28 November 2015

Psalm 137, 144; Micah 7:11-20; 1 Pet. 4:7-19; Matt. 20:29-34

In the midst of judgment the prophet sees that the Lord will deliver the nation not only from the nations around them but from their own iniquity.  The day has come to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and to see the Lord again shepherding His people.  Micah sees the lovingkindness of God in pasturing His people in places where there are enemies all around now but then there will only be Him and them as of old when they came out of Egypt.  Micah knew that the revelation given to Moses at Sinai, that the Lord was and is and always will be merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity for those who confess their sins but not clearing those whose guilt remains unconfessed.  Micah knew that covenants are not revocable with God, that He is a God who keeps covenant forever with those who seek Him and who will return in confession and repentance, that there is always hope if we will only come to Him and ask for forgiveness.

In Mark’s Gospel this story focuses on one of the men, Bartimaeus, here Matthew tells us of two men.  Jesus is passing through Jericho on His way to Jerusalem for Passover.  There are great expectations among not only His disciples but also the crowd who are going to the festival as well.  They have heard of His works and His teaching and they are hoping that the Messiah has come.  These blind men are no exception.  They have clearly heard about Jesus’ miracles, the healing of other blind men, perhaps of the healing of the man born blind in John 9 and they have hope.  Their cry is for mercy from the Son of David, the Messianic King.  When asked what they want from Him they quickly reply with an audacious request, recovery of their sight and, moved by pity, Jesus grants their request.  The King is indeed coming, with healing in His wings.  Great things surely lie ahead.  This will be the great Passover when the Lord answers their prayers.

When Peter says that judgment begins at the household of God he is speaking the same language Paul used when he wrote the Corinthians that ultimately the work of all would be revealed by fire and that which was of the Lord, built on the foundation of Jesus, would remain.  Peter’s expectation was that the day of judgment was coming soon and the church should be prepared for that judgment.  He also expected persecution to happen to Christians and that the church should be prepared for testing and suffering and that there is a distinctly Christian way to suffer to the glory of God as compared to the suffering of those who have no hope in Christ.  That way is to recall always that this suffering, this world, is only temporary compared to the glory that lies ahead.  The King is coming indeed and we are to be prepared to greet that Day with great joy.

27 November 2015

Psalm 140, 142; Isa. 24:14-23; 1 Pet. 3:13-4:6; Matt. 20:17-28

Isaiah hears the nations, east and west, coastlands, from the ends of the earth, giving praise to the God of Israel and yet, in the midst of all this praise, he is troubled within at what he sees in the nation itself.  The prophet sees the truth, that while the earth may be filled with praise it is also filled with sin.  His day sounds a great deal like our own when there are songs galore praising God while at the same time there is little pursuit of righteousness, even among those singing God’s praises.  Isaiah saw judgment coming and he saw what looks like floods and earthquakes, the earth itself in paroxysms.  It sounds much like what John saw in the Revelation, the judgment not only of the inhabitants of earth, but of all the host of heaven, satan and the fallen angels. 

As Jesus speaks of His coming death yet again the disciples seem to either be in denial about what He is saying or they believe Jesus has lost His mind.  Matthew tells us that it is at this time, in fact, that the mother of James and John comes and asks Jesus to set her two boys on His right and left hand as He comes into His kingdom.  In Mark’s Gospel, it is the two disciples themselves who make this request.  Either way, it is certain that the request isn’t motivated by an understanding that Jesus will be taking over a very non-temporal kingdom.  The belief is that when they go to Jerusalem this time it will likely mean that He takes over the throne of David, as the messianic King of the nation, restoring its pre-eminence.  No one could imagine what was going to actually happen, it was beyond belief. 

We are called to be the righteousness of God.  Our lives are to be lived according to His commands.  Righteousness is always a rebuke to unrighteousness, it will provoke others to despise us for it makes them feel judged.  The only response unrighteousness has is to judge itself righteous and true righteousness as wrong.  That was what happened to Jesus.  His righteousness was determined to be blasphemy and not true by those who thought themselves to be both righteous and the arbiters of righteousness.  Peter’s appeal is to live according to the Spirit rather than the passions of the flesh.  We will be called to give an accounting of our lives.  How we live needs to align with what we say we believe. 

26 November 2015

Psalm 131, 132; Zeph. 3:1-13; 1 Pet. 2:11-25; Matt. 20:1-16

In addition to the judgment on the nations, Zephaniah says that there will also be judgment on Israel.  He sees that the priests and leaders of the nation are not godly in their conduct and leadership.  The nation will not hear His voice of correction, and has not learned from His judgments against the nations.  In other words, there is no fear of the Lord within her, no knowledge of Him.  He is, however, in the midst of her, and each day offers justice but they refuse to listen and accept the truth.  For this reason, judgment will also fall on the nation but in the end there will be a remnant and that remnant will include those from the nations who will also worship in truth.  The proud and haughty will be replaced by the humble and lowly, those who fear the Lord and bow their heads and knees to His majesty in love. 

It is easy to identify with the complaint of those who have worked all day and yet are paid the same wages as those who worked only an hour isn’t it?  I would have expected more as well, initially because I saw the generosity of the owner but then, after I received the same wages, because I thought I had earned more than those who had worked only a short while.  The original workers agreed to work for the wages given but now, that level of pay seemed unfair.  The money hadn’t diminished in actual value, only relative value had changed.  What had been worth the effort now seems less than enough.  The rewards of the kingdom of God are given equally would seem to be the point Jesus is making here, whether you come in early in life or at the very end of your life.  We also need to remember that it was He who earned it on our behalf.  From the beginning of our salvation to the end, it is all down to grace and mercy, the generosity of God that we have any work to do for the kingdom.

Peter’s admonition is to keep our conduct honorable among non-believers “so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”  His expectation is that these others will indeed speak against God’s people.  He doesn’t have the illusion that people will think highly of Christians nor is it his goal to be spoken well of by them.  He does, however, believe that it is important that the witness of our lives be honorable.  His example in all this is, obviously, Jesus, whose life could not be criticized, He was perfectly righteous and, when men spoke against Him, beat Him and, ultimately, crucified Him, He made no defense.  You cannot defend yourself against unrighteousness, all you can do is live to please the real judge of all men.  Peter surely remembered Jesus’ teaching, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  We are living in an unrighteous world, let us, with our lives, testify that He is righteous in all His ways by doing what I bid us to in the confession, true and earnest repentance of sins, love and charity towards our neighbors, and the intention of leading a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways.

25 November 2015

Psalm 119:145-176; Obadiah 15-21; 1 Pet. 2:1-10; Matt. 19:23-30

The day of judgment for the nations is coming.  Israel’s deliverance and pre-eminence will be the result of this judgment.  The nations will receive their recompense, Esau is particularly singled out in this judgment.  Remember that Esau sold his inheritance of birthright for a mess of pottage.  The inheritance was the promise of God to his grandfather Abraham, passed to his son, Esau’s father, Isaac.  Esau, however, had little value for that and God chose Jacob to receive what was, by birth, Esau’s.  In this judgment, even what Esau had was going to belong to Jacob, along with the land of the Canaanites, Noah’s grandchildren, who were cursed for the sin of their father.  Let us never despise what the Lord has promised to us as these men did.

The “prosperity gospel” has always existed.  When Jesus speaks of how difficult it will be for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven the disciples are dumbfounded.  They want to know, if this is true, who might be saved.  Their assumption is that men of wealth are blessed by God and this is a sign of their favor in his eyes.  Poverty would then be the sign that God has rejected someone.  If that theology is right, then rich people will also enjoy eternal favor.  Jesus, however, contradicts that theological position and the disciples are confused.  His teaching on the matter is at one with his command to the rich young ruler to leave all his earthly wealth behind to inherit eternal life, “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”  The relative importance we give to things of earth vs. eternal things speaks volumes about our value system.  Our birthright is the cross, let us not despise it in favor of anything else.  Let us consider all else as Paul did, as rubbish, in comparison with the reward that awaits.

Peter helps us understand that our value system is messed up.  He says of Jesus that He is, “a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious.”  If we can be so humanly wrong about something like Jesus, the only man resurrected from the dead by God, how can we trust our desires and insights in any other place?  In coming to Jesus we are called to re-examine all that we hold dear and value in light of Him.  We are called to live not for the things we see with our eyes but that which God has promised for those who believe in His Son, who share His estimate of value of the one on that cross.  We are a new people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, we are called to be like His Son and we tend to become like what we value.

24 November 2015

Psalm 121, 122, 123; Nahum 1:1-13; 1 Pet. 1:13-25; Matt. 19:13-22

Nahum got to deliver the prophetic word Jonah so desperately wanted to give, he got to announce God’s judgment on Nineveh.  Nahum’s prophecy was about 150 years after Jonah at the time Assyria fell in about 612BC.  In verses two and three of this reading Nahum takes God’s self-revelation at Sinai to Moses from Exodus 34 and says that while the Lord may be slow to anger, judgment and wrath are part of His character, He will by no means clear the guilty.  In the midst of the announcement of judgment and the fearsome prospect of the Lord’s anger being poured out on His enemies the prophet suddenly tells us also, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.”  In our day, we need to be reminded that judgment and wrath are part of the package.

When Jesus says to keep the commandments if you would enter life, the young man asks, “Which ones?”  Are there commandments which we can ignore?  In response Jesus lists some of the commands given at Sinai, ending with the summary of the second section of the tablet, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  He leaves out two things in particular though, the first section of the tablets, the part about loving God, and the last commandment, don’t covet.  Those commandments He includes in the admonition to sell everything and give it to the poor.  The young man loves his possessions more than he loves God, his treasure is here on earth, he isn’t willing to part with this life in order to have eternal life.  He covets things of earth.  Jesus exposes him as a sinner, in spite of his protestations that he has kept the commandments Jesus listed initially.  What he lacked was a savior, someone truly righteous.

Peter is giving us a summary of the Law as well, love God, love your neighbor.  Loving God is not only something we do intellectually and emotionally.  Peter tells us that we also love God by being holy as a response to His mercy and grace and the hope of grace at the revelation of Jesus.  We are called to be holy as He is holy.  The image of God should reflect the one whose image it is intended to bear.  Our love for Him, the way we show that we value the sacrifice of His Son on the cross, is to pursue Godliness, to conduct ourselves in fear in this exile, to obey His commands.  Next, Peter says we are to “love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”  In all these things he reminds us that we have been redeemed from perishable to imperishable and we are then to set our minds on those imperishable things.  Let us not continue to be like the rich young man, looking to these perishable things, but like Jesus, who set His sights on those imperishable things, the eternal kingdom.

23 November 2015

Psalm 106:1-18; Joel 3:1-2,9-17; 1 Pet. 1:1-12; Matt. 19:1-12

Joel’s vision of the day of judgment is certainly similar to John’s vision in Revelation.  Joel says all the nations will gather for war in the “Valley of Jehoshaphat” which means the valley of decision and there He will come and judge the nations.  We speak of the battle of Armageddon from Revelation 20 where the Lord will intervene on behalf of his besieged and outnumbered people and judge the nations by destroying their army there on the plain.  Joel says that in that day, “The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.”  John tells us the same.  We can have confidence in the prophetic words that in the end the Lord will judge the earth and He will be victorious.  If we are His people then we know that nothing can prevent His kingdom from coming, He alone is sovereign and that He will rule over all the universe as King of kings and Lord of lords.  We have nothing to fear.

At the time of Jesus’ earthly life there was a dispute between two great rabbis, Hillel and Shammai, over the issue of divorce based on Deuteronomy 24.1-4.  The Pharisees question is an attempt to determine Jesus’ interpretation of Scripture, whether he is more “liberal” in his interpretation.  Hillel allowed divorce for nearly any reason based on that passage, which states that a man may give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away if he find any indecency in her.  Jesus goes back, not to Deuteronomy but to Genesis to answer their question but He does something else.  Their question says that Moses “commanded” something concerning divorce but Jesus says that Moses “permitted” or “allowed” divorce but that was based on a failing not in the woman but in the man, hardness of heart.  If you want to know what God thinks of marriage, Jesus says, go back past Moses to Genesis. 

Peter begins the epistle, after telling to whom it is addressed, with praise, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”  Then he tells us why he is blessing God: for His great mercy in causing us to be born again to a living hope, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this, no matter how difficult the testing is at this time, we are to rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.  The reason for this is that this salvation of our souls is faith’s reward.  Faith is demonstrated by our worship, our rejoicing in loving Him and believing in Him.  We know what the prophets of old longed to know, they were serving us, even us Gentiles, in their work and we have the fullness of the knowledge of God’s plan.  We are to prepare ourselves through rejoicing now in that living hope, that, at the revelation of Jesus in His second coming we might join with heaven in praise and glory and honor.

22 November 2015

Psalm 118; Isa. 19:19-25; Rom. 15:5-13; Luke 19:11-27

When Isaiah wrote this prophetic word Israel was vulnerable to both the empires of Egypt and Assyria.  What he saw was that there would come a time when both these nations and empires would worship Yahweh.  The bumper sticker today is, “No Jesus, no peace.  Know Jesus, know peace.”  That is the vision Isaiah had here.  The only path to peaceful coexistence for Israel, Egypt and Assyria was common worship.  Isaiah saw that this was going to happen.  The focus is on Egypt and he uses language from the time of the Exodus.  They would cry to the Lord because of oppressors, just as the Israelites cried to the Lord when they were oppressed by the Egyptians.  The Lord would send them a savior and deliverer just as He had sent Moses.  The Egyptians would know the Lord in that day.  He had been making Himself known to them since the plagues but finally they would know Him and worship Him. The vision awaits the coming of the kingdom of God.

This parable was actually quite contemporary.  Herod and his sons received their kingdoms by going to Rome and, in recent memory, the people had actually sent a delegation to Rome opposing the giving of the kingdom that included Judea to the Herods.  Jesus says that working on behalf of the king is expected of his servants. The application may have looked like it applied to Herod but it also says something about our relationship to the King of kings.  He, too, would be opposed in receiving a kingdom.  He will come again to judge those who have both been stewardship and those who opposed His kingship.  Something is expected of us, we have been entrusted with great treasures in the Gospel.  How are we investing what we have been given and are we prepared to give an accounting of our stewardship?

Paul writes of the mission of Jesus and the mission of the church.  He encourages them to seek unity among themselves, making no distinctions between Jews and Gentiles.  His argument is that Jesus became a servant to the Jews, the circumcised, in order to fulfill the promise that the Gentiles would glorify God for His mercy.  Paul sees that the vision of Isaiah is partially fulfilled in the work of Jesus through the church’s faithfulness to go to all nations and preach the Gospel, baptizing and making disciples.  The fullness of that vision awaits His coming again in glory but now, we the church, have been given the commission to go.  It is for faithfulness to that commission that we will be held to account in the end.  

21 November 2015

Psalm 107:33-43, 108; Isa. 65:17-25; Rev. 22:14-21; Matt. 18:21-35

The Lord announces the new creation with Jerusalem as the centerpiece.  So splendid will that new creation be that the former things will not be remembered at all.  Along with the new creation of heaven and earth will be a new people, people who don’t age, children who thrive and survive.  The promise is that the people of God will dwell safely and securely in the Land and that all life will flourish.  Peace will be the overriding theme, concluding with the animal kingdom living peaceably together.  The reaction to that new creation is to be rejoicing and the leader of the rejoicing will be the Lord Himself who will “rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people.”  Do our hearts long for this promise?  It is hard to have a vision of a new creation and to imagine a perfected and sinless world.  We only know this one that is broken by sin, fallen from its potentialities, and we love it.

Peter makes what he probably thinks is a generous offer of forgiveness, if his brother sins against him seven times he will forgive.  Jesus raises the bar impossibly high, eleven times as high in fact.  Way back in Genesis 4 a man named Lamech, the first polygamist in the Bible, a man the sages believed to have killed his grandfather Cain, one of, if not the least noble men in the antediluvian age, said to his wives, “If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold.”  Do those numbers look familiar?  Jesus then tells the parable of the unmerciful or unforgiving servant to illustrate the point that our forgiveness is contingent on our being forgiving to others.  We tend to underestimate the grace we need from God and to overestimate the grace we need to give others.  Our perspective on sin is all wrong. Peter will later find that he needs much forgiveness from Jesus.

There’s that tree!  The tree of life is accessible to those who wash their robes.  It seems like an incredibly simple thing doesn’t it?  Why doesn’t everyone just wash their robes and access the tree of life so that they may enter the city of God?  Naaman, the Syrian leper who was told by Elisha that he had to wash in the Jordan nearly didn’t receive healing because he wanted it his way, not God’s.  If his servant hadn’t intervened, Naaman would have continued to be a leper for that reason.  Those who are outside are those who refuse to wash their robes, accept that sin is serious business and come to Jesus.  It isn’t His fault that they won’t come to Him.  Sin is what barred the way to the tree of life.  If we don’t let go of sin and receive His righteousness through the cross, we have no right to complain about our plight.

20 November 2015

Psalm 102; 1 Macc. 4:36-59; Rev. 22:6-13; Matt. 18:10-20

As the Gentiles are defeated and pushed out of the city Judas and his people see the profanation and degradation of the temple.  Their first reaction is to mourn, to tear their clothing, sprinkle themselves with ashes and fall face down on the ground and cry out to heaven at the sound of the trumpets, the shofars. Afterwards, they got up and got to work restoring things as they should be. The work included removing that which was profaned by the Gentiles with their illicit sacrifices and starting all over on the altar of burnt offering.  They put everything to rights and worshipped and celebrated for eight days and then directed that this feast be celebrated every year for eight days at this time.  The feast of Hannukah, or dedication, was born.

The work Jesus calls us to in both these short passages is the work of reconciliation and restoration.  The parable of the Lost Sheep follows the reading from yesterday that ended with admonitions regarding sin and temptation.  The lost sheep is the one who has gone astray and the work we are called to do is the work of finding and restoring that lost sheep to the fold where it belongs.  Love and compassion are the motivators for the one who owns the sheep, not anger and judgment.  A shepherd sometimes has to break the leg of the sheep, hobbling it so it cannot walk on its own for a time as a means of restoring the sheep.  During its convalescence the shepherd carries that one everywhere so that it bonds with the shepherd and will no longer stray, with the potential for leading others astray as well.  The final part of today’s reading is about church discipline, when brothers sin against brothers.  We are called to confront such sin directly, unlike what we are to do when non-brothers sin against us as Jesus spoke of in Matthew 5.  The purpose of confrontation is reconciliation and restoration.  Dealing with sin, either with God or with one another, begins with confession and repentance but the purpose is that sin might be forgiven and the relationship restored.  Love is the motivation.

The announcement is made that Jesus is coming soon to judge the living and the dead according to their deeds.  We have somehow gotten the idea that only faith is judged and necessary for salvation.  Faith that does not lead to repentance and amendment of life, justification without sanctification, is not salvific.  Faith leads us somewhere, it leads us to new life and it leads us to love and serve.  Faith that saves is the faith that calls us to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.  Faith is a call to action not to passivity.  What we believe is to be seen in our lives, not only in our hearts and minds. 

19 November 2015

Psalm 105:1-22; 1 Macc. 4:1-25; Rev. 21:22-22:5; Matt. 18:1-9

The commander of the Gentile army planned a sneak attack but Judas heard of it somehow and averted the disaster that would have befallen his “army.”  They, in turn, attacked the enemy camp while the division was absent and then faced the army in faith.  They were ill-equipped, lacking armor and swords such as they desired but Judas reminded them of the events of the Exodus, when the Lord delivered the people at the Red Sea against overwhelming odds.  This day, too, belonged to the Lord and on this day the Israelites won three battles and routed the Gentile armies and plundered their camp, just as their ancestors had plundered the Egyptians on the day of their deliverance, after the plague of the firstborn.

A child, in the culture of Jesus’ time, was celebrated as a gift from God, the sign of God’s favor on a marriage, but they were not celebrated as we do today. A child’s place was to learn and grow, the least of all the family in many ways. When Isaiah wrote that a little child would lead them, it was an ironic idea since children didn’t know the law, they were simply learning to become adults. Jesus chose a child to make the point of who is greatest, it is one who knows he isn’t the greatest and can do nothing to become great except to admit he has much to learn and humbly seek to know. Temptation to sin, causing another to stumble, is teaching something other than the Law, teaching to break the Law, doing the work the serpent did in the Garden. Leading others astray is a serious matter to the Lord.  Sin is a serious matter to Him. Do we share His attitude towards sin?

The temple served a simple purpose, as a place where sacrifices could be made to either atone for sin or to celebrate peace with God. It was the place where God’s glory resided.  In the new Jerusalem, there is no temple, there is no need, God is everywhere and there is no sin, therefore there is no need for reconciliation.  The throne of God, heretofore situated in heaven, will now be in the city itself.  The light of the city is the glory of God and it shines forth always, there is no night there, no darkness at all.  The light of the world is Jesus.  We are called to seek and to pray for the kingdom of God always.  Here is the vision of the kingdom we need, the eternal presence of God in our midst and a holy people serving and worshipping Him.

18 November 2015

Psalm 101, 109; 1 Macc. 3:42-60; Rev. 21:9-21; Matt. 17:22-27

Judas and the others saw that misfortunes had increased and the enemy had encamped in their territory.  They also knew what the king’s final solution was to rid his kingdom of these people.  In other words, they knew what obstacles were before them.  They were under no illusions about the situation.  In spite of this, their decision was not to surrender but to fight.  They did so only after having consulted the Word of God which gave them superior wisdom to those against whom they were fighting who consulted the images of their gods, dumb idols. As they prepare to fight they do something strange, “Those who were building houses, or were about to be married, or were planting a vineyard, or were faint-hearted, he told to go home again, in accordance with the law.”  The first three categories of people, those who were building houses, about to be married or planting a vineyard are those who have invested their hopes in something that matters, something that needs to be seen through to completion while the final category represents those who will not be fully invested in the battle.  Only those whose full attention is to the fight will be part of the force. 

Jesus predicts His death and resurrection but the disciples appear to have only heard the part about death.  Their reaction is distress, so they clearly didn’t get the resurrection part at all.  Afterwards, Peter is confronted by someone collecting the temple tax and asked if his rabbi and the disciples believe themselves to be exempt from paying it.  All Jews were required to pay this tax for the upkeep of the temple in Jerusalem each year prior to Passover.  Peter, either honestly or to avoid conflict, assures the tax collectors that Jesus indeed pays this tax.  As he comes to Jesus, he is confronted once again about the issue of this tax, by Jesus, who knows what Peter has done.  If, as Peter has confessed, Jesus is the Son of God, then should He, as the Son, pay the tax?  This is as powerful a statement of Jesus’ claim to Sonship you will find. Peter is instructed then to take a hook and line and go fishing, which would have been quite demoralizing for a man who formerly fished with a boat and a net. The tax was paid by Jesus but in a quite novel way and not “out of pocket.” Peter, for his part, dutifully obeyed and his faith and obedience were remarkably rewarded.

John is shown the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and its splendor is unimaginable.  On the gates of the city are the names of the twelve tribes and on the foundation stones the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. I wonder who the twelfth name is? The scale of the city is enormous, 1380 miles per side, 190,000 square miles, with a wall over 200 feet high.  John gives an interesting detail, that human and angel measurements are the same. We are called always to keep our eyes on the prize, the coming of the kingdom of God, but we first have to have a vision of that kingdom.  What we know now is only a weak analog for what is to come.  Our world is fallen while the new creation is perfect in every way, far surpassing anything we could do or create.

17 November 2015

Psalm 97, 99; 1 Macc. 3:25-41; Rev. 21:1-8; Matt. 17:14-21

As the fame of Judas began to grow, the king became angry.  Antiochus had heard enough about this hero of the Jews and was determined to destroy this people altogether.  His anger caused him to make decisions that depleted his treasury and forced him to go to Persia to seek additional funds. While he was gone he left Lysias in charge of both the regional affairs of the Middle Eastern portion of the kingdom as well as the guardianship of the king’s son.  Lysias was commanded to destroy the people of Judea and Jerusalem, to wipe them off the earth.  His response was to send 40,000 troops and 7,000 cavalry against them.  If you think of William Wallace, immortalized in the movie Braveheart, you will have some sense of the force of Judas Maccabeus against whom Lysias sent this army.  It would have been a rout that would barely have been a fight at all they were so outnumbered and they had no cavalry. 

The Reformation Bible study notes make the comparison with Moses coming down the mountain and finding faithlessness when Jesus here comes down from the mount of Transfiguration to find the disciples unable to heal the boy with the demon.  The problem seems to be that “the disciples” are unable to heal they boy.  Have they lost their faith or is the problem that their faith, at least in this instance, is grounded in themselves rather than in God?  I have certainly heard people say that others didn’t get healed because they lacked faith but here the faith that isn’t in evidence isn’t the faith of the man who brought his child but the disciples who can’t heal him.  The disciples’ question to Jesus after He rebuked and cast out the demon perhaps gives us the insight we need, “Why could we not cast it out?” If their faith is not in the healer but in themselves then healing is unlikely.

The new creation comes down out of heaven.  All the language points back to Genesis and the creation of all things for, as we are told, the old heavens and earth have passed away and the sea is no more.  The language is also incredibly similar to the book of John when it speaks of God dwelling or tabernacling among His people.  That language is found in John’s statement, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  We need heroes but what we really need is the Alpha and Omega to act to make all things new.  We are called to be faithful, conquerors, and as we do we are God’s children and He is our God.  If we would share in the rewards of eternal life in the new creation, we must heed the warning in verse 8 regarding who will not share in that blessedness.  Faith is knowing these words are trustworthy and true and acting in accordance with your knowledge.

16 November 2015

Psalm 89:1-18; 1 Macc. 3:1-24; Rev. 20:7-15; Matt. 17:1-13

The first nine verses are a poetic ode to the military prowess of Judas Maccabeus, the son of Mattathias who fought for Yahweh.  Following the ode, we get two glimpses of Judas as a leader and conqueror.  The first battle we hear of is a large group of Gentiles from Samaria who are vanquished and the commander’s sword taken by Judas and used for the rest of his life, a la David’s vanquishing Goliath.  The second story is the defeat of many Syrians by a few Israelites.  The people are afraid of the overwhelming odds and they have had nothing to eat, they are ready to walk away on this one but then Judas reminds them that what they are fighting for is a way of life, they are fighting for the Lord and He will fight for them.  They need not fear the odds, the battle belongs to the Lord.  He knew with God on his side there was no army who could stand against them.

They believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God when they were in Caesarea and they had only the pantheon of the gods to whom to compare Jesus.  Now, on the mount of Transfiguration, they were posed with a different and more difficult challenge.  How did Jesus fit within the context of the heroes of Israel?  He is with Moses and Elijah and is transfigured and Peter wants to keep this moment forever, suggesting that they can build booths and hang out together a while.  When the voice from heaven proclaims Jesus as Son and commands them to listen to Him, all three disciples fall to the ground and don’t rise until Jesus touches them and commands them to rise and not tell anyone what they have seen until after the Son of Man is raised from the dead.  They still affirm that He is Messiah, their only question concerns Elijah coming first, in keeping with the prophecy of Malachi.  He has already come, in the form of John the Baptist. 

As in our first lesson, God’s people are outnumbered.  The armies of Gog and Magog are like the descendants of Abraham, they are like the sand on the seashore they are so great.  The account of what happens is not very dramatic is it?  They marched up to the camp, to the beloved city, and fire from heaven came down and consumed them.  After this comes the judgment of God on all the dead who are judged according to their works.  I thought we were judged by our faith alone.  As James wrote, faith without works is dead.  We are not called to simply believe with our minds, we are called to a life like Judas Maccabeus, a life lived absolutely in accord with that belief, taking up our cross and following Jesus, not a life like those who do not believe.

15 November 2015

Psalm 66, 67; 1 Macc. 2:29-43,49-50; Acts 28:14b-23; Luke 16:1-13

When we see Hasidic Jews in the United States we usually don’t think of men like the Maccabees, men willing to risk everything and fight for their faith.  We see studious men with pin curls and black hats.  They come from this line, however, the Maccabean line who chose to fight to save Judaism from extinction at the hands of Antiochus Epiphanes.  Those who were seeking to preserve the faith, who would not compromise with the world in order to go along to get along, had gone into the wilderness to keep righteousness unmolested.  The king found out about it and attacked on the Sabbath, a day of rest, when they were challenged with the decision of whether to fight back and break Sabbath.  These chose to keep the command and were slaughtered.  Mattathias, hearing of this, realized that if he and his people chose the same path, the religiously observant Jews would all be wiped out and they made the decision to fight, even on the Sabbath, that Judaism itself was at stake.  We need wisdom to determine the path we are called to take in resistance.

The manager was effectively fired when he received notice to turn in the account books.  While he had them, however, he still had an opportunity to secure some future and he seized it.  So far as the clients knew, wink, wink, he had the authority to make the adjustments in their accounts which would reduce the amounts owed to the landlord and they gladly accepted the discounts.  The manager thereby ingratiated himself with the clients and earned their favor and gratitude.  What is being commended, shrewdness, is not a virtue recognized in the Bible.  We can “admire” someone for their shrewdness without condoning it.  The manager was apparently already dishonest, this was simply further evidence, but this time he used it to his own advantage.  Jesus speaks of this wealth “failing” ultimately, and directs us not to such activities but to the eternal dwellings, which are received after all this world’s allure is gone.

How odd is it that the leaders of the Jews in Rome know nothing about Paul?  They had received no letters from their Judean brothers about him, nothing to indicate that Paul was hated and that there had been a significant plot to kill him.  Once he was under Roman authority and not a free man they no longer cared, their objectives seemed to have been accomplished.  Paul assumed these Jewish leaders knew all about his activities and that he needed to defend himself so calls them together and gives his side of the story.  All these men ask for is an accounting of this sect, what we know as Christianity, which they have heard spoken against.  Even now, in prison, in chains, Paul is giving testimony.  We are called to always, under any and every circumstance, speak the truth in order that some might hear and believe.  Like the Maccabees, we are called to never surrender for the sake of truth.

14 November 2015

Psalm 87, 90; 1 Macc. 2:1-28; Rev. 20:1-6; Matt. 16:21-28

We’re not told why Mattathias moved his family from Jerusalem to Modein but we are told that he was greatly grieved by the apostasy of the people of Judah and Jerusalem and the desolation of the temple.  He had to know that they would come to Modein also and enforce the edict of the king to worship his gods.  Mattathias, as a leader of the Jewish community there, is approached and offered a bribe to go along and set an example for the rest of the Jews in Modein.  Mattathias is a man of conviction and covenant and he will not be either bribed or forced to abandon the Lord.  He is moved to righteous anger, as Phinehas (Numbers 25.1-9) had been in the time of the Exodus, when he sees a fellow Israelite offering sacrifice to the gods of Antiochus.  When he kills the man he knows that he must flee and calls those who are zealous for the law and support the covenant to come away with him.

Peter got it right yesterday but got it horribly wrong today.  Yesterday he believed Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, today he believes he knows better about what it means to be Messiah than Jesus does.  Remember that in yesterday’s reading Jesus told them to tell no one what they knew?  This is the reason, everyone thought they knew what all this Messiah thing would look like and no one got it right.  Jesus refers to Peter as satan, a stinging rebuke except that if you think about the temptations in the wilderness after the baptism by John you’ll remember that satan offered Jesus kingdoms without suffering as well.  We are called to take up our cross and follow Jesus, our lives are not our own, they belong to our creator, the lover of our souls, our redeemer.  We aren’t to act as if this life doesn’t matter, we are to understand the difference between this life and the life to come, one is temporary the other is eternal.

John sees an angel come down from heaven with a key to bottomless pit and a great chain.  This angel takes authority over the dragon and seals him in the pit for a thousand years.  This is the passage that divides many Christians.  Is this a literal thousand year reign prior to the second coming?  I provide here a link to the IVP Commentary on the passage.  Setting aside that issue for now, it is clear that there will be a period when satan is not allowed to deceive.  That does not mean that all will believe but it should mean that disbelief is at least based on rejection of truth not deception.  In this time the saints will reign on the earth.  After this period satan is unleashed and gathers his forces against the people of God but, like at Sodom, fire falls down and destroys them prior to battle.  We live in a cosmic battle between God and satan, good and evil, and we need to be prepared spiritually for that encounter and we always need to remember who the true enemy is.  We spend too much time fighting the wrong enemy, other people, and too little fighting the real enemy, satan.  

13 November 2015

Psalm 88; 1 Macc. 1:41-63; Rev. 19:11-16; Matt. 16:13-20

The people of God are to be distinctive.  We are to stand out and no one likes to stand out and be different.  The ruler, however, was in Greece, and he decreed that no one was to be different.  Many in Israel just folded into society and embraced pop culture and secular religion.  They went along with the prevailing morals and ethics and enjoyed the freedom and prosperity.  The king was only going to be satisfied when there was no more of the Jewish religion.  There would be no king but him in the realm.  The temple was defiled with a “desolating sacrilege “on the altar of burnt offering.  The king would only accept complete subservience to himself, any who failed to comply and continued to practice their faith and live according to God’s precepts were killed.  In just this last century we have seen in Germany the same cruelty to the Jews, the absolute hatred of them that drove the Nazis to want a final solution.  God’s covenant people must always be aware that the world hates them.

Jesus’ first question to the disciples is who do others say He is.  There are many opinions about Him, that He is John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets of old.  Do they believe in re-incarnation in Israel?  Elijah is the only one of the bunch who makes any sense as an option since the others died and also did no miraculous signs.  The second question gets to the heart of the matter, is your opinion the same as theirs, are you allowing the world to form your opinion. Peter’s answer is spot-on, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God and for that answer he receives the highest commendation.  You haven’t listened to the world, you have listened to the Father who revealed this truth.  Now that the truth has been revealed to them, Jesus asks that they conceal it.  As we will soon see, the reason for that is that His mission is not at one with the expectations of the world.  If the “men” of His first question are told Jesus is Messiah, they will act in accord with what they believe about Messiah and this will be wrong, it will force the question before its time.

Ultimately, the kings and lords of earth will learn that they are not the be all, end all.  John sees heaven opened, all revealed, and the faithful and true rider on the white horse appears, prepared to come in judgment.  The robe is sprinkled in blood, He has been consecrated as the original priests were consecrated, as the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat of God, is consecrated.  The final judgment has come, the Word of God by name.  The inscriptions King of kings and Lord of lords is the declaration of His sovereignty and in that declaration is the declaration of war on all pretenders to the throne.  As in the days of the Maccabees, it may have looked like someone else was on the throne and all was lost, but, finally, the Lord comes to rescue and judge.

12 November 2015

Psalm 34; 1 Macc. 1:1-28; Rev. 19:1-10; Matt. 16:1-12

The history here leaves out something important. Antiochus Epiphanes was determined to rule over Egypt and so attacked it as the passage says he did.  What it doesn’t tell us is that at the same time a rumor apparently spread that Epiphanes had died and the deposed high priest led a group of a thousand Jews who took over Jerusalem.  Epiphanes was furious and, to show who was truly the boss, sacked Jerusalem, took everything from the temple and outlawed Jewish religious practices.  He worked with the Jews who we see here who willingly gave up their religious identity as the distinct people of God in order to enjoy the benefits of Grecian rule.  They were willing to accept the idol worship of the Greeks in order to reap the rewards of partnership with the king.  It made sense in a worldly way, they were the power in the world and had been for quite some time.  Too often we assimilate ourselves too easily and completely.

Even after Jesus had healed the sick and the lame who had been brought to Him, after He had feed the multitude, the Pharisees and Sadducees ask for a sign “from heaven.”  What would such a sign be if these were insufficient?  His response said they could interpret signs of the times but that only an “evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.”  No sign but the sign of Jonah would be given to such a generation.  Sometimes our problem isn’t that we seek signs it is that we don’t seek signs.  We seek to have signs on our terms and that causes us to miss the signs that are actually there.  A sign from heaven would be something only God could do and so their request here is yet another way of saying, we can’t trust these signs, they might be false.  As in the exodus, the magicians of Pharaoh were able to duplicate the first signs Moses and Aaron worked.  Ultimately, they were beyond their powers and they knew that “This is the finger of God.”  The leaders seek such a sign, one that is indisputably done by the finger of God.  Jesus’ warning about the leaven of these groups causes the disciples to be concerned that they haven’t brought bread, surely that is why He mentioned leaven, right?  Can’t you just see Jesus giving a face palm when they worry about having no bread immediately after He has provided it for the crowd? 

There are two reasons given for why there is rejoicing in heaven for the judgment and destruction of “Babylon,” she corrupted the earth with her immorality, and the Lord has avenged on her the blood of his servants.  The judgment of God is hailed as true and just.  We live in a world that would be fine with judgment for the avenging of the blood of God’s servants but not for issues of immorality. We no longer know what is moral and immoral, we have made our compromise with the world on this issue.  This judgment makes way for the announcement of the marriage supper of the Lamb.  We are called out but we are called to this supper.  Sometimes we forget that there is a positive aspect to that call, we always need to remember that we aren’t bystanders waiting for something, we are to be actively engaged in bringing about the kingdom on earth now.

11 November 2015

Psalm 119:97-120; Neh. 7:73b-8:3,5-18; Rev. 18:21-24; Matt. 15:29-39

The reading of the Law in the hearing of all the people was in keeping with scriptural commandments in Deuteronomy 31 and Numbers 29.  The first day of the seventh month may not tip you off but the day is the beginning of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.  Jews celebrate this as the day on which Adam was created.  The sages teach that it was on this day Adam sinned and was forgiven by God. The overriding theme of the day is Judgment, the Law convicts all of sin in preparation for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  We need to know God’s definition of sin in order to be convicted of it, so the law is read.  We see the people’s reaction to the proclamation of the law as weeping, deep conviction and contrition.  The leaders rush in and encourage them that this is a holy day, they are not to mourn and fast, but celebrate, so they are directed to go and “eat the fat and drink sweet wine.” The reason is that while their sins are clear to them, the Lord’s goodness, mercy and forgiveness are greater still.  When was the last time you wept at the confession in worship and rejoiced at the absolution?

Jesus had proclaimed in the synagogue at Nazareth that the year of the Lord’s favor was being fulfilled in Him.  That year promised reversal of fortune, joy and gladness, the Lord’s mercy.  In these healings we see Jesus reversing the curse for those who come seeking healing and wholeness.  At the end of this Jesus says He has compassion on the crowds, “because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”  When the Israelites left Egypt, when they had gone as far as their food would last, they began to complain against Moses and Aaron because of the lack of food and God had mercy on them because He had created mankind so that we need food and He had called them out to the wilderness, a desolate place.  He provided manna for them there.  Jesus is motivated by this same compassion and mercy for the crowds who have come out to follow Him and provides for them miraculous provision of food.  Their response of faith in Him provokes His covenant faithfulness and love.

It seems strange, after the first two lessons emphasizing God’s mercy and forgiveness, to read this passage of utter judgment.  The difference is that judgment is done on Babylon because she will not repent of her wickedness and sin.  God’s people were commanded, like Lot, to come out from the city lest they be caught up in the judgment.  When we refuse to repent, refuse to come out when called, refuse to put our faith in Him and His Word, we choose judgment instead of mercy.  Sin will be judged and those who refuse to accept God’s Word place themselves in danger of that judgment.  We are either aligned with Him or we are aligned with sin.  Conviction of sin is a good thing, it allows us to choose mercy or judgment.  This reading tells us that judgment, and therefore our choices, are real and meaningful.

10 November 2015

Psalm 78:1-39; Neh. 9:26-38; Rev. 18:9-20; Matt. 15:21-28

One of the most important things in the confession here is that when they say that their fathers broke the commandments and rules they don’t leave open the question of whether those rules are just, they also confess regarding the commandments, “if a person does them, he shall live by them.” The Law is life-giving, not life-sapping.  That goes all the way back to the Garden doesn’t it? If they had kept the one law they had, honored the one prohibition given to them, they would have had life not death. The second important thing they do is affirm that He is righteous in all that has come upon His people, they deserved it, for “you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly.” Because we acted wickedly we need mercy and we should praise to the highest heaven that our God is not only just and righteous but also merciful.  Here is what that praise might sound like, “…our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love…”  Who He is should elicit our praise and then we can worship Him for what He has done, beginning in sending His Son as our savior.

Can you imagine how uncomfortable this incident would be for the disciples?  This Canaanite woman comes, crying out, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon”, and what does Jesus do? “… he did not answer her a word.” He ignored her entirely.  The disciples concluded that Jesus didn’t care and begged Him to do something because she was crying out after them. It would have been beyond awkward and inexplicable to them to see Jesus blithely ignoring her cries.  His response to their entreaty was even colder to her plight, “I was sent to the lost sheep of Israel.”  She kneels before Him and pleads for her daughter, an embarrassing scene to say the least, and yet Jesus rebuffs her by referring to her and her kind as “dogs.”  She will not take no for an answer, she is willing to suffer any indignity for the sake of her daughter and for this Jesus responds compassionately and lovingly.  He is teaching here, teaching on faith and perseverance but also teaching the disciples about attitudes towards those outsiders, that they are capable of extraordinary faith.  Coming on the heels of the encounter with the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus is exposing the religious leaders and, also perhaps, the disciples themselves.

Babylon is destroyed and all mourn her destruction.  There are various reasons for the mourning, commercial or some pleasure-seeking that is now denied.  The city has been the center for all trade and now there is no place to make money and then spend it on pleasure.  The city exemplifies our materialist culture quite well, a culture that has always existed within mankind, fed by the desire to have more of the stuff of earth.  When we lose the ability to feed the beast for some reason or other we grieve and mourn just as these do.  I have been there and lost that and I know that when you have had much it hurts when you no longer have it or the ability to get it back.  Our pain is often a result of wrongly ordered desire.  Seek first the kingdom of God is the answer to that pain.

9 November 2015

Psalm 80; Neh. 9:1-25; Rev. 18:1-8; Matt. 15:1-20

When was the last time you spent a time in worship like the Israelites did this day? They had gathered in sackcloth and fasting with earth on their heads. Can you imagine a group of Christians doing such things?  They separated themselves from the foreigners.  This was a time for the people of God to confess their waywardness and to repent, not a time for a seeker-sensitive moment. They spent a quarter of the day listening to the Word of God and another quarter of a day repenting and worshipping Him for their failure to keep the Word and His faithfulness in spite of that failure.  They did the important work of remembering, remembering His faithfulness to the nation and remembering where they had gone astray. They remembered who He is and who they are and rejoiced that He is a God who is merciful and forgiving.  We need to remember that same way, it is, quite simply, the flow of the liturgy if we will immerse ourselves in it in worship.

Whose tradition do the scribes and Pharisees accuse Jesus and the disciples of breaking? The tradition of the elders.  Jesus immediately turns their accusation on their heads by asking, in response, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?”  After His rebuke of the accusers, Jesus speaks to the real problem in our lives, the stuff that comes out of our mouths rather than what goes in them. The mouth speaks the overflow of the heart and we are defiled from the inside out, not the outside in by food.  Washing the hands is a secondary issue, not a primary one from the point of view of real cleanness.  Dealing with the sin within us should be our first order of business.  If we were as OCD about sin as we can be about germs, we might actually make progress in sanctification.

Do we need to know where this Babylon the great is?  We need to examine ourselves and see if we are guilty of defiling ourselves by participation in immorality of one type or another.  Perhaps Babylon is the internet or streaming video or other entertainment we engage in not in a city but in our own home.  The angel calls God’s people to come out of Babylon lest they share in her judgment.  The images here are like Sodom and Gomorrah as far as God’s judgment is concerned and we, like Lot, are called to come out that we might be spared.  Can we leave without looking back in longing?  Only if we don’t see the kingdom of God as more desireable.

8 November 2015

Psalm 93, 96; Ezra 10:1-17; Acts 24:10-21; Luke 14:12-24

Ezra’s confession and contrition over the issue of foreign wives moves the people to resolve to comply with the Lord’s commands and put away these wives and their children.  This “putting away” is not the word for divorce but is, instead, analogous to what Abraham did with Hagar and Ishmael.  This would indicate that these were not considered “marriages” as such marriages were forbidden.  Putting away would have involved providing for them as well, not just casting them loose.  Ezra’s response to their resolve was to call an assembly to formalize the matter.  This was in December and Jerusalem, because of its elevation, is colder than the surrounding countryside and also subject to intense rains as we see here.  The people ask that this be done another way.  Each tribe will send up those who have transgressed and they will put away their foreign wives.  The process is suitable to most and Ezra agrees to it. 

Jesus has just deflated the conversation around the table of those who jostle for positions of import and the host himself is instructed to invite those who cannot repay the invitation.  Jesus specifically mentions “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.”  If, He says, you do this you will be blessed.  One guest, possibly to change the subject, picks up on the theme of blessing and piously says, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”  Jesus responds with the parable of the banquet in order to say, “Those who think they will eat of that banquet won’t be there, they respond initially to the invitation but when the time comes they are busy with worldly things.”  He returns to the same cast of characters, “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,” as those who will come, the outcasts of society.  Additionally, there are still seats at the table and these will be filled with those from the “highways and hedges.”  These would be the Gentiles.  The old prohibitions are being done away with in the New Covenant.

Paul, on several occasions in his defense here, aligns himself with Judaism.  He went to Jerusalem to worship, to worship the God of “our” fathers, he believes “everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,” what he believes is what “these men accept,” he came to Jerusalem “to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings,” he was in the temple “purified,” that is, having done all according to the ritual law prior to entering the temple.  His only crime, he says, is that he cried out, “It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.”  That statement divided him from some, the Sadducees, but Paul knows that the issue is that he applies the resurrection of the dead a good bit more broadly than the Pharisees as well.  Are we prepared for God to include people in that resurrection that we might not care for, are we blinded by our own prejudices as well?

7 November 2015

Psalm 75, 76; Ezra 9:1-15; Rev. 17:1-14; Matt. 14:22-36

It is odd to see many of these tribes mentioned again as they haven’t been heard from since way back prior to the conquest of the land.  Only three of the tribes listed, the Ammonites, Moabites and Egyptians actually existed at the time of Ezra.  It seems likely that the reason for the listing is to recall the original prohibition against intermarriage and include the problematic marriages among the people at the time. Ezra is appalled when he learns this practice is common and even among the officials and chief men.  He sees that the Lord has granted grace to allow the remnant to return and rebuild even though they aren’t truly free men, but under the rule of Artaxerxes and is now dismayed that this sin, one of the most important prohibitions given the people, threatens to bring God’s judgment back. 

After the feeding of the five thousand Jesus sends the disciples away in a boat so that He can have some time alone with the Father. The wind is hard against them and, while they are a long way from shore, they are making less progress than expected. Jesus walks on the water and Peter believes that if this is possible for Jesus it is also possible for him, but only if Jesus will call him to do so. Peter’s faith is great but it cannot stand against the wind when he sees it and quickly he needs saving. He will, of all the disciples, have the moment of walking on water but he will also have the rebuke of the insufficiency of faith.  John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus said we would do greater things than these, do we have such faith to believe?

One of the seven final angels beckons John to come and see the destruction of the great prostitute who has enticed the nations with sexual immorality. Do you see that in both the first reading and this reading that sexual immorality is an important thing?  Here, the woman is exposed in her lewdness and debauchery and yet John’s reaction to her is to marvel.  The angel wonders why and then explains the future regarding the beast, which will be resurrected from the dead, captivating the world and then kings will cast down their crowns and worship the beast, joining together with it against the Lamb but in the end the Lamb will conquer because He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.  We must have wisdom and discernment in all things, we must keep ourselves in obedience to Him lest we bring judgment on ourselves.

6 November 2015

Psalm 69; Ezra 7:27-28, 8:21-36; Rev. 15:1-8; Matt. 14:13-21

As Ezra and the others leave Babylon and begin the journey towards Jerusalem, a journey of some 900 miles, he stops and calls for the group to fast and pray for safe travel and protection on the journey.  They have no guard as Ezra says, “I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, ‘The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.’” He would trust the Lord completely, and thereby the Lord would prove to the exiles as well as the king that He was able and willing to protect His people as they did His will.  Ezra entrusted the priests accompanying the delegation with all the vessels used in worship or given as freewill offerings for the temple in accord with the king’s edict.  When they arrive, they have all that was given to them, they had faced no enemy, and they offered sacrifices in thanksgiving for answered prayer.  That is always an important thing to do, thank God for answers to prayer.

The crowds that came to the “desolate place” were those who believed, not like those of Jesus’ hometown who had doubted because they knew Him and His family.  These people would not allow the doubts and disbelief of others to dissuade them from what they knew, based on what they had heard and seen.  They believed and they wanted healing for the sick among them, enough to go to the desolate place on foot and to remain there as long as necessary, even if it meant they went hungry that night.  In addition to the healing miracles Jesus worked that day, this crowd was rewarded with a meal provided by God Himself, a miraculous feeding even the disciples couldn’t imagine.  Like the exiles in our first reading, faith was rewarded.

John sees the final angels, seven, the number of completion, in heaven and these will bring the final wrath of God.  Prior to their coming forth the 144,000 appear again, singing the song of Moses, the song of faith and praise that what is going to occur is part of God’s holiness.  This judgment is just, true and righteous and as awful as it will be, God should be praised for it for these reasons.  We don’t like the idea of judgment.  We should be appalled at it, not anxious for it to come, we should regret the necessity and pray for those who are outside the number of the redeemed.  In the end, however, in order for the plea, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…” to be answered, judgment is required.  The angels come from the tent of witness in heaven, and one of the living creatures gives them the seven bowls of wrath to pour out on the earth.  Faith is our only hope and we should daily thank Him for that faith that will see us through to our home just as Ezra and those exiles came safely to Jerusalem.

5 November 2015

Psalm 71; Ezra 7:1-26; Rev. 14:1-13; Matt. 14:1-12

Ezra is a direct descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses, the first high priest.  Ezra, however, was both priest and scribe, one who was dedicated not to the service of the temple but to the Word of God.  He had set himself this one thing, to know and teach the law to God’s people.  In the exile, there was no temple, there was only the Word of God and the promises of God to forgive the people who confessed and repented, even without sacrifice, which was impossible outside the temple.  They couldn’t do the religious things so they had to know the Word and be even more diligent about keeping it.  Isn’t it amazing that Artaxerxes was willing to provide, out of the king’s treasury, for the needs of the worship of the people in Jerusalem?  His program was to allow and encourage the worship of the gods of the people in the belief that this generosity would inspire peaceful coexistence under his earthly rule.  I wonder how much of the Law the king knew when he gave Ezra permission to enforce God’s law?  If the king knew the law, he had great wisdom and insight that it would produce good citizens.

Herod the tetrarch is distinguished from his father, Herod the Great.  This Herod had married his brother’s wife, Herodias, in spite of the fact that the law prohibited such marriages.  The family was Jewish, so the law did apply.  John had been imprisoned because Herodias wanted it for his condemnation of the marriage.  Herod apparently knew in his heart that John was right but didn’t know what to do about him.  He, like the king in the story of Esther, was a foolish man and promised on oath to do whatever his wife’s daughter asked of him because of his pleasure in her dancing.  Bound by his oath, he not only consented but ordered the beheading of John.  In this we see a picture of a man who will go with the flow, not make bold decisions, who will allow then the crucifixion of Jesus because it is the path of least resistance.

These 144,000 are essentially the saints who have kept themselves pure, a priestly group who are with Jesus.  They have been set apart like John the Baptist.  We then see three angels flying over the earth, the first proclaiming “an eternal Gospel,” fear God, give Him glory and worship Him.  This angel bases the fear of God in the coming judgment.  The second angel proclaims the fall of Babylon for her sexual immorality that the nations have learned from her.  The final angel proclaims judgment against those who have worshiped the beast and its image and have taken not the mark of the Lamb on the forehead or hand but the mark of the beast. The blessing is pronounced for those who die in the Lord, those who persevere in their faith, no matter the cost in this life.  Truth must be committed to at all costs.

4 November 2015

Psalm 72; Neh. 13:4-22; Rev. 12:1-12; Matt. 13:53-58

Why would Eliashib the priest have prepared a place in the temple for Tobiah? They were related but he had to know that Tobiah had opposed the rebuilding of the wall and had taken steps to try and stop the work.  He had also to know that this wasn’t going to be something Nehemiah could overlook, much less allow to happen.  Perhaps, like when Moses was on the mountain with God a little longer than the people believed would happen, the priest concluded Nehemiah wasn’t coming back. The fact that a priest also moved the “grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil” which had been there in order to make room for this man is unconscionable.  Also during his absence, they had neglected the service of the temple, withholding the portions of the Levites and singers and the people were not keeping the Sabbath in order to continue commercial activities.  Nehemiah was furious and took immediate action to restore things. Entropy in spiritual things is the rule isn’t it? Someone has to maintain order or we will go back to the old ways in short order.

It’s amazing how quickly the reaction in Jesus’ hometown to His teaching went from astonishment to offense.  He had done great and amazing miracles and word had spread through the region and you would think the hometown boy would be a hero but the problem is that familiarity bred contempt.  They surely knew His story, Mary’s story, of the conception, but they clearly didn’t believe it. They knew what they knew, who Jesus had been, who His family was, and they couldn’t overcome that to believe.  Sometimes the greatest obstacle to faith is what we know to be true but isn’t.  That barrier is what Paul was speaking of when he wrote the church in Rome that we must be transformed by the renewing of the mind if we are to progress in not only faith but in being conformed to the image of Christ.  If your worldview doesn’t allow for virgin birth and resurrection from the dead and other miraculous things, you might believe Jesus is a great teacher but you will never see Him as God incarnate, the savior of mankind.  We need to be constantly in astonishment lest we return to the old way.

The cosmic battle is already won.  The child was born, the mother went into the wilderness, to Egypt, for a time, the child protected from the wrath of Herod until the right time to return.  The battle wasn’t only on earth, it was fought in heaven and satan and his angels thrown out of that place but, unfortunately, down to the earth where he wreaks havoc on those created in the image of God since the time of Jesus’ triumph at the cross and the resurrection.  We live in a world where, as Peter wrote, we have an enemy who is always on the prowl, looking for whom he may devour.  We know these things but do we have real room for them in our heads and hearts?  How often we overlook the unseen spiritual realities as though they were merely some comic book story.  Indeed, we need a more robust spiritual worldview, one that takes in more of the unseen things.

3 November 2015

Psalm 61, 62; Neh. 12:27-31a,42b-47; Rev. 11:1-19; Matt. 13:44-52

What a glorious day in Israel on the day the wall was completed!  Singers, dancers, priests and Levites all served and rejoiced.  The people rejoiced in their spiritual leaders and the first order of business was to appoint those who would serve to collect the offerings of the people which would be brought.  Remember this was in a time of economic difficulty, it was just two days ago in our readings that Nehemiah was dealing with the trying circumstances under which the people were laboring.  The expectation was that the Lord was going to bless them so they appointed those who would collect and distribute the bounty that would come into the city for contributions, firstfruits and tithes.  The celebration must have rung out over the hills and plains, surely reaching the ears of those who had set themselves in opposition to the rebuilding project.  A bitter sound indeed.

Is the kingdom of heaven the most important thing in your life?  The first two parables all speak of the surpassing value of the kingdom, that it you perceive its value the only real option available to you is to get rid of everything else in order to possess it.  That kingdom becomes like an obsession, you must have it.  The third parable is similar to the wheat and weeds in that there will be a net with many fish in it, some will be kept and some sorted out by the angels and discarded.  I don’t like that idea but there is no way around it, Jesus is clear about this sorting process more than once, particularly in Matthew’s Gospel.  Are we uneasy enough about it to begin to pray in earnest for those friends and family who are unbelievers and to take the risk of sharing the Gospel with them?

This part of the Revelation is a mélange of Old Testament images.  The measuring rod is reminiscent of Ezekiel, the miracles of the two prophets are similar to the work of Moses and Elijah, the olive trees and lampstand are from Zechariah and the beast reminds of Daniel’s prophecy.  That shouldn’t be surprising, these are the images God has given to His people, they bear repeating.  A new thing, like Jesus spoke of in the final words of the Gospel, doesn’t mean that there is none of the old.  The beast seems to triumph over the prophets and there is rejoicing again in the city until they are resurrected and taken up into the clouds (familiar image?) in the sight not of the disciples but of their enemies prior to the judgment of the earthquake.  Now, the seventh angel announces that all is the Lord’s though the battle is not yet done.  Heaven rejoices over the announcement, as though the victory was already complete.  That is the confidence we are to have as well.

2 November 2015

Psalm 56, 57; Neh. 6:1-19; Rev. 10:1-11; Matt. 13:36-43

The enemies of Nehemiah have one aim in mind, to make him afraid to do the work the Lord had given him to do.  That is nearly always the aim of our enemies.  They want to cause us to give up, walk away in fear, and not fulfill our calling and, if they cannot do so, they will try and destroy us.  Nehemiah was a man who knew what he was called to do, he had passion and purpose that were from the Lord, not some invention of his heart, and the work had to be done.  He refused to allow himself to be drawn into discussion with his enemies, refused to listen to rumors and refused to allow fear to cause him to sin.  In all these things did you notice the two short prayers in this passage, one in verse 9 and one in verse 14.  Those little prayers are important as part of the work.  Nehemiah recognized that he had work to do and focused on it but he also knew that there were things beyond his control that required God to take care of them.  He believed with all his being that the work was of God and he kept at it no matter what and trusted the Lord that He would do all that was necessary on the spiritual warfare end to enable the work.  In the end, the work was done in rapid time, just over seven weeks.

At the end of that Nehemiah passage we see something interesting about one of the chief enemies of the work, Tobiah.  Tobiah is actually related to many who worked on the wall and some were bound by oath to him.  Among the people working within were those who had loyalty to this man and who were passing information along to him and, we can assume, working within to sow the seeds of dissent and fear.   In other words, even among the people working to rebuild the walls, to do the work of God, were those whom Jesus describes as weeds, sons of the enemy.  Nehemiah seems to have been well aware of this but didn’t worry about it.  We need to be aware of this reality as well, Jesus saw fit to teach on it, but His point is that we don’t need to worry about it, God knows and has the situation in hand.

Can you imagine being told to go to what John has called a mighty angel, large enough to have one foot on land and one on the sea, and demand the scroll in his hand?  The seven thunders speak and he is told not to write.  The angel says there will be no delay in the judgment of God and then the voice tells John to approach this fearsome angel.  John does as instructed not in fear but in faithful obedience and receives the scroll with a promise, it will taste sweet in his mouth but turn bitter in his stomach.  Prophecy has that affect, Ezekiel had the same experience.  We can appreciate the judgment of God on a base level, when we have enemies who have made our lives miserable for instance, but ultimately the effect on us should be to make us despise the reality of judgment, in grief for those who experience it.  We aren’t to applaud the demise or destruction of our enemies.

1 November 2015

Psalm 24, 29; Neh. 5:1-19; Acts 20:7-12; Luke 12:22-31

“Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.”  The reason for this isn’t immediately obvious.  There was a famine in the land and what seems to have been the case is that the people working on the wall had suffered enough to mortgage their property in order to live, thus reducing themselves to the level of bondservants of their own kinsmen who held the mortgages. Nehemiah was angry because the mortgage holders were exacting interest from these others, thereby further reducing them to poverty, and charging interest to other Jews was strictly forbidden in the law.  Nehemiah calls them to account, church discipline, for their transgression and, like Zacchaeus, the leaders repent and make restitution.  Nehemiah also tells us that he sacrificed during the twelve years of his leadership, giving up his rights as governor for a food allowance and, in addition, paying for the feeding of 150 others from his own pocket.  Good leaders show the way for others to follow.

How do we square the words of Jesus here with situations like famines and other difficulties in life?  Do we simply say that we aren’t keeping the commandment to seek first the kingdom and His righteousness if we suffer?  The promise is contingent on faith and faithfulness, so maybe that is the issue, a failure on our part.  Suffering is actually a way God gets our attention but suffering in our midst is a way of God bringing the church to its own self, calling forth a communal response to suffering.  The way the Lord provides is sometimes through His people.  In Nehemiah’s time, he was called upon to answer the need and he called on others to do the same.  Would you be surprised if I told you that all the words translated “you” in this passage are plural pronouns?  Jesus isn’t addressing people as individuals here but the entire crowd as one.  Our culture values rugged individualism but is that a biblical view of life?

Paul’s intention is to leave and yet he still has much to say to the people of Troas.  In doing so, he talks all night long.  During his talk, one young man, Eutychus, falls asleep and out the window and he dies.  Paul takes him up and in doing so the young man’s life returns to him.  Afterwards, Paul speaks with the people until dawn.  Paul was always concerned both with the individual, look particularly at the last part of the letter to the church at Rome to see how many people he addresses by name, and with the whole.  Shepherds care for both the sheep and the flock.  We need to be able to see both the forest and the trees.