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.
242
GRACE OF GOD
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
It may not be the most accurate of understandings, but as I grew in the Lord, and read this passage, I found that I couldn’t help but replace “grace of God” in this verse with Jesus.
After all, He has appeared, in all His glory and grace, exhibiting the beauty of holiness as He rubbed shoulders with sinners, and the righteousness of the Law as He knelt down before that woman’s accusers.
He is in all ways, and from every standpoint, the grace of God, having appeared to a small group of people for a short time, but due to His victory over sin and death, having walked out of the grave, has been with us forever through His Spirit.
I am so thankful that the grace of God is bringing salvation to most people, and that His victory will have some effect on His creation.
Of course I am being somewhat sarcastic, for the passage speaks of bringing salvation for all people. Many within the church would state that the intent of the passage is that Jesus made salvation possible, but for salvation to be realized, the faith of the hearer has to be exercised!
Amen and amen. This is the message of the grace of God, and yet if I understand the teaching of a universal salvation, all will come to Jesus at some point, either prior to death, or in the fires of judgement.
We seek the prior to death option!
Paul may have been concerned that those who interpreted this statement of “bringing salvation to all men” in the universal sense may have concluded that there was no need to fight against sin and ungodliness! This was unacceptable in Paul’s mind, for it produced an understanding of the grace of God as simply a license to sin.
Unacceptable.
The grace of God, understood properly as per Paul’s teaching has much to say regarding training and waiting under the tutelage of Jesus, the Grace of God Himself.
Titus 2:12-13 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Paul may have taught of salvation brought for all, but this teaching does not provide an opportunity for license to sin, but is the greater motivation to live soberly, upright and godly lives, for we shall see Him, the Grace of God, our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
However you understand this topic, may God bless you, and keep you and continue to reveal the Grace of God, Jesus Christ in your life!
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.
Romans 8:6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Romans 8:8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Passages within the Word that speak of this topic may be abused by those who promote an understanding of conditional security. I would like to be as honest with the text as I can be, and want to inform those reading that there are arguments that justify thinking Paul is applying these verses to the unregenerate.
Even verse 9, where Paul informs those who are his audience that they are not in the flesh.
Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
Note however, he did not specifically define them as not having the mind of the flesh, but only that they are not in the flesh. Could Paul be speaking of two different conditions – that of being in the flesh, and of having a mind set on the flesh? Is this his intent? I will leave that to my reader to consider!
Paul summarizes some spiritual facts for believers.
Verse 5 – those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the flesh.
Verse 6 – to set their mind on the flesh is death
Verse 7 – a mind set on the flesh is hostile to God
Verse 7 – a mind set on the flesh does not (cannot) submit to God’s law
Verse 8 – Those in the flesh cannot please God
Verse 9 -Believers are not in the flesh
Ok, so this summary seems to direct us to the conclusion that verses 5 – 9 do not apply to believers, and would negate this chapter as being applicable to the topic at hand. That is, if Paul had finished his teaching at this point! But Paul digs in and keeps challenging believers. To minimize repeating myself, I have written on verses 12-14 previously – See Conditional Security – Romans 8:12-14
To summarize though, Paul makes a point of our obligations to the flesh in the following verses, specifically in verse 12, and with the inclusion of the conditional word “if” of verse 13, it seems to be a decision that is incumbent on the believer.
In our passage this morning, Paul provides us some introductory spiritual facts and guidance for our everyday life.
Paul provides, in my humble opinion, characteristics of those whose mind dwells upon or is “set” on the flesh, as having a certain outcome resulting in death. He also provides characteristics of those whose mind dwells upon and is “set” on the things of the Spirit.
What does that mean in our day to day life? What helps me is to compare the characteristics of the Spirit with my own life, with my thinking, with the focus of my mind and consider the resultant fruit/work that is produced.
Those whose mind is set on the flesh will experience the following works of the flesh in their lives.
Galatians 5:19 – 21 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Those whose mind is set on the Spirit will experience the following fruit of the Spirit in their lives.
Galatians 5:22 – 23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Where is your mind set?
Our lives are the result of our decisions, and those decisions are based on the information that is available. Paul is blunt. If we constantly focus on the things of the flesh death will be the result.
Let us set our minds on the things of the Spirit, for as we do, He will develop the abundant life in us and continue to bring His fruit through us and to others.
And a key for us in this struggle? Where is our mind set?
You got to admit – it’s a no brainer!
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
Undefeatable
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 41:25 I stirred up one from the north, and he has come, from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name; he shall trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay.
Luke 9:51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
This passage in Isaiah 42 is generally accepted as referring to Cyrus, though it seems per the verses supplied, there were two subjects “stirred” up. One from the north and one from the east.
Many explanations have been provided, with Cyrus birth being from the east, and his approach toward Israel being from the north. Even within the second verse, his origin speaks of the east, in that he has come from the rising sun.
Besides this minor discussion on the subject of who is being stirred up, it is apparent that once he is stirred up, nothing will stop him. Isaiah belabors the point that this one who is advancing on Babylon has left all other countries conquered. He continues in verse 25, on the topic of this victorious one who shall “shall upon my name”.
Though Cyrus is being referred to here, and though his victories consisted of physical domination, the picture we look back on is of one who is undefeatable, unstoppable, and without equal in his day.
Is this not the same vision of the One who could not be stopped in bringing the kingdom of God to His people? Even to those who had openly rejected His teaching, and His person, He would not retreat from His mission
Luke 9:51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
Nothing stood in His way, and having entered the valley of death that day, He continued to His expected end, with dominion over His enemies being completely secured as the stone rolled away.
Cyrus, great warrior and king that he was, was simply a reflection, a faint shadow of the One who was unstoppable in His pursuit to defeat the evil one, the world order and our own stubbornness.
May His name be lifted up!
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.
241
GOOD TEACHER
Mark 10:17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
In all the ancient writings, through all the volumes of commentaries written by the ancient rabbis’ and within all the Old Testament Scriptures, no teacher, prophet, king or priest was ever called “Good Teacher”.
No teacher, prophet, king or priest in Israel would accept this title if offered to them. The rabbi’s throughout ages taught that to claim this name was equivalent to accepting the identity of God Himself.
But then the Good Teacher walked the earth.
And when a man came to Jesus, calling Him “Good Teacher”, this must have created a stir in the surrounding audience. Surely this young prophet teacher would deny any association with this title.
But Jesus didn’t refuse the name, for how could He refuse a name that was commonly accepted as belonging to deity and still be the Truth. What He did do though, was to dig into what this young man understood when he called Him that. Ever the Teacher, Jesus is the proverbial questioner, the One who could teach perfectly by asking the right question and letting it sit.
As an aside, it has been rightly said that the longest sermon Jesus ever preached, or at least that has been recorded was the Sermon on the Mount, in the gospel of Matthew. There is some who think Matthew compiled many of Jesus teachings into this one sermon, but let us assume He spoke this message completely at one time. If so, the entire sermon as written spanned up to 15 minutes. I suppose the point I am making is that He cut to the quick, He got to the point, He did not loose focus.
As I did just there with that aside. (I am horrible with chasing rabbit trails!) Nevertheless, Jesus was the Good Teacher, and He accepted that title, moving on help this man consider what he really was saying.
Are you calling Me God young man? Is that what you are doing, and if so, do you realize the implications of that statement? If I am God, (as you say), the God of the Old Testament, what you must do to “inherit eternal life” is already provided to you. The God of the Old Testament, (that is who you speak to), has provided the Law for your instruction. But in case you do not remember the Law, I, the God of the Old Testament, will remind you.
Mark 10:19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”
Another thing (that might be an aside, – remember – I am horrible with asides/rabbit trails -) is that Jesus worked with this man, not only digging to find out what he understood, but then when challenging him, provided him as much assistance as possible. As much assistance as possible, for Jesus left off one of the last 6 commandments, knowing the young man had a struggle with a certain issue.
Jesus sought out this young man, with the passage speaking of Him loving the man, and in Luke, we find he was not simply a random man as Mark records, but a ruler, a man of position and wealth.
Luke 18:18-19 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
And the one commandment that Jesus left off was that cantankerous covetousness commandment, for this was the very commandment that obviously was not kept by this young man. Note that Jesus didn’t simply quote out the missing command found in Exodus 20:17.
Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Jesus taught this man, along with all His followers, the positive side of the coveting command. Jesus opened up the commandment found in Exodus in an amazing way, showing the young man the depth of law keeping required to fully obey the God of the Old Testament.
Mark 10:21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Jesus is the Good Teacher, and if He can open up a young rich rulers heart with a few questions and prodding, we should expect the same. But with all teachers, the students need to be listening.
Has He, the Good Teacher, the God of the Old and New Testament asked you any questions lately, prodded you regarding a choice you made, or reinterpreted a passage to mean much more than first imagined?
Have you been able to hear Him?
After all, He is the Good Teacher, and Good Teachers love to teach!
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.
240
GOOD SHEPHERD
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
In my search for passages or verses that have this distinct Name of God, I retrieved only two. I was sure the Old Testament had much to say about shepherding, about God’s Shepherd and what the Good Shepherd was like.
The reason I was so sure of myself is because five years ago, I tripped over Ezekiel 34:2-4, where the Lord, through the prophet Ezekiel, exposed the shepherds of Israel, described their sin and proclaimed judgement on them. These shepherds abused, stole, killed and abandoned their sheep.
The passage spoke to me, and I found that the very characteristics of the “bad” shepherds of yesteryear were parallel to the “bad” shepherds of today. Not only that, but the points the Lord brought up describing the “bad” shepherds were rallying points for my understanding what a good shepherd actually may be described as.
Nevertheless, the Shepherd to be sent by God, found after Ezekiel’s pronouncement of judgement on the “bad” shepherds, was that God Himself would search for His sheep, seeking them out.
Ezekiel 34:11 ESV – “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.
This is such a great summary of the nature of the Good Shepherd, and of the person of the Good Shepherd. God Himself is the Good Shepherd, and He will search and seek. By teaching His disciples He was their Shepherd, Ezekiel 34 may have been brought to the minds of the hearers.
Yet Jesus didn’t simply say He was their Shepherd, but that He was the Good Shepherd, and that He would be a giving Shepherd to His sheep, unlike those in Ezekiel. Beyond that, He would know His sheep, and His sheep would know Him. This is relationship, and not simply sone designated shepherd ruling over sheep for personal gain, as Ezekiel had described.
As a matter of fact, interspersed in the John passage, Jesus speaks of “bad” shepherds, but is blunt, renaming them as thieves and robbers. These thieves and robbers have the same characteristics as the “bad” shepherds in Ezekiel 34.
My friends, there is a competition for being your shepherd. There are many “shepherds” out there that would love to take advantage of you, take from you, abuse you and then ignore you, marketing your soul like a commodity.
Or there is the Good Shepherd, whom you can know, and who has proven His extreme love for each of us through His willing, intentional suffering and death.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Will you follow Him instead of your sin, taking on His yoke and obeying His leading?
Trust and obey – for there is no other way!
It is a choice you can make even now.
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 Timothy 6:3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 1 Timothy 6:4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 1 Timothy 6:5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain,
It has been over a year since I have visited this chapter in relation to conditional security, and as we looked at that passage, we considered the influence the love of money may have on a believers faith. If of interest to review, I offer a link. Refer to Conditional Security – 1 Timothy 6:9-11
Regarding our passage today, Paul is discussing the importance of correct doctrine, or right teaching and it’s effects on both the teacher and the one taught.
This passage seems very appropriate due to my recent interactions with a close friend. As many of you may know, my daughter was baptized recently and this dear friend informed me that the ordinances of baptism (and the Lord’s supper) were never intended for the church we are a part of. Those commands, says he, were instructions for a Jewish church, a church that no longer exists. We are of a church that has instructions from Paul, and more specifically, the prison epistles. Nothing needed from John, Peter James, Luke or Mark, is needed for the church. Only Paul has authority in the church, since he received the last revelation, as my friend says, from the Lord in the Arabian desert.
Paul experienced this type of destructive teaching in his day, for he warned Timothy that there were those who would not agree with the sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 6:3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,
It is simply amazing that a so called follower of Christ would reject Jesus teaching. Not only does Paul speak of the importance of the words of Christ, he adds additional teaching that is equal with the Lord’s instructions. He speaks of teaching “that accords with godliness”.
One short passage will suffice to provide a teaching that accords with godliness.
Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
One doctrine is to be taught from two sources, the words of Jesus and teaching that accords with godliness. It is self evident this “teaching that accords with godliness” is the accepted books of apostolic authority, based on the foundational Old Testament volumes. There was to be no separating, no dividing, no cutting up the Bible due to some desire to be better than those other “unwashed” ignorant average Christians. Conceit on the part of an erring teacher is the source of this error, at least humanely speaking.
Instead of seeking peace amongst the brethren, working towards a unity in the Body of Christ, a teaching that separates the words of the Lord Jesus from the teaching according to godliness has certain characteristics according to Paul
Characteristics of this teaching
Controversy
This is the Greek word ζήτησις zḗtēsis, and is commonly translated as controvery. Paul has much to say about the place of controversies in the church, especially for his men who were elders, overseeing the people of faith.
1 Timothy 1:4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.
2 Timothy 2:23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.
Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
It is interesting that in one additional verse we find this term “controverises” (translated as debate). It is the debate Peter and the men in Acts 15 were involved in.
Acts 15:7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
Peter, a take charge type of guy, brought the debate to a close, instructing those present of God’s direction, and not their thoughts! I like that. A man seeking to find unity by appealing to the words and works of God!
Regarding my recent discussions with my friend, every topic is controversial. He has the spirit of this teaching deeply embedded in this thinking about many, many topics
Quarrels about words
Logomachía λογομαχία. We can see the Greek for “word” in logos, with machia providing the root meaning of arguing, or trifling over empty or trifling matters. It makes me think of the “straining out of a gnat” image again, as we discussed in a recent post, only this time, related to teaching. These guys make a mountain out of a molehill, as my momma used to say. Major on the major items Carl!
What are the fruits of this teaching?
Envy
Teaching that accords with godliness does not produce envy, but informs the church to put it away, to reject envy as a way of thinking, as a way of life!
1 Peter 2:1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
Dissension
Again we see that the fruit of these conceited teachers are opposing the actual teaching of the apostles. Dissension is the same Greek word as quarreling in the following passage.
Romans 13:13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.
Slander
This word surprised me, for the Greek word translated as “slander” is βλασφημία blasphēmía. I imagine Paul is referring to slandering others within the church, defaming their character, tearing down others in an effort to raise themselves up. This should not be surprising, since the fuel that keeps these teachers moving forward is conceit!
Of course, this teaching provides fuel for more and more fruit that the apostles directed the faithful from.
Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Evil Suspicions
Are we not to love the brethren and care for those whom the Lord has died for? To have evil suspicions speaks of a mind that is puffed up, thinking the worst of others, prideful and suspicious.
Is this not antithetical to the command to love one another in a humble and giving nature? Relationships exist amongst trust and care, and cannot exist being fed a diet of suspicious thinking
Constant Frictions
Another result of this teaching is constant friction among the people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth! What a sad state of affairs, for due to this false teacher, this hair splitter who rejects the words of the Lord Jesus and those words that foster godly living, boasts he has greater truth, with the result bearing friction amongst his hearers.
In the end this teacher, out of the conceit in his heart and mind, seeks to stir up controversies, thrives on friction amongst his audience, and judges his success by the financial gain he acquires by destroying lives.
Now it seems obvious this type of teacher is not producing the fruits of the Spirit, and per the common teaching of the Word, may be identified by the works he does produce. As we have seen, each is not of the Spirit.
My question for my dear reader isn’t necessarily the salvation status of this teacher, for it may be safe to say he never knew the Lord, but what of the man who has known the Lord, followed after the Lord, and is now bedeviled by a fractious, divider of the word and of the church?
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
Temple Builder
Ezra 6:3 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained. Its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits,
John 2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Unexpected, to say the least, for a Gentile King to be involved in the development and construction of the temple of the God of Israel. Consider the passage provided, for it appears this Gentile foreign king is directing even the dimensions of the temple!
Unexpected to say the least, but note that Cyrus is actually be restricted from access to the temple, even as he is the principle human force directing the Jews back to the land to build the temple.
I am reminded of the injunctions of a prophet giving restrictions for foreigners entering the second temple. Ezekiel, when describing the temple to be built after the captivity, which Cyrus had been called by God to complete, spoke of the exclusion of foreigners from the temple.
Ezekiel 44:9 ESV – “Thus says the Lord GOD: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary.
But Carl, this restriction is for worship, and we know that Cyrus didn’t even know the Lord, little less seek to enter the temple for worhip
Isaiah 45:4 … I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. 5 …I equip you, though you do not know me,
I get it. These might be two completely different topics, one the restriction of foreigners from the temple in relation to worship, and the other being the use of foreigners for the construction of the temple.
There is precedent for foreigners working on the Temple of God. David prepares for the construction of the Temple by requesting (not simply allowing) foreigners to prepare stones for the Temple.
1 Chronicles 22:2 ESV – David commanded to gather together the resident aliens who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to prepare dressed stones for building the house of God.
Ok, so foreigners were not allowed to worship unless under God provided restrictions as Ezekiel describes – foreigners were to be circumcised in heart and flesh. Yet foreigners were used in the construction of the temple, as David did and as is evident in God using Cyrus for the second temple.
Two topics, but both support the imagery provided by Cyrus in showing us a picture of the True Temple Builder, Jesus Christ. First, let’s consider Jesus as a foreigner to Israel, an unexpected Temple Builder
John 1:11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
Jesus, viewed as a foreigner by the nation, for they did not accept Him, is also the Temple Builder of the True House of God.
Cyrus, as the Temple Builder provides us a picture of the true Temple Builder being from outside of Jewish expectations.
Now before some may ask about Jesus declaration that Salvation is of the Jews, as Jesus affirmed in John 4, this typology takes nothing away from the fact of Jesus being of the bloodline of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The temple records, now destroyed, gave ample proof that Jesus was “of the blood” to be Monarch over Israel, with the New Testament gospels recording His lineage. He, that is Salvation Himself is of the Jews!
As a short aside, note that no Messiah could claim kingly lineage after 70 AD due to the destruction of the records with the Temple falling! There can be no legitimate claim to Messiahship in our day.
Jesus is our Temple Builder, a foreigner to many in Israel, even to this day. Until each heart has the veil taken away, as discussed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 3, Jesus is considered less than the truth, less than the True Temple Builder, less than the Master of the House of God by all of Israel.
But praise God, Jesus has also chosen foreigners to cut stones for His true temple. No that is not correct, for He has gone one step further, and invited foreigners to join in the construction of His Temple by becoming stones, living stones.
1 Peter 2:5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house…
Yes Jesus is the Temple Builder, and so much more!
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.
239
GOOD
1 Peter 2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
There are a few times in the Word when the message of God’s nature and being is simply stated. A short list is provided to remind my reader of a few of these short, succinct statements
“God is love” 1 John 4:8 “God is great” Ps 70:4 “God is holy” Psalm 99 “God is righteous” Daniel 9:19 “God is true” John 3:33 “God is one” Romans 3:30 “God is faithful” 1Corinthians 1:9
But for our time this morning, consider Peter, as he is writing to the diaspora, the scattered church, a church that was entering a cleansing persecution, and he speaks of the Lord as good.
Remember now, Peter is writing an epistle on the topic of suffering, and he has the audacity to say that the Lord is good. It might be reasoned that it is due to the believers faith in Jesus that the persecution will fall on them, and Peter describes God as being good. Might it have been better for Peter to describe God as being a Savior, or a mighty Fortress, or a Rock. No – Peter focuses on the Lord being good.
So what is Peter trying to communicate to these believers who may already have suffered much for their faith, and will likely face more trials, more problems, more temptations to give up.
Is Peter describing God as good in an ethical sense, a God who acts in conformance to a set of standards. I think not for God is the standard.
Or when he speaks of God being good, might he be describing God as simply “not bad”? This also does not make any sense, and would be of no comfort of challenge for his audience.
Might it be that Peter is describing God as benign, good to the point of being of no threat, that God is only good, and this goodness is almost likened to niceness. Now we know that being nice is not God’s nature nor is it ever commanded, nor even suggested for a Christian to be nice – See Love Like Jesus – Kindness for a short study if this interests you)
So when Peter is telling beleagured believers, suffering saints that the Lord is good, what is the point?
Peter uses the Greek word chrēstós, and the root meaning is to be useful, profitable or fit for use. As the word changes over time, it became associated with pleasantness, and kindness, even graciousness.
Jesus used this word once when referring to His yoke, in that it was chrēstós.
Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Another time, Jesus spoke of God as chrēstós, being kind to the ungrateful 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.
As you can see, to nail this term down to one specific meaning is difficult, as least for me, but I will suggest that Peter’s intent, at least by using this term to describe the Lord, is to encourage the saints. Peter is telling them that He is One who is pleasant to know, as opposed to those who persecute, and that He is a useful God to know, since He is a saving God, who has exhibited His care for His people through suffering. He gets it, for He has entered suffering, experientially knows the fear, the dread and the pain.
Yes, the Lord is good, and He is good to all!
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.
238
GOD WHO SHOWS ME STEADFAST LOVE
Psalm 59:17 O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.
Lets take a moment to remember the psalm we are in this morning.
Psalm 59 is a psalm of David, as he was being hunted down by the government in power, by his own king. King Saul has sent assassins into the city that David is hiding out in, looking for an opportunity to kill him before the sun rises.
1 Samuel 19:11-12 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped.
Not many of us have been in the same plight. Having the government focus in one man’s life is a daunting prospect, and in this psalm, David describes what he faces.
Psalm 59:3 For behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men stir up strife against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O LORD
This is the beginning of Saul’s open persecution of his son in law David. Yes he had been laying traps for David, and seeking his destruction prior to this, but now Saul is marshalling the troops, bringing in specialized commandos that are on assignment to take David down.
The kicker in all of this is that David speaks of the God who shows him steadfast love. He is being hunted down by the most powerful and influential man in his nation, fueled by jealousy and animated by an evil spirit, and David has the audacity to speak of God who shows him steadfast love.
Now, for my own thinking, I had to understand the term “steadfast love” a bit better, and as I researched it, I found it is the Hebrew term חֶסֶד cheçed, and it speaks of mercy, goodness and favor.
That still doesn’t seem to help me, for David, due to the call of God on his life, is being hunted down by his king. He is facing death, and yet speaks of steadfast love, of kindness and mercy, of the goodness of God being shown to him. How does that compute?
Okay – I’m thinking that maybe David wrote this portion after he had escaped, and that may be the case, but it still doesn’t take away from the fact that David must have realized that Saul would not simple give up. This effort of Saul’s was simply the beginning of a mission that would end up with David’s head on a platter in front of Saul.
So with David speaking of God as the GOD WHO SHOWS ME STEADFAST LOVE, the context is a continual, life threatening experience. The beginning of a period in David’s life of being hunted down by professionals, of losing all the benefits and blessings in his life, a period of disruption, isolation, rejection and abandonment.
Let us not diminish David’s circumstance here. The natural man in me is thinking that David’s circumstances are directly related to the call of God on his life. The temptation to blame God for this plight would be incredible. Such an easy thought to accept.
But consider. Let us remember that God up to this point had been David’s Savior in many battles, even as a young teenager fighting wild animals. David was no stranger to conflict, to danger or to seemingly risky situations. He had experienced God’s saving work in very practical ways. He knew experientially of his God’s saving work, and he foresaw that his God would fulfill His word to him, though it be though trial.
His Son also faced the threat of death many times, and finally, and as the Word attests, willingly entered into death for our sake.
David expressed his faith by speaking of the GOD WHO SHOWS ME STEADFAST LOVE in the context of a life and death matter. Jesus though, experienced the terror of the judgement of God on His life, and willingly suffered the judgement of God on the cross for my sin.
On top of all that, He was the ultimate truth of David’s claim we read in the 3rd verse of Psalm 59.
For behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men stir up strife against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O LORD
Jesus was the innocent One that was slain. No, that is wrong. He was the Righteous One that was hunted down, condemned and murdered.
David lived under the threat of death. Jesus willingly entered into death. David spoke of his innocence. Jesus lived a righteous life.
My friend, as we walk with the Lord, we also will have many challenges that may shock us, that may knock us off balance and may initially discourage us. In the very midst of the trial, remember His past faithfulness in your life. He constantly shows us mercy and steadfast love!
Look to the One who faced every threat, even death itself, and in the end, fully experienced the GOD WHO SHOWS ME STEADFAST LOVE. For God brought Him out of the grave, and He is the King.
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.
Deuteronomy 29:18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, Deuteronomy 29:19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. Deuteronomy 29:20 The LORD will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven.
Before I go off on this verse, it is critical to set the stage for such a harsh set of verses.
This particular passage is found in a chapter of Deuteronomy that describes the judgements upon the man who breaks the covenant the nation entered into at Sinai. As believers in the Messiah, we know that the Messiah rescued us from the curse of the law, and that obedience, absolute perfect obedience was required under the Old Covenant.
Galatians 3:12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us–for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”–
This truth came home to me in a Sunday School discussion recently, when it seemed that the lesson was blurring the distinction between promise and law. Some in the class seemed to imply the curses may still be applied to the New Testament saint, effectively removing the salvation Jesus provided to each of us.
It is critical for each of us as believers in the Messiah to understand that we who are of Jesus are of the promise and not of the law.
So then what of the law? Very much, for the law can and does speak to us in this age of promise. As a quick review, Paul speaks of the benefits of understanding the Old Testament in many New Testament passages, teaching on multiple topics using the Law as a basis of his teaching.
For example…
A woman’s restriction in church meetings
1 Corinthians 14:34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.
An apostles right to support
1 Corinthians 9:8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 1 Corinthians 9:9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned?
The reason for the gift of tongues
1 Corinthians 14:21 In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”
A standard of judgment
Romans 2:12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
The relationship of the law in Christian faith
Rom 3:31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
I could continue, but just realized I am writing an introduction to the topic verses and not an independent study on the law’s relationship to the one under promise.
I do get distracted don’t I?
Back to Deuteronomy.
The passage that I would like to draw your attention to is the reference to the man’s heart in this passage. We often think of the law as a means to produce works of compliance, a set of standards that are to be met by good works, proper conduct and righteous behavior. All outwardly seen.
Yet the Lord addresses the root of the matter, even in the covenant of works. It is the heart that initially turns away, and in the turning, lies to itself. Notice the deceitfulness of our hearts, even under the covenant of works, that the man that begins to turn away, (in his heart) argues with the truth, and convinces his heart that his actions, his works that do not comply with the covenant, will not cause a danger.
His heart will bless him in his disobedience.
How fearful of a text, not only for the one under a covenant of works, but more so for us who reside under a covenant of promise, a covenant that has been written with the blood of the Messiah.
My friends, this passage reminds me of a warning passage in Hebrews, comparing the covenant of works with the covenant of promise.
Hebrews 2
1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 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, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Note that the apostle spoke of neglect, not rejection of the salvation provided. As the man in Deuteronomy neglected and turned away, even convincing himself of his safety, a corollary may be seen in our lives, even today, as the apostle warns.
Let us “pay much closer attention”, continually seeking to listen to the One who saves, to hear from the One who guides and gives comfort and to thank and praise the One who has provided such a great salvation!
Let our hearts always lean into Him, and as we may find a coldness creep into our heart, ask Him for His heart.
Look to Him. He is good. Let us be thankful!
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
Liberator by Peace
Ezra 1:3,4 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel–he is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold
Ephesians 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
Cyrus may have been the only human regent in history that conquered a capital city without bloodshed.
Now I don’t want to imply that Cyrus did not lead a powerful army, or that he was reluctant to unleash it’s forces for the sake of the advancement of his cause, but as he approached the capital city of Babylon on his march to world domination, he eventually took a different approach.
Cyrus conquered the city, and consequently the empire of Babylon, by stealth. History has recorded that as he approached the city of Babylon, it became obvious that the walls of the city were indomitable, and that the city was fully ready for a siege if required. Although a conventional siege commenced, it was to Cyrus’ credit that he sought other means of conquering the city.
The strength of the city of Babylon, amongst many of its wonders, was the river Euphrates that flowed under the walls and through the city. This river provided a source of life for the inhabitants, but it also provided an unconventional access point for the enemy.
My understanding is that Cyrus sent his armies to both the entrance and exit of the river from under the city walls. Upstream, Cyrus reduced the flow of the water by blocking and/or diverting the flow from the main channel. At the exit of the river, his armies dug out a marsh and formed a lake area, large enough to accept much of the flow from the reduced river. Upon opening a canal to the man made lake, the lowered river flow was further reduced and allowed for the Persian army to enter the capital city, conquering the nation of Babylon.
In this monumental conquering of a world empire, Cyrus performed a miraculous feat. By shear genius and stealth, Cyrus added to his empire the extent of the Babylonian kingdom. This kingdom just so happened to contain a small people group known as the Jews.
Though it is not known how Cyrus understood his mission from God – was it Daniel that provided the scroll of Isaiah 45 for him as he began his rule – he liberated the Jew in a famous declaration found in Ezra 1.
Ezra 1:2 “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. Ezra 1:3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel–he is the God who is in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
Note a few details of this declaration of Cyrus.
Let him go up to Jerusalem
Cyrus provided the Jewish people the freedom to leave or to stay. There was no compulsion on his end towards the Jewish population in returning to Jerusalem. It is so refreshing to see that Cyrus understood the importance of a willing heart in the completion of God’s will.
Do you really want to go back to Jerusalem? If you want to, you have the freedom to. Go ahead….
Is it not also the case in relation to the Messiah.
Mark 4:9 … “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
It is as if the Messiah was offering those who heard His message (the parable of the Sower in this case) the chance to “hear His message”!
Do you really want to hear His message? If you want to, you have the freedom to. Go ahead and let the message pierce that ol’ heart!
May his God be with him
Cyrus pronounced a blessing on the people as they went forward to rebuild the temple. It is interesting that the blessing was conferred on those whose desire matched the mission, but this is always the case when we think of the Lord’s work.
Jesus also provided the blessing of God, but not only as a verbal pronouncement, but by the literal giving of His life to become the One in whom we find all blessings.
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
Let each survivor .. be assisted
This added effort on the part of Cyrus seems over the top and is further confirmation in my thinking that Cyrus is a clear type of the Messiah. Even as Cyrus provides the opportunity of liberty to those in captivity, and even as he pronounces a blessing on them as they depart, he goes one step further and directs for the nation as a whole to support this monumentous effort of rebuilding the temple.
It is not only those willing to take on the challenge of traversing thousands of miles back to a destroyed land to rebuild the temple to the Living God, but those who stayed behind, for whatever reason, were to support the work of those in Jerusalem.
Does this not speak out the continuing method of accomplishing God’s work, of building God’s kingdom through the varied efforts of those in the kingdom? Who knows the spiritual life condition of those who chose to stay, but they were to be involved in the effort, and Cyrus acknowledges this truth.
It seems obvious that this Gentile king continues to exhibit characteristics (faint though they may be) of the character of the Messiah that we can all admire.
Cyrus may have had alternate motives, or unknown pressures requiring him to provide these advantageous circumstances for the Jewish nation. Not so with the Lord Jesus, for we can confidently say that He had one motive, and was not pressured into any decision other than that which the Father determined for His life.
His mission was simple, direct and massive. His death for our life. Resurrection for our justification. Continual, everlasting life to provide peace for those He conquers, for those whom He liberates to enter a kingdom of peace.
May His name be lifted up!
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.
237
GOD WHO NEVER LIES
Titus 1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began
Paul, is writing to his disciple Titus, as he seeks to instruct him in the oversight of believers in a local area. The local area Titus ministered in was the island of Crete, off the coast of Greece.
In order to lay a foundation for the instruction to be provided ahead by the apostle Paul, Titus is informed of the type of God he is serving on the isle of Crete. It is instructive to note that Paul describes those Titus ministers to as liars.
Titus 1:12 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
The Cretans are self confessed liars. A people group known for being liars, deceptive, untruthful.
This brings up an interesting observation, in that every culture, or social group, there tends to be at least one predominant social weakness, a sin that permeates and is accepted by the group. For the people Titus ministered to, one of these acceptable social sins was the act of lying.
Now I don’t know about you, but when I think of a social acceptance of lying as a sin, it must be very destructive to the social order. Trust cannot be granted, relationships are always fragile, and commitments end up in courts.
Of course, lies have a wide range of descriptions ranging from equivocations, through exaggerations, understatements, concealments, deliberate lies and felony level lies.
Also, we often think of lies as directed outwards, but many times, to our own hurt always, we find ourselves lying to ourselves.
1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Before we proceed with the verse above though, one additional aspect of lying should be considered, and it is related to lying to oneself.
James 1:23 -24 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
To forget the type of people we are is a deception we allow in our lives.
It is to our wisdom that we are to continually realize the tremendous power and influence deception has in our own lives. It is easy to point a finger at a people group 2,000 years ago, on an island south of Greece, but at the very least, they had a poet that provided a self condemnation for their group acceptance of lying.
Do we (as believers in the Messiah) have anyone in our lives reminding us of our base nature, our deceptive self that turns from truth? Relationships, that is deep relationships which provide opportunities for confrontation, and subsequent confession are few and far between for many believers.
I myself find that it is much easier to listen to a preacher for 30 minutes, even in the car or late at night as I am falling asleep, than to look a dear friend in the eye and lie. To be engulfed in a lying lifestyle is to be alone, to separate yourself from others in order to continue in self deceit.
For Titus, he was in the midst of liars. Liars throughout the island. Titus was commissioned to find men who exemplify the life of the believer, the mature Christian man that would provide guidance and oversight for Christians in the church. Men who could be trusted, that would mirror the character of the Messiah, Who was the full embodiment of all truth, with no deception whatsoever. He is the source of truth!
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
At no time can a valid claim be made that God has varied in His nature or message, He is the truth! For Titus, this led to a massive challenge. Jesus’ representatives are to be of the same nature, and of the same character, and Titus had a pool of liars to choose from.
Of course, as Titus sought men of truth, he would find success, for the Lord changes liars into men of character, deceivers into men seeking the God of truth. On his own, Titus was provided a challenge that could not be met, but because he was serving the God who never lies, he will find his elders, and God continues to this day, changing deceivers into those who declare the truth!
To return to the context of this letter to Titus, Paul does remind him that though he was to find elders, men of integrity and seeking the truth, he also had a secondary assignment that was strengthened by Paul’s reference to our God as One who never lies. Since the island was full of liars, some who had not trusted in the Messiah remained in the cesspool of deception, and fought to stay there, continuing in their deception and being an active and destructive force in the church.
Titus, based on the truth that the God who never lies is commissioning him in his ministry amongst liars, has a twofold call to duty. Find truthful men through the work of God in their lives, and confront the liars.
Not to simply confront liars, but he was to silence liars!
A great example of this very action can be seen in the gospel. Jesus was being challenged in His teaching with questions one after another, and by the Wisdom of God, He provided rebuke and response that silenced his detractors. The 14th chapter of Mark is a fantastic retelling of how the Lord responded to deceivers with simple truth, and describes the unwillingness of the liars to continue attacking.
Mark 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
He was awesome while on earth, and He is the same God today. As we follow, we also have the call to silence those who oppose the gospel, and this call will not be without struggle, but as we seek to silence those who oppose the truth, it is critical that we remember that we serve the God who never lies!
He can be trusted wholeheartedly and His message is the truth, for He is the God Who Never Lies!
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.
236
GOD THAT MADE THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING IN IT
Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,
A Christian and a evolutionist got together one day and began chatting about the beginning of creation.
The evolutionist made a bold claim, stating that science has actually created life in the lab. The Christian could not believe this statement and challenged the evolutionist to duplicate the miracle of creation we read about in the book of Genesis.
In an act of sheer pride, the evolutionist went on to accept this challenge and stated he would bring back evidence of life after a time in the lab. He would replicate the experiment he had spoken of, taking hydrogen and energy, and produce life.
With this bold claim, the Christian clarified the challenge. The evolutionist was to create life out of nothing, not simply rearrange and/or manipulate God’s creation.
I often think of this story when I consider the creation of the world, and everything in it. All that we see, feel, and sense in our lives, even our lives, is the result of God initially creating the cosmos out of nothing. To go further, things we cannot see, that is the building blocks of all matter was created by the Lord God. Atoms, quarks and protons all created out of nothing. Also, things we cannot see that is beyond the limits of our reach, beyond the furthest satellite and space probe was created out of nothing.
There are some in this age that think because they have studied matter, and may understand a process of nature, have actually explained away the need for God in understanding this world. This is sheer poppycock, for as the scientist delves deeper into the study of creation, the evolutionist continues to loose ground in his supposed logical rejection of a God.
Paul, as he addresses those of Athens, those who side with the evolutionist, was not shy in declaring the God we serve as the God that made the world and everything in it. In declaring God as the creator, he left no stone unturned for the Athenian to make excuse. He could not say that this God Paul preached simply rearranged preexisting matter into this world, that maybe God relied on material He found elsewhere.
God made everything is a stunning statement, declaring to a group of philosophers a truth that needed to be accepted by men that already had a systematized way of thinking regarding the existence of creation.
He is the God that made the world and everything in it.
Everything.
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.
“For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”
Covenants. Agreements. Contracts. Treaties.
All of these terms describe a state of being of two or more parties having one opinion about something. As two (or more) enter into a covenant or agreement, it is accompanied with some sort of written or public announcement. Such is the special covenant of marriage.
Malachi, throughout his second chapter is discussing the marriage covenant, and has some very interesting points he wants to communicate to the priest of his day, and to the priests of our day – folks who take the name of Christ as their identity.
1 Peter 2:5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
In Malachi’s day, the priests seemed to think it was an allowable action to ditch the wife of their youth, and to pick up some young foreign woman as a wife. Where did this allowance come from in their thinking?
Malachi provides and answer and is blunt.
Malachi 2:8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts,
Malachi goes on and describes Judah as “faithless”, and with an abomination having been committed in Israel.
Malachi 2:11a Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem.
Tell us Malachi – What is it that Judah has done to exhibit faithlessness, or what is it that is considered an abomination in Israel?
Malachi 2:11b For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
Now as I mentioned above, the priests had abandoned the wives of their marriage covenant, and found themselves a young “mail order” bride of sorts, a woman of foreign descent.
And the Lord is talking of cutting off from the tribe any descendant of the man who does this. This is the equivalent of excommunication!
Let’s take a moment to review the Lord’s attitude towards marriage.
#1 God loves Marriage
Malachi 2:11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
We have briefly considered the verse above, but it may be good to remember that it teaches of the LORD’s love for the sanctuary, and that the marriage of a foreign woman, which would require the divorce of the priest first wife, profanes this sanctuary. For you see, God’s love for the sanctuary carries over into the actions of those who serve in it.
This is a typical Bible teaching, that the one who serves God is to serve according the the Word and will of God. A life of no restrictions brings about a restriction from the service of God. These priests decided they wanted young wives and in so doing, departed from God.
#2 God seeks holy offspring
Malachi 2:15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.
Why is marriage so important before God? An initial thought is that it provides a man a chance to die, to give up his desires for the sake of another. Another facet of marriage for the man is that he can display, in real time and through continual actions, a fidelity to his promise to his wife.
Malachi provides another reason. Holy offspring. In this context, Malachi is referring to pure Jewish offspring, not combined with those of the nations. To think of a priest of the Lord’s sanctuary producing offspring that are not – cannot be – of the holy lineage is an affront to the plan of God.
For us today, nationality, race and ethnicity mean nothing. The requirement to satisfy God’s seeking godly offspring is faith in the Christ for both partners. Parents that are not in agreement concerning the identity of the Christ, or that have not committed to His will, can not intentionally produce godly offspring.
#3 God hates divorce
Malachi 2:16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”
If any of this post get’s me in trouble, this will be the portion that does!
This verse was a favorite of mine in my early Christian faith, and I used it “willy nilly” around a lot of hurting people. Now I will not deny that God hates divorce – it is clearly a teaching that is provided here. But He hates all sin, and we have to live amongst and minister to a lot of sinful, hurting people. Judging someone’s past is not in my wheelhouse (anymore!). I have also come to understand there is a nuance to the marriage covenant that I had not considered until I needed to.
Someone very close to me suffered abandonment by her husband. He simply got up and left her with all the bills, all the trouble and no answers. In this case, is she to remain unmarried, tied to a treacherous man that is faithless? Consider Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 7:15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.
Paul has much to say about marriage, and how the believer is to respond to a faithless, or unsaved partner. In the above case, I understand the brother or sister is not bound to the original covenant. It has been broken by the faithless partner.
Although this has been more of a short study on God’s attitude towards marriage than a discussion on conditional security, it does relate to the original topic.
Malachi, throughout this passage, warns the priest of his day that they are faithless five times in this six verse passage, from verse 10 through 16
Twice, at the end of this passage, Malachi advises the priests to
….guard themselves in their spirit…
Now of course, some may see that this description of being faithless as referring to the priest’s commitment to his first wife, and that may very well be the emphasis of Malachi’s teaching. Yet, for a man of God to abandon his covenant promise to his first wife, to walk away from one who he promised to protect, love and provide for, speaks of a character that may abandon other covenants that are also holy, precious and life long.
No matter, it is wise counsel that in our commitments to agreements, covenants and contracts, we are to be men and women of our word.
Matthew 5:37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Let’s be men and women of our word, faithful to the covenants we have freely entered into.
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
Shepherd
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.’”
John 10:16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
As I look into this gentile king, I am surprised in the elevated position God placed this man, that God anointed him, chose him and now is described as a shepherd.
Obviously, God meant this term in a governmental context, but as I look into other passages that refer to one being a shepherd, it primarily describes one who cares for sheep, one who is pastoral.
Yes kings were called out, or as taking on the responsibility as shepherds in various places in the Old Testament, such as 2 Samuel 24:17; 1 Kings 22:17; Jeremiah 2:8.
But the intent of these messages was to remind those in power of the importance of giving up something for their people.
Consider David, willing to take accept the anger of the Lord upon his own house for the sake of others in this passage.
2 Samuel 24:17 Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”
Or of the prophet Micaiah, as he saw the effect of no shepherd on the nation of Israel. The nation was suffering, and it was due to the lack of a shepherd!
1 Kings 22:17 And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’”
Or, what may be worse is that those called to be a shepherd may be acting more as overlords, taking from the flock and not caring for the flock.
Jeremiah 2:8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.
Each of these three passages speak of a king’s place to be connected with the characteristic of a shepherd. A shepherd that cares for and leads his people.
But in this verse, God is calling a gentile king to care for and protect the nation of Israel. Their own kings brought them to ruin, and now a king that was not of the blood of Abraham is called to care for them, to protect them and to lead them back home.
Although Jesus was physically a Jew, He too was a foreigner in a sense, having come down from above, and was called to lead, protect and care for a people who were in trouble.
Not only did Jesus shepherd the people of Israel, a people who were in a captivity far greater than the captivity Cyrus released them from, Jesus went farther still, and sought those beyond the bloodline of Abraham, determined to shepherd those even outside of the covenant of Sinai.
Cyrus was called to be a shepherd of strangers.
Jesus is the Shepherd 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.
235
GOD THAT GAVE YOU BIRTH
Deuteronomy 32:18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
The Lord is described as a Rock, depicting strength, stability and constancy. This terminology speaks of characteristics typically associated with the male, even a father figure. One who is an anchor and can be relied upon.
We considered this general description of our God as a ROCK in a couple of posts in this series.
Our name to consider this morning speaks of the female experience of birthing. I cannot speak first person on this action, but as I have been with my wife during each of the births of our children, I can tell you speak of that time for the mother as….
Agonizing, all consuming. A point of connection. Complete compassion.
When I consider the names of God, the descriptions He provides us in helping us understand His person, I sometimes relate to my own experiences in this life, I always, after considering the passage, come away thinking my experience is a dim shadow to the the Lord’s reality.
An example to help explain my thoughts
If I have experienced sorrow, a deep and painful sorrow, it cannot be compared to the sorrow He experienced in the rebellion of His creation, in the complete rejection of His mercy and forgiveness, of the sorrow He went through as He saw the destruction coming upon the city of Jerusalem, as He lamented over the city as He accepted their rejection. The sorrow He experienced as He died on the rugged cross, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.
He died all alone, with even the Father looking away.
We as believers can never say that we are totally alone, for He has promised to never leave us.
As I mentioned earlier, I cannot speak first person in relation to experiencing child birth, but as our five children entered this world, standing beside my wife as she was going through the agony, I sensed a connection between this lady who loves me and these children who share her DNA.
Agony
First, lets consider the agony of the experience in relation to the birth of the nation from the standpoint of God and Israel. He underwent continued pain, disappointment and trials relating to the people He sought to create a nation out of. Even as they entered into covenant with the Lord at Sinai, accomplishing (in my understanding) the birth of the nation, the trials continued on. His mercy to the nation never wavered and He sought to protect, guide and care for them even as they wandered.
Connection
Consider the connection, not simply due to the agony experienced in giving birth, but also on the biological/spiritual level.
There is no connection that is stronger than that of a mother with her child. As one of many possible points of discussion, it has been discovered that during gestation, there occurs a two way exchange of cells between the mother and the child. I am no scientist, so I will refer my reader to their own research, but this exchange of cells speaks of a deep abiding physical connection a mother and child experiences.
The child has his/her mother’s cells for life. To think of this foundational connection in relation to God is somewhat mind numbing. How that connection may be described in the Old Testament is beyond this ol’ fellow, but we know in the New Testament, we have the very Spirit of God residing in our body. Our birth in Christ brought about the very presence of God in our lives.
John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Compassion
Consider the connection on an emotional level. As mentioned previously, I understand that whatever I experience is but a shadow of that which the Lord goes through. He is the God who experiences emotion, for we see the Word speaking of God experiencing grieving, jealousy, anger, etc.
For this specific passage we are considering this morning, I cannot comprehend the trial He went through in the birthing of the nation of Israel. The waiting while His people suffered, the delays because of unbelief, the frustrations with self centered leaders, and the never ending leading of a reluctant people into a life that is full and abundant!
Paul describes a primary characteristic of a mother as gentle.
1 Thessalonians 2:7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.
He uses this same Greek word, translated as kind, when speaking of the Lord’s servant in 2 Timothy.
2 Timothy 2:24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil.
When the Lord walked the ways and crossroads of the land of Israel, He also exhibited this trait, for of course, this is the way of the Lord in relating to His children.
He is gentle.
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
He has suffered agony as in birthing. He has connection with those He has birthed He has compassion as a mother with her birthed ones.
He is the God who has birthed us.
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
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.
234
GOD READY TO FORGIVE
Nehemiah 9:17 They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.
As some of you who may have read my testimony, this name was foreign to my understanding of God for all of my childhood, teenage years and even as I wandered through my walk of faith.
My overarching understanding of our God was that He is a judge (which He is), and that He is holy (which He is) and that He is unapproachable (which might be true).
At no time did I think of God Almighty as a God who is ready to forgive. Oh I may have hoped he would forgive if I was really good, or if I begged enough, or turned over a new leaf (whatever that means), but a God who is ready to forgive? No that didn’t enter my mind.
The term used here to describe God is that He is a God of סְלִיחָה çᵉlîychâh, and although the modifier of “ready” is not a word for word translation, the idea behind our Hebrew word is that the forgiveness available is abundant.
It is the same term used in Psalm 130
Psalm 130:4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
Note that the forgiveness is such that it produces fear in the recipient. Forgiveness in my world, in my everyday experience is such that it produces thankfulness, relief, a clearance of conscience. In my day to day, as I experience the forgiveness of my wife, my children, my coworkers, my friends and my acquaintances, fear is not the general outworking of this forgiveness.
So may I suggest that the forgiveness I experience in my day to day life is a forgiveness granted from one fallen person to another fallen person, both of the participants broken and weak, susceptible to offending and hurting each other. In no way am I implying the forgiveness is not deep felt, genuine and true. It is from an equal, a person who is of the same “stuff”.
Our God who is ready to forgive, or as in another translation, our God of forgiveness, is not of the same “stuff”. He is the Judge, the only Rightful Judge, the Holy One, A God who dwells in unapproachable light. He is the eternal God who has never, and will never experience the failures we succumb to. He is perfect, and has every right to condemn, and yet the Word speaks of Him being ready to forgive, of an abundance of forgiveness ready to be bestowed on the repentant.
He is not of the same “stuff” as us, and the forgiveness does not have a potential transactional component. It is not as if He forgives in order for some future need to receive forgiveness. His forgiveness is not only one sided, but when truly comprehended, produces the fear that the Psalm speaks of.
What type of God do we serve? Will we ever comprehend the depth of His mercy, His grace to us in Jesus the Christ?
He is altogether different than I, and for that I am so thankful!
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.
“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
Let’s take a moment to remember who Hosea is.
Hosea is a prophet of the northern kingdom, who was called to marry a prostitute, suffer the indignities of her unfaithfulness, and in the end rescue her from her own sinful life. His life was a picture for the sinful northern nation to recognize what they were doing to the God who had married them in the Sinai covenant.
Throughout the book, Hosea pleads for the northern nation to return to God, even as he is seeking to keep his own marriage together.
What a terrible inner conflict this man must have suffered! And what a high calling for this man to be called to. To love a bride who is treacherous, who is unfaithful, who proves her indifference and disloyalty to their covenant of marriage.
This very condition is found in many homes today, and though it may be expected in those who have not bowed the knee to the Lord, to find it amongst the saints is a sign of a treacherous partner, a sign that the commitment (to the spouse and to the Lord) has been abandoned.
Nevertheless, to return to the main point. Hosea is preaching to a nation that has walked away from God. As always there were individuals who were of the remnant, that still sought the Lord and looked to Him, but the vast majority of the northern tribes had fallen away.
The nation as an entity had walked away! As Gomer had betrayed Hosea and shunned his commitment to her, Israel mirrored this very same stance in relation to Jehovah.
The amazing thing that Hosea states in this verse is that the Lord has torn, and that He will heal.
To us the term “torn” in this verse cannot be sugar coated, for it speaks of tearing, even of tearing to pieces, being ripped apart. This same word was used when Isaac heard of Joseph’s apparent death.
Genesis 37:33 …”It is my son’s robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.”
Might this be referring to the tearing away of the northern tribes from the southern kingdom? They tore away from the God ordained lineage of King David, setting up an opposing king, government, and accepting a completely different God requiring a different worship system.
No wonder the passage speaks of the Lord tearing it, for as the people, and the leadership pulled away, the Lord also tore them from the true theocracy. This may be a situation where the cause and effect may be the same action, as it so often appears in the works of God.
Nevertheless, the people of the northern tribes had walked away, they were torn, and Hosea, instead of speaking of condemnation, brings a message of hope, of healing, and a few verses later, or reviving and resurrection.
This is a fantastic passage, given the horrible situation Hosea found himself in. To offer the northern tribes the hope of life after this persistent betrayal is way beyond a response that may be expected. A response I would expect is to let the betrayer suffer for her sins. The Lord offers healing.
In the middle of this passage, I can’t help but to see that the Lord performed this ultimate healing by Himself being torn, by Himself being struck. His suffering and acceptance of the cross provided the healing required, not only for us as we have been the betraying wife at times, but for the nations also.
There is tremendous mercy to be found in the Lord. May we be faithful to such a great God, and as needed, exercise a humility to admit our own betrayal of Him.
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
Chosen
Isaiah 45:1a Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped.
Luke 9:35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”
The very same verse we looked at last week is providing another similarity for us to consider with the shadow King Cyrus when we look to the reality of King Jesus.
Both were chosen.
For the God of heaven to state centuries before the birth of this gentile king that He would grasp this kings hand speaks of His chosing him for the task ahead.
It is good to remember that to be chosen is usually in reference to a particular task or mission. Yes sometimes is may seem to refer to the ultimate destiny of a nation, as it was with Israel, and as some believers may think, it is a designation for some individuals ultimate destiny also.
That is an issue I will not address in this post, as I have discussed it in numerous earlier posts. A short study on the purpose of being chosen.
Chosen To Perform
1 Chronicles 15:2 Then David said that no one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, for the LORD had chosen them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister to him forever.
Chosen To Become
Deuteronomy 14:2 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Chosen to Bear Fruit
John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
Chosen Not Because
For myself, I sometimes confuse the act of being chosen as signifying somehow being worthy of being chosen.
Deuteronomy 7:6 …..The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Deuteronomy 7:7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
The Israelites were not chosen because they were numerous or great when compared with the neighboring nations. As a matter of fact, the smallness, the insignificance of Israel only brought about the strength of the Lord God to be seen. It is a recurring theme, that those chosen for a task are wholly incapable of performing the task, of becoming the person they are called to be, or of bearing fruit on their own.
My I have somewhat stayed from the original topic this morning, but it all applies to Cyrus, for he was chosen to perform a task, he was chosen to become a king, and he was chosen to bear fruit (build a temple) for God.
In his confession of the God of heaven providing all the kingdoms for his reign, he may have also grasped that this choice was not because he was great, but that God provided.
As for the Son of God, His was the original choice by the Father, the only choice that could perform the gargantuan task of salvation, the only choice of the perfect sinless sacrifice and the only choice to bear the fruit of the church, constantly bearing fruit in new and growing believers.
He is the Chosen One!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
233
GOD OF HEAVEN
2 Chronicles 36:23 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. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him. Let him go up.
There are numerous passages in the Word that provide us our name of God this morning, but I chose this verse out of 2 Chronicles due to my recent studying of Cyrus as a type of Christ. (Jesus in the Old Testament – Cyrus – 01).
Beyond that reason, I find this verse to be comforting for our day, in that it contains a truth that hopefully will settle the heart of the faithful.
As I said, it is difficult times we live in as we see this old world crumble away, with cultural and societal degradation surrounding us, with national leadership being exposed for deeper and deeper corruption, and an ever-growing open hatred of the Christian faith.
The church seems to have entered a type of captivity, accepting the cultures social norms, (shifting as they are), as acceptable norms to conform to. As the ancient Jewish nation experienced their captivity in Babylon, the church – at least in the western world – has also lost touch.
But as we see in this verse, and understanding the background of King Cyrus, we see that the God of heaven is not limited by His location, or that He is only in charge in heaven. King Cyrus, a non-Jew, and an unexpected Savior for the people of Israel, readily admits to the authority and actions of the God of heaven on earth. This pagan king not only admits that the God of heaven provided him his success, giving him “all the kingdoms of the earth”, but that God has given him a charge.
King Cyrus – build the God of heaven a house in Jerusalem.
A charge was given to the King, and an allowance was provided to the people of God. They were granted freedom by this king, and supplied to those who had a heart for God, the very highest gift of the faithful saint, The king would build the temple of the God of heaven, and the people of God could see him do it!
Also, take note that the people of God, though given freedom to return, are a secondary item. By that I mean, they are allowed to get involved if they want, but the King will build the house for the God of heaven whether they choose to get involved or not.
The God of heaven rules over the kingdoms of the earth, and to rescue His people, (or better stated, to provide a salvation to those who seek it), He may rise up a man or woman that is totally unexpected, in order to fulfill His desires. And the people of God can watch the wonder of this saviors work, taking part if they want.
The Greater King, our Living Savior is building a temple for the God of heaven in our day also. Have you been granted freedom? Are you wanting to get involved? The opportunity, the blessing, maybe better yet – the obligation is in front of the saint to get involved in the work.
Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
He is the God of heaven, and He is working on this earth to build His Temple.
Wanna help?
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.
232
GOD OF GLORY
Psalm 29:3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters.
Glory. It is the winning of the Boston marathon, or the receiving of an Oscar. It is often thought of as an ultimate victory, a great display of honor. For those who seek it, it is the attainment of fame and splendor. of an honor amongst their peers.
When it comes to how it is associated with God, we often think of a radiant light, a manifestation of God’s presence, or a recognition of His worth and beauty. He as God is the Only One worthy of glory in the most absolute sense.
For the verse we are considering, David associates the God of Glory with His message, specifically His voice in the world of nature, even a thunderstorm.
David, I would suggest, is watching a great thunderstorm, where the heavens are opening up and unleashing a power that cannot be resisted. Vast areas of the land, and in this case the waters of Israel, may be experiencing high winds, torrents of rain, fire from heaven and thunderous noise shaking the earth.
David is trying to express the might and power of the Lord in relation to the world about him. Throughout this psalm, David speaks of the “voice of the Lord”, and this is the first instance.
Yet I must consider the term glory before I finish this post. /I recall discussing a somewhat surprising association with the term glory with heaviness. (See Names of God – BEAUTIFUL AND GLORIOUS – 49).
I found also, that though the term “glory” not only had a sense of honor and esteem, and a sense of heaviness, (even fatness), associated with it, this term is also linked with suffering.
This particular word we see in this passage comes from the root word כָּבַד kâbad. We find this root word in the following passages, where I have italicized it’s use.
Genesis 18:20 Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,
Note that the root word we read as glory in the Psalm is translated “grave” in Genesis 18. Some translations use grievous or serious.
Nehemiah 5:18 Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people.
Nehemiah rejected the opportunity to enjoy great abundance due to the heavy burden placed on the people that required it.
2 Samuel 13:25 But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son, let us not all go, lest we be burdensome to you.” He pressed him, but he would not go but gave him his blessing.
David did not want to be burdensome to his son.
1 Samuel 5:11 They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there.
The term associates directly with suffering in 1 Samuel, where the hand of God was causing an uproar amongst the Philistines.
Psalm 32:4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
But lest we think this suffering is only for those who know not God, we find it used by David when he is under the judging eye of His Master.
All of this is to simply admit that my concept of glory is too weak, too shallow. Bright lights, beauty and honor are the thoughts that typically rise to the mind when we think of glory, but let us not forget that it is a complex thought, a complex idea that has much greater meaning than first considered.
The God of Glory has Himself provided the greatest display of His glory in the man Christ Jesus, as He displayed His patient, kind, meek and loving interaction with those who had ears to hear. His character was a blinding glorious light in a very dark land.
He also displayed His authority, His heaviness amongst some lightweight religious authorities, literally tearing their arguments to pieces without breaking a sweat!
But if you ask me, the greatest display of the God of Glory for all to see was the Man Christ Jesus, bloody and broken, nailed to a cross, exposed to the public as if he were equal to a mere thief, suffering the indignities and insults of sinful man, all to rescue a thankless and hateful people.
He is the God of Glory and though many may look to the cross as simply an instrument of justice, for the believer, that cross provided the greatest display of who the God of Glory truly is!
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Psalm 85:4-5 Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Restoration.
It is a consistent refrain in the Word, where the people of God, having slipped (or run headlong) into sin, have fallen victim to bondage and captivity. When Israel finally came to it’s senses, the plea to God was always for restoration, for the Lord to rescue the people who knew Him, back to a place of favor before Him.
I am not sure of when this Psalm was written, whether after the captivity of Babylon, or possibly during one of many spiritually low spots previous to the captivity. Either way, it is a telling psalm of the nations knowledge of their standing before their God.
The people of God needed restoration. They called out to the God of their salvation, seeking restoration to their salvation experience. They were a people of covenant, who had broken ties with their God and reaped the result of having no hope! The people of God understood they were experiencing the anger of a holy and righteous God – which if truth be told, is an enviable position to be in.
Now hold on Carl. To be under the judgment of God is an enviable position to be in? Are you smoking crack? Let me repeat my thought. It is an enviable position to rightly understand their position before God. It is that we are in an enviable position if we know the truth of our position before God.
Many in our day think they are in a great standing before God, and yet live a life of utter disregard to the will of God, the Word of God and the Son of God. The folk in this psalm, of whom we read this morning, understood their position before God and reached out the the only One who could restore them.
A short phrase in verse 4 catches my eye, when the psalmist admits that even their best efforts are of no use before the Mighty God. Do you see what I speak of?
put away your indignation toward us
The psalmist is not claiming that they will do better, that the people of God could earn their position back with the Eternal Father, that some action on their part could assuage the anger of God.
He begs God to put away His own anger, the anger that is towards His own people. God only can put away His own anger. Amazing!
Does that not scream of the crucifixion, of the Father smiting the Son, striking Him, crushing Him and placing all the iniquity on the Servant of God. God did put away His own anger. Jesus carried the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:4,5,6
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Is Jesus the restoration provided by God? Is the crucifixion the very solution God has provided for those needing salvation, revival and restoration?
To ignore Him and to turn to religion, or good morals or to be socially acceptable is simply to spit in the face of God. We are stating by our actions of religion, morals or social graces that His solution is not good enough for us! How repugnant it must be in the nostrils of our God for us to abandon His solution for beggarly efforts such as those!
Think about it, for if those in the Old Testament, having the light they had and yet rebelled, knew of the anger of God and the need for His mercy, how much more do we who have come after the resurrection need to turn to Him for our restoration and salvation.
My friend. Jesus truly is the answer to this Psalmist’s request for God putting His anger away. That anger was consumed in the cross, in the death of the Messiah.
It is truly an enviable position to understand your position before God. Can you admit of your weakness, your poverty, your inability before Him? Do you understand the separation between Him and you, the gulf that can’t be crossed by your own efforts?
If you are of this condition, knowing you will have to answer to Him someday, are you seeking to put away God’s anger on your own? Are you trying to be good enough? Are you rejecting the very solution God has provided?
My friend, without a living faith in the One who has consumed the anger of God, having come out of the grave to prove His victory, there is no safety. Without God’s provision, there can be no true restoration, no true salvation, no true life.
Realize your need, understand your position before God. Consider the tremendous gulf between the Holy One and yourself. Understand your true condition before God. Agree with that ol’ hymn ” Amazing Grace”.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!
God reveals not only our dire situation, but also of the complete and full rescue He has provided in His Son Jesus, the Resurrected One.
Run to the One who has put away His own anger!
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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
Anointed One
Isaiah 45:1a Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped..
Acts 4:27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
I will admit it, I started looking at Cyrus, thinking that if I found one or two likenesses to the Lord, I will have plunged the depths of the similarities this gentile king had with our Lord. After all, my next subject is Daniel, and I can hardly wait. My attitude, (sad as it was), was to get the gentile king out of the way so I can dig into the life of Daniel and see the Lord in that great saint of old.
Was I wrong! Cyrus is quite surprising as a great Gentile King, but even more so as a typology of Jesus. Although I am reluctant to define the number of similarities I have found so far, suffice to say it is not just one or two. (A hint to my readers – It is less than 100!)
For this post, lets consider the fact that Cyrus was called the anointed of God. Yes, it is true that there were many anointed in the Old Testament, including the kings of Israel and Judah, prophets of Israel, priests of Israel, and many leaders, such as the judges, or different leaders that were within the theocracy of Israel.
But Cyrus stands out amongst these anointed in that he was a dirty Gentile, a foreigner to the covenant and a man that was outside of the regular domain God worked within.
Not only that, but Cyrus was called God’s anointed prior to performing any good deed, or before even sucking breath. Isaiah’s prophecy was given a century prior to the Gentile king arriving on the scene! Not many of the “rank and file” of the anointed in Israel can claim that status.
And yet, even as Cyrus stands out from amongst all those who were of the anointed class in the old theocracy, the True Anointed One is head and shoulders above Cyrus. Though Cyrus was a great and victorious king over all the known world in his day, His anointing may be considered his greatest privilege, a privilege granted by God.
For Jesus, to put it bluntly, to be the Anointed was simply a matter of fact. He is the Anointed, the Only One Who was and is the Anointed One, not due to a privilege granted by God, but because of His Person, of Who He truly is.
There is a difference! He is the Christ, the Anointed One!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
231
GOD OF FAITHFULNESS AND WITHOUT INIQUITY
Deuteronomy 32:4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
Our God is a God of faithfulness and without iniquity.
It is a common truth that believer’s rely on throughout our walk with Him, and yet when trials come or trouble rise up, our first inclination is to question his faithfulness.
Of course that is simply our rebellion rising up, blaming God for that which might be occurring due to our poor decisions, or maybe simply misunderstanding God’s way in our lives.
As I was reviewing this term for faithfulness, I found it to have a somewhat special meaning. It refers to being steady or firm. A very good example of how this term pictures the steadfastness of God is found in Exodus, when Moses was overseeing Joshua fight the Amalekites.
Exodus 17:12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Moses hands were “faithful” until the going down of the sun. They didn’t move, and were not subject to any weakness that Moses was experiencing.
God is steady, firm and unmoving, and unlike Moses, did not require assistance from others in being so. He is faithful, and His nature of being so is a great comfort to every believer.
But this name of God we are considering this morning is not simply the God of faithfulness , but the God of faithfulness and without iniquity!
Faithful, unmoving, firm, resolute. God is the God of faithfulness. He is the ultimate expression of firmness, of unmoving adherence to His Word and Will. Then Moses adds the “without iniquity” description, as further emphasis on who God is.
May I suggest this double description of God works to bolster the image Moses was trying to get across to the Israelites by describing a positive attribute, and then further describing that attribute by negating any idea of unfaithfulness.
Let me try to explain my thoughts.
If God at any time and for any reason, was not faithful, and because He is known and described as faithful, this act of unfaithfulness would introduce iniquity into our thoughts. At any time, if God was not steady, firm in His nature and promises, iniquity could be claimed to be found in Him.
How preposterous, for it is His nature that defines righteousness, and there is no iniquity to be found in Him. And that is the point!
Moses is doubling up on his description of the faithfulness (firmness, steadiness) of God. No iniquity of unsteadiness, or unfaithfulness may be considered.
Don’t even think it!
Unless of course, you turn your eyes to see the Man on the cross, where a spotless God, firm in His will and in the keeping of His word, accepted iniquity into His own body. The mystery of One who, due to His faithfulness, became sin (iniquity), accepting the just punishment of sin within His own body.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Out God is a God of Faithfulness and Without Iniquity, even as He exercised His faithfulness to His own saving promises. To His own great hurt, that is His own death, He was faithful. No iniquity of His own may be found in Him, even as we see Him hanging on that cross, receiving the just punishment of our iniquity being placed on His sinless Body.
How can we understand such a faithful God, One who is without iniquity, and yet taking on our sin to maintain His faithfulness? It is not for us to understand, but only to bow before 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.
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