The Wilderness, Part 3

Hey everybody,
In my two previous posts I have discussed the idea of being in the wilderness, comparing our situation to that of the Israelites, as they wandered in the wilderness for forty years.  Certainly we all have times in the wilderness. Even Jesus had his time in the wilderness.  Two lesson we have already seen about the wilderness from Deut. 8 is that 1) The Lord tests in the wilderness.  and 2) The Lord still meets our needs, even in the wilderness.  There is one more lesson to learn about the wilderness.  That is, the wilderness is followed by the Promised Land. (Like lesson 2, someone spoke about this at the conference, but I do not remember who.)

Deut. 8:6-9 says, "Obseve the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to Him and revering Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land - a land with brooks, streams and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines, pomegrantates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills."

At this point, after all of this time in the wilderness, God was about to lead the nation into the Promised Land, a place with all kinds of good things.  Likewise, you may feel like you are in the wilderness, right now, but be assured that the Promised Land is coming.  I don't know how long this wilderness will last, but I do know that it will end.  As we walk in obedience to Him (v.6), he will lead us to our own Promised Land.

Truth be told, this is not my first wilderness experience.  It's probably not yours either.  It likely won't be our last, either.  Thankfully, God has given some great Promised Land eperiences in between.  And no matter how many wilderness experiences we might have, we know that as disciples of Jesus, our story ends with Promised Land.  So together, let us hear the call of Deut. 8:6 and walk in obedience and reverence to God, because you may be in the wilderness now, but the Promised Land is coming.

Tom

The Wilderness, Part 2

Hey everyone.
In my previous post I talked about going to the Conversations Conference and hearing different speakers talk about lessons they learned while in the wilderness, then coming and basically entering into a time of wilderness.  We looked at Deuteronomy 8, and how Gow says that He had used the wilderness to humble and test the Israelites.

I want to share another lesson on the wilderness.  Someone spoke about this at the conference, but I do not know who to give the credit to.  Deut. 8:3-4 syas, " He humbled you, causing you t hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you not you ancestors had known, to teach you that man does nto live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years."  The point that someone made at the conference was that the Israelites were not abandoned, just because they were in the wilderness.  God continued to take care of them.  He fed them and gave them some very sturdy clothes that did not wear out for forty years.  They wandered around in that wilderness for forty years without their swelling.  He took care of them nutritionally, materially and physically. 

As we continue to wak around in this wilderness, God continues to take care of His people.  I am fortunate, in that both my wife and I are able to work from home.  I know that not everyone is so fortunate.  I don't know things are going for you in this time of wilderness, but I believe that God will provide.  Note that God did not provide that manna and quail unitl the Israelites knew they were hungry.  Verse 3 says, "He humbled you, causing you to hunger, then feeding you.''  So if you are having a tough tme in the wilderness, don't despair.  God has not abandoned you,  He may be letting get hungry, but He will feed you. 
Tom

The Wilderness

Hey everyone.
Just before everyone was issued a stay-at-home order, I was privileged to be able to go to a conference for the Conversations Conference for the kingdom teachers within our churches.  It was an amazing event, in which I learned a tremendous amount and gained new vision for myself and for a teaching ministry here in New Jersey.  One thing that came up in more than one of the lessons that I heard while there was talk about being in the wilderness.  A few speakers talked about going through their own personal wilderness and what God taught them while they were there.  Nobody needed to explain what the wilderness was. I think we all identified quickly, because we all have had our own times in the wilderness.  The comparisons were made with the wilderness that the children of Israel wandered through for forty years, but even Jesus had his time in the wilderness.

I share this now, because the talk of wilderness has taken on a new meaning to me after five or six weeks of being at home.  I'm working from home, worshipping at home, talking to the brothers from home.  I mean, I get excited when someone needs me to walk to the CVS around the corner to pick up medicine, just to have a chance to get out of the house.  After some phone converstation with a few brothers, and hearing how difficult this isolation has been, I began to realize that we are in a very new and different wilderness. (One that I pray does not last 40 years.) I think that there are some valuable lessons for us in this wilderness.

Deut. 8:2-3 says, "Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what is in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."

God says plainly that for the Israelites, the wilderness was a time of testing. God used the wilderness to test the Israelites and see what was in their hearts, and whether or not they would obey Him.  Often, they failed the test. Read Exodus 16 about the manna and the quail.  God says in verse 4 that He is testing them to see if they with follow His instructions.  Some did. Some didn't.  Those who did, always had just what they needed.  Those who didn't had maggot infestations or went hungry.

So then the idea to consider is this: Is this time of stay-at-home, social distancing and online fellowship a wilderness for you?  Is God testing you to see if you will remain faithful to Him?  Or to see if you will follow His instructions? I don't know, but be open to that possibility.  How long will this wilderness last?  Again, I don't know.  I have determined, though, I will leave the wilderness stronger than I entered it, because if I am being tested, I want to pass this test.  Let's pass it together. Stay in the word.  Read some good spiritual books.  Pray. Find ways to stay connected. So that when this time of wilderness is over, we will enter the Promised Land together.

The Supreme King

Two times in the book of Revelation, Jesus is referred to as "the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords."  Rev. 17:14 says, "They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them becasue He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings - and with him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers."  (see also Rev. 19:16) Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and he will alwys win.

By now, you may have figured out that Jesus is the King of everything. Read the gospels and see Him changing water into wine or walking on the water.  He is king over the laws of science.  See how he heals the sick.  He is King over the pathogens that infect our bodies.  Or read about how he made the lame to walk and gave sight to the blind.  He is King over the organ systems of our bodies.  Yes, Jesus is the King of all things.  Is rising from the dead, he has shown himself to be kingeven over death.  He is the Risen King.
Reflection: Think about all that you learned about Jesus this week.  What stands out to you about the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

The Eternal King

Luke 1:26-38 tells the story of the angel Gabriel and his appearance to Mary. Notice what he says to her in verses 30-33:

“Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.  You will conceive and give birth to a son and you will call him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever, his kingdom will never end.”

Gabriel tells Mary two important things for the purposes of our study today.  First, her son Jesus would be a king. And second, that His kingdom would last forever.  Let’s also look at another prophecy about Jesus in Dan. 7:14: “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him.  His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

Together, we have looked at several prophecies about the kingship of Jesus.  The Bible is full of references to it. And this passage in Daniel sums up much of what we have learned.  Jesus is king with all power and authority. He is king of all people and for all people, and king for all time.

We have seen his kingship was established from before His birth and now we see that its timeline extends infinitely.  Jesus was, is and forever will be, King. Generations down the road, Jesus will still be king. When the time of the Earth comes to an end, Jesus will still be king.  If we go millions of years into eternity, Jesus will still be king. His is an eternal kingship.

Some questions for thought:

1. How do the prophecies about Jesus help you understand him better?

2. Understanding that Jesus will be king forever, does it seem worthwhile to know the king?

The Universal King

Another great prophecy about Jesus comes from Zechariah 14:9, "The Lord will be king over the whole Earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name." Jesus is a universal king.

First, Jesus is the king of everyone and everything.  In Matthew 28:18, Jesus tells us that God has given to him all authority, both in Heaven and on Earth.  (See also, Phil. 2:9-11, John 3:35) Jesus Is universal in His authority as king. He has all authority. 

But, secondly, Jesus is a universal king in a different way. He is king for everyone.

Generally, we don’t like authority.  We don’t want anyone to have authority over us and to have the power to tell us what to do.  However, King Jesus is such a kind authority that we should want to submit to Him. Think about what it says in Romans 8:37-39: “No, in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus, the universal king, has all authority.  Authority over life and death. Authority over spiritual powers.  Authority over the past and the future and all that has been created. He wants to use that authority on your behalf, because of the love that He has for you.  And this love is for everyone. There is no one that can say, “Well, I’m that one guy that Jesus doesn’t love.”  No one can make that claim.  

Yesterday, we talked about how Jesus was a conqueror. Today, we see how He wants to use His God-given authority, to make you a conqueror too, because He is a king for everyone.  

Some questions to consider:

1. What are some things that are difficult for you to submit to the authority of Jesus?

2. Now, think about Jesus authority, coupled with the love that He has for you. How does that make you feel?

The Glorious King

David wrote this in Psalms 24:7-10

Lift up your heads, you gates,

Be lifted up, you ancient doors,

That the King of Glory may come in.

Who is this King of Glory?

The Lord strong and mighty,

The Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, you gates,

Lift them up, you ancient doors,

That the King of Glory may come in.

Who is He, this King of Glory?

The Lord Almighty, He is the King of Glory.

Our King Jesus is a Glorious King. David tells us a lot about His Glory. He is strong. He is mighty. But where does He show himself to me mighty? He is mighty in battle. We don't often think of Jesus as this kind of king. We think of him as a gentle king, holding a lamb, but Jesu is a warrior. David calls Him, the Lord Almighty. This is translated from the Hebrew phrase, Yahweh Tsavaot. While the NIV translates this as Lord Almighty, it could also be translated as Lord of Armies (Yahweh = Lord, Tsavaot = Armies) You see, Jesus, King of Glory is a fighter, a warrior, a conqueror ad He leads the armies of God into battle. He is glorious in battle and the King of Glory. Remember how Jesus made a whip out of cords and drove out the money changers from the temple because they were robbing people? (Matt.21:12-13) Jesus was willing to fight for people. He fights spiritual battles on our behalf, as well. (See Proverbs 21:31, Jude 24) And the good news is, He always wins. (See I Cor. 15:57 - But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.)

Questions to consider:

1. How does it change your perception of Jesus to think of Him as a warrior?

2. How does it make you feel to know that Jesus, the King of Glory, will fight for you, and He can't lose?

The Righteous King

I am posting Day 2 of the Quiet Time series for last year's Teen Camp, The Risen King: The Righteous King.

Jesus is a righteous king.  Now, righteous is a word that we hear a lot, but do we really understand what it means? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, righteous means, “acting in accord with divine or moral law; free from guilt or sin.” So to say that Jesus is completely righteous, would be to say that Jesus never broke God’s law (divine law) and always did the right thing (moral law). In other words, Jesus did not sin.  Jeremiah prophesied this about Jesus (Jer. 23:5):

“The days are coming’” declares the Lord,

  “When I will raise up for David a righteous branch,

A king who will reign wisely

     And do what is just and right in the land.

In his days Judah will be saved

    And Israel will live in safety.

This is the name by which he will be called:

  The Lord Our righteous Savior.

The Hebrew writer quotes (Heb. 1:8-9) from Ps. 45:6-7 when talking about the righteousness of Jesus: But about the Son He says, "Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever,  A scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.  You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy”

God promised through Jeremiah that He would give a king.  This king would reign wisely and be for us a righteous saviour.  Jesus is this righteous king who will always do what is right, because he loves what is right and hates what is wicked.  

Questions to consider:

1. What does it mean to you that King Jesus will always do what is right?

2. Does that help you trust Him? In what ways?

The King Foretold

Last summer, the New York City Church of Christ Teen Camp theme was The Risen King. Ross Lippencott and the Youth and Family Ministry staff asked me to write a six part Quiet Time series for the camp.  These were written with our teenagers in mind, most of whom are not yet disciples.  None of the campers mentioned the queit times to me, good or bad, but I did get some really  positive feedback from the counselors. Any way, it seems appropriate to me to roll out a series of quiet about our Risen King on the day after Easter.  Each one included some questions in hopes of sparking some thought about Jesus within the hearts and minds of the campers.  I have included them here.  My plan is to put one Quiet Time out each day through Saturday. I will start with Monday's Quiet Time: The King Foretold.

Seven Hundred years before Jesus was born, Isaiah wrote this :

“For unto us a child is born, 

   To us a son is given,

    And the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace 

   there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

  And over his kingdom,

Establishing and upholding it

  With justice and righteousness

  From that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty 

  Will accomplish this.”

                            Isaiah 9:6-7

Isaiah’s prophecy says that a king is going to come.  This king would come to us as a child but would eventually establish an eternal kingdom through justice and righteousness. Also according to Isaiah, this king would bring great peace to his kingdom, a peace without end.  This is the king foretold. Many prophets wrote about him. (see also Micah 5:2, Jeremiah 23:5, Ps 2:6-7) This king that the prophets wrote about is Jesus.

This prophecy tells about a king, but he will be more than a king.  Isaiah mentions four other roles of this king: He is called: 1) Wonderful Counselor, 2) Mighty God, 3) Everlasting Father and 4) Prince of Peace. 

Consider King Jesus in all of these roles:
1. The Wonderful Counselor offers guidance and wisdom for our lives.  
2. The Mighty God has all power and authority to work on our behalf.
3. The Everlasting Father loves us the way a father loves his child.
4. The Prince of Peace makes peace, particularly between God and man.

Something to think about:
1. Isaiah prophesied about Jesus over 700 years before he was born.  Knowing that Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecies and many others, how does that affect your faith?
2. How has Jesus brought peace to you?  
3. Which of King Jesus’ other roles is most meaningful to you?  Why?

The Year of the Lord's Favor

Hey everyone,
While I am still busy, teaching five history classes from home and doing graduate work, social distancing has allowed me more time to write.  So here my fourth post in a little over a week.  I'm reaching back into my quiet time book and finding things that I had wanted to write about but didn't make the time.  This is one such post. It comes from Luke 4 and tells the story of Jesus in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth.  He reads from Isaiah 61 and makes commentayr on it.  What he says makes his hometown so angry that they want to kill him.

I read up on the subject matter last summer in Steve Kinnard's King Jesus and then again this week in Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth Bailey. (Both books are excellent if you are looking for something to read other than my blog, during this time self quarantine.) Seeing it again in Bailey's book reminded me of some really cool stuff. 

According to Luke 4:14-21, Jesus reads this from Isaiah 61:
     "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
       because he has anointed me,
     to proclaim good news to the poor.
     He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
       and recovery of sight for the blind,
       to set the captive free,
       to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Then  he rolled up the scroll, sits and says to the crowd, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  Jesus was declaring to his hometown, that He, the Messiah, had come. 

There are many levels to this story, and perhaps I will examine other levels in a different post.  I want to focus on what Jesus read and also , what he didn't read.  His audience was no doubt very familiar with Isaiah 61. If you were to look at the passage, you would see that Jesus made a calculated decision to stop where he did.  Isa. 61:2 reads like this:
     to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
       and the day of vengeance of our God,
     to comfort those who mourn.

His audience liked this passage, because they believed that the year of the Lord's favor would be to their benefit, and that His vengeance would then be carried out on their enemies.  Isaiah 61 continues with talk of the ancient ruins being rebuilt and strangers and foreigners doing the work, while they reap the benefits and enjoy the wealth of other nations.  So try to imagine Jesus reading one of the congregations's favorite passages, and stopping abruptly just before he gets to the "good stuff," of revenge on their enemies.  They had been happy and agreeing with everything their hometown boy was saying, until suddenly, crickets.  Their reaction to what Jesus is saying will soon take a sharp turn for the worst.  Remember though, that today we are focusing on what Jesus said, and what he didn't say. 

Jesus gave his crowd these things: Good news, freedom, sight and more freedom. Then offered the Lord's favor.  He did not declare the Lord's vengeance.  I think this was good news for them (although they didn't see it that way.)  It is also good news for us.  Jesus offers us good news, freedom, sight and more freedom.  He would much rather give us the Lord's favor than the Lord's vengeance. The Lord's impulse is toward mercy rather than punishment. 
Tom
 

Blessed

Rob Novack recommended a book to me, Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes, by Kenneth Bailey. (It's a great book that I would recommend as well.) Bailey spent sixty years living in the Middle East, many of those years, he taught in seminaries there.  So he had a unique perspective on the thinking in that region of the world. Part 2 of his book is dedicated to the Beatitudes.  He discusses two words from the Greek that we translate as blessed.  The first word is a verb, eulogeo. We use it when we talk about giving a blessing to someone.  For example, Isaac blessed Jacob.  The other word is an adjective, makarios. According to Bailey, this word is not involved in invoking a blessing but is the recognition of "an existing state of happiness and good fortune."  In the old days, it would have been been pronounced with two syllables, "bless-ed."  Today, we say, "I am so blessed," or "Have a blessed day."  It is makarios that Jesus uses in the Beatitudes. Bailey makes a great point about this. (I am going to paraphrase a lengthy passage from his text (p. 68).  His explanation is better than mine, but it is also much longer, so I am going to try.) He say that we often take each Beatitude to mean that, 'if we do X, we will get Y." For example, "if we are meek, then we will inherit the Earth." According to Bailey, we are looking this backwards. Since makarios means "an affirmation of happy state that already exists," we should look at it this way, "Since we will inherit the Earth, we are meek and therefore happy (makarios).  To me, this changes my whole outlook.  Instead of trying to sort of grunt my way into meekness, or humility*, I can live as though I have this great inheritance and be made meek (or humble) and happy because of it.  This takes the pressure, because I am not changing me, God is.  I am just being grateful and happy.  Think about Matt 5:7.  Because I am shown mercy from God, I am made merciful toward others and I am also blessed (makarios) Or verse 9, Because I am called a child of God, I am made into a peacemaker and I am happier for it. 

*The Greek word that is translated here as meek, praeis, could also be translated as gentle, humble or considerate, according to the BDAG Lexicon.

What is love? Baby Don't Hurt Me

As many of know, I have been working on a Master degree in Biblical Studies with Languages, and this year I am taking Greek. I have seen that an understanding of the Greek is very beneficial in understanding some of the nuances  that we don't get in the English translations.  It has been very exciting.
Any way, I was looking at 1 Cor. 13, trying to understand it in the Greek.  I came to verse 7, "πάντα στέγει, πάντα πιστεύει, πάντα ,ἐλπίζει, πάντα ὑπομένει." All but the first phrase were fairly easy to translate. Referring to love, "in allthings trusts, al things hopes, all things endures." The first verb, στέγει, I was not familiar with. I knew that the NIV 2011 translated it as "protects."
I looked at the note in the Greek New Testament I was using. It said that the word was the
3rd person singular present active indicative of στέγω, which means, "to put up with,"

so πάντα στέγει, would mean, "loves puts up with all things."  Ok, “protect” and “put up with” do not mean the same thing. So which one is it? I pulled out my Greek lexicon (aka BDAG) and looked it up. The lexicon's first definition, is: To keep confidential, cover, pass over in silence. then it makes specific reference to 1 Cor. 13:7 by saying, “of love that throws a cloak of silence over what is displeasing in another person.” (BDAG, p. 942) Apparently, “puts up with” is the better translation.  So all these years that I thought I was really loving my family by protecting them, (and I was!) the greater love may have been the times when I merely put up with them. To be honest, the BDAG definition of throwing a cloak of silence over the things that are displeasing in other people is a high calling indeed.  And I hope that my family can πάντα στέγει (always put up with) me.

Shameless Audacity

I have been studying the book of Luke and I recently studied chapter 11, where Jesus’ apostles ask Him to teach them to pray. In verse 5, Jesus tells a story about having a friend come in the middle of the night asking for bread. In verse 8, Jesus finishes the story by saying, “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”  I have read this before, but had never noticed the phrase “shameless audacity.”  (This is coming out of the NIV 2011.) I compared it with other translations that I had at hand at the moment.  The NIV 1973 simply translates it “persistence.”  The KJV uses the word “importunity,” a word that I was not familiar with, but have learned from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary means “to press or urge with troublesome persistence.”  I began to wonder which translation was the best.  Using the Greek New Testament, I looked up Luke 11:8 and the word translated from the Greek phrase διά γε τἡν ἀναίδειαν αύτου. The note on ἀναίδειαν at the bottom of the page said “shameless persistence.”  Also, I looked a Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of New Testament Words.  It defines ἀναίδειαν as shamelessness and impudence.  I have drawn the conclusion that the better translation is from the NIV 2011, “shameless audacity”  It paints a much clearer picture of what Jesus is saying that simply using the word “persistence.” What I draw from this is that Jesus is advocating that his disciples pray to God with shameless audacity, not being afraid of annoying the Father with their bold requests, and I have worked to change my prayer life that way. Personally I have seen some bold requests granted.