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.
276
HE LAYS THE BEAMS OF HIS CHAMBERS ON THE WATERS
Psalm 104:3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind;
This is ridiculous. Didn’t the psalmist understand basic physics. The concept of loading and bearing capacity, of distributed loading to allow for structural stability.
Water, unless restricted within a form, or completely enveloped in a leak proof container, is the most unstable, unreliable material to construct a chamber on. To make matters worse, as the Psalmist was describing this chamber, he used a word that often referenced an upper chamber, a roof chamber, a secluded area for reflection and solitude. We may describe it as a loft.
Ok, so to continue on with the absurdity, if the structure was constructed on water, having the room elevated above the foundation only makes this “chamber” more unstable. One good wave and over the structure falls!
And great will be the fall of it.
That is if we think literally, woodenly and without the influence of the poetry that is so rife within the Word. Passages such as this one was completely out of my understanding when I refused to consider some (much?) of the message as figurative, messages that produce pictures in the mind and imagination. Now, don’t start thinking that I am suggesting the Word is only figurative, that passages can be interpreted willy nilly, or by any standard. I am still of the opinion that the Word interprets itself beautifully, and this passage is a fine example.
The psalmist is describing the lofty chambers the Lord resides in in the heavens, chambers that can not be touched by mankind, chambers that are not restricted by our physical laws, by forces such as gravity or actions such as waves or wind.
But Carl, he speaks of the chambers “on the waters” How should we consider this reference? Is it a reference to the water we experience in a lake or the ocean. I say yes, for this very mixture of the non physical beams of His chamber supported by our physical environment (the waters) speaks of His omnipresence, His very closeness with those He created.
His is a chamber of solitude, a restful place for His person, yet He is on the waters, in our surroundings, amongst those who, for the most part, do not realize or appreciate His company.
Yes our God is He who lays the beams of his chambers on the waters, He is One who chooses to be in His loft amongst us, and not afar off, distant and away.
He is near, even beside us, in His chamber. And He has provided a way into His chamber, through a curtain, by the blood of His Son.
Hebrews 10:20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
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.
Matthew 13:38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, Matthew 13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Matthew 13:40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. Matthew 13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, Matthew 13:42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
I sometimes fear, as my thoughts wander around in that hollow space above my neck, that some may read this series and understand each post as an effort to induce a fear of loss, or to communicate a risk in the walk of faith, or to produce an uncertainty in the heart of the believer. After all, to speak of the conditionality of our security in Christ it may be understood that our relationship implies some weakness in our God, some inability in our Father’s work, or some lack in His planning.
If this is your understanding, please be reassured the love of the Father, and the salvation of the Lord Jesus is as secure as the breath we breathe, stronger than the grave and greater than all our enemies.
The message to be understood is the challenge before us as weak, blind and beggarly people to continue to seek Him, to look to Him for our strength, to keep our eyes on Him, to trust Him and to rest in Him. He is all and everything we need, and to walk away from that is to put ourselves in dangerous territory. His mercy extends beyond our understanding, and His kindness continually reaches out to our hardened hearts. But we do have the option to jump from His care, to apostacize from His loving call, and to abandon all hope in running from the hound of heaven.
The passage we breach this morning is a tough one, a passage where some in “his kingdom” will be gathered out and thrown into the fiery furnace.
Matthew 13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers,
Jesus is speaking a parable in this instance, and I am of the opinion, as if that matters, that He is directly speaking of the theocratic kingdom of Israel as He presents this parable. Some in the kingdom (national Israel) will not be spared.
Although there are very many questions I would love to delve into regarding what “his kingdom” refers to, what the fiery furnace is speaking of, and a discussion on “weeping and gnashing of teeth”, I will refrain for later posts. (And after I have thought, prayed and studied much more!)
But for now, it is the general message that some in the kingdom will be removed that has alerted me and is why this passage is associated with the topic of conditional security in my mind.
There were some that the Lord may have been speaking to during this parable that were sure of their kingdom status, their belonging to rule of God, and yet the Lord has the nerve to say they will be yanked out, and tortured in fire!
Note that the passage refers to some in the kingdom as weeds, son’s of the evil one in verse 37. Yet in verse 41, the Lord simply refers to “all causes of sin and all law-breakers”. Now obviously the weeds are included in this judgement, but this last phrase possibly allows for more than just the weeds.
Possibility of more than just the weeds. Yes this is not explicitly stated, yet there is a possibility that those who feel safe may not be.
As I am thinking through this passage and all the implications, all the unknowns and all the questions rising in my mind, I cannot help but resort to one passage in Hebrews that provides a comfort, a place of security that each believer can rest in.
Hebrews 12:14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Seek the Lord in your life. Hear His voice and strive to do His will. Run from any “cause of sin” in your life, from any law breaker that seeks to influence you.
Be the righteous that will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father, that will reflect the glory of the Lord in the daily grind of life, being kind as the Father is kind, being merciful as the Father is merciful, being patient as the Father is patient.
Jesus summed it up so well, for the life of the righteous is not a life of a false security, but of an active life of love towards our enemies, being kind to the ungrateful and and the evil!
Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
The Message is a paraphrase I especially like to listen to, as it turns a phrase often and it catches something in my mind, like a spur under a saddle. Luke 6:35, 36 is such a passage in the Message.
35-36 “I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.
Simple and direct. Our Father is kind. You be kind.
Replace “kind” with any characteristic you rejoice in, that our Father has expressed through the crucifixion of His Son, and be that.
Did I not mention this series was intended to be a challenge. This passage is a challenge that is beyond our strength, and as we look to Him, seek Him, striving for peace and holiness, you will shine in his kingdom!
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
Daniel
Chief Governor
Daniel 2:48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
Revelation 19:16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
I have chosen to title this post “Chief Governor”, even though the ESV translates it as Chief Prefect, mostly due to my ignorance. I had to verify what a “prefect” was. I find out it is simple a synonym for governor, and though I am sure the ESV had good reason to translate it as prefect, I think we can work with governor for this post.
Daniel, as one of the many wise men chosen amongst the foreigners brought into Babylon, takes on the impossible challenge on not simply interpreting a kings dream, but of determining the content of a dream, and to interpret the dream
Daniel 2:5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.
The king was setting out a challenge to determine if any of the so-called wise men had any connection with a higher power, a revealing spirit, or a message from on high. The wise men before the king, though able to rise in ranks due to administrative talents or of knowing the right people, certainly had not faced a challenge such as this.
They knew they were in trouble! It was impossible. They admitted the challenge was too great, and the only way to determine the dream was through the “gods”.
Daniel 2:11 The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”
These wise men were setting up the stage for Daniel to enter the scene. The wise men reiterated the impossibility of a mere man to provide the information, but the king was resolute. Give me the information or die!
Daniel 2:12 Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.
So the stage was set for Daniel to enter the scene, and the motivation of saving their own skin was provided. They had to search far and wide to find a wise man, – anyone – to get the data, and meaning of the dream for the king.
We know the story, and Daniel stepped up. Not only to save his skin, but to reveal the God of Heaven.
This incident, this miraculous provision of God to four young Hebrew men set Daniel on course to high office within the Babylonian empire. Daniel was the man of the hour, and he made sure the king knew of the source of his wisdom.
Daniel 2:27-28 Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries…
Upon Daniels success, glory rained down on him, becoming not only a governor, but a chief governor, or as some may call him a chief prefect.
Above and beyond Daniels wisdom, a Rabbi hundreds of years later also provided information from on high, and was honored, at least for a time, by those who heard Him. A fickle honor was provided to Him for a short time, as was for Daniel. Like Daniel, He was granted a position of honor. For Jesus, the honor bestowed in His ascension was to the throne of God, a position, not of simply becoming a chief governor of a regional kingdom for a short period of time, but the King of all of creation, for all of eternity.
Chief Governor? Yes but much more, as He is the King of Kings.
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.
275
HE GIVES RAIN ON THE EARTH
Job 5:10 he gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields;
No matter where you look in the Word, God continually shows up as a giving God. From the “natural” giving of rain, to the supernatural provision of the Son of God for our life, God is a giving God, a God of provision, of grace, of abundance and of life.
For those souls who ignore the Word, or may just believe what others say of it, or assume the message of the Lord is only one of demands, commands and requirements, I would encourage them to crack the Book and find the Father of Giving. To be of a different opinion regarding the Father is to exist in a life of denial, and lies.
The Lord, as He entered our world and taught us simple truths, reminds us that God is an indiscriminate giver, the God who cares not for who receives the gift, but gives both the sun and the rain to both the evil and the good.
Matthew 5:45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
He is One who pulls from His storehouse and provides for all, for those who ignore Him, for those who deny Him, for those who defame Him and for those who call for His crucifixion. He gives rain to all, and though Job (and the Lord) refers to the general grace of physical rain falling on the earth to provide sustenance for us, the Word also uses it as a metaphor for His work amongst us and in our lives.
Isaiah 55:10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
God’s Word is as rain falling on the earth, with a purpose of providing for those in need. Isaiah is not listing all the religious requirements for those who hear the Word, but of provision of life, of the Word’s accomplishments in our lives, and of the Words success in our hearts.
I spoke of those who have ignored the message of the Word earlier, and of the need to crack the Book, to find the Father and to live in the love of the Father. For those who may think of God as a demanding ogre, a killjoy, an authoritarian of oppression, you need to consider the truth of our passage this morning.
God gives rain on the earth. It is a simple truth, an obvious truth, but in considering this simple provision, the honest soul will come to the conclusion that God is a giving God, One whose nature is to provide.
God is a Giver of Rain. If this is a difficult truth to accept for you, the continual and abundant giving nature of our God, I submit you are listening to the lies of the taker.
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
The one who steals, kills and destroys will only defame the Great Giver, distract us from His goodness and direct our eyes from this truth.
Crack the Book, find the Giver of Rain. Sit before Him. Understand His nature of giving and let Him provide life to your thirsty soul. Humble yourself before Him and receive from the One who Gives Rain on 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.
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.
274
HATER OF WICKEDNESS
Hebrews 1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
Wickedness.
Some Bibles translate wickedness (Gk ἀνομία anomía) as iniquity, lawlessness and sometimes evil. Note the letter “a” at the start of the word anomía. When we find this condition in the ancient texts, it is usually the same as we would use “non” in front of an English word.
The base of the word, “nomos” simply means law, and combining these two thoughts, we come up with understanding anomía as meaning “without law”, or “no law”.
Now when we read the verse, with this understanding, we could come to the conclusion the author is speaking of one of two cases. Possibly, those without law may refer to those who are ignorant of the law, that are without the law. Of course, a more natural understanding in my mind is that anomía is referring to those who violate a system or rule of law.
I find it at least interesting that this epistle is written to the Hebrews, those who have been given the law, the greatest set of moral guidelines ever provided. And it is true that without the law, transgression is not attributed
Romans 4:15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
Now before I go down a rabbit hole that I din not intend for this post, I want to return to the general truth of our God being One who is the Hater of Wickedness. My first thought is that it is good to recognize the author did not say God is a hater of wicked people, but of wickedness. It is still amazing to think that God loves the sinner, the ungodly, the weak and unrighteous soul.
No – God is a hater of that characteristic in a person that isolates them from Him. He is the Hater of Wickedness, and it is seen in the extent of His efforts to separate us from wickedness, to provide us the opportunity to live righteous lives before Him in the Son.
Not only should we see that God is a Hater of Wickedness due to the effect of wickedness on the soul of His people, but even more so, that God is a Hater of Wickedness as it reflects His character.
He is holy, innocent, unstained and separated from sinners, One who provides the eternal priesthood that established righteousness, conforming to all the glories constantly and without fault within the Godhead.
He Hates Wickedness, not only for our sake, but also since it is a complete afront to His character, a complete negation of His order, eternal principles and being.
When I first considered this name of God, I automatically fell into a negative mind set, thinking this name was associated with judgement, fear, condemnation and the such. There are such names of our God that include these truths, and should not be avoided, yet as I considered this name, I come away thinking this name of our God provided very very good news.
In hating wickedness, He protects and maintains His righteousness, refusing any hint of lawlessness. Beyond that, He has suffered under His own hatred of wickedness to deliver us from it’s judgement, providing us the privilege and power, in following Him, to live a life of righteousness.
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.
Matthew 12:33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. Matthew 12:34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. Matthew 12:36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, Matthew 12:37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Last post, we considered the unpardonable sin in relation to conditional security and I suggested the next portion of the passage may support my initial suggestions. So lets get back to this difficult passage.
Note the first word in verse 33! Either. A term providing a choice between two thoughts or concepts. When I see this word, I think of a decision to be made!
In relation to this passage, Jesus is calling out the Pharisees to make the tree good or make the tree bad. Might the Lord be referring to the Pharisees estimation of His power when speaking of these “trees” and it’s fruit being good or bad?
It is simple logic. Good fruit means a good tree. Bad fruit means a bad tree. The Pharisees have just witnessed an exorcism of a demon possessed man, a man who was blind and mute. Don’t miss the enormity of this miracle, and the resulting fruit! This demon possessed man, who was blind and mute, spoke and saw!
Matthew 12:22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw.
But lets remember who the Lord is speaking to? The men He is telling to make a decision are the very ones who are claiming He is in league with the devil! Although an aside, to consider the Master maintaining a logical argument for the sake of these Pharisees in the middle of such a defaming claim is so appealing, so evident of truth, and of such a peaceful stance, it make Him all the more amazing.
Back to this “either” command of the Lord towards the Pharisees, (and any listening) in verse 33. He is laying out the logic that this good result of healing the demoniac (a good fruit) must be from a good source, (a good tree). The Pharisees logic of the power Jesus resorting to diabolical forces to perform this miracle forces the resulting healing into the bad fruit category, and that simply makes no sense.
Even as the Pharisees spread a slurring accusation against the Lord of mercy, He is still reaching out to them, proving His truth, His identity, His mission to them.
And yet He continues with the logic a tree being known by it’s fruit in relation to the Pharisees themselves, stating that their very illogical claim must be evil, since they are evil! He has publicly called the most visibly religious men amongst God’s God’s chosen people evil!
Ok Carl, all your argument follows the text (hopefully) but what has that to do with the topic of conditional security? I am glad you asked, for I want to return to the first word again.
Either. Jesus, after having been defamed by the most powerful men in Israel, places a challenge before them. It is not as though it is too late to revise their estimation of this Rabbi. Yes, they are of the chosen people, and yes they are under a covenant with God. Personal relationship with the most High has always been dependent on faith in God, and not performance of religion, but these men may have some flicker of faith still resident in them. They may, under all the religiosity of their life, have a dim, smoldering faith of some type that the Lord is reaching out to.
Make a decision based on logic, and understand Who is standing before them. Either call Jesus good or call Jesus bad, but their decision will either justify or condemn them.
Matthew 12:37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Jesus is the Messiah, the full expression of the truth, evidenced by logic, by miracles, by the Spirit and by His message. Those who may have some faith in the Living God are dangerously close to condemning themselves by their illogical claims.
A dangerous position to be in, and yet the Lord reaches out to those who have openly and publicly expressed an obviously outrageous claim of His abilities. He is kind, and in His kindness, is very blunt with these men, seeking their repentance and acceptance of Him as the “Good Tree”!
I like to think some in the crowd took heart and rekindled their faith in the Living God of Israel and His Messiah, Jesus. I am hoping someone reading may also rekindle their faith in the Risen One. He has provided all the proof we need, in order to know who He is, the greatness of His love and His completed mission for lost, blind and mute sinners such as 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 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
Daniel
Two Kingdoms
Daniel 6:28 So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, Matthew 26:29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Our verse this morning refers to two kings. Darius is the final king of Babylon, an older man that attained to the throne of Babylon for a mere two years. Cyrus, as we have previously looked at as a type of our Messiah, was a king Daniel served under in the Medo-Persian kingdom after the fall of Babylon.
Daniel, by the will of God, was placed into the Babylonian kingdom, lived a perfect life, passed through a death event in the lions den, and entered a new, arguably better kingdom soon after.
Consider this narrative in relating to the two kingdoms Jesus lived within.
He was born under the law, a servant to the Most High God, revealing the true nature of the law to all who watched. He suffered the blows and judgement of the law unjustly, passed through death into new life and is reigning in a far better kingdom, His Fathers Kingdom.
Our passage this morning, though an overview of the chronology of Daniel’s experience in serving God, also provides a general typology of the life of our Lord as He came down to a new land, lived under a rule of law, died and entered a new kingdom.
Jesus death, burial and resurrection is everywhere. He 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.
273
HAND OF THE LORD
Joshua 4:24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”
Anthropomorphism. What a word!
It’s a fancy word that describing a deity with human characteristics. It is a very common method of describing our God in the Word.
God is sometimes described as having – eyes (Amos 9:4), – ears (2 Kings 19:16), – feet (Isaiah 66:1), – a mouth (Jeremiah 9:12), – and a back (Exodus 33:23),
Sometimes His actions are as if He is a man, as though He – walks in the garden (Genesis 3:8), – smells a pleasing aroma (Genesis 8:21), – comes down to see the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:5).
In our passage this morning, we find He is described as the hand of the Lord. We find this thought also in Exodus 7:5
The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”
In both of these instances, it is good to note that in the description of the hand of the Lord, both are in reference to dominating or overpowering an adversary or abuser.
Though this term is often used in relation to warfare, it is also used to describe the enabling of a man by his God.
1 Kings 18:46a And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah… Ezra 7:6 this Ezra went up from Babylonia….for the hand of the LORD his God was on him.
Though these men were enabled in their ministry by the Hand of the Lord, it is John the Baptist that experienced the Hand of the Lord even at his birth.
Luke 1:66 ESV – and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
John had the Hand of the Lord on him from birth. Can you imagine? Surely, he was, as the Lord described, the greatest of the prophets!
Two other times this term is used in the book of Acts describe either the power of God on the saints, or a judgement on a magician in Cyprus.
Acts 11:21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
Acts 13:11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.
The Hand of the Lord defeats an enemy and empowers the faithful.
Is this not a great picture of the One who is King?
He is the One who has defeated His (an our) enemies, even through His own death, and leads His people to victory, empowering us as we seek to follow Him.
Jesus is the Hand of the Lord!
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.
272
Guarantor of a Better Covenant
Hebrews 7:22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
Better. A most common word in the book of Hebrews. It pops up so many times, I thought it wise to provide a list for our review prior to focusing in on our verse this morning.
Regarding our verse for this morning, it is good to get a bit of context for our understanding. The author of Hebrews is taking his audience through all the “betters” of Jesus, and in chapter 7 is addressing the priesthood. Jesus is described as of the Melchizedekian priesthood and not of the Levitical priesthood, linking Jesus with the eternal office of priest through the promise found in Psalms 110,
Psalm 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
This isn’t the first time our author refers to this passage, as he has mentioned it in Hebrews 5:6 and Hebrews 7:17. He really wants to communicated the eternal priesthood of our Savior.
So let us be thankful, since our Savior is not one that will ever die again, and that because of his eternal life, He also has an eternal ministry.
But that is not the only aspect of this passage that is making Jesus better in relationship to His priestly duties and office. For that nugget to be understood, it is necessary to consider the two previous verses.
Hebrews 7:20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, Hebrews 7:21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever.’”
The issue in our passage is not simply that Jesus is our eternal priest, never to pass from His ministry for and to us, but for those in the Old Testament economy, to compare the basis of the preisthoods.
For a Levitical priest to serve in the Temple, his lineage was critical, for no priest was able to continue in his service. The priest needed replacements, because of this thing called death. They kept dying. Since the replacements were of the tribal lineage, there was never any oath or promise associated with the installment of a priest into his position. Born a Levite, be a priest.
With Jesus, His placement as priest is not only based on His eternal life, but on an oath. An oath taken by God almighty, in which God swore in giving the oath, and added that nothing would change His mind.
This is an incredible statement, for it was an oath given from the Father to the Son.
Jesus is a priest forever! This is a promise, an oath from the Father to the Son. Not only a positive oath, but also a statement declaring God would never recant.
To be a guarantor is to be the One who is responsible in an agreement, in a covenant.
So let’s recap.
Jesus is a better priest than the Levitical priest due to His eternal state, living forever, always in the priestly position and office, and that the Father has promised His right to Priesthood in an oath that is of the strongest language. On top of all of that, Jesus is the Guarantor, the One who is responsible for the Covenant, the New Covenant that is in His blood. The Levite was simply a religious butcher, cutting an animal provided by someone else.
When the author makes this statement of Jesus being better, there is so much more than a simple comparison with a Levite. He is the One who is in charge, Who is our Priest, Who will never be replaced, Who needs not provide and additional sacrifice and Who has been made perfect forever!
My oh my – Jesus is better!
As believers I think we know deep down that He is better, but it is so good to take a moment sometimes to remember how much better He is!
And He truly is so much better.
Thank you Lord! You are the Guarantor of a Better Covenant!
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.
Matthew 12:31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Matthew 12:32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
This is a difficult passage and to consider it under the topic of conditional security may at first be difficult to justify. Let me give you my thoughts on why this passage may be addressing this topic.
I am of the opinion that this particular passage is very specific to the time frame in which it was spoken. Consider the audience and the hingepoint of history we find it spoken in.
Jesus, The Messiah, the Gift of God to all mankind is again discussing God’s truth with those Pharisees. By the time we get to this morning’s interaction with the Pharisees, Jesus has dealt with them a number of times.
Interaction with the money changers – John 2:12-25
Interaction with Nicodemus (a Pharisee) – John 3:1-21
Interaction, rejection and attempt to murder Jesus in Nazareth – Luke 4:16-30
Interaction and rejection of Jesus claims of equality with God -John 5:16-47
Interaction on Sabbath importance – Matthew 12:1-8
Interaction concerning John the Baptist – Matthew 11:2-24
Interaction based on the Pharisees claiming His power is from the devil– Matthew 12:22-32
We are seeing from this brief list that things are getting very tense from the standpoint of the Pharisees. To pull out the non-logical argument that this Rabbi is depending on Satan to perform His life giving, healing ministry is a stretch by any account.
And Jesus does not mince words.
He openly confesses that every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven. Did you get that? Will be forgiven, not may be forgiven! He is telling these religious men that all sins will be forgiven. That must have tied their knickers in a knot!
He did place a caveat though as he addressed these men who would deny the obvious work of God through this Rabbi. If you will defame and lie against the work of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit in God’s Messiah, there is no hope for you. You see, He continues in his address to these men, declaring the sin of speaking against the Holy Spirit as being applicable in two ages. This age, or in the age to come.
I have often wondered what the “age to come” refers to, for it is not necessarily the next age, though it may be. I do not struggle when the Lord mentions “this age”. He is referring to the time in which he was living and breathing, talking to the men who opposed Him.
So here is how I understand this passage. Jesus is seeing the Pharisees becoming more and more desperate in denying His rightful place as Messiah, going to the incredible extreme of associating Him with Satan! As the people of God during the age of Moses, (prior to the resurrection and the wide spread explosive dispersion of the Spirit amongst the Gentiles) these Pharisee’s knew the truth of the Messiah, and understood that Jesus fit many, many of the required prophecies regarding the coming Savior.
As a matter of fact, there have been many studies revealing that the generation Jesus appeared in was the last generation a Messiah could appear to the people of Israel.
One specific prophecy that the Pharisees surely studied was that found in Daniel 9. A very detained and definite prophecy of the Messiah’s appearance within a certain time frame based on the captivity of the Jewish nation. Jesus was right on time. The Pharisees would not have it. He wasn’t working with them on their plans and objectives!
Nevertheless, the Pharisees knew Jesus was the Messiah, but out of envy and a refusal to submit to truth, refused Him and the witness of the Spirit!
Now as I mentioned earlier, these men were amongst the people of God, but at this point, it appears that all privilege assigned to the faithful Jew, though rejecting the message of the Spirit, would not receive forgiveness! In a word, privilege would be revoked from those who would not submit to truth!
Prior to this interaction, where did the Pharisees stand with God? Classed as of the Jewish nation, and as such, in the age of Moses, these men were in covenant with the God of Israel. Yet in this age, these men would be cast out, even as spoken of in numerous parables later in Jesus ministry!
Matthew 22:13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Matthew 25:30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
In our next post, Jesus continues with His message to the Pharisees, speaking of fruit and trees, hopefully understanding the message we find in Matthew 12.
Let me know your thoughts.
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
Daniel
Wisdom in Youth
Daniel 2:48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
Luke 2:47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
Daniel, in a strange land, among a people of a strange tongue, and within a culture that defied the True God, (I speak of the Babylonian nation) exhibited wisdom beyond the ages and was raised to an elevated place of authority and privilege. A young man of incredible conviction, he rose through the ranks of others, seemingly without any desire but to honor his God.
It is a well known truth found in the Word that a man skillful in his work will increase in authority and privilege.
Proverbs 22:29 Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.
Such was the case with Daniel, and what made this young man so different from his peers amongst the kings servants, was his unabashed dedication to the God of Israel. His focus was on serving the God of Israel, and in this service, his wisdom shone in the kings court.
Out of this wisdom, he became a ruler in Babylon, even a chief ruler over those in the Babylonian royal court claiming to be wise. Heady stuff for a young man. Scholars estimate Daniel was between 14 and 18 when he provided the king this interpretation of his dream in Daniel 2, out of which came this elevation in the kings court.
Daniel, as a very young man, having provided the revelation of this dream to the king must have created quite a stir in the royal court. This act began a public recognition of the wisdom of Daniel that never diminished.
Jesus, in like manner, and yet so much more, also displayed great wisdom early in life, and was fully dedicated to the will of God.
Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Jesus also increased in wisdom from youth, being noticed by those in authority, as they were “amazed” at His understanding of the laws of God. He continued amongst them, providing greater and greater proofs through His teaching that He was no mere prophet or rabbi. His teachings were irrefutable, with His wisdom shutting mouths and silencing His detractors.
Both of these men exhibited incredible wisdom in their youth, and provided notice to their contemporaries that God was active and present!
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.
271
Guarantee of our Inheritance
Ephesians 1:14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
When I think of a guarantee, I think of a company that is attempting to calm a potential customer of a reluctance to purchase one of their items or products. It is a promise of the quality or ability of the product to perform it’s intended use. A guarantee is typically linked to the honor, or at least the reputation of the manufacturer.
That makes some sense in relation to God and His desire to settle our hearts, especially when considering His stellar reputation.
But let’s dig a bit.
When Paul uses the term Guarantee, he is speaking a bit different language than what I have described. To be a guarantee in Paul’s mind is to be a pledge, an earnest money or better yet, a down payment.
An example of a down payment in the Old Testament may be found in Genesis 38, in the story of Judah. Judah was not doing right with a daughter-in-law, Tamar by name and she decided to do something about it. After some planning and deception, Tamar set up a situation for Judah. This very plan suggests Judah was a bit of a womanizer, a bit of an unfaithful man. Nevertheless, Judah, as he travelled from home, hired a prostitute (Tamar in disguise) and prior to the act, Tamar negotiated with Judah a price for her services.
It turns out a goat was an acceptable payment to Tamar, but she requested a pledge until the goat arrived. She requested his signet ring, his cord and his staff until the goat was delivered. Each of these items were significant items in Judah’s life, representing his authority, identity and ability to perform business transactions. This was no minor request, but Judah complied.
The deed done, Judah went on his way and Tamar (the prostitute) disappeared, with Tamar (Judah’s daughter-in-law) living under his roof, with his possessions. Soon enough, it was determined Tamar was pregnant, and Judah – in righteous indignation – decided to burn her for her infidelity.
It was a good thing she kept his down payment! Judah realized he was in the wrong, and eventually two children were born of Tamar and Judah, of which Perez became an ancestor of King David, and eventually included in the lineage of Jesus.
All of this background is provided to consider the concept of a down payment in the Old Testament, leading me to a few thoughts.
Judah gave his identity to Tamar as a down payment. God has provided His Spirit, His very Person as a down payment to us. Tamar displayed Judah’s possessions at a time when her very life was in danger. Judah’s down payment, in Tamar’s possession actually saved her life.
Is it not in similar fashion that in our salvation, our lives are delivered from our own unrighteous acts, having the Spirit of God continually protecting, guiding and teaching our hearts?
Also, this down payment represented a union between it’s owner and a supposed stranger, even an outcast. In Judah’s eyes, this woman was simply a prostitute, and yet out of this union, life was produced, and the lineage to the Messiah was one step closer.
But finally, in relation to our verse and some of the above concepts, consider that in our case, the Father has given us His Spirit as a down payment. First off, it is not mere “things” that God provided as Judah did with Tamar. God’s down payment is the very Third Person of the Trinity.
As Judah gave a signet ring, a tool to produce a formal signature on contracts, God gave His Spirit as a promissory note for our lives, a form of signature on a document.
As Judah gave his cord, a string that typically was worn around his neck carrying the signet ring near his heart, God provided us promises of the Spirit being in our heart. The Spirit is on and in our heart!
As Judah gave his staff to Tamar, representing leadership and authority, even his identity, God has also provided His children His staff of authority, even His own identity in the Person of the Holy Spirit.
God’s guarantee is much more than I first thought. Even though my modern thinking of how a guarantee rests on the reputation of the manufacturer, (and there is some truth in this thinking), I am thankful for the Lord correcting me in my understanding, making me see that He who is the Guarantee of our Inheritance is much more than I first imagined.
He is the Guarantee of our Inheritance!
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.
270
Greatness of Your Majesty
Exodus 15:7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
Majesty. An old word used by old fogies. I suppose it is coming back into fashion with some of these new praise songs I hear at church and the radio, but for some, if I were to ask them the meaning, I am afraid they may not connect.
Majesty is a term that relates to royalty. Surely the British may understand the term a bit better than others. But to think it only relates to royalty may be missing the mark.
To speak of majesty in the Old Testament speaks of excellence. As a matter of fact, some literal translations actually use the term “excellence” in place of majesty in this verse.
Exodus 15:7 NASB20 – “And in the greatness of Your excellence You overthrow those who rise up against You; You send out Your burning anger , [and] it consumes them like chaff.
Exodus 15:7 Youngs Literal Translation – And in the abundance of Thine excellency Thou throwest down Thy withstanders, Thou sendest forth Thy wrath — It consumeth them as stubble.
Now I don’t know about some of my readers, but when I was in grade school, to get an “excellent” on a book report, school assignment or graded paper implied a perfect score. Not a 90%. That was “very good”. Even a 99% was only a very very good!
No, to attain an “excellent”, it was embedded in this little boys mind that only perfection was excellent. And for that I am grateful, for I think this is an accurate depiction of Moses estimate of the God he served.
But let’s consider for a moment a little context, remember this is Moses’ song of triumph, a song of triumph over the worlds greatest super power, by a rag tag group of slaves, and an old man that used to be loyal. A super power that an upstart group of slaves took down.
Let’s also remember that the Pharoah was considered majestic, excellent, of great royal blood, and his nation supported him in this estimation. His army was the greatest, just like he was, and yet these slaves with an old man as a leader, not only escaped thier clutches, but completely decimated the army that was after them.
Oh my, but what a mistake I have made. It wasn’t the slaves, or that old man that led them, but the God of Israel who performed all these actions against this superpower.
And note also that when Moses describes God’s method of taking down the Egyptians, he doesn’t use terms that describe God as breaking a sweat, or that He was exhausted from taking the Egyptians down. (After all, they were a super power!)
No, the verse speaks of God sending out His fury. His burning anger. Note that which God sent out is an emotion! An emotion.
Did it include lightning, as if fire from the skies? Did it include horrific wind storms, or massive earthquakes? None were noted. We do see the Red Sea falling in on the super power armies, but that may be termed simply the removal of a restraint on the waters. After all, it wasn’t meant for everybody, only those slaves and that old man.
If the superpower armies decided to enter an unsafe situation, that is on them.
So again, what is inferred when we hear that God sent his fury, his burning anger. An emotion? I think Moses is making a point. God’s excellencies are such that it only requires the unleashing of an emotion to decimate a world superpower. That is the excellency of God, and Moses only adds the superlative of the Greatness of Your Excellency to magnify the God He serves.
Moses, as an old man, sure knew how to speak of our God!
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.
Philippians 2:14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, Philippians 2:15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, Philippians 2:16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
In our last post on this passage, we discussed (with some tongue in cheek language) of a better motivator for the saint if we are eternally secure. We spoke of replacing “fear and trembling” with an alternate motivator, since being eternally secure removes any concern over the quality of our relationship with the Father. We spoke of a silly option Paul may have used to motivate the Philippians. He chose not to!
I may have been a bit crass. I hope it made at least one of my readers think about the text, and reconsider the possibility that Paul’s message may mean more than we currently understand.
Paul continues with the Philippians in our passage this morning, speaking of the characteristics of the believer, of refraining from grumbling and disputing, and of the believers life exhibiting a character that is blameless and innocent. We have previously addressed what it means to be blameless and innocent in this blog (See Philippian Bits – 2:15.01 & Philippian Bits – 2:15.02), so I will not repeat it here.
What I would like to consider is the last verse, where Paul speaks of his labor in the ministry. The topic of this last phrase is the effect of the Philippians obedience on the potential vanity of Paul’s ministry.
If the Philippians were not obedient, Paul’s ministry, at least in relation to the Philippians would be in vain. Now to say something is vain is difficult for our modern society since we are so immersed in it. So much of our society is a chasing after vanity, of emptiness, of smoke and mirrors. For you see, for something to be “vain” is stating that it is devoid of truth, empty, full of nothing. It is of no purpose, without fruit and of no lasting value.
To be vain is to be empty. Maybe our world will wake up some day to the vanity of living for themselves, but I fear not, for this is a vain, vain world we live in!
But Paul uses it in relation to the souls of the Philippians, of his work amongst them. Now remembering the thoughts in our last post on this passage, if the saved are eternally secure, that to be once save always saved is the way to understand the Word, why would Paul be concerned about the emptiness of his ministry, especially since the Philippians have exhibited a previous fruitfulness. Surely the Philippians were a saved people, exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit and worshipping in truth. Even a few verse earlier, Paul confessed to the reality of their identity in the Messiah.
All is well Paul, for they could not fall away, they could not apostatize! Have no concerns Paul. Your ministry work is also secure, for the past fruit of the Philippians has proven your work. The possibility of your work amongst the Philippians being in vain is impossible, for the souls you reached are destined for glory, no matter what they do. Oh they may loose some rewards, but they will be before the throne, and prove your effectiveness in converting lost souls.
My friends, I think I have been excessively sarcastic, even crass in these last two posts. Forgive me. But if there is truth amongst my words of harshness, and something is stirring in you, consider your standing before the Lord. Confession and repentance of sin before the Lord is never rebuffed by the One who has proven us His love.
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
Daniel
A Royal Son
Daniel 1:3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, Daniel 1:6 Among these were Daniel…
Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38
We often think of Daniel as a man of great faith, a man fully committed to God, a man who served kings and rulers well, by serving God faithfully. And well we should for he is one of the greatest men of faith in the Old Testament!
Yet Daniel was born into royalty, a man of nobility, a man of privilege, a youth that was destined for a life of authority, power and advantage.
He was granted status by his relationship with royalty. He did not attain to royalty by effort or talent, but simply through bloodlines. To be Daniel was to be of nobility.
Jesus also was born of royal lineage, and the gospels of Matthew and Luke provide two genealogies to show His status as Royalty.
Matthew teaches us of Jesus legal lineage to the throne, through Abraham and King David and Joseph. Luke teaches the biological lineage of Jesus to the throne, not through Solomon but through Nathan, David’s son through Bathsheba. (It is interesting how the lineage of Jesus avoided the curse of Jeconiah, but that is for a different time!)
Both Daniel and Jesus were born of royalty. Though Daniel never exercised any authority through this privilege of great bloodlines, he did attain to greatness by depending on God (and not his unearned status), eventually being offered a seat of royalty in the Babylonian empire, and counselling kings of nations.
Jesus exercised His authority as King, as He walked amongst us, proving his sovereignty over nature, sin and death many times. He commanded and “things got done”.
Nature obeyed.
Sickness obeyed.
Even death knelt before the King.
How amazing that we Whom He came to rescue have yet to appreciate, nor understand His Kingship.
Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Jesus, as King of kings, is willing to gather. We are not willing. And yet He is patient, reigning over all to the benefit of all and to the glory of God.
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.
269
Greater than He Who is in the World
1 John 4:4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
We find this morning’s name of God in a passage that the Apostle John provides us, as he is warning the believers not to trust every message they hear.
He begins our passage by telling his friends not to believe every spirit.
This is standard Christianity. If we have any history in our walk with the Lord, we have come across teachers or so called prophets, that claim to know the Word of the Lord, or have some secret esoteric message directly from God.
Test them. Always test those spirits!
I took this command with vigor in my past, and carried an attitude that contained a bounty hunter mentality. Any message would go under the microscope of Carl’s understanding of the Word, parse the word’s of the message and somehow determine the teachers motivations! It go to the point where I entertained a very suspicious nature, always looking for error, hunting for impurities in any message I heard.
Of course as you read that, you have to understand I had a highly defined, very restricted view of the Bible. To describe every aspect of my faith would take much to much time. As an example, at one point in my faith, I had chosen to condemn supralapsarianism. What foolishness to chase such a highly refined, unimportant, divisive teaching.
This was not John’s intent!
He had one test for us. He was battling a heresy that was beginning to erupt in the early church called Gnosticism, and it taught that Jesus was God, but that he appeared as a man. Not that He was flesh and blood, but that He decieved those He walked with by looking like a man, but not being a man. He was a spirit only.
This teaching attacked the very identity of our Messiah, the effectiveness of His sacrifice and the extent of His love for His people. This would not do for John and it cannot be found in our thinking.
Any message that does not openly identify the Savior as the man named Jesus, and that He walked amongst us as a man of flesh and blood, is a teaching that replaces our Savior with an idea, describing our Master as a spirit that deceived the apostles into thinking they were with a man, and most importantly, did not die in place for all of humanity. He simply provided a guide for His followers, not a vicarious physical death for men and women of flesh and blood.
When we get to our verse, John speaks of Him who is greater than he who is in the world. Specifically, I think John is speaking of false teachers and lying spirits when he speaks of those who are in the world. Of course, the ultimate identity behind those who spread lies about our Leader is the enemy of our souls, but in this passage John is identifying the spirit of antichrist working against believers through false teachers.
As an aside, I found it interesting that the topic of “antichrist” is only spoken of by John, and only four times in his epistles. (What shocked me most was that John thought antichrist referred to multiple persons, and antichrist was present in his day!) I have provided all the passages below for your convenience.
The Spirit of God, fed by the Word of God, in the saint of God is unstoppable, cannot be defeated. More to John’s point, John simply states that we are from God. The very fact that we are from God is the victory. We have already overcome those who are spreading lies of the Master by believing the truth from the apostles. We have come to know the truth, that Jesus the God-man entered our world in flesh and blood, physically suffered at our hands, died as a man in our place and rose bodily from the grave. This is the message we have believed, and have become those who are from God.
He is greater than he who is in the world.
As John continues in his letter, he speaks of listening to the apostles. As those who are from God, we will hear God in the teaching of the apostles, and confess that His teachings are of His apostles.
1 John 4:6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Why would we not listen to His apostles? Unless some dime store prophet comes by with some new trinket of “truth” that appeals to our old nature.
Brothers – be content with the truth of the Word, for it is the faithful record of Him who is Greater than he who is in the world!
Teaching of John on “antichrist” 1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 1 John 2:22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 1 John 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 2 John 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.
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.
268
Greater than the Temple
Matthew 12:6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.
Jesus walked amongst people who were devoted to the temple. Even the most “unwashed” of the nation reverred the temple, though they despised those who abused their power within it. The Temple was the glory of the city of Jerusalem, and represented a time when the very presence of God was with the nation.
Those days had passed, and the glory of this temple was merely physical, for the Lord had left the Temple centuries ago, prior to it’s destruction by the Babylonians as Ezekiel witnesses in his vision he recorded in Ezekiel 10.
After the completion of their captivity, the Lord provided the opportunity for the Jewish remnant to return to the land, and rebuild the temple. Some of the elders of the nation, that had seen the first temple of Solomon, wept when they saw the foundation of the Second Temple.
Ezra 3:12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy,
Those who witnessed the first, were weeping, not necessarily out of joy for the rebuilding progress, but because this temple was smaller than Solomons. The required resources to rebuild Solomons temple were not available, and the temple would be a dim reflection of the first one.
And yet, in the building of the temple, as the people were dismayed and discouraged, a prophet by the name of Haggai appeared on the scene. He spoke of the temple, the need to construct, the refusal to compare with the old memories and of the glory of this second temple.
Haggai 2:9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.’”
Facing a temple reduced in size and in resources, Haggai had the nerve to say it’s glory would be greater than Solomon’s temple. Surely you jest Haggai, for it is but a mere echo of the glory of Solomon’s temple.
Five hundred years later, a young Rabbi entered that second temple and as He spoke to the building managers (the Pharisees) about the Sabbath – a tremendously important day for them – He declared Something greater than the temple was present.
Talk about nerve!
But could Haggai have been thinking of more than the size or cost of the physical temple when he prophesied? It seems the elders who wept at the reduced foundation size of the second temple were distracted from the truth. The Messiah would out shine any building, and beyond that, He would BE the temple.
Such an audacious statement concerning His superiority over the temple must have stunned the crowd. Stunned them, or at least confused them as they continually looked to the building as their focus of allegiance.
But our Messiah goes further. His statement concerning the raising up of the temple, though thoroughly misunderstood, was proven by His resurrection.
John 2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
He is the Temple of the Living God. No building could compare to the Glory of the Son, and any effort to construct any temple in the future is spitting in the face of the Father’s gift to all mankind.
Let us consider how we, as believers in the Body of Christ are to focus on Him only. He is the Temple and any building we meet within is simply a shell to protect us from the elements.
Remember – even today, He is Greater than the Temple.
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.
Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
Sorting through my past posts on this topic and was quite surprised that I hadn’t dedicated a posting to the verse above. How could I have missed a passage that provides support for the conditional security such as this one?
Consider the verse, and try to understand the heart Paul had in writing it. He loved this church, likely more than any other church he had birthed. He sought the best for them, and even in this verse, he expresses confidence that the saints were obeying. Note that he does not say that he was confident that the saints were believing. No no no.
If Paul was to encourage a saint, he looked to the fruit of obedience for topic matter. Believing can be so “malleable”, but acts of faith, of service and of spiritual worship are forged in the indelible framework of time and can not be revised, edited or interpretated with alternate understandings. The works that are past are fixed in time and provide proof of what is important to the one being examined.
Paul had examined these saints while he was amongst them, and saw that their obedience was giving evidence of the faith they espoused.
Now he seeks their continued obedience, as he encourages them with the challenge to work out their salvation. With fear and trembling.
Now I can not tell you what was going on in the recesses of Paul’s mind at the time of this writing, but a guess would be that there was something to fear if these saints did not work out their salvation.
Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Of course my Calvinistic brothers would refer to the very next verse to remind us that it is God who is working in the believer, and for that I am eternally thankful. God is a faithful God, a loving and caring God who seeks our best.
But the passage does not say that God forces His work into our lives, or that we have no choice in the matter. God is present, He is powerful, and He seeks our best, but as I and my Calvinist friends agree on, we are a sinful people – a people that tends to walk away, to ignore the whispers of God, to forget His promises and take the easy road to often.
God is working in our lives and as we obey we have many many blessings in our lives, most of which is the knowledge of the Living God being active and personal in our own soul. This is an incredible truth, and one which we should treasure.
So why did Paul mention fear and trembling? Let’s think about this for a moment.
If we are a people that are eternally secure, disobedience causes the loss of eternal rewards. I cannot number the times I used this reasoning in my former belief was that. I simply did not entertain the thought that disobedience would potentially strain or fracture a relationship with the Father and Son. No – that did not fit my thinking at that time, for I was committed to a salvation that was of a contractual nature, and not of the relational nature.
But let’s suppose I am incorrect in my current understanding, and salvation includes the teaching of eternal security. Once saved always saved! Let’s assume OSAS is true for a moment. If so, I suppose one way Paul might have motivated the saints in Philippi would be to instruct him to work out his salvation with self interest and a “godly” desire.
Paul could remind the believer of his rewards! Admittedly the loss of rewards would bring shame on the believer before the throne, but wouldn’t Paul’s message resonate with the faithful Philippian saint by appealing to the rewards as opposed to the fear and trembling of loosing that relationship with the Father. It is in the interest of the saint to gain more rewards!!
I know – that is crass, vulgar and not called for. But you get my point.
We are to work out our salvation with a fear and a trembling that is settled in our soul, a fear that our old nature may rear it’s ugly head and we pay attention to it. We are a people that are easily distracted by the the lusts of the flesh, the world and the pride of life!
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life–is not from the Father but is from the world.
We are a people who are to fear, even tremble at the thought of not pleasing the One who calls us to Him. Is this a debilitating fear, a trembling of heart that cripples us into inaction? If this is your continual experience, I dare say the fear and trembling you are experiencing is not of the Father. Yes – there may come times when the realization of how great He is knocks us down, floors us before Him. The prophets of old experienced this often. (See Psalms for Psome – Ps 36.00 for a discussion on men of old facing God and falling down!)
Yet they rose up and did mighty things. His is the invitation to a life of adventure, of listening to His will and walking in obedience.
Who cares about rewards when we can walk with the Almighty, and experience His loving care.
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
Cyrus
Trigger of Prophecy
Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. And for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. Daniel 9:26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.
Luke 19:38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Cyrus made a decree, and that decree began the reestablishment of the nation of Israel in the promised land. It is as if the nation was reborn, and the hope of the Messiah could be realized again.
Cyrus issued a decree, and as we spoke of earlier, this decree to release the Jews from captivity and provide access to the homeland in order to rebuild the temple was miraculous! What type of king does this type of action for a defeated people?
He issued a decree, but it is very improbable that the decree of Cyrus is related the the word spoken of in Daniel 9:25. You see, all the previous passages we have spoken of in relation to the decrees of Cyrus have had to do with the rebuilding of the temple. Daniel speaks of a decree to rebuild the City. Let us not blur the Word!
Yes, some may consider a verse in Isaiah justify seeing Cyrus as the one providing the decree referred to in Daniel 9:25.
Isaiah 44:28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”
But take note that the text speaks of God describing Cyrus as a shepherd, and then of God’s actions of Jerusalem and the temple being rebuilt. It is not specifically stating Cyrus would perform the actions of building Jerusalem or laying the foundation of the temple.
The Word does help define exactly Cyrus place in all of this process of reestablishing the nation of Israel, as Ezra describes the historical proclamation of Cyrus.
Ezra 1:1-2 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
After a careful reading, it should be obvious that Cyrus provided the decree for the temple, and that nothing is spoken by him regarding the rebuilding of the City of Jerusalem.
So Carl, you have just disproven the expected storyline of Cyrus being the one who would be the “Trigger of Prophecy”, that he would set in motion the specific decree that could calculate the coming of the Anointed One, the Prince.
Yes, Cyrus did not provide the decree to build the City, but he set in motion the inevitable process of Israel becoming a nation in the land again. Some other king – we will look at him in the future as a type of the Christ also – had the privilege start the clock for the countdown to our Saviors appearance, His passion and His glory.
For now, we are considering Cyrus, and as a type of the Christ, he has abundantly surprised me in all the ways he pointed us to the who are looking to find the Christ in the Old Testament.
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.
267
Greater than Solomon
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
This general passage has been referred to earlier in our discussion of “Greater than Jonah”. In that comparison, we saw that Jesus referred to Jonah in relation the the effect of his preaching, and of the repentance Jonah experienced amongst the dirty sinful gentiles.
It seemed Jonah was much more successful with the dirty rotten stinking gentiles that Jesus was with the righteous, holy, blessed and perfect Jews He was addressing. Of course Jesus is much much greater, but refer to that posting for that discussion!
In our verse this morning, Jesus brings up Solomon. The wisest and richest king ever produced in the nation. A man revered by Jesus audience as the wisest of all, a man who drew people to him just to hear his judgements. Jesus focuses in on the story of the queen of the South coming to see Solomon.
A woman. A woman from a foreign nation. A dirty rotten stinking gentile again! But this example had her coming to Israel. She was not as the Ninevites, having a message delivered that they did not expect. This queen sought out an audience with the king.
And she is going to judge the generation of religious Jews for not paying attention to the One greater than Solomon.
Can you hear the mocking, the jeering and the laughter in the background?
How could this itinerant rebel rousing Rabbi consider His message greater than Solomon? Or more to the point, how could Jesus compare Himself as greater than Solomon? This must have seemed completely ludicrous in the eyes of the religious man in Israel!
And how dare Jesus suggest a foreigner, a dirty rotten stinking gentile, judge the righteous holy and perfect law-abiding Jew?
This was just too much!
But what if He was right? What if Jesus is Greater than Solomon?
How humbling this would be for the religious man?
If Jesus is greater than Solomon, and the religious man is not recognizing His greatness, a time will come when a great humbling will occur!
How deep is the complete blindness of the religious man?
If Jesus is greater than Solomon, and the religious man cannot see the truth of the Messiah, that Jesus provides all the proofs needed to know and see Him in His person, a time will come when this will be revealed!
How silent is the stone cold deafness of the religious man?
If Jesus is greater than Solomon, and the religious man cannot hear the words of God coming from the mouth of Jesus, he is showing he is not of the fold, that he is not one of the Shepherd’s sheep, a time will come when the Word will be clear!
My friend, Jesus is Greater than Solomon, having proved His identity by His life and death, and His resurrection.
Jesus is Greater than Solomon. Deal with it!
On a personal note, I am convinced that religion is one of the greatest barriers to knowing the Living God. Religion, in all it’s glory, is often a tool used deaden our sense of need before the only True God, providing a system of various laws and rules that we are to obey in order to satisfy some god, or provides the religious man enough information in order to inflate our estimation of ourselves.
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.
266
Greater than our Hearts
1 John 3:20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
John is providing multiple tests for the believer to recognize in his own life, to build his faith and establish his life before God. I had at one time thought the book consisted of one verse, and that verse being 1 John 5:13.
1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
It’s almost funny how I would skip through John’s letter, stopping shortly in the first chapter to memorize the ninth verse, and then right to 5:13. It was my verse to depend on based on what I remembered happened so many years ago, when I bent my knee at that couch and prayed the sinners prayer.
Chapter 5, verse 13 was critical for my faith since at one point in my life I had believed. Yes, back on Feb 21st of 1981, at 7:30 I prayed to the Lord. It was my salvation, and John was telling me that because I believed, I may know I had eternal life.
But I skipped the body of his letter, hoping the prayer would be enough. Now before anyone starts thinking I am questioning whether I met the Lord that night, let those thoughts evaporate. He saved this ol fool’s life and put me on a new road, with a new heart and a new purpose.
Yet I depended on that night! It was if the night was what saved me in my thinking sometimes. I am not sure if anyone else has had these thoughts, or possibly some doubts of their initial introduction to the God of Eternity, but John wants to dispel those thoughts. He provides us a fool proof method of knowing of our destiny, of our relationship with the Savior and that knowledge is found in the way we live out our faith.
Nothing changes the past. Those times when I have obeyed the light He give (1 John 1), loved my brother (1 John 2), rejected the world’s enticements (1 John 2), refused anti-Christian teaching (1 John 2), sought a purity of life (1John 3), or found the world hates or reject me (1 John 3) – each of those times has given me a greater confidence in my relationship with the Risen Son. It is an experiential relationship with the Living God that provides the knowledge of our faith.
Yet we are dragging about a sinful rebel, one that simply wants to wander off from the God we love. Each of us have failed Him. Each of us are not worthy.
There are times when my history with the Lord wells up in my heart, when my memories flood in and show how lackluster my faith has been, of how I have been an inconsistent follower, a complainer, a charlatan of sorts, a hypocrite and a traitor.
My heart is a condemning heart. It is the nature of the beast! And John tells us that when our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.
The epistle John is writing is for believers to know of their relationship with the Living God. John now refers to God knowing everything.
This is the only time John mentions “God knowing” in this epistle, and it is instructive to note he is addressing the believer who is self condemned, full of doubt and despair. Even in this state of condemnation, of our hearts refusing to acknowledge the leading of God in our lives, we can find reassurance in the Lord, remembering that He knows our souls, and that He is above all of our doubting self condemnation.
1 John 3:19-20 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
Our God is Greater than our heart, and for that we should continually be a thankful people. When the condemning heart starts telling dark stories – whether they be true or not, remember the goodness of God.
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.
Revelation 14:9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, Revelation 14:10 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” Revelation 14:12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
Revelation is a difficult book to understand. There – I said the obvious.
In my early years, I was of the mind that John had written the book of Revelation, his magnum opus of apocalyptic Scripture, for the saints in our modern times. I was so selfish, so self centered that I was convinced John must be speaking of the 21st century, and of the conditions believers would face over 2000 years after his death!
That is until I realized the incredible impact the Old Testament had on John as he wrote the Book of Revelation. Of all the New Testament books, none is so dense with allusions, references and quotations from the Old Testament as is this book we are reading this morning.
A case in point to consider.
John refers to a mark on the head or hand. Is John possibly thinking his readers may know the Old Testament well enough that this reference reminds them of an earlier time, a time that may have similar characteristics?
My first thought would be the mark God called for on the mantle of each Israelites home on the night of the first passover.
Exodus 12:7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. Exodus 12:23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
The Israelites definitely understood the idea of marking, and that it was a representation of protection. But Ezekiel goes even further, and I think John may be reaching back to this prophet for his context!
Ezekiel 9:3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. Ezekiel 9:4 And the LORD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” Ezekiel 9:5 And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity.
After this man clothed in linen performed his task of identification, judgement fell! But note the very next verse, where those who were to show no pity were to begin the killing!
Ezekiel 9:6 Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house.
At God’s sanctuary! The killing was to begin at the very location where those who have the appearance of godliness congregate. And what was the mark identifying? The mark was on all those who mourned and groaned over the apostacy in the nation, over the abominations the Israelites performed, even in the sanctuary of God.
An incredible judgement of God occurred during Ezekiel’s time.
Is John using this message, and applying it to believers in relation to the taking of a mark, instead of simply accepting a mark of identification? After all, believers are already marked!
Revelation 22:4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
John clearly brings in hints of Ezekiel in this passage, and it may be instructive that Ezekiel’s judgement started in the sanctuary. In the very house of God!
In Ezekiel’s passage, the mark was provided for protection, for those who mourned the condition of the temple and the sanctuary, the religious state of the nation. In Revelation, this mark is accepted by those who chose allegiance against God and Jesus.
Ok – I can hear the question even now. Is it a physical mark we are to fear?
If it gets to that point where a believer is to make a decision of receiving a mark, (whatever that may be), I am afraid we may be too far gone.
You see, for as those in the Ezekiel passage are described, the mark identifies the type of person it is placed on, and it is not the result of a single decision of accepting a mark. As believers, our allegiance is to the Christ today, and though fundamentally this is not an external condition, it is also not simply the absence of a mark, or the absence of a laser imprint, or the absence of a chip inserted into a hand or on your forehead.
Our allegiance, that which “marks us” even today, should be seen in our good works which glorify our Father. These exterior “marks” are sourced from an internal faith buried deep in our minds and hearts. Our faith in the Risen One produces decisions of the mind (represented by the forehead in our passage) and actions in our lives (represented by the right hand in our passage) that reflects a living faith!
We already have His mark on us! We are marked as sons and daughters of the Most High God by the Messiah, and unless some other mark is more appealing, more satisfying, or more desirable in the eye of the beholder, we will not desire any other!
Yet the passage in Revelation does not simply state what I have described and walked away. John continues with a statement that should be accepted for what it is, a challenge that needs to be overcome in the faith.
Revelation 14:12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
His call for endurance is not an idle statement, for their may be days ahead when the enemy makes threats, when the enemy seeks to feed our fears, when the enemy will challenge our resolve to follow the Crucified One.
Story Time
One such time for this family was a few years back, when the world was in the deep confusion of Covid, when all was falling apart and ignorance and misinformation was rampant. There were forces that sought to have control over this family, to take advantage of this condition of fear and confusion.
The threat I speak of for my wife and I was the loss of my career. We are fundamentally a one income family, and when I was challenged to take a jab, I humbly refused. Many temptations and justifications tumbled through my mind, with my boss seeking to help me change my mind. He truly meant well, and at the time, it seemed abundantly clear that the loss of my income would have an immediate impact on my family, causing the loss of home, health and happiness. (That was the pitch!)
Yet the very intensity of the threat was telling, and the continual effort to have everyone take it seemed out of order. As a family, we were convinced this was God’s will for us, stuck to our guns, and refused the jab.
We waited on the Lord.
Not one in our family lost our careers, although a few of us experienced the sickness. Dang I lost almost 30 lbs. to that sickness. (Don’t worry – I found it again!)
The Lord provided a minor test for this family during those days of confusion, and for that I am thankful. He provided us a history of standing up for bodily freedom, for not accepting any demand on our person that we are not convinced of, and of giving us the strength to wait on the mercy of the Lord.
There will be days ahead my friend, when additional challenges may fall onto our lives, impacting our families and loved ones. Take a message from the apostle John, for he knew the way of the believer.
Revelation 14:12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus
Be the marked of the Messiah, for if you are not fully devoted to the One who died for you, you will accept another mark.
Without His life, you have no hope.
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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
Jew and Gentile King
Isaiah 41:2 Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step? He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings underfoot; he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow.
Isaiah 45:1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed:
Revelation 19:16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Cyrus, it is well known was a Gentile, a king of Gentiles and one of the most feared and effective kings of the ancient world. He trampled over Babylon without loosing a battle, and dominating the surrounding cities. A key city in the Babylonian kingdom simply surrendered to Cyrus. No fight in them, for they knew who Cyrus was and that he was coming to get them!
How impressive was Cyrus? In order to take Babylon, he diverted a river. A river you may have heard of called the Euphrates! No small river may I say!
He was a king of kings in his day, and in his dominion over the Babylonian kingdom, he inherited a tiny nation that had been in captivity for 70 years. As he became king over Babylon, by default, he became the king over Israel, the Jewish people.
Although Jesus initially offered God’s kingdom to the Jewish people, we all know that the end goal was for all nations to know the true King, the King of Kings over both the Jewish and Gentile people groups, drawing them into the nation of God, the church.
Yes, Cyrus was a type of Christ in that he was sovereign over all nations, including those of Israel. Yet his kingship lasted at most only a few generations, and it was merely a kingdom of this earth, a physical kingdom destined for death.
Jesus kingdom is spiritual, includes all who seek Him and will never succumb to death or destruction. He is the True King of Kings over all.
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.
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Greater than our Father Jacob
John 4:12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”
As mentioned in our previous post, as an introduction to the next few names that include the modifier “greater than”, I mentioned that comparing God to a historical figure is somewhat diminishing to the nature of God, but I argued that this very act of stooping to our needs is the type of God we serve. He is nowhere nearly just greater than those we will come across in this short series, for He is the Eternal Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient God. But God is also good, and humble, and loving, and reaches out to those He loves and dies for. Thank you Lord!
For this passage, Jesus is challenged by a sinful Samaritan lady, when she questions the Savior of being “greater than our father Jacob”?
How could this young itinerant, relatively unknown (at this time in His ministry) Jewish Rabbi be greater that the father of the Jewish nation? And why would this Samaritan woman challenge Jesus with that topic?
Well it turns out that this very well was commonly known as Jacob’s well.
John 4:6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
This well had been providing water to Jacob’s descendants for hundreds of years. Now I want to be careful, for there is nowhere in the Old Testament that I can find describing the digging of this specific well by Jacob, but tradition, and this Samaritan’s comments settle that issue in my mind.
For those interested in the possible Old Testament reference to Jacob’s purchase of the well, many scholars consider this land to be referred to in Genesis 38.
Genesis 33:18-19 And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent.
As mentioned, in the patriarch’s days, wells were the source of life. Jacob knew this, and bought the land this well was positioned on for his family and future posterity. Hundreds of years later, it continued to provide life to the surrounding people.
So in summary, Jacob was great since he was the one who provided a source of life for his posterity. The Samaritans considered Jacob to be their ancestral father through Joseph, and the provider of life through this well. No man was greater in the Samaritans opinion. Jacob was truly great!
Therefore, when this woman challenged Jesus in this comparison with Jacob, she chose the nuclear option with Jesus. Much to her surprise, her question blew up in her face – in a very unexpected way! She challenged this young Rabbi of His abilities to provide water, but then found out He could provide a far greater source of life, the Spirit of God, far exceeding the mere wet stuff she sought every day at the well.
She only had one hurdle to jump over. Sin. She had to face her sin.
Is that the only thing holding you back from finding life in the Savior. Take it from an awful sinner. Admit your weakness, your frailty, your rebellion, your sinfulness, and your hard heart. He knows of it. He simply wants you to know of it, to admit it, and to realize the well we currently draw water from is not the water we truly need.
Her admittance of sin to this young Rabbi provided the first open confession of who Jesus truly is. And that to a sinful Samaritan woman, not a righteous servant of God. Kinda speaks of God’s desire for the lost, no?
John 4:25-26 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
Can you imagine her day, starting out by challenging some stranger at a well, and then becoming convinced He is really is greater that her father Jacob?
Greater than Jacob? By a long shot – for He is the Messiah!
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.
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