Carefully Handling God’s Word

Friends, the first four words that the devil spoke to our first parents formed a questioned… “Did God really say?” [1] His goal is to pollute or defile our understanding of God and God’s Word. No where in Scripture does God grant artistic license to alter it or to take lightly what He actually said.

I realized how bad the practice of using artistic license is as I got back to doing careful exegesis on Bible texts that I preach. Studying the text in the original language, checking the geography, checking the context of the passage, reading commentaries, and studying the passage in the light of the fact that the whole Bible points to Jesus Christ as being the one and only Lord and Savior of mankind. To represent Jesus accurately we need a relationship with Him and we need to ask Him to guide us by His Holy Spirit to represent Him well.

Beware of artistic expressions of God’s Word that add and takeaway from the original Bible text. 

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”

[1] Genesis 3:1

[2] 2 Timothy 2:15

The Appeal for Charity by Jesus

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” [1]

Have you ever heard this verse quoted just before the collection plate is passed around in an assembly, and money is collected? This morning as I read this passage, the Lord led me to read this verse in the context of what actions and teachings preceded it in the chapter.

The Pharisees had questioned the legality of the disciples of Jesus plucking grain from a grain field and eating it on the Sabbath Day. Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” The scribes and Pharisees were also filled with rage at Jesus because He healed a man on a Sabbath Day. [2] They were concerned that Jesus was being too generous with people and judging them too lightly.

After praying all night, Jesus chose twelve men to be His apostles. After that, Jesus healed numerous people of illnesses. After that, Jesus described to these people the traits of blessed people. He speaks of loving one’s enemies, doing good to those who hate you, blessing those who curse you, and praying for those who spitefully use you, and being kind to the unthankful and evil because these are character traits of the Heavenly Father. [3]

It was in this context that Jesus taught His listeners about being generous with their treatment of others. Instead of judging and condemning, being forgiving and charitable! Giving what? Love! God’s love.

“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” [4]

[1] Luke 6:38
[2] Luke 6:1-11
[3] Luke 6:12-36
[4] Luke 6:37-38

Minister by the Power of the Spirit

“Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.” [1]

What preceded the “then” in the above verse? Jesus is moving among people with power. News of Him is spreading everywhere. He teaches at religious gatherings. Everyone seems to be onboard with Him.

Prior to the outbreak of powerful ministry, Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist. As He prayed, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove. The Father declared with a voice from heaven, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” [2]

Prior to the outbreak of powerful ministry, Jesus fasted for forty days. He was hungry. He was in a desolate place. The devil came against Him when He was physically weak. He said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus could have done the miracle, but He did not need to prove to the accuser of the brethren who He is. Ministry is about love for God and others, not about proving to the devil one’s connection with God. Jesus declared that He lived by the Word of God. [3]

Prior to the outbreak of powerful ministry, the devil offered to Jesus the kingdoms of the world in exchange for His heart. The devil wanted Jesus, God’s Son, to worship Him. How ridiculous! The fast-talking salesman, the devil, likes to sell to God’s people what is already our established inheritance from God. Don’t bite on that lie! Jesus didn’t. Jesus replied, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” [4]

Prior to the outbreak of powerful ministry, the devil tempted Jesus to jump off the temple and not die to prove that He was the Son of God. No, Jesus, did not need to prove who He was. Besides, there were prophecies in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 about how His death and resurrection would happen. He would fulfil those words, not the devil’s counterfeit offers. His tight relationship with the Heavenly Father kept Jesus ever aware of who He was, and what He should do. Jesus told Satan, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” [5]

Jesus experienced ups and downs as He served the Word of God here on earth. For example, in the town where He grew up, the people tried to throw Him off a cliff after He declared to them that He was the promised Messiah from God. However, evil reactions neither stopped Him from rescuing numerous people from their bodily pains and afflictions, nor from preaching in places where religious people gathered to hear from God. [6]

[1] Luke 4:14-15
[2] Luke 3:21-22
[3] Luke 4:1-4; Revelation 12:10
[4] Luke 4:5-8
[5] Luke 4:9-12
[6] Luke 4:16-30; 4:40; 4:44

Our Lord Jesus Opens and Closes Doors

The promise that I have been recently trusting the Lord Jesus to bring about in my life, and in the lives of those I love is recorded in Isaiah 22:22. (See the photo).

“Lord Jesus, please open the doors that bring us close to You… that bring glory to Your Name. Please open the doors Lord Jesus that help us to reveal You accurately and impactfully to others. Please close those doors that distance us from You.”

Forever Grateful to the Lamb of God

I am forever grateful to the Lamb of God who took away my sin and the sins of the world, and who is coming again, to bring me and all who believe in Him to the paradise of God.

The Significant Contributions of Jeremiah to Religious Thought by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Details

…King examines Jeremiah’s contributions to religious thought, particularly his New Covenant, his argument against “artificial worship,” and his conception of personal religion. …King concludes by summarising Jeremiah’s message for contemporary Christianity: “the worst disservice that we as individuals or churches can do is to become sponsors and supporters of the status quo.”

The personality of Jeremiah is one of the most fascinating studies in Old Testament history. There is no other sacred author who has taken us with such intimacy into his life, both public and private. We not only get the kernel of his discourses, but we are able to dwell with him in his moments of disillusionment; we are aware of the “inner conflict between his desire for inconspicuous retirement and his devotion to truth and civil duty;”1  we hear him as he secretly talks with God. His life and character are full of surprises which stimulate thought on great moral and religious problems…

Jeremiah came to prophesy at a time which was ripe for a mighty appeal to be made to the masses and to take advantage of the new spirit of the time that had taken hold of Judah. He saw that the wind of pride and evil had become the whirlwind of spiritual desolation. He saw Judah and the moral and spiritual degeneracy into which she had sunk. Isaiah and Micah had raised their voices and gave a tremendous impetus to the revival work of Hezekiah. Zephaniah had done likewise at the beginning of Josiah’s reign, and a little before his time. The time had come for another voice to be raised, to sound the note of warning to Judah. It was this great prophet that appeared at the capital and the Temple, whose message sprang from a heart touched with the deepest tenderness. Such was the prophet Jeremiah—such potency, such persuasion, such pleading in pointing out to Judah the way of escape from impending doom.

The Life and Times of Jeremiah

Jeremiah was born of priestly parentage, toward the middle of the seventh century, in the little town of Anathoth. He prophesied under Josiah and his sons from the year 626 to the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC.2  He was contemporary with the prophets, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, Daniel.

As stated above, Jeremiah possessed a dynamic personality. “The Book of Jeremiah,” says A. B. Davidson, “does not so much teach religious truths as present a religious personality. …His inner experiences can be traced throughout the Book. He was in perpetual pain because of the stubbornness of his people,3  and their tragedy caused his tears to flow day and night.4  He loved his people with his whole heart.5  This deep love for his own people expressed itself at times in impatience with them, and a desire to escape from them.6  Amid the bewildering changes of his time, Jeremiah was made to realise that he had been marked from his mother’s womb for a great errand and yet this errand becomes his shame and torture.7  Because Jeremiah possessed this mild and peculiarly sensitive disposition, many came to call him “the weeping prophet.” It would be a great mistake, however, to suppose that he was lacking in courage. A careful study of the facts will show that he was one of the bravest men in Judah.

What were the conditions of the world during the life of Jeremiah? Stated briefly, the most important events which occurred within the life of Jeremiah were these: (1) An invasion by the Scythians (ca. 626 BC). (2) The discovery of the Book of the Law (Deuteronomy) in the Temple and resulting reforms by King Josiah (ca. 621 BC). (3) The overthrow of the Assyrians by the Chaldean (Babylonians), in 612 BC (4) Immediately after the fall of Assyria, the armies of Egypt invaded Judah, defeating King Josiah (ca. 608 BC). (5) The contest for world supremacy between the Babylonians and the Egyptians. In 605 BC. the Egyptians were defeated at the battle of Carchemish. Then comes the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. (6) The first attack on Jerusalem was in 598 BC. The entire city falls in 587 BC.5

Such were the conditions that characterised the times of Jeremiah. Only through gaining a thorough knowledge of these moving events will we be able to understand the prophecies of Jeremiah, for prophecies spring out of immediate occasions. The situations they deal with, the personal moods, attitudes and temptations they are meant to meet, are always contemporary.

In this paper, …I will present three contributions. (1) Prophecies against Unreal Worship. (2) The New Covenant. (3) Personal religion.

The New Covenant

An important element in the teaching of Jeremiah is the establishment of a New Covenant. This prophecy immediately impresses us by the wonderful spirituality of its tone, and by its evangelical character. Dr. Driver laconically states: “By his conception of the New Covenant, Jeremiah surpasses in spirituality and profundity of insight every other prophet of the Old Testament.”8

Jeremiah… brought forth that noblest of all spiritual conceptions… “I will put my law in their inner parts and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin will I remember no more.”9  In every {respect} the New Covenant will differ from the Old. The law written upon stone is to be replaced by the law written in the heart. As stated by Dr. Matthews, “this law written in the heart required no Torah, canonised by an emotionally conditioned populace and then easily subverted by legalism. Nor were manuals of worship, altars, and a Temple, that so often become ends in themselves, required to aid the spirit of man in communing with his Maker. Nor was residence in the Holy Land essential to the highest religious life. True religion was not rooted in the soil of Palestine, but in the hearts of men and women.”10  The law written in the heart will become an inseparable part of man’s moral being. Principles would take the place of external ordinances. Such principles as truth, and justice, and purity, love to God and love to man, would be enshrined in the hearts of men. This, said Jeremiah, would lead to an ideal state, in which the sins of the people would be forgiven. The children of the New Covenant would be the sons of God, no longer subject to external laws of the state, but ruled by impulses to good, acting upon the heart as a principle which grows from within.

…Let us briefly list the positive features of the religious relationship established by the New Covenant. (1) Inwardness: “I will put my law in their inner parts;” (2) Individualism: “all shall know Me;” (3) Forgiveness of sins: “their sins I will remember no more.”11  All of this states one central truth, the inwardness of true religion. It is this inwardness of true religion which causes men to do the will of God spontaneously from inward inclination rather than from commands of an external law. No one can deny the fact that this prophecy… is one of the profoundest anticipations in all the Old Testament. “Liberating religion from all externals, at the same time the New Covenant strengthened and democratised it by placing responsibilities squarely on the shoulder of the individual, and purified and deepened it by making it a matter of conscience. The New Covenant, the law written in the heart, was one of the great visions of religion.”12  

Unreal Worship—Temple and Sacrifice

Another line which can be added to the column of Jeremiah’s contributions to religious thought is his stand against artificial worship. This attack {was} started against the Temple. …The Deuteronomic reformation culminated in the centralisation of national worship in the Temple at Jerusalem. This Temple was the pivot of the nation’s religion. It was a national institution, linked intimately with the fortunes of the race. …The Temple was the apple of the people’s eye. To criticize it was to set aflame the fires of both religion and patriotism. And this was the very thing that Jeremiah did. He saw that the Temple had been relegated to a position of empty formalism which substituted a superficial reverence for the doing of Yahweh’s will. He saw that sacrificial offerings were taking the place of sacrificial living. These conditions led Jeremiah to cry out against the evils of the Temple and sacrifice. All of this is found in the sermon which Jeremiah preached in the Temple. “The primary purpose of this address was to utter a strong polemic against the Temple and the worship there. Anything which Jeremiah may have added about the future fate of the people was subsidiary to this leading aim.”13  …Let us investigate the assumptions growing out of this address.

In the first place, Jeremiah declares that public religion is an organised hypocrisy. In it religion was divorced from morality. He saw that the Temple was worse than a false defence, for it was given to aiding the evils of the day. It had become in Yahweh’s eyes, a cave for robbers to shelter themselves in. Men stole, murdered, played the fool, and broke their promises, only to run under the shadow of the Temple for protection.

“Behold, ye trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before me in my house, which is called by my name, and say, we are delivered to do all these abominations.”14

Here one can see the profound convictions of a striving prophet. He deals with a problem that is a danger of all religions. It states the important truth that ritual is never to be used as an end within itself... It would be unfair to say to say that the functionaries of the Temple deliberately meant to inculcate evil or immorality, but they drifted into the belief that the Temple was more important than the distinction of good and evil, the sacrifices more vital than sin. It therefore took the fortitude and mind of Jeremiah to expose these pressing faults.

All of this would seem to throw the fault on the Deuteronomists, but not rightly so. The Deuteronomists had no intention to bring about this state of things. They set out to organise religion, and we must admit that it brought about considerable external success. The Deuteronomists, however, failed to see that religion is not something which can be organised, rather it is a spontaneous outflow from men’s contact with a divine spirit. As soon as an external compulsion is attempted it leads inevitably to hypocrisy. This is the marked difference between the reformers and Jeremiah. The former were content to see crowds observe the ritual, even if their lives did not make the mark. Jeremiah cared nothing about external ritual if it did not produce internal change.15

In the second place, Jeremiah announces that since the Temple has become the symbol of a false religion God is about to make an end to it. At this point Jeremiah again went contrary to tradition, for those on the traditional side claimed that with the Temple in their midst the Hebrews could stand inviolable against the world. …Against all the spiritual orthodoxy Jeremiah argues to the contrary. The very first point of his speech is: “Trust ye not in lying words, saying, the Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, are these.”16 

The Temple might have been the bulwark of the nation in past days, but times are changed, and the only thing that could save it now was to thoroughly improve both methods and practices, to see strict justice present, to prevent the exploitation of strangers, the orphan and the widow, and to avoid the murder of the innocent. Only on these conditions would they survive and retain their land.17  With history on his side the prophet points to the remains of Shiloh and pronounced the doom of the Temple to be as certain as the fate that had overtaken the old sanctuary.

“But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now because you have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.”18

Personal Religion

Important as are his other contributions to the body of religious truth, Jeremiah’s teaching on Personal Religion is of greatest permanent value. With Jeremiah religion is an immediate, personal relationship between the Lord and the individual soul; it means obedience and devotion of the individual to his God. “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people and I will be their God; and they shall return unto me with the whole heart.”19  Here Jeremiah passes beyond his predecessors in the direction of the teaching of Jesus. Through his inner struggles, Jeremiah was able to experience a more personal and more tempestuous relation with his God.

This idea of personal religion is expressed nowhere greater than in the life of Jeremiah. Despised and rejected by men he clung the more tenaciously to the Lord and His will. He was sustained by that fellowship with Heaven which made his “inner resistance superior to every outward pressure.” On the one hand we hear him cry, “I am become a laughingstock all day, everyone mocks me. The word of Yahweh is made to me a reproach and a derision all day.”20 

Again, he cries, “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and contention to the whole earth.”21

On the other hand, we hear Jeremiah saying that he is sustained by his life with God. “I am with thee saith Yahweh, to deliver thee.” With this promise Jeremiah began his ministry, and he has left us the record of how it became fulfilled. It is probable that Jeremiah himself wrote down from time to time the account of his intercourse with God; or else he dictated it to Baruch.

That Jeremiah stood alone is in a real sense correct. In many instances he could cry with Elijah, “I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away.”22  The prophet had literally nothing left but God. To God therefore he went for companionship, relief, encouragement, assurance and all that was needed to go on. “Out of the Hebrew prophet, there is created in Jeremiah a new spiritual type—the Old Testament saint: the man who, when flesh and heart fail, finds in God the strength of his heart and his portion forever.”23  It remains for us to sketch briefly the outstanding features of this type of personal religion, as exhibited in Jeremiah.

First, his religion is marked by its strong individualism. In the case of Jeremiah this is naturally accounted for by the peculiar circumstances of his life; it was through such experiences that Jeremiah had to move from the realm of national religion to that of personal religion. Throughout the “Confessions”24  we can see that Jeremiah felt himself absolutely cut off from religious fellowship with men. The bond between him and his nation was broken, therefore he threw his all on Yahweh. When he couldn’t understand certain problems facing society he went to Yahweh. Listen as he cries to Yahweh: “Righteous art thou, O Yahweh, when I contend with Thee; yet would I reason the cause with Thee: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are they at ease that deal very treacherously? Thou art near in their mouth and for from their heart.”25  Over against their treachery Jeremiah sets his own integrity. “But Thou, O Yahweh, knowest me; Thou seest me, and triest my heart towards Thee.”26 

In this we can see that tone of sincerity which sounds throughout Jeremiah’s life. We can see the purity of one who always lives intimately with God. Finally, we see Jeremiah as he reaches complete trust and harmony with his God; Yahweh is his “hope”27  and his strong protector against his persecutors.28  Having completely overcome his despair, Jeremiah found his deepest joy in the world of Yahweh 29 and became, as Yahweh had said at the time of his call,30  a wall of brass capable of resisting all attack.31 

Second, out of Jeremiah’s piety grows a trust in the unerring righteousness of God. It was this trust in the unerring righteousness of God that was the basis of his personal religion. He saw Yahweh as the Righteous Judge, the all-seeing Searcher of hearts, who gives to every man according to his deeds.32  Jeremiah came to this conception of God because of the divine working within him. It was the eye of Yahweh that was forever searching the thoughts and intents of the heart. Jeremiah’s great moral sincerity grew out of his realisation of the omniscience and righteousness of God.

Third, Jeremiah is original in his exercise of prayer. Jeremiah “is the father of true prayer, in which the wretched soul expresses both its subhuman misery and its superhuman confidence …Some scholars hold that the prophetic revelation always came in answer to prayer. …He prays for healing. “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for Thou art my praise.”33  He prays for help against his adversaries. “Let them be confounded that persecute me but let me not be confounded; let them be dismayed but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil and destroy them with double destruction.”34 

To Jeremiah prayer was more than petition. It was no escape from the harsh realities of life. It was an “intimate converse with God, in which his inner life is laid bare, with its perplexities and struggles and temptations.”35  It is such a prayer that contains the assurance of an answer. In one of the most touching passages of his “Confessions,” Jeremiah becomes aware of the answer which solves all his internal problems.

“Therefore, thus saith the Lord, if thou return, then will I bring thee again, and then shall stand before Me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth; let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them. And I will make thee unto this people a brazen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.”36 

Jeremiah, throughout all his doubts and difficulties, was able to be carried forward by the secret assurance that this business was not his business but God’s business, and this alone supported him under the most pressing perplexities and loneliness. …His communion with God, which was for him the biggest single fact in life, led him to inevitably to the undermining of ecclesiastical religion. The Temple he slashes with scone and ridicule.37  In another passage he scones the magical properties of the Ark.38  He stings with sweeping criticism the priests who were supposed to be the mediators between God and man. …But amid all that Jeremiah proved that God can be found.

…Did Jeremiah ever reach the point of believing that all individuals could have personal relations with God as he did? The answer is yes. He concluded this from his own experiences. He perceived that what religion was to him it must be to all men—the response of the heart to the voice of God. It was this thought that was continually touching the balloon of nationality until finally it burst. This was a supreme contribution, for it shifted the center of gravity in Judaism from the nation to the individual.

Conclusion

We must conclude that Jeremiah left certain ineffaceable contributions to religious thought which are still relevant to our contemporary culture. He stepped on the religious stage sounding the trumpet for a new idea of God, and the signal for another forward march of the soul. He had seized on a great and revolutionary truth, and with that truth, like a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, went ahead of his times. In many instances the picture drawn by Jeremiah is an idealistic one, and an ideal which has not yet been realised—the New Covenant for example. But the ideal is there; it at least serves as a standard by which we may measure ourselves, a goal which we may all strive to attain.

Jeremiah is a shining example of the truth that religion should never sanction the status quo. This more than anything else should be inculcated into the minds of modern religionists, for the worst disservice that we as individuals or churches can do to Christianity is to become sponsors and supporters of the status quo. How often has religion gone down, chained to a status quo it allied itself with. Durkheim and other sociologists rejoice to find in each religion simply the reflection of the State’s opinion of itself foisted upon the divine, and along this they agree that no advancement can be looked for in spiritual affairs. Therefore, we must admit that men like Jeremiah are valuable to any religion. Religion, in a sense, through men like Jeremiah, provides for its own advancement, and carries within it the promise of progress and renewed power. But what is societies reaction to such men? It has reacted, and always will re-act, in the only way open to it. It destroys such men. Jeremiah died a martyr.

It is obvious that if we judge Jeremiah by the ordinary standards of the world, his work was a failure. He was lightly esteemed in life. He became the supreme example of what Deutero-Isaiah called the suffering servant. He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But in after years his unheeded prophecies became the favourite book of the scattered Hebrew race. Many of the Psalms, as we saw above, re-echo his words, and depict scenes such as only Jeremiah could have passed through. It is for these reasons that Jeremiah came to be regarded as the greatest of them all.39 

References:

1. R. C. Knox. Knowing The Bible. (New York: Macmillan Co., 1936). p. 99

2. Jeremiah 1:2-ff

3. Jeremiah 8:18, 21, 22; 15:18

4. Jeremiah 9:1; 10:19

5. Jeremiah 8:18–22; 14:20, 21

6. Jeremiah 4:31; 8:21, 22; 9:12

7. Jeremiah 1:5 with 15:10; 20:14-ff

8. S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1903). p. 275

9. Jeremiah 31:31-ff

10. I. G. Matthews, The Religious Pilgrimage of Israel, (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1947). p. 164

11. Skinner, op. cit., p. 329

12. Matthews, op. cit., p. 165

13. Adam C. Welch, Jeremiah His Times and His Work, (London: Oxford University Press, 1928) p. 137

14. Jeremiah 7:8–10

15. Skinner, op. cit., pp. 175–176

16. Jeremiah 7:4

17. Jeremiah 7:5-7

18. Jeremiah 7:12–14

19. Jeremiah 24:7

20. Jeremiah 20:7-f

21. Jeremiah 15:10

22. I Kings 19:10

23. Skinner, op. cit., p. 223

24. The term has been applied to such passages as Jeremiah 11:18–23; 12:1–6; 15:10–21; 17:9–18; 18:18–23; 20:7–12

25. Jeremiah 12:1-f

26. Jeremiah 12:3

27. Jeremiah 17:14

28. Jeremiah 17:11

29. Jeremiah 15:16

30. Jeremiah 1:18

31. Jeremiah 15:20

32. Jeremiah 17:10; 12:1; 12:3; 20:12

33. Jeremiah 17:14

34. Jeremiah 17:18

35. Skinner, op. cit., p. 214

36. Jeremiah 15:19, 20, 21

37. Jeremiah 7:9

38. Jeremiah 3:16

39. Matthew 16:14; John 1:21

Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954-1968, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University, Boston, Mass.

Rejoice in God’s Word as One who Finds Great Treasure

The Lord filled Bezalel with “the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.” He placed “wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans” to make the tabernacle of meeting, the Ark of the Testimony and the Mercy Seat that is on it.” [1]

The Ark of the Testimony reflects the Trinity with special emphasis on Messiah. The Ark has two cherubim on each end of the lid of the box facing the middle of the lid where the Mercy Seat is as though the Father and Spirit are bearing witness that Messiah is One with them. Some would say that the cherubim represent the Law and the Prophets who bear witness to Messiah. The Greek text of 1 John 2:2 refers to Jesus Christ as the Mercy Seat. The Mercy Seat is where God atoned for our sin. The tablets with the Ten Commandments inside the Ark of the Testimony are also another sign of Messiah. He is the Word made flesh.

After the Lord addresses matters of symbols in the Tent of Meeting, He speaks to Moses of the Sabbath Day. He said, “Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” [2]

The two tablets of stone that God gave Moses were written with the finger of God. [3]

While God was giving Moses instructions for how the people could now enjoy spiritual communion with Him, the people were abandoning God. They told Aaron the brother of Moses, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron did it. He failed to restrain the people from idolatry. He molded a golden calf for them. They worshipped it. They began to commit sexual sins.

If only they had waited on the Lord instead of taking matters into their own hands. God had a beautiful plan for them. As it was, God was ready to destroy them and make of Moses a great nation. But Moses pleaded with the Lord not to destroy them. However, later, when he saw with his own two eyes what the people had done to the Lord, he became angry and threw the two stone tablets down and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He confronted Aaron about his sin. Then, he said to the people, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side—come to me!” All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. Then, he ordered them to slay those who joined in the rebellion which amounted to about 3,000 of them. [4]

Moses said to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” He was willing to be the atoning sacrifice for them, but “the Lord said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.’” [5]

God provided a good prayer for us to pray in Psalm 119:37, “Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in Your way.” May we rejoice in God’s Word as one who finds great treasure.” [6]

[1] Exodus 31:1-7
[2] Exodus 31:12-17
[3] Exodus 31:18
[4] Exodus 32:1-29
[5] Exodus 32:30-34
[6] Psalm 119:162

Giving to the Lord

The Lord spoke to Moses about taking a ransom from the children of Israel so that “there may be no plague among them.” The ransom (Heb. “koper”) amounted to a half shekel ($5) per everyone that was twenty years old or older during the head count. The purpose of the ransom was to take money from the sons of Israel and give it for the service of the tent of meeting – where God met with them. The ransom money was an offering by the Lord’s redeemed people to Him who preserved their lives. [1]

Jesus noticed the giving of two unnamed ladies in the Bible: a poor widow and another woman who poured out expensive fragrant oil on His head. The poor widow gave two mites to the Lord which was $1.88 in today’s currency! At that moment, it was all that she had to live on. The other woman’s fragrant offering was worth three hundred denarii ($608) according to those in the room. She made those observers angry. “They criticized her sharply. But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.’” [2]

We pay money for services and merchandise that we value. We should give to the Lord for all that He has done for us.

The Lord asks, “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,’ says the Lord of hosts; ‘And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,’ says the Lord of hosts.” [3]

Jesus told one enquirer, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” [4]

The Lord wants our love. Giving financially to advance His good news to others is one way to express love to Him. No matter how much or how little, give because we love Him!

[1] Exodus 30:11-16; thebiblesays.com
[2] Mark 12:41-44; Mark 14:3-9; Tyndale.com; walletinvestor.com
[3] Malachi 3:8-12
[4] Mark 12:29-31

Fix Your Faith on the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Our Lord Jesus warned that in the last days many would come in His Name, claiming to be He, and lead a lot of people astray. This means to be especially careful as to which church leaders you follow. Jesus said that you can tell a tree by its fruit. Is the tree producing faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, or of someone or of something else?

Hunters learn the eating habits of their prey. Quite often it is their eating habits, that get the prey into the trap. What are you consuming?

Read your Bible for yourself. Pray to the Lord Jesus directly. Invest time, energy and talent into following the Lord Jesus as His Spirit leads you by knowing and practicing the Word of God.

Rest in God

Rest, rest, rest in the love of God for you, in the grace of His Son Jesus Your Messiah, and in the fellowship of His Holy Spirit.

"God rested on the seventh day from all His works.” [1]

"There remains therefore a rest for the people of God." [2]

"For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His." [3]

"Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest," [4]

“When man works man works, but when man prays, God works.” – Hans Von Staden

[1] Hebrews 4:4

[2] Hebrews 4:9

[3] Hebrews 4:10

[4] Hebrews 4:11

耶 和 華 是 我 的 拯 救 / The Lord is My Salvation

詩篇27讚美神的和平，保護與他的同在。      

Psalm 27 praises God’s peace, protection, and His presence.

專家估計，頭腦每天會思考6萬至8萬個想法。

Experts estimate that the mind thinks between 60,000 – 80,000 thoughts a day.

每小時平均有2500 – 3,300個想法。

That's an average of 2500 – 3,300 thoughts per hour.

我不知道時億個想法中有百分之多少涉及和平，安全和神聖的存在。

I wonder what percentage of these thoughts per hour involve peace, secureness, and divine presence. 

詩篇27是關於儘管環境惡劣也要經歷絕對的和平。

Psalm 27 is about absolute peace amidst scary circumstances thanks to God.

詩篇27是關於知道你是安全的，因為你在神手中。

Psalm 27 is about knowing you are secure because God has you in His hands.

詩篇27是關於無論身在何處都練習神的同在。

Psalm 27 is about practicing the presence of God no matter where you are.

這在第1節中很明顯。

This is apparent in verse 1.

“耶 和 華 是 我 的 亮 光 ， 是 我 的 拯 救 ， 我 還 怕 誰 呢 ？ 耶 和 華 是 我 性 命 的 保 障 ， 我 還 懼 誰 呢 ？”

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

主的同在是賦予生命和保護的。

The Lord’s presence is life-giving and protective.

“主被稱為'光'，因為光驅走了黑暗。”

“The Lord is called ‘light’ because light drives darkness away.”

神在創世記1：3中創造了光。

God created light in Genesis 1:3.

神說： “要 有 光 ， 就 有 了 光。”

God said, “Let there be light, and there was light.”

神通過說出聖言來消除黑暗。

God dispels darkness by speaking His Word.

神賜給我們他的話語，即聖經，因此，通過相信和認罪，我們也可以消除生活中的黑暗。

God gave us His Word, the Bible, so that by believing and confessing it, we too could dispel the darkness from our lives. 

當烏雲試圖覆蓋並包圍您時，請說出神的話！

When dark clouds try to cover and surround you, speak God’s Word!

站起來發表聲明！

Stand and make a statement!  

耶和華是我的光，我的救恩！

The Lord is my light and my salvation!

神將照亮我的日子，他將拯救我。

God will brighten my day and He will save me.

神為什麼要為我這樣做呢？因為我相信他。

And why would God do this for me? Because I believe in Him. 

神獎勵那些對他的信任。

God rewards those who trust in Him.

聖經中充滿了關於神啟發簡單人成為明智領袖的故事。

The Bible is full of stories about God enlightening simple people to become wise leaders.

聖經中充斥著有關神使弱者成為強者的故事。

The Bible is full of stories about God taking weak people and making them strong. 

詩人宣稱：“耶和華是我生命的據點；我該怕誰？”

The Psalmist declared, “The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

“堡壘”是詩篇中對神的常見描述。

“Stronghold” is a common description of God in the Psalms.

一個據點是一個位置優越的堡壘，可防止敵人的襲擊。

A stronghold is a well-positioned fortress that provides safety from enemy assaults.     

地球上沒有任何東西可以穿透神的保護……甚至沒有核彈。

Nothing on earth can penetrate God’s protection… not even a nuclear bomb.

在遇到麻煩時，自然的衝動就是逃到安全的地方。

In times of trouble the natural impulse is to flee to a place of safety.

大衛在詩篇27：3中宣布, “雖 有 軍 兵 安 營 攻 擊 我 ， 我 的 心 也 不 害 怕 ； 雖 然 興 起 刀 兵 攻 擊 我 ， 我 必 仍 舊 安 穩 。”

In Psalm 27:3, David declares, “Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident.”

沒有人希望有一支軍隊和一場戰爭來對抗他們，但是大衛說，如果發生這些災難，他的內心就不會害怕。   

No one wants an army and a war to come against them, but David said, if these calamities happened, his heart would not fear.

他將保持自信。

He would remain confident. 

他知道神，神比軍隊和戰爭更大。

He knew God, and God is much bigger than armies and wars.

以賽亞書40:15說到神對列國的超越，說： “看 哪 ， 萬 民 都 像 水 桶 的 一 滴 ， 又 算 如 天 平 上 的 微 塵 。”

Speaking of God’s transcendence over the nations, Isaiah 40:15 says, “Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales…”

大衛靠著耶和華，在他小的時候就殺死了獅子，熊和巨人。

By trusting in the Lord, David was killing lions, bears and a giant when he was only a boy.

大衛實踐了主的同在。

David practiced the presence of the Lord. 

大衛在詩篇27：4中宣布, “有 一 件 事 ， 我 曾 求 耶 和 華 ， 我 仍 要 尋 求 ： 就 是 一 生 一 世 住 在 耶 和 華 的 殿 中 ， 瞻 仰 他 的 榮 美 ， 在 他 的 殿 裡 求 問 。”

In Psalm 27:4, David declares, “One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.”

在創世記35：7中，雅各稱神與他相遇的地方為神的屋。

In Genesis 35:7, Jacob called the place where God met with him the house of God.

“他 在 那 裡 築 了 一 座 壇 ， 就 給 那 地 方 起 名 叫 伊 勒 伯 特 利 (就 是 伯 特 利 之 神 的 意 思) ； 因 為 他 逃 避 他 哥 哥 的 時 候 ， 神 在 那 裡 向 他 顯 現 。”

“He built an altar there and called the place El Bethel (God of the House of God), because there, God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother.”

神的家在他選擇與我們見面並與我們交流的任何地方。

God’s house is wherever He chooses to meet with us and commune with us. 

大衛一生都想住在這所房子裡，與神相交。

David wanted live in this house, this communion with God, all his days.

他還提殿裡。

He also mentions inquiring in God’s temple. 

寺廟是神子民的主要聚會場所。

The temple was a central gathering place for God’s people.

大衛對神實行個人和公共奉獻生活。

David practiced both a personal and a public devotional life towards God. 

對我們來說是一個很好的例子！

A good example for us!

詩篇27：5-6 繼續說：” 因 為 我 遭 遇 患 難，他 必 暗 暗 地 保 守 我；在 他 亭 子 裡， 把 我 藏 在 他 帳 幕 的 隱 密 處，將 我 高 舉 在 磐 石 上。現 在 我 得 以 昂 首，高 過 四 面 的 仇 敵 。 我 要 在 他 的 帳 幕 裡 歡 然 獻 祭 ； 我 要 唱 詩 歌 頌 耶 和 華 。”

Psalm 27:5-6 continue, “For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at His sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord.”

帳篷是寺廟的詩意名稱，讓人聯想起保護和親密感。

Tent is a poetic name for the temple that conjures images of both protection and intimacy. 

帳篷不像永久性建築物那樣有多個房間。

A tent does not have multiple rooms as permanent structures do.

在另一個人的帳篷裡的客人自然地參與了住在那裡的主的生活。

The guest in the tent of another naturally participates in the life of Him who dwells there.

術語“尋求”和“詢問”是指追求神，直到他與您相識為止。

The terms “seek” and “inquire” refers to pursuing God until He communes with you.

當我們遵守神的同在時，他使我們想起聖經中的應許。

As we abide in God’s presence, He reminds us of His promises in the Bible. 

他使我們想起聖經，這些聖經幫助我們做出明智的選擇。

He reminds us of Scriptures that help us make wise choices. 

大衛在詩篇23：1中宣布，因為耶和華是他的牧者，所以他並不缺乏。

In Psalm 23:1, David declared that because the Lord is his shepherd, he does not lack.

通過主的指導，我們被高舉在包圍我們的敵人之上。

It is through the Lord’s guidance that we are exalted above the enemies who surround us.

我們可以高興地大喊，並向主歌唱，因為主為我們作戰。

We can shout with joy, sing, and make music to the Lord because the Lord fights our battles.

在第12節中，他向神求神從敵人的錯誤指控中解救出來。

In verse 12, he petitions God for deliverance from an enemy’s false accusations.

這些天的新聞報導涉及兩個問題：“怎麼了？誰該我們怪？”

So many news reports these days involve two questions: “What’s wrong? Who is to blame?”

啟示錄12:10說魔鬼是兄弟的控告者。

Revelation 12:10 says that the devil is the accuser of the brothers.

他想日夜在我們面前指責我們，但神把他趕出了天堂。

He would like to accuse us before God day and night, but God threw him out of heaven.

我很高興原告被推翻，擁護者耶穌基督升天了。

I’m so glad the accuser’s been thrown down and the advocate, Jesus Christ, has ascended. 

為我們的罪而死在十字架上的耶穌基督是我們在天堂的辯護律師。.

Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, is our defense attorney in heaven. 

耶穌從死裡復活後，他升上天堂，坐在天父的右邊為我們代禱。

After Jesus rose from the dead, He ascended to heaven, where He sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. 

讚美主！

Praise the Lord!

大衛的一生充滿了戰鬥和敵人。

David’s life was full of battles and enemies.

如果他專注於自己的麻煩而不是主，那麼我們今天就不會在談論他了。

If he had focused on his troubles and not on the Lord, we would not be talking about Him today. 

今天他的證詞仍然有效，因為在大衛我們看到了一種新的生活方式。

His testimonies are still powerful today because in David we see a new way of living. 

在大衛中，我們發現認識神會帶來更好的生活質量。

In David, we discover that knowing God yields a better quality of life.

與其在我們的腦海中散佈出許多可怕的思想，不如讓我們擁有通過所有理解的神的平安。

Instead of a multitude of scary thoughts running through our heads, we can have the peace of God that passes all understanding. 

神向我們保證，他將保護我們。我們不必害怕。

God assures us that He will protect us. We do not need to be afraid. 

大衛在第13-14節中以下列字句結束了詩篇27：

David closed out Psalm 27 with the following words in verses 13-14:

“我 若 不 信 在 活 人 之 地 得 見 耶 和 華 的 恩 惠 ， 就 早 已 喪 膽 了 。 要 等 候 耶 和 華 ！ 當 壯 膽 ， 堅 固 你 的 心 ！ 我 再 說 ， 要 等 候 耶 和 華 ！”

“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

神有著永恆的美好。

Eternity with God ahead of us. 

等待主！

Wait on the Lord! 

可以將等待神比作等待將氣泵加滿油箱。

Waiting on the Lord can be compared to waiting on the gas pump to fill your gas tank. 

不要在汽油箱中放一槍汽油然後開車走！不，加滿油！

Don’t put a shot of gas into your gas tank and drive away! No, fill your tank up!

每天不要給自己的靈魂一槍耶穌！不，用耶穌使你的靈魂充滿邊緣。

Don’t give your soul a shot of Jesus per day! No, fill your soul to the brim with Jesus. 

他會讓您堅強，並給您勇氣面對挑戰。

He will make you strong and give you courage to face your challenges.

我的祈禱是，我們所有人都在生活中體驗神的和平，保護和同在。 

My prayer is that we all experience God’s peace, protection, and presence in our lives. 

One is Your Teacher, the Christ

When Jesus walked among us in the flesh, He taught the crowd who followed Him and He taught His disciples to observe what the Scripture interpreters and proclaimers of their day taught them from the Word of God, but not to follow their example. Their spiritual leaders gave them “to do” lists but did not “do” the “to do’s” themselves. In fact, they were laying heavy burdens on their followers. The burden that they laid on their followers was to exalt them. They wanted to be popular, and well-treated. They wanted special titles of recognition. [1]

Elizabeth Villani wrote in an article for HR Magazine, “Western humanity has, over the last 50 years, bred a civilization that fundamentally relies upon others to feel good enough. We fill our gap in confidence with clothes, holidays, gadgets, alcohol, relationships and yes, recognition - looking to them to make us happy.” [2]

God did not create us to bear the weight of being in the place of God to others. We should recognize our frailty. Our fallibleness! Let us maintain a humble view of ourselves and an exalted view of God’s Messiah Jesus. He’s the Savior sent from heaven by God our Father to save us from our sin.

Jesus Christ urges His leaders not to embrace titles like “Rabbi” meaning teacher because… “One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.” He urges us not to call our spiritual leaders, “father” because… “One is your Father, He who is in heaven.” And He repeated, “Do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.”

All the glory and the respect for teaching should be to God’s Messiah Jesus Christ. He is the One who gives us the true revelation of God and the true meaning of Scripture.

Jesus taught that the one “who is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Thus, we have apostles like Peter, James, John, and Paul identifying themselves as slaves (doulos) of Jesus Christ. Paul could say of himself and his proteges, “We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.” [3]

It was in this context that our Lord and Savior lamented, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” [4]

While our Messiah taught us to respect and obey the earthly governments of this world, [5] He calls us His followers to have One leader, and that is the One whom the Father sent, even Him Jesus our Messiah. He is the One we are to bless, and to worship. We place Jesus Christ in the highest place, and everyone else, especially, teachers and servants of His Word in comparatively humble places. He alone is worthy of our praise and thanksgiving!

[1] Matthew 23:1-7
[2] hrmagazine.co.uk/content/features/why-needing-recognition-is-a-clear-sign-of-emotional-immaturity
[3] Mt. 23:8-12; 1 Peter 1:1, James 1:1, Rev. 1:1, Rom. 1:1; 2 Cor. 4:5
[4] Matthew 23:37-39
[5] Romans 12:18; Romans 13:1-8; Acts 5:29 – inasmuch as their will does not demand disobedience to His will.

Christ is the Key to Scripture Interpretation

“The Lord your God God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.” Deuteronomy 18:15

The Prophet from whom all true prophets spring forth is Jesus Christ. He gives us the correct understanding of God, the Kingdom of God, and of the Scriptures. He is the Word made flesh.

Attached are several slides with Scriptures that bear witness to importance of knowing Christ and knowing the Scriptures for a person's eternal salvation.

Slaves of Christ

I heard a portion of this message by John MacArthur on BOTT radio yesterday morning. I looked it up this morning, and found the full message. I abbreviated the message from 4,083 words to 1,239 words. For the full article, please click on the link to John’s website @ www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/GTY112/slaves-of-christ. I praise the Lord for His slave John MacArthur.

The Greek word for slave (doulos) appears 130 times in the New Testament. The companion word in Greek for doulos is kurios. Kurios means lord. This is the dominant narrative of a human’s relationship to Jesus Christ. He is Lord. We are His slaves.

When it comes to Scripture, we’ve got to let God say what God said. We also got to understand the goodness of God. To serve Him is not to serve an abusive person.

During the era in which the New Testament was written, there were about 12 million slaves in the Mediterranean world. To free Greeks and Romans, freedom was everything. Slaves had no freedom and no rights. They couldn’t defend themselves in a court. They couldn’t be citizens. They couldn’t own property.

Popular culture in those days was to refer to one’s relationship with god as philos. Philos means friend. The thought of being a slave to anyone, even to a god, was despicable in the Greek world. “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” [1] The message of the cross was a stumbling block to the Greek mind. Paul conveyed to them a message of a crucified Jew who wanted to make people His slave.

“Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus” was his first point. He wrote, “Am I now seeking the favor of men or of God?” Slavery to Christ is about seeking His favor. “If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a slave of Christ.” [2]

Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” [3]

The first point of the books of James and Jude are, “a slave of Jesus Christ.” At the beginning of the last book of the Bible, we read, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His slaves, the things which must shortly take place; He sent and communicated it by His angel to His slave John.” [4] James, Jude, and John knew what slavery meant. They lived in a world of slavery.

To be of slave of Christ is to be on the good side in the Book of Revelation. “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their forehead.” “In the days of the seventh angel’s voice, when he’s about to sound, and the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His slaves the prophets.” The prophets, the apostles, and the preachers in the time of tribulation are slaves. “His judgments are true and righteous; He judges the great harlot corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His slaves.” “Give praise to our God, all you His slaves, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” “There shall no longer be any curse; the throne of God, the Lamb, shall be in it, and His slaves shall serve Him.” Past, present, and future; we are slaves, those who are redeemed by the Lord are His slaves. [5]

A servant is someone who performs a function for a wage and is free to quit. A slave is purchased and owned. Peter wrote, “You are not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.” Paul said, “The church of God, which He bought with His own blood.” [6] This is slave language. We are owned because we were bought.

Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the following commission, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” This commission involves knowing who Jesus is in relationship to us, obeying Him, and trusting Him. This is not about, “God, come into my life and fulfill my dreams.” He said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself.” [7]

Paul wrote, “If you confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” The Christian life is about being a faithful slave. To be the person in the parable to whom Jesus says, “Well done, good and faithful slave.” [8]

The Lord provides His slaves a place to live, food to eat, and clothes to wear. Paul wrote, “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” He lavishes grace upon grace. His place of rulership is a throne of mercy for us in our time of need. We don’t have anywhere else to go. We depend on our Lord for our provisions, and our protection. He promises, “I’ll never leave you or forsake you.” He is a good shepherd who cares for His sheep. [9]

A slave in Caesar’s household was at the top of the slave ranks because of who his master was. Paul doesn’t hesitate to say, “Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ,” because his Lord is the Lord of lords and the King of kings.

Jesus Christ is the best Master. He loves us His slaves. He seeks what is best for us. After making us children and joint heirs, He seats us with Him on His throne to reign with Him. He lavishes on us all the gifts of His grace.

“Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the the form of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be held onto, grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave.” It’s good enough for Him, and it’s good enough for us. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” In the crisis of the moment in the garden, Jesus said to the Father, “Not My will, but Yours be done.” [10]

“He took the form of a slave, and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, humbled Himself in becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Jesus is the perfect model of self-denying slave of God. And what was His return on investment? “Therefore also God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name which is above every name.” [11] He is the slave who became Lord, and we are the slaves who will one day be raised to share His throne.

[1] 1 Corinthians 1:18
[2] Romans 1:1; Galatians 1:10
[3] Matthew 6:24
[4] James 1:1, Jude 1:1, Revelation 1:1
[5] Revelation 7:3; 10:7; 19:2, 5; 22:3
[6] 1 Peter 1:18-19; Acts 20:28
[7] Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 9:23
[8] Romans 10:9-10; Matthew 25:23
[9] Philippians 4:19; Hebrews 13:5; 1 Peter 5:4
[10] Philippians 2:5-6; John 5:19; Luke 22:42
[11] Philippians 2:8-9

The Blessing of Abraham

“His mother [Rebekah] said to him [Jacob], “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” [1]

Rebekah was Christlike when she was willing to bear the curse of Jacob’s sin so that he could be blessed of God. Paul wrote to the Galatians about Christ bearing the curse of the law so that we Gentiles who believe in Christ receive the blessing of Abraham… we receive the promised Holy Spirit…

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” [2]

Jacob received God’s blessing but had to flee from his brother. Before he fled, his father gave him an added blessing, saying, “May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples; and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.” The writer of Hebrews testifies to Isaac’s faith, saying, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.” [3] The inheritance of Abraham is given to all who believe in Christ. He is the descendent of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through whom all the blessings of God are received.

What happened after the blessing? Jacob had a dream. In his dream, he saw a ladder stretching from earth to heaven. Angels of God ascended and descended on it. This ladder represents Jesus. He is the mediator between God and humanity. He is the path through Whom communication flows back and forth between God and humanity. The Lord told Jacob, “In your Seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Paul wrote of this Seed saying, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.” [4]

We who receive the blessing of faith in Christ inherit a better land than the temporary properties of earth. We receive an eternal place with God. We like Jacob may experience betrayal and persecution from others in our race who have rejected the life of faith in God, but the blessings far outweigh the curses. We have this promise from God, “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” [5]

[1] Genesis 27:13
[2] Galatians 3:13-14
[3] Genesis 27:22, 41; Genesis 28:3-4; Hebrews 11:20
[4] Genesis 28:12, 14; 1 Timothy 2:5; John 14:6; Galatians 3:16
[5] 2 Corinthians 4:17

The Lord Appeared to Abram

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you and will multiply you exceedingly.’

Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.’” [1]

The Lord was gracious to appear to Abram. He was gracious to introduce Himself to him, and give him instruction, and a promise to bless him. The Lord’s prophetic word to him was that God would make him a father of many nations. The Lord changed his name from Abram (father of people) to Abraham (father of many people). He promised to be the God of Abraham’s descendants.

“Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.’” [2] Giving birth to a son in their old age was a hard promise for Abraham and Sarah to believe, but the key to this miracle is Messiah. Their son Isaac, and indeed they too, were destined to be in the family tree of Messiah. When it comes to Messiah nothing is impossible with God. Anything can happen!

“And the Lord said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.’” [3]

The Lord asked, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?” The answer was no. “For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord…” Abraham and God were aware of each other. Abraham kept the way of the Lord. So, the Lord told him that He was going to take a look at the sin that was happening in Sodom and Gomorrah because many cried about it. [4]

Upon hearing this news, Abraham went into intercessory prayer mode. He interceded for the people of these cities, asking God to spare them if He could find at least ten righteous people there. It has been said, “The more you look at God the more become like Him.” Here, we see Jesus Messiah working in and through Abraham to urge God to be merciful and gracious to two very wicked cities of sinners for the sake of a few righteous people who lived there. God agreed to spare these wicked cities from destruction for the sake of ten righteous people. God did not find ten righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, but He did send two angels to get Lot’s family of four out of there before the fire fell. [5]

[1] Genesis 17:1-8
[2] Genesis 17:15-16
[3] Genesis 18:17-19
[4] Genesis 18:20-21
[5] Genesis 18:22-33; Genesis 19

Your Shield and Great Reward

“After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.’ But Abram said, ‘Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ Then Abram said, ‘Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!’ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’ Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Then He said to him, ‘I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.’” [1]

The Lord graciously reached out to Abram. Gave him a vision! Urged him not to be afraid! Reminded him that He was his shield and his exceedingly great reward!

When Abram expressed disappointment to the Lord in regards to the status of his legacy, the Lord gave Abram an object lesson. The objects were the numerous stars in the sky. He told Abram that his legacy would include descendants as numerous as the stars that he could count. Abram believed in the Lord. The Lord also promised to give Abram land.

This passage is especially meaningful to me because the Lord gave me a similar promise the day that I placed my life in His hands to trust in Him. The dialogue between Jesus and I went like this… Jesus: “Don’t do that [destroy your life], give your life to Me, and I will use it to touch many people.” Me: “Lord, I have only messed this life up, if You can do anything with it, it’s Yours.” Jesus Christ saved me from my sin and gave me His Holy Spirit.

My testimony is to love God and love His Word, or as John puts it in the Book of Revelation, to live for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. [2]

Jesus our Messiah does miracles in our lives as we simply love Him and proclaim His Word. He helps us as we trust in Him to touch the lives of many people, AND He does give us an inheritance. Even life with Him forevermore!

[1] Genesis 15:1-7
[2] See Revelation 1:2, 9; 6:9; 12:17; 19:10

God’s Kingdom Outlasts Earthly Empires

The human population was exploding. Men were choosing women according to their outward beauty. The Lord announced a limit to His Spirit’s willingness to strive against their rebellious ways. The people produced mighty and famous men rather than men who gloried in God. Their thoughts were evil. God regretted creating them. They caused Him grief. He decided to destroy them, but then, there was one man who was different. The Lord favored him. Why? [1]

“Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.” “Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.” Noah is a type of Christ. He doesn’t compromise with the world’s culture. He walks with God. “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” [2]

The Lord told Noah that He saw the violence and corruption of the people. His plan was to destroy them, but His covenant with Noah was to save him, his sons, and their wives, as well as some birds and animals of every existing kind. [3]

After the Lord cleansed the earth, “Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma...” [4]

“God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.’” In regards to violence and destruction of human life, the Lord told Noah, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.” God wanted people. He wanted them to fill the world that He had made for them. Noah’s three sons and their three wives produced abundantly, and eventually the whole earth was populated. [5]

One of Noah’s descendants, a man named Nimrod, began to be a mighty one on the earth. He built nine cities including the city of Babel. In Babel, the people said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” Nimrod helped the people to rebel against God. He rallied people to form a coalition with the intent of rebelling against God’s Word. At this point, the Lord confused their languages and “scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” [6]

What did God call Abraham to do? The Lord called Abraham to follow Him. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” [7]

Jesus said of the devil, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” [8] The devil wants people to build empires that unseat God from His rightful place in their lives. All such empires will perish. Those who join with the devil, his beastly leaders and his false prophets will perish with them. [9]

The good news is that God’s Word says that as many as received Him [Jesus – God’s Savior from sin], to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. The Bible says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” In Christ, God forgives all your sins. In Christ, you receive God’s Holy Spirit. In Christ, there is eternal life. God is creating a new heaven and a new earth where there is only righteousness, and Christ will give you a place with Him there, as you trust and follow Him. [10]

[1] Genesis 6:1-8
[2] Genesis 6:9, 22; Hebrews 11:7
[3] Genesis 6:11-21
[4] Genesis 8:20-21
[5] Genesis 9:1, 6-7, 18-19
[6] Genesis 10:8-12; 11:3-9
[7] Genesis 12:1-3; Hebrews 11:8-10
[8] John 10:10
[9] Revelation 20:10-15
[10] John 1:11-13; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 2 Peter 3:13

Walking With God

“Noah walked with God.” [1]

There is fullness of joy in the Lord’s presence. To walk with Him is to have one’s mind stay on Him. Listening to Him! Speaking to Him! Allowing Him to direct one’s path and speech.

“There are many who say, ‘Who will show us any good?’ Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us. You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased.” [2]

Yes, the Lord fills the heart of one who receives Him with a gladness that exceeds the gladness of consuming earthly food and drink.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones. Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.” [3]

The goal is not the things. It is the Lord, but He created and sustains all things, and He blesses those who serve Him with grace that is sufficient to meet our needs and to meet the needs of our ministry unto Him. Praise the Lord!

[1] Genesis 6:9
[2] Psalm 4:6-7
[3] Proverbs 3:5-10

Desiring Jesus

“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” [1]

This language is not that of a sinner newly awakened to the sight of his lost state; it is the cry of a living but agonized believer, weighed down under a burden which is not himself, but which he longs to shake off from his renewed self.

“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [2]

This is the language of gratitude for the divinely provided remedy which immediately follows.

“Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.” [3]

The Lord enjoys fellowship with those who delight in righteousness. What do you reap when you sow time with Jesus? You get more of Jesus!

[1] Romans 7:24
[2] Romans 7:25
[3] Psalm 15 

Faith and Love for God

When Jesus entered Jerusalem looking for the fruit of faith and love for God, He found the fruit He desired in a poor widow. As He prepared to give His life as a ransom for the salvation of sinners, He highlighted the fruit of faith and love for God in another woman. In both cases, their names are not mentioned in the Gospel of Mark, but their examples are appreciated by Jesus as the kind of faith and love for God that He commends.

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.’” [1]

“While He was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on His head.

Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, ‘Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.’ And they rebuked her harshly.

‘Leave her alone,’ said Jesus. ‘Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the Gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” [2]

“Holy Spirit, please fill us with a faith and love for Messiah like these two women exhibited.”

[1] Mark 12:41-44
[2] Mark 14:3-9

The Fruit Messiah Seeks

“As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

Messiah does not own an animal of His own. He depends on a miraculous provision to have one.

“They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, ‘What are you doing, untying that colt?’ They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’”

The people praise Messiah but have false perceptions of what He will do for them.

“Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the Twelve.”

He looked around and left.

“The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to find out if it had any fruit. When He reached it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then He said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And His disciples heard Him say it.”

Just as He found nothing pleasing in the temple courts the previous day, He finds nothing pleasing on the fig tree and curses it.

“On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as He taught them, He said, ‘Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.’”

Messiah is displeased with the fruit in His Father’s house. He wanted to find praying and believing people but there were none to be found.

“The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill Him, for they feared Him, because the whole crowd was amazed at His teaching.”

The keepers and programmers of the temple courts want to kill Jesus. Only the fear what people might do to them stopped them from carrying out their plan.

“When evening came, Jesus and His disciples went out of the city. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!’”

The withered fig tree is a metaphor for those who reject Messiah. They are accursed of God and destined for destruction.

“‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.’”

Faith in God is what Messiah desires. He desires to see prayer. I desires to see people forgiving one another rather than exploiting and competing with one another.

“They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to Him. ‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ they asked. ‘And who gave you authority to do this?’”

Jesus had stepped on their toes sort of speak. The religious leaders who should have humbled themselves before him are taking Him to task.

“Jesus replied, ‘I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!’

They discussed it among themselves and said, ‘If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) So they answered Jesus, ‘We don’t know.’ Jesus said, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’”

John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. The religious leaders did not recognize Messiah because they refused to repent or to even consider that they had sin in their lives.

“Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: ‘A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes?’

Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest Him because they knew He had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left Him and went away.”

Jesus made it clear to them that He was their Messiah and they were rejecting Him. They were evil tenants in His house and they would be evicted.

“Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch Him in His words. They came to Him and said, ‘Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because You pay no attention to who they are; but You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?’

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. ‘Why are you trying to trap Me?’ He asked. ‘Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.’ They brought the coin, and He asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’ And they were amazed at Him.”

The religious leaders were concerned about earthly things. Could the Messiah help them to evade paying taxes? No He would not.

“Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him with a question. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?’

Jesus replied, ‘’Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!’”

The poor woman! Seven brothers and no baby. These supposed pastors are more concerned about the seven brothers who are impotent than the poor woman who was used by them for their pleasure. No she won’t be married to any of them in heaven. She will have the perfect husbandman of God in that day.

“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked Him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’

‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.’

‘Well said, teacher,’ the man replied. ‘You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.’ When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, He said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And from then on no one dared ask Him any more questions.”

The man was not far from the kingdom of God in that he understood loving God and neighbor is the fruit Messiah looks for, but he needed to believe in Messiah for this fruit to flow in and through his life.

“While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, ‘Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: ‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at My right hand until I put Your enemies under Your feet.’ David himself calls Him ‘Lord.’ How then can He be his son?”

Jesus clearly declared to them that He is Messiah.

“The large crowd listened to Him with delight. As He taught, Jesus said, ‘Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.’”

Jesus did not turn a blind eye to the selfish ways in which the leaders were leading the people. He exposed them. He told His listeners that these leaders would be severely punished.

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.’”

Finally, Jesus found faith, love and selfless divine fruit in His Father’s house. This poor widow is one of Messiah’s people. She had faith in God and love for God.

Scripture quotes from Mark 11-12