) to win.
But I don’t think Paul intends to communicate that believers are running against each other, but that they all need to exercise self control, as those of the world do. The world competes for a leaf that fades, and in the midst of that effort, may employ methods that are less than of the highest morals in order to get an edge.
Not so with Paul’s audience. Paul is comparing their goals with our goals – not of beating our competition – i.e. other believers, but of attaining to a reward, an eternal reward. The act of self control is similar in both competitors fields, but for the believer, the motivation is for an eternal goal, an eternal crown.
As it is with those who seek a leafy crown, some believers fall away, some are taken out of commission (go home seemingly early), and some are disqualified. And in this passage Paul is considering the threat of disqualification for himself!
Disqualified
It is the term that I couldn’t explain away when I was a young believer, so I often skipped over the verse, or connected the passage with rewards – which made some sense since Paul speaks of rewards just a verse earlier. Yet to be disqualified may mean more than simply the loss of rewards.
Disqualified is the translation of the Greek term ἀδόκιμος adókimos, and has the sense of being unapproved, rejected, worthless, a castaway, a reprobate. Harsh words.
I ask my reader to consider that if an athlete is rejected from the games, being considered not worthy of entering future competition (worthless to the judges), any rewards he may think are coming to him will also be lost. His loss is not only the rewards, but also his reputation, his name, his career, his livelihood, his very life focus that he had committed to for years.
Disqualification is a brutal set back, a judgement that one may never recover from. Remember, Paul is speaking of his own disqualification in this passage. Yes the great apostle Paul did no consider himself beyond this possibility.
Later on, he speaks of disqualification regarding those in the Corinthian church, using the very same word. (See Conditional Security – 2 Corinthians 13:5-9) There didn’t seem to be any believer that were immune to this danger! Every believer, from the apostle Paul to the young girl who served the saints a drink of water. All believers were in this potential danger of being disqualified!
However you see this passage, whether it be of service or of salvation, it is a dire warning to us all to heed the word of the Lord in keeping his ways, his commandments, his principles.
Breaking His law of love may bring about disqualification. No believer wants that, and certainly the Lord seeks to avoid this judgement on a believer. May we never give reason for this to be an issue before our Redeemer.
May we all seek Him, and His ways in our lives, for His glory and our benefit!
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 would like to receive daily posts from Considering the Bible, click on the “Follow” link below
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
ABRAHAM
INTERCEDES FOR OTHERS
Genesis 18:23 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
Luke 6:12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. Luke 22:45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,
Abraham had a family member in trouble.
At the beginning of Genesis 18, three “men” stood in front of Abraham. Abraham begged them to stay for refreshment, even a meal, and it turns out these men spoke of Abraham’s future child by his wife Sarah. We have in this story the laughter of Sarah’s disbelief, and the timing of their son’s birth foretold. It was about to become real within twelve months!
Although it appears the “men” had come to discuss Abraham’s future children, they were also on their way to a city called Sodom. As Abraham assisted them on their journey, God revealed to Abraham that the “men” were on their way to judge if destruction was to fall on the City of Sodom – where Lot and his family lived.
Abraham stood still, eventually drawing near to the LORD and then began to reason with God. He actually pleaded using the very nature of God against Him. You are not unjust! What if there are 50 righteous men. Will you kill them along with the unrighteous? What about 40? 30? 20? 10?
Abraham knew his God and advocated for those in a city He may not know. Except for Lot, Lot’s wife, their three daughters and their husbands, and hopefully, two righteous slaves. If Lot’s family was considered righteous, we have the ten Abraham may have been fighting for if we have 2 additional righteous slaves. We don’t know, yet he interceded for the city, and risked the anger of the Lord in his efforts.
It turns out only four survived the judgement. Yet Abraham’s interceding was effective, for it moved the heart and will of God to allow for Abraham’s desires to be realized. Abraham interceded, and God agreed. Even though ten were not found, God rescued four. God was righteous in that no righteous soul died in that conflagration. How utterly shocking that God’s righteous nature, that Abraham argued with God about, was realized in the saving of four souls, far less than the ten Abraham prayed for!
Jesus, in His intercession, prayed for His disciples, and of those who believed through their word, and finally that the world would know that God had sent Him. Abraham sought his own will, that is, the safety of some in Sodom by the removal of judgement and destruction. Jesus sought the Father’s will, not His own will, and joined into that will of God through a judgement undeserved, to deliver all those whom He prayed for.
Billions of souls later, He is still interceding for us.
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.
126
EXALTED
Psalm 148:13 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven.
I have been a believer for over four decades, and I remember the first time I simply considered God as being exalted.
Exalted, to be inaccessibly high, to be beyond and above, to be out of reach. As I considered His stature, His position only seemed to get greater and farther away, to be so out of reach, and yet He was with me, teaching me and stretching my understanding.
I was out late that night, walking my route with no one around, all the homes quiet, and not a dog barking for miles. Quiet. No traffic in that section of London that night. I just so happened to come to a pedestrian crossing, dang it if I still can picture it in my mind, with an old brick house converted to a corner store on my left, broken sidewalk below my feet, the curbing missing and the pavement cracked. It was, I tend to remember, a starless night with just an old street light giving some sight for me.
Yes, I remember that night forty years ago – the freedom, the loss of worry and fretting, the inner joy that was almost unbearable, and the holy fear of maintaining His presence. He cracked the door for me that night, gave me a glimpse, be it ever so small, that has remained with my memory ever since. All the surroundings became an anchor for my mind to remember such a privilege.
He is high. No matter the height you image He may dwell in, you, and I have not understood it correctly. He is very high, exalted above all and everything.
That night my only response to Him was praise. No prayer, no requests, no sharing of my burdens or concerns, no formulaic prayers. As a matter of fact I had no concerns, or burdens, or needs. I could only praise Him out of the mystery He is, out of the exalted position (weekly as I understood it) He dwells in.
He is Exalted
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.
125
EXACT IMPRINT
Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
This is somewhat of a daunting name for myself as I have always associated this name with an imprint, or a stamp. Not sure where I got that idea, and I am not trying to assign error with this understanding. It is just that it doesn’t seem to connect with me. Maybe I am being too literal – Remember I tend to be too literal at times – but to associate Jesus as the imprint of God’s nature doesn’t tell me anything very specific. And I tend to associate it with a physical form that creates an imprint or stamp, and we all know that is not the message Hebrews is trying to communicate.
So I am left with a bit of a dilemma. How shall I try to write on something I don’t get? Of course – some may say that hasn’t stopped me before with most of my previous posts. That may be true!
Nevertheless, when all else fails, I started to study the phrase and looked initially at Strong’s dictionary. What a wonderful tool for the layman to take advantage of.
What I found was that the phrase “exact imprint” in the Greek New Testament is χαρακτήρ, transliterated as “charaktḗr” Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the similarity of this transliterated word to our English word “character”.
This was an amazing find for me, for if I read this passage with this substitution, we get the following…
He is the radiance of the glory of God
and the character of his nature.
He is the character of God’s nature. Wow – That helps me so much.
In my mind there are numerous passages that speak of the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ, for which I am so thankful. This one passage, though strong on this topic based on my previous understanding, has now “landed” in my understanding. I get it – at least I get it better than before, and will be one of those passages that I will return to in discussions with saint or sinner.
He is the Character – the Exact Imprint – of God’s nature! Think of that for a moment – the suffering Savior has revealed not only the heart of God, but His exact nature.
May we praise Him for who He is!
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.
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
It’s all a matter of degree. How often do I have to forgive? Do I really need to do it again? I forgave him three times already and he isn’t learning his lesson. Why keep forgiving him?
Let me submit to my gentle reader that that is the wrong way to look at the Christian life. Or at least the wrong mental stance when it comes to hearing His word for us.
We are not to consider our Christian lives as a grudging obedience of a number of commands. A life of laws pushing us around. The principles God provides us sometimes feel risky in obeying them, can take us out of our comfort zone, can actually be unfair! But we need to realize that His ways are given to us for our own good.
Let’s take a look at this parable and consider it’s implications. I have looked at this parable in a previous post that may be of interest to my reader. Find it at Parable Surprises – Unmerciful Servant
We have three subjects in this parable, with the unmerciful servant being the man to watch. He has a freaking huge debt with the King, and the King, rightly so, requires payment. A payment he can’t provide. He begs for time to pay it all back – which sounds good, but this debt was beyond that cure! Time wasn’t going to solve this problem!
So the King had two options. Sell the servant, his wife, his children and all that he had!
Or forgive him of all debt. Release the servant, and his entire family, of his debt obligation. Free him of his responsibility to the King, and allow him to continue living with his family, and to continue with his possessions.
Grasp this action, this ridiculously gracious and undeserved action this servant received. This was not per the legal code of the day, for the servant was responsible by law for the repayment. This servant was granted his life back, and the lives of his family!
But this act of grace, of forgiveness, of unbounded mercy did not translate into this servants life. There was something wrong with this servant! Something terribly wrong! For as soon as he could, he started calling in debts from those who were his equal, his fellow servants. And for paltry amounts, the sort of amount that is petty in comparison.
The parable also implies the servant was quick to find this debtor, and when confronted him, actually began to choke him, demanding payment. Now of course, he had every right to demand payment by law, but give me a break – what is wrong with this fellow?
The surprise in all of this parable is the King’s reaction. Yes he had freely provided forgiveness to the servant, but upon hearing of the flagrant disregard to responding this this act of grace, called the servant back to his throne.
‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
Remember this is the king speaking. His grace, mercy and forgiveness is being rescinded based on the servants actions!
And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
This passage shook my core when I first quit ignoring it’s principle message. We, as believers, who know of the unfathomable forgiveness granted to us in the cross of Christ, should want to forgive everyone, should have had a life experience that draws us to forgiving others.
For believers to hold resentment, refuse to forgive, to nurse a grudge or maintain hateful attitudes towards our own brothers and sisters should alarm our souls to the danger we are living in.
At the very least, holding back forgiveness may simply reveal a lack of understanding the grace provided us. An unforgiving heart and it’s resulting actions, based on this passage should warn us that our forgiveness may be rescinded some day.
For those who have never experienced the forgiveness of God, you may not think forgiveness is a blessing to the forgiver. Please understand to forgive another is a blessing that we enter into, finding freedom to live the life God intended for us.
God is good, and He rejoices to forgive.
Luke 15:7 … I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents ….
If we are believers, and have the life of God in our lives, we will experience the same joy.
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 would like to receive daily posts from Considering the Bible, click on the “Follow” link below
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
ABRAHAM
COVENANT KEEPER
Genesis 17:9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
Mark 14:24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
Abraham, when confronted with God in the 17th chapter of Genesis, is introduced into a covenant with God. The very first verse of the chapter has God describing Himself as “God Almighty”, and that Abraham was to walk before Him blameless.
Note that Abraham was to walk before God blamelessly in order that God may make a covenant with Abraham. This covenant was a bilateral covenant, one in which both parties to the covenant had responsibilities.
We have addressed the blessing God was offering to Abraham in previous posts, but in this post we want to emphasize Abraham’s responsibility before God.
This covenant, this bilateral covenant was intended to include an everlasting possession, a promised land, and God was intended to be their God (v9).
And the sign of the covenant? Circumcision. It was to be a sign. A sign of faithfulness to the covenant. The child was to be circumcised, an act of obedience of the parents, an indication of the parent’s hope for the child and the intention of the child to walk blameless before God. The sign of circumcision that would forever identify a man as being God’s. A sign that no one saw, for it was a private, hidden sign. A sign between God and the follower.
This sign of circumcision, in this instance indicates intention; intention of the parents to lead and for the child to follow, to be blameless before God.
Centuries later, a child was born, and though He was circumcised, and the parents sought to lead Him into a life of blamelessness before God, there was to be a revolutionary, unexpected, “outrageous” fulfillment of another covenant, forever linked to this Child.
Not only was Jesus blameless before men and God, but fully righteous (there is a difference!), and without sin. His acts, thoughts and desires only reflected a complete and utter obedience to the Father above.
Yes, He was circumcised but that was a shadow of an ancient covenant that His parents rightly observed. His covenant was to be greater, as the shedding of blood is greater than the shedding of a portion of skin as a baby. A self sacrifice that would initiate the greatest covenant offered to fallen man, a death that would produce life.
He initiated the covenant, He is Lord of the covenant, and has kept His covenant with His people.
His covenant is offered to all, and to enter this covenant, it is only to look to Him, to see Who He really is, and to follow. To believe He is the One, and to leave your sin behind.
Will you enter the covenant? He has poured out His blood for the many, and the many could include you.
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.
124
EVERLASTING KING
Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
This name of God is our last in our mini series of “everlasting” names. It seems fitting that the Word has 7 names of God that speak in one way or another of His everlasting being.
Our last name of God is the Everlasting King, and since the listing has been alphabetical, I would not want to imply this is the least of all the names!
As Jeremiah spoke this name, He was in the midst of geopolitical upheaval that few have lived through. In the midst of this upheaval, Jeremiah speaks to a core reason for the upheaval. Idolatry.
By bending the knee to any other that the true God, brings conflict and enmity between men, and is the cause of pain throughout our history. Jeremiah mocks the very thought of idolatry, having known the True God and seeing this behavior form the view point of God.
The passage has Jeremiah speak of the vanity of idols, the uselessness of referring to an idol. Although idols can be beautiful, and intimidating, and pervasive, does not establish idols as true.
Jeremiah speaks of idols as being decorated with costly coverings, and the formation of the idol requiring great skill, yet they are simply a chunk of wood, an inanimate object that cannot speak, and that has no sentient existence.
Yet in our day, this truth is still valid, for how many idols are available for us to grovel at? Every thing created by man has the “idolatry factor” included in its existence.
I suppose the complexity of idols has grown exponentially, from a wooden block to technical marvels. Massive computers that “forecast” the future weather, or mechanical robots that are beginning to “think”. But complexity, or the increased skill set of the one creating the machine does not make the idol of greater value
The visual beauty of idols may have also greatly increased, grabbing our eyes and attention. Tremendous visual displays are everywhere, overloading our senses, providing messages for us to consider, seeking to convert the believer from God. We are in the midst of a land full of messages glaring at us through computers, billboards and most effectively the cell phone. This inundation of false beliefs delivered through visual beauty does not make the idol of greater value.
The fact that all the nations bow down to an idol, that everyone else is giving attention to an idol, whatever idol they choose, does not make the idol of greater value.
Idols, per Jeremiahs message, are pure vanity, of no value.
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.
A few days back I discovered some additional shorts from Dr Leighton, teacher at Soteriology 101.
As I may have spoken of earlier in my posts, I spent many years consumed with the Calvinistic teaching, only to break free because of men like Dr. Flowers, who offer alternative views that make more sense and glorify God, making Him purer, and more loving.
I do hope you will consider the teaching with an open mind.
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.
123
EVERLASTING FATHER
Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
My brother-in-law once asked me if Jesus is our Father? What? Why would you even think that?
It turns out that he was asking a very good question, a question challenged me when he referred to the above verse to justify his request.
Although there are ways to address this seeming problem while referring to the Trinity as One God, that the characteristic of Fatherhood is consistent through each of the persons of the Trinity. Although it is common to refer to the Father as the One who sent Jesus the Son on mission to the earth, each of the persons in the Trinity may be thought of as Fatherly.
One additional viewpoint is that the term “Everlasting Father” speaks of Jesus as the author, or source of eternity. The phrase may be expressed as father of eternity if I understand it correctly.
No matter how you understand this name as it relates to the Savior, we have a passage that speaks of the Fatherhood of our God, and as a believer who lost his father early in his life, I have not typically thought of our God in this way. This speaks of my spiritual poverty, for to consider the Creator/Redeemer as my Father provides a life changing perspective on God.
So many impacts of relating to God as my Father come to mind, but for this post, the approachableness of God bears on my thoughts. To think that the One who has been offended by my sin, rejected by my attitudes and actions, and occasionally ignored in my thinking has His arms open to me, His door always open, and His heart ready to hear of my repentance and love to Him is a truly amazing truth.
And as a father, I have come to know the joy of my own children coming to me for advice, of their reaching out for help or guidance, of their sharing a joy or trial with me.
Is it correct to think we bring joy to the Everlasting Father when we come to Him with our burdens, our concerns, our request for guidance? As a child years back, I would think this would only be a burden for my father, but now I realize to be a father is to look for these times when your children come to you.
He is the Everlasting Father, and He waits for us to reach out, to ask for forgiveness, to seek guidance or to simply be with Him.
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.
1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
First off, let’s assume the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God. There is a teaching in the church that would differentiate the two. Since Matthew was teaching to a Jewish audience in his gospel, he respected their sensibilities and referred to the kingdom as “of heaven” and not as “of God”, where a strict Jew may find unnecessary offence. (There would be plenty of necessary offence as the Jew read his gospel!)
Find the following comparison of passages, speaking of the same story, yet using different terms associated with kingdom, that may help illuminate those who struggle with this.
Kingdom of Heaven – Kingdom of God Matthew 11:11-12 – Luke 7:28 Matthew 13:11 – Mark 4:11 Matthew 13:11 – Luke 8:10 Matthew 13:24 – Mark 4:26 Matthew 13:31 – Mark 4:30 Matthew 13:31 – Luke 13:18 Matthew 13:33 – Luke 13:20 Matthew 18:3 – Mark 10:14 Matthew 18:3 – Luke 18:16 Matthew 22:2 – Luke 13:29
Oh, but you say, this message was for those who would experience the physical, re-establishment of Israel as the Messiah’s nation to rule over. Kingdom speech, whether using “of God” or “of the kingdom” referred to the nation of Israel realizing the promises of God in the Old Testament, of becoming the nation that would have as it’s King He who would subdue the world, every nation bring subservient to the King and His nation.
This was a manner of thought I lived in for a period of my Christian life, and thought the body of Christ was a distinctly different group under God, as if God had two families. I shied away from passages when an apostle referred to the Body of Christ as the Kingdom, or simply overlooked the implication. Yet the apostles did not mind referring to the church as the Kingdom.
Starting in Acts, and searching for kingdom references until Revelation, we have 31 passages. Granted there are a couple in Revelation that refers to the kingdom of this world, but suffice to say, the early church had no problem with the church being referred to as a kingdom.
With all my previous arguments for not considering this passage in Matthew for my own standing before God, but as only for an ancient people, let us try to understand the principle message and the application for us today.
In the culture of the day, a wedding took the form of three stages. The first being the engagement, in which two fathers would make an agreement concerning their children. The next stage was a betrothal, where the children, now of marrying age, would make a formal mutual promise to each other. The last stage, the actual marriage ceremony, would occur approx. twelve months after the betrothal. Not necessarily exactly twelve months, as the custom allowed for the bridegroom to come unexpectantly. Jesus picks up this cultural norm to apply to His coming to get His bride, the church.
And as the bridegroom would arrive, as he travelled to the brides home, the virgins of the wedding party would meet him and return to the place of marriage with the bridegroom. It seems in this parable, the ten virgins had been given a possible time of the bridegrooms appearance, and headed to the meeting place to wait. And as we know from the parable, five of these virgins knew the bridegroom was coming that night. Or were they were just lazy? Certainly they were foolish!
At the risk of boring my reader with my past beliefs, the very teaching I followed, that allowed me to disregard a passage as this for my own life, produced this same condition in my heart. I would never say it out load, but I knew Jesus was coming back soon, and I planned accordingly. Short term plans, just getting by, ignoring long term problems that might arise from my short term thinking. Sound familiar?
Jesus is coming back, and He may be coming back before you are done reading this post. But He may be coming back in 10,000 years. My planning, as it was for these virgins, must be for the worst case scenario, where the bridegroom may “be delayed”.
Another application of this passage is that we are not to rely on others for that with which we are responsible. I can’t rely on my wife’s faith to be credited to my life. I can’t assume my child’s faith will somehow bring me into good standing with God. I need my own oil, and I need my own oil now. Assuming I have enough oil to make it may be fatal. And for the foolish virgins, it turned out to be fatal, for the very purpose of their life at the time was to be at the marriage feast.
They were refused! They were refused because they were not ready for an extended period of waiting.
Have you been waiting for years for the Lord’s return? Possibly decades? Personally, I have been granted the privilege of knowing the Lord for 43 years now, and have went through many times of discouragement, disappointment and disillusionment. As I look back, He has always been there for me, showing grace, forgiveness and guidance. In those years, He has provided encouragement as I look to Him, as I seek Him out, as I consider (and sometimes reject) popular teaching if the Bible teaches differently.
He will be coming back on His schedule, whether it be today or in the year 2924. No one knows, but we have the blessing of knowing Him today, preparing for His return as we look to Him, as we ask for His guidance, blessing and strength.
God is good, and we need to be prepared daily for a long term faithful walk with Him. Short term thinking may cause you discouragement, disappointment and disillusionment that will war against your soul.
God is good, and we can trust Him, for He is good, all the time, even until 2925. (And beyond)
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 would like to receive daily posts from Considering the Bible, click on the “Follow” link below
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
ABRAHAM
FRUITFUL
Genesis 17:6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.
Hebrews 6:14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.”
Earlier on in Genesis, the Lord spoke to Abram of the many offspring He would produce through Abram. We reviewed this topic in Genesis 15:5 a couple of weeks ago. See Jesus in the Old Testament – Abraham – 13 if of interest.
Although this occurrence seems to be of a similar massage as before in Genesis 15, the message is slightly different, in that God comes to Abram speaking of fruitfulness. In the middle of this message of fruitfulness, God informed Abram of two things.
Abram would now be Abraham.
God was to establish a covenant with Abraham. A covenant of circumcision to be obeyed.
So my ears perk up – How does fruitfulness and circumcision relate to each other?
Let’s take a moment and consider some passages that may shed some light on the idea of circumcision, and see if it connects with fruitfulness.
When God initiated the command of circumcision, it was directedly related to the obedience of the believer to the Word of God. Notice two verses that directly speak of the covenant of circumcision and obedience linked together.
Genesis 17:9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
Genesis 17:10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
As mentioned in earlier post, Abram would have many offspring, speaking to the quantity of children he could claim as from his loins. But I wonder – Is there such a thing as an offspring that is not fruitful?
To be fruitful, as we find through the witness of the Word, speaks of obedience. Fruitfulness is the result of obedience. Many reading may know of believers, all in various states of fruitfulness. Some even may not be exhibiting any fruit in their lives, and yet they are offspring.
Where are you going with this Carl?
I am suggesting that there is a difference between the quantity of children and the quality of children. Consider Isaac – he had two sons (quantity), but one son was of a different quality, experienced a different fruitfulness, compared to the other.
In Genesis 15, Abram was addressing his lack of any children when speaking to God, that he only had a servant to pass down to. God said he would have many physical children.
In this passage, I would suggest that out of the many, many offspring of Abraham, some would be fruitful, obedient offspring.
Abraham, to be sure, was exceedingly fruitful. Joseph was exceedingly fruitful. Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, the prophets, faithful priests. All fruitful.
Yet there was One who is the epic topic of this verse. He is the ever fruitful, ever blessed One who, through life eternal would continually produce fruit to God, even through us, if we listen and obey.
He is the Fruitful One
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.
122
EVERLASTING ROCK
Isaiah 26:4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.
This name is one more description of our God with the Hebrew term olam used to describe Him. As a matter of fact, there will be a total of eight Names of God that include the this Hebrew word.
For those who may find this post and not have been following the series, check some of my earlier posts to consider what the message is, and how it may be understood. Or do a search on eternal/everlasting within this blog.
For our God to be called an everlasting rock, at first seems to be a misnomer, for what rock have you ever found that is not from antiquity.
If we believe the scientists who say they know, rocks have been in existence for 13.8 billion (or is it trillion) years. That kinda smacks of everlasting. And if we understand the law of the conservation of matter, the rock (or at least it’s components) will always exist.
But all of this is simply restricted thinking, since both these statements above cannot prove their claim, as in the age of the rock, nor has the law of conservation considered anything outside of creation in their theory.
Both statements remove God from the analysis, and come up short for the sake of the believer. Let me clarify one point. To be honest, the conservation of matter is an important theory by which mankind can see the faithfulness of God in the stability of creation. At least it should bring a man to a humility when he observes this consistency in creation, but I fear we have lost humility before God, and replaced it with a pride of knowledge – So sad. But I digress!
For our God to be called a Rock, is to call Him as the One who is stable, immovable, unchanging and of great weight. He is the everlasting Rock, the God who is the same yesterday, today and forever, never changing in His character, in His nature, in His abilities, unless by voluntarily abdicating His privilege’s for a greater purpose.
The concept of God as being of great weight may make you think I am thinking pounds, tons and grams. My friend – this is not my thought when I bring the concept of great weight to your thoughts.
For a rock to have great weight many also bring the idea of influence, or even authority.
Let me tell you a short story, about a your husband who was trying to supply for his family, and found an odd job digging out material from beside a house foundation. I spent the better part of the morning and most of the afternoon laboring away, until I hit a large rock aprox. equal to my hip when in the hole.
My job was to excavate along the foundation, and the rock was in the way. Eventually I freed the rock from the material surrounding it, and as gravity would have it, the rock “influenced my movements” until a co-worker returned to the site. Yes, it pinned me to the wall, and though it was a heavy sucker, what I remember most is that it influenced my ability to move. I was locked up, helpless and without any hope until someone came to my rescue.
That inanimate rock influenced me, made it’s will dominant over mine, and stopped me from completing my work.
Our God is the Everlasting Rock, and His influence steers our lives. Sometimes against our will, sometimes with our will, sometimes to change our will. But His influence is very real, especially if you open your eyes to the many times you may have been frustrated with life, or found disappointment with your circumstances, or needed to change your mind due to circumstances beyond your control.
You see, He is in control, and as the Everlasting Rock, He is a shelter for us, a foundation for us, a stability for our lives, but He is also the great influence. He is the Rock.
Matthew 21:44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Consider the Rock, and how you relate to Him. Until we come to understand He is the the One who has the greater weight, the greater influence, the final decider, we are be on very shaky ground.
Don’t let the Rock crush you simply because of stubbornness.
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.
And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.
Jesus mentioned mountains being moved in two passages in Matthew. The one above and once when He healed a demoniac in Matthew 17. I would like to consider the verse in Matthew 21 in this post.
Bumper stickers and posters are emblazoned with this sentiment, some even including the reference to the sea. Yet was Jesus providing this teaching to His students to encourage them in their prayers regarding really hard things? Let’s think about this.
Jesus had entered Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey, being praised by the city of Jerusalem. After entering the Temple, Jesus cleansed the Temple, rebuking the leaders of the Temple. His rebuke, of describing the leaders as those who had made the Temple a place where robbers felt safe (from God?) is rife with religious tension. He begins to heal the blind and lame in the temple, and defends the praise offered from those who received Him to the chief priests and Pharisees.
After a full day of activities, Jesus resorts to the little town of Bethany for the night. In the morning, as He and his disciples were on the way back to Jerusalem, Jesus curses a fig tree, with it withering up, even as the disciples watched.
Matthew 21:19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
The disciples were shocked! Immediately they asked the Lord – “How did the fig tree wither at once?”
Upon this question we have our passage for the day. It is initiated because of the death of a fig tree, a very, very uncommon circumstance in the ministry of the Lord.
Can anyone remember why the fig tree was cursed? It only had leaves, no fruit. It looked alive but produced nothing of benefit for man. Jesus made permanent the condition of the fig tree, and it withered immediately.
Jesus, as He and his men are heading back into Jerusalem, is giving His disciples a picture of the fate of Jerusalem, for it too also has the appearance of life, but produces no fruit, nothing of benefit for man.
Numerous times Jesus referred to Jerusalem/Israel as a fig tree. Consider Matthew 24:32-35, where Jesus links the present generation in Jerusalem with a fig tree putting forth it’s leaves.
In the Old Testament, Israel is compared to a fig tree.
Hosea 9:10 Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.
Ok, but why didn’t Jesus continue with the fig tree metaphor if He was going to speak of Jerusalem? What is this mention of mountains have to do with this withered fig tree?
Mountains also are a metaphor used in the Old Testament to refer to a political power.
Isaiah 66:20 And they shall bring …. to my holy mountain Jerusalem…
Daniel 9:16 “… let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill….
Holy hill in this translation is the same Hebrew word used in other passages and translated as mountain.
Psalm 2:6 As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
Ok, so we have briefly established the metaphors of a fig tree and a mountain as referring to the same object, that is the city of Jerusalem. Although there may be an implied difference between fig tree and mountain when referring to Israel that may be interesting to pursue, I will leave that study for another time. Suffice it to say, that as Jesus was heading back to Jerusalem, with the city within sight of the disciples, He cursed a fig tree and made reference to its upcoming death.
The type of death this fig tree / mountain was to experience was to be “thrown in the sea”. Let us not be shackled to a literal interpretation at this point, for the reference to the sea is also illuminating if we allow the Old Testament to speak to us
Ezekiel 26:3 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves.
Many nations = sea bringing it’s waves
Psalm 144:7 Stretch out your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of foreigners,
Isaiah 60:5 ….because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
So let’s recap. Jesus cleanses the temple, defends the praise offered to Him to the temple leaders, and as He is heading back into Jerusalem the next day, prophecies of Jerusalem’s demise through a miracle. This death of Jerusalem would occur in one generation, 40 years later, when the Romans would come and disperse what remained of the nation of Israel into the nations surrounding them.
70 AD was the fulfillment of this saying of Jesus before the disciples, and in their ministry, their prayers for the success of the church brought about the end of the nation of Israel.
As a matter of fact, Jesus, in the message of a dead fig and a wet mountain, was informing the disciples of their call to bring about world change – the end of Israel as a theocracy, a nation that was to deliver God’s message to the nations.
That mission was now to be performed by the church.
We sometimes see Matthew 21:21 as a call to persevere in prayer through a difficult time, and by application this verse speaks to our needs.
But we often sanitize the sayings of Jesus so much, we forget the radical message He sometimes provided. This passage certainly provides a challenge to the disciples, a world changing challenge.
Governments topple due to prayer. History tells us that Israel fell to the Romans. The church marched on!
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.
121
EVERLASTING NAME
Isaiah 63:12 who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name,
Isaiah again speaks of God with the term “everlasting” and in our verse this morning, he speaks of the everlasting name as the goal of God’s actions in this world.
But let us consider what it means to have a “name”. Is it simply the combination of verbal noises that string together a complex (or simple) sound to identify a person. When someone lets the term “Carl” slip from their mouth, I identify with that noise. Is that all Isaiah speaks of? Simply a method of identifying a person?
I think not.
Isaiah reaches back in the history of Israel, and reminds the nation of God’s deliverance from Egypt, focusing on the crisis God resolved when there was no hope, for the Red Sea was in front of them and the Egyptian army was behind them, and there was no escape.
Although the nation had experienced 10 previous plagues, or at least had witnessed them, for they were saved through them, let’s remember that they were passive in those plagues. They watched as God provided judgement on their captives.
In this deliverance, the nation was not passive, but had to venture out between walls of water, moving forward based on the message Moses provided them. They walked through their deliverance, and saw the enemy consumed by the very walls that were held back by the power of God.
Exodus 14:29-31 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
The people obeyed the word of Moses, walked a path through death, and experienced in a deeper way, the salvation of God than they had in Egypt.
His name was elevated in the Israelite’s lives, not simply by observation but by experience.
This lone act became a central story for the nation, a time referred to when times were tough, when the way of God seemed impossible. The nation could look back, and in the looking back at God’s salvation on the shore of the Red Sea, associated His name with the deliverance!
His reputation had been established for the nation in this deliverance. His name had become renown, and His identity was that of a saving God. From that point on, (though He is always a saving God) the Israelites had a miracle that was a basis for His reputation.
Of course since then, the Lord has provided many more works that have established His name and brought renown to His person. His everlasting name has only increased in stature, in fame and glory.
For the Everlasting Name of God is now associated with the Lord Jesus, His person and His works, and the story we have now is of His death and resurrection, of His reigning in the heavens and over His creation.
He is the Everlasting Name!
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.
5 She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,
6 but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.
7 Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach.
8 But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
This particular passage impacted me years back in relation to the purchase of insurance. Yes I know – What are you talking about Carl.
Story Time
When my favorite and I were first married, we entered into a training that forced us to live by faith in the USA. As Canucks, we could not work, and had to focus solely on the gifts of the Lord through His people. So many ways He provided, and we were almost always on the edge, yet never without!
After the training, we entered civilian life – (is that the right term?) and began to minister in a very small foreign church, while I did language learning, and worked to put food on the table for my wee precious family. Those were difficult days, and yet the Lord was always there, taking care of us, talking to us, disciplining us – (too many times if I am honest with you) – but as before, we were living on the edge. Living by faith. Hand to mouth.
Until I read this little passage, and considered how I was not able to provide for my family if my wife became a widow. Yes, I think this passage is speaking in the context of widowhood, and to the men who may not be providing for their wives future.
I had two choices.
I could go gold mining and strike it rich, or set 20 bucks aside each month to give my wife an insurance policy – just in case! Please don’t understand that I am saying this is the only way to obey this passage, but I found it to be the solution before God in our case.
Thankfully, she hasn’t needed it as I am still kicking, but I am glad the passage brought me up short, for though she didn’t complain about the life we lived, I know this small act gave her some comfort.
Now, I realize this particular set of verses may not address the state of the one who does not provide for his relatives, (for I was a believer at the time) but in my understanding, it does speak of a believers actions as worse than an unbeliever.
Does this speak of a loss of life with the Lord, of an intentional act of the will to turn my back on the Lord and walk away for good? Good question! I can’t answer that, for the believer is always in a state of growth (at least he should be), may not have considered this situation for his family, or is concentrating on other areas of obedience. Each situation is for the Lord to judge.
But I think it does address the importance in the faith of the believer’s love for his family. If he doesn’t provide, it is equal to denying the faith, even becoming worse than an unbeliever! Such harsh words!
The question for my reader is. Does the believer appear to be an infidel (an unbeliever) – a terrible witness – or might the “believer” actually have become an infidel (denying the faith) in reality by abandoning the needs of the family, turning his back on those who need him?
It is a tough verse, and the definition of providing for “his relatives” may be difficult to nail down. I leave it with my reader to consider what Paul may actually be saying to his people.
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 would like to receive daily posts from Considering the Bible, click on the “Follow” link below
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
ABRAHAM
A COVENANT INCLUDING DEATH
Genesis 15:12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.
Mark 15:37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.
Three men in the Old Testament experienced a deep sleep as described in our verse above. Adam, when his rib was removed from his side for the sake of his wife (Genesis 2:21). Abraham, as we see in this passage. The third one was Saul, when David took the jar of water and the spear from beside Saul’s head. (1 Samuel 26:12).
From these examples, we can understand Abraham entered a very deep sleep, even coma like, representing a type of death, especially when we think of Adam. See Jesus in the Old Testament – Adam 9.
Nevertheless, Abraham entered a covenant with God while experiencing a deathlike experience. This covenant was provided to give Abraham a certainty, a settled knowledge of the promise he had received regarding the land. Abraham’s very question – “how am I to know that I shall possess it” (Genesis 15:12) is being answered in this act of covenant making by the Lord. And note that this covenant is being performed by the Lord Himself, as the smoking fire pot and flaming torch passed between the split animals.
The Lord placed Abraham in a deep sleep, and the Lord Himself, in the picture of the smoking fire pot and the flaming torch, passed between the split animals, passing though a picture of death.
This ceremony was provided to Abram in order that he may have a certainty about the promise of the land being his. The Lord reiterated to Abram (and to no-one else), in a very socially understood ceremony, that Abram’s offspring would live in the land, with the Lord defining the limits of the land. This act of entering a covenant was performed by the Lord Himself, for Abram was in a deep sleep, unable to act.
It is obvious that Jesus also entered into the New Covenant through death without our participation. He alone passed through death, to give us certainty of life, to provide a hope and a confidence in the promise of God.
Truly, He entered the covenant through death that we might have hope and life!
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.
120
EVERLASTING LIGHT
Isaiah 60:20 Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.
We are in the midst of a number of description of our God that centers around the concept of everlasting, or the eternality of God. Our first description – Everlasting God – laid out the concept of God being out side of time, of His being, without the constraints of time being a concern. He is. A statement that in it’s simplicity is somewhat beyond our understanding!
Todays description speaks of God as our everlasting light, and as we have noticed previously, to be everlasting is to lack the constraints of the past, future and present, to be beyond time. From our perspective, our Light, from our current existence in the present, has always been, and shall always be.
Of course, as we look to Isaiah, his emphasis is on the future, that God will be Israel’s everlasting light. He is speaking of the day when all of creation will no longer require the sun or moon, that though both created bodies might never set or withdraw themselves, the everlasting light of God is the only light that His people will lean on, will seek, and will walk in.
He is not a temporal light that sets on our lives, that withdraws after a few hours, but praise God, He is the Everlasting Light we do not deserve, and that we have been invited into.
He is the Everlasting 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.
A few days back I discovered some additional shorts from Dr Leighton, teacher at Soteriology 101.
As I may have spoken of earlier in my posts, I spent many years consumed with the Calvinistic teaching, only to break free because of men like Dr. Flowers, who offer alternative views that make more sense and glorify God, making Him purer, and more loving.
I do hope you will consider the teaching with an open mind.
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.
119
EVERLASTING GOD
Isaiah 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
A week or so back, I published a Names of God post, describing the Eternal God. This morning, you will kindly notice, our Name of God is Everlasting God.
Is this simply a repetition of the name of God?
Not exactly, for both speak of “time” in a sense, at least from our perspective. Remember now, time is one of God’s creations and as such the Creator is not controlled or dependent upon the passage of time. He is the One who is outside of the boundaries of time!
Yet, this concept of everlasting is different than the reference to God as being eternal, as in post # 117. We found that in our earlier post, God is spoken of as always having been, not necessarily as One who would always be. Moses was speaking in the previous passage of God’s dependability based on His past existence, His continual faithfulness based on the witness of His past actions and work.
This passage speaks of God in the more common term used in the Old Testament. Moses uses עוֹלָם ʻôwlâm in our passage today. I wrote on this subject earlier, A Study of Eternal / Everlasting for those who may be interested.
This name of God describes the Lord in an even fuller way than our previous name, in that this term speaks on not only the past, the antiquity of God. From our point of view, as those created in a universe controlled by time, God was described by association with the past, with those actions and history that are fixed in time.
This name speaks of not only the past existence, but also the future existence of God, that He is beyond the constraints of the past and the future. By extension, He is also beyond the constraints of the present. He is beyond our imagination, beyond our limitations, beyond our understanding and beyond all of creation!
He is on the throne, never to be moved, for being beyond the constraints of time implies there is no change in His position, nature or characteristics. To be within a creation restricted by the passage of time implies the concept of change, and this is simply not an idea that fits with the Bible’s description of our God.
Malachi 3:6 “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
How could the Everlasting God change, for how could He become greater, or holier, or wiser. He is the perfection of all His attributes. He is outside of the creation of time, and for our sake, He is trying to help us understand His duration, His existence, His continuity.
All these descriptions fall far short of the mark, and I fear my thoughts are lacking in massive areas of truth, but I would challenge you my friend to consider the truth of the Everlasting God as a precious truth, a challenging idea, and a description of the God we serve, no matter what generation we live in.
He is always there, and He is always there for us.
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.
24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,
25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
In our last post we spoke of experiential knowledge, a knowledge of the Lord that goes beyond the head and into the heart. Timothy was charged with a type of teaching – a method of teaching that was characterized by gentleness, kindness, patience and was without quarrelling. The reason for this non-combative style of teaching? To allow God to perform the work of changing hearts, and to allow the opponent to choose based on truth and not intimidation.
First, Paul is speaking of the opponents being led to the knowledge of truth. Let’s consider Paul’s second intent for this manner of teaching.
Come to thier senses
In our last post we spoke of Timothy’s targeted audience in his teaching, and came to the understanding that he was to teach everyone, even his opponents. His mission was to those in the church and out of the church, and for both groups, his approach of gentleness patience and kindness was to be exhibited.
Paul’s second goal of this passage, that he was laying out for Timothy, was that his teaching was to wake the opponents up, help them “come to their senses”
Again, we must not limit Timothy’s audience to only those outside of the church, for there have been many times, as a believer, I have had to come to my senses, come to a new understanding, repent of my previous thinking and see things in a different light.
To “come to your senses” is a translation of a word that speaks of returning to soberness, of recovering your self from a delusion or a mistake.
At the risk of sounding repetitive, there is nothing from the text that implies or teaches that Paul is only speaking of those outside of the church. Believers can fall into error. Believers can wander off the path. Believers can trip and stumble. As a matter of fact, believers not only can but do tend to walk away. We are very good at walking the wrong path!
How often have you known someone who has walked away from the Lord, and after a period of wandering, returned? Of a person who struggled with a certain truth, and then, for some unknown reason and at a unexpected time, come to realize a different perspective, a different focus or goal for life, a different emphasis or direction for his/her life?
Paul is seeking Timothy to reach out to those who are of a different opinion, of a different thinking and to offer a cogent and practical message reflecting truth, which the opponent will recognize in both the message and the teacher himself.
escape from the snare of the devil
Ok, this is the portion of 2 Timothy that has brought this passage into the topic of Conditional Security. What is the snare of the devil, and what exactly does it mean if it is being applied to the believer?
Paul uses this exact phrase in 1 Timothy 3:6-7, where he is speaking of the qualification of overseers.
1 Timothy 3:6-7
He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
We see that the snare of the devil is applied directly to a believer, a leader-servant within the body in this verse. Also, by the previous verse, we see that condemnation is associated with this believer. Horrible things to consider!
So let us consider what a snare is. Of course, in my mind, when speaking of a snare, I think of a trap, especially a rope noose that slings the victim into the air once it is sprung. The element of surprise is necessary, for no victim would knowingly set the trap to be caught. The trap must offer something tantalizing, something worth seeking and yet only provides disappointment, suffering, loss, and possibly death.
The snare, in this instance, is referred to by Paul to speak of that which the believer may escape from. It is not a done deal, a fait accompli!
This is good news, and our only escape is through the truth of the gospel, whether we be saints or sinners! We are offered release from the snare of the devil, from condemnation and loss. After being led to acknowledging (head knowledge) and knowing (heart knowledge) the truth, we may come to our senses, wake up in the very same way as the prodigal son, and return to the Father to do His will.
May we seek this in our lives and honor His name!
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 would like to receive daily posts from Considering the Bible, click on the “Follow” link below
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
ABRAHAM
MANY OFFSPRING
Genesis 15:5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Galatians 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
How many children did Abram have at this time? Take a quick guess.
If you said zero, you would be right! He only had a servant who would act as his heir in the event of his death. No children. Not one. And we must remember that Abram was an old man by this time. And yet in this passage, the Lord promised him offspring as numerous as the stars in heaven. It may have started slowly, and required a miraculous birth, but Abram’s offspring through Sarah was found in one son.
Isaac is a great image of Jesus in the Old Testament, and we shall consider him in the future, but for this post, consider the many offspring through the promise offered in this passage, during an extended time of disappointment and apparent delay.
Looking back, it is abundantly clear that the promise offered to Abram has been realized, for no-one could count the number of physical children that are from the loins of Abram. To go beyond the physical, to the greater intent of the promise, we must realize that we all as believers are the result of this promise to Abraham being exercised through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One who is the source of life, and of whom we are properly related to in relation to our faith.
His offspring are greater than the stars of the sky!
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.
118
EVERLASTING ARMS
Deuteronomy 33:27 The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, ‘Destroy.’
In our last post we referred to the very same verse, and noted that Moses described Israel’s dwelling place, not as a patch of land, but as the Eternal God. We also noted that Moses did not use the typical word commonly used to describe eternal (“Olam”) in the Old Testament, but “qedem”, emphasizing Gods past existence, that God is from the beginning.
Moses strengthens his message with our next description of God, describing God as Israel’s Everlasting Arms. Here is where Moses uses the commonly used Hebrew word translated as eternal, or everlasting, not specifically defining Gods past existence, but His existence not in relation to our time based understanding.
For God to be called the Everlasting Arms brings many thoughts to mind.
First off, He arm is under the believer, supporting us, carrying us. In this word picture, we don’t have a God who is looking down on us, pointing fingers, demanding results. We have a picture of a loving Father, ready to protect us as we learn to walk, ready to scoop us up if we fail.
His arm provides redemption Exodus 6:6 ..and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm
His arm provides protection Isaiah 52:10 The LORD has bared his holy arm
His arm provides strength Psalm 136:12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
His arm provides salvation Isaiah 53:1 ..And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
The Arm of the Lord has been revealed in the person of Christ, most gloriously on the cross, suffering for my sin, for your sin.
He is the Everlasting Arm, never to die again, always on the throne with might and power, protecting His people.
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 