Tenacious Obedience

Exodus 10:24 KJV
And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you.

I had always only considered that Pharaoh's demand that Israel leave their cattle behind was a compromise to insure Israel return. There are two other possible motivations:


Pharaoh may have intended to keep the cattle in return for those of his that had died by the plague.
Often the world expects God to pay them for the consequences of their sins.
• We get a deathly illness contracted as a direct result of our sin and expect God to heal us of it
• We get in trouble with the law and then expect God to prevent the sentence
• We spend our money without discretion and expect God to meet our needs.
Pharaoh had hardened his heart against God and wanted to be compensated for the consequences.

By sending Israel into the wilderness without the cattle he would surely have been sending them to their deaths.
Without milk and meat they would have died before they met their objective. There have been times in world history, their are still places in our world, and the Bible tells us there will once again come a time when this world will no longer tolerate the existence of the believer. Oppression and persecution will not be enough, they will strive for the complete annihilation of the Christian faith.

Moses' response is the only acceptable one for the believer; tenacious and steadfast clinging to our faith and worship of the True God.

Above the Worldly

Exodus 7:1 KJV
And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

God made Moses a god before Pharaoh. The term is the plural, Elohim, which may refer to rulers and judges in the ordinary sense. Strong's Concordance says it is here used in the superlative sense.

God elevated Moses from the position of one of the Jews to a man with credentials. The miracles that were done reached a level that Pharaoh's magicians could not duplicate. Pharaoh, though still not in agreement with Moses' demand to let Israel go, yet did see Moses as more than a simple slave.

We ought never try to make ourselves appear to be more than we are. But God does lift us above the average men of the world to use us as His representatives. The Christian is not often agreed with in the world, but he is separated in this world. He is unique. He is different. And the difference is made by God, not religion.

Space to Repent

Revelation 2:21 KJV
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

The graciousness of God is amazing.
Jezebel speaks of the lowest forms of idolatry. Verse 24 calls it "the depths of Satan."

The judgment of those involved in the doctrines of Jezebel is terrible.
But God still gives Jezebel and her children space to repent. Would to God they would do it! God doesn't fill us with false hopes of a world wide revival but foretells to us that she would not repent. I see so many who are calloused spiritually. They come to church, they hear the word of God but they leave unbroken.

The Bible says it is they who will experience great Tribulation. May God move so that her children repent even if she does not!

Risky Business

Exodus 5:4 KJV
And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.

When Moses fled Egypt he had been a member of the Royal family. After forty years of herding sheep, he returned and was identified with Israel and her burdens. He did have an audience with Pharaoh, but that did not negate his burdens along with Israel.

In returning to deliver his people
He risked his wife and children
who did not come into Egypt with him.

He risked his life
because identifying himself as Moses, even the new Pharaoh could have carried out the charges of the one before. Surely there were records.

He risked his freedom
As a shepherd in the wilderness he was no royalty but he was free. Coming into Egypt he might have been enslaved for the rest of his life.

Trusting God is risky business. And it doesn't always have the outcome one might expect. Moses questioned the Lord saying since he had come, things had gotten worse. But trusting God has huge rewards. It was because Moses trusted the Lord that a nation of people was freed to pursue God's plan for their lives. The name of Moses is remembered for ever because he trusted the Lord.

No Pass

Exodus 4:24 KJV
And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.

Moses was unquestionably called of God to deliver Israel from Egypt. He was about the business of God's call when, because he had not circumcised he son, God sought to kill him.

Too often those who are about the work of the ministry believe that, because they are called of the Lord and busy for the Lord and especially if they perceive themselves to be successful for the Lord, they begin to justify small acts of neglect and disobedience in their own relationship with the Lord. Serving the Lord is part of a relationship with the Lord so that there can be no relationship without service. But service is not the relationship and can be no substitute for it.
• Perhaps the preacher is busy about the work and neglects the raising of his own children.
• Perhaps he has allowed himself indiscretions with other women.
• Perhaps he is loose with the finances God's people have given to the work of the Lord.
Whatever the case, Moses gives evidence that God's call into ministry is no pass from personal obedience in fine details of faith.

Gaius, Diotrophes, Demetrius

3 John 1:1 KJV
The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

Churches are composed of people and people are of all different sorts. The Apostle centers this epistle around three of them.

Gaius
To whom the letter is addressed. The apostle's word to him is cheerful and encouraging. Concerning those ministers of the gospel, he has received them, been charitable toward them and helped them on their way. This serves as a Biblical model for Christian care of missionaries and preachers.

Diotrophes
Does not seem to be in any authority in the church but sure likes to think of himself as such. Diotrophes casts people out of the church, probably not in any official capacity but through his a wicked demeanor in the church. The Apostle urges Gaius not to follow his example.

Demetrius
Once again does not appear to have an official position of authority in the church but is a powerful influence none the less. The most important members of the church are those who rub shoulders with others every day. The word of God being preached is powerful but only impacts the world as those who hear it obey it.

There is in every church, someone to encourage, someone to care for, someone to avoid and someone to follow.

Did the Prophecy of Levi Come to Pass?

Genesis 49:5-6 KJV
Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

Jacob's prophecies over his sons include Simeon and Levi being bound together as the ones who had attacked Shechem in retaliation for its defiling their sister Dinah. Jacob pronounces that no honor will go to them and that they will be scattered in Israel. My interest is in Levi who, despite this prophecy, was separated by God as the priestly tribe, rather than requiring the first born of every family God took the tribe of Levi as a whole.

On the one hand I see the grace of God that one who had received such a pronouncement of doom and one who had practiced such cruelty would be set aside as God's in this way. But then, even in the blessing of being set aside, there is a fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy. They indeed were scattered throughout Israel, possessing no piece of the Promised Land as their own.

And their cruel nature is evidenced all the way through to the cross where it was Levi, the tribe of priests, who led in the mob's insistence that Christ be crucified.

Christ Breaches Culture

Genesis 48:18-19 KJV
And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

The custom and culture of the day was for the blessing to go to the first born. So Joseph brought his sons to be blessed of his father and purposely guided them into their grandfather's presence so that the elder would receive the blessing of the firstborn. Jacob, though elderly and blind, knew what he was doing and laid his hands upon them so that the younger received the greater blessing. Joseph was troubled by it and said so to his ailing father. But Jacob pacified him saying he knew what he had done.

A person might accuse me of taking a leap here but I see a break in cultural custom for what was perceived by Jacob to be the will of God and I will use this to emphasize that Christianity is not bound to operate within the confines of specific cultures but should in fact become a culture unto itself. Christianity is a culture. Christianity ought to create a brand new culture wherever it reaches.

Some will, like Joseph, be troubled by our breach in their culture. But that should not sway our direction. We follow the Lord's guiding. Ideas about faith, family, morality, appropriateness and etc. should all be influenced by our faith. These are not issues of upbringing and background. These are issues of righteousness established by almighty God. And how we interpret and apply them are not subject to the ideas of fundamentalism versus evangelicalism versus liberalism. God has spoken and our responsibility is to obey.

Magnanimous

Genesis 45:5 KJV
Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

Joseph developed in his life a testimony that is perhaps the most magnanimous in the Scriptures.
• His brothers had sold into slavery only after throwing him into a pit and debating killing him
• He had spent years as a slave and as a prisoner all because his brothers were jealous of his relationship with his father and because God had revealed to him that one day his brothers would bow before him.
I know that everything worked out for Joseph. But the circumstances he endured before they worked out were trying indeed. And that he missed his father all of those years is obvious in his questions concerning him before his brothers. Joseph requested that when he died, his bones be taken back to the Promised Land; evidence that he had not accepted Egypt as his home.

Still, he told his brothers not to be either grieved or angry about selling him as a slave. He said it was all of God. It is not, as some have suggested, that he thought they should feel some sorrow to repentance, just not overly sorrowful. He did not say that. He said that God used them to send him ahead and they should not feel badly about that at all.

We would be a whole lot better off if we would learn to not have to see the one who hurt us hurt before we forgive them or move on emotionally.
• If we would learn to trust God that He is at work
• If we would give God leave to use any method He pleased to bring us to Christlikeness and to bring glory to His own name
• If we would come to rely upon God so fully that we didn't get offended at any injustice committed against us
how much happier we would be.

Mistaken Treasures

Genesis 43:23 KJV
And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them.

When the sons of Jacob returned home and found the bags of money in the food sacks the last thing they thought of it as was a treasure. In their minds
• They had barely escaped Egypt with their lives
• Their brother Simeon was still there as a prisoner, and
• They were strictly forbidden to return without Benjamin
The money in their sacks was just one more reason why returning to get Simeon, and more food, was an impossibility.

But when desperation overwhelmed them and it became essential that they return, one of their first priorities was to return this money. The money in their sacks was indeed a treasure, but not the sort we are prone to think. Their treasure was not that they possessed money; their treasure was that God had intervened in their sin and had preserved their brother and a means for Israel to grow up as a people separated from this world and wholly given to God.

We often mistake our real treasures for a curse. God's purpose in our lives is Christlikeness. That purpose can often appear to bring curses rather than blessings because we tend to believe blessing is always rewarded in real and earthly time.

The best rewards will always be heavenly ones.

Faithfulness Prepares

Genesis 41:40 KJV
Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.

God certainly prepared Joseph in Egypt.

• First he was over all the house of Potiphar.
• Next he was given the charge of the prisoners.
• Finally Pharaoh placed him over all of Egypt.

We never know what God might use to build in us those qualities that make us useful to His purposes and bring glory to His name. Faithfulness in all things is our place.
• Faithfulness is the key to God's purpose being fulfilled in us
• Faithfulness is the key to our finding God's blessing

Which We Have Heard

1 John 1:1 KJV
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

The Apostle's message was a personal one concerning Christ. He had seen Him, heard Him, to touched Him, and been taught of Him. The Apostle spoke with passion concerning Christ.

In so many respects, that sort of passion is an impossibility today because Christ's physical life is not present with us today. However there is a personal witness concerning Jesus that is still true for the believer.
• The assurance of His witness within us
• The conviction of His saving us
that is something that we who have it know to be true.

That is the message we should be sharing with people around us.

Always a Stranger

Genesis 37:1 KJV
And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.

Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger. Hebrews implies that Jacob considered himself a stranger there too. Isaac was born and raised there. He never left that land his whole life and for one hundred and forty years dwelt as a stranger in the land that he might otherwise have called home.

Jacob tried to live among his kin and, although it wasn't all the way back to the Ur of Chaldees, he found he wasn't at home there either.

And so it is with the Christian.

God's call upon our lives sets us apart from this world. We are never quite at home here. There are places and there have been eras when Christians fared better on the earth, but this world has never been our home. We must learn, like Isaac, to dwell in this constant tension of being content in whatsoever state we are in, but always longing for a better, that is a heavenly country.

Don't Die Before Death

Genesis 35:28-29 KJV
And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.
And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Genesis 27:1-2 KJV
And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.
And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:

Isaac lived forty years after the mess with mixing the blessings up on his sons.
• He lived through Jacob's twenty year trip to Haran
• He lived through twelve years of Joseph's enslavement in Egypt
• He also lived to be five years older than his father Abraham was when he did
All of the grief that his family went through was, to a large extent, the result of Isaac thinking he was about to die when his death was still forty years out.

None of us know how long we will live. And it is, I suppose, wise to have our affairs in order. But much grief is caused when a person lives every day thinking that's the day they will die. Too much is lost living in fear or even anticipation of dying. Much better it is to live each day with full expectation.
• Sure, one day we will die
• Sure, sometimes health slows down how much and what we can do
But to let poor health become our identity; to let age and health concerns preoccupy our lives: that is a waste and a tragedy.

Live!

• Live like nothing is wrong with your body
• Live as if you age has somehow forgotten you
• Live fully each day

Don't die before death.

Like Precious Faith

2 Peter 1:1 KJV
Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

The word obtained interested me. Not everyone obtains this "like precious faith."
• Some obtain a crude replica
• Some obtain what they believe is an alternative
but they are precious few who obtain this "like precious faith"; few enough that those who have it tend to be drawn to one another. This "like precious faith" is opposed and very often attacked by those who do not have it. Having gotten their own faith by their own will, they are very often prone to madly oppress and persecute those who have obtained a faith that is the gift of God and not of works.

The very word "obtained" means "to gain by lottery." It is not that those who are genuinely born again are saved by arbitrary chance. But it appears that way in the world. This gift of precious faith
• Is available to all
• It is free for the trusting
• It is sufficient for the whole world
Christ came to seek and to save the lost; any lost.

So why do so very few obtain this "like precious faith"?
• For some it is that Satan has blinded their minds
• For others it is that they have never heard
We who have obtained this "like precious faith" have the blessed opportunity to
• Pray for those who have not obtained it
• Tell it to those who have not heard it and
• Preach for the conversion of those who have been blinded against it

Back

Well, I am back at it. You have noticed, I am sure that I have not posted by daily visits with the Lord for several days. I have been faithful to visit with the Lord but have not been in a position to post those visits.
We took the teens from our church on a camping retreat this time two weeks ago. My wife and I left from the camp so I could preach a series of meetings for my good friend, Darrin Goodrick and the Yaquina Baptist Baptist Church.
Came home from that trip and had to get busy with the messages for our last Sunday.
So, I am back and glad to be.

I trust these expressions of my personal times with the Lord will be a blessin to you.

Is That Move of God?

Genesis 31:2-3 KJV
And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.
And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.

Jacob could see that Laban's countenance had changed toward him, but he did not leave toward the Promised Land because of that. Jacob had stayed through twenty years of deception.
• Laban had cheated him in the matter of Rachel and Leah. Yet Jacob stayed.
• He had cheated him during his six years of further service. Yet Jacob stayed.
Certainly he recognized that Laban's countenance was not the same toward him but he did not leave until God said to go.

Too many times people take their circumstances to be the leadership of God. They think of them as synonymous. Because times are hard and because they believe it will be better somewhere else, they will claim that the Lord is leading them away. That is not what happened to Jacob. He stayed through the circumstances and only left when God told him to. He did not look for God to confirm what he already wanted to do. He served Laban with all his power until God told him to do otherwise.

Too many Christians today have wander lust. Believing that something has to be better somewhere other than where they are, they constantly look for excuses, opportunities or means to move somewhere else. When whatever they look for comes along they take that to be the confirmation of the Lord that it is His will. It is more likely God just giving them over to their lusts (read Romans chapter one). And in many cases they push through their own will, claiming to have God's leadership, to their own destruction or that of their family's.

The Lord does move people. But there is a difference between their being moved because the Lord led in it and their claiming God moving them when they just wanted to do it. The Biblical plan for a move begins with those God has placed over us knowing before we know that a move is coming. Saul and Barnabas did not know they would be sent out as missionaries until after those in authority in their church knew.

There is so little stability in Christian families today and much of it because there is so little stability of Christians in church. We have the notion we are free to move about the country and from church to church on a whim. The accountability for Christian growth is broken down because the authority of our local church is diminished.

Would to God Christians would stop making decisions based upon their emotions, will or circumstances and serve God with all their power where they are until, if and when God sends them elsewhere.

A Faithful Creator

1 Peter 4:19 KJV
Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

JFB gives a thoughtful statement at the end of the commentary this verse; "…the believer rests implicitly on the Creator's faithfulness."

The context is that of suffering in the will of God. Any suffering we endure, whether for righteousness sake or because of our own sins, even if it is suffering on the account of someone else, is by the will of God, has a good purpose and we may not see the reason for it until we get to heaven.

So we commit the keeping of our souls to God, being assured that He is faithful.
• Faithful to forgive our sins
• Faithful to keep us through trial
• Faithful to seat us with Christ in heavenly places

Unresolved Issues

Genesis 27:45 KJV
Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?

Jacob left for Padanaram expecting that within a few days his mother would send for him and tell him it was safe to come home. Why Rebecca never sent for him is a mystery.
• Esau had said that he would kill him after his father was dead and she died before Isaac did.
• Perhaps she never could discern that Esau's anger was eased.

Jacob must have thought his trip would be more than five or six days because his trip was longer than that. Also he promised to work seven years for Rachel so he expected to stay that long.

But he would also have expected to hear from his mother and never did. And still he remained faithful. He was dispossessed of his home. He was separated from his mother and father. He was alienated from his brother. But he did not play the part of a victim. He labored and pressed toward a future.

Life sometimes brings disappointments; some of them of our own making, others of the world's making. We often live with unanswered questions. Pain may beset us for decades. The answer is not to fixate on the pain but to press forward.

There came a time when Jacob knew he had to face Esau and find a resolution even though he had not heard from his mother. But until that day he worked. He produced, he married, he had children: he lived.

Lively Stones

1 Peter 2:5 KJV
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

The Christian is seen as three parts of the Lord's house

First he is one of the living stones used of the Lord to build His spiritual house today.
God's church is not made of wood and brick but of the flesh and blood of His people.

Second the Christians together are that spiritual house.
The Holy Spirit inhabits every believer but the Lord inhabits us, not as individuals but as an institution. He inhabits the corporate body. To be outside of the body is to lack the present dwelling of God.

Third the Christians are the priests of this house.
We offer up the spiritual sacrifices to the Lord. We are all the ministers and every function of the house is a spiritual sacrifice unto God.

Strangers Scattered

1 Peter 1:1 KJV
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

Because of Peter's relationship as the apostle to the Jews it is not difficult to see these strangers scattered as Jews. But the context of the book makes it clear that this refers to believers in general since they are referenced as Gentiles in chapter two verses ten and eleven. And this is a profitable way for us to see ourselves:

As strangers
We are travelers in this world. We do not fit in and would do best if we did not get too settled in. This is not our home.

As scattered
It has never been God's intention that His children huddle together into a safe group but that we be scattered amongst this world to represent and bear witness to the faith God has given us.

The calling of the strangers scattered is a challenging one. We all want to have a home. But we must take care to await the Lord's answer for that promise. We must not, as Abraham, find our own way to have what God promises.

James; the Practical

James 5:10 KJV
Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

So much of the epistle of James is of a practical nature. There is plenty of doctrine in it to be sure but the thrust is practical and down to earth. And James says the believer should take the prophets as an example. Suffering for the sake of faith had not changed in the transition between Old and New Testament. With the changes Christ introduced this remained a constant; those who opposed a pure faith opposed it violently.

The answer had not changed either. The answer for the prophet and the answer for the child of God in the New Testament is, in both cases patience in suffering.

Little has changed in our day except that we suffer so much less and we have come to expect a life of ease.

May the Lord grant that His children take seriously James' words to take the prophets as an example.

Friendship With this World Deprives Us of the Grace of God

James 4:6 KJV
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

I was intrigued at the connection of friendship with this world, envy and the transition from that to God resisting the proud and giving grace to the humble.

Friendship with this world leads to lust which breeds in us envy. Envy is the reason there are wars among believers Humility in this case is the lack of envy Grace is the treasured prize of the believer (not those things that the friendship of this world covets and lusts after.

Grace is received, not to break pride (which in this passage is synonymous with friendship of the world) but after pride has been broken.

A believer must then separate from this world. Its friendship will always withhold from us the grace of God.

Abraham stood yet before the Lord...

Genesis 18:22 KJV
And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

Things were moving on. The Lord had tarried there a good while. Abraham had received word of God's promised son, not some day, but in just a year's time. He has also heard what is the Lord's intention in Sodom.

The two angels with the Lord turn and take up their journey. But Abraham stood yet before the Lord. And the Lord remained there with Abraham. The prayer of Abraham and the Lord's answer is here recorded for our benefit because Abraham stood yet before the Lord; he lingered there just a little while longer. After the meal was finished, after the message was delivered, even after the meeting was disassembled and others had gone their way, Abraham remained and so did the Lord.

I wonder how much is missed by those who never stay yet a little longer before the Lord?

To the Lord of Glory Only

James 2:1 KJV
My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

I found the phrase "faith... With respect of persons" a fascinating one this morning. Worldliness promotes the respect of persons. Those who have achieved, those who have been born into, or those who have earned some sort of notoriety, wealth or success are lifted up as heroes and examples.

We do the same thing in our churches, promoting various preachers as leader of leaders or pastors of pastors usually because they have built large churches or in some other way achieved a result a number of preachers would want to achieve.

But the word of God insists that, while it is possible to have faith in Christ with respect of persons, faith in Christ is to exclude respect of persons. And it is easy to see why; Christ is the Lord of glory. His glory is so high above that of any person that it levels all men to the same playing field. In respect to Christ's glory any greatness a man may have achieved is but a bump. It is nothing. It is certainly nothing to be in awe of. Respecting persons is an evidence of having not seen Christ. It would be impossible to look into the glory of Christmas and be awestruck at a person's achievements at the same time. I live under the shadow of Mt Rainier. This mountain so towers above the others that one forgets she sits surrounded by no small mountain range. It is practically impossible to view her and see the others at the same time.

The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is really counter to this aspect of culture. We are to refuse respect of persons, even if it is insisted upon by the religionists who surround us.

To the Lord of glory only be glory and honor and majesty and power.

Up South

Genesis 13:1 KJV
And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

Abraham had been in Egypt and traveled north to reach the Promised Land, here called the South because he entered into the southern part of it.

The reference of the Bible is the Promised Land, not Egypt. Later the reference will narrow more specifically to Jerusalem and then the Temple there. Today that Temple has been replaced not, as some falsely believe, by our bodies, but by the local church.

The lesson is that the church which God places us as members of ought to become the reference point for every aspect of our lives.
When we are away we are away from our church.
When we return we ought to return towards our church.

As we consider a move, consider how it will impact our church or our relationship with it. It is the church Jesus gave himself for. It is the church Jesus will present to himself without spot or blemish. It is the church which must be the balance upon which all that is our lives rests.

Our Altar

Hebrews 13:10 KJV
We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

Gill has a great piece concerning this. Jesus Christ is:
Our altar
Upon which the sacrifice is made

Our sacrifice
Which we enjoy the benefits of both blood and flesh.

Our priest
And who has subsequently made us priests unto God. Christ is our answer. Christ is Christianity.

Faith is Thicker than Blood

Genesis 9:10 KJV
And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

I am reminded that the settlers of what became Babylon and later Iraq are originally brethren to the Jews. Years and generations cause families to grow apart. People who once grew up playing together forget their childhood enjoyment to take on differing opinions of philosophy, politics and religion and, in just a generation or so, family loyalties are forgotten.

Blood, though they say it is thick, only holds a family together for a generation. After that there has to be something more enduring.

I would propose that something, in order for that something to be enduring, it must be faith. And even then it must be a right faith. Only faith in Christ is able to cross generations, gender, cultures and even eternity to bind a family together forever. The family of God is that one family that clings together regardless of the differences time brings.

Singled Out

Genesis 7:1 KJV
And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

My thoughts span chapters six through eight of the book of Genesis as God singles out Noah from all of humanity. This isn't the first time, nor will it be the last.

Of the first two sons of Adam,
• God singled out Cain
• God the singled out Enoch and then
• God singled out Noah

God will later in the Bible
• Single out Nimrod
• Single out Abraham
• Single out Moses and
• Single out David
• Single out Job

Sometimes the Bible singles out people, but their impact doesn't seem so large as the above mentioned;
• Rahab the harlot
• Joshua and Caleb
• The woman at the well and
• The woman who gave her two mites

I note that not all of those that were singled out were positive people. But that of all of those in the world, God brought into focus, for his purposes just one person out of the blur of the millions.

God sees, I am confident, each individual as clearly as if there were no others. His eyes go to and fro beholding the evil and the good. He knows the very number of the hairs on our head and even a sparrow can't fall to the earth without His knowledge. But from time to time God picks out a person to be separate from the blur. Perhaps I want to seek the Lord so that, when he separates me, I will be in the group of the just and not in the crowd with Cain and Nimrod.

Perfection

Hebrews 10:1 KJV
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

The apostle's concern as is discovered in a number of other Scriptures is the perfection of the children of God. The perfection of the saint is also the chief work and concern of the Father and of the Son.

2 Corinthians 13:9 KJV
For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.

Matthew 5:48 KJV
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

But here we find what will not make us perfect; the law. It never has and never will. It was not given to make a man perfect but to bring a man to Christ who can and will perfect us.

Sight

Genesis 3:6 KJV
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

The sense of sight is one of our most precious faculties.
• To take in the beauty of the ocean waves crashing on the shore
• To gaze at the size and grandeur of Mount Rainier
• To drink in the beauty of one's spouse
Who could challenge God for giving us this gift?

But our eyes can be the most useful tool in the devil's arsenal against us. We are so quickly drawn into sin with our eyes.
• Lust
• Covetousness
• Desire
are driven by the sight

And so Job said, "I made a covenant with mine eyes... " How needful is this covenant in our day of access to every form of worldly advertisement; not to mention immodesty!

Unity is the Objective

Hebrews 8:11 KJV
And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

America loves our diversity. We brag about being the melting pot. We revel in the variety of nationalities and cultures that make up our citizenship. And for the most part America loves our almost unique liberty to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience, or to refuse to worship Him at all.

I am all for liberty of conscience. I have read enough history to know we don't need any man (or government) forcing their particular convictions upon us. Our relationship with God must be personal.

But God's promise includes a day when all will know the Lord; not because He has been forced upon them but because they will have come to see Him as their God.

Until that promised day arrives it is my calling as a believer to grow in my knowledge of Him and to speak to as many as I can and tell them what I know. I am not to force my convictions upon them but I am to tell them so that they may have just and ample opportunity to know Him as well.

The Refiner's Fire

Malachi 3:1-3 KJV
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

The chapter seems to be a mixture of both the first and second coming of Christ.
• There are references to John the Baptist, and their delight in His coming. But then
• There are also references to His sudden coming and his being a refiner's fire and purifying the sons of Levi.

In many respects Christ's first coming was a refiner's fire. Though it was not warlike and violent it did separate those who would come to Him by faith from those who only desired a victory of religion over other world interests.
• Jesus did not bear a sword when He appeared the first time but He was a swift witness against evil of every sort.
• In His first coming Jesus did not ride out of Heaven but He was lifted up on the Cross.

And that one event destroyed forever Satan's hope of victory through death and sin.

Never Forget, Never Doubt

Malachi 1:2 KJV
I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,

I remember telling my son one time that I was proud of him and his response was, "Why?" It took me aback because I was not fully prepared to answer. I have already told my grandson, Joshua, that I love him and he has responded, "Why?"

But this text has a different spirit to it. In this text the Lord is challenging them because they did not believe He loved them. JFB has insightful comments on the passage.
"In painful contrast to the tearful tenderness of God’s love stands their insolent challenge. "The root of their sin was insensibility to God’s love, and to their own wickedness. Having had prosperity taken from them, they imply they have no tokens of God’s love; they look at what God had taken, not at what God had left. God’s love is often least acknowledged where it is most manifested. We must not infer God does not love us because He afflicts us. Men, instead of referring their sufferings to their proper cause, their own sin, impiously accuse God of indifference to their welfare…"

How important it is to forever remember God's love; even in the midst of affliction. The marks of God's love are not good things and ease in this life. The marks of God's love have to do with His efforts to bring us to Christ and to Christian perfection.

It Is My People

Zechariah 13:7-9 KJV
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.


The text has to do with Jesus Christ's coming and crucifixion. The Bible says that afterwards God will divide the people world into three parts; two thirds will be cut off and die, the remaining third will go through the fire. Of that remaining number God says "It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God."

That division into thirds is not necessarily equal divisions and it is reminiscent of the New Testament "Jews, Gentiles and the church of God."

• God's people claim Him as well as His claiming them and
• God's people pass through fire today, suffering for their faith and seeing their faith refined and developed through testing but
• God's people remain. 

Though the minority, though tried, they remain while the others are cut off and die.

Testing and fire is difficult, but it produces good things in our lives and is much to be preferred over the alternative.

Who Is "His"?

Hebrews 4:10 KJV
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

How important a small word in the Bible can be! And some presume to toy with them, changing them to suit their own wishes.

There are three possibilities as to who is "his."
It could be man
A man rests when he has finished his work.

It could be God
In this case it would be a reference to creation.

It could be Christ who has finished His work and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
The context is Joshua (here called Jesus, which is the Greek form of Joshua) who, having led the people across the Jordan, did not provide them rest but rather battle. Israel did not find rest in Joshua. Jesus Christ however does give rest. It is not a rest of the flesh but rest from the enmity between the sinner and God. When we enter into Jesus Christ we find rest and peace with God. In the world we have tribulation. But in the Lord we have ceased from our own work to please God.

Prisoners of Hope

Zechariah 9:12 KJV
Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;

The phrase is a poignant one to be sure. JFB says this is written many years after the previous chapter and accounts for the shift in circumstances. Alexander the Great is the dominant personality, followed by the division of his leadership and the resulting oppression of Israel by the Grecian rule. Israel is once again enslaved, though in their own land.

And in this position of affliction God offers a promise to the Jews;
• A promise of peace and greatness
• A promise of a kingdom

It's been a promise they have heard before. It's a promise they have heard over hundreds of years of suffering. Each new circumstance, it seemed, brought with it, not a kingdom, not even relief, but a renewed promise: someday they would have a kingdom.

They were in fact prisoners of that hope. It kept them going despite all else. Regardless of the severity of their trials, through years and years of varying afflictions they could not let go of it. It is the inspiration of such portrayals of the Jews as the father in Fiddler on the Roof. He could not let go of, he was prisoner of his hope.

And so should be the Christian our life is to be lived in hope. Regardless of the tragedies of circumstance, we are bound by our hope to look up and keep on in the name of Christ. As the redeemed of the Lord we are prisoners of hope.

Safe and Secure

Zechariah 8:4 KJV
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.

The prophecy takes place in Jerusalem as the Jews returned after seventy years captivity. They city had been made a shambles those seventy years earlier. I can only imagine what desolation it must have been in after all of that time.

God's promise to encourage them has yet to be fulfilled completely. He says there will be a day when elderly walk the streets safely and children play in the streets securely. The promise is of the Millennial Kingdom.

And then God says this, if this promise is marvelous to you, if you just can't believe it, rest assured, I will save may people.

The elderly can't walk our streets safely and children can't play in our streets securely even now. And it shows no signs of getting better. But God is faithful. And His promise to Jerusalem has implications for people of all nations. Though this world is not getting any better, there is a time coming that will be the best.

It is that time I live for.

When Life Is Uncertain

Hebrews 1:11 KJV
They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;

Matthew Poole says, "His permanency is proof of his deity."

Consider whichever of that which is created; none remain without change.
• Material things such as clothes all grow old with use and change until they must be cast out
• Man of course grows old and dies
• Certain angels left their first estate
• Even the earth and the heavens, which were considered the highest of the creation will be changed in the end
But Jesus Christ never changes or fails. This is offered as proof of His deity and serves and a bolster for our confidence in Him.

When life is uncertain, and it will certainly become uncertain, we have this solid rock. We may trust Jesus Christ.

Joshua/Jesus

Zechariah 3:4 KJV
And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

Joshua is seen
• First in filthy garments
• Then in a change of raiment
• Finally with a fair mitre

Joshua was the high priest when the Jews returned to the Promised Land. The filthy garments represented, not his personal sin, though as a man, his was included, but the sin of Israel.

• The change of raiment represented righteousness placed upon him.
• The fair mitre indicated the crowning glory of the office he held and
• The garment that represented that office.

The name Joshua is the Hebrew version of the very name of Jesus. While Joshua was a historical figure; real and literal, he becomes a type of the soon to come Messiah:

The filthy rags indicated that Jesus became sin for us.
In His thirty three years he was tempted of the devil and accused by those around him. He was tried and crucified with common thieves.
The change of raiment is a type of His resurrection.
He arose victorious over our sins and presented Himself alive for forty days.
The fair mitre represents His ascension into glory.
That Christ is today at the right had if the Father is the proof that His work on the Cross was accepted and effectual.

Don't Forward Their Affliction

Zechariah 1:1-2 KJV
In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.

The way I understand this passage is that God's displeasure toward the heathen is such that, though He used them to chasten Israel, they took their oppression too far, they "helped forward the affliction."

The phrase is an intriguing one to me. How often do we forward another's affliction?
• Sometimes we might forward it through thoughtless means, maybe not intending to hurt, but not considering how our words or actions could hurt.
• Sometimes we might forward affliction through "omissive" means not taking the time to pray for or otherwise minister to the afflicted
• Too often we help forward the affliction through callous means seeing another in affliction and taking advantage to hurt them all the more.

The sore displeasure was upon the heathen for this. And while we who are the children of God live in His pleasure through Christ, we still battle the failings of the old man. God help us recognize this evil within us and put it to death.

My Hope Is Not In the First Glory

Haggai 2:3 KJV
Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

Though the prophet had encouraged the people to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem he could not prevent them from noticing that this temple was nothing like the previous one. The ravages of years of wars and constant scavenging of the treasures (even before the captivity) had stripped it of its former glory. What they had now constructed was a building but it was not a palace.

So the Lord's word to them here is that their hope was not in this building. Their hope was in a future work of God. They were to continue their work in the Temple; they were to remain faithful to worship God in the Temple, but they were not to place their expectations in the Temple.

I suggest that this parallels what has been Christian history. The beginning of the history of our faith is indeed glorious, though not wealthy. Our faith is built upon Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone and the apostles, who turned the world upside down in their lifetimes. Though they were all martyred, even that speaks of heroism - glory.

But then came the declension. Corruption invaded the churches as the apostles said it would and indeed, as it had already done even in their day. Years and years of ungodliness resulted in most eyes being fixed, not upon the glorious Saviour, but in the superficial glory of buildings and monuments of stone, stucco and mosaic.

In the midst of all of this there has been a movement of God.
• It has never built great structures (though even the flesh has gotten into it so that some have become much too preoccupied with large buildings)
• It has never seen huge masses (though again the flesh has caused some to believe that the sign of God's blessing is large attendance)
• It has little of what the world would call glorious.

And God has a message for that church: its glory is still future. Though it cannot compare today to the monuments to men, when it stands before the Lord its glory will exceed the sum of all that man has accomplished. Truly the work of man already has its reward. I would rather hold out for the one that is greater, that is heavenly.

The Talk and the Walk

Titus 1:1 KJV
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

The talk and the walk
• There is too much profession without an equal walk in today's Christianity.
• There is too much approval of lifestyles that are a denial of real faith.
• There is too much separation between belief and behavior in Christian circles today.

These words of the Apostle make it clear; God expects of faith to flesh itself out in our works.

• We are saved by faith without works
• But faith without works is dead

These two Biblical truths are not contradictions but compliments. Saving faith leads to Christian good works.

Superficial Revivals

Zephaniah 1:1 KJV
The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

Scofield reminds me that Zephaniah's ministry was under the days of King Josiah and the revival which he led. But Scofield comments that even though there was change, it was a superficial revival and Zephaniah and Jeremiah both pronounced judgment regardless.

Sounds to me a lot like the old Baptists who:
• Would not participate in the famous revivals of the past
• Were wary of the evangelists behind them and
• Continued to preach messages of warning and judgment despite them

Perhaps all such revivals have been shallow and more a reformation of behavior than a turning to Christ. I realize some will point out the good that was done in them. And some will be threatened because they lean on past revivals for their hope of a future one. But my hope is in something far more sure. My hope is that hope which God's Word gives us. My hope is in Christ's soon and promised return. Until that day I will preach:
• God's judgment upon this world
• God's mercy upon those who trust in Him and
• God's reward a heavenly and not earthly one

Assurances

2 Timothy 3:14 KJV
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

The concern of the passage is that Timothy would continue in that which he had learned. The concern is a valid one in that so many are more than pleased to take off in a different direction; to stray from those things they have learned.

My emphasis just now is on that word assured.

Timothy has learned some things from some very prominent people:
• Paul, of course, but also from
• His mother and grandmother

The key is not that he was taught from them. The key is that he was assured of them through the Scriptures.
• It is the Word of God that gives assurance
• It is the Word of God we must learn
• It is the Word of God we must continue in

Three Impossibles for God

2 Timothy 2:13 KJV
If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

JFB Commentary writes that there are three things it is impossible for God to do;
• To die
• To lie and
• To be deceived

It goes on to say concerning this verse that though men deny Him; though they would claim a sort of salvation that circumvents Jesus, He cannot but deny them that deny Him.

• It is meant as a warning to the spiritually foolhardy not to continue in false security and
• It is meant as a comfort to the believer that his faith will be vindicated by and by

Though that vindication tarry, wait for Him.

That Good Thing

2 Timothy 1:14 KJV
That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.

The good thing that is being referred to is the Word of God,
• Committed unto Timothy through the teaching of the Apostle
• Committed unto him through the Word written and delivered to him, and
• Committed unto him to preach to others also

We have a good thing when we have the Word of God. Not just good in the sense of pleasant to read and better than others like it, but good in the sense that Moses' parents realized he was "a goodly child." Good in the sense of having a supernatural purpose.
• This good thing must be preserved
• This good thing must be proclaimed
• This good thing must be passed down to those who come after us

Science Falsely So Called

1 Timothy 6:20 KJV
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

I listened to a brief interview on the radio with two men who recently wrote a book attempting to reconcile the two supposedly opposing world views of science and spirituality. The man representing spirituality was not a Christian but someone involved in an eastern religion of "consciousness."

As the interview progressed the radio personality asked the scientist, a physicist, if he had come to believe in God. The scientist acknowledged that it is scientifically impossible to prove there is no God but then said that he definitely did not believe in the Biblical God because the Bible teaches too many things that scientists know are wrong.

I have discovered that too much of what science professes to know is not knowledge at all but theory.
They seem to begin all of their studies on the premise that the God of the Bible does not exist and try to find answers to their questions that do not include that God. They propose theories and study one another's theories. the science of today is not based upon knowing truth but knowing their own theories.

If there is a scientific fact that the Bible apparently contradicts, I would suggest that the problem is with their understanding of the Bible and not with the truths that exist either in science or the Bible.
Too many who begin by doubting the Bible have proposed what they believe are contradictions in the Bible itself. I don't pretend to have all of the answers to all of their proposed contradictions but I confidently proclaim that when God, who is, reveals all truth to us, every scientific contradiction (falsely so called) to the Bible will be perfectly reconciled.

I believe the Word of God. I believe God Himself, and not science falsely so called.

Micah's Response to His Woes

Micah 7:7 KJV
Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

Micah begins this chapter describing the last days before the Lord comes. And what he describes sounds a lot like today:
Good men are rare
The context implies a goodness in relationship to men and not toward God. There are many today who claim salvation but can still be cruel to people.

People hunting others with a net
I see Christians who rejoice in taking members of other churches for their own rather than winning new converts to the Lord.

The best of men are like briars and thorn hedges
Those who are most admired today are also those most prone to accept the sheep of another's flock, not to mention a number of other “sharp” qualities that go without check.

Children who dishonor parents
This proves out to be true both of the physical children as well as spiritual ones.

But Micah’s fix is not sullen. His response is to look unto the Lord. And in looking he finds
• Salvation
• Victory and
• Light in the midst of the darkness

And so shall we. These are not times for sorrow and disappointment. These are days that should be given to waiting faithfully and actively for the God of our salvation.

No Cavalry Needed

Micah 5:10 KJV

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots:

That Micah chapter five is prophetic of Christ is obvious from verse two. What is not so obvious is that the remainder of the chapter provides a description of the early years of Christianity, complete with the Apostles[1] and the missionary success of those churches.

I am sure there is a message for the Jews in this chapter, but there is also a message Christians may take to heart. And one of them has to do with horses. God says he will cut off their horses and their chariots. Israel was instructed of the Lord not to assemble a cavalry of horses and chariots; an instruction Solomon ignored. The cavalry was a symbol of power without God. In effect if they had a cavalry they did not need to trust the Lord. For the Christian this translates into anything that we might place trust in rather than God. God's promise is to strip us from false hope. God's promise is to leave us with nowhere else to lean but upon Him.

And it is a good promise because no other source can possibly hold us up.

---

[1] According to Jamieson Fausset and Brown, “Seven” expresses perfection; “seven and eight” is an idiom for a full and sufficient number.

No Cause for Shame

Micah 3:8 KJV
But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

The prophet pronounced a judgment against the prophets of Israel and Judah as having no message from God and therefore being ashamed. The tool of the prophet is the Word of the Lord. If he has not received that word he is as powerless as a mechanic without a toolbox. No amount of credentials can ever replace the wrench. So the prophet may have a title, a name, a position: but without a word from the Lord he is powerless. His position only serves to highlight his lack. Not so Micah. He was truly full of power, judgment and might, and he knew it.

It is not arrogance to declare the Word if you have the Word any more than it would be arrogance for the mechanic to fix a car if he has the tools. The man with the right tools gets the job.

I spoke with a person yesterday who said when she first began attending the church I am blessed to pastor she thought I was arrogant and crazy to preach what I did. She claimed that for the first year she came to the church it was just to hear what kind of crazy thing I would say next. But then she said she came to see that I wasn't making this stuff up but that it was coming from the Bible. That Bible made all of the difference. I was not ashamed to preach and had no reason to be ashamed because I had, and still have by the way, the right tools. I have a message from God. So long as it is that message I declare then truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord.

First of all...

1 Timothy 2:1-4 KJV
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

• The Apostle says that it is good and acceptable that we live quietly and peaceably in all godliness and honesty. But first, that we pray for all men.
• He says God would have all men to be saved. But first, that we pray for all men.
• It is the Lord's will that all men come to the knowledge of the truth. But first, that we pray for all men.

So then the most productive spiritual practice of the Christian is prayer.
• Before soul winning
• Before teaching the Bible certainly
• Before political activity
Would be prayer. First of all...

I do not mean to condemn any of the other activities, but I do mean to stress that before engaging in any of them we ought first to give ourselves to prayer and supplication.

The preaching that I bid thee...

Jonah 3:2 KJV
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

Jonah's commission was to a particular people with a particular message.

As a prophet of God he had no liberty to pick and choose the message he would preach. God had a message for Nineveh. His job was to preach that message. He was not to choose which part of the message he would highlight. He was not to pick which part of Nineveh he would focus on. His task was to take the message of God and preach it from one end of town to the other.

As the pastor of Bible Baptist Church of Puyallup, I have been given a message from God - the Bible. My commission is to preach the whole thing to the whole world.

An All Powerful and Concerned God

Jonah 1:17 KJV
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Even the most casual reader of this chapter is struck with the working of God in it.
• Jonah hears a call from God
• Jonah is in a storm of God's causing
• Jonah receives the short end if the lot
• Jonah's storm ceases when he us cast overboard
• Jonah is swallowed by a fish made just for him
There is nothing in this chapter that is possible except an all powerful and very concerned God is involved.

And that has been the rub all along. Man refuses to accept such a God. In light of this controversy Scofield has an appropriate note;
"No miracle of Scripture has called forth so much unbelief. The issue is not between the doubter and this ancient record, but between the doubter and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Matthew 12:39); (Matthew 12:40). Science, "falsely so called" (1Timothy 6:20) failing to take account of the fact that it deals only with the outward phenomena of a fallen race, and of an earth under a curse (Genesis 3:17-19) is intolerant of miracles. To faith, and to true science, miracle is what might be expected of divine love, interposing God in a physically and morally disordered universe. (Romans 8:19-23)."

Importance of Eschatology

2 Thessalonians 2:2-3 KJV
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

• As the day of the Lord is at hand
• That day shall not come

The focus of the passage is the day of the Lord. But the apostle's point is that the day hasn't come already. That seems opposite of his usual message that the day of the Lord is imminent.

There is a difference in the attitude of the one who believes that day could happen at any moment versus the one who believes it has already come.
• The one is hopeful
• The other is desperate

The Christian position concerning the day of the Lord is as important as any Christian doctrine. Eschatology, the doctrine of last things - the day of the Lord - is as vital as any truth in the word of God.

Vital enough that we must be careful that no one deceives us concerning it.

I Am One

2 Thessalonians 1:4 KJV
So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

It is interesting what Paul gloried in his converts in.
• Paul's glory and joy was not that their congregation had grown
• He did not glory in that they had built a large building
• Paul's glory was not that that they had experienced some other form of worldly success
Paul's glory for the believers in Thessalonica was in their patience and faith in the tribulations they suffered for the kingdom of God.

• Perhaps we need to start lifting up a different kind of preacher and a different kind of church
• Perhaps we ought to begin writing articles about those who are sticking to the faith despite hardships in the work
I think this is the heart of the Yakima Home Missions Conference. Pastor Dave Brown, and before him, his father, Dr. Dennis Brown, have always attempted to encourage men in the ministry, both young and old, who have labored, sometimes, enduring many hardships.

I am one of those who felt loved befriended and important despite those hardships I was enduring at the time. I am one who benefitted from the encouragement of those who recognized my faith and not my material successes.

That Day Being Jesus

1 Thessalonians 5:8 KJV
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

All year long I have been studying through the Bible with an emphasis on the light. Jesus is that light and then He commissions us as light.

So we are not children of the night but of the day; that day being Jesus.

Be Prepared

1 Thessalonians 3:4 KJV
For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.

Jesus told the apostles before and here Paul told the Thessalonians before that suffering was a part of this faith. The warning was meant to prepare the believers. And it obviously worked since the faith has held true these two thousand years. But it is also obvious that there were those who did not hold true since Paul was concerned that, by some means, the tempter had tempted them.

Many today appear to believe that the sign of God's hand in a ministry is that it is large and growing and has lots of money and plenty of peace. In fact there is every chance that that in itself is the temptation Paul was concerned over. His warning was that we should suffer. When we compromise so we do not suffer we have given over to the tempter.

Pleasing God

1 Thessalonians 2:4 KJV
But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.

This passage, one of the more noteworthy for me as a preacher, takes on even more weight in consideration of its context. The Apostle says in verse 2 that even after they had been so shamefully treated in Philippi; where they had been beaten and imprisoned, he said that even after such horrible treatment as that, still they were bold to preach the word in such a hostile town as Thessalonica turned out to be. When he said "not as pleasing men" he knew exactly what he meant. He meant
• Even if it meant hatred
• Even if it meant beatings
• Even if it meant stoning
• Even if it meant jail
• Even if it meant death
The Apostle spoke "not as pleasing men but God."

Knowing

1 Thessalonians 1:4 KJV
Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.

There are three "ing" words in verses 2-4 following the Apostle's claim of giving thanks for this church. As he gave thanks he was:
• Making mention of them in prayer
• Remembering their work of faith...
• Knowing their election of God

The first is an action based upon his conviction that prayer was effectual

The second is an affection based upon the evidence of their conversion

The third is an affirmation based upon a doctrine of truth

He is speaking of election as pertaining to the church and not to particular persons in the church. No doubt there were individuals whose testimony had not gone out every where. This was true of the church as a whole but was not true of all of the members in general. Election is God's work, first in the Jews as His people and then in the church as a body.
• He has elected to cleanse and purify the church
• He has elected that saved people unite with a church
• He has elected to use the church

Still My People

Amos 7:8 KJV
And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:

Amos 7:15 KJV
And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

The message of Amos is a very serious one. God was finished with the northern kingdom. He would not hear the Intercession of the prophet any longer, their summer was past and they were not saved.
• They would be taken by an enemy
• Their children would be slain with the sword
• Their land would be divided by a stranger
It could not have been a worse pronouncement.

But then I noticed that not once but twice God calls these doomed people "my people Israel." God had determined judgment upon them but God had not dispossessed them. They were still His people. And so they have ever been.
• Through the millennia of sufferings and persecution
• Through the debates of Christian people concerning them
• Through their own era of disbelief in Him, even
• Through their part in crucifying Him
they have always been and shall evermore continue to be His people.

And one day God will once again pick up the pieces of Israel.
• He will cause their dry bones to come together
• He will restore flesh and sinew to those bones and
• He will breathe back into the body of Israel His very own breath of life
He has not forgotten His people.

And for we, who are neither Jews by birth nor will be here when God once again picks up Israel, there is a message of hope as well.
• Though we sense keenly our sins
• Though we yet sting over the sin the too often overcomes us
We who have been accepted in the beloved find here our hope; God will never leave us or forsake us.
• We have been called by His name
• We have been adopted as His sons
and that adoption, He will never reverse.

A Spiritual Pursuit

Colossians 3:1 KJV
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

That Christianity is a spiritual pursuit there can be no doubt. That much of what the Christian believes is other worldly and appears foolishness to those of this world is sure. We are dead; but we are not (in the flesh.) In fact the Bible gives two sides to even that. On the one hand the lost person, though alive in the flesh is dead in trespasses and sins and the Christian has been quickened and made alive through the Holy Spirit. But on the other hand the Christian, though still possessing the old nature is dead in Christ and the life he now lives is by faith in the Son of God. The worldly would argue it is inconsistent and foolish. They would say that all hard evidence proves we both are alive right now and there is nothing to prove that there is life above.

Then there is the assertion that Christ shall appear. They would argue that Christians have been preaching that for two thousand years and it hasn't happened yet. We just keep insisting that He could appear any moment.

Christianity teaches many practical things. The majority of Colossians chapter three is occupied with them. But they are all rooted in the spiritual truths. We must be grounded in them before the practical lessons will have any purpose.