Appeal To God In Times of Turmoil - Psalms 93-95

Psalms 94:1-7 (ESV)

O LORD, God of vengeance,

O God of vengeance, shine forth!

Rise up, O judge of the earth;

repay to the proud what they deserve!

O LORD, how long shall the wicked,

how long shall the wicked exult?

They pour out their arrogant words;

all the evildoers boast.

They crush your people, O LORD,

and afflict your heritage.

They kill the widow and the sojourner,

and murder the fatherless;

and they say, “The LORD does not see;

the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

If you watch any type of political news or any news in general, you can’t help but love the above verses.   It seems that politicians have more interest in defeating each other and having power over each other than they do serving the people.    Israel felt that in her day, as well.  Her leaders were not working to bring them closer to God.  Her leaders were oppressing them.  We don’t really have any particular history for the poem.   It simply seems to be a general worship prayer/song that was meant to focus us on the fact that oppression happens, the wicked appear to be winning and God’s people have only one source of strength: God their LORD.    God is the judge of the earth.  The writer of the song makes sure that we know who we are addressing.   In times of turmoil and uncertainty about leadership and direction, it is relaxing and peaceful to know that God, the judge of the earth is in total control and we can come to Him and ask for support, strength and protection.    

God Is Using People For His Plan - 1 Chronicles 1-4

1 Chronicles 2:1-2 (ESV)

A Genealogy of David

These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

To some, this section of God’s Word might be like reading a phone book.  It is full of names and genealogies of people we don’t know anything about.   The writer of 1 and 2 Chronicles (originally one book) is trying to convey God is caring for His people in all ages and is tracing the genealogy of the future Messiah, Jesus.  When the nation of Israel was disciplined by God and put into captivity by Him, they eventually start returning to the promise land.  The point of the book is to trace the lineage and connection between one generation and the next.  Perhaps we can find the following points of truth in this particular phone book passages:

1.  People matter to God.  He is a God of connection and relationships.  He wants us to know that He knows our names.  This is Holy Scripture.  Each name listed, for whatever reason, matters to God.  

2. God is a God of sovereign order.  He has people where they are for a reason and has an orderly record of where they are at all times.  He has not lost anyone.  There is no lost and found table for God.   All of us are where we are under His plan and choice. 

3. All of us have a part in God’s plan.  God is moving His plan forward and mankind is the tool He is using.  As we read through this phone book it has some brief narratives that call attention to one person over the others.  Although all people matter to God He is using each of them differently for His plan.   

God is in control and we are part of that.  Nothing that is happening in our lives is missed by God.   He loves us and is using His creation for His glory.   

God Is NOT Mocked - Leviticus 25-27

 Leviticus 25:18-22 (ESV)

“Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely. The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.

These verses are found in the section concerning the Sabbath Year and the Year of the Jubilee.   The entire section is based upon God resting the seventh day and God commanding that the nation keep the Sabbath.  

Genesis 2:1-3 (ESV)

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Exodus 20:8 (ESV)

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

The nation was told that they were to work their land for six years. On the seventh year they were to NOT work the land.  God would give them enough crops in the sixth year to last both the seventh and eighth year, until the crops came back in on the ninth year.  Imagine the faith this required.   Imagine that today we tried the same thing.  We worked for six and then took off the entire seventh year.   The year of Jubilee required even more trust of God’s care.   You took off both the 49th year (that would have been a typical Sabbath Year), but you also took off the 50th.   That would be two years, back-to-back that you would give the land rest.   It would not be until the third year that you had crops.   This is an amazing act of faithfulness on God’s part to provide enough in the year proceeding the Sabbath rest for the land.   The nation of Israel, of course, did not keep these years of rest.  They worked the land like it was a wicked slave.  In fact we know that they missed 70 of these Sabbath rest years.  That was the exact number of years they served in captivity.   God would get rest for the land.  He even put His people in captivity to give them that rest.   

2 Chronicles 36:20-21 (ESV)

He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

We can think we can disobey God’s Word and get away with it.  But God will not be mocked! 

Galatians 6:7 (ESV)

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

Death Is Not the Final Sentence of the Story - 1 Thessalonians 4-5

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (ESV)

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The above section is the end of a long paragraph about what believers should expect regarding death and the return of Christ.   Paul starts the paragraph like this:

1 Thessalonians 4:13 (ESV)

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

Paul does not want us ignorant about death and our grieving over those who die before us.   He wants us to be completely informed.  He gives, in this paragraph, three areas we should be aware of and rejoice over.  They each begin with the word for.   The above statement is the third for. The word is used to give a reason for something said prior.   We are not to be ignorant for this reason(s).    The above for tells us that we should be informed that at some point Jesus is coming back to the earth.  He is returning.   This is normally referred to in theology as the rapture of the church.   We are told the following truths about this return by Jesus:

1. Jesus is in heaven and will descend from there to us. 

2. Jesus will descend from heaven with authority (a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God). 

3. When Jesus arrives to the earth all those who have died will rise.   From other Scripture we realize that those who died and have gone to heaven will return with Jesus and their bodies will be reunited upon this resurrection at His return.   

4.  Anyone who is a believer will, at this point, also rise with those who are now united with their raised bodies and we will all meet the Lord in the air.  

5.  We will, from this point, always be with the Lord (and those who were dead and are now raised). 

6. This is to be an encouragement to us regarding those who have died and for us, who will either die, or meet the Lord in the air.   

This passage is one of the dearest in all Scripture to remind us:

1. This world is not our home. 

2. Death does not win with believers and is not the final sentence of the book. 

3. We will be reunited with our family and friends who have died before us. 

4. We will be united with Christ, forever.  

Be encouraged!  

God is Made Known - John 1-2

John 1:18 (ESV)

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

The essence of the book of John is to reveal to us the Son of God. That was the purpose of John writing the book:

John 20:30-31 (ESV)

The Purpose of This Book

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

There was a rising teaching in the church to deny that Jesus was the Son of God.  So John is writing this entire book to make sure the church stays on track doctrinally.   The above passage is a key element in understanding John’s argument and our need to know who Jesus is.   No one has ever seen God.  But, through Jesus and in this gospel, He has made Him known.   John had just stated that Jesus was the living Word and ...

John 1:14 (ESV)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus became the Word in flesh.  He was the Son of God.   God sent him to make Himself known. The word known in the text has this meaning:

(Word Biblical Commentary) The term ἐξηγήσατο is related to the English term "exegesis"; in Josephus it is the technical term for the exposition of the Law by the rabbis. The object of the exposition from the Logos-Son is the Father. This "exegesis" is peculiarly authoritative by virtue of the unity of the Son with God, expressed in the phrase "who is in the bosom of the Father," i.e., in closest fellowship with him (cf. 13:23). The prime reference is to the relationship to God of the Son in his life of flesh and blood, but it naturally extends to his pre-existent and post-Resurrection relationship to the Father. The finality of the revelation of God through the Logos-Son could hardly be more strongly expressed.

We can know the Father because we can know the Son.  Knowing the Son is knowing the Father.   That is the purpose of Jesus’ coming to earth and His reason for dying, and raising from the dead.   He has come to make God known.  

God Has Purpose For the Way We Worship Him - Ezekiel 43-48

Ezekiel 46:9-10 (ESV)

“When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: no one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead. When they enter, the prince shall enter with them, and when they go out, he shall go out.

Of the 48 chapters and 1,273 verses of Ezekiel these two verses seem odd to select for a short blog entry.    But the prophet Ezekiel, in this section, is recording a vision that God told him to write.  He is the writer but God is the author.  God decided to tell Ezekiel how he wanted worshippers in this future Temple to enter and to leave.   We know from the New Testament that all Scripture is profitable for us:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Realizing that these words from Paul to Pastor Timothy are true, we must apply them to Ezekiels enter-exit words, above.    Perhaps we can learn the following from this passage. Or, at least, make some applications to our lives. 

1.  This certainly reinforces that God is the God of order and not confusion.

1 Corinthians 14:33 (ESV)

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

God created the earth in a particular order.  He had an order that the nation of Israel should camp.  He had an order when He told Moses how to construct the first Tabernacle.    God is orderly.   This future Temple would also have order.  The world is living in chaos.  They thrive in chaos.   Satan introduced sin in the garden and with that sin sent the world into chaos.   Jesus is coming to restore order. 

2. Figuratively perhaps Jesus wants these furniture worshippers to show up to worship and approach God and then move onward in their walk.  This entry from one direction left no room for them to return to where they were.  They, of course, could return to their homes, but the picture is important for them to realize that when we approach God and leave our burdens at His feet we have no need to return where we were.  

3. Perhaps this is a way for God to make sure worshippers greet and engage with other worshippers.   Those coming in from the north might be tempted to only worship with those in the north.  Those who come in from the south, returning to the south, might cause them to only engage with those who come and return as they do.   Jesus wants His family to engage with each other.   He does not want us to social buffer with only those we know and have familiarity.   Crossing each other caused them to see others who also approached God and worshipped Him.  This is an encouraging practice.  Our current churches see people sit and engage with those they are familiar with and only those people.

4.  One last aspect that God may want to communicate to us as He mentions this entrance-exit, is that once we have worshipped and had communion with God we are to move into new territories and reach new people and see things differently.  After worship we are walk through a new door of opportunity.   Our worship is not stagnant.  We are moving forward, speaking of our communion with God to new peoples, in new places. 

Nothing in God’s Word is void of lessons for our lives.   He speaks to us and wants us to learn His character and how to worship Him in an orderly way and with divine purpose.  

Wisdom Doesn’t Guarantee Wealth, But It Can Produce Wealth - Proverbs 14-15

Proverbs 14:24 (NASBStr)

The crown of the wise is their riches,

But the folly of fools is foolishness.

Proverbs 14:24 (ESV)

The crown of the wise is their wealth,

but the folly of fools brings folly.

Throughout the book of Proverbs there is a constant contrast between the wise and the foolish.   The writer of this proverb wants us to know that one of the advantage of the wise person is that their wisdom brings them riches.  The logical reason for this is that with their wisdom they are trusted and often consulted (think Daniel).  They make wise choices and that allows them to be safe and secure when others are in difficulty and danger (think David).   People who fear The Lord by faith are given wisdom and with that wisdom are sought out and given high positions of influence (think Joseph).  They are able to earn income and wealth because they know hard work and ethical decisions (think Abraham).  The contrast to that is the foolish man.   They are only left with folly.  They don’t have positions of influence.  They have no wealth (think Lot).   When we believe in God and His word we have blessings God makes available through conduits of good works, smart choices, hard work, and strong networking.   Solomon uses the symbol of the crown here to indicate the wise person will be noticed.  They are able to walk with respect and authority.   Foolish people are not so.  They may get laughter and enjoy social interaction.  But, they do not have respect and influence.    Wisdom brings wealth, but the wise uses it for future influence and bringing glory to God, not for themselves.   The fool uses their wealth to advance their own folly.   Such is the contrast in Proverbs.  To the wise, wealth is a reward. To the fool, wealth is the goal. This is why the fool has nothing at the end.  The reward for the fool is his folly.