My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 67:6-7
6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!
The psalmist comes to the end of his ruminations on the praiseworthiness of our God, and with these last two verses, he speaks of the abundance creation provides for His people. Our God is a God who blesses His people.
As the uncaused Cause, as the One who was from before any of all creation, it is simply logical that He is the source of all blessing. Yet as the psalmist writes, He speaks of riches, abundance and produce from the earth. He reiterates that God is the source, but the psalmist ensures the reader of the type of provider God is. God is not One who supplies “just enough”, acting as a miser or a skinflint, reluctant in providing His creation the supplies they need. He provides increase!
Whether directly by the hand of God or indirectly through His creation, God is the source of blessing. All past experience of the blessing of God into the saints life, as described by the psalmist previously is the basis for his declaration that God shall bless us.
He repeats it twice in case I didn’t notice.
God shall bless us
God shall bless us.
Our God is the One who provides abundantly, and as it is evident to all the lands the blessing God has for His people, the result will be that the ends of the earth will fear Him.
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.
137
FAITHFUL GOD
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,
It is appropriate that our last name of God would end with this name. He is our Faithful God.
Moses is speaking to the Israelites, just prior to entering the promised land, and he describes our Faithful God in two way, depending on our actions.
Verse 9 speaks of our Faithful God keeping “covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments”
First off, note the duration of His faithfulness. To a thousand generations! Is Moses speaking of the faithfulness of God extending past the life of the one who loved Him and kept his commandments”? What does that mean? Could I claim this as a promise for my own life? Have I loved God properly and kept His commandments? Sadly no, and if you will be honest with yourself, you may be saying the same. Yet this verse, this promise remains for us to understand. Is there one out there, somewhere, who has loved God and kept His commandments?
Funny you should ask, for there is One who has perfectly loved God, and singlehandedly, in the midst of much resistance, temptation, contradiction and suffering, obeyed God’s commandments perfectly, fully and without hesitation. He chased after the will of God to His own death!
Our Faithful God has kept this promise, for the promise of keeping covenant and steadfast love with the One who loves God, has been realized in the Suffering Messiah. Because of His faithfulness to God’s commandments, He is in the midst of seeing a thousand generations, or in other words all of creation, being brought into a steadfast love and covenant based on the Messiah’s love of God and His faithful keeping of God’s will.
He is our Faithful God, but as mentioned previously, Moses also describes our God’s faithfulness in relation to those who hate Him.
Verse 10 speaks of our Faithful God repaying “to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face”
God’s faithfulness is expressed in retribution, punishment and destruction, in strict faithfulness to each who hates Him. They will be destroyed. They will be repaid to His face! What a horrible truth Moses was teaching the Israelites, but truth cannot be varnished over simply because it is difficult or unpalatable.
Whatever this destruction encompasses, it is not to be sought after. Love the Lord, and enter into the “thousand generations” that are of the Lord’s family. Enjoy the goodness of God and His faithfulness to those who follow after Jesus.
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.
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Our initial verse comes out swinging! James is not gentle with his audience, for he has a stern warning for them and us.
First – A truth statement. Friendship with the world is hostility (or hatred) toward God. I realize the translation says enmity with God, but the Greek term ἔχθρα échthra can be translated as either enmity or hostility/hatred. For me, enmity is not as defined as hatred or hostility.
So the truth is there are two camps each one of us will belong to. The world, or God. Joining one camp produces a war like attitude regarding the other camp. Love God – Hate the world (but not the people!). Love the world – Hate God.
Now that is some harshness coming of the apostle James! But remember this is simply a statement of fact. It is the next phrase is should shake us, for he takes a truth statement, and applies it to believers. Believers!
If you wish to be a friend of the world, you are making yourself an enemy of God. Did you get the jab? If you wish to be a friend of the world. It is a matter of desire, or better yet, an act of the will to be a friend of the world, a decision to pursue their acceptance, friendship, community or “gang”.
You see, when James speaks of “wishes”, he uses the Greek term βούλομαι boúlomai. Per Thayer’s Lexicon, this word has a range of meaning, from “to will deliberately, have a purpose, be minded”, to the idea of “an affection, to desire”
With this understanding, could James be telling us the mere desire to be friends with the world is casting us into the camp of the enemy? It certainly appears so. In the following verses, James submits pleas for those who desire/want/seek friendship with the world. Remember our context, for in our first verse, James comes out swinging, calling the audience adulterous. He has set the stage, and provided a truth fact, made application and is now making a plea to return to God. In the next few verses, James is pleading these believers to:
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil
Draw near to God
Cleanse your hands
Purify your hearts
Be wretched
Mourn
Weep.
Let your laughter be turned to mourning
Let your your joy be turned to gloom.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
All of these previous actions are to come from our desire to be friends with God, our will to be right with the Father. This list of actions of our will should not be surprising to the believer who has walked with the Lord for any time, for as we walk with Him, we do get pulled away, we tend to wander, we get distracted and lured into alternate allegiances.
In the midst of this list exhibiting our brokenness towards God, God is ever there to provide motivation for us to turn back, to repent, to change our mind. This motivation is that He is jealous for our devotion, willing to provide more grace, a promise that the grace of God is not limited, it is not of short supply.
Regarding the jealousy of God, check out my eight post series on “A Jealous God”. I think some of my findings will surprise you. But back to James.
He provides motivation and grace.
He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us
He gives more grace.
James also is not merely loading us up with requirements, and providing energy to perform, but defining the response we may expect from God as we turn back.
The devil will flee from you.
God will draw near to you.
The Lord will exalt you.
If we have walked away, for a day or for a decade, to return to God will be a joyous event, with the enemy running, the Lord being close, and our being exalted. This is incredible, for as I have read this passage in the past, I had never took into account this exaltation.
Let me ask my readers. To come back to God will result in our exaltation. What does that mean for you?
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you would like to receive daily posts from Considering the Bible, click on the “Follow” link below
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
1 Samuel 23
24 And they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon. 25 And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told, so he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. 26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.” 28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape. 29 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi.
In our last passage we saw the Ziphites travel to see their king, in order to rat out David. Saul seemed hesitant to trust them, but simply couldn’t miss out on a chance to catch the young rebel, and this opportunity of Saul’s turns out to be one of the very near catches that we will see for David and his men.
But as we spoke of Saul’s spies in our last post, we find David has spies also that are feeding him information. It turns out that spies are influencing both sides of the war, and the information is changing as fast as possible.
Saul hears info from the Ziphites. David hears of Saul coming to the south, and ventures into the wilderness of Moan. Saul hears of David’s shift to the wilderness. It is here that Saul comes closest to actually capturing David, for he is only a hill away from David.
So close.
Until we have another “spy” or informant come to Saul informing him of trouble at home, of the Philistines raiding the home land. But why would this become a concern for Saul, as we know that Keilah, which was part of Saul’s kingdom was merely ignored when the Philistines invaded there. Saul was no where to be found. So why would this instance of the Philistines invading the land catch Saul’s attention, unless of course that it was his own personnel property that needed protection. If so, this fits with the character profile we have seen regarding this king. A selfish man, self centered and constantly grasping for more. A life that is always being pulled apart by his focus on self.
So off he goes from being so close to capturing David, causing further frustration on his part, with more frustration only to fall on this pitiable man.
On David’s part, we shall see this near escape come up often, where he uses all the skill of a master general, and yet is close to capture. He is rescued “at the last minute” by outside circumstances.
How often do we see this last minute escape for David provided by outside circumstances? How often the Lord orchestrates a situation where it appears we will be taken down, only to be rescued by outside influences.
Let’s cut to the chase here, for we know that outside circumstances and influences are orchestrated by God, the timing is of the Lord, and our security, as we follow after Him is in His hands. Close calls, from our standpoint, can be sometimes harrowing experiences, but from God’s point of view, close calls are a part of the orchestra He is leading to bring us closer to Him, to listen for His guidance, and to bring about a thankful spirit in our lives.
Let us thank Him for circumstances and influences that redirect danger from our lives.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.
I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.
SEEING JESUS IN
AHASUERUS
REBELLIOUS WIFE
Esther 1:12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him. Esther 1:15 “According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?” Esther 1:19 If it please the king, let a royal order go out … that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.
Matthew 21:43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
Ahasuerus, as king of Persia, demanded a wife that would respect him, honor him and obey him. A powerful king with a disrespectful wife was only going to damage the kingdom, and not lift up the name of Ahasuerus.
Though it appears this act of rebellion on the part of Vashti may have been the first rejection of the king’s authority, it was to be dealt with swiftly and without mercy. Ahasuerus was going to deal with her properly and quickly.
God also had a wife that disobeyed, and that was eventually put away after many warnings. Jeremiah 3:8 and Hosea 2:4-5 depicts the divorce of the nation of Israel from Jehovah God. Though restored after the captivity, Jesus warned the nation of the loss of the kingdom in our passage in Matthew.
Both Ahasuerus and God dealt with a rebellious wife, one instantly, and One with great patience and mercy.
Though both God and Ahasuerus were married to rebellious wives, and both put their rebellious wives away, the character of God shines so brighter than this mere Persian King. According to Ahasuerus, Vashti would never see the King again! (See Esther 1:19) No forgiveness, nor any hope of restoration would be offered to Vashti.
In our passage in Matthew, Jesus speaks of the loss of the kingdom. But notice that this loss of kingdom was not a done deal for those who sought out the true King. Even in this tense moment of truth being delivered to the Jewish leadership, Jesus made it clear that there is a solution.
Matthew 21:44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Per Jesus, as He addressed those who would eventually hang Him from a cross, He spoke of restoration, for a rebellious wife can be restored through humility and brokenness.
Consider the goodness of God in His patience, His mercy and His longing for His people, that after centuries of disobedience, He provided a Savior, a Stone to fall before, to be brought back to the Father.
He is such a different King! So good to know our King!
May the name of Jesus be lifted up today in our lives, by listening humbly and doing as we are led!
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.
136
FAITHFUL WITNESS
Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood
Jesus Christ the Faithful Witness.
We are in the middle of a series of names that speaks to the faithfulness of God. The predominant form of descriptor is Faithful, as we see here, and as spoken of in a past post (Names of God – FAITHFUL – 129).
To be faithful speaks of God’s nature, not what He does, but who He is. His faithfulness, in our description of God is in regard to the Witness He provides. To be a witness is to be a spectator of some occurrence that needs to be remembered, or recounted for others. A recounting of something that has happened, is actual and reflects reality. A true historical occurrence.
Let’s consider a short passage in the Old Testament that gives us contrast to the Faithful Witness. There are bountiful examples of false witnesses, but the following passage seems fitting for our time together today.
First, a bit of context – Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard. Worthless men were found to bring a charge against an innocent man. Death ensues. Let’s read the short passage and consider what we read.
1 Kings 21:13 And the two worthless men came in and sat opposite him. And the worthless men brought a charge against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones.
Two men were found, in order to comply with the sham of “religion keeping” the king wanted to portray. The story was brought that Naboth did bad. Nothing specific, for that would open up the story to questions, or contradictions. Just a blanket statement that Naboth did bad.
Ahab got what he wanted. A useful story to justify killing Naboth, without carrying the guilt of committing murder. Two worthless men were used to cover the King’s sin. And his vineyard was added to his real estate holdings!
These two men, these false witnesses, became a fulcrum for a treacherous King used to kill an innocent man. A man who loved God and resisted a corrupt political power to honor God. Naboth is a great picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we will address him in our series on Jesus in the Old Testament, but for now, consider the differences between these two worthless men and our Faithful Witness
The faithless witnesses received some payment for the false witness. Being a Faithful Witness cost the Lord His life
The faithless witnesses were used to bring death on a innocent man Being a Faithful witness brought life to dead men.
The faithless witnesses were used by a selfish, greedy man Being a Faithful Witness delivers men from selfishness and greed.
The faithless witnesses are never heard of again. They are not even referred to by name. Being a Faithfull Witness has elevated the name of the Lord to it’s highest status. No name is higher than the name of the Lord.
The faithless witnesses thought they had gained in their deception some status or recognition with the king or queen. Being a Faithfull Witness has elevated Jesus to the highest recognition, with Him being crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He is our Faithful Witness, the One whose words we can trust, who experienced the crime first hand, (as He was the victim) and has been raised again to tell of (give witness) the victory.
May we tell the story to those we come in contact with, the truth of His resurrection, of the Faithful Witness who delivers us.
He is our Faithful Witness.
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
A few days back I discovered some additional shorts from Dr Leighton, teacher at Soteriology 101.
As I may have spoken of earlier in my posts, I spent many years consumed with the Calvinistic teaching, only to break free because of men like Dr. Flowers, who offer alternative views that make more sense and glorify God, making Him purer, and more loving.
I do hope you will consider the teaching with an open mind.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 67:4-5
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah 5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
Can you hear the Psalmist? If only the nations understood the judgement and guidance the Lord provides. The psalmist rightly speaks of the nations being glad and singing for joy if they understood His judgement and guidance!
But, alas, the nations are blinded, and the people are deceived. Out of this deception comes misunderstanding, confusion and bickering. No joy, but jealousy of His power. No gladness, but grievances of His ways. No praise but only put downs and complaints of His Person!
Now I do not want to forget that this deception is accepted by a fallen people, a people who seek to find fault with God, who want to turn away from God and to follow their own way. But these are two different topics. The truth of God’s judgements and guidance, as compared to our ability/desire to accept this truth. I do not think the Psalmist is communicating the ability/desire of the nations/peoples, but simply that if they understood, the outcome would be praise, joy and gladness!
Before we follow God (and if we are honest with ourselves after we commit to Him), we are a people that tends to look the other way, to avoid the truth, to seek our own ways. We have an old man’s heart that surely likes to say no to God and His truth.
The psalmist is speaking of the judgement and guidance of God, and not necessarily how it is accepted by those of us below. It is as if the psalmist moans that the peoples/nations would open their eyes to the truth, to see how righteous and good God is in His judgements, in His guidance of the nations. Patience and mercy exude from the Father in all His ways, and a correct understanding of God’s judgements and guidance, to those who correctly understand it, perceive it, receive it and take it in, will produce a response of gladness, praise, and joy, even singing.
A correct understanding of God’s judgements and guidance will produce a response of gladness, praise and joy, even singing.
On a personal note, it must be understood that even in church, as I try to sing, my voice is such that it perturbs me. I can’t image the poor folks who may hear me! An exercise of mercy towards me for them!
I mess up, muddle through and am off tune, out of tune and without any talent. Yet as I grow into the Lord, and understand His holiness towards us, His mercy and patience, His many gifts of blessing to us, I find I cannot help but sing, even to the detriment of those around me.
Occasionally a tear will fall down my cheek, simply because He loves me, and somehow, in song, that reality hits me harder than during the day to day grind we all experience. And yet He loves us each and every day, whether we feel it or not. It is a truth we can settle into, lean upon and run to in times of trial.
He loves the nations. He loves people. He loves me, and for the life of me I don’t understand why – but He does and it simply pulls me in!
If only the deceptions could be pulled away from our minds, and if only our souls would seek the truth. May God have mercy on us, and reveal the Son of God in all His grace, in His resurrection, and in His patience to us, a people that are very slow to learn.
Praise Him for His judgements and guidance toward each of us each day. May we seek to understand Him and His ways more everyday!
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.
135
FAITHFUL PRIEST
1 Samuel 2:35 And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever.
In our last post, looking at Hebrews 2:17, we saw that God is called our Faithful High Priest. He is described as One who became like us in every way.
In this passage, we see the book of Samuel teaching us of God as a faithful priest.
The writer is speaking of how this priest, this faithful priest, will do according to all that is in the heart of God. In our last post, the emphasis was on our Faithful High Priest becoming like us in every respect.
In this passage, the immediate fulfillment seems to be seen in Samuel, the prophet that brings in the kingdom of Saul. The verse emphasizes the heart of the priest to be that of God’s heart, of faithfulness to the character, nature and person of God.
There is no denying that Samuel was a stellar prophet, yet the passage speaks of a faithful priest, and there is little evidence that Samuel was considered to be a priest. His stated office was that of prophet.
No – this passage speaks of our Faithful Priest in the Lord Jesus, in that He followed after God’s way not only in His actions, but by His heart and mind! He is the eternally anointed Faithful Priest of God.
With both these verses we see the Faithful Priest both parties need, for the Priest is essentially a mediator between two parties that have differences.
He is God’s Faithful Priest!
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.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
What a wonderful passage. At times, I feel any comments made are actually hurting the message the Lord intended, and it would be wise to let the message speak for itself. Take a few moments and simply read the Word of God provided above. Dwell on the words He has given us. Consider what He is blessing us with!
To think we could be servants, simple men and women is a high calling, a privilege that is undeserved, surprising and somewhat daunting in itself. But Jesus takes the relationship much further. He calls us friends. The One who would take our sins, our rebellion, our disdain, our hatred, our pain and frustration upon His own, calls us friends.
How can that be?
A bit of a story to help you understand my head space.
I have a friend who has moved to a different country to pursue a career. Super busy, and always unavailable. For many many months, I reached out to him to chat, to find time to even text together. Either he ignored my efforts, or responded with a trite response. A “let’s do lunch sometime” type of response. At this point in the relationship, it has been years since we have interacted.
I still consider him a friend. But are we in a relationship that is exhibiting the nature of friendship? Remember, this short story is provided to define what a friendship is to be between mere humans. An equality of participants in our nature.
Jesus, for Him to call us a friend, and to not communicate with Him seems to mimic the situation above, but with far greater impact. Jesus, though fully human, is no mere human. To be friends with Him, may I say, is not to be trifled with.
All of this to say, let us consider the fourteenth verse for a moment, to understand what conditions Jesus may be placing on the offer of friendship.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
The smallest of words with the greatest of impact. IF. In the Strong’s numbering system, it is G1437, ἐάνeán. Strong’s dictionary includes, in the definition, the following phrase.
“a conditional particle; in case that, provided, etc.; often used in connection with other particles to denote indefiniteness or uncertainty”
Thayers Greek Lexicon defines this particular word as..
“It is a conditional particle, which makes reference to time and to experience, introducing something future, but not determining, before the event”
I surely do not wish to get bogged down in definitions, but suffice it to say that when used, “if” does not suggest a statement of fact, or a finished accomplishment.
So what are the conditions of being a friend of Jesus? Unlike my friend above, between us there is no commanding of actions or demanding of attitudes between us. We are in a mutually agreed state of friendship, to the extent that it is.
With the Lord, the condition is obedience. This statement, when considered in the context of friendship, seems to be offensive, since to be friends is to have a mutual give and take. At least with those our equals. But you see, He is not our equal. He is the One above all else and greater than any other!
Also, as with my foreign friend, our friendship is only as close as each of us allow it to be. Not so with Jesus, for He has went to the gallows for us to prove Hs friendship, suffering, facing death, the great enemy of the author of Life, experienced rejection and ridicule, persecution and loneliness. His faithfulness in friendship cannot be improved, upgraded, improved or exaggerated. He upholds His end of the relationship with a faithfulness that is everlasting.
But that is not so with us, as weak, feeble people, that tend to abandon our friends, walk away from our loved ones and forget those we love, all for the sake of self self self. Jesus is telling us of the condition for our sake, so we might see it as the challenge we need to recognize, and not to simply assume we are in good shape, from our faithfulness.
He is faithful. Let us mimic Him in our seeking to obey His commands, especially that which He brings to our attention in this passage. And what is that command?
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Can we obey to maintain that friendship?
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As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
1 Samuel 23
19 Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon? 20 Now come down, O king, according to all your heart’s desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.” 21 And Saul said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, for you have had compassion on me. 22 Go, make yet more sure. Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there, for it is told me that he is very cunning. 23 See therefore and take note of all the lurking places where he hides, and come back to me with sure information. Then I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”
David was not everyone’s favorite rebel.
Recently he vanquished the Philistines as they were battling the city of Keilah. Finding victory, David and his men were then subjected to a faithless city, having to run before the Keilahites offered him up to Saul.
To be fair, this account of the Keilahites may have a slightly different interpretation than I have offered, since it seems that once the Lord revealed to David the Keilahites intentions to save themselves from Saul’s fighting machine, David willingly ran. Possibly to save the Keilahites of the suffering their king would being on them.
The Ziphites are not so guiltless. They seem to have a desire to assist King Saul, unlike the Keilahites, who may have only given up David in self preservation, if David hadn’t left.
No, the Ziphites sought out Saul at Gibeah, a town approximately 25 miles to the north of Jerusalem. They left their homes, and travelled to see the king with information of David’s whereabouts. Not simply a general location, but a very specific camp David was residing at, in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon.
David was on a specific hill. At first I imagined this “hill” to be mountainous, but it seems the Hebrew word for hill in this instance means hill, somewhat lower than a mountain. This information Saul was provided was very specific!
What good spy’s Saul has here! And they were willingly offering to Saul their full cooperation! What good citizens!
Saul provides the blessing of God on these good and faithful Ziphites. What? He doesn’t understand the blessing of God, nor is he in a position spiritually to pass a blessing on. And for the Ziphites – being blessed for being a traitor to God’s appointed King? Something is terribly wrong with this picture!
And though Saul “blesses” the Ziphites, he will not venture out until the information is verified. It is like he was saying – I don’t quite trust you Ziphites – Go make sure and then come back. Get more specific data.
Is Saul moving from a reactionary attack, based on shear hatred of David, to a more strategic, fact based plan to kill David at this time? Or is it that the Ziphites were known to be untrustworthy?
It seems the Ziphites were not necessarily untrustworthy, but merely seeking to gain the king’s favor. Seeking an earthly king’s pleasure against the Word of God leads to terrible betrayals, and huge treachery.
No- the Ziphites used their political faithfulness to a madman, to work against a movement of God. And we shall see in future passages that this behavior is confirmed in the Ziphites, for this is not the only time they offer up David to the king. We find that they show up on Saul’s doorstep again in chapter 26.
It also turns out that Saul was not as “strategic” as I may have suggested, for, in our next passage, it turns out that Saul couldn’t resist heading south to the region the Ziphites described, before gaining confirmation of David’s whereabouts.
It seemed Saul was about to capture David. Saul’s network of spies was about to deliver David into his hands, and Saul would finally have the peace he sought!
This passage reminds me of times when I seek to accomplish something, in order to find some sense of worth, or to justify a decision I had made, or to have a sense of completion. I may, in a sense be seeking a type of peace in these decisions. I tend to drive people, (as a hangover from work) and need to adjust my focus to people and not tasks.
An alternate view of this passage is that Saul sought to hurt someone. The Ziphites sought to hurt someone. They found a type of fellowship in this desire. They may have felt a bond of some type. Hard as it may be to believe, this may also become a trap for a believer, letting a group dynamic influence a just decision.
Consider your associations and test to see if the goals of the organization are just and right. If there is some uncertainty, or if those you associate with are working against God, it may be time to consider if you should remain? Is it simply a bond that started out right, in pursuit of God, but is now actively working against God?
This takes wisdom from God and clear spiritual discernment, but the Lord is able to teach each of us as we seek 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 know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.
I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.
SEEING JESUS IN
ABIATHAR
SURVIVOR
1 Samuel 22:20 But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.
Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
A bit of context for this man named Abiathar.
In the days of David, very early in David’s wilderness years, Saul had one of his spies inform him of David’s whereabouts in the city of Nob. Now, Nob was a city of priests, and though David did stop by to get supplies and a weapon, he moved on to the Philistine nation to continue getting away from what was becoming a very dangerous situation.
By now, Saul had not fully exposed himself as one who would pursue David to the end, but his manic behavior was becoming more evident and David realized the threat. As he escaped from Saul’s court, he stopped off at Nob, requesting assistance from Ahimelech the priest.
As mentioned, a spy informed Saul, and Saul ventured down to Nob to find David. Without David’s presence available, Saul determined Ahimelech was actively working against him, by providing David assistance. Off with his head, and kill the whole city of Nob. All the rest of the priests, the wives, families, all the livestock.
Even though David was not in the city, the city suffered terribly. Saul knew he had lost David, but his frustration and fear of loosing the kingdom drove him to this incredible massacre.
Yet he missed one person. One sole solitary priest escaped the wrath of a crazy, power hungry, fearful man that wielded his power against innocent people.
This massacre foreshadowed another massacre by a crazy, power hungry fearful man named of Herod. Jesus, as with Abiathar, escaped the clutches of a madman intent on killing to protect his kingdom.
Abiathar escaped to the future King David, and though Abiathar was a faithful man to David, his last days are marked with a wrong choice in following Adonijah. Eventually Abiathar was deposed from his priestly duties and narrowly escaped death at the hands of Solomon. (1 Kings 2:26-27)
Thankfully, we are not to follow Abiathar, but the One who will never make a wrong choice, who, though He escaped the threat of Herod, submitted Himself to the power of the Roman government and Jewish hierarchy, in order to provide us a not only a faithful High Priest, but the wisest of Kings to follow after.
He is good and He is good all the time!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
134
FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST
Hebrews 2:17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
This post, along with our next post, refers to God as a Priest. Given the familiarity of this particular verse seems to have dulled my shock that should arise in my thinking, for priests were mediators between man and deity. For the author of Hebrews to speak of God as a priest is most peculiar.
How can the One who is to be appeased be the One who is appeasing the Deity? This is simply confusing to me, that God, who is spoken of as representing man before God, has taken on this ministry. Though He created us, how can He represent us before the Almighty?
Most of this mystery – not all grant you – is removed in the first phrase the author provides us. This priest was made like His brothers in every respect. He is not representing us before the Great I Am as a theoretical priest, having heard of our situation and is doing the best He can. He has become one of us, experiencing the trials and joys of life, the friction and disappointment of relationships, the frustration of relying on those who may not meet expectations.
He has experienced all of our temptations and trials, and in joining with us in our pilgrimage through this life, can provide a priestly service on our behalf, morally perfect and yet understanding of our situation.
It is through His walk on this earth that He became our Faithfull High Priest, One that could represent us before the Father, pleading our case with the power of a resurrected life and a proven righteousness that the Father has recognized through the resurrection.
He became our Faithfull High Priest in His death and resurrection, having become like 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.
I have been trained as an engineer and in my career, I have been led to project management as a career path. I have been blessed to work for a great boss – Yes that is you Jimmy – and meet some fantastic folks that have helped me is so many ways become a better leader.
For those reading who may not be in the same industry as I, to be a project manager is to be ruled by scope of work, budgets and schedules! Those I have the privilege of working with need to provide deliverables within a specified time – a deadline or milestone – that has been agreed upon by both the client and ourselves.
Why do I bring this up? Because work life overflows into personal life and I find I see life as “tasks” that need to be completed (on time of course) and not as a people related opportunity to increase closeness of relationship.
Let me tell you why this is a concern for me.
For the last year, my wife and I have been building our retirement home on the weekends, a little spot in the woods, where we can eventually have a place to raise a few chickens, have a couple gardens, and to watch the birds as we have our morning coffee. I cannot tell you of the times I have set self imposed schedules in my mind and then drove those I love a bit too hard, or experienced an internal attitude battle, simply to get a self imposed goal completed.
Just recently, my son came to visit us from Canada and helped us erect our four exterior walls on our first floor. A lot of work for two old fogies and a middle aged fella! But in the midst of the work, I struggled with loosing a peace, loosing my focus on the fact I had two of the most important people in the world with me, and I was looking to meet schedules.
They understand this ol’ fart and my foibles, and the way we worked together after I got my head on straight was an experience I am very thankful for.
Now please understand. Production, schedules, planning and budgets are important. Projects can’t be completed successfully and properly without them. But they are to be tools used to progress projects, and we are not to let them be controlling monsters over our lives.
We are to be led of the Spirit, and sometimes His schedule is different than mine. In this case, the minor changes the Lord required not only straightened me out, but provided a much more enjoyable time with my loved ones.
And for that I am thankful.
2 Thessalonians 3:16
Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all.
P.S. – We actually got more accomplished than I had scheduled! Yippee!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 67:1-3
1 To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah 2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
One of my grandbabies came over to visit us for few moments a couple days back. He is a little two year old that, along with his brother, my wife watches a couple times a month. He is an energetic youngin’ and we always, with all our children and grandchildren, need a hug when the come and when they leave. I am tending to become a huggy guy!
Nevertheless, this little buckaroo gave us our hugs, but while in Gramma’s arms, turned his head and started having an attitude. He turned his face away from Gramma. He was expressing a natural reaction to some issue he was upset with Gramma about. I think it was candy related! It didn’t last long for my wife let him know it wasn’t acceptable to act like that. No candy was wrestled out of my wife’s pantry by that behavior!
But I digress. When we see a phrase in our first verse about making God’s face shine upon us, this indicates His face is not shining upon the author. There was anger being expressed, and the author knew it.
He is requesting that God turn His face to him. Now I am not in any way trying to portray God as a demanding little child, that wants something we have, but I seek only to communicate that the act of having a face turned away speaks of loss of relationship. My wifey and Theo have a great relationship, but at this time, he had his eyes on something else.
God is not turning away for some selfish desire, but because of our sin against Him. We have offended Him.
Yet notice the Psalmist speaks of God making His face turn to us. With Theo, Gramma had to explain the situation, and require Theo to “face” her. For the Psalmist, all of this action is passive, the only active participant is God Himself.
God makes His face turn to us. Does this not scream of the crucifixion, of the free will offering of the Savior, of His work to satisfy the Father and to make the wall of partition fall down between us, of His making peace between us?
Even the purpose of this “making God’s face shine upon us” is not simply for our benefit but consistent with the Great commission, that God’s ways would be practiced by all on the earth.
Matthew 28:19-20
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
And what is the natural response to this observing of God’s ways? Praise. All the people to praise the goodness of God, in that He made His face to turn to us. He did not wait for us to be good enough, or to bring more and more sacrifices, but He took action, and is waiting for the natural response of His people to praise Him and thank Him.
Take a few minutes this morning to praise Him for His many acts of mercy, for His face to shine upon us in the person of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Truly it is impossible to not be thankful, and to praise Him when we sit before Him and think on His love and mercy towards us in Christ Jesus!
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.
133
FAITHFUL CREATOR
1 Peter 4:19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
Peter is speaking in verses previous of how judgement must fall on all of us, and he refers to the church experiencing judgement first. As the nature of judgement is to be of trials, difficulties and pain, many in the church may recoil at this idea, that a loving God would allow His people to suffer. And for Peter to teach that His people to suffer first is over the top.
Many may cry out in that suffering naturally, and faith will be tested. Questions of God’s nature and character may become the rhythm of the saint’s prayers and complaints.
Why me O Lord? Why bring me into this world only for suffering? Why why why?
Job questioned his very existence in the midst of suffering.
Job 3:11-13 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
Jeremiah called out, questioning the reason for his continual trials through his life.
Jeremiah 20:18 Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?
All saint’s, to varying degrees, come to question God’s intent, or reason for their existence as Jeremiah and Job. Peter, knowing this, ministers to the Body of Christ in his teaching on pain and suffering by referring to our God as the Faithful Creator. God is not a “one time” Creator, as the deist’s believed, that created everything and then walked away to let it run on it’s own.
God is a Faithful Creator, in that He was there at the beginning, has been faithful throughout all of creation and has created each one of us out of a nature of being faithful. We are not stranded without a Savior in our sufferings, and though He may be quiet at times, Peter assures us of His continual faithfulness.
We are a people that need that message to reside deep in our soul, for as hard times may come, to know the Lord as a faithful Creator will be a rock for our lives.
He is a faithful Creator!
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.
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
This will be the last post in this passage as we are looking at Paul’s warning for the Corinthians. this passage usually carries with the the present day experience of communion for the modern church in my mind, and that may be directing my thoughts incorrectly. You see, the communion of the Lord in the first century was a meal, a full fledged meal, somewhat like a pot luck in my mind. Food items and wine were brought together to a central home where believers gathered to partake in a meal. The Lord’s supper was not a ceremony as I experience in a modern church, where all are solemn, and the congregation waits for a chip or wafer, and a little cup of grape juice or wine. This is foreign to the record I read in the New Testament.
Against this backdrop, let’s consider Paul’s concern in this passage.
First, Paul identifies believers with Christ through the supper, the intake of a meal. Secondly, Paul identifies Israel with demons through the intake of a meal.
Then Paul seeks to provide a correction to the audiences possible thought that food or demons are the issue of discussion. The food isn’t the issue. The demons aren’t even the issue.
Verse 20, Paul seeks to correct any misunderstandings and focuses into the issue he is warning them about. It is the believers actions that are the topic of concern. Paul speaks of pagans offering up to a demon, and joining in this action is the problem. Paul isn’t concerned about what demon, or how many demons, or the circumstances behind the food that is being up, but that believers are joining these practices. That believers are influenced by the pagan way of worship, by pagan beliefs during worship.
A believers devotion to God is being tested here, and if a Christian chooses to worship as the pagans do, the believers worship does not necessarily change the object of the pagans worship into the true God. It simply shows the believer as having left behind the true God to join in with those who do not know God.
We leave Him for a shared experience with pagans, and this is the action that provokes God to jealousy. How audacious and chilling some of our actions may appear from God’s point of view!
May we conform to the true worship and pull away from the worship that is “popular”, that is accepted by all, that is common and repetitive.
May the Lord continue to teach us.
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As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
1 Samuel 23:15-29 15 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. 16 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.” 18 And the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.
In the verse previous to 15, the author tells us that David was in the strongholds and mountains of the wilderness, due to Saul seeking him everyday. David was the subject of constant harassment, constant stress, constant pressure, from a king he had served faithfully. Yet the die had been set and Saul was determined in his actions. Saulnwas settled in his mind that David had to die, and in the past passages we have seen Saul abuse his wife, his daughters and his son in the pursuit of killing David. No one was safe until David was dead
Now the circumstances of how Jonathon, the son of David’s mortal enemy came to visit him is a mystery. David may have made the appointment with Jonathon, providing Jonathon his exact whereabouts. Yet this was an opportunity for this information to be leaked to Saul, for the transmission of this data to somehow find it’s way to the King.
And the danger was not only on David’s part, for if Saul, in his murderous tirade, knew Jonathon visited with David, it might be the end of Jonathon.
But the meeting was set and the two men were able to discuss David’s circumstances. For some unknown reason, only Jonathon’s message has been preserved for us. Three messages come to David from the lips of Jonathon.
Do not fear
Jonathon spoke words of peace on David, ensuring David that Saul shall not find him. Was this simply words of hope, words that were meant to encourage. Surely. But were these words of surety, or an absolute promise, as if a Word from God?
I don’t understand that Jonathon was a prophet, but at the very least, he may have uttered these words as a repetition of the promise of God to David years earlier. Jonathon made this conclusion of escaping Saul’s hand due to the promise of David ascending to the throne of Israel, which Jonathon rightly reminds David of his future.
You shall be king
David shall be king, and to be king over all Israel. This was the promise of God that ensured both men that David would escape the hand of Saul. And then Jonathon says “I shall be next to you”.
I don’t recall any portion of the promise of God stating this, nor of David providing this promise. So what was Jonathon talking about? Was he thinking of a co-regency, where he would be equal to David in the kingdom?
When Jonathon speaks of being “next” to David, Jonathon may be implying a rank of second in the kingdom, for the Hebrew word מִשְׁנֶה mishneh, sometimes speaks of being second in rank. Might Jonathon be suggesting his desire of a position of power to David? Possibly, yet I want to think that Jonathon was of a purer heart, and simply be referring to his informal, personal support for, and friendship to David in his future reign.
Saul knows this
This is such a sad statement! Saul knew David would ascend to the throne, and yet he toiled against the will of God, against his own benefit, against the good of his own nation, and against his own families existence!
Consider Saul waking up to the realization of David’s supremacy, and humbly coming to him in front of the nation of Israel, bowing the knee and giving up his position of power to David. What would be Saul’s legacy? How many benefits would shower down on Saul for this act of humility?
Knowing the truth and fighting against it is foolish. Yet to agree with the truth takes humility, a washing away of pride and arrogance, the giving up of advantage and power, of losing reputation and starting over.
Truly there are many forms of loss when we are agreeing with the truth. Confession of sin and repentance may cost us much, even our very way of life.
And what do we get out of it?
The foundation of agreeing with the truth is that we are conforming to reality. We are no longer living in a fantasy world, a would of smoke and mirrors, of deceit, cheating, backstabbing and conspiracy. We are no longer looking over our shoulder, but have joy, purpose and a life to live, not a death to fear.
Saul may have been too far gone by this time in his life. I have no idea, nor do I suppose any but God knew of Saul’s opportunity to repent at that time. Sadly we know he did not repent, that his last years were spent fighting against the truth.
If you have been fighting against a truth the Lord has spoke to you about, quit fighting.
Don’t be a Saul.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
I remember driving into work, turning through the parking garage, just prior to finding my parking spot when I heard John 11:40 over my car speaker.
John 11:40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
As soon as I heard it, I thought – What if you didn’t believe? Was it not just a few verses earlier that the Word spoke of the Jews who were with her?
John 11:33 ESV – When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
What about the Jews who had come with Martha ? They saw Lazarus come out of the tomb. Did they see the glory of God? What did those who did not believe see?
John made sure I understood the reason Jesus performed this miracle in front of Mary, Martha and the Jews who had come to the tomb with Jesus and the disciples.
John 11:42 ESV – I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
His intent was for those who were present to believe that God the Father had sent Jesus. He was (and is) seeking others. The raising of Lazarus produced believers. They saw the resuscitation of Lazarus, and believed.
John 11:45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,
Yet the question remains. What did those who did not believe and were present see, when Lazarus came out of that tomb? John did not keep me hanging in mystery about my question.
John 11:46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
They saw opportunity. A chance to find favor with religious leaders. They may have been plants, moles in the crowd that the Pharisees planted, but that is just my wild imagination running away with my thoughts.
What is clear is that those who were mourning the death of Lazarus moments previously, were now on the doorstep of the Pharisees, ratting on Jesus. This information was the final straw, and John informs us that the plot to kill Jesus was formalized.
Isn’t this the nature of faith shown in this simple question? To believe is to see glory of God. To not believe is to see opportunity for self, even though a miracle is obvious to all. The character of faith is to look away from self and to look to God. The character of non-faith, or unbelief is to look away from God and to look for self.
Note that the works produced from this act of unbelief was death. The Jews information of Lazarus to the Pharisees provided the last straw, the final motivation to plan the death of Jesus. The die was cast for the final Glory of God to be sacrificed in full view of the world, and to be raised up to never die again, and to provide a free and full salvation for all who would believe.
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.
132
FAITHFUL AND TRUE WITNESS
Revelation 3:14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
In our last post we spoke – hopefully clearly – of the name “Faithful and True”. After a poor effort at explaining the state and standard of God in the previous name of God, I would like to consider this name of God, and how the witness of God should be described as the perfectly trustworthy “Faithful and True” God.
This particular name speaks of God as a witness. An action that He partakes in, and the action of Him as a witness is described by the nature our God has.
He is faithful and He is true. There is not much wiggle room in finding fault with this Witness.
But a witness is one who is a spectator of a crime, or a contest or of a happening that needs to be recounted. To be a witness is to communicate what One has seen.
What had Jesus seen? Consider – to be a faithful and true witness does not require the witness to provide every detail, or every fact, or every incident in a case. It is to provide the record that is required in the court room, and pertaining to the case at hand.
Jesus provided the information we needed. He spoke of what He saw, and He communicated what He saw with the help of the Holy Spirit.
His witness, if you would have it, was the glory of God, and brought the faithfulness and truth of God, the grace and mercy of God into a resounding focal point that will never be outshone.
A short story to help connect with my thoughts.
I was in church this Sunday morning, crying over some song that spoke of the glory of God. The church sang of the sacrifice of Jesus, and I realized once again that the crucifixion was the glory of God!
No bright lights. No shining beams, or radiant glow. No attention seeking blast of energy!
No – the greatest exhibit of the glory of God was that in the darkness of the crucifixion, one lone body hung bleeding, that of a man misunderstood, of a tortured soul that gave all, only to be rejected, ridiculed, and mocked. Even as he hung in that excruciating pain, He forgave his tormentors.
As He became a martyr, He forgave His enemies. He forgave. He actually forgave his enemies in the midst of their celebration of defeating Him.
How can we grasp this? What type of God is this, that takes our punishment and forgives those who, with extreme prejudice, executes Him? How can we understand Him.
He is the faithful and True Martyr, for to be a witness, in the New Testament was to be a martyr.
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
A few days back I discovered some additional shorts from Dr Leighton, teacher at Soteriology 101.
As I may have spoken of earlier in my posts, I spent many years consumed with the Calvinistic teaching, only to break free because of men like Dr. Flowers, who offer alternative views that make more sense and glorify God, making Him purer, and more loving.
I do hope you will consider the teaching with an open mind.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 66:16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. Psalm 66:17 I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. Psalm 66:18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. Psalm 66:19 But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Psalm 66:20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!
In our last post, we looked at the vow the psalmist was to keep and of the commitment he had towards God. In this final portion of Psalm 66, the psalmist speaks of his inner condition, of his prayer to God., and of God’s work in the psalmist’s soul.
It appears the psalmist was in the midst of a trial, for he cried out to God, and as he has encouraged us, spoke high praise to the Lord. Immediately after declaring his prayer, he spoke of cherishing iniquity in his heart, and that if he did God would not listen. This is a common teaching that we believers understand.
But notice the “but”.
The psalmist was teaching a truth on the heart condition requirements of the believer, and immediately made an exception for the fact. A believers heart is to be clean, but in my circumstance, God listened. God truly had listened.
Verse 20 is far richer than I initially considered as I glibly read through it. Consider the psalmist, having a “not pure” heart, crying to God in the midst of a trial, and yet God listened, He noticed, He gave heed to the prayer, not rejecting the prayer, as the psalmist surely may have expected.
The psalmist can not explain this reaction from God but for one reason.
God had not removed His steadfast love from him. Dwell on this blessing today, as you venture out for Him.
He is a merciful God!
Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. KJV
Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me. NLT
Blessed be God! He has not turned away my prayer or turned his faithful love from me. CSB
Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me. LSB
Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His favor from me. NASB
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.
131
FAITHFUL AND TRUE
Revelation 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
For the next two names, we will have a similar situation as we did with #129 Faithful, and #130 Faithful and Just Forgiver
As mentioned in those earlier posts, though these names appear to use the very same words, there is a difference I believe. One speaks of His actions, as the other speaks of His nature.
Let’s consider His name of Faithful and True.
I am going to go out on a limb somewhat and suggest that these two words describe a state and a standard.
First off, to be true is to conform to reality, to be consistent with facts, genuine or real. Although this description is speaking of Jesus as being true, or conforming to reality, how could He not conform to reality?
Yet I think I may be considering this definition of “true” incorrectly. It is not that He conforms to reality, in that He is the the result of forming to a mold or shape. No no no. He is the One who is the maker, and of course, all things made by the Great Creator will smack of conformance to the Maker. All things have the signature of Jesus.
Yet from our perspective, we are looking, not from the creation onward, but from the present back. He is true, for He is the only reality, and all things are merely conforming to His nature of His being. We see the “things”, and associate them with Him. Should we not think “backwards” and consider Him to be the source of all truth, to be “true”, and all things after that are judged in relation to Him?
Yes – that is the correct understanding I would say. The state of Jesus is that He is true. He is the only Truth, given that my reader understands I include the Godhead in my description of Jesus.
With that, I would like to suggest that to be described as “faithful” in the name we are considering, brings to the reader the concept of kept promises, of a promise being made, and at a later time, the fulfillment of that promise. To be shown as faithful requires the passage of time. This is the standard Jesus keeps providing to His people.
His standard of faithfulness is related to His state of being true. Both are related to each other, and when combined in the name we have today, creates a perfect picture of a perfectly trustworthy God.
Jesus is True, and because of this, His word can be trusted. Jesus is Faithful, may be seen by His promises being realized.
He is truly Faithful and True
Praise His Name.
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
In our last passage we noted that all that were of the nation of Israel had experienced the salvation of God through the escape out of Egypt, and travels through the wilderness, yet most failed to please God, and were overthrown in the wilderness. Two men of the original people who left Egypt actually made it to the promised land, along with the children born in the wilderness.
In this passage Paul continues to describe the failings of the nation of Israel, specifically idolatry, sexual immorality and grumbling.
Those three actions are brought forward to the first century church as failings of the nascent church in the wilderness. They were overthrown, scattered in the wilderness, as Paul describes in the previous passage, and in this set of verses, he continues to teach of the end result of these three sins. Notice that Paul shifts to describing the end result of these three specific sins as destruction.
Idolatry
Paul refers to Exodus 32 when he writes.
Exodus 32:6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
Check out the context. Moses was on the mountain, receiving the law of God, while Aaron was at the base camp, being manipulated by the people. They demanded gods to worship, and Aaron provided. The result was the old worship of Egypt with the name of God tacked on.
Get the import of this. The people assigned the idol to the god who rescued them out of Israel, and Aaron made a formal announcement – “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord”.
The people wanted it. The leader wanted it. What could go wrong? Given they had the smell of Egyptian idol worship lingering in the camp, they did what came naturally – they ate and drank, then rose up to play.
The eating and drinking describes a sacrificial offering to the idol, of which the idolaters would consume. This feast also speaks of the complete loss of self control in eating, for many students of the word understand this to be a gluttonous feast in front of this idol.
Was it not just a few verses earlier, in chapter 9, that Paul spoke of the importance of self control in the winning of the reward? The link between self control and victory is again shown to us, though through the failure of the people of Israel.
Sexual Immorality
Out of this idolatrous feasting, what little self control left for the people was jettisoned in favor of sexual immorality. Once the dam broke, the flood waters of licentiousness drowned the people. Destruction came into the camp, with twenty three thousand falling in ONE DAY.
Grumbling
Grumbling. When I first realized this sin was grouped with idolatry and sexual sin, it was a bit of a surprise. After all, grumbling seems like a minor sin, a sort of acceptable sin, something “everybody does”.
Consider. To grumble is to murmur, to say anything against something, or someone, in a low tone. Could this have been the beginning of this entire debacle, this release of self constraint, that allowed a people to seek what they wanted instead of what God wanted. To begin to grumble eats away at a thankful heart, allows a rebellious spirit, opens up a spirit of judgement against an authority. It provides a medium to grow a discontented, argumentative and hateful people. To grumble against an authority allows for a law to be created, another way to live, a create a law unto themselves, for the grumbler surely knows better.
My friends, grumbling is a serious sin, and after considering grumbling in light of the first two sins Paul describes, I have a better understanding why these three sins are grouped together. Paul refers to the destruction of some in relation to grumbling. Grumbling is an acid that will eat you up, and tear you down.
Thankfully, we have the promise that temptations such as grumbling can be overtaken by the believer. The way of escape you ask? The way of escape is a humble spirit of reliance on the God we serve, a willingness to accept His leading and not to challenge His wisdom. The way of escape is to be led, or controlled by the Spirit of God, and to endure hard times by His strength and grace. It is not to “get up and play” but to abide in the self control God has provided through a reliance on Him. After all, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
My friends – we are to have a humility of spirit before the Lord, a submissive heart, for we cannot think we have ever arrived, that we know better or that we ever could have thought of a better way.
… let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
Take heed my friends.
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