Old Testament Narratives Relate to Our Modern Lives

^{NIV.Daniel.3.16} Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us fom Your Majesty’s hand. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (full narrative v.8-25)

Today we’re highlighting an author for the first time. Matthias writes at Understanding as I Go. Click the title which follows to read this where it first appeared, or just continue to jump into today’s study.

To Have Faith

What is right and wrong? This is a question that has come to my mind recently.

In recent months I’ve been studying the bible very intently, taking it slowly, praying, meditating and examining what I’m reading very closely. At times reading just a small section and trying to understand all that is within it.

Studying the bible can be difficult, mainly because of context. Much of what is in the bible is written for that time, though the message within it is timeless. Idioms and historical references, names of the people and who they were, all are things that I find important to understanding it fully. I can now understand why I often avoided the Old Testament in the past, simply because I couldn’t relate to what was going on.

As I study I realize that many things I thought I understood before were wrong, or not complete. What I imagined wasn’t what was actually being expressed. I could only relate to it in modern terms. Even the teachings of Jesus, which I once thought I understood for the most part, I was misreading because of lack of understanding.

I came upon a great Bible app called “Logos” which has been helping me a lot. I call it a study bible on steroids. I can read and hyperlink to many resources that help me to understand what I’m reading. I also watch many videos of people teaching about the Bible from their perspective.

As I’ve expanded this study, using many different resources, I come to find that resources often contradict each other. One video might explain something in one way and another in another way. Even so, I get something from both videos. I can see that some people are more “liberal” in what they teach and others are more “conservative.”

For example, a more liberal teacher might say that tattoos are okay, even though it states that one shouldn’t get them in Leviticus. They say that one should simply be thoughtful about what they are getting. To not tattoo themselves with things that might represent idolatry or worship to another god. She pointed out that if one were to rely on Leviticus then they would have to rely on this source for all the other laws in Leviticus, which few follow today.

More conservative people say that we should adhere to it as it is written, while at the same time not focusing on the other laws of Leviticus. They seem to think that this law is important and the others aren’t which is cherry picking from the bible.

I can understand both points of view and learn from both. I have no desire to get a tattoo so it doesn’t matter much to me anyway, but I examined this more to understand what is right and wrong in general.

It may have been easier in early Jewish life to understand what is right and wrong. They had 613 laws that they had to follow. If they followed them then they were doing right. If they didn’t then they were doing wrong. They also did it as a community. A rather closed community. They lived, celebrated and endured life together. Though they were also very rebellious at times to God. Which would cause God to leave their midst and let them indulge in their sin to their own destruction.

Over and over again they were nearly destroyed, taken into captivity, their cities destroyed and even their precious temple burned down. All because they would choose to live different from what God commanded them to live.

It is difficult to realize that we are merely tools for God in many ways. We are not our own person creating our own lives. It may seem like we are but it is just an illusion. Yes, we can set out on our own and even come to experience success in life, but all that success is vain without God.

On the other hand, we can worship God with all our might and strength and at times feel that we are all alone, struggling just to get to the next day. Even feeling that God isn’t there listening to us. It is these times when one simply wants to give up and try something else, even if from the illusion, to make life a little easier. But it is also these times when we should be most faithful to God, for God will always come when least expected and give us rest.

In my case, I have come to believe that God is making it so difficult simply because when He makes it easy I’m more likely to drift away. When I’m happy and comfortable, though I am grateful to God, I also have a tendency to drift and become complacent. I’ve seen that during this time of struggle I’m doing more what God would want me to do, though not perfectly by any means.

In fact, I often feel completely unworthy of God. I struggle with my own difficulty of having Asperger’s. I want so much to do what is right, it’s almost like it’s chiseled in stone in my heart, giving me no choice but to do what is right, yet this obsession causes such stress that it causes me to do wrong things. To be angry and frustrated. Feeling pain all the time in my heart. I want to give God everything but I can’t. So many times I want to give up.

The irony is that God always tells me that He loves me and that I’m doing fine. I guess that I constantly argue this point because I feel I fight against such a generous judgement. I think, “I’m reading and studying all of this and I can’t live up to it completely. I’m all alone without any community and when I try to join a community, I am not accepted because they are living of the world and I have no desire for the things of the world. I have no interest in the things of the world.

When I meet people who claim to be religious, they ask me questions like, “What to do for work? What type of music do you listen to? What movies do you like? etc.” We can be sitting in a church and they talk to me about the world when all I know is my own obsession, studying the Word of God and trying to live by his Word. I want to talk about Jesus but they don’t.

If I bring up God in public to others who say they are religious, they look around uncomfortably to see if others are listening. I myself will talk loudly about God. I have nothing to hide. Even so, they usually change the subject to something they are more comfortable talking about, such as family and friends or movies and TV.

Among all the books that I’m reading right now, I have been reading “The Crucified Life” by A.W. Tozer. It is very good stuff about living solely for God. In it he states that you might work in a large office building and when you go to break you might look around and see that you have nothing in common with anyone there. They are all talking about the world and you have no interest in the world.

It feels good to see that another person feels this way but it doesn’t make it any easier. I was thinking that why it might be so difficult for me is simply that I have weak faith. I can’t let go completely and live solely for God. I still have a longing to be accepted by others rather than being completely satisfied by being accepted by God.

I thought of the story in Daniel about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace. How they were put into the furnace for not being willing to worship other gods and live by different standards than that of God. They fell into the furnace as if falling into worship for God and thus God came and saved them from burning.

I have come to see that the stories in the Old Testament relate directly with our own modern lives. The rebelliousness of the Jews and the punishments that came because of their disobedience to God. Punishments that basically come by their own actions and hands. The true punishment is that God withdraws from them. God doesn’t necessarily inflict the punishment.

A lesson here is that life here is not safe, even though it seems to be safe based on the illusion. When we go off on our own, like a stray sheep, we no longer have the Shepherd there to protect us from the wolves and other threats. No matter how strong we might feel, believing that we can protect ourselves, the reality is that we are all merely sheep in this world with wolves all around desiring nothing more than to destroy us. They will destroy us in many ways, mainly coming from the inside of us, where they will first change our hearts and pull us away from God. Then they will lead us to a place far away from God so they can then take us down very painfully, destroying us from the inside out as well as from the outside in.

All because we lost faith. We gave up on God. We decided that we could do it better than God. We can protect ourselves better than God.

Grace through Faith. This is the core message, not only of the New Testament but also throughout the Old Testament. We are not worthy of God. No one can ever truly be worthy of God. This isn’t what God expects from us. He makes it difficult so that we won’t become complacent. So we will understand that we truly need Him and nothing else. It may seem like punishment, mainly because we might have experienced comfort and always desire that comfort after having experienced it.

In many ways, modern humans in industrialized nations are spoiled, experiencing comforts that they don’t deserve without realizing that it is these comforts that can take us away from God. Make us complacent and even come to believe that we don’t need God and can do it all on our own. Maybe even become immortal as Cyborgs, as some futurists place their hope within.

This life is difficult and many times I have no idea if what I’m doing is right or wrong. I can’t look to the world to know the difference because what is right for some is wrong for others and they seem to have a great desire to promote such things passionately. I can only look to God and realize that those times when it feels that I did everything wrong, made the wrong decisions because my life isn’t reflecting something I would see as positive, as long as I maintain faith in God, it is usually simply a path to another destination on the journey. Many times the pain is what guides me to go through things that we wouldn’t desire to do if I were comfortable.

Life is not about being comfortable, successful and having wealth and physical security. Life is about dedicating our lives to God, no matter what they conditions of our lives might be.

The Wisdom of Solomon

Today we have a new writer to introduce to you. Matt Tracy writes at Kingdom Ethos. Today’s devotional has a chart and if it doesn’t appear properly on your screen (or even if it does) you are encouraged to read this via the link in the header which follows.

Was Solomon Truly Wise? | Reading 1 Kings 1-11 in Light of Deuteronomy 17:14-20 & Proverbs 9:10

King Solomon was an immensely famous Israelite king, perhaps second only to David in terms of his significance in Israel’s history. 1 Kings 1-11 recounts his magnificent accomplishments as ruler. The most notable of these was the construction of a Temple for Yahweh. He is celebrated for his superior wisdom, bestowed upon him by God, which he put on display for the nations of the world to see (1 Kings 4:29-34). Solomon was also notorious for his taste for splendor. Even today, he serves as the paradigmatic example of absurd wealth. Some scholars estimate Solomon’s worth to have been over $2 trillion. That’s Elon Musk, times 8. On the surface, 1 Kings 1-10 is a glowing review of Solomon’s reign, marked by tremendous material success for both Israel and Solomon himself: It appears Solomon is taking up his father David’s mantle as a righteous and obedient king, and God is rewarding him with an extravagant amount of wealth. But upon closer reading, it becomes apparent that this is certainly not the case. The author of 1 Kings includes in the account a number of troubling details that chip away at Solomon’s seemingly spotless veneer, hinting at divided loyalties that will eventually lead Israel’s Wisest King to outright apostasy.

A seemingly minor, “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” detail in 1 Kings 2 provides the backdrop against which the reader is intended to evaluate Solomon’s reign. If you pick up on it, then Solomon’s sin in chapter 11 will not come as a surprise – or at least, not as much. Here’s what I mean:

When David’s time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying, ² “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, ³ and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn

1 Kings 2:1-3

The Law of Moses in this case refers to the Deuteronomic law code (c.f. Deut. 29:9; “that you may prosper in all that you do”). As it turns out, a section of Deuteronomy (17:14-20) includes laws for Israelite kings to obey – a reminder that even kings are under Yahweh’s command and not exempt from obedience:

¹⁴ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” ¹⁵ be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. ¹⁶ The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” ¹⁷ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

¹⁸ When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees ²⁰ and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

Deuteronomy 17:14-20

Do you see the problem?

When we evaluate Solomon’s job as king in terms of his outward accomplishments, he appears to have been a roaring success. Yet when we evaluate his reign in terms of his obedience to God, particularly with respect to Deuteronomy 17, we see that Solomon was precisely disobedient to the very laws that applied to him; laws that God himself dictated through Moses.

Deuteronomy 17:14-20 – “A king should not…”	Solomon…
Acquire a great number of horses – especially chariot horses. Further, a king may not import them from Egypt. Chariot horses were a signature of the Egyptian army. God’s embargo on Egyptian imports was meant to distance Israel as much as possible from their time of captivity in Egypt (i.e. “You are no longer slaves!)	Had 12,000 chariot horses . . . from Egypt (1 Kings 4:26; 10:26-29).
Accumulate vast wealth.	Had an absolutely ridiculous amount of money and property.
Marry numerous wives.	Had an even more ridiculous number of wives, one of whom was the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh (1 Kings 7:8; 11:1-3)

Solomon’s divided loyalties eventually led him away from God altogether. The Temple of Jerusalem was only one of many temples Solomon built – one for the God of Israel, and the others for the fraudulent gods of his many, many wives (1 Kings 11). The author of 1 Kings has no qualms about connecting Solomon’s apostasy with the decline and eventual downfall of the Kingdom of Israel. His sin was the catalyst for a chain of events that eventually led to the Exile. While Solomon’s rule appeared wildly successful in terms of the wealth and fame he amassed, it amounted to nothing because he was not obedient to God.

If a king who was so lauded for his immense wisdom could turn away from God so easily, it begs the question: If “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), was Solomon ever truly wise?

For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7

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How we discovered Kingdom Ethos is a story in itself. Today Matt posted an article which was too long for C201, and I didn’t want to just excerpt from it. It’s based on this narrative:

[Elisha] went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.

2 Kings 2:23-25, ESV

If you’ve ever struggled with this passage, you want to click this link.

Bible Fatigue

^MSG.Josh.1.8 And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed.

^{CEB.Josh.1.8a} Never stop speaking about this Instruction scroll. Recite it day and night so you can carefully obey everything written in it.

^{NLT.Psalm.119.44} I will keep on obeying your instructions
    forever and ever.
⁴⁵ I will walk in freedom,
    for I have devoted myself to your commandments.
⁴⁶ I will speak to kings about your laws,
    and I will not be ashamed.
⁴⁷ How I delight in your commands!
    How I love them!
⁴⁸ I honor and love your commands.
    I meditate on your decrees.

^…97 Oh, how I love your instructions!
    I think about them all day long.
⁹⁸ Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
    for they are my constant guide.
⁹⁹ Yes, I have more insight than my teachers,
    for I am always thinking of your laws.
¹⁰⁰ I am even wiser than my elders,
    for I have kept your commandments.

^…113 I hate those with divided loyalties,
    but I love your instructions.
¹¹⁴ You are my refuge and my shield;
    your word is my source of hope.

^…127 Truly, I love your commands
    more than gold, even the finest gold.
¹²⁸ Each of your commandments is right.
    That is why I hate every false way.

^…162 I rejoice in your word
    like one who discovers a great treasure.
¹⁶³ I hate and abhor all falsehood,
    but I love your instructions.

I think it’s rather ironic that Psalm 119 has become associated with the weariness some people have with Bible reading. Its 176 verses are simply either too lengthy or too repetitive for some people, and yet, it is a Psalm that is all about having a love of God’s word.

In David’s time, the “scriptures” would refer primarily to the books of the law. Many people reading this feel about Leviticus the way they feel about Psalm 119; it epitomizes something that seems to just go on and on and on.

And yet, these books, Leviticus included, are what David says he loves. He talks about his love of — depending on the translation you use — God’s laws, statutes, instructions, precepts, decrees, commands. Ask people their favorite Bible book and see how many name Leviticus.

Is David the kind of guy who gets excited reading the complete federal tax codes? Does he enjoy studying the Motor Vehicle Act? Would he actually study the instruction manual that come with most consumer electronics? Read the software terms and conditions?

I don’t think so. He had bigger fish to fry. (Okay, maybe lions and bears and giants.) But I think he really sees the character of God expressed in the laws he gave.  And he believes that they were written for his good.

I say all that to tell a story.

Over a decade ago we were in a Goodwill donation processing center, a place, we are told, where merchandise is returned from various stores for final sale prior to being destroyed.  These are the shoes no one wanted, the t-shirts that didn’t sell, and the books that were picked over.

Yes, books. And among those books were three New Testaments.

Now you need to know four things about me:

• At the time we weren’t loaded with money; the 50-cents a copy they were asking for these was a bit of a stretch, especially after my wife had already selected some other items.
• Our house is already full of books; we didn’t need three more; there truly is no place to put them.
• I didn’t have anyone in mind who I was going to give them to.
• I sell Bibles for a living.  I have a vested interested in selling new books, not used books.

But I bought them.

They were in reasonable condition, and I couldn’t handle the idea of them being pulped for recycling into other books.

I could spiritualize this and say that it was because I have ‘such a great love for God’s word.’  I could say, ‘The Bible is so precious to me, I couldn’t bear to see one thrown out.’ I won’t do that here. It was simply my WWDD — What Would David Do? — moment.

My Psalm 119 moment, perhaps.

Maybe we’d feel differently if we were part of a faith where they don’t leave their sacred texts lying on the floor of a room. Maybe we’d feel differently if we were in one of the 50-or-so countries where owning a Bible is illegal. Maybe we’d feel differently if we lived in poverty and simply couldn’t afford to purchase a Bible.

While we don’t want to be guilty of bibliolatry — worshiping the book instead of the One to whom the book points — we need to value and treasure and God’s word. That becomes a challenge when most Christians in North American and Western Europe have, on average, ten copies of the Bibles in their home.

We need a Psalm 199 moment.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your love of scripture; your love for God’s word?

 

A Story of Compounded Tragedy

When I first started blogging, a popular destination was Internet Monk, a site founded by Michael Spencer. After Michael’s untimely death, the iMonk community continued to keep it alive, but in January it was decided to suspend new posting, and many in the iMonk community migrated to a new site, Mystery and Meaning. The new site is a combination of serious articles and reviews, and Saturday silliness. It was there we found today’s article, and you’re encouraged to read this at its point of origin there, by clicking the header which follows. The author of this piece is Paul Mitchell.

The Tragedy of Jehoiada and Joash

When studying Scripture, one of the things I enjoy most is rediscovering the small stories, the overlooked details, the passages that rarely get attention. This past week, my reading led me to a section of 2 Chronicles that is, frankly, heartbreaking. 2 Chronicles is not terribly optimistic to begin with. Israel and Judah are in a downward spiral, both spiritually and culturally, and that spiral continues to accelerate throughout the book.

Our story begins in 2 Chronicles 22 with the death of Ahaziah, king of Judah. Upon Ahaziah’s death, we are introduced to Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother. Athaliah is from Israel, of the house of Ahab. She married into the Judean royal family. Now, we know the house of Ahab is bad news. A pretty easy case could be made for Ahab being one of the worst kings of Israel. So knowing Athaliah is a descendant of Ahab should already make us nervous for what comes next, and we are not disappointed. Seeing an opportunity to seize power, Athaliah makes a move to kill all the heirs of the royal family of Judah.

One of Ahaziah’s sons escapes: a young boy, only a year old, by the name of Joash. He is rescued by his aunt Jehoshabeath, who is married to a priest named Jehoiada. They hide Joash in the temple for six years. Jehoiada the priest, the young boy’s uncle, eventually allies with military leaders and the Levites to place Joash on the throne, deposing Athaliah, the boy’s grandmother.

This is where things get interesting. In 2 Chronicles 24:2, it says that Joash “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.” Jehoiada not only hides and protects Joash, he helps place him on the throne, and continues to advise him. As long as Joash has this mentor, this spiritual figure, he is just and Israel prospers.

When Jehoiada dies at 130 years old, he is given a special honor. He is buried among the kings of Judah because, as verse sixteen records, “he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house.”

Soon after the death of Jehoiada the priest, other advisors step into his place and turn Joash to idol worship. The Spirit of God comes on Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, and he confronts Joash and the people of Judah, saying in verse 20, “Why do you break the commands of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper?” In response, Zechariah is killed, stoned to death by command of the king.

While reading, this was the part that left me shocked. Joash was saved by Jehoshabeath and Jehoiada, his aunt and uncle. His uncle helped put him on the throne. Together, they worked to repair the temple. But soon after Jehoiada’s death, Joash has Jehoiada’s son, his own cousin, killed. As it says in verse twenty-two, “Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him, but killed his son.”

Joash dies not long after. Those who conspire against him and bring about his death do so specifically because of the murder of Zechariah. And as the story closes, in one last bit of irony, Joash, because of his evil, is not buried in the tombs of the kings, where Jehoiada the priest was buried.

So why has this passage stayed with me over the last few days?

Part of what stands out is the symmetry of the whole story. Jehoiada the priest saves Joash’s life, then Joash turns around and kills his son. The priest in his righteousness is buried with kings, while the king in his wickedness is not.

Part of what stands out is the tragedy of the whole story. There was a chance for things to go well, even after the atrocities committed by Joash’s grandmother. Part of what stands out is how little agency Joash seems to have in the whole story. As long as Johoiada is around, Joash follows God. As soon as the priest is gone, others lead Joash into idol worship.

It is interesting how much of what we think of as “our character” may be the influence of others, for good or ill. No overarching moral or lesson today. Simply a sad story that has stuck with me, making me think.

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Second Helping: Read another thoughtful article at Mystery and Meaning by Paul Mitchell: Cultural Divides and the Kingdom of God.

Rescued from a Life Apart from God to a Life With God

Eleven years ago, in 2010, many of us were glued to a live CNN feed from Copiapo, Chile; watching the rescue of the 33 miners who had been trapped underground for 69 days. That got me thinking at the time about what it means to be rescued.

In Psalm 18:17 we read:

He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

In II Tim 3 10-11 Paul tells Timothy,

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

And Paul again, speaking in a broader sense in Col. 1:13-14 writes;

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The experience of the Chilean miners is similar to our own experience.  Maybe you became a Christ follower at a young age and didn’t experience much in the way of sin and depravity, but positionally, all of us were once captive and now we are numbered among the rescued. We’ve been set free!

But do we truly appreciate it? Instead of focusing on what you were saved out of, think of what you were saved from.  Think of what might have been — the things you were kept from and even today are kept from — were it not for the Holy Spirit working on and working in your life.

Let’s think about someone who knew exactly what she’d been saved out of. Consider this passage from Luke 7 — especially the climax of verse 47 — in the light of the personal rescue that has taken place just for you…

³⁶Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, ³⁸and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

⁴¹“Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

⁴³Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

⁴⁴Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

While I believe we have a picture here of a woman who has been transformed, or at the very least is in the process of transformation. But note that her reputation has continued to follow her. It would take time (and an endorsement from the Teacher from Nazareth) before that reputation would start to change.

Additionally, the rest of the people there had every reason to be thankful as well because, by the grace of God, they had not succumbed to a life that would bring societal and community condemnation.

But wait, there’s more!

The dichotomy of what we’ve been saved from versus that what we’ve been saved out of, pales in comparison to what we’ve been saved to.

By this I mean that instead of letting sin set the standard, and focusing on whether we came from a dark background or if we dodged the proverbial bullet (and letting that identify us), we should instead focus on the idea that we’ve been saved to a life in Christ, which includes 24-hour access to his presence.

We’re no longer looking back, but we’re enjoying the present and looking forward to the future.

The Chilean miners lived each successive day in the blessing of having been rescued, but I’m sure that this doesn’t define their lives today, eleven years later. Rather they are living in the present and looking forward to the future, and for them, I hope this also includes the life in Christ we’ve discussed.

 

The Predictably Unpredictable Life

Thinking Though the Unpredictable Life of Joseph from the Book of Genesis

by Clarke Dixon

Life can be anything but predictable.

We face many new beginnings that we could not predict. Who would have predicted in January 2020 that we would all be facing a pandemic for the last year and a half? Who could have predicted at the beginning of this year that Afghanistan would be completely under the control of the Taliban before the year was done?

In our own lives, we all experience things that we did not and cannot predict.

How do we handle such unpredictable times, and the predictable unpredictability of life?

There is a character from the Bible we may be able to relate to.

When Joseph was living happily on his father’s farm, could he have predicted that he would be sold by his brothers into slavery? When Joseph was serving in Potipahar’s home as a trusted servant, could he have predicted that he would end up in jail? When Joseph was in jail, could he have predicted that he would end up being the main administrator over all of Egypt?

In each of these new unpredictable situations, there is something in common, something very predictable. Despite the unpredictable nature of his life, Joseph himself was a predictable kind of guy.

Joseph was always the same Joseph, with the same God given gifts around dreams, with the same God given gift, or as some would put it, natural talent, for administration, exercising the same integrity.

In the Bible we read of something else which made Joseph predictable:

The LORD was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. Genesis 39:21 . . . But the LORD was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the LORD made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. . . . So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?”

Genesis 39:2,21;41:38 (NLT emphasis added)

The presence of God in Joseph’s life was predictable. Joseph’s reference to God throughout his life was also predictable. Joseph was predictable, in a good way.

In being predictable Joseph actually reflected something true about God. God is predictable in a good way!

With God there is a consistency, a constancy. We see this played out in God’s commitment to all His covenant promises. We can think of God’s relationship with His people as recorded in the Old Testament. God stuck by His people, even though they were predictable in their rebellion against God and constant idolatry. Yet God is predictable in a good way, always making a way for His plans and purposes to be carried out.

The writers of the New Testament came to know that God is predictable. For example, the apostle John wrote “God is love” in 1st John chapter 4. You cannot earn a description like that without being predictable in your love!

If God can be described as love, what word might people choose to describe us?

Clarke is ______.

Please don’t yield to the temptation to answer that in the comments, but please do ask that about yourself. People will fill in that blank based on what is predictable about us. Is it a good word? Do any of these words show up; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? These are the fruit of the Spirit, the consequence of living a life filled with God. Are we predictable in a good way because of our growing relationship with God?

Being predictable does not mean never surprising others.

In fact Joseph, despite being predictable, was likely very surprising, especially for Potiphar’s wife who probably assumed Joseph would be easily seduced. His integrity would have been surprising. Is ours? Joseph likely surprised the jailer who probably assumed that Joseph would be like every other inmate. Instead Joseph was like a breath of fresh air in a very stale jail. Are we experienced as a surprising breath of fresh air? Could Pharaoh have predicted that a seemingly insignificant foreigner sitting in jail would be the person who would save Egypt from starvation? Do we turn out to be of greater significance in people’s lives than they ever could have imagined?

God, though predictable, is full of surprises too.

In fact Joseph’s story reflects that of God’s people in the Old Testament. Joseph had this dream of his older, and therefore more “significant”, brothers bowing down to him. Yet in the end, surprise, they bow down to him and look to him for salvation from starvation. There were bigger stronger, and seemingly more significant nations around God’s people, like Babylon, and Egypt. In comparison God’s people were weak and insignificant. But God did something profound through this little “insignificant” nation. In fact people from every nation look for salvation in what God has done through this little “insignificant” nation, and its “insignificant” king who was crucified on a cross by the “significant” people. Surprise!

Speaking of Jesus, here is another surprise; God came to humanity in Jesus. We killed him. God still loves us and offers reconciliation and a new relationship. Surprising, yet predictable, because God is love. God worked in a very surprising way to help us see what we knew about God all along, that God is love.

Do people find us to be surprising in good ways? Are those surprises consistent with the good things people find predictable about us?

In Conclusion . . .

Our lives may be unpredictable, but we can be predictable, in a good way, living with a constancy, a consistency, and integrity, like Joseph, like God, like Jesus.

As God grows our character, developing within us the fruit of the Spirit, God’s work within us will show up through us no matter what is happening around us.

Life is totally unpredictable and full of nasty surprises. We can learn to be predictable in a good way. And full of good surprises.

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Regular Thursday contributor Clarke Dixon is a Canadian pastor. You can watch the preaching of this sermon here.

What Was “The Law” Prior to “The Ten Commandments?”

The forum site Reddit has a number of Christianity-related interest areas or what are called “sub-Reddits.” One of these is Ask a Christian. That’s where this question appeared.

Before Moses acquired the 10 commandments and the other specific laws from God, how did people know what God’s “laws and statutes” were?

The above is also a link to read the discussion for yourself. I thought we’d highlight the scripture passages here. Since I have no idea what translations were being quoted, I’m offering everything here in NIV.

The first quoted was Exodus 15:26:

He said, “If you listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”

That was the basis for the original question:

I noticed Moses hasn’t even received the stone tablets or anything like that yet for the people to know gods laws to begin with.

Were there some pre-existing commands and decrees that I might have missed that the Israelites would have already known about? Were the commandments already existent in some form before this and the Moses tablets were simply a ceremonial “commemorative” edition of what already existed?

The first respondent quoted Genesis 26:5

because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”

noting that,

It seems that even before the laws and commandments were written down by Moses, God had given them to others (Abraham and Isaac, and therefore their posterity) orally (up to 700 years earlier), and they were known and kept until Moses wrote them down.

The original questioner (whose Reddit user name I won’t repeat here) said,

Thanks that makes more sense. It’s still strange to me if he expected all mankind to obey and worship him that he didn’t give these instructions and commands to all mankind and not just Abraham.

That brought another response from (…okay another stranger user name):

It’s potentially implied in Genesis that God did exactly that. The extent is uncertain because it’s not specifically recorded, but it’s at least clear that there was some kind of awareness of the God of the Bible outside of what’s recorded in scripture. The most significant example is Melchizedek, who is evidently a priest of the most high God operating in Salem, completely separate from and prior to Abraham.

Less concretely, if the Biblical narrative is broadly correct and all humanity came from Eden, then humanity would all have started from a point of awareness of God. The extent to which he laid out his commands following Eden is not clear, but the text seems to imply that at some point they were known before people fell away. For instance, Cain and Abel go to make sacrifices to the Lord – but the sacrificial law hasn’t been recorded at this point. So evidently it was already known in some capacity even before the sacrificial laws were given to the nation of Israel…

The original question (which I only quoted in part) had also mentioned Melchizedek. Is he key to this question? Maybe.

Another person commented,

The first law God ever gave was “Thou shall not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” All through Genesis He establishes laws and practices.

The original poster seemed to be looking for a more complete set of instructions, replying

Where in Genesis? Did I miss it? So far I’ve not seen anything indicative of god giving commandments and laws to mankind as a whole until Exodus (which even then it’s clear its laws are exclusive to Hebrews, no Canaanites. Ammonites, Jebusites etc etc allowed). Prior to that God simply directs individual Hebrew people in specific activities, like Noah building an ark. Or announcements regarding the future as in God telling Abraham he will be the forefather of a large nation which will experience slavery and eventual conquest etc. God telling Jacob not to be afraid to move his family into Egypt. And so on. Again if I missed something in Genesis akin to a Moses like declaration of the law for all people, please kindly direct me to the passage.

He/she seems to be looking for a specific example of a codified set of laws.

But if not, I guess my confusion is, how did god expect mankind to obey him before he provided a clear set of commands to be followed as he did with Moses? And further, how could he therefore see it fit to destroy people for disobeying laws they know nothing about? Instances like Sodom/Gomorrah, the tower of Babel, the “wickedness” prior to the flood. How did any of those people know anything about this god or his expectations if prior to Moses god didn’t yet make himself and his expectations clear?

So someone else provides an example:

Here is one — Genesis 17:10 — This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised;

At that point the discussion got a bit unruly. Social media tends to that, doesn’t it? At no point was anyone suggesting that the circumcision commandment was the only commandment.

But then it got back on track:

Moses is also not the first fella to write stuff down. There’s Enoch way before him, pre-Flood, that was considered a ‘scribe’ of sort, and walked with God. I’m sure he wrote down interesting stuff too..

In the end some Laws are just simply hardwired in our being with conscience, thus written ‘inside’ of us.

That last sentence would foreshadow the answer that would follow:

Paul tells us the law of God is written on our hearts in Romans 2. [Ed. note: See below for full citation] While the Israelites didn’t have a formalized legal system, there was still a knowledge of right and wrong. That knowledge was something they failed to live up to, just as we did, and their faith was counted as righteousness just like our faith is. The formalized legal system was not meant to be the means by which they obeyed God. It was only meant to be the means by which God more directly exposed their failures.

At that point the debate continued mostly over the above comment’s suggestion that, “The formalized legal system was not meant to be the means by which they obeyed God;” a statement which, while I would agree with it, only becomes clear after New Testament revelation; in other words, after we transition from acceptance from God through obedience to acceptance from God through grace.

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The context of Romans 2 concerns those [Gentiles] who did not have the law, but I can also see why it was quoted in the above discussion. Here is the full text of vs. 12-16:

¹² All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. ¹³ For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. ¹⁴ (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) ¹⁶ This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

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The original question (2nd paragraph of this article) is also the link to the discussion.

If you’re interested in the “Ask a Christian” sub-Reddit more generally, go to this link. If you’re using a PC or laptop, you don’t need to sign up or get the app to read, but you do need to join in order to leave comments. I observed for about a year before joining, but then one day, there was a question I simply had to jump in and ask. There are also other Christianity-related sub-Reddits.

One last verse from the discussion; Genesis 4:7:

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.

Why Did David Run?

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Ruth Wilkinson. Armed with a Samsung phone and a strong desire to delve deeper into the Psalms, she’s been making teaching videos for a small church about an hour east of Toronto, Canada. The one we’re featuring today is part five in a series.

It’s impossible to copy and paste from a video, so I’m hoping that all of you will click through and watch this in full. It runs about 11 minutes.

Teaching notes for the video:

LORD, how my enemies increase!
There are so many who attack me.
So many who talk about me, saying, “There is no help for him in God.”
Selah

But You, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts up my head.
In full voice I cry to Yahweh, and He answers me from His holy mountain.
Selah

I can lie down and sleep; I can wake again because Yahweh sustains me.
I do not fear the arrows that fly against me on every side.

Rise up, Yahweh! Save me, my God!
Oh, that you would strike my enemies on the jaw; that you would break the teeth of the wicked.
Oh, Yahweh–Salvation!
Oh, Yahweh–on Your people, Blessing!
Selah

__________

Psalm 3 written about arguably the worst day of David’s life.
-running from Absalom
—asked before… David is brave. David is strong. David is a fighter.
Then why did David run?

___________________________________

If I were making that movie…
**opening shots:
-messenger running up the hill, into the palace, shouting.
-out of breath, panting out his warning “Absalom is coming!”
-David, after the first shock, looking out the window of his palace, the hills beyond… Any sign yet?
-then down over the streets, the markets, the homes.
-women carrying water, the children playing and learning, the men working.
-what Absalom’s army will do to the city in order to get to David.

My movie…
-David walking fast, giving orders.
-first stunned silences, then moving on… explosion of organization…
-packing… rounding up kids… directing servants….
-what and who to leave behind.

My movie…
-overhead travelling shot…
-David at the head of the evacuation, leading his people through the city,
-still giving orders, making plans, staying at the front…
-guessing, maybe, that if Absalom might try to block the exit (David needs to be first to meet him.)
-guessing, maybe, that in the narrow streets of the city, his people are safest behind him.
-guessing, maybe, that most people didn’t know why the king is leaving, and it’s better that way.

-David leading his wives, children, servants and supporters, military forces to the gates, the way out.
-open space, wilderness, salt flats, Jordan River, a chance at survival.
-hoping Absalom doesn’t get there first.

My movie…
-David passing through the gate, looking around, walking to the last house on the edge of town and stopping. Stepping off the road.
-looking around for any sign of ambush, seeing nothing.
-gathering his courage, taking a deep breath and smiling as he waves on past–wives and children to keep on down the road.
-waving past his servants, his armed men – go – go – go –

-David waiting until the last straggler, last soldier has gone ahead, before he follows, watching over his shoulder.
-guessing, maybe, that once out of the city, Absalom is more likely to catch up from behind.
-David needs to be last in line to meet him.
_________________________

First time we meet David, he’s a shepherd. Called in by his dad from the fields with sling tucked into his belt, oil under his fingernails, dust in his hair, smelling like sheep.

Now years later, decades from those pastures,
—–King David, husband, father, soldier, killer David is still a shepherd.
Providing for his flock.

Why did David run? So that he would be followed.
Shepherd. Sheep knew his voice, and they followed.

Knew David would lead.
-Bringing up the rear when the rear is where the danger lies.
-Standing between them and the predator.
-Being the target. Being the bait.

________________________

My movie…
-David walking, weeping, barefoot, breathing in the dust raised by those who relied on him.
-down into the Kidron Valley – down away from the holy mountain, where God’s presence.
-up the Mount of Olives where once he had worshipped YHWH God, but where he cannot stop.
-again down and down and down into the dusk and the sunset, his mind full of words.
-until finally he has to pull himself together, walk back in among his people, and be their shepherd.

____________

My movie…
-closing scene for that day….
-stars in the sky, sound of the Jordan River, the comfort of the narrow green strip between the burning hot salt flats and the cool of the water; smells of food and a fire burning, encircled by exhausted people with just enough energy to eat, and to worry.

Out of the darkness
-David would walk into the crowd, through the circle of people who were here because of him, carrying his harp. and carrying his courage.
-He would stand where everyone could see him and he would sing.
-He would sing his fear – enemies, and what if God doesn’t help?
-He would sing his faith – His shield, his hope, and the voice that echoes still from that far-away high and holy place.
-He would sing in the knowledge that Absalom and his troops were in the city, taking over everything and everyone that David’s people had had to leave behind.
-He would sing his trust into the shaken hearts of those who trusted him…

“I can lie down and sleep. I will awake again.”
“I can lie down and sleep. I will awake again.”
“I can lie down and sleep. I will awake again. Because YHWH sustains me.”

My movie…
-David the shepherd sings his exhausted flock to their rest.

Before and After: The Veil and the Big Reveal

This week a friend put me on to a 50-minute YouTube podcast of Mike Winger teaching on the prophetic nature of four verses in Proverbs 30 that ended with the passage in 2 Corinthians 3 which follows. I’ve linked to the podcast at the end of today’s reading for those who want to go deeper.

^{NIV.2.Cor.3.13} We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. ¹⁴ But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵ Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. ¹⁶ But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

BibleRef.com sets the stage:

Paul has been comparing the glory of the old covenant between God and Israel and the new covenant of God’s grace for all who come to Him through faith in Christ. The glory of the revelation of God through the old covenant was always fading away and being brought to an end. The glory of God’s revelation of Himself through Christ is eternal. Through faith in Christ, God receives Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for sin and gives credit for Jesus’ sinless, righteous life in return.

The result for him, Paul has written, is boldness and confidence while representing God to others. He has nothing to fear, because his standing before God is not based on his own performance. It is all based on Christ’s righteousness.

Moses, on the other hand, could not be so bold in representing God to the Israelites. Paul is referencing Exodus 34. Moses returned to the people after being with God visibly changed in his appearance. His face reflected God’s glory so powerfully that the people were afraid to come near him (Exodus 34:30). The glory of God was painful to them in their sinfulness. Moses covered his face to protect them from God’s glory. He could not boldly reveal it to them as Paul revealed God’s glory in the person of Jesus.

The Bridgeway Bible Commentary suggests that the veil itself is both literal and symbolic:

After Moses had been away from the presence of God for a while, the brightness of his face faded, but the veil over his face prevented Israelites from seeing this fading brightness. To Paul, this fading brightness symbolized the fading away and eventual end of the old covenant. The permanence of the new covenant, by contrast, gives Paul confidence in all that he says and does (12-13).

At Authentic Christianity, Ray Stedman comes closest to the type of approach I heard in the podcast, even going so far as to title his commentary, “Who is This Masked Man?” (He refers to the veil as a mask, which, you gotta admit, is somewhat timely!)

God loves to teach with symbols. His favorite teaching method is to use a visual aid, a kind of symbol of truth which he holds up before us to instruct us. The “mask,” or veil, which Moses wore is a symbol of the old covenant, that is, the Law, the Ten Commandments, with their demand upon us for a certain standard of behavior. Also, it is a symbol of our natural, typical response to the Law — to try to obey it, either to the point of convincing ourselves that we have achieved it, or to the point of giving up and rebelling against it.

Stedman also gets into the possible motivation for Moses’ motivation for wearing the veil. It may not have been because his face was shining with the glory of God, but that the glory was fading. Just stop and think about that for a minute:

Moses, perhaps, did not understand all this when he put the veil over his face. It is somewhat difficult for us to guess what his motive may have been. Some commentators suggest that he felt that if the people saw that the glory was fading away, they would not pay any attention to the Law, they would disregard it and go on living as they wanted. Others have suggested that, perhaps, he was trying to preserve his own status symbol as a special mediator with God. That is the position I have taken in my book, Authentic Christianity, which deals with this passage. I think that Moses, like many of us, was trying to preserve the reputation he had with the people and he did not want them to see that when he came out from God’s presence the glory began to fade — as many of us do not like people to see what is really going on inside of us. We want to preserve an image of being spiritual giants when actually we are not at all. Our family knows it, but we do not want our friends or anyone else to know. That may be what Moses’ motive was.

The Bridgeway Commentary looks at what happens when someone steeped in the old covenant (i.e. the Jews) places themselves under the new covenant:

In a sense there is still a veil that belongs to the old covenant. It is the veil that covers the minds of the Jews, for they read the Old Testament but refuse to see Christ as its fulfilment. Consequently, they cannot properly understand it (14-15). When Moses went in before the Lord he removed the veil. Similarly, when Jews turn to Jesus Christ, the veil is removed. Through the work of the Spirit, Christ sets them free from the bondage of sin and the law (16-17). Christians also must make sure that there is no veil between them and their Lord. The better they know Christ personally, the more they will be changed so that they become increasingly like him (18).

As Stedman continues, we see the challenge of what we’re doing here, going back and forth between two commentaries where the interpretation of what the veil represents, and its practical applications, differs.

Notice what that is saying. The apostle is very clear that the nature of the darkness, the blindness that lay over the minds of the Jews of his day, which he calls a “veil,” is the same veil that Moses put over his face. Now, obviously, the veil on Moses’ face was a material veil; it was made of cloth. Paul is not suggesting that the Jews walk around with cloth veils on their faces.

Stedman sees the fading taking place as “the terrible end of self-effort,”

… They do not see that the end of all their efforts to try to live a righteous life by their own human resources is going to end in death and condemnation and emptiness and a total sense of futility and waste. But yet, that is what happens.

Paul also calls it a “hardening,” by which he means it becomes a continual condition. It is a state of mind that they enter into. Now, the amazing thing is that, in our day, 2000 years after Paul, this is still true. You can see it in the Jews today. In Orthodox Judaism, and much of Reformed Judaism, and certainly in Liberal Judaism, they are still trying to make it before God on the basis of how they behave.

Again, it’s a longer selection, but if you’re going to read one of the links here to better understand the passage, I would choose either taking the 50 minutes to listen to the podcast link, or read Ray Stedman.

BibleRef returns us to the historical context:

Now Paul adds that the minds of the Israelites were hardened by sin. Even as Moses was receiving the commandments from God, Israel built an idol to worship instead of worshipping the Lord. This disobedience and betrayal of God resulted not just in punishment from Him but in a hardening of their minds to see His glory. The glory was revealed in God’s Word to them, but they could not, would not, see it.

Nobody can see God’s glory, Paul adds, because of this veil created by sin. It keeps us from understanding what is true until it is removed through Christ. In other words, only those who come to God through faith in Christ are freed from the veil and given the ability to begin to receive God’s glory. Why? Because in Christ, their sin is forgiven and replaced with Jesus’ righteousness.

On a later page, it adds,

We cannot remove this veil ourselves no matter how sincerely we want to or how diligently we study or how desperately we try to obey.

I held back verse 18 to the end so it might be our final thought:

^{NLT.2.Cor.3.18} So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

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Here is the link to the podcast by Mike Winger that got me interested in this text: Jesus is Prophesied in the Book of Proverbs. (The Corinthians passage comes up close to the end.)

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Teaching the text — advice to pastors at WorkingPreacher.org from Karl Jacobson:

…[I]t may be necessary to say a quick word about the inter-testamental tension here. There may be a tendency, and perhaps even a temptation, to read this allegory of Paul’s as an outright rejection of the Old Testament. Phrases like “not like Moses,” and “their minds were hardened,” and even simply the “old covenant,” may seem to suggest that Paul is doing exactly this, rejecting “Moses” and his obscured, clouded, veiled word. But for Paul, there is no true disconnect between the Torah and the Testament to Christ. As the second reading from last week showed the gospel (or as 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 has it, the truth) is very much in keeping with the Old Testament, with the scriptures of the tradition.

At stake here are questions of antinomianism, of supersessionism, of simplistic ideas of “Old Testament = Law, bad and New Testament = Gospel, good.” Along with these often goes “Christian believer = good, Jewish believer = bad.” This is not, finally, what Paul is about. Paul does not dismiss the Old Testament.

At the same time the essential claim for Christ is an essential claim, it is particular, and quite uncompromising. While Paul does not reject the Old Testament, the old covenant, he does argue for a particular reading of it, one that is possible only in the Spirit, who brings freedom from blindness, and veiled minds (3:17)…

You Can Learn a Lot from Lot

In a blurb for the book Bad Boys of the Bible by Barbara J. Essex, the publisher summarizes, “Cain, Abraham, Adam, Samson, Lot, Jacob, and Jephthah are well-known men of the Bible who were strong and faithful, yet also weak and challenged.” That’s being charitable considering some elements of their story. Parents who have ever tried to purchase a children’s story book about Samson know that the publishers of similar series often avoid the character, and I would think even more so would books about Lot be few.

If you don’t know a lot about Lot, there is a summary at LifeMinstires.org.nz.

The website GotQuestions.org also provides the basic story outline, which weaves through chapters 12 to 19 of Genesis. His uncle was Abraham and much of his story includes interactions with the Jewish patriarch. The site concludes that Lot’s character is very much a result of geography:

Much of Lot’s life is a picture of the consequences of greed and the negative influence of a sinful environment. Lot knew God, but he chose to live among people who would lead his family into sin and complacency. But Lot’s story is also an illustration of God’s great mercy—in spite of Lot’s poor choices, God saved him and his daughters from a violent end in Sodom and preserved his line throughout the ages

Again, that’s a more gentle way of relaying some hard truths. The site BibleOdyssey.org focuses on the narrative involving Lot and his daughters (which it describes as an etiological myth) and includes depictions of that narrative in classical art which all involve scenes of nudity. Again, it’s a reminder that parts of the Bible are not PG-13. (I’m not sure what I think of this summary, but the other links today are highly recommended.)

Despite this, the Apostle Peter considers Lot a righteous man in 2 Peter 2: 6-8

Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. (NLT underlining added)

At the site WordsOfLife.co.uk there is a wonderful 7-part outline on the life of Lot which integrates his story with New Testament principles.

The scripture references… make very sad reading. They tell us about a man who was saved, … but he was only just saved; he… had a saved soul but a lost life, because he lived for self and was in bondage to the things of time and sense, and he became engulfed in and succumbed to the evils of his time.

Also at Words of Life Ministries, some of the points have sub-points. Sadly in a section on Lot’s influence in his time and place,

• He had no influence with the men of Sodom. We learn this from Genesis 19: 1-11, and particularly notice in verses 7 –- 9 that they laughed him to scorn. The men of Sodom must have despised Lot, and the world despises a worldly, “make-believe” Christian.
• He had no influence with his children. We learn this from Genesis 19: 8; this is a verse to make us shudder, but is there a sadder verse in the whole Bible than Genesis 19: 14?
• He had no influence with his own wife. We learn this from Genesis 19: 26, which tells the solemn story of her disobedience and her tragic end

So honestly, why read and study the lives of men like Lot. The same website answers that with a reference to 1 Corinthians 10: 11-12

These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. (NLT)

We must also remember that our choices and actions don’t take place in a vacuum. We are part of larger families and networks. A Roman Catholic website, Community in Mission, reminds us that Lot’s actions didn’t just affect himself, they affected his whole family:

But here is the risk that Lot takes: he turns his face toward Sodom and willingly exposes his family to the grave moral threats there. And it does indeed affect them. Ultimately, his wife cannot bear to leave, looks back, and is lost. His daughters escape, but later engage in the grave sin of incest. Lot, too, will find it hard to flee Sodom, finding God’s offer to save him to be too much trouble. He’d rather stay, whatever the risk.

If you’re going to swim in muddy water, you’re going to get muddy. And that mud gets in your ears and in your soul. This is what Lot risks and what results when he pitches his tent toward Sodom.

Many of us, too, think little about the risks that television, the internet, music, and culture pose to us and our children. Too easily we risk our eternal salvation and that of our children by pitching our tent toward Sodom through easy commerce with a world that is poisonous to our faith. Even if some things are troublesome, many of us make little effort draw back and limit, even in little ways, the influences that are contrary to our faith.

The consequences are noted at website EncounterLifeMinistries.org:

A man who has no honor cannot expect to get honor in return, can he? 

and mentions that later on in the story,

Lot reconsiders and thinks that maybe he should leave Zoar and head into the mountains. How many times have we been Lot in this very second? “God, I want to do it my way…wait…that didn’t work out…okay, let’s do it your way.”

As we said at the outset, Lot, like Samson and others is what we might call an anti-hero. But his life provides us with helpful warnings and good counsel. The words of Jesus recorded in Luke 17: 26-30 reminds us that,

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”
(The Message)

 

 

The Name of David

…he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will. – Acts 13:22b ESV

I have an acquaintance who regularly supplies me with articles, and sometimes these get filed away only to emerge many years later. This one is by Philip N. Moore from a 1996 book Messiah Conspiracy: The End of History. She wrote a note on the copy saying that Moore was a research assistant for Hal Lindsay. One online site suggested the book is over 1,100 pages.

So David reigned over all Israel, and he administered justice and equity to all his people. – 1 Chronicles 18:14

This one is about hidden meanings in the name of David. I don’t place a lot of importance on Bible numerology or hidden name meanings but they can sometimes be significant, and many find them inspiring.

If you’re unfamiliar with the life of David, Jack Wellman has a great summary of his life at this link.

The Ancient Name from Which We Get the Star of David

WHAT IS THE TRUE BUT CRYPTIC MEANING OF THE ANCIENT NAME OF DAVID FROM WHICH WE GET THE STAR OF DAVID?

The Star of David is an illustration of God and man interwoven into one. In Israel, it is called the Shield of David for a very specific reason.

In Hebrew, Magen means “shield.” In English we substitute star, because the Shield of David forms a star of six points. Actually, the six pointed star is composed of two ancient daleds (a daled is a “d” in the Hebrew alphabet). One points up and one points down and they are interlaced and woven through each other.

The middle letter of David’s name, vav, is not included in the modern Star of David. However, if it were, you would have a Jewish Star of David with a cross in the middle.

There is evidence that the ancient shape of the vav was similar to a Roman cross. All of the religious scholars in Israel know that the ancient shape for the Hebrew letter, daled (ℸ) was 𐤃. So David’s name is spelled in Hebrew with two daleds and a vav. Its modern spelling would look like …. Its ancient spelling (the way David would have written it 3000 years ago before Hebrew was altered in the first dispersion), would look like this– 𐤃𐤅𐤃

DAVID’S CONSOLIDATION OF HIS ANCIENT NAME CONTAINED MESSIANIC DEITY IN ITS MEANING!

As a famous king of Israel, Davi would have consolidated these letters to spell his name in a logo style, a trademark, so to speak, to separate him from all other Davids in Israel. The signature of the king would have been written in this way: one ancient daled inverted over the other, with the middle letter of his name, vav, inscribed in the middle of the symbol.

The modern Messianic Jews may not even be aware that when they wear this Jewish star with the cross inside of it, they are wearing the personal signature of David, called the Shield of David.

If you think about it, who was David’s shied? Of course, it was the Messiah, who is God and man, and died on an ancient wooden vav. The triangle pointing skyward represents man created in the image of God, with three integral parts interlaced into one–mind, body and spirit; while the triangle facing downward represents God’s image of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When they are woven into one another, as is the true Star of David, they represent the God Incarnate Messiah, who showed Himself to us in the body of a Jewish man, Jesus, whose name means “salvation” in Hebrew. Remember, God said let us make man in our image (Gen. 1:26).

YOUR PERCEPTION CHANGED FOREVER FOR THE BETTER–THE STAR OF DAVID, THE SYMBOL ON THE ISRAELI NATIONAL FLAG, PROCLAIMS JESUS’ DEITY

You will never be able to view another Star of David or Israeli flag without knowing who it truly represents, Jesus, commonly called in the New Testament the Son of David (Matt. 1:1, 20; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9, 15; 22:42; Mark 2:25; 10:47-48; 12:35; Luke 3:31; 18:38-39).

 

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The Psalms as History Book

A couple of times I’ve mentioned the “Rivers of Babylon” passage, Psalm 137.

Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. We put away our lyres, hanging them on the branches of the willow trees. For there our captors demanded a song of us. Our tormentors requested a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!” But how can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
Psalm 137: 1-4 NLT

In one of our very first articles here in 2010, I wrote that this was the equivalent of saying,

“C’mon. Sing us one of your camp songs. Sing us some Chris Tomlin. Let’s hear some classic Maranatha! Music choruses. How about some Hillsong? Anyone from England know any Graham Kendrick?”

Of course the key application for us today is “But how can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?” And indeed, 2020 has been like dwelling in a strange and foreign land.

I noted that in Psalm 137, we’re provided with some background information not available anywhere else in the scriptures. At this point, the Psalms, while not a historical book, lapses into history.”

…I was reminded of this last week when David Regier (@davidpaulregier) wrote on Twitter,

“If we want a Christian perspective about how to look at history, a good place to start is by learning to sing Psalm 106.”

He’s in the middle of a project creating metrical Psalms (hymns based on Psalms with a rhythmic and melodic structure.)

It’s not just history, but it’s also commentary on that history,

Many times He would deliver them;
They, however, were rebellious in their counsel,
And so sank down in their iniquity.
— Psalm 106:43

The Message renders this as,

Over and over God rescued them, but they never learned—
until finally their sins destroyed them.

The Voice Bible has a shade of meaning for the second line which is somewhat different, but note that italicized lines in The Voice have been added to supplement the original text.

He delivered them over and over again;
    however, they were slow to learn and deliberately rebelled.
    Their sins humbled them and nearly destroyed them.

…I decided we would do well today to take David Regier’s advice, and the rest of today’s devotional is in fact the text of Psalm 106. I’ve chosen the New Living Translation, courtesy of Bible Gateway.  (Click here for NIV.)

⁷ Our ancestors in Egypt
    were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds.
They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them.
    Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea.^[a]
8 Even so, he saved them—
    to defend the honor of his name
    and to demonstrate his mighty power.
⁹ He commanded the Red Sea^[b] to dry up.
    He led Israel across the sea as if it were a desert.
¹⁰ So he rescued them from their enemies
    and redeemed them from their foes.
¹¹ Then the water returned and covered their enemies;
    not one of them survived.
¹² Then his people believed his promises.
    Then they sang his praise.

¹³ Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done!
    They wouldn’t wait for his counsel!
¹⁴ In the wilderness their desires ran wild,
    testing God’s patience in that dry wasteland.
¹⁵ So he gave them what they asked for,
    but he sent a plague along with it.
¹⁶ The people in the camp were jealous of Moses
    and envious of Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.
¹⁷ Because of this, the earth opened up;
    it swallowed Dathan
    and buried Abiram and the other rebels.
¹⁸ Fire fell upon their followers;
    a flame consumed the wicked.

¹⁹ The people made a calf at Mount Sinai^[c];
    they bowed before an image made of gold.
²⁰ They traded their glorious God
    for a statue of a grass-eating bull.
²¹ They forgot God, their savior,
    who had done such great things in Egypt—
²² such wonderful things in the land of Ham,
    such awesome deeds at the Red Sea.
²³ So he declared he would destroy them.
    But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people.
    He begged him to turn from his anger and not destroy them.

²⁴ The people refused to enter the pleasant land,
    for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them.
²⁵ Instead, they grumbled in their tents
    and refused to obey the Lord.
²⁶ Therefore, he solemnly swore
    that he would kill them in the wilderness,
²⁷ that he would scatter their descendants^[d] among the nations,
    exiling them to distant lands.

²⁸ Then our ancestors joined in the worship of Baal at Peor;
    they even ate sacrifices offered to the dead!
²⁹ They angered the Lord with all these things,
    so a plague broke out among them.
³⁰ But Phinehas had the courage to intervene,
    and the plague was stopped.
³¹ So he has been regarded as a righteous man
    ever since that time.

³² At Meribah, too, they angered the Lord,
    causing Moses serious trouble.
³³ They made Moses angry,^[e]
    and he spoke foolishly.

³⁴ Israel failed to destroy the nations in the land,
    as the Lord had commanded them.
³⁵ Instead, they mingled among the pagans
    and adopted their evil customs.
³⁶ They worshiped their idols,
    which led to their downfall.
³⁷ They even sacrificed their sons
    and their daughters to the demons.
³⁸ They shed innocent blood,
    the blood of their sons and daughters.
By sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan,
    they polluted the land with murder.
³⁹ They defiled themselves by their evil deeds,
    and their love of idols was adultery in the Lord’s sight.

⁴⁰ That is why the Lord’s anger burned against his people,
    and he abhorred his own special possession.
⁴¹ He handed them over to pagan nations,
    and they were ruled by those who hated them.
⁴² Their enemies crushed them
    and brought them under their cruel power.
⁴³ Again and again he rescued them,
    but they chose to rebel against him,
    and they were finally destroyed by their sin.
⁴⁴ Even so, he pitied them in their distress
    and listened to their cries.
⁴⁵ He remembered his covenant with them
    and relented because of his unfailing love.
⁴⁶ He even caused their captors
    to treat them with kindness.

⁴⁷ Save us, O Lord our God!
    Gather us back from among the nations,
so we can thank your holy name
    and rejoice and praise you.

⁴⁸ Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
    who lives from everlasting to everlasting!
Let all the people say, “Amen!”

Praise the Lord!

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Footnotes:

1. 106:7 Hebrew at the sea, the sea of reeds.
2. 106:9 Hebrew sea of reeds; also in 106:22.
3. 106:19 Hebrew at Horeb, another name for Sinai.
4. 106:27 As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads he would cause their descendants to fall.
5. 106:33 Hebrew They embittered his spirit.

 

 

 

The Principle of Accommodation

Note: There are no specific scripture references today. You’re encouraged to search for texts related to the section in bullet points below.

Bruxy Cavey is the Teaching Pastor of The Meeting House in Toronto, Canada.

■ This subject was something I was aware of in scripture, but didn’t realize there was a formal term for it. The first section is taken from the fourth message in a series called Origins, and the section quoted has been greatly abridged. Watch starting at 8:24. (To 15:01.)

with Bruxy Cavey

Religious sacrifice is our invention that God accommodates and uses for a season and then eventually enters and ends through Jesus. This raises again the principle of accommodation…. The principle of accommodation is an accepted Biblical understanding — there’s really no debate about this one, there is overwhelming Biblical evidence — that God accommodates human practices or decisions or desires in how he works with us. God made us in his image and his likeness and he honors his image in us and so once God made people instead of pets, He then partners with those people even when some of the things that we want are not His initial will. There’s lots of examples of this in scripture

• Kings — It was Israel who said, “We want to have an earthly king.” And God said specifically, “It’s not my will, in fact I take that personally, that’s a rejection of me… That’s a bad idea.”… [But then he says,] “Okay, let’s give them kings.” …He uses the kingship of Israel to teach them things… If you were to jump into the middle of the story, you would think God is really into kings. But if you zoom out, you learn that God never really wanted kings in the first place.
• Physical Temple — God said, “I want you to make a tent as a meeting place because a tent is portable.” Portability is part of what it teaches us about God. And it’s David, one of the kings that shouldn’t exist, who says, “I get to live in a castle. If you’re the king of the universe, you should have a castle, too.”
• The Law – the Ten Commandments — Living by a list of rules instead of the heart relationship that we had in the garden of Eden (and that Jesus brings us back to.)
• Divorce — In Matthew 19, Jesus is having the same debate with the religious leaders – the Pharisees – about how in the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 24) Moses commands a certain way of getting a divorce… Jesus changes their language when they say, “Why did Moses command divorce?” Jesus says, “He permitted it … because your hearts were hard.”
• Slavery — …Not God’s will but he works within that model for a season.
• Animal sacrifice — [part of the introduction re. Genesis chapter four.]

…This is a harm-reduction model. [God says,] “You’re going to run headlong and do some damaging things…I’ll meet you where you’re at and at least try to mitigate some of the harm you’ll cause yourself.” …And then Jesus comes in and leads us into a New Covenant and says, ‘I’ll give you a better way, and I’ll give you the power of the Spirit to help you live up to that ideal.

■ This section is taken from week five of the same series, a question-and-answer wrap up week. The video for this section begins at 27:06 (This section is quoted more verbatim.)

Q: Couldn’t the principle of accommodation become a dangerous slippery slope, allowing us to justify almost anything?

A: The principle of accommodation [is the belief that] God often enters human designs, human impulses, human wishes, such as the desire to have earthly kings, the desire to have an earthly temple, the desire for divorce; there’s all kinds of things… But God often enters those desires, those impulses, and He uses them and He governs them and He makes them his own. He accommodates us as image-bearers of the divine.

So someone asks couldn’t the principle of accommodation become a dangerous slippery slope, allowing us to justify almost anything, and the answer to this is yes. Absolutely.

Just like grace.

See, just because something can be abused doesn’t mean that it isn’t true. When the Bible teaches something, we should not shy away from it just because it’s dangerous.

The Bible clearly teaches grace; that we are saved under the new covenant by simply trusting that it’s true. And this grace should so change our hearts and help us see how much God loves us that we live a moral life, we live a loving life,  because we want to not because we have to. We want to get closer to this God that loves us that much and is so gracious toward us that it changes our hearts and everything we do is a want to not a have to.

But is it possible for that to be abused?

Absolutely. Right from the very beginning of Christianity there were Christians who abused grace. Who said, “Well, if I’m just saved because of faith, then it doesn’t matter how I live. I’ll just go an live however I want.” And it’s interesting, the early church didn’t say, “Wow; we better stop preaching grace because it can be abused. We better preach grace plus law just to make sure we keep people in line.” No, the Apostle Paul doesn’t take that approach, in Galatians, in 1 Corinthians, etc. He just continues to preach grace all the more to help people’s hearts catch a picture of it and become transformed.

 

 

 

 

When Leaders Walk Away

“My people have become lost sheep; Their shepherds have led them astray” (Jeremiah 50:6).

At Thinking Out Loud we’ve linked to the writing of Dr. Claude Mariottini, but this is his first appearance here at C201. He is Emeritus Professor of Old Testament at Northern Baptist Seminary. He has pastored churches in California, Kentucky, Missouri and Illinois. I have published more than 200 articles and book reviews in English, Spanish, and Russian, and is a contributor to many scholarly works.

He wrote the article — linked in the header below — in the wake of several high profile departures from the faith by key leaders. This piece is a follow-up to a previous essay, Why People Leave the Christian Faith in which he presents three major reasons, but then here he devotes his attention entirely to a fourth reason. Again click the header for the full article.

When Leaders Fail

…Those who leave the Christian faith because they are offended or hurt by church leaders should remember the admonition of God: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:5).

The decision that [these leaders] made to abandon the faith… is not unique to them. The people of Israel also abandoned God. The Lord said to the people of Judah, “You have abandoned me and turned your back on me, says the Lord. . . . I am tired of always giving you another chance” (Jeremiah 15:6).

Why did Israel abandon God? The prophetic books of the Old Testament give several reasons:

Israel’s prophets were arrogant; they were treacherous men (Zephaniah 3:4).

Israel’s priests profaned what was holy (Zephaniah 3:4).

Israel’s teachers taught lies and falsehoods and thus did not help the people to turn from their evil ways (Jeremiah 23:22).

The shepherds of Israel took care of themselves instead of taking care of their flock (Ezekiel 34:2-5).

But poor leadership was not the only reason the people abandoned God. The people of Israel were destroyed because they did not know the difference between good and evil (Hosea 4:6). They went into exile for lack of understanding of their responsibility before God (Isaiah 5:13).

In addition, the leaders of the nation and the people who followed them would not listen to the call for a change of attitude. The people were as stiff-necked as their ancestors had been. The people did not trust in the Lord their God. They rejected God’s teaching and the covenant God had made with their ancestors and the warnings God had given them through the prophets. They followed the work of their hands, worthless idols, and in turn they themselves became as worthless as their idols (2 Kings 17:14-15).

This is what Israel had done. The Lord said: “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me–the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” (Jeremiah 2:13).

Notice that God said: “My people.” They were God’s people, but they had abandoned God. They had abandoned God, the fountain of living water in order to satisfy their own desires. They wanted to be satisfied with water from cisterns, the work of their own hands. Instead of trusting in God, the people of Israel decided to go alone, to do what they wanted to do. They decided to be independent of God only to discover that in the hour of their greatest need, they were all alone, deprived of divine help.

The tragic result of living without God is clearly seen in the book of Lamentations: “How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her” (Lamentations 1:1-2).

Jerusalem represents the people of Israel. The people of Israel had gone into an exile of affliction and hard servitude because they had left God in order to go alone. The people left God in order to find solace among the works of their hands only to discover that at the time of their deepest despair, when they were facing the darkest night of their soul, they were all alone, deprived of the God who could help them, with none to comfort them…

[…finish reading the article at this link]

 

Will We Be Judged in Terms of The Ten Commandments?

Back in January, Leighton Flowers at the website Soteriology 101 published a follow-up piece to a podcast he did with Andy Stanley, following Andy’s comments regarding the relationship we have as New Testament Christians with the Old Testament. This is just a small portion of a larger article; click the title below to read it all.

Not Accountable to the 10 Commandments?

…Do you think believers are going to be judged by whether or not we keep the Ten Commandments? I sure hope we aren’t, don’t you?  I’m not exactly sure what is controversial about Andy’s comment on this point? He just said believers in Christ aren’t held to account for breaking the 10 commandments. Jesus Himself said something quite similar,

“The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.  I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken” (John 12:45-49).

What is Jesus saying? He is saying that we are not going to be held to account for how well we keep the law (with would include the 10 Commandments), but will be held accountable for what we do with the truth of Christ, His gospel. Paul put it like this,

“What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works” (Rom 9:30-32).

In other words, the Jews pursued righteousness by keeping the commandments (the Old) and did not attain it, but the Gentiles pursued righteousness by trusting in the truth of Christ (the New) and they have attained it. That means they were held to account for their faith, not their pursuit of the law. This is what Andy seems to be saying to me, am I wrong? Believers are not judged based on our adherence to the commandments, but rely instead on the grace of the New Covenant.

Believers who have been shown unconditional love and grace will desire to give, serve and follow God’s guidelines freely (without compulsion). But, by God’s grace we will not be held accountable for all the times we fail and break His commands. That is why we rejoice and celebrate His grace with such earnest. We all know that without it we would be doomed. What is the controversy exactly, I could have missed something?