April 23, 2014
Psalm 91 was a favorite of my father’s. While lying in a hospital bed fighting cancer, he had our pastor read this Psalm to him regularly. He loved to meditate on its meaning. Psalm 91 is part of Book IV in the Psalms, which has five divisions or books organizing its 150 psalms. According to Spurgeon, the ancient rabbis saw a kind of “echo” of the Pentateuch in the Psalms. He described the Psalms as the Congregation’s “five-fold” response to God’s “five-fold word” in the Torah. Describing Psalm 91, Spurgeon said:
“It is impossible that any ill should happen to the man who is beloved of the Lord; the most crushing calamities can only shorten his journey and hasten him to his reward. Ill to him is not ill, but only good in a mysterious form. Losses enrich him, sickness is his medicine, reproach is his honor, death is his gain. No evil in the strict sense of the word can happen to him, for everything is overruled for good. Happy is he who is in such a case. He is secure where others are in peril, he lives where others die.” (The Treasury of David, Vol. 2, Part 2, 93)
April 22, 2014
Jesus speaks of His Second Coming in a manner consistent with the prophet Daniel’s words (Dan.7:13) concerning the “Son of Man,” a Messianic title. His return will not be like His first coming, in weakness and in obscurity, a baby born in a Bethlehem manger. No, it will be in “power and great glory” for all to see. Those who are ready for His return will be filled with joy for their salvation is near. But those who are not, will be terrified by His coming judgment. Our hope for Christ’s future return is as sure as our faith in His past resurrection from the dead. Christ has come. And He is coming again.
April 21, 2014
Jesus challenged the bad theology of the Sadducees (who denied the resurrection and only affirmed the 5 books of Moses). Since they only believed Moses, He used Moses’ words to teach them about the resurrection. Be careful of strict theological systems because they can lead to error. Jesus is the only true criterion for understanding God and His doctrines. Jesus is the lens that brings God’s Word into focus. Only those who have the mind of Christ can rightly divide His Word. Jesus not only proved the resurrection from the Scriptures, He proved it in history by being raised from the dead.
April 20, 2014
After hearing Jesus tell the parable of the evil tenants, the people wondered at how terrible the tenants treated the Owner’s son. At this, Jesus pointed them to the Scripture found in Psalm 118:22 that described how their spiritual leaders would reject the true stone for the temple which would turn out to be the Cornerstone that undergirds their entire worship. The Jewish leaders knew that Jesus was comparing them to the evil tenants and they fulfilled the Psalm by rejecting Him and turning Him over to Pilate to be crucified. Yet, on the third day He arose. The stone the builders rejected became the Chief Cornerstone. The Resurrected Christ is the foundation of our faith! The Church is built on Him!
April 19, 2014
Jesus knew the future of Jerusalem. He knew that the Romans would destroy it, not leaving one stone upon another. This destruction happened in 70 AD, within the lifetimes of many that heard His prediction. That Jesus knew the future with such certainty points to His divinity. That He wept over Jerusalem shows His humanity. Jesus is both God and man, even His judgments are marked by tears.
April 18, 2014
The people all had their own ideas about why the Messiah would come and what he would accomplish. But none were ready for his true mission: “to seek and save” the lost. Jesus described himself with the Messianic title “Son of Man” while explaining his purpose. On his way up to Jerusalem, to be crucified for our sins, he stopped in Jericho to eat at a tax collector’s house named, Zacchaeus. There the rich, little, tree climbing man confessed his sins to Jesus. And Jesus continued up to Jerusalem and to the cross, and carried Zacchaeus’ sins, and our sins, there with him.
April 17, 2014
As Jesus and his disciples traveled the road from Jericho up to Jerusalem, he once again spoke to them concerning his impending death. They didn’t understand the significance of these predictions until after Jesus was raised. Yet, Jesus was very specific in these predictions. He was fully aware of his identity, taking the Messianic title “Son of Man” and claiming to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Anointed One. He was also specific in the details of how the Jews and Romans would conspire to kill him and the means thereof. Knowing what was awaiting him, Jesus continued “going up to Jerusalem” and finally up Calvary’s hill. After all, this was why he came into the world.
April 16, 2014
Caleb was one of the 12 spies who Moses sent into the Promised Land. He and Joshua were the only two who gave a positive report. The people were swayed by the majority report and became fearful, doubting God. This resulted in 40 years in the wilderness to raise up a new generation of faithful warriors. Only Caleb and Joshua remained from the adults who first left Egypt. Caleb was 40 years old when he first saw the land flowing with milk and honey. He was 85 years old when he asked Joshua to give him the mountains, to give him the giants, for he was still as strong as he was 45 years before. He could have asked for anything. He could have requested a nice pre-built city or a grassy plain, but he asked for the hills of Hebron and the land of the Anakites who made men feel as grasshoppers in comparison. When others would want their retirement and days spent fishing, Caleb still wanted to accomplish things for God. Many men begin well, but few finish well. Caleb knew how to finish better than he started. May God make us a generation like Caleb!
April 15, 2014
Jesus pointed to Old Testament scenes of God’s judgment to answer end times questions. His use of the “Son of Man” title seems a clear reference to the exalted Messianic figure of Daniel 7. The fact that Jesus speaks of his future suffering and return further points to his self-awareness as the Messiah. Then, he compares the timing of his return to the days of Noah and later, to the time of Lot. In both cases, God’s judgment came without anyone being prepared, except the few warned by God (Noah’s family and Lot’s). Their was no worldwide awareness of God’s pending judgment, no readiness to face the Righteous One. It was a day like any other, it was “business as usual” when the end came suddenly. This is sobering news. Yet, nested within these stories is the fact that God saved Noah and Lot. They escaped God’s wrath through divine means. Perhaps the better question is not “when will the end come?” But “how can we escape God’s judgment?” How can we be ready for Christ’s return? The answer is to be found “in” Christ just as Noah was found in the boat when the floods came. As Paul said in Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
April 14, 2014
This was Abraham’s response to the rich man who while in torment in Hades begged for Lazarus to return to warn his brothers of the reality of heaven and hell. This dialogue was the conclusion to a story that Jesus told to illustrate the way people would continue to doubt Him even after His resurrection. The intellectual pride of the skeptic cannot be overcome with persuasion or evidence. The agnostic’s resistance to the gospel is not so much intellectual as it is willful. It’s not that they “can’t” listen to the evidence. It’s that they “won’t listen.” Believing in the resurrection of Jesus involves not only intellectual assent but a submission of the will, so that we confess Jesus as Lord and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9).