Considering the Bible

Conditional Security – 1 John 2:15-17

2026-01-08

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life–is not from the Father but is from the world.
1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

I used to spend hours every night delivering newspapers to over 400 homes in the city of London Ontario. Yes, I was an adult newspaper “boy” and it was a great job for a young married man to have. It provided sufficient funds to care for my young wife, provided ample time to spend with my beautiful wife, and I was readily available as we waited for our first born to enter the world, for I worked for less than four hours each morning! And in those nightly four hours, walking the streets of London, mindlessly following a path that rarely changed, I began a habit of Bible memorization that has been of tremendous benefit to my own spiritual life. To those reading, I encourage this discipline in your walk with the Master, for He often calls to mind a passage from my memory to provide guidance, encouragement and often correction!

All that to say that this mornings passage was one of the first passages I memorized as a multiple verse challenge.

Early in my faith, I understood that John wrote his epistle to believers in order to encourage them in the agreement they entered into upon initial faith in the Messiah. This agreement was a static, “set in stone” promise of a believers destiny based on an initial faith at a point in time in the past.

Nowadays, I am of the understanding that this salvation we are privileged to enter into is not dependent on a contract of sorts, but on a continuing living faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

For those interested in my findings, I published a series of posts beginning with 1 John – Testing to Know – Introduction. In summary, I am of the opinion John was providing tests for the believer, as the believer seeks to follow the Lord, some tests to check his life against in order to know if he has the Son, which is to have eternal life.

My faith has shifted from depending on a night in February of 1981, when I initially confessed my sin and asked for His salvation. Now, the issue I need to address is my life reflecting the character of Jesus, growing, yet admittedly never attaining the perfection He calls us to. Again, it is not that any believer attains, but that all believers rely on the Son and not on an agreement. We are to trust in the Lord, not an agreement, or covenant, fantastic as it is!

The Lord is full of mercy and plenteous in forgiveness. This re-understanding of salvation magnifies the grace of God towards the one following the Master. Many times I have wandered and His faithful ministry in my life has pulled me back to Him over and over again. The great challenge for the believer is to continue to follow, to be faithful, to continue to believe, to continue to rely on the Savior, to do that which He commands in the midst of trials, temptations disappointments and victories.

As we follow, we slowly, and incrementally become more like Him, which is the point. We are called Christians, for the term actually means little Christs, and was given to us as a derogatory name given by the world to each follower of Christ.

So when we come to our topic verses, this revised understanding presents a challenge that is much more complex than I first thought.

Let me do a real quick study through the verses.

Love

John refers to love three times in verse 15. All three words are of the root word for agape. When referring to the believers relation to the world, the word agapáō a present active imperative, speaking of a continual, ongoing love for the world. This is the verbal form of “agape love”

When referring to the love of the Father, the word is revised to agápē , the same word only this time in the noun form.

It is somewhat surprising that John used the same word relating to both the world and God. After studying the term agape, I have come to understand it as the word that describes a sacrificial love that is bestowed on something or someone out of the character of the giver and not based on the recipient’s actions or efforts.

After a brief review, this use of agape for the world is quite appropriate, for the world certainly does not deserve our love, and if we bestow this sacrificial love onto the world, the sacrifice of our lives, time and talent is just that – sacrificed to a non – worthy recipient.

World

John uses this word bunches! Twenty three times in this short 5 chapters. The kicker is that the word “world” has a broad meaning, for even a cursory review of the passages in John reveal this. Consider.

“World” speaks of the inhabitants of His creation. People.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

“World” speaks of the creation itself – matter space and time.

John 9:32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.

“World” speaks of the mission field for those who are sent by Jesus.

John 17:18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

“World” speaks of followers present with Jesus at the time, and as Jesus prepared for death, He was about to depart from them. It is a temporary location!

John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

And of course our present verses in 1 John, which speak of something believers are not to love.

Now to think. Might John be speaking of people in our passage? No that makes no sense. When he speaks of the world, is he speaking of creation? This doesn’t fit the logic of the passage. Ok, might he be referring to the mission field in our passage? That is silly, for He has sent us out into it.

I think John 13:1 may bring the some clarity to the discussion, for it speaks of a temporary condition, and John goes on to speak of the believer living forever in verse 17.

All of that is good, and helpful (I hope) but is there something more, something a bit more concrete to this reference to the world in John’s thinking?

The term κόσμος kósmos, translated as world, may also describe an ordered arrangement, an order or government, even a decoration or adornment, an aggregate of goods, pleasures, riches and goods that distract, that appeal, that seduce the believer from God.

In my mind, it speaks of any temptations presented to the believer to pull them away from the Christ, the Son of God. John goes on to describe all that is in the world – fleshly desires, visual desires and a life of pride, as being not from the Father, and by inference, is a competing force in the believers life.

Ok, all that to say the world is temporal, enticing and not of God. How does this relate to the series topic of conditional security? Let’s read John’s summary one more time.

1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Note John uses the word “but”. “But” is a term that speaks of exclusion or of difference. The world is passing away. The desires for / of the world is passing away. These are temporal.

The one doing the will of God lives forever, an statement of eternality. John relates this to obedience, but John is the apostle who continually speaks of faith in his writings.

Here he speaks of ποιέω poiéō, doing. And for those interested in the tense of poiéō? It also is a present active verb, speaking on continuity, continuing, constancy.

My understanding of depending on a contract entered into with God in February of 1981 for my salvation has taken a hit with studies like this. Now no matter how some may consider my findings, the message of the Word is consistent.

Trust God today. Do what He commands today. Look to Jesus for guidance, strength, direction, knowledge, wisdom today.

Look to Jesus for life today!

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Life of David – 33.02

2026-01-07

Ish-bosheth Murdered

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.

4 Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.

Saul’s kingdom was falling, and his son Ish-bosheth would soon be dethroned, even executed. The end was near for the family of Saul, and the northern tribes knew that the recent death of Abner, their only real hope, indicated King David was in the ascendency. Not only was the political situation fragile for the northern tribes, with a king who was frozen in fear, those of the lineage of Saul understood the downfall meant their necks were on the line, and any direct descendent of Saul, a potential king in the line of Saul, would surely be a threat to the incoming power found in the throne of David.

Even a five year old boy presented a potential threat to an incoming power, and this nurse, upon hearing of the death of both Saul and Jonathon, this little boys father, had the foresight to understand the danger Jonathon’s boy was in. Her flight though, fueled by good intentions, was unwarranted, for the King coming was already under a covenant with this boy’s father, a covenant that would provide for Jonathon’s child, protect him and show the type of king David was.

Yet through the concern and fear of the nurse, young Mephibosheth would live his life as a cripple, restricted in his ability to serve in any army, to serve as a strong leader, and become a picture of the regal line of Saul in the future. He was somewhat helpless, due to an accident outside of his control, and we shall see in future passages of the covenant keeping character of the new and coming King of Israel.

David would not only show mercy to Mephibosheth in sparing his life, but also provide him his grandfathers lands, and treat him as a son of the king, inviting him to continually eat at the kings table.

2 Samuel 9:13 So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king’s table. Now he was lame in both his feet.

What type of King brings a potential enemy to his table?

What type of King invites a potential threat to live in the very capital city of the nation, the center of political power?

What type of King provides for a cripple, one who is unable to serve, even one who would be considered a burden to take care of?

2 Samuel 9:7 And David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always.”

What type of King would return a lost inheritance to a former enemy? David returned to Mephibosheth the lands of his grandfather, a sizable estate, and a house that he had no right to other than through a covenant David made with his father.

David sought to follow the Lord in his kingdom, and in this quick character review of Mephibosheth, a crippled heir of Saul, we see a coming King who was not typical, was not as expected, and who sought to reign in truth and under covenant.

What a King!

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Jesus in the Old Testament – Cyrus – 08

2026-01-06

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

Man of God’s Counsel

Isaiah 46:11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.

NT Passage

Isaiah is in the middle of a passage that is comparing the idols of Babylon with the One True God. He is providing a prophecy of future events, so that when the prophecy is fulfilled in 150 years, the Jewish nation will have another example of the superiority of their God over any and all idols. The people that would see this prophecy come to reality would be the nation in captivity, a people under the thumb of Babylon, seeing the salvation of God coming from a Gentile king.

To understand the verse we are considering this morning, we need to include the previous verse.

Isaiah 46:10-11

declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.

God has a purpose for the nation, and His purpose, or counsel, per verse 10 shall be accomplished. God will accomplish His will for the nation, and He becomes very specific in the manner He will do it!

His first declaration is that He will call a bird from the east. Now it is not uncommon throughout the Old Testament for a king to be referred to as a bird of prey, but for Cyrus this picture is very appropriate. Not only was Cyrus and his armies known for their swiftness of attack, the standard presented by the armies of Persia before military campaigns was also the golden eagle with outstretched wings, mounted on a long spear. Cyrus literally was depicted as a bird of fowl.

But for the term we refer to in our topic this morning, Cyrus was a man of God’s Counsel, a man who would execute God’s will.

Let us not think that God was in counsel with Cyrus, debating the will of God, even considering the manner of execution of His will with the king. No – Cyrus was not a man of God’s counsel in that manner.

God is describing a king who would be God’s instrument in executing His will, a man that would deliver a salvation to the people of God in the midst of their captivity under the Babylonians.

This passage is an amazing prophecy describing God’s will to be accomplished by a Gentile king for a captive people 150 years before it was to be realized. Once Cyrus released the Jews, protected and provided for them as some went back to Jerusalem and the Temple, presents a vivid shadow of the greater Cyrus, the Lord Jesus.

Was Jesus not a man of God’s counsel, and so much more? He was intimately involved in the plans and deliberations for the release, not only of the Jewish people, but for all mankind from the bondage and captivity of sin and death. He was also described for centuries before His arrival, with multiple prophecies describing our Savior, giving us a full and complete picture of the Messiah, so we might not only understand, but marvel at the way the prophecies combined into a multi faceted picture of the Suffering Servant / Reigning King.

He perfectly fulfilled the will of God, executing the Word of God even as it was communicated to Him moment by moment in His communion with the Father .

He is God’s Counsel for us, the Man who far exceeds the shadow provided for us in Cyrus!

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Names of God – GREAT AND AWESOME NAME – 245

2026-01-05

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.

245

GREAT AND AWESOME NAME

Psalm 99:3 Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!

We find our verse this morning in a Psalm that highlights the holiness of God, and for a brief moment, before I opened the full psalm, I assumed the “them” in this verse, referred to the nation of Israel, for they were God’s people and they had been privileged to know of His holiness, His “otherness”, His separated status.

I rattle on about this for it was many years that I understood holiness to be principally referring to the sinlessness of God. Now, I do not want to imply that sinlessness is not included in the term “holy”. I just want to confess that I think it describes a much greater concept than simply a negative about God, that He has no sin.

He is without sin, sinless and apart from sin. But for God to be called holy is to describe God as being different, other than what we understand, righteous in a way we may not fully understand, unless we dwell on Jesus, and the manner in which He lived among us.

Jesus was holy, separated from sinners, as the apostle tells us, but we know He lived amongst the worst of sinners, the “dregs” of society, a friend of sinners.

Hebrews 7:26 ESV – For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

The contrast between our understanding of holiness and how He lived out His holy life often astounds me.

I often think of sin as the Old Testament describes it. If I touch it, it defiles me, and my responsibility is to stay away from all contamination. Haggai describes my understanding in his second chapter

Haggai 2:12 ‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’” The priests answered and said, “No.”
Haggai 2:13 Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.”

Non Transferable
Holiness does not transfer to items. Any item that is holy is alone holy. Whatever it meant to be holy, to be separate, to be consecrated to the temple, or to the priest, or to God, alone was holy.

Isolated
Holiness was to be protected by isolation. If a sinful person or item touched a holy item, it became unclean.

For many years, I understood that to be holy was to stay away from sin, and by inference, away from sinners, seeking to keep my life pure by isolation. Fat chance at success with this, for it produced a believer that was ineffective, lonely, self righteous and somewhat angry.

But then I started noticing that Jesus drank with sinners, went to parties, touched lepers and forgave adulterous women, raising them up by their unclean, sinful hand. How could He do that, and remain holy, separate from sinners, as Hebrew speaks?

As a follower, does this example of Jesus’ holy life amongst sinners allow me to go out drinking and partying? For some believers, this may be allowed, but due to my past, my running from God in my youth, my teenage alcoholism and previous drug habits, I knew I had to refrain from certain activities to avoid temptation. Eventually my thinking morphed and I thought my abstinence from those who partook was my holiness. How little I understood!

Everything turned upside down when Jesus arrived, for when a sinful person touched Him, power was transferred from Him to the sinful person. Forgiveness and healing, illumination and understanding flowed from Him. His was a life of non-isolation, of being in the midst of all who welcomed Him, and even amongst those who hated Him. He was simply put – unbelievable!

I realize I have focused on the holiness of God in this post, but so many thoughts were flooding my mind of how Great and Awesome Jesus, in His life amongst us, actually was. His holiness, His “otherness” is so foreign to my standard thinking of God that when I am caught in the conflict between my thinking and His message, I tend to blurt out the praise I have for Him, weak as it is.

May we praise the Great and Awesome name of Jesus, for He is Holy. He is so different from us and He calls us to a holy life, a different life than we are living. A life of change and growth, a life of holiness amongst the hurting and the sinful.

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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1 Thessalonian Bits – 2:17

2026-01-04

A little while ago, I produced a verse by verse series in Philippians. I really enjoyed that exercise and have been wondering if I should take on another book. Well it turns out that 1 Thessalonians is the victim of my machinations, and hopefully, the thoughts produced by this fantastic book will edify and encourage the reader.

As with Philippians I am going to limit each post to one verse, and hopefully produce a short, succinct read for my friends who follow.

1 Thessalonians 2:17 But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face,

Paul, ever the missionary, speaks of his heart for his fellow saints, those who he had been “torn away” from. As you may remember, he did not want to depart, but was forced from their fellowship by those who displease God and oppose all mankind!

Paul uses an interesting term when he speaks of being torn away from his brothers in Christ. It is only used once in the New Testament, but in writings of the same era, it is used in describing the “bereaving of a parent or parents”, or to “be orphaned”. The root meaning is complete separation, to bereave wholly, especially in the sense of the child parent relationships.

Leave it to Paul to tell us in one word the depth of the separation he experienced in relation to these young believers.

This provides us with a startling truth. With the enlivening of the Holy Spirit, complete strangers become as close as natural born brothers, achieve, or better yet have been given, a deep family relationship with those of like faith in the Son. Time is not necessarily required to foster this depth of relationship, for Paul only had at most three weeks with these saints, and he openly speaks as a father to his children.

He had been torn away, and he wants his brothers to know the impact this has had on him, and in our next verse, he designates the source of this pain. But we will wait for the next post to delve into that topic.

For now, Paul has opened his heart regarding the separation they are experiencing, and of his desire and efforts to visit his young church. He let’s them know of his efforts departing and of his eagerness, and great desire to see them again. Surely the young church was beginning to wonder where their missionary was. Was he ever going to return? Heaven forbid, but was he just a fly by night preacher? Suspicions might be running rampant within the small body of believers and Paul wanted to at least inform them of his heart, of his efforts and of the one who was hindering!

For this verse, he speaks of his great desire, his heart to return, but more than simply his emotions, but his efforts to return. He had not simply experienced an emotional drain, but he speaks of an effort, an exertion he has put forth in returning.

You know, it is one thing to say nice things, to speak of emotional longing, to bemoan a separation and speak of a longing, but without making an effort to correct the painful situation, it is but smoke and mirrors, an empty claim that dulls and disappoints the recipients heart. Paul did not want to hurt his children in the faith, by providing nice words, but wanted them to know he had given diligence in returning, that he was laboring to return. This is the message he was speaking when he wrote of his endeavoring to see them. To endeavor is to give diligence, to work at getting something done, to exert effort to attain a goal.

His heart was broken for them, and his love for them prodded him to find a way back. He was eager to see them face to face.

But someone was producing a similar effort in the opposing direction. Someone was resisting his diligence to return to Thessalonica, to a small, persecuted and very young church. Someone wanted them to be separated!

I can’t tell you who, for that is for our next post. Will you return to find out?

Of course you can crack the Word open and find out – as a matter of fact, I would encourage you to!

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Psalms for Psome – Ps 73.05

2026-01-03

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 73:23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.
Psalm 73:24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Asaph has been through a struggle. From temptation through inner trials and finally to a final triumph through a realization of the glories of God and his own sinfulness. He has finally settled in a good place. A place of rest, of peace before the Lord, and a deeper understanding his place before God.

Four areas of blessing are realized by this man of faith.

Security

While Asaph was in his struggle, watching the rich get richer, the wealthy dodge judgement, the prosperous avoiding discomfort and pain, Asaph was struggling to keep his heart pure. At times, I imagine his heart was not quite hitting the mark, slightly less pure than the desired goal! A bit impure, a bit jealous of the lost, a bit envious. And we know the seriousness of envy. It is the precursor to full blown idolatry.

Yes – Asaph was dancing with dangerous partners when he envied the ways of the rich. Even in his wanderings, Asaph confesses that the Lord was his security, his faithful God, his only hope through the dark, the hand that was ever present in his life.

Guidance

Asaph may have been breaching this topic in our previous verse when he speaks of God holding his right hand. He comes out and clearly states the guiding ability and performance of God in his life, specifically speaking of God’s counsel.

Counsel is another word for advice, and the Scriptures give abundant testimony to the wisdom of receiving counsel.

In Asaph’s specific case, I lean to understanding his referencing the inner counsel that he eventually became attuned to as he entered the sanctuary of God. To my fellow believers, we know that in the still quietness, if we are willing to hear, the Lord will provide guidance in alignment with his revealed Word.

As an aside to this topic, it is wise for the believer to consider the importance of counsel from other believers. I have for too long sought only the inner counsel, without allowing for believers to give guidance. Proverbs addresses this truth numerous times.

Proverbs 11:14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls,
but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
Proverbs 15:22 Without counsel plans fail,
but with many advisers they succeed.
Proverbs 24:6 for by wise guidance you can wage your war,
and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

One note of clarity. The word speaks of a multitude of counsellors. Having one counsellor may be the equivalent of having an echo chamber. Not wise at all. Be wise and get bunches of counsel!

Sufficiency

What is it for something to be sufficient? Does it imply that for something or someone to be sufficient is the availability of everything you could imagine? Is it a way to denote that all things are good, or is it that nothing bad, or evil will enter my experience?

For something, or in Asaph’s case, for someone to be sufficient, simply means that God is enough. It is not referring to the limitless abilities of God to perform, provide or produce for His saint. For God to be sufficient for Asaph means that God is enough.

We humans are a temporal, time and space based creature. We are limited in every possible manner. We can’t even understand what it means to be limitlessness, to be eternal, to possess all powerful or all knowledge. We are limited creatures and have limited needs, though they may seem great to us as we live in our bubble.

God is bigger than our bubble!

Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

Though Paul speaks of God as being able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, for Asaph, his personal faith findings are that God is enough.

Paul spoke of the abilities of God, and they are truly limitless, but for sufficiency’s to be considered speaks the language of satisfaction, not abilities. Satisfaction of the saint’s deepest needs fulfilled in Christ. As for the wants of the believer, they may be ignored since they are but distractions, but that for which the saint was made for, satisfaction is found in God Himself. He satisfies the saint in areas he may not even understand!

There is a difference, and may I suggest that realizing the sufficiency, the “enoughness” of God in our hearts is a tremendous blessing for the believer to enter into.

Strength

My heart is ticking away. It has been ticking away for over 67 years. 2,817,995,627 beats, give or take. Close to three billion beats. That is crazy, and thankfully that ol’ ticker has never missed or skipped a beat!

That particular physical truth astounds me, and except for this past couple minutes, I have been blissfully ignorant of this exceptional display of the keeping power of God over my physical life.

How much more am I unaware of the strength God provides in the midst of trials and blessings, sickness and weakness, struggles and victories. One day, I will find out my incredible ignorance of God’s strength being provided to my insignificant life, the continual faithful infusion of His mighty hand, and His power provided despite my pride and arrogance.

To think I am the source and strength of all my blessings! Poppycock! (Of course, I blame Him for any and all my failures, but even in this, it shows my darkness of mind!)

He is my strength, especially in my weakness, in my realization that I have no real ability, no real strength, no real wisdom, knowledge or discernment. I could go on with what I am not, but to what profit?

He is our strength.

For Asaph, as he fought his way through this Psalm, and provides for us the wisdom he accrued through it, he can honestly say his head is screwed on straight now.

He is in a good place, seeing God for who God is, and Asaph for who Asaph is.

And all is good!

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Names of God – GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL – 244

2026-01-02

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.

244

GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL

2 Chronicles 30:9 For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”

Our passage this morning is found in the middle of King Hezekiah’s preparation for the first Passover the nation would enter since Joshua. Shocking, for even King David did not celebrate the Passover.

Nevertheless, this Passover was marked by a number of special situations.

First off, King Hezekiah, in his desire to celebrate the Passover, allowed this celebration to be performed a month late. The Temple had just been cleansed and the priests were in need to be sanctified. The people of the north were invited and time was required for cleansing and travel to occur.

This was an allowance provided in the law found in Numbers 9:6-11.

Secondly, the temple had been closed by Hezekiah’s father, King Ahaz for 16 years. This about face by Hezekiah was a bold stance of faith for this young king, for he may have been as young as twenty-five years old as he ascended the throne of Judah.

Thirdly, Hezekiah invites the northern tribes. This is an astounding request, for the northern tribes had been conquered years before Hezekiah ascended the throne. To invite the northern tribes could have been interpreted by the reigning Assyrians as an effort to reconsolidate the nation of Israel as the original twelve tribes.

Definitely a risky move, but one that showed Hezekiah’s desire to celebrate the Passover properly!

And this is the context of our verse. Hezekiah is calling out to the northern tribes, pleading with them to return to the Lord, to celebrate the Passover and to recommit to the covenant they had abandoned. Though they had been overtaken by foreigners, a proof that they had abandoned the Lord according to Deuteronomy 28:25 passage, mercy and grace was available to them, for the Lord their God is a gracious and merciful God.

Did they return? A few did, but sadly, the majority of the northern tribes remained conquered.

It is interesting that the message spoke of both mercy and grace. Both terms are used exclusively of God, and are combined a few times in the Old Testament, revealing the character of our God as we know Him in the Lord Jesus.

He truly is gracious and merciful to His people and as we recognize His grace and mercy towards us, we will be drawn to honor Him in our lives, returning to Him as we wander, and seeking to celebrate His goodness in our lives.

He is our gracious and merciful God.

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Conditional Security – Luke 9:23,26

2026-01-01

Luke 9:23, 26 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Months back, we journeyed into a passage regarding Jesus’ denial of the believer before the Father in heaven. For a review for those interested, I am supplying a link for your convenience. Conditional Security – Matthew 10:32-33.

At first glance, our Luke 9 appears to be the parallel passage to Matthew 10 message from the Lord. Such is not the case, for the parallel is in Luke 12:8,9.

It is not exactly the same topic, for in the Matthew verses, Jesus is speaking of how He will respond before the Father based on our relation with Him. Verse 23 is a simple statement of qualification that precedes a passage that is somewhat similar to Matthew 10:32-33 and Luke 12:8,9

A quick table will provide a comparison.

Now before we proceed, it may be wise to consider some differences. In Matthew 10 and Luke 12, the warning is of denial before the Father. Might this occur even daily in our lives, that as we walk with Him and fall into a denial of some type, Jesus may also reflect this denial before the Father in heaven.

Before we go any further, I need to ask – Is all denial of eternal consequence? Of course not, for we simply need to consider Peter. Some denial is not permanent.

For the passage this morning, it appears to be specifically describing an experience of shame Jesus will go through when He appears in glory.

The first two passages resulted in a denial of our person before the Father. This morning’s passage centers on the shame Jesus will experience at His great revealing.

Shame we experience regarding the Word of God, either the written declaration we possess in our hands or of the Living Son of God, which resides with us in our bodies, may trigger a shame based emotion in Jesus at His coming.

In a believers life, periods of weakness, doubt and shame may occur. Is this a desirable situation? Of course not. Can God work in these periods of dryness, periods of pain and doubt, periods where we are confused, possibly questioning His Word, and pursuing wrong solutions? Of course He can, and thankfully He does.

Yet if we continue to lay the cross down, continue to seek our ways and not His, there is a danger of bringing shame on the Lord at His coming.

For those who may be experiencing difficult times, please be encouraged in that God is still there for you, that He is working in and around you for His glory and your benefit. The charge for us as we struggle in down times is that we do not abandon in the struggle the very strength of God found in His Word and in His Son. None of us wants Jesus to experience any shame on His day, but in our struggles we need to continue in depending on His Word and His Way. It is upside down from what the world teaches, and we desperately need to be reminded of His will and way we are to pursue daily.

Don’t lay down the cross! It is a daily choice that produces life in each of us, as we die to our old desires.

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

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Life of David – 33.01

2025-12-31

Ish-bosheth Murdered

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.

2 Samuel 4:1-12
1 When Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, heard that Abner had died at Hebron, his courage failed, and all Israel was dismayed.
2 Now Saul’s son had two men who were captains of raiding bands; the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon a man of Benjamin from Beeroth (for Beeroth also is counted part of Benjamin;
3 the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have been sojourners there to this day).

David’s kingdom was shaken by the murder of Abner, with David taking charge, openly declaring a curse on Joab, openly mourning over Abner’s death, and personally fasting over the circumstances that caused this injustice. In all his actions, the Word speaks of the people of Hebron, nay, all the people and all Israel recognizing the actions of the king, and being pleased.

2 Samuel 3:36 And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people.
2 Samuel 3:37 So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s will to put to death Abner the son of Ner.

As a study in contrasts, the writer of 2 Samuel provides Ish-bosheth’s mighty acts of leading his people. Doh – not so mighty, for Ish-bosheth crawled up into a fetal position (metaphorically speaking of course!) and waited.

Now I don’t suppose I would venture a guess as to what he was waiting for, but in times of numbing fear, it is fair to say that nothing else enters the mind. Fear is a controlling, all powerful emotion that consumes the one living in it.

Ish-bosheth waited. And his people were dismayed, even terrified at the outcomes of his leadership, at the condition of their nation. Meanwhile, these same subjects of Ish-bosheth were looking south. That David sure was a leader!

Ish-bosheth’s days were numbered, for David will surely come into his decapitated, weak nation, take it militarily and rid the united nation of Israel of any future threat of the lineage of king Saul. Ish-bosheth would have to die!

Enter Rachab and Baanah, two brothers that had a past. During the conquest of Canaan, under the leadership of Joshua, those of Beeroth, along with three other Hivite towns deceived Joshua with a ruse, entered into a treaty with Israel that caused dissension in the ranks of the Israeli army, and was a blot on Joshua’s leadership. Read about this deception and the result of it in Joshua 9

They were a people that were to be conquered, not assimilated into the covenant nation!

Joshua made sure that this deception would be noted in the annals of Israel’s history, for he pronounced a curse on them, stating they would be restricted to areas of service to the nation of Israel only.

Joshua 9:23 Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”

Over three centuries later, the Beerothites were still a presence in the nation, with these two men serving as men leading raiding bands for Saul, and Saul’s son.

The term for “raiding bands” has a wide definition, ranging from a formal division of an army, to describing a marauding band of robbers, effectively mercenaries, guns for hire, men who had no allegiance but to the mighty buck!

Yes Ish-bosheth’s days were numbered, but not from the armies of David, but of his own, from treachery within his own ranks.

Ish-bosheth was a man used by Abner, who trusted Abner, obeyed Abner and was abandoned by Abner. Is it any wonder that the Word constantly instructs us to trust the Lord and not man?

Trust Him today for whatever challenges you may be facing. He is good to those of a pure heart and a humble spirit.

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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Jesus in the Old Testament – Cyrus – 07

2025-12-30

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

Loved of God

Isaiah 48:14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he shall perform his purpose on Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.

John 15:9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

I had never considered the subject of this passage prior to considering the Cyrus the King of Media Persia. Who is the Lord referring to when He calls the nation of Israel to assemble and to listen. The context of the following verses speaks of this one as being against the Chaldeans, and that he will do His pleasure on Babylon. Though it is without a doubt God Himself that will bring about the downfall of Babylon, He has an instrument on the earth that will fulfill His will.

In this case, Isaiah speaks of Cyrus, 150 years in the future, who will march on Babylon, conquer Babylon, free the Israelites and provide safety and allowance for provisions to enable the reconstruction of the Temple.

Isaiah could simply describe Cyrus as a tool in the hand of God, a device of destruction on the Chaldeans, an instrument on earth to direct and use! After all is said and done, the Lord is over all, and he controls the heart of the king.

Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.

Remember that Isaiah is referring to a king, a Gentile king, a king that will conquer nations, consolidating an empire.

But Isaiah speaks of the Lord loving him. Now I am not convinced this love refers to any response of the Lord to the actions of war that Cyrus lead, various idolatries he entered into, or of Cyrus’ moral perfections.

Isaiah simply states “The Lord loves him”.

In my mind, weak as it is, this speaks of the uncaused love of God toward each of us, it is a shadow of the universal love of God for all mankind. It is the love of God described for a man centuries prior to his being on earth.

Of course, it is easy to see this reference to the love of God for Cyrus as a shadow of the love of God for the Greater Cyrus, the Lord Jesus and of His fulfilling the will of God while He was on earth.

Jesus was loved of God, without hesitation and without disturbance, without any break in deep fellowship between the Father and the Son.

Except when the love of God was taken from Jesus in order for the love of God to be opened fully to us mere humans, fallen creatures that had no hope. The love of God has been proven to each of us by the cross and the resurrection. He went without the Father while on the cross so that we need never be without the love of God.

May we rest in that truth, and forever understand the extent of the love of God!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Names of God – GRACIOUS GOD – 243

2025-12-29

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.

243

GRACIOUS GOD

Jonah 4:2 And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

Our God is a Gracious God. He is the same God Jonah knew, but for one experience. Jonah did not quite know the depth of grace we as believers may experience by living after the appearance of Jesus.

But the human heart hasn’t changed, for as Jonah confessed the truth of the very character of our Gracious God, we also teach, sing and confess of the graciousness of our God.

As Jonah knew of the Graciousness of God and feared the results, we too know of His Graciousness and fear the potential result.

How often have I halted, hesitated or avoided speaking to my neighbor or an acquaintance due to the same reason Jonah expressed here.

Fear of persecution?

Is it fear of persecution? I dare say this is not Jonah’s complaint, for he doesn’t address the recipients reaction to the message.

Upset of Normality

Is it a desire to maintain a status quo? I think that may be some of the concern Jonah has, since he was a part of the inner group, and he was sent to a group that was outside. Many the infusion of acceptance of the outer group would dilute the specialness of the inner group? Evan as I write that, it seems to be foolish, but how often have I witnessed this?

As my wife and I attended a well established church years ago we had a few friends come visit the service. They were energetic, unconventional and to say the least unorthodox due to the newness of their association with church. The church was small, and as I mentioned, well established. If I remember right, they actually sat in someone’s pew seat! (Don’t they understand Jesus died for that saint to sit in that pew seat?).

To say the least, the friends, after a few visits, decided not to return. And status quo was maintained!

Injustice

Is it a sense of injustice? Ta-daaa! That is the ringer folks, for as we glory in the forgiveness we have been freely granted, we tend to want to see justice fall on others.

We sometimes dress this thinking up with terms like righteousness and holiness, with our desire to express the need for justice to be inflicted on “our enemies”, but somehow that defeats the very word of the Master when He challenged us to live as He did.

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

For grace to be realized in life, a sense of injustice has to first be accepted in our own lives, but then we also have to allow this to be offered and experienced in the lives of others.

As an aside, as I have considered the idea of universal salvation (through Jesus alone, for He is the only Savior), I have had many in the church rebut me with the very argument of injustice. That would be unfair they say. I have heard believers state that “they deserve” to burn in hell. So loving!

Why do we as believers in our Gracious God hesitate to consider the Graciousness of God from beyond our own understanding?

As a thought experiment, consider the days prior to the Lord’s appearance. Many, if not all in Israel never anticipated such an explosion of faith when He appeared, or the rapid spread of the the church outside the boundaries of the land of Israel, beyond the bloodline of Abraham. Many sought to restrict the growth, keep it within the inner group, and maintain a status quo. But the real stumbling block was the open, graciously free invitation to all. That was simply unacceptable. The graciousness of God was too much!

He is the same Gracious God, who surprised the Jews of Jesus day. May He surprise us in our daily lives, and may we be open to the work of God, rejecting our self centered desire for justice, and reveling in the Gracious God we love and honor!

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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1 Thessalonian Bits – 2:16

2025-12-28

A little while ago, I produced a verse by verse series in Philippians. I really enjoyed that exercise and have been wondering if I should take on another book. Well it turns out that 1 Thessalonians is the victim of my machinations, and hopefully, the thoughts produced by this fantastic book will edify and encourage the reader.

As with Philippians I am going to limit each post to one verse, and hopefully produce a short, succinct read for my friends who follow.

1 Thessalonians 2:16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved–so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

In our last post we ended with Paul declaring that the enemies of the gospel “displease God and oppose all mankind”. In this verse, he fleshes out the specific actions of those who displease God and oppose all mankind.

In Paul’s day, the specific ones displeasing God and opposing all mankind were Jewish religious zealots. They would not accept Jesus as the Messiah, and out of a supposed loyalty to God, sought to block the progress of the church. This first century condition of Jewish persecution of the church was not consistent through the ages, for I understand after the destruction of the temple, the primary force against the church became the Roman Empire.

I mention this only to emphasize that the religious Jew is no different, no greater, and no more guilty of persecuting the church than any other group or society that persecutes the church. Sometimes this portion of 1 Thessalonians is used to justify antisemitism, and this is wrong.

Even if a Jewish society restricts Christian proselytizing, (and it currently does), it is no justification for treating them, or any society or people group as enemies. Though they may set themselves up as enemies of the gospel, “displeasing God and opposing all mankind”, we as believers are to love our enemies and pray for them.

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Nevertheless, in Paul’s day, it was the Jewish religious zealots who hindered Paul and his message, and he minces no words in his denunciation.

First, he likens the Jewish religious zealot to Amorites! Yes, for I believe Paul reaches back to Genesis 15, where God was speaking to Abraham of receiving the promised land. The holdup for Abraham’s descendants to enter the land was the sinfulness of the Amorites.

Genesis 15:16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

Consider for a moment that God was allowing time for the Amorites to repent! He has always been about the whole world hasn’t He?

This phrase Paul uses, referring back to Abraham’s time, make the Jewish religious zealots to be equal with the Amorites a people group opposed to the people of God. Now, those very people who claimed the bloodline of Abraham have become the first century Amorite!

Paul was not the only one who referred to the Jewish religious leaders as Amorites. In Matthew 23:31-32, Jesus makes reference of “filling up” and “measuring” that the Jewish religious scholars of the Old Testament must surely have recognized.

Matthew 23:31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
Matthew 23:32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.

The sin specifically that Paul calls out on these that are filling up the measure of sin?

Hindering

Hindering the spread of the gospel. Being a resistance to speaking to the Gentiles. Now of course, they resisted the spread of the gospel to the national Jew and now restricting the rest of mankind from the grace of God! The cup of wrath is surely filling up! The gospel is for all, and any restrictions from sharing with anyone should be understood as displeasing God and opposing all mankind.

Consider those in Palestine even at this present time. I have heard (just recently) of some Christians considering them the enemy, and should be treated so. Any restrictions (passive or active) in supporting those reaching out to them, in my mind would liken them to those persecuting the missionaries to the gentiles 2 millennial ago.

I have a friend ministering in the Middle East even as I write this, and she is speaks of the tremendous hunger for the Word in the region. I am so thankful that she has not found justification for any political, national, or religious barriers to be erected in her mind against those in the region.

Of course much more is going on with the nation of Israel in the first century than could be attributed to any nation today, for Israel was ripe for judgement, soon to be completely removed forever from the land, with any shred of covenant removed. Having had their hand in the very death of our Savior, it seems their judgement was sealed. The cup of wrath was near to spill over.

You see, Paul informs us that judgement for Israel is near, and judgement for Israel would be complete. The amplified translation brings out the nuance of Paul’s message regarding the future of Israel.

1 Thessalonians 2:16 AMP – forbidding us from speaking to the Gentiles (non-Jews) so that they may be saved. So, as always, they fill up [to the brim] the measure of their sins [allotted to them by God]. But [God’s] wrath has come upon them at last [completely and forever].

The wrath of God is complete and forever. Paul informs us that the nation of Israel would cease to exist, never to be restored. The Old covenant would vanish away, making way for the New Covenant.

Hebrews 8:13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

No excuse or confusion. The church is the only expression of the body of Christ on earth and in God’s plan. The shadow would vanish.

For us today, let us pray for those missionaries that are in the Middle East, who are ministering to those desperate for the gospel. For my friends security, I refrain from mentioning her name, but if you think of her in your prayers it would be appreciated!

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Psalms for Psome – Ps 73.04

2025-12-27

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 73:16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,
Psalm 73:17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.
Psalm 73:18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.
Psalm 73:19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!
Psalm 73:20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
Psalm 73:21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,
Psalm 73:22 I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.

Asaph, prior to our passage this morning, and after the last fifteen verses describing the perceived benefits of living as the wicked live, is in the middle of a inner battle I believe all believers must go through.

Psalm 73:14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
Psalm 73:15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

He speaks of being stricken and rebuked, over and over again, every morning. He knows once he speaks his heart, damage will fall on the faithful, but the evidence is so obvious. There just seems to be so much “proof” provided that it creates an inner conflict for the believer.

Psalm 73:16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,

Asaph was being worn down, confessing that the situation he was considering was a wearisome task. The inner battle was wearing on him, and it seemed he was in a position of eventual defeat.

That is until. Until he entered the sanctuary of God. The solution for Asaph actually was available throughout his struggles. His perspective on life had been infected by the perceived and temporary ease of the wicked one’s life, without considering the actual and long term impact of the person of God.

Asaph as he entered the sanctuary of God, became aware of two truths.

Ruination of the wicked

Asaph understood no longer the perceived ease of the wicked, but the eventual, long term ruination of the wicked. Not only the ruination, but the very footing they consider to be stable, is a slippery place. One mistake, one happening, one uncontrollable incident, and everything they count on falls apart! There seemed to be a perceived future, but that was all smoke and mirrors, for Asaph say there was no actual future for the wicked. The ruination was certain, for he states that God Himself set them in slippery places, and God Himself makes them fall to ruin.

Sinfulness of the Saint

Being away from the Lord, for the saint is a very dangerous situation. After entering the sanctuary of God, Asaph faces his own heart as he looks to the Lord. He admits to his own sinfulness before God, how brutish he had become!

As he uses the term brutish, I think of violence, as in brutality, but the term speaks of foolishness, even stupidity. The term is used in Psalms two additional times.

Psalm 49:10 For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others.
Psalm 92:6 The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this:

He further defines him life before God as a beast, and this term usually refers to cattle or livestock. The Hebrew word for beast carries with it the idea of a mute animal, a silent beast. Might he be possibly referring to the wicked’s lifestyle as impacting his freedom of speech before the Lord and His people? He has mentioned earlier his reluctance to speak of his finding’s and this is to his credit!

But he was restricted in his communication to the people of God. Thankfully he restrained from speaking of his logical findings, but this also may have brought a hesitation of speaking of the goodness of God before the people.

He was silent, conflicted and strickened. What a sad, (and for myself, a familiar) place to be!

Asaph needed to enter the sanctuary of God. When he did, all the perceived benefits of the wicked disappeared!

For modern believers in the Messiah, what does it mean to enter the sanctuary of God? Many may consider that constant attendance to a church building is the equivalent for the saint today. This may be so, but I am hesitant to state this is a perfect application, for there are many church buildings that have been constructed in order to provide a sense of security, a sense of power and influence that may distract from the very person of God. Never mind the variable of the teaching disbursed from the pulpit. Many – not all thankfully – in today’s modern church have a teaching that is suspect, with a dependance on the Word being weak, and sometimes completely absent, or worse yet hostile to the Word.

With all of that said, to enter the sanctuary of God for the believer today is to draw near to the throne of God.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

For the New Testament believer, the sanctuary of God is present and available at all times and in every location, for the sanctuary of God is the Lord Jesus, His holy Spirit and the Father Himself. As we approach the throne of God in our formal and informal prayers, our thoughts are lifted away from the untoward methods and mealy, meager goals of the wicked, and to higher, loftier and eternal matters that can only be recognized as we dwell on the many glories of our God.

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Names of God – GRACE OF GOD – 242

2025-12-26

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.

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Conditional Security – Romans 8:6-8

2025-12-25

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!

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Life of David – 32.01

2025-12-24

David Mourns Abner

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.

2 Samuel 3:31-39
31 Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner.” And King David followed the bier.
32 They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept.
33 And the king lamented for Abner, saying, “Should Abner die as a fool dies?
34 Your hands were not bound; your feet were not fettered; as one falls before the wicked you have fallen.” And all the people wept again over him.
35 Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day. But David swore, saying, “God do so to me and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down!”
36 And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people.
37 So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s will to put to death Abner the son of Ner.
38 And the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?
39 And I was gentle today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The LORD repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!”

Joab was a loose cannon, and because of Joab’s tendency to allow his desires to overtake any wisdom he may have entertained, this act of murder left a big mess on the doorstep of King David.

Remember, David had at this point only been crowned king of Judah, and was reigning in Hebron. Abner, at least to many of David’s people was considered of the enemy camp. Many may not have known of the back office type of discussions being had between Abner and David in seeking to return the kingdom to one king!

So when Joab killed Abner, it may have been perceived by many of David’s citizens that he gave the order.

For many kings in ancient times, this may have been an appropriate order to give, effectively taking an enemies key military leader out of contention, weakening the opponents and their king. Dominance by force would be much easier by taking advantage of this action!

David would not pursue this action. As a matter of fact, he has indicated multiple times and in multiple ways that his kingdom was not involved in this death.

1. A declaration

Initially David provided a declaration of the kingdoms innocence in this murder.

2 Samuel 3:28 Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the LORD for the blood of Abner the son of Ner.

2. A Cursing

Secondly, he openly placed a curse on his own general! A public curse on Joab was pronounced, and not only on Joab, but on the family of Joab’s father, Zeruiah.

2 Samuel 3:29 May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father’s house, and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!”

3. Mourning imposed on Joab

David requires the murderer to mourn over Abner. David calls on all the people to mourn over Abner, but the one to note is Joab, for he is the one who is known to be the murderer, and now is ordered to take part in the mourning ceremony for the man he hated enough to murder.

4. Lamenting for Abner

David participates in the mourning for his enemies general, and leads the time of mourning with a lament for a man struck down by his own general.

He speaks of the injustice acted upon Abner, the shameful death he experienced, all of this reflecting on his own general Joab. David goes so far as to say Abner’s death was as one who fall before the wicked. Of course, the association of the wicked with Joab is obvious.

The tension in the air must have been thick enough to cut with a knife!

5. Personal fasting

In all of this public expressions of distaste for this action, David was acting upon this murder in a personal way. His fasting was only found out when the people came to provide food for him. Up until then, David’s decision to fast had been a personal matter, a decision he had made quietly and before the Lord.

This is a great indication that David was no mere politician, putting on a show for those watching. This death of Abner was a personal blow to David, and in the mind of David represented the wrong way of establishing a righteous throne.

Of course this very personal decision, once exposed, only caused a greater admiration of the people for their future king.

6. Personal communication to his servants

Even after his interactions with the “people and all Israel”, in that they understood David as guiltless in this murder, David makes two further statements to his servants, emphasizing his godly approach in reigning over the Lord’s people.

One positive statement regarding his enemies general, a man that had hunted him under King Saul’s authority. David declared Abner “a prince and a great man”!

Was Abner a saint? No, not by a long shot, but David sought to honor the man in truth and found characteristics in Abner’s life that were positive and relatable to the people.

One negative statement regarding his own general, and his family. These men, the sons of Zeruiah (Joab and his brother Abishai) were more severe than David.

To be severe is to be stubborn, obstinate, stiff necked. As an application for our own lives, it is instructive that stubbornness is not the way of the one born of the spirit, for we are to be a teachable people, a people that are compliant to the Lord’s direction.

To be faithful is not the equivalent of stubbornness.

This last statement of David to his servants reveals a key indication to those in service to David that the king was not going to follow the accepted ways of the neighboring kings. He will seek to make judgements on actions, not personality or celebrity. He will condemn unrighteous acts. Yes, it is true that if he were to condemn this murder per the Law, Joab would be dead. (See Life of David – 31.07, for a discussion on David’s decision regarding Joab)

Nevertheless, David was departing from the accepted methods of gaining power, and seeking to establish a kingdom that was not only different, but that followed after the God who had called them into existence.

A fantastic effort and attitude on David’s part, and one that typifies the unexpected reactions from one who follows God.

May we be of the same spirit, finding even towards our enemies a gracious attitude that will draw them into the kingdom, unite the kingdom and serve the kingdom.

It is the way of the kingdom!

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Jesus in the Old Testament – Cyrus – 06

2025-12-23

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.

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Names of God – GOOD TEACHER – 241

2025-12-22

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.

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1 Thessalonian Bits – 2:15

2025-12-21

A little while ago, I produced a verse by verse series in Philippians. I really enjoyed that exercise and have been wondering if I should take on another book. Well it turns out that 1 Thessalonians is the victim of my machinations, and hopefully, the thoughts produced by this fantastic book will edify and encourage the reader.

As with Philippians I am going to limit each post to one verse, and hopefully produce a short, succinct read for my friends who follow.

1 Thessalonians 2:15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind

Paul does not mince words in this verse, comparing those who persecute the Thessalonians with those who persecute his countrymen.

But Paul doesn’t speak of those of Judea as if their persecution of the Christian church is simply a misunderstanding, or that this persecution will fade and cease soon. He eventually reveals the motivation and power behind this persecution. But let us not get ahead of ourselves.

This passage provides six acts of unbelieving Jew’s who took it upon themselves to quell the Christian message providing the Thessalonian church a sense of the depth of motivation and source of persecution that is against the church as a whole.

Now before we get into this passage, I need to warn my reader that this passage has been used in the past to foment hatred for the national Jew, and to provide justification for attacking, persecuting and causing great harm to the Jewish population through the centuries. I am convinced this is not the intent of the apostle, for he has in multiple passages to the churches spoke of living in peace with all men and loving our enemies.

The Christian message does not include retaliation.

Nevertheless, the apostle wants the Thessalonians to know they are not the only ones being persecuted.

Killed the Lord Jesus

Paul starts the list with reminding the Thessalonians that the One they follow was persecuted to His death. In my mind, this is the capstone of persecution, revealing how far those who hate the gospel will go in order to stop the message of a loving God reaching down to all mankind.

Killed the prophets

Many of the Thessalonians may not be as aware of the persistent and continual persecution the prophets of old suffered under the hand of the unbelieving Jew in the past. The history of the nation of Israel could be traced through the blood of the prophets, revealing the unbelieving Jew’s willingness to remove the influence and message God provided them.

Jesus Himself also referred to the history of persecution by unbelievers when He reminded the Jewish leadership of their compliance in the shedding of righteous blood.

Matthew 23:35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

Drove out the Christian Missionaries

How often has a motivated Jewish contingent of Paul’s day not only physically forced the Christian messenger from their promised land, but also followed after them, undoing the work of the apostle, defaming the messenger and his message and twisting the gospel to eliminate it’s freeing message. Those persecuting the church in the days of the apostle were very motivated, seeking in many ways to keep the message from those who need it.

The Thessalonian church witnessed this very hatred of the Christian message during their initial hearing and acceptance of the gospel! Luke is clear in who led the persecution of the missionaries in Thessalonica.

Acts 17:5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

Displease God

But Paul, how can you say those who follow after Moses, and therefore follow after God, displease God. They claim such devotion to the God of their Fathers! Do they not have the same faith, and therefore live the same life as those of the patriarch’s?

Do they?

Claiming the same God as the father’s of the faith, and exhibiting a different life than that of the fathers is contradictory. Something is amiss, and I suggest the Lord addressed this very problem in Mark 7.

Mark 7:8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

This speaks of a challenge for our own lives as the church. The Jewish people of Paul’s day thought they followed after God. They were devoted, motivated and zealous in their understanding of Moses. As the Lord had taught, and we need to hear, the danger for each generation of those claiming to follow God is that they are to depend on the original message of God. We are not to trust in the interpretations of ancient commentators, former instructors and influential teachers. Each generation, each person needs to hear from the Living God directly through the written record He has provided, in understanding His message for each of our lives.

How dangerous for any of us to reject the Word in favor of a man’s teaching. Those who trust man’s teaching typically assign Almighty God’s authority to the teaching, and thus provides justification for untold atrocities in the name of God to be allowed. Even the murder of those who seem to be against a cherished teaching they hold to. The Lord warned His followers of this very motivation by those opposing them.

John 16:2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

Claiming to follow God, while at the very same time displeasing God, is a very real possibility. Let us remember we need to hear from Him as our Master and not only from those who are also following Him.

Oppose all mankind

This final statement of Paul’s is also somewhat amazing. He does not teach the Thessalonians that the unbelieving Jewish forces are only offering an alternate way of life for those in the church. Those persecuting Christian apostles and adherents are actually opposing all mankind. They are fighting against the whole of mankind.

The phrase “oppose all mankind” in this verse may be translated as antagonistic to all mankind, or that they are adversarial to all mankind, hostile not only the the Messiah, and to His followers, but also to those who have yet to know the Savior.

He is not simply suggesting the persecutors of the church are passive towards all mankind, but informs us that they are active in opposing all mankind as they fight against the Savior and His message. This is incredible!

A very difficult passage to consider, and honestly not an enjoyable verse to discuss. Personally, I want to think the best of others, and yet the Word wants believers to live in truth. We as believers, are to understand that those who have not trusted the Messiah, be they Jewish or Gentile, have the capacity, given the right conditions and motivations, to become persecutors of those who follow after the Messiah.

It is this nature of the two kingdom’s taught in the Word, that is becoming clearer in my mind as I read and study. Either we enter the Kingdom of God, and follow after the One who was rejected, or remain in the kingdom of men and persecute by word or deed, those who follow the One who was rejected.

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Psalms for Psome – Ps 73.03

2025-12-20

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 73:4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.
Psalm 73:5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Psalm 73:6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.
Psalm 73:7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.
Psalm 73:8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.
Psalm 73:9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.
Psalm 73:10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.
Psalm 73:11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Psalm 73:12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.
Psalm 73:13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
Psalm 73:14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
Psalm 73:15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

In our last post, we considered verses 4-9, where Asaph describes the conflict going on in his heart regarding the wicked one’s experience in life and his behavior. They enjoy a full and powerful life, even while abusing their neighbor and rejecting any authority God has in their lives. This is confusing for this man of God, but he is not willing to abandon his argument quite yet.

His thinking is quite logical, for he make an observation, and then comes to a conclusion, by stating “therefore” We will continue with his thinking this morning and find out where his logical pathway leads him, but before we go any further, let us read the passage once more.

No God No Justice No Followers

Psalm 73:10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.
Psalm 73:11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

Asaph is coming to a dangerous tipping point in his logical argument. He sees the wicked’s life of ease with no apparent discipline being applied by God, and comes to a conclusion.

If this is the way the world works, why fight it? If God is allowing the wicked to flourish without any repurcussion, as all the evidence proves, the conclusion must be that God has taken His hand away from the personal lives of the people of His nation. Maybe God has revised His requirements? Maybe God has lowered His expectations, or realized He has demanded too much. Maybe God simply doesn’t care anymore.

Wow. This logical progression of Asaph takes us down a very dark and slippery slope, and I suspect this thinking has been the cause of many a followers downfall. Even as Asaph describes this thinking process, he comes to the conclusion that this situation actually provides, or might I say encourages the faithful to “turn back to them” and find “no fault in them”.

The faithful are turning back to the wicked, and find no fault in them. Is not Asaph describing those who have previously sought God turning away from Him. The faithful are seeing the abundance and freedom of the wicked, taking the bait, and by so joining the wicked, agreeing with the methods and attitudes of the wicked.

The result is a denial of God by those who seek the life of the wicked. Asaph has provided us the spiralling downfall of the faithful as they observe the wicked and make unholy choices.

Conclusion

Psalm 73:12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.
Psalm 73:13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
Psalm 73:14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
Psalm 73:15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

Asaph makes his summary statements in these verses and repeats his foundational observation. The wicked have it easy, implying the righteous do not. The wicked have riches, implying the righteous do not.

In the midst of the righteous mans life of “struggle and poverty”, Asaph wonders if it is worth clinging to the old truth. The call of God demands a clean heart and innocent hands. What is the benefit? Why go through all this trial and trouble?

My friend, if I have followed Asaph’s thoughts and conclusions in my thinking once, I have followed his thinking a dozen times. Many times the believer observes the evidence provided, sees the logic of this train of thought, but has no real defense against it. After all, it is the way of the world.

Notice though, that Asaph provides the faithful man’s inner turmoil. All this evidence is tempting, yet he is strickened and rebuked every morning. He just can’t take that last step of joining the wicked, for his heart is telling him he is missing something, and if he succumbs to his logical conclusions, he will only add to the weakening of God’s people as he abandons the God of Israel. He knows the end result, even as he is hinting at it in this verse.

As turmoil and indecision enters our hearts over life changing decisions, we may need to consider the inner struggle as a blessing, a cleansing, even an renewing of our thinking. As we enter this struggle, it will be a battle to prove our devotion to the God of our salvation. Riches, ease and comfort can not be our gods, if we are to be called by His name.

Thankfully Asaph provides us good news in the next passage, a resolution to his thinking, a missed piece of evidence that changes all the perceived truth he has accumulated. Asaph’s struggle came to an end, and it came to an end decisively!

It is a solution for the faithful to consider as they may wander towards the lifestyle of the wicked.

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Names of God – GOOD SHEPHERD – 240

2025-12-19

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.

If this topic interests you, consider the nine posts on this topic, beginning with Ezekiel 34 – Introduction -1

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!

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Conditional Security – 1 Timothy 6:3-6

2025-12-18

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?

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Life of David – 31.07

2025-12-17

Joab Murders Abner

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.

2 Samuel 3:26-30
26 When Joab came out from David’s presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah. But David did not know about it.
27 And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
28 Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the LORD for the blood of Abner the son of Ner.
29 May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father’s house, and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!”
30 So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.

Joab shows himself to be the treacherous man that we spoke on in our earlier post. The treachery is multifaceted and for a moment, I would like to consider Joab’s act in relation to his king.

First off, though the text does not reveal David’s acceptance of Joab’s claim that Abner was a spy, there was no order from Joab’s king to perform this act of murder. As a matter of fact, David decried this treachery and the passage describes David as not knowing of Joab’s plans to bring Abner back to Hebron.

Secondly, why bring Abner back to Hebron? Hebron was a city of refuge per Joshua 20:7, a city that protected those who accidentally killed a man from the “avenger of death”, any man who may seek to kill in revenge. It is not clear why Joab would request Abner’s return instead of simply pursuing him, other than deceiving Abner into thinking David called him back. Let’s remember the situation Abner was in. Abner had previously killed Joab’s brother, in a defensive battle, and it could be argued that Abner could flee to a city of refuge. Of course as a man of war, this was not strictly required or expected, but the tidbit about Joab taking Abner to the gate offers an interesting twist to the story.

Joab, in taking Abner to the gate, could claim his righteousness of killing Abner outside of the city of refuge. Never mind that he lured Abner back in deception, and with cunning forethought, planned the murder of Abner, executing the murder in similar manner as his brothers death.

2 Samuel 2:23 …. Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back. …

Yes Joab was not guilty of executing Abner in the city of refuge, but that seems be of little consequence in David’s mind. This act of Joab brings to mind the condition Jesus found Himself in in relation to the Jewish leadership in His day.

In the midst of one of Jesus most scathing rebukes to the Jewish leadership of His day, He pronounced the famous “swallowing a camel” hyperbole, describing how the Jews worried about a specific minor command in the midst of forgetting the major emphasis of the Word.

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
Matthew 23:24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Is not Joab an early Pharisee in this manner!? Are we all not a little bit like Joab, that in the middle of sin, we find some act we can boast about that calms a raging conscience! How diabolical we can be!

Our passage continues with David’s response to such an act. Let’s remember that David is establishing his kingdom, seeking to bring in the tribes to the north, and for this murder to be seen as sanctioned, or at least approved by the king may provide a perception of his kingdom as being vengeful, even brutal.

So what should David do? Exodus gives some direction in relation to premeditated murder, a sin Abner was obviously guilty of.

Exodus 21:14 But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

David declares a curse on Joab and all his father’s house. Where is the judgement? Why did not David simply put Joab to death? It was early in his kingdom, so in providing this expansive curse on Joab and his family may have been an act of mercy somewhat. It may also have been an admission of weakness on David’s part since condemning Joab at this point might have turned Joab’s entire army against the king. I will let my readers come to a conclusion on this matter!

The curse on Joab and his family falls into five categories

One who has a discharge
- David is laying a curse of uncleanness on Joab and his family, which would require the one with the discharge to be ostracized from the community of Israel. Many associate this discharge with the modern disease of gonorrhoea. See Leviticus 15:2 and 15:31
One who is leprous
- David repeats a judgement of uncleanness on Joab’s family, this time calling out leprosy as the judgement. This would also require removal from the community of Israel. See Leviticus 13:45
One who holds a spindle
- This particular curse may involve a disability requiring a crutch. One other possibility may be the one cursed would work a spindle, implying a man so poor he can only perform menial labor such as spinning on a spindle. Worse yet, one or more of Joab’s family may be inclined to be unwarriorlike, or so opposed to the military life, that they seek a “domestic” life instead. Consider Proverbs 31:19
One who falls by the sword
- A “deep cut” for a man of war is to have a family member killed in the line of action. Warriors mourn those who have fallen in war, yet there may also be other emotions associated the death of a family member in war
One who lacks bread
- Poverty. At this point in Joab’s life, he is riding the gravy train, with more and more potential wealth and influence on the way. To have a family member experience poverty implies much misfortune or poor decision making, or simply a non-disciplined life. All are painful conditions for Joab to associate with in his family.

David does in the future seek to have Joab pay accordingly for this treachery, but for now, David’s principle intent is to separate his kingdom from this act.

The curse is laid on Joab and David instead of killing Joab as per Exodus, allows Joab to continue through as lead general for over 3 decades under his reign.

But judgement would come upon Joab, even by the son of David. It may be deferred, but it wasn’t dismissed.

Likewise, we can all agree that judgement is deserved by all, but we often think that since judgement hasn’t fallen yet, we need not worry. King David had his son execute Joab, even as David lies on his death bed.

1 Kings 2:5 “Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, avenging in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war, and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and on the sandals on his feet.
1 Kings 2:6 ESV – Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.

David made sure the judgement required was the judgement exercised. Joab was to die!

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Jesus in the Old Testament – Cyrus – 05

2025-12-16

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!

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Security

Guidance

Sufficiency

Strength

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Hindering

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Ruination of the wicked

Sinfulness of the Saint

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1. A declaration

2. A Cursing

3. Mourning imposed on Joab

4. Lamenting for Abner

5. Personal fasting

6. Personal communication to his servants

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Killed the Lord Jesus

Killed the prophets

Drove out the Christian Missionaries

Displease God

Oppose all mankind

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No God No Justice No Followers

Conclusion

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Characteristics of this teaching

Controversy

Quarrels about words

What are the fruits of this teaching?

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