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
ABEL
A Shepherd
Genesis 4:4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering,
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Abel was a shepherd. Jesus was a carpenter. But in reality, Jesus was a Shepherd, a good Shepherd, not of those four legged wooly critters, but of a more stubborn and cantankerous type of “sheep”.
Yes, both were shepherds, but Jesus was the Shepherd of all Shepherds, and is the One who not only was murdered due to anger and envy, but His mission was to lay His life down. As far as I can imagine, Abel did not have an inkling of the darkness in Cains heart when they went out to the field. Abel never saw it coming!
Jesus came to die. It was His end goal, His target to hit, the will of God for Him. For Abel, his death was a consequence of living a God honoring life, of seeking to do good. He was the first martyr, and his end would be repeated by many others before the good Shepherd would experience the same vitriol of hatred. But for all the martyrs that have come and gone, the good Shepherd has joined in the same suffering, and provided us a salvation from the enemy of our souls, the one who desires to murder our souls!
Similarities between Abel and Jesus exist, and they are awesome to find as we venture through the Old Book, as we consider not only the similarities, but also the differences.
Can you think of any other similarities?
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.
31
ANGEL OF HIS PRESENCE
Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
This passage is found in a chapter of Isaiah that recounts the Lord’s Day of Vengeance, and of the Lord’s mercy. After describing the vengeance of the Lord, of God trodding the winepress alone, of trampling them in His wrath, and of their blood staining His garments, Isaiah reminds the audience of the Lord’s mercy, of the steadfast love of the LORD.
This steadfast love of the LORD is described in our verse as a love that took action, joining those who deserved suffering in the suffering. This love of God took part in the affliction. He was afflicted with them in all their affliction.
Does this refer to the cross alone, or to the ever-present pain the Godhead experiences due to our consistent and stubborn rejection of His Kingship over us? This I cannot answer and may not be of any practical significance to us, for if we take anything away form this short consideration, we should realize that our God is a suffering God, and that He is present in our suffering.
But this is not the only activity Isaiah brings to our attention, for God is not simply suffering with us, but that in the suffering, His presence saves them, redeems them, lifts them up and carries them.
He is with us, in our suffering, providing deliverance, redeeming those who are “irredeemable”.
He is good, and He is good all the time. May the Name of the Lord be praised.
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.
29
ANCIENT OF DAYS
Daniel 7:9 “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.
Who is this “Ancient of Days”?
We find our passage in Daniel as he is in the midst of describing his vision of the four beasts, coming up out of the sea. Four beasts, with descriptions given that mix animals with birds, or animals with men. Each of these beasts had characteristics that were frightening, even as you consider the first one, which was given the “mind of a man”. Consider the mind of a man, without the conscience or a soul connection with God. Truly terrifying if true!
Each of the four beasts exhibited aspects that instilled fear, power and dominion over others!
Then Daniels attention is grabbed by some commotion out of his line of sight. The true reigning monarch shows up.
He, the Ancient of Days, took His seat, His throne, and His appearance was that of purity, of a fiery judgement or cleansing power, with millions at His feet, serving Him. The formerly described beast that was so mighty, was simply killed, and that not of any active judgement from the Ancient of Days, but by His sheer presence, and the record of the books.
He was the Supreme Ruler, the Ultimate King over all, until…
Until the son of man was presented before the Ancient of Days.
At that point, in my understanding, at the point of the Lord’s ascension, the son of man was …
given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
The Ancient of Days, the Father of Glory gave to the Son the Kingdom. A Kingdom that will never end, and that shall not be destroyed. In the end, as Paul tries to explain, (or at least I try to understand), the Kingdom will be brought to the Father.
1 Corinthians 15:24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
Somehow, in some manner beyond my comprehension, the Kingdom will transfer to the Father, with God becoming all in all.
1 Corinthians 15:28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
All will be subject to the Son and to the Father. Harmony will be reestablished in creation, and we shall be happily and wonderfully subject to the true King.
May the Ancient of Days be honored in our lives today
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Hebrews 12:6-9 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
In the book of Hebrews, the author gives us 5 warnings as believers throughout the book. We are entering the fifth warning here and the author is developing the Father/son relationship, emphasizing the corrective posture of both our earthly father and our heavenly Father.
Within this particular passage, it is possible to understand the authors intent to simply spur on believers in the midst of trials. Many of the exhortations may focus on spurring on believers, and not enter into any conditional security topic. And yet, some of them may breach our topic of consideration in this series. With that said, for the next few posts, we are going to sit in this chapter and consider a few of the author’s messages in Hebrews 12 to the first century Hebrew believer.
In our first entry into this amazing chapter, we come to verse 6, where the author lays down the topic of discipline for the believer, and the reason believers experience this painful turn of events in their lives. He is quick to define the Lord’s motives, and that is not out of anger or frustration, which many earthly father’s experience, but out of pure love for His children. Don’t get me wrong – a good father, though angry and frustrated, will attempt to correct his son out of a foundation of love for the child. A non child, a neighbors child, or a young one he comes across in the grocery store does not affect the father as his own son’s bad behavior. No – it is the relationship that is emphasized in this passage as the motivating factor of discipline, and out of that, the proper response we are to exhibit towards our heavenly Father.
The exhortation to endure is a key element in this passage from the author. To endure takes on many descriptions throughout the book of Hebrews, but for brevity of this post, note the varied ways the author speaks of enduring just in chapter 12.
12:5 do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him
12:9 shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live
12:13 so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed
12:15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God
12:15 See to it ….that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
12:16 See to it …. no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal
12:25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking
Some of these phrases we will deal with in later posts, but for our current passage, note verse 8 & 9, where I believe the author speaks of living in relation to discipline. Our mental and spiritual repose before the Father, that of respect and subjection to His authority over our lives, provides assurance of our continuing in the life He has provided us out of grace and mercy.
Be subject to the Father and live.
Does this ring of an ongoing relationship with the One who saved us? Of a continual ongoing respect to the Father that is required in order to live?
Of course, if my thinking is correct, I have to consider the apostles reference to “live”” as being alive in Christ, to be of a resurrected reborn man or woman of God, one who has claimed and practiced the Christian life. This seems obvious to me at this time, for why would the apostle simply speak of physical life. If only physical life, the very discipline of the Father, which may end in martyrdom, would be contradictory.
For example, might the apostle be trying to say – Endure discipline, to the point of physical death so that you may live (physically?) It doesn’t make sense to me, but I am open to your comments, and hope to hear your thoughts on this passage.
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
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.
28
AMEN
Rev. 3:14 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
Our God is named Amen. But other than our using this word at the end of a prayer, do we understand what it means? Prior to doing any further reading, take a second and consider what you think “Amen” means.
Take a look at the Hebrew word translated as amen in the Old Testament – אָמֵן ʼâmên, aw-mane. Ok now take a look at the Greek word translated as amen in the New Testament – ἀμήν, Hebrew אָמֵן.
See any similarity?
You should since the Greek word is the Hebrew word. The similarity is that the Hebrew word is the Greek word, it did not go through a transformation to be included in the Greek vocabulary.
Take a second look at the Greek term – ἀμήν. By replacing the Greek letters with the English equivalent, we get amen. The word refuses to change or to be morphed by the sands off time. And that is somewhat typical of the word meaning itself, for it has a root meaning of firmness, faithfulness.
To be the amen, is to be the faithful one, the one who is firm, unshakable, true and trustworthy.
The Laodiceans were to understand that God’s name, the name of Jesus Christ, is trustworthy, firm, and faithful. The phrase immediately after our Name of God being considered, is reiterates the very same thought.
He is the Faithful, Firm and Trustworthy God, who is the faithful and true witness.
Can we trust Him?
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
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.
27
ALTOGETHER DESIRABLE
Song of Songs 5:16 His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
This passage is found in the Song of Songs, otherwise known as the Song of Solomon. It is an erotic poem between a young woman and a man, likely Solomon. As a literal poem it speaks of the physical love experienced between and man and a woman, and in parts, becomes very explicit.
Yet, as a believer, if we consider the Word to always represent Christ, to picture Him, to foreshadow His person or mission, it is not difficult to see this forgotten book as a wonderful expression of the intimate love God desires with His people.
This should not shock my reader, for Israel was considered the wife of Yahweh, and we are the Bride of Christ. Our lives are but a shadow of the reality, and the relation a man has with his wife includes not only a friendship that surpasses any earthly competitor (or at least it should) but a sharing of our bodies with each other. This is a tremendous blessing from God and only because of the warped society we live in do we shy away from this truth.
After her beloved had attempted to find her, and yet missed meeting with her, she lamented His disappearance. Her heartbreak in not being with Him pored out in a description of His person.
Take a few seconds and consider this love struck ladies description of the only one she wanted.
Song of Songs 5:11-15 His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven. His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, sitting beside a full pool. His cheeks are like beds of spices, mounds of sweet-smelling herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh. His arms are rods of gold, set with jewels. His body is polished ivory, bedecked with sapphires. His legs are alabaster columns, set on bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.
After this description of her lover, she speaks the verse we are considering today.
He is altogether desirable.
She found nothing in this man undesirable, and the combination of all his attributes only increased the total effect He has on her. She was awestruck, and as she expresses earlier on, she is sick with love. He consumed her attention so she saw no one else.
Jesus is altogether desirable, if we have eyes to see!
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.
2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
Through poverty to wealth? Dat don’t make sense for me, and, as a paradox is wont to do, it took me outside of my usual way of thinking.
When I think of riches, I automatically resort to the number of greenbacks I possess or to the value of my estate. Such a poverty driven way of thinking!
When Paul is teaching the Corinthians, he is speaking to a congregation that surely had the same problem. Paul uses this settled mindset and twists it back to correct thinking. He is the excellent teacher, taking his students from where how they think to a better, correct way of thinking, a better focus, a better understanding of reality.
This is the intent of many of the paradoxes we see in the Word, for as the Lord or His apostle provides a paradox, it first off, at least for me, arrests my thinking and causes me to consider what the message is really intended to be.
We must remember that our thoughts (previous to the renewing of our mind) are not necessarily in the proper context or have the correct view. To say that riches equates with greenbacks and estate values is the primary method we earth dwellers have to quantify any riches we feel we have attained, and sadly how many of us see our worth!
Paul is bringing a paradox of wealth and poverty to our mind to realign us into a correct understanding of worth.
What is it that brings value and worth in your life? Who is the One that provides true riches, value that cannot be bought with “filthy lucre”. You can kinda tell I am an ol’ coot, using that ol’ KJV phrase from 1 Timothy 3:3. No matter, this paradox, after I been thinking and ruminating on it for a few moments, flips our concept of wealth and worth on it’s head, and elevates those who sacrifice for others as the ones who are truly rich.
As Scripture always does, this truth is modelled perfectly in the Lord Jesus Christ, who became poor so that He could make others rich.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion
Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.
I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.
SEEING JESUS IN
ADAM
His Death Provided Her Salvation
Genesis 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Hebrews 2:14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
Adam joined his wife in death, but was not the one to deliver her. In his decision to join her, he sacrificed his life for her, as did Jesus for us.
Although it is hypothetical, consider the ramifications for Eve if Adam had not joined her in this decision. If he had not joined her in death – she would have had no hope of any offspring and therefore no deliverer to rescue her. No – in joining her in death he suffered for his decision. He, as we all are, was impotent to save himself, little lone his wife. Yet even in this act of joining her in death, it reflects the Lord’s heart for His bride, in that He suffered through death to be the Deliverer, the Savior of 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.
26
ALPHA AND OMEGA
Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Recently we were considering this verse regarding the description of Jesus as the “Almighty, the One who has authority over heaven and earth.
In this description of God, John is speaking of the Lord God’s message, for both of alpha and omega are letters of the Greek alphabet, the beginning and end letters of the Greek alphabet.
When we think of the alphabet, we are considering the very building blocks of all written communication. To reveal that He is the Alpha and Omega is to speak of Him as the foundation of God’s written communication for us.
John speaks of Jesus as the Logos in an earlier writing. Jesus is the Word, the message that we need to hear, the full communication of God to man.
God’s full message in living form!
Matthew 17:4,5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (emphasis mine)
Jesus. Listen to Him.
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
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.
25
ALMIGHTY
Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
We have earlier considered the Old Testament reference to “Almighty” in our fifth post in this series, as in Names of God – EL SHADDAI (ALMIGHTY GOD) – 5. The passage we considered was in the early narrative found in Genesis 17, when God spoke to Abraham at 99 years old!
This Greek name bears much of the same message, yet I sense an expansion of the thought.
Let me try to explain.
The term for almighty in the Greek is παντοκράτωρ pantokrátōr, made up of πᾶς pâs, referring to each, all, any or everything and κράτος krátos, referring to dominion, power and strength. Now at first glance, you may ask what is the difference in this description beyond that in the earlier post, when Abraham was spoken to. And granted there may not be much, for I do not want to go beyond what the Word is trying to communicate to us.
Yet when Abraham was spoken to, it was in relation to his own life, his progeny, his offspring. It was in relation to a single individual, a man of faith, following God to the best of His knowledge.
In our current study, this message is given to multitudes of believers, and speaks of national, even global dominion as the One who was crucified has been granted all authority on earth and heaven.
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Although I cannot speak for how Abraham understood the self revelation of God in relation to being almighty, we New Covenant believers have no reason to limit the extent of His control of the universe. As John records, multitudes are now expressing the truth of His reign over all!
Revelation 19:6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
All things are within His sight and as the King, He has control over all things. He decides to allow or to redirect, to permit or to restrict, to let happen or to force change.
He is the Sovereign King and as the King, He is the Almighty. Can we rest in that truth?
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. –
In Paul’s writing, I do not recall a time when he is harsher, more blunt or shocking than in this passage. There may be a passage in Romans or 1 Corinthians, but I gotta remind myself – this isn’t a competition. This passage is simply a tough one to take in no matter how you approach it.
Tough Issue 1
Paul is in the midst of reprimanding the church in Galatia for their desire to use the law for a basis of sanctification, for living correctly in front of God, for maintaining a relationship with the Lord. The first issue that is tough for me to understand is the fact that Paul does not speak of sanctification in this passage, but justification. The same justification the same author speaks of in Romans 3:24
…justified by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
or how about Romans 5:1
…since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
My point is bringing these two (out of many possible verses) to our discussion is that Paul refers to justification as a past act, not a continual act. That is, when I repented, and placed my faith in the Lord Jesus and His sacrifice for me, I was (past tense) justified. At that point, as I understand the Word, the process of sanctification began, a continual process of becoming like Him, of following His and His will for me, frail and incomplete as that is.
So why does Paul bring up justification, as opposed to sanctification? He is addressing his message to believers, and he is going back to the very foundation of their Christian life, the point of rebirth! Are we to see this dependence on the law, circumcision in this particular instance, to be so serious that justification is nullified?
Ok, might Paul be referring to those who simply think they are Christians in the Body, and trying to reveal to them their utter error in never trusting Christ? Why would Paul address them as believers if they are not? Does that not introduce confusion into the passage, especially for those who truly are believers? I don’t understand Paul shifting gears in relation to who he is talking to in this passage.
Tough Issue 2
To be severed!
Tough issue number two. When Paul speaks of “severed” from Christ, he is referring to one who had not been severed earlier. Let me try to explain my thought.
When my son is cooking chicken for his ol’ dad to enjoy a good supper, I see him with his cleaver “severing” the leg from the body. The leg was attached, but upon the act of severing, it is no longer attached. For something to be severed speaks of it being attached previously. For Paul to use such a term speaks of separation from Christ (by their choice – for it surely is not the Lord’s choice), that by choosing to trust in some religious act instead of in Him, they are in reality choosing that religious act over finding life in Christ. It is an either/or situation, not a “let’s improve the Christian life with the law” type of situation!
Tough issue 3
Fallen away from grace.
Either the reader of this letter trusts in Christ or trusts in an outward act of religious show, but out of this decision flows the issues of life and death. To be fallen from grace, by attaching oneself to the Law, is an act that for Paul has dire consequences.
The term used for fallen away is ἐκπίπτω ekpíptō, and it is in the aorist tense. Since I am no Greek guru, I understand from my research this is typically considered to be an act in the past, a completed act, as the English translation communicates. It isn’t a process of falling, but of having fallen. Although it may seem I am laboring with tenses in many of the points I bring up, it is my desire to be clear with the text, to try to take the text and understand his original message.
And that message is a tough one!
If I were to summarize Paul’s message, I would have to say. Trust Christ and do not trust religion! Religion will kill you!
And if you teach that religion is the way of life, take a gander at Galatians 5:12. Surely there was no love lost between Paul and those who would unsettle believers from their trust in the Savior
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
ADAM
DEATH IN A GARDEN
Genesis 3:23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
John 19 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
When I speak of death in the garden, I am not referring to the act of dying in a garden, for we know that Jesus did not die in a garden, but on a rugged hill named Calvary, the place of the skull. Not a picture of life and abundance, but of death and suffering.
Yes, John says there was a garden “in the place where He was crucified”. My understanding is that the garden was close by and could be generally considered to be “in the place” where He was crucified. The garden would be His final resting place, until He ruined the plans some had.
For Adam, his rebellion was in a garden, and the judgement of God came down upon Adam in the garden, for the Lord sent him out of the garden to work in a broken world. Jesus entered the broken world, being judged and condemned by sinners, only to enter death willingly through His obedience in a garden. His prayer to the Father in the garden set Him on a path of suffering and death that Adam had once experienced in kind. You see, Adam lost his unending fellowship with God, which is all he had known, and his fall into sin must surely have been horrific!
Jesus in all of eternity past, had never experienced any loss of fellowship with the Father ever. After the garden, Jesus entered into a death march.
Adam in a garden due to rebellion resulted in rejection from a garden into judgement and death.
Jesus in a garden, due to obedience, resulted in a judgement and death on a cross and into a tomb, representing death, in a garden.
The message of this word picture is that a garden was originally a place of life for Adam. Though he lost that life, a new (and better) life has been restored to us by Jesus, for in the garden, Jesus brought life and immortality to all of creation.
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.
24
ADVOCATE
1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
An advocate is an old term we don’t use often in our society, as we commonly think of one who argues in our favor as a defense attorney, a lawyer that we pay to defend us in front of a judge. The lawyer performs his duties being motivated by a paycheck at the end of the week, as one who stands before a condemning judge, physically apart from us, pleading before the judge, seeking to the judge of our innocence, sometimes by revealing a partial truth, or by exposing only some of the facts. Of course, I may be a bit jaded towards lawyers, for I am sure there are some who seek to do right, speak the truth and desire justice to be performed.
Our Advocate in heaven is quite different.
He is the truth, and will not shy away from expressing the “guilt” of our actions, for John notes that “if anyone sins”. Jesus is our advocate, and John reminds us that He is righteous, not us!
He is in relation with us, and not simply seeking a paycheck. He is not motivated by “filthy lucre”, as the old KJV sometimes refers to money.
He is beside us, associating with one of God’s children that has sinned, standing beside me, representing me as the Righteous One before the Father.
No – let’s reread that passage once more – the passage says we have an advocate with the Father. Our advocate in not merely standing in front of the judge, representing his client, but is an advocate with the Father. Am I pressing this too much to think that the personnel relationship Jesus has with the Father, that this relationship also bears weight in our representation before the Father?
Not only has He died for our sins, and out of that tremendous gift of grace towards us, have the right to defend us before a judge, but on top of that advantage, Our Advocate is with the Father.
One final thought to consider in this passage is that John does not refer to our Father as a judge in this passage. Our advocate is with His Father.
Truly, I am sure that as we consider the descriptions of the Lord, we will find more than we expect, as we slow down and consider the ramifications of the passages we sometimes gloss over.
Our Advocate is much more that a legal representative before a judge due to our sin.
So much more!
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. At this point in our study, we will begin with “A God Merciful and Gracious”, the twenty-third Name of God on my list. 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.
23
A GOD MERCIFUL AND GRACIOUS
Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
What a good way to start out with on our third phase in the Names of God series. Merciful and Gracious. As I new believer in the church, I was told that grace is getting what you don’t deserve, and mercy is not getting what I deserve.
Does that make sense?
Yet, this merciful term has a bit more to it that just not getting what we deserve, as if that didn’t provide enough to be blessed by. This word “merciful” also includes the concept of compassion and somewhat surprised me when I think of merciful. Remember, merciful, in my mind, speaks of the refrain of some action or judgement upon a person that deserves it. To add the idea of compassion brings to mind the motivation behind the my concept of mercy.
When I consider the mercy of God, I commonly think only of the actions of the Lord (or better said, the refraining of rightful actions) and not His motivation in refraining from a judgement. Yet our God is a compassionate God, a God whose heart is that of a Father, seeking the best for His children, teaching, guiding, warning and loving His children.
The second term only strengthens this thought, for the psalmist reminds us of the graciousness of our God, a descriptor that blows up for us in the New Covenant. But for God to be understood as gracious is definitely not only a New Testament descriptor, for there are multitudinous passages referring to our God as gracious in the Old Covenant.
Moses, the law giver, did not understand God to be a harsh, dictatorial God, but when Moses met God, after he destroyed the first two tablets of the law, God began His self revelation to Moses, with the very same description we are considering today
Exodus 34:6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
Moses, out of anger in seeing the Israelites sinning, through down the tablets of the law, a picture of us all “breaking the law”. And God reveals Himself as a God merciful and gracious.
Our God is a most surprising God and His name is to be praised
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.
Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. Hebrews 2:2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, Hebrews 2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
We have been working through multiple passage under this series and it is somewhat surprising that this passage has been neglected till now. It is such a powerful passage warning us of our tendency to drift away from the message of the grace of God, and the great salvation He has provided!
When I embraced the OSAS (Once Saved Always Saved) teaching, I looked at this verse as a passage that was delivered to the lost, and the danger of their rejecting the great salvation the Lord provided for the world. This was the result of reading the third verse only, with a set of OSAS goggles on, interpreting the verse the way I was told to interpret it.
Lets consider the immediate context, and the specific message of the third verse.
Context
The author is speaking to Christians, including himself! Notice how he refers to “we” a couple of times in the first verse. Yes I have heard that the we could be referring to Hebrews, and not Christians since the author may have been Jewish, but honestly, this seems to be such a stretch to avoid the obvious. Consider the author’s fear of drifting away in the first verse. The direction of movement is away from the gospel, which implies there may have been a time when the audience (and the author) were closer to the message.
The entire book of Hebrews is speaking to believers who are on the edge of abandoning their faith, and for the author to change the audience in this small passage makes no sense for me. There will be a number of these passages in Hebrews, where the author addresses the audiences dangerous position. His audience contains Christians, those who believed in the Jewish Messiah, leaving behind a dead religion, a religion whose purpose was to bring them to faith, not to be a competition to the truth!
Specific Message
Again, as an OSAS adherent, I read the third verse thusly.
Hebrews 3:3 how shall we escape if we neglectreject such a great salvation?
How often have you heard a preacher or teacher read this verse, and then go on as if he is teaching it to an audience of lost souls, that they are rejecting the gospel? As if the church is full of lost souls, and that if any believers are in attendance, they are allowed to listen, but it doesn’t really apply to them.
The term the apostle uses is neglect, and refers to an attitude of negligence, carelessness of disregarding the truth we have been given. A few chapters later, the apostle uses this same Greek word in a bit different way, for he speaks of God showing no concern.
Hebrews 8:9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
The same Greek word (ἀμελέω ameléō, G 272), but the one “neglecting” is God, and the ones being neglected are the very ones who considered the truth they had been provided as unimportant. Note that the author reminds the Hebrew believers that the Hebrews of history did not continue in the covenant they had been provided! Might it be that the Hebrews of old neglected the covenant, made light of the covenant? Surely this is the authors intended message!
Don’t make light of the gospel. We are in a life and death battle, a battle that will have consequences.
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
ADAM
HIS DOMINION
Genesis 1 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Matthew 28: 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
In Adam’s creation, God granted him dominion over all created beings, even over “all the earth”. Did Adam do anything to deserve this tremendous act of benevolence? Dang, the only thing he did was to “become”, if you know what I mean. He was completely passive in his own creation, and all of creation previous to his own. He came into this creation with nothing but the love of God shining down on him, and the beauty of creation encircling him.
Within this condition, God provided Adam the kingdom of the earth, for that is what dominion is speaking of, that is Adam was granted the right to rule over the entire creation. This appointment of ruling was granted out of absolutely nothing Adam did. Please understand my point for it may seem I am laboring to make it.
I assume by now you understand though Adam and Jesus were both granted dominion, Jesus far excels the example of Adam, for He did not have a perfect creation to rule over as Adam, but took a broken world, and suffered to redeem it, and out of a sinless life and vicarious death for our sake, was granted all dominion (authority) in heaven and earth.
A picture they say is worth a thousand words, but the picture of the “dominion of Adam” over earth barely scratches the extent of Jesus’ kingdom. And to return to the thought of deserving the kingdom, as we said with Adam, he did nothing to deserve the dominion over God’s creation. Jesus did everything to deserve the dominion He has been granted. And why? Because He is worthy!
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.
Our next set of names (#4 through #22) are considered His compound names, which typically uses His primary name and attaches a specific descriptor to it. These are the names that originally got me chasing this topic, and now it has developed into a much bigger study than the original intent, but I digress, for I have already mentioned this!
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 was a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
22
EL QANNA (JEALOUS GOD)
Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
Whenever the concept of jealousy comes up in relation to the LORD, I fear we bring to mind the image of a drunken, insecure man wearing a “wife beater” shirt, ready to blow up at the hint of any disappointment or challenge in a relationship. Granted, this is how much of our experiential jealousy works itself out in our world (minus the shirt thing!) but as I found out in a previous study series (A Jealous God), for our God to be jealous is everything we should ever want.
He is jealous for our sake, not out of an insecurity of his worth, for He is certainly worthy, He is jealous for our sake, not out an emotional dependency He has, for prior to our creation, He was in full harmony within the Godhead. No, this jealousy, if I understand the Word properly, is a burden the Lord has taken upon Himself for our sakes, and not some knee jerk emotional reaction to the actions of others.
In our verse above, the context is the giving of the Ten Commandments, and the name He provides us is in relation the His people worshipping idols. Throughout the history of the Old Testament, for a father to allow idols usually plays out in the son worshipping the idol.
An example may help.
The patience of the Lord in the Old Testament regarding His people’s continual attraction to idols seems outrageous, for even King Manasseh – the king who typifies the idol worshipping king of Israel in my mind, was granted forgiveness, and restoration.
2 Chronicles 33:10-13 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.
This amazing repentance of Manasseh and personal restoration from idolatry by God for the king did not stop the degradation of the nation into captivity, for the children of the nation were on a course of self destruction, with each generation hardening against our Jealous God. Eventually, the beneficial aspect of God’s jealousy (that is, the actions of the Lord, intended for the for the people’s sake) became extremely harsh, for the nation who was granted this love continually spurned it.
Even in the Babylonian captivity, our jealous God continued to show His commitment to His people, using the captivity, not as a final judgement on the nation, but as a learning period for His people as a nation. He exercised the discipline the sons required in order for the restoration of the nation, knowing that the very nation would include those who would condemn the Messiah.
Yet out of this horrific exercise of hardened sinners, the jealousy of God was fully manifested, in that even in the rebellion of men, the grace of God provided for our benefit the gift of eternal life, the privilege of the Spirit of God, and the comfort of the Father’s love for the church.
He is good, and out of His jealousy for us, He has provided all good things!
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.
Our next set of names (#4 through #22) are considered His compound names, which typically uses His primary name and attaches a specific descriptor to it. These are the names that originally got me chasing this topic, and now it has developed into a much bigger study than the original intent, but I digress, for I have already mentioned this!
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 was a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
21
JEHOVAH-RAAH (THE LORD MY SHEPHERD)
Psalm 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Out of all the Bible, this has to be one of the most recognizable names of our God. The LORD my Shepherd. We know it was revealed to us through David the shepherd king, yet He has always been a shepherd to His people. The idea of a shepherd began with the tending of sheep, of providing for these beasts of the fields. The first martyr was a shepherd, providing a glimpse in the Great Shepherd’s fate.
Genesis 4:2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
The term is sometimes translated as pasturing a flock, that is to take the flock to a place of sustenance, refreshment or safety. Many other men were famous shepherds. Abraham, Isaac and Israel, along with Moses, Amos and the shepherds near Bethlehem.
To be a shepherd meant to be alone, in the fields, amongst the wild beasts, in the cold of night, or under a blistering sun at high noon. To be a shepherd meant to forsake your will for the sake of some “dumb” animals, animals that were in constant danger, unknowing of any threat and requiring constant care. To be a shepherd meant to have animals as your closest friends, to identify with them, to plan for their survival, to seek their good, to search for the lost one, and to teach the wandering one difficult lessons.
Yes – The LORD is my shepherd, for He has acted like a true Shepherd, in that he has been all alone on the cross, fighting the wild beasts that want my soul, forsaking His will for the Father’s will, in order to seek and save a poor dolt like me. He is a constantly caring God, who seeks to be a friend, has identified with us, seeks our good, and teaches us difficult lessons.
I am thankful for the LORD my Shepherd.
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
19 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith,
20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
Rejection. Paul is warning Timothy of the results of ignoring a good conscience. No – that is not right! It is not a matter specifically of ignoring to maintain a good conscience, which by the way is dangerous, but Paul speaks of some, who we will meet soon, as rejecting faith and a good conscience.
Two actions are being described in this verse.
Holding
G2192 – ἔχω échō To have, to hold, to own or possess.
This is a typical term to define ownership or to keep within close proximity, to cling to or to be closely joined to. The thought communicated is typical of Paul’s writings, and that is to maintain a close relationship with the Lord, and the two vehicles to maintain this relationship is faith and a good conscience. Paul is highlighting Timothy’s continued efforts for his ministry.
Rejecting
G683 – ἀπωθέομαι apōthéomai. To push off, cast away or to thrust away from. This seems to be a deliberate action on the part of the subject. This isn’t a matter of human frailty, in that we all fall down occasionally. Paul is using a word here that speaks of a decision to reject faith and a good conscience. To be able to reject something implies the possession of the thing being rejected – how can you reject something you do not have!. May we safely assume that the two men mentioned in this passage were believers at one time?
Two men are given as examples, who have rejected faith and a good conscience.
Hymenaeus
Hymenaeus shows up in one other passage in the New Testament. Paul is speaking of him as swerving from the truth, and upsetting the faith of some. Pray tell, Paul – what is Hymanaeus teaching that is so bad that you are calling him out for it?
2 Timothy 2:16-18
But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.
Only that the general resurrection has occurred in the past! Consider if you were a believer during this time, and heard that you missed the resurrection. Talk about gutting the gospel! The fellow was causing tremendous damage in the church, and is to be considered an enemy of the gospel in my opinion. And in Paul’s opinion too, if I’m reading him right.
Alexander
There are a number of Alexanders in the New Testament, or at least there could be. We just don’t know. I tend to lean to the thinking Paul is referring to Alexander the coppersmith in our passage to Timothy, since Timothy is in Ephesus and the riot in Ephesus was lead by Alexander
Acts 19:33 Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd.
Another reference to Alexander , that Timothy would recognize and may be the one Paul is referring to in our passage in 1 Timothy, is Alexander the Coppersmith. Personally I would find it difficult to think this is a different man Paul refers to but I will leave that up to my reader
2 Timothy 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
Both Hymenaeus and Alexander have rejected a good conscience and faith. The results do not appear to be characteristic of good Christian living, so I ask you my friend.
What is the result of their rejecting a good conscience and faith?
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
ADAM
IN HIS IMAGE
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Luke 3:38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
Both Jesus and Adam were in His image.
Of course Adam’s creation was all encompassing. Everything about Adam at his creation was in the image of God.
At the visit with Mary by the Spirit, Jesus earthly body was also created, and with that creation, the image of God had taken a physical form. Adam kept the image untarnished for a matter of hours, maybe a day. Jesus is the image of God, in all His glory, and has retained that image spotlessly from the very beginning.
Definitely Adam was a refection of the Lord, though the duration was fleeting. But He is the eternal image of God, and knowing that makes all the difference!
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.
Our next set of names (#4 through #22) are considered His compound names, which typically uses His primary name and attaches a specific descriptor to it. These are the names that originally got me chasing this topic, and now it has developed into a much bigger study than the original intent, but I digress, for I have already mentioned this!
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 was a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
20
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU (THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS)
Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’
How New Testamental can a prophet get?
Notice that Jeremiah is not defining the LORD as righteous, though God is. No no no. The name we are looking at today is The Lord our Righteousness. God Himself is our righteousness, and none other. So what is Jeremiah telling us in this name.
When I think of righteousness, I sometimes fall into the thinking of sinlessness. Is that a correct understanding? Possibly. Could there be more to righteousness than just sinlessness? I am not sure but would like to offer my understanding, that hopefully will honor the LORD, in that He is our Righteousness.
In the English language, to be righteous is to act in accord with divine or moral law. It has implications of being virtuous, true, good and decent. All of these characteristics are gained by “keeping the rules”. And that is the rub! What rules? You see, the rules define righteousness acts. If the rules stated I need to skip instead of walk, walking would be considered sinful. (And girls would naturally be more righteous than boys – lol)
Therefore, if there are two sets of “rules” existing in a culture or society, there will be two sets of righteousness, both in conflict with one another. Does that make sense?
Let’s consider this concept another way. Some examples of two righteous ways of life are exhibited in the times of the Messiah. One righteousness was performed via the law of God, or at least the law of God as interpreted by centuries of men analyzing, arguing and reinterpreting someone’s interpretation. The folks that had mastered this righteousness were called the Pharisees.
The other righteousness was exhibited perfectly by a lone preacher that was connected with His Father, with eyes that read the Word with light, understood the heart of God, saw that up was down, light was dark and right was wrong. He persistently understood the Old Testament in ways that shocked the experts, and from that understanding lived a life of sacrifice, not of religion, of denial, not of reputation, of service, not of self.
And these two righteousness clashed. One took the path of violence and envy, the other the path of peace of love.
The LORD our Righteousness speaks of our rejecting one righteousness, and a daily clinging to another righteousness, that is the LORD (a person, not a set of rules) as our righteousness. He is the One who is “the rule”, and by His very character defines what righteousness is, and then came to earth to exhibit that righteousness in front of our eyes.
What does this righteousness look like?
Watch a humble preacher teaching life altering words in simple stories, washing his friends feet, teaching the worst of sinners of the love of God, and then bleeding for His enemies.
His name is Jesus and He is the Lord our 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.
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.
Our next set of names (#4 through #22) are considered His compound names, which typically uses His primary name and attaches a specific descriptor to it. These are the names that originally got me chasing this topic, and now it has developed into a much bigger study than the original intent, but I digress, for I have already mentioned this!
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 was a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
19
JEHOVAH SHAMMAH (THE LORD IS THERE)
Ezekiel 48:35 The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The LORD Is There.”
Let us remember the circumstances Ezekiel is writing under. The nation has been decimated by the Babylonians, Jerusalem sacked and the temple, the magnificent temple of Solomon has been cut down, destroyed. The people of God have been either killed in battle, underwent starvation and subsequent death, or carried off to a strange land to the north, amongst those who speak with a different tongue and worship a different god.
According to my research, Ezekiel receives this revelation of God’s name 25 after the deportation of the Jews into the strange land of Babylon. Two and a half decades of living in shock and confusion, for being away from the temple meant there was no ability to provide sacrifices to God, no priests performing the required rituals for the people.
And recently the people had been alerted that any hope of returning quickly to Jerusalem to be near the temple, well – that wasn’t going to happen! The Babylonians destroyed the Temple, and even the prophets were speaking of a long captivity, of 70 years away from the land!
Many of the Jews understandably may have lost heart, seeing that they would never survive the captivity, and then finding out that the temple was destroyed, accepted their destiny was to grow old in this strange land. With all the established physical connections with God broken, and experiencing the disciplinary hand of God, the Jewish people’s faith must have been crushed. A people without a home, a land, and seemingly without a God.
So when Ezekiel starts to describe a future city, the people’s ears must have perked up. Ezekiel has already spent considerable time in earlier chapters describing a temple to be constructed after the captivity, but in our passage today, Ezekiel is describing a city, not a temple. And the name we are considering this fine day is “The LORD is There”. This is curious, for the careful reader will recognize that the name is not associated with a temple, as most would expect, but with a City, where day to day life happens.
My understanding is that Ezekiel is not only trying to encourage the remnant, but to expand their understanding of relating to God. No longer is a faithful one to meet with God in the temple on holy days, but that the faithful one would be living life, minute by minute, in the presence of God. Such a tremendous promise. The promise of permanence of God’s presence is provided to the faithful here, for the verse speaks of a city having this name “from that time on.” The city where the LORD is!
This series is not on eschatology, on when this blessing will occur, but is seeking to provide a vehicle for those reading to consider who our God is, through his names and descriptions. Personally, the understanding I have tried to explain above fits with our current church age, in that He is the ever-present One, the LORD who is There in the City of God. He is building this city, stone by stone, and He is There.
Hebrews 11:10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. Hebrews 11:16 …. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
What city do you dwell in?
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
I found a book called “Judas Iscariot: Revisited and Restored” by Ivan Roger, and though I have read it once before, this time the authors points seem to be sinking in a bit more.
The general theme of the book is that much of the popular understanding of Judas, and his relationship within Christianity, is colored by theological presuppositions and general bias against Judas.
In our previous discussion, we considered the Greek word translated as “woe” within the gospel of Matthew, along with a grammar lesson on pronouns, and who they belonged to.
In this post we will consider John 13:27, where the Lord commands Judas to quickly do what he needs to do. Let’s take a moment to read the verse.
John 13:27 ESV – Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
Our author makes the point of Jesus statement as being a command to Judas, to go do it quickly. The word “do” is a Greek word that means “to ordain, to appoint or to deal”. It does not have any implication of rejection, as if Jesus was “kicking him out of the upper room”, as it sometimes is communicated to me by well meaning friends. No, per the language, it appears Jesus is actually commissioning Judas to perform his task. A task of “delivering the sacrificial lamb” to the priest. The author’s detailing of this deliverance is worth the purchase of the book and I shall not expand on it here.
Note also two additional items to consider.
Warning?
Jesus gave Peter advance notice of his impending failure and denial. When other disciples were in the midst of failing a particular task, the Lord corrected them. In this instance, Jesus commissioned or encouraged(?) Judas to perform his assignment. No discouragement, no warning, no statement from Jesus that would restrict Judas from his endeavor. Judas was told to do it quickly!
Woe?
As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus spoke the following.
John 13:31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
Jesus understood Judas’ mission. If I was in the room, knowing the same, I would expect “Woe is me” from the Master. But after Judas left the room, setting in motion the deliverance of the lamb to the high priest, Jesus spoke of glorification, both of Himself and of God. Glorification, in this context is speaking of the crucifixion, and the wheels had begun to turn. Judas set the stage for the priests to begin the process.
And God is glorified!
So help me in understanding from this passage where Judas is standing in relation to Jesus. Is he the enemy? Is he Satan? What think ye? Leave me a comment below.
I look forward to your return for our next posting on this book at Considering the Bible, and if you have found my ruminations to be a blessing (or a challenge), invite your friends to join us.
I found a book called “Judas Iscariot: Revisited and Restored” by Ivan Roger, and though I have read it once before, this time the authors points seem to be sinking in a bit more.
The general theme of the book is that much of the popular understanding of Judas, and his relationship within Christianity, is colored by theological presuppositions and general bias against Judas.
In our previous discussion, we considered the Greek word translated as “betray” within the gospel of Matthew, and offered the possibility that it could be translated as deliver, as opposed to betray.
In this post we will consider Matthew 26:24, where the Lord speaks of “woe” on the one who will deliver Him to the high priest. Let’s take a moment to read the verse.
Mat 26:24 ESV – The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
The author of the book provides two questions to consider. Does the term woe carry with it a sense of responsibility? And secondly, what is the message “…would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”?
Woe
As Jesus comes to the end of His ministry, He begins to pronounce His woes on those who will enter into judgement. The Pharisees, the Scribes, Judas, pregnant women and young mothers. What? Pregnant women and young mothers? Entering into judgement? Am I assuming something I shouldn’t?
Mat 24:19 ESV – And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!
The word “woe” (or “alas” as translated in this verse) is a translation of οὐαί ouaí and is a primary exclamation of grief. I have always introduced the idea of judgement with this word, but that is an additional concept Carl brings into the verse, especially when I hear it about those dang Pharisees! (Don’t forget your pharisaical tendencies Carl!)
The term strictly carries with it the idea of grief, and not necessarily that of responsibility. The Lord expresses His grief, even when it comes to those opposing Him. Jesus, in pronouncing woe on those who would be instrumental in His crucifixion, was expressing grief over their future. And He was pronouncing grief over the future of Judas, but is He pronouncing an eternal judgement of hellfire and condemnation on Judas? I have to admit that I find it difficult to see this interpretation as a clear teaching from this verse. His heart is breaking over the suffering His disciple was going to experience in the future. Like those pregnant women and young mothers. But Carl, the next phrase is where we get the judgement and condemnation poured out on Judas! So let us consider the phrase “better for that man if he had not been born”.
Better for that man if he had not been born.”
The author associates “that man” with Judas, which I also have as I read through this passage. He refers to Judas as a representative man, a man that stands in the place of all humanity in being a traitor to the Messiah, and that each of us deserves judgement. I get this, yet it didn’t seem to make a difference for me in my understanding of Jesus statement.
A few years ago, I was looking at this verse and stumbled over an alternate translation that associates “that man” with Jesus. Hold up now before you think I have flipped my lid. Consider a literal translation, such as Youngs Literal Translation.
Matthew 26:24 YLT – the Son of Man doth indeed go, as it hath been written concerning him, but wo to that man through whom the Son of Man is delivered up! good it were for him if that man had not been born.’
Did you catch the difference in who “that man” is?
…good it were for him (Judas) if that man (Jesus) had not been born. That is a completely different message!
Consider all that is going on in this portion of the verse.
First off, it speaks of life, and not simply existence. There is a difference. It is not that “that man” was never conceived, but that he had not been born. A still born baby existed, but never lived outside of the womb. I am not sure if this fine point makes a difference, or if this is simply a Hebrew prophets way of describing no existence better than having existed, even for a short duration. Yet even with that, to assign the hell fires of eternal condemnation to Judas based on this turn of phrase, seems like we just can’t wait to get Judas into hell. We sure like to hate him!
Secondly, the turn of phrase, that of “better to not have been born”, may not be referring to Judas if I am understanding the literal translations. No matter, based on both my preconceived ideas of “woe” and identifying who should have not been born, this verse is not so clear as I thought regarding Judas’ destiny of eternal torment.
What think ye? Leave me a comment below
In my next posting, we will consider the command Jesus gave to Judas at the last supper. Somewhat of a challenge to our (my) thinking, to say the least.
I look forward to your return for our next posting on this book at Considering the Bible, and if you have found my ruminations to be a blessing (or a challenge), invite your friends to join us.
Considering the Bible 