July 28, 2009
says, “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.”
In today’s reading I was again startled by the apostle Paul’s words concerning the “full number” of the Gentiles that God wants to save. We are living in the age of the Gentiles’ salvation. When God has saved whom He wills, then He will turn His attention back to the Jews. When that happens Israel will embrace Jesus as Messiah.
I wonder if we are living in the age when God will soften the hearts of Israel?
July 25, 2009
King Asa started out so well… In the line of David, king of Judah, tore down the high places, deposed his evil grandma, faced up to the army from Cush with Divine help…What went wrong in his old age? Instead of depending on God (like he had his whole life before) he depended on the temple treasury and an alliance with an enemy (Ben Hadad). When he had nothing, he depended on God. When he was old and had gold and silver, he depended on wealth.
Are we tempted like this too? I want to finish well. How can we finish well?
July 22, 2009
.. He was so on fire for God as a young man. He even prays for the nations to come to the temple and recognize God.
What happened to Solomon as he got older?
He turned to worshiping the false gods of the many wives and concubines that he took. The wisest man who ever lived was turned from God by his lust for foreign women.
What happened to his godly wisdom? Why couldn’t he finish life the way he started… living for God?
My prayer today: Lord, please enable me through the power of the Holy Spirit to finish better than I started. May the story of my life’s 4th quarter be better than the first three combined. Help me to believe more, attempt more, grow more, and love more. In the name of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
May 19, 2009
The Incarnation is the best revelation of the Trinity
In John 10, Jesus said “I and the Father are one.” He said, “The Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
It is difficult to understand the doctrine of the trinity, but the revelation of God in Jesus Christ is just that… a revelation of the trinity. In this dimension that we live, the trinity is just out of reach of our human perspective. We catch a glimpse only in the periphery of our vision.
But when we look at the Incarnate One (God in the flesh), we hear His testimony to the THREE-IN-ONE. So, without fully understanding all, I choose to believe what the Son has said about the Father and the Spirit.
I believe and I worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is the One who made me, saved me, and keeps me.
May 19, 2009
Let the Lord defend you.
1 Samuel 24-25 includes two stories where David is tempted to defend himself, to take his own revenge/vengeance. One, is the opportunity to kill King Saul as he relieves himself in a cave. The other is with the fool Nabal, who offends David. In both instances, David is kept from shedding blood in his own defense. In the Saul instance, David’s men even tempt him with the old “it’s the Lord’s will” that you do this. We will all be tempted to defend ourselves, to take justice into our own hands. But like David we can let God handle it. It’s always best to let God be our defender instead of defending ourselves.
April 15, 2009
Jesus healed ten lepers and only one returned to give Him thanks. I wonder, does that percentage still give thanks today? Only 10%! Am I running back to Jesus to say, “Thank you!”? Or am I one of the nine running to get back to my life?
April 2, 2009
What’s with the four tassels?
Deuteronomy 21 has this seemingly random list of laws and regs. Some involve personal conduct, like what to do with disobedient sons, or when someone commits adultery. Others seem more like building codes, such as, build a railing around your roof to keep people from falling. Stuck in the middle of this list is the instruction to make sure you wear a tassel on the four corners of the hem of your outer garment. These tassels were to be a reminder of the commandments of God.
I was reading the blog of a Messianic Jew recently, who said that each tassel was to have blue thread, wrapped in accordance with the name of YHWH. So, the “Y” or Hebrew Yod would have the number of wraps corresponding to its number in the order of the Hebrew alphabet, and so on for each following letter.
Is it possible that the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, actually touched one of these tassels?
March 26, 2009
Luke records the raising of the widow’s son by Jesus. I love this story! Jesus and the disciples approach a city and are met by a funeral procession coming towards them. You know, their headlights are on and they’re heading for the graveyard. But Jesus stops the pall bearers and tells the dead boy to get up (Jews buried their dead within 24 hours and usually carried them on open pallets or caskets)
The boy is raised and Jesus gives him to his overjoyed mother. Doesn’t Jesus know that you’re not supposed to stop a hearse on the way to a funeral?
March 25, 2009
Have you noticed that Deuteronomy is like a remake of an earlier movie with added subtitles? Why do you think Moses wrote another book summarizing the earlier ones? Hint: The book gets its name from the scholars who first translated the Hebrew Bible into a Greek translation they called the Septuagint. The Greek word “deutero” means “second.” The Greek word “nomos” means “law.”
March 24, 2009
I’m so happy to see all of these posts! When I see WCCers getting deep in the Scriptures it makes me feel like we’re really being the church! Hey, I liked Jonathan’s insight to the temptation of Christ. Three tests, each with a different focus. It reminds me that Satan hasn’t changed much. He tempted Eve with three too (1- good for food, 2- pleasing to the eye, 3- desirable for gaining wisdom)
Perhaps this is what John meant…
“For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world.” (1 John 2:16 NIV).