December 8, 2009

8 December 2009
Psalm 26, 28; Amos 7:10-17; Rev. 1:9-16; Matt. 22:34-46

Not surprisingly, the prophet’s words are not warmly received in Israel by either priest or king. Bethel is the site of the temple of the northern kingdom of Israel, the word meaning “house of God.” It was the oldest worship site in the land, dating to the time of Jacob. It is the place where Jacob saw the vision of heaven standing open, angels ascending and descending on the ladder. Jerusalem, however, seems clearly to have been the site God chose for the worship of the nation. The kingdom was divided into two sections, with Israel being the northern kingdom and Judah being the southern, during the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. Israel was made up of 10 tribes and Judah, two, Judah and Benjamin. At that time Bethel was re-established as the site of worship for the northerners. Amos states that he isn’t a prophet for hire, that he was called from his day job with the word of God.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day prove themselves as unreceptive to prophets than the leaders of Amos’ day. Attempting to establish a pecking order among the commandments, the Pharisees send a lawyer (expert in the law) to ask Jesus a question. Jesus’ answer distills the commandments to two, love God, love your neighbor. The question is one that occupied the minds of the legal scholars, trying to summarize the law more succinctly. Since it seems that this one is an expert, Jesus returns the favor by asking a question of the expert concerning the Messiah. Jesus proves more adept at Bible games than the expert in proving that the Messiah is greater than David and therefore cannot be David’s son but his superior.

The imagery John sees here relates to Daniel’s prophetic vision. It should not be surprising that the two should correspond so closely as they are both revelations of and by the same God. John’s revelation is more complete as he is able to identify this Son of Man who remained an enigma to Daniel and those who do not know Jesus. John’s book here is prophecy in the same sense as the Old Testament prophets. It will be written to the people of God in seven particular churches in the form of letters of both commendation and condemnation, a warning of what will happen if correction is not made. We need to be able to hear from the Lord that we are not getting it right in some of what we do, we should always be open to correction as we continue to struggle to follow the Lord. Our humanness still carries weight in all we do and we tend to need course correction.

Blessed be the LORD!
For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.