The messages of both John (3:2) & Jesus (4:17) include appeals for repentance. There is NO WAY around it the true call and the true response to following Jesus includes repentance, which means sorrow over sin (internal change) and living differently (external change).
John wasn’t against baptizing the Pharisees and Sadducees, he was against them getting baptized because it was the “in thing” to do (3:7, 9) When I got baptized as an 8th grader I only did it because that is what everyone did. That is wrong and it seems that is what John is implying these two groups are doing and John wants it clear, you get baptized your life must change, your life must bear fruit.
The three temptations of Jesus are always very fascinating to me here is my take on the three:
The last temptation I see differently than I used to. I used to think this temptation was about giving Jesus power. But Jesus was going to get the power one way or the other. I now see this temptation as Satan trying to get Jesus to avoid the hard work, to take the easy way out, to avoid living the sacrificial life to get what was already rightfully His.
I think Satan tempts many of us in this same way. Heaven and eternal life have been promised to us and Satan tries to tell us, “You can get there without having to really make this sacrifice or that sacrifice.” “God doesn’t really expect you help there or serve here.” NONSENSE! Jesus took the long view and not the easy route and I’m glad He did because now as I take the long view I can get the Promised Land too.
One of those long view journeys Jesus calls us to participate in is to be fishers of men (4:19).
Witnessing to my neighbor, my co-worker, strangers is the natural outflow of truly following Jesus!
And my last thought: In some parts of the world we embrace the ministry of supernatural healing in our church, we need to embrace it more in the North American Division of the Church. Why? Because it was a MAJOR component of Jesus’ ministry (4:23, 24) oh and Ellen White’s too, how many times was she miraculously healed? Many!
Those are my thoughts on Matthew 3 & 4
Tomorrow’s Reading: Romans 5 & 6
There is much to learn and much to write about from these five chapters of Isaiah. If you have the time it would be good to read Isaiah with a good commentary next to you. It will help with the history and the symbolism that will then help with gaining even deeper blessings. But for the purposes of this blog and to strive for brevity I will share just a couple of thoughts I had as I read.
First of all did you notice all the rich prophecies pointing to Jesus, 6:14; 9:6, 7; 11:1-5 just to name a few.
I really love what I see as the faith of Ahaz in chapter seven. In 7:10 & 11 The Lord tells Ahaz to ask for a sign. Ahaz refuses to ask for one. At first I thought, “well he’s in trouble now, but then just one verse after his refusal he tells us of the sign of Jesus. So I went back and read from the beginning of chapter seven again down through verse 16, and I saw it…
In Isaiah 7:4, 5, 7 God makes a promise to Ahaz,
“Take care and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands…Because Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah has planned evil against you…It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass.”
This is why Ahaz didn’t need a sign, God had already made a promise and Ahaz trusted God at His word. Just a quick question I put before myself maybe you could ask the same, “In God’s words there are so many promises, do I trust those or do I still ask God to sometimes “prove” Himself?”
In 8:19 there is the question is asked,
“Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?”
And I wrote in my Bible, “Wouldn’t this include people praying to the saints?” –Just a thought…
I love the promise/prophecy of the Gospel expansion in 9:1-7! And I prayed for the United States and for the DC/Baltimore Suburbs that it would be true for us that “There will be no end to the increase of His government of the peace.” Jesus keep this promise in our land too! No end to the increase!
10:1, 2 is an indictment to the greed of history…including today!
I am fascinated by the concept of remnant and so I really appreciated 10:20-22. One of the descriptors of remnant here are people that “truly rely on the Lord.” And there is also this warning, “For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, ONLY a remnant within them will return.” Here it is clear it doesn’t matter what group is associated with the truth or the Biblically stated people with the remnant truth, some of those folk still won’t be remnant. We must rely upon the Lord truly!
There is more remnant info in chapter 11, some fascinating stuff.
But I will end my comments for now and encourage all of us to “TRULY rely on the Lord” this day and every day from this point forward.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Matthew 3 & 4
Today’s post is actually an anonymous guest post. My friend who has been battling physical sickness at a level that is beyond my comprehension for the last 2 1/2 to 3 years sent me the message you’ll read below based on their reading of today’s passage. I chose to share it with you because to me it reveals the beauty of the Bible. The passages of Job 3 & 4 which may be discouraging to many, maybe even distressing give some going through struggles like Job HOPE! Yes today’s passage believe it or not can be a message of HOPE. Read the following and see what I mean:
“It’s funny that today’s reading was Job 3. Yesterday I had one of those days where I feel really discouraged. And I see it when I read Job, he’s just so tired, he doesn’t want to deal anymore and wonders why he’s there, what the point is, probably feels like he’s accomplishing nothing (we don’t know how long he was going through this, do we?), probably wonders if he’ll ever feel better. So we see Job having “one of those days” too. When I have those moments, I feel guilty like I should be stronger all the time, I don’t want anyone to know about how much I am struggling. This passage is a reminder to me that when that happens (when I have a bad day and wonder how much more of this I can take), I don’t have to feel bad about those feelings! And then chapter 4 reminds me of how blessed I am by the friends and family I have who love me and offer support and prayers all the time. And when I come across those friends who tell me I’m sick because of my sins, I can remember Job and realize I’m in good company :)”
What I believe in my heart and what I find so beautiful is that when God inspired a passage like Job 3 & 4, a passage I don’t really understand and I wonder what is the point of this text in the scriptures, it’s okay that I don’t understand it because God didn’t inspire it for me in my present situation. He inspired it for my friend and others in similar situations. That is the beauty of the scriptures, there is a word of HOPE for everyone in every situation!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Isaiah 7-11
In Psalm 3 the first Psalm of our reading today one verse really ministered to my heart,
“I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.” –Psalm 3:5
How many nights have I been sleepless with worry, with stress, with fear? David’s own son was trying to usurp him, his own son had chased him out of the city he was king over. Yet David slept. This sentiment is again expressed in regards to a different matter in Psalm 4,
“In peace I will both lie down AND sleep, for you alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.” –Psalm 4:8
Oh Jesus, help me to sleep even when crisis is in my life because I am at peace with You!
In Psalm 4 there was similarly a line that struck me,
“Tremble and do not sin…” –Psalm 4:4a
David acknowledges his fear, trembling is not the problem it is when that fear leads to sin. I’ll use something that most feel is innocuous in our modern society, but I see it as a result of sin in my life. As I have gotten older I’ve found that I deal with my stresses, anxieties by eating. Late at night when I can’t sleep to take my mind off the problem, I eat. To me this is sin. It is putting comfort in food, rather than God, “Tremble and do not sin…”
How?
“Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.” (4:4b)
David acknowledges anxiety, he lays down and thinks upon, meditates upon God, and then he is still. Oh Jesus, keep me from sinning in my stress!
And finally in the last Psalm of the day, Psalm 5 the following text convicted me,
“In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch.” (5:3)
Some neglect the first part of this verse, but many more probably neglect the last part of this verse.
David makes a commitment to God, “when I get up in the morning God You will hear from me!” Many of us do this though some of us don’t do it as often as we should.
But it was the second part of this text that convicted my heart to the core,
“I will order my prayer to you and EAGERLY WATCH.” (5:3b)
I read that “watch” in a couple different ways all equally convicting.
The second time I read it through (the first time I read each of these Psalms I got nothing, so I prayed and asked God to open my eyes and this blog is what He revealed to me after that prayer) this word “watch” meant to me that after I finish talking to God in the morning I won’t just rise-up and go on with my day as if nothing happened, no I will “watch” to see how God answers those prayers I prayed in the morning. I don’t believe enough folk do this. We pray and then don’t even keep our eyes open to see how God will answer.
But then the third or fourth time I read this Psalm the “watch” took on a different meaning to me, based on the rest of the Psalm following this verse.
I will “eagerly KEEP watch” so that I do not leave the presence of Jesus which I entered into in my morning prayers.
Why did I understand it in this way? Because verses 4-12 are all about staying in the ways of the Lord, not falling into sin. Not getting distracted by the wickedness of the world, staying on the pathway of God.
Both these ways of “watching” mean something to me, I will watch to see how the Lord works, and I will watch to make sure I prayerfully remain in Jesus’ presence all day long and not just in the morning!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Job 3-4
So this was a bloody reading. The picture of God in these chapters and really in the rest of the book of Joshua is a hard picture for many. It leads some to ask the question, “How could a loving God do such things?” When we ask that question we forget about the more appropriate question, “What was the true causation of death in the first place?”
The answer is in our reading today.
In the seventh chapter of Joshua we learn of a man named Achan who sinned and did not follow the wisdom and counsel of God in the destruction of Jericho, due to this man’s action Israel loses a battle and 36 soldiers die (7:5). What is Joshua’s immediate reaction?
He blames God (7:6-9).
The Lord takes the blame for a time then He stops Joshua…
“Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face?” (7:10)
God asks the question rhetorically, He knows Joshua is blaming Him for the consequences of life lost, and what Joshua perceives to be impending doom.
But then God reveals to Joshua the real reason lives are lost in three little words…
“Israel has sinned…” (7:11a)
The rest of our reading today and the rest of the reading of this book, rather than blaming God, maybe we should pause and remember those words…
Maybe we should substitute our name for Israel, “Chad has sinned…”
“For the wages of SIN is death.” -Romans 6:23
God gets blamed but it is our sin and the corporate sin of all humanity that has lead to all physical and ultimately eternal death, both in the book of Joshua and beyond.
This warning was given to us (humanity) in the garden, we read it just the other day,
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” –Genesis 2:15-17
You sin, you shall surely die.
Sin brings on death.
Let us lay blame at the proper feet…
Our own.
And I know our reading was in Joshua…
But I praise God for the rest of the verse in Romans 6:23…
“…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
How?
“He (Christ) Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24
Amen and Amen!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Psalms 3-5
Sorry I am getting to this blog so late! I didn’t have time to write prior to church and this is the first time I am able to settle in at home and share with you my thoughts on today’s reading, Genesis chapters 4 through 7.
Before I get into some of the spiritual lessons that spoke to me in these chapters I want to share with you a question that developed out of this reading that I don’t know that there is an answer to. At what ages and what stages in life were Cain and Abel when Cain killed Abel? I speculate it is much later in life than we have traditionally imagined in our storybooks. I believe this based on two passages.
First, after Cain kills Abel and God tells him what the consequences will be Cain speaks the following, “My punishment is too great to bear…whoever finds me will kill me.” (4:13, 14b)
What I want to know who are these “whoevers.” This to me implies that there are other people living, this means Adam and Eve would have already had to have other sons and daughters.
The second verse that further supports this idea is that Cain leaves his home and settles in the land of Nod and the very next verse states, “Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived…” (4:17) Maybe I am reading it wrong but it seems the spacing and transition of these verses again implies that this wife was already Cain’s before he left home.
What ages and stages of life were Cain and Abel? I think later than we’ve believed before, but of course there is no definite answer.
I see in verse 5 an allusion to faithful stewardship, “Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock…” The “firstlings” Abel didn’t bring the leftovers, he didn’t give to himself or his family first, he brought the firstling, def: “the first agricultural produce or animal offspring of a season.”
We are to bring the first of our paycheck to God!
The question to Cain, “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?” (4:7a) shows that Cain knew right from wrong. Which means Cain decided God wouldn’t “mind” if Cain did it as he pleased rather than as God asked. Wow, how many things do we do in like manner in regards to both private and corporate worship?
In chapter 6 verse 4 there are some that believe this is speaking of Angels coming down out of heaven and sleeping with human women creating these super beings. Other people say, “No it wouldn’t be angels from heaven, but rather wicked angels.” I’ve never believed this but I for some reason have never had a great Biblical answer to combat it, ‘till I was reading today.
As I was reading verse 4 suddenly it struck me how verses 1 & 2 read, “Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.”
Notice in verse 2 it reads, “the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took WIVES for themselves…”
And now I have my argument against breeding between angels and men, yes folk many people believe this…
Here is the argument and not even an argument we will use Jesus’ words to support the theory both these groups are humans and not angels, “But Jesus answered and said to them,
“You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Matthew 22:29, 30)
Angels don’t take wives according to Jesus, thus Genesis 6:4 cannot be talking about some super humans because of angelic intermingling with humans.
Now does that mean I understand why these individuals were the “mighty men of old, men of renown”?
Nope. But I know it’s not because they had an angel parent.
I also do know that verse 2 is clearly condemning choosing spouses based on “whatever.”
Verse two also strikes me in that the scriptures here are laying out the beginning of the corruption of the whole earth and they start with Godly people intermarrying with the ungodly. This seems like a warning to all unmarried Christian folk that try and justify dating those with dissimilar beliefs. Not a good idea!
In these chapters we have some tremendous examples of faithful people. Abel who obeyed God with his worship and it cost him his life. Enoch who walked so near to God that he was translated to Heaven before seeing death. Finally Noah, who stood apart not just from a group, but from the entire world in his day, talk about tough. We struggle when a friend or two is pulling us in a specific direction, imagine the hold world pushing against us? Yet Noah stood strong. It would be more than wise for all of us to pray, “let me be an Abel with my worship, an Enoch in my walk, a Noah in this wicked world.”
May God hear and answer that prayer in each of our hearts!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Joshua 6-10