What the Acts of Worship Mean

2 Chronicles 2:1-18 (NKJV)
¹  Then Solomon determined to build a temple for the name of the LORD, and a royal house for himself.
²  Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens, eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.
³  Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre, saying: As you have dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in, so deal with me.
⁴  Behold, I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to Him, to burn before Him sweet incense, for the continual showbread, for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the New Moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.

 

Note: The two books of Chronicles covers much of the same historical events as the four books of Samuel and Kings, but does so after the Exile to Babylon ends and there is more of an emphasis on grace than on the sin and judgment of the earlier books.  Compare this to the Christian Gospels, which cover many of the same events but with differing emphases.  I read recently that the Jewish Bible ends with the two books of Chronicles, giving a hopeful view going forward. 

          When reading these books, I try to compare and contrast the religious acts recorded with what we do in church buildings on Sunday over much of the world.  In so doing I found verse four of this chapter interesting.  Here Solomon is beginning work to build the Temple in Jerusalem and he writes the king of a neighboring country for skilled workers and raw materials for the project.  What struck my attention was verse four, which outlines the purpose and activities of the Temple.  They are...

to dedicate (purpose)

burn incense

present showbread, made fresh regularly.

offerings morning and evening, and on Sabbaths, New Moons and great feasts outlined in Scripture.

          The fact that this describes the great Temple of Jerusalem contrasts greatly with the humble congregation, one of many in my town, that I serve.  The priests of the temple represented the whole nation of Israel, and my congregation is one of many thousands scattered across the country.  Still, the symbolism of the activities of the temple speak to the values of worship in any Christian congregation.  First, the place was dedicated, that is, it is declared holy and for sacred use.  Christian theology would maintain the same for the place we gather for worship, and for the congregation itself.  The image of a temple made of people to house the Lord is part of the New Testament (cf. Ephesians 2:19-22).  Incense symbolizes the prayers of the people; showbread represents the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit; the sacrifices remind us to be living sacrifices unto Christ (Romans 12:1-2).  With this in the back of our minds, I strongly hope that our participation in worship this Sunday will bring encouragement and a refreshed presence of the Holy Spirit.  We don't worship in order to receive, but God does reward people who see Him.  (Hebrews 11:6).

Are Our Lives Gifts from the Lord to Others?

 

2 Kings 13:1-25 (NKJV)
¹  In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years.
²  And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. He did not depart from them.
³  Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael, all their days.
⁴  So Jehoahaz pleaded with the LORD, and the LORD listened to him; for He saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.
⁵  Then the LORD gave Israel a deliverer, so that they escaped from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before.
⁶  Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin, but walked in them; and the wooden image also remained in Samaria.

 

Note:  By this time the now separate nations of Judah and Israel had spotty careers serving the Lord.  Judah was mixed as far as worship of the God of Israel for people also burned incense to other "deities" in the shrines up on the hills.  Israel had been worshipping other gods for many years by this point.  Yet when the idolatrous king of Israel pleaded with the Lord, the Lord listened because He was sensitive to the troubles of the people.  So he sends a deliverer, an unnamed leader who helped Israel break free from Syria.  Then Israel returned to their idolatrous ways.  This has been happening for a long as humans have existed.  They sin.  The get in trouble.  They call on the Lord for help. He helps them.  As soon as the troubles cease, they go back to their old ways.

Verse five says that the Lord gave them a deliverer, as if the life of the person, whoever he was, was a gift to the people of Israel.  I find that an interesting concept, that the Lord gives people as gifts.  This is in the New Testament as well, in Ephesians (4:7-13), pastors and other leaders are given to the church by the Lord.  Is this true of every Christian, not just deliverers, etc?  What if we all thought of our lives as gifts to others, and our definition of success is the positive impact our life has on others?  Are other people enriched and have better lives because we are in it?  Does this change our priorities, if we view our lives as gifts from the Lord to other people? 

Everyday Trials, the Temptation of Witchcraft and People Who Feel Powerless

2 Kings 6:1-33 (NKJV)
¹  And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "See now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us.
²  Please, let us go to the Jordan, and let every man take a beam from there, and let us make there a place where we may dwell." So he answered, "Go."
³  Then one said, "Please consent to go with your servants." And he answered, "I will go."
⁴  So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.
⁵  But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, "Alas, master! For it was borrowed."
⁶  So the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float.
⁷  Therefore he said, "Pick it up for yourself." So he reached out his hand and took it.

This is one of the more obscure miracles in the Old Testament, and for some time I did not see the point of this miracle.  Recently, I learned that one takeaway from it is to compare it to the unfortunate fate of Gehazi, the original personal assistant to the Prophet Elisha (2 Kings 5:20-27).  The Lord does not approve of greed but values the humble servant and cares about the joys and challenges of even his everyday life.  It also is an appeal to people who feel powerless in life, and to those among them who are tempted to look at witchcraft as a way to deal with life.

I found some notes from a good study Bible, and the episode of an unfortunate slave caught in the middle of the Salem Witch Trials, to be helpful commentary when considering this passage.

 

Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

"Ancient magic included a category called transference, where properties or characteristics of one object were passed to another.  In this case, the buoyancy of the wood is passed to the axe head.  While the text is unclear whether Elisha was actually practicing magic or not, his actions would have appeared that way to an ancient observer."

"Magic is typically forbidden to Israel for a number of reasons:  (1)  Magic is human encroachment into the divine realm.  (2)  Magic is used to manipulate deity.  (3)  Magic involves relying on a power other than Yahweh.  If that is the reason, a sanctioned prophet would be able to bypass all three; his office already enters the divine realm, and the power come from Yahweh, even though the prophet appears to have some autonomy in using it.  The prophets are called to wield divine authority at some level."

(Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2017)

 

Note:  I don't know if this is true, but I once read that the horrors of the Salem Witch Trials started with a slave from the Caribbean named Tituba, who taught some young girls spells.  The article noted that witchcraft was attractive to the oppressed and powerless.  The teacher was enslaved and the students were in a culture that probably did not acknowledge much value in them.  Here in this strange passage the Lord addressed the questions of whether God had any interest in the everyday trials and difficulties of His people, and whether it is really worth it for the oppressed and powerless to turn to witchcraft. 

 

What I mean is that the miracle is about a minor issue, not minor to the young prophet who borrowed the axe head, but minor in the grand scheme of things.  Here the miracle shows the intimacy of God.  Our God is a God of everyday life, and has interest even in the everyday trials and challenges of His people.  Also, note that the miracle looks similar to an element of magic called "transference".  The Study Bible listed above said that in ancient times one form of magic was to transfer the characteristic of one object (the stick) to another (the axe head) so the axe head rises to the surface so the young prophet can retrieve it.  Why would the Lord make a miracle look like magic?  I think He wanted to send a message to people tempted to participate in magic.  Magic can be tempting to those who are powerless and oppressed (note the story about the Salem Witch Trials.  Note also the teen witch movie "The Craft" has a sequel out soon).  The message from the Lord is "don't turn to witchcraft in an effort to manipulate nature or some sort of "deity".  Rather, turn to me, the only true God of the universe.  It is an appeal to everyone who feels defeated, powerless, mistreat, subject to injustice. 

 

Note from the web on Tituba, thought to be the first person to confess involvement in witchcraft during the infamous Salem Witch Trials.

Tituba was an Indian woman, not (as commonly believed) a Negro slave. She was originally from an Arawak village in South America, where she was captured as a child, taken to Barbados as a captive, and sold into slavery. It was in Barbados that her life first became entangled with that of Reverend Samuel Parris. She was likely between the age of 12 and 17 when she came into the Parris household. She was most likely purchased by Parris from one of his business associates, or given to settle a debt. Parris, at the time, was an unmarried merchant, leading to speculation that Tituba may have served as his concubine.

Tituba helped maintain the Parris household on a day-to-day basis. When Parris moved to Boston in 1680, Tituba and another Indian slave named John accompanied him. Tituba and John were married in 1689 about the time the Parris family moved to Salem. It is believed that Tituba had only one child, a daughter named Violet, who would remain in Parris's household until his [sic] death.

Tituba made herself a likely target for witchcraft accusations when shortly after Parris's daughter, Betty, began having strange fits and symptoms, she participated in the preparation of a "witchcake" (a mixture of rye and Betty's urine, cooked and fed to a dog, in the belief that the dog would then reveal the identity of Betty's afflictor). Parris was enraged when he found out about the cake, and shortly thereafter the afflicted girls named Tituba as a witch. Parris beat her until she confessed.

Tituba was the first witch to confess in Salem, and she likely did it to avoid further punishment. In her confession she apologized for hurting Betty, claimed she never wanted to hurt Betty, and professed her love for the child. She also wove a lively tale of an active community of witches in Salem. She named Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne as witches. By confessing early on, Tituba avoided the ordeal of going to trial, joining with the afflicted girls in providing key evidence against accused witches. Her husband, John, would also fall into fits, and become afflicted.

When public sentiment towards the accusers and the trials began to change, Tituba recanted her confession. This further enraged Parris, who in retaliation, refused to pay the jailer's fee to get Tituba out a prison. As a result, she spent thirteen months in jail until an unknown person paid the seven pounds for her release and bought her. It is likely that the same person bought her husband, John, because Puritans were not inclined to split up married couples, even slaves. It is unknown what happened to her after she began her life with her new owner. --KS

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/ASA_TIT.HTM

I think that www.umkc.edu is the University of Missouri at Kansas City

The Importance of Music in Worship

2 Kings 3

¹²  And Jehoshaphat said, "The word of the LORD is with him." So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
¹³  Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother." But the king of Israel said to him, "No, for the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab."
¹⁴  And Elisha said, "As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you, nor see you.
¹⁵  But now bring me a musician." Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.

The situation:  Israel and Judah are now separate and sometimes antagonistic countries.  Elijah the great prophet has left for heaven, and his assistant, Elisha, has continued the ministry.  The kingdom of Moab has chosen to rebel against Israel and the king of Israel, Jehoram has enlisted the king of Edom and Jehosphaphat, king of Judah, to go to battle with him.  Uncertain how to proceed, they decide to consult the gods.  Jehoshaphat requests Elisha, prophet of the God of Israel, who agrees to help only because of Jehoshaphat.   The prophet begins by asking that a musician come and perform.  Then he prophesied.

 

Note:  Perhaps this is an example of music being the vehicle of worship.  Worship is an end in itself:  It needs no other purpose than to honor God in a special and unique way and is worth doing even if the worshipper received no benefit.  But worship with music seems to prepare the spirit to receive from the Holy Spirit.  Here the musician helps Elisha and he prophesies to the kings.  Among other things, there is an element of prophecy in a good sermon. 

Family Can Be a Source of Joy or of Misery 2 Samuel 18

 2 Samuel 18:33Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said thus: "O my son Absalom--my son, my son Absalom--if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!"

Note:  Like the misery of losing the infant son who was the first child of David and Bathsheba, (2 Samuel 12:23) now David mourns over a son who hated him, plotted against him for years and sought to overthrow him and have him killed.  How many parents long for and dearly love a grown child who does not love them back?  I remember a couple, now long gone, who endured the conversation with a son who announced he was going to see America on his motorcycle, and he was never coming home.  I know also of a fellow minister, also long gone, whose wife and grown daughter abandoned him and His God.  The church became his only family for the rest of his life.  Family can be the source of great joy or the source of great misery.

Some Actions Have Ramifications

Read 2 Samuel 11-12

2 Samuel 12:10  "Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife."

Some commentaries (cf. Bible Knowledge Commentary) suggest that Bathsheba was a gold digger who sought to entice David, but that is not necessary to understand the story.  It is just as likely, perhaps more likely, that David did not literally see Bathsheba unclothed, but knew what we was doing, enclosed on the roof.  Jerusalem was not that big, and David may have noticed Bathsheba before, and when a messenger comes and invites you to an audience with the king, you must come.  So Bathsheba may very well have been an unwilling adulteress.  David manages to have her husband killed, marries Bathsheba and keeps the whole thing discreet.  But the Lord was displeased, and the ramifications of these events, even though David would ultimately repent and be forgiven, would nonetheless lead to years of misery to David.  As Nathan the prophet would say, the sword will not leave David's house for the rest of his life.  David's family would break his heart for years to come.  That leaves us with the question; are there sins so severe that people suffer ramifications from them even after repentance and forgiveness?  In this case at least, it would seem so.

The Bible never explains how this worked, how the actions of David in his generation would influence the generation beyond.  I know that one theory is that a family's emotional interactions and relationship act like a system and can move from one generation to the next (Cf. Generation to Generation by Rabbi Edwin Friedman).  Another is the spiritual interactions of humans, angels and demons, and I don't propose to really understand that.  Unfortunately, David would face years of trouble from his family.  I believe that a family therapist could have a field day with the Old Testament, and the life of David is a great example of this.  Regardless, this episode with Bathsheba warns us that our actions, both against and in obedience to the will of God, impact others around us, and maybe even those yet to come.  Even in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus, Solomon's mother is Bathsheba and the father is David, but it still mentions that Bathsheba was married to Uriah the Hittite.

Did Saul Go to Heaven or Hell?

Refer to 1 Samuel 28

We're starting the narrative from verse 11 through verse 16.

¹¹  Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" And he said, "Bring up Samuel for me." 

¹²  When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!" 

¹³  And the king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What did you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth."
¹⁴  So he said to her, "What is his form?" And she said, "An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle." And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down.
¹⁵  Now Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul answered, "I am deeply distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may reveal to me what I should do."
¹⁶  Then Samuel said: "Why then do you ask me, seeing the LORD has departed from you and has become your enemy?

 There are a couple of theories (or more) about this whole strange episode.  One, is that this is a demonic spirit who is impersonating Samuel and has arrived to trouble Saul further before this great battle against the Philistines.  The other theory is that the Lord, who normally does not allow interaction between those on earth and those spirits who have departed, has granted a rare exception and that this is literally the spirit of Samuel, coming not in obedience to the call of the spiritist but on command of the Lord, to address Saul one last time.  This is significant because it speaks of the destiny of Saul, of others and of the grace of the Lord even in this harsh interaction. 

According to the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, a medium, in Hebrew, means literally "ghostwife" although the medium could be either male or female.  The notes in this Study Bible consider the spirit to be Samuel, not an impersonator.  Note that according to Deuteronomy 18:10-12, such contact was forbidden by the Lord and that Saul, earlier in his career as king of Israel, had chased out all mediums from Israel.  This one, at the scenic location of En Dor, managed to remain in secret, until Saul came, not to chase her out of the country, but to ask for her help in communicating with the spirit of the prophet Samuel.  She attempts contact, but quickly loses control of the situation when the figure of an elderly man arises out of the earth.

 So if this was really the great prophet Samuel, and not some demonic impersonator, then Samuel truly gave Saul one last word from the Lord.  It was mostly not good news.  He had lost the kingdom, he would lose the battle and he and his sons would be dead by this time tomorrow.  In verse nineteen the savage words are spoken:  "And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me."  Saul faced the dreadful prospect of leaving into the night and facing a battle that he knew he would not survive, but it also begs the question, did Saul end up in heaven or in hell?  He followed the Lord, but did so very poorly with one act of severe disobedience after another, but he would be with Samuel.  So where was Samuel that his spirit would arise out of the earth?  If I'm reading Luke 16:19-31 correctly, he was in a place called "Abraham's Bosum" which was a holding place for the spirits of those saved as they awaited the coming of Christ, who claimed them and took them to heaven during or after His Resurrection.  In which case Saul, for all his disobedience, did not lose his salvation.  That brings me a certain comfort.  Hebrews 6:4-6 seems to indicate that it is possible to lose one's salvation, but compared to this strange story in the Old Testament, I don't think that it is easy.  Saul fell far away from the Lord, and it got him into terrible trouble, but when all was said and done, God's grace still was enough for him, and perhaps for a lot of other people like him who struggle in their walk with Christ. 

The Cruelty of David

1 Samuel 27

⁷  Now the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was one full year and four months.
⁸  And David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. For those nations were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as you go to Shur, even as far as the land of Egypt.
⁹  Whenever David attacked the land, he left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel, and returned and came to Achish.

Note:  David, this great man of God, takes no prisoners.  How do I feel about that?

This guy is supposed to be an example to us.

I feel very uncomfortable about this, and there are several other passages like this in the Bible.  For all the sublime vision and promise of Scripture, there is much that is disturbing and hard to stomach, and this is one of them.  David, this champion of God (who later murdered a loyal subordinate in order to avoid the discovery of his affair (was Bathsheba actually complicit or was she forced?  I think it is a valid question.) is living as an outlaw, hunted by King Saul and he works for the Philistines.  He is involved in tribal raids, claiming that he is attacking Israeli tribes and he kills all the men and women in order to make sure that his Philistine boss doesn't learn that he isn't killing Israelis, but he is killing people.  He's taking no prisoners.

A little information about the tribes he attached.

I looked up some information on the tribes so attacked and found that the Geshurites (kingdom of Geshur) literally dwelt in the midst of Israel, being one the tribes that the half-tribe of Manasseh was supposed to remove from the promised land but failed.  David would actually marry a princess of this tribe, so he becomes a relative of sorts later. 

The tribe of the Girzites was a city-state on a steep hill that was strategically important.  They were also know for worshipping Baal and Ashtaroth.

Finally there was the Amalekites, who attacked Israel soon after they finished their wanderings and were cursed by God.  Read it for yourself in

            Deuteronomy 25:17-19:  "Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt.  When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God.  When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.  Do not forget!"

There is a side to Scripture that depicts humanity as fallen and God as a God of justice and wrath.  It's not comfortable     

We find here the disturbing idea that there are people groups against whom the Lord works in wrath and judgment.  Ultimately there will be followers of Jesus of every nation (people group) but not every people group is in the Lord’s favor.  In fact, the world at large is under a curse and judgment (cf. Matthew 28:19; Hebrews 10:26-29).  In the Book of Romans death still reigned even before the Law through God did not hold people accountable to the Law (Romans 5:12-14).  There was, before the Law, a great separation between the God of life and this world full of death, and all of us are included in that world.  The Lord Jesus does not help us with this.  He, the Lord of all, said that we should not fear people who can destroy the body, but fear Him who can send both body and soul into hell.  That’s worse than killing whole villages (Matthew 10:28)

But it makes grace all the more precious.

Sometimes we emphasize the love of God to the extent that we ignore the justice and wrath against a sinful, fallen Creation.  They are not popular topics but if we ignore them the grace of God becomes saccharine and we fail to appreciate it.  The promise of inclusion into the Kingdom of Christ is all the more wonderful when set against a stark backdrop that the world is at enmity with God, and separated from the same.  In the midst of all this (and I am still uncomfortable with it) I find the promise of 1 Peter 2:9-10 to be all the more precious and encouraging.  It says this:

"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."

There are still parts of the Bible (which I believe is inspired from beginning to end, so I have to deal with all of it) that make my feel uncomfortable and even threatened.  I still struggle with David and similar parts of Scripture, but I find the grace of God in Jesus Christ precious beyond compare, and cherish the promises such as the one in 1 Peter all the more in my struggle.

Can You Die Before Your Time? Can You Live Too Long? 1 Samuel 26:1-25

Can You Die Before Your Time?  Can You Live Too Long?

1 Samuel 26:1-25 (NKJV)
¹  Now the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "Is David not hiding in the hill of Hachilah, opposite Jeshimon?"
²  Then Saul arose and went down to the Wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the Wilderness of Ziph.
³  And Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon, by the road. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.
⁴  David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul had indeed come.
⁵  So David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Now Saul lay within the camp, with the people encamped all around him.
⁶  Then David answered, and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?" And Abishai said, "I will go down with you."
⁷  So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and there Saul lay sleeping within the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the people lay all around him.
⁸  Then Abishai said to David, "God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore, please, let me strike him at once with the spear, right to the earth; and I will not have to strike him a second time!"
⁹  And David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against the LORD'S anointed, and be guiltless?"
¹⁰  David said furthermore, "As the LORD lives, the LORD shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish.

-Revenge, and a Mysterious Reference to an Appointed Day

This passage speaks against the sometimes understandable desire for revenge.  David, at this time of his life, is not King of Israel but has lived as a fugitive for some years being pursued by King Saul.  Twice (this episode is the second time) he refused to avenge himself by killing Saul when the opportunity arises.  He leaves that to the Lord.  But note this phrase in verse ten:  "his day shall come to die."  It raises some questions; is there an appointed time to die?  Is it possible to die before your time?  It seems to be the case sometimes.  Is it possible to miss the appointed date of death and live too long?  I'm not sure, but there are these insights from Scripture-

-The Book of Hebrews notes that we are appointed to die once (no reference to when) and then comes the Judgment. 

            Hebrews 9:27  "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation."

 

-Job, possibly the most ancient of episodes in the Bible, speaks of a specific time for a person to die.

            Job 14:1-6  "Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.  They spring up like flowers an wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.  Do you fix your eye on them?  Will you bring them before you for judgment?  Who can bring what is pure from the impure?  No one!  A person's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.  So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in hit time like a hired laborer."

 

-King Hezekiah, one of the more godly kings of Israel & Judah, was told by the prophet Isaiah that his time on earth was coming to a close.  The king prayed and asked for more time and the Lord granted him fifteen more years, but it was a mixed blessing.  First of all, would you want to know that you had fifteen years, and could count them down year by year as time ran out?  Also, those fifteen years saw a couple of events that would undo a lifetime of work for the king.  He received envoys from another empire, that of Babylon, and showed them the riches of Israel.  That would come to haunt them when that empire returned to invade and plunder Israel.  Also, it was during this time that his son Manasseh was born, and he was one of the most ungodly kings of this monarchy.  He undid almost everything Hezekiah had done.  I remember the prayer of an old friend, who asked that he not live longer than his faithfulness to the Lord Jesus.  There may be something to that.  Perhaps we can live too long, as well as not long enough.

 (2 King 20:1-21; 21; 2 Chronicles 32:24-26, 31; 33:1-10, 18-20;  Isaiah 38-39). 

1 Samuel 13  (New King James Translation of the Bible)

⁵  Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth Aven.
⁶  When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits.
⁷  And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
⁸  Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.
⁹  So Saul said, "Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me." And he offered the burnt offering.
¹⁰  Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.
¹¹  And Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash,
¹²  then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering."
¹³  And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

Note:  Saul had reason to feel compelled, and Samuel still said that it was no excuse.  One commentary (The Spirit Filled Life Bible) noted that God was still to be sovereign, not the king, and that Saul acted contrary to that command.  With great power and spiritual strength, great responsibility and great obedience is required, and Saul's faith was tested.  Surely, though we have far more ordinary lives than this King, our faith will be tested as well.  I suspect that for many of us it already has in one way or another..  Saul understood that God was going to instruct him through Samuel, and he needed to stand his ground even with everything falling apart.  It was in obedience that his authority as king was established.  King Saul waits, but gets impatient and takes matters into his own hands.  Apparently, if he had waited a little longer, Samuel would have arrived and Saul would have received the instruction he needed from the Lord.  Because of this, his lineage will not remain on the throne of Israel. 

Now note this does not remove Saul as king, that will come later, but it does establish that his lineage will not remain.  What does that mean for Jonathan?  In the next chapter we see that he is faithful, valiant and would later be a true friend of David.  The Bible says that we are responsible for our own sins, but Saul's failure changed the destiny of Jonathan, apparently.  It is a graphic example of how our obedience or disobedience to the Lord impacts the lives of others. 

For me personally, I have to ask myself if I have the same desperation for God that Saul should have had, but didn't?  If I know that I have to wait on the Lord, am I willing to wait even when the situation is deteriorating and I feel compelled to disobey?  Saul, after all, had reasons for feeling compelled.  Am I too hasty to get to a decision or a point of action to be still and wait on the Lord? 

Hello, My beautiful wife noted regarding the recent blog that the relationship between the follower of Jesus Christ and God the Father, and that of Abram (later Abraham) and God seemed obscure.  What I meant is that the follower of Jesus is blessed with all the blessings of Abram.  I am not, to my knowledge a direct descendant of Abraham yet the righteousness conferred to him by faith is also imputed to me because of Christ.  Sorry, for the lack of explanation.  I hope this helps.
Romans 4, particularly verses 23-25.

The Opportunities Before You Today

Joshua 1:1-4 (New King James Version)
¹  After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying:
²  "Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them--the children of Israel.
³  Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.
⁴  From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory.

Contrary to the promise to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3, there is a condition of obedience as part of this promise to Joshua.  I see a certain similarity to the unconditional promise to Abram and the covenant we have with God through Jesus Christ.  The "through Jesus Christ" is important because it is Christ, the representative human, who makes the covenant with God the Father and, unlike ancient Israel or the human race as a whole, He will never break that covenant.  Under the leadership and Lordship of Jesus we, flawed as we are, have access to God through that covenant that will never be broken. 

But God's commission to Joshua is a little different in that it is conditional.  The land was granted (and it is a very large parcel of land) on the basis of obedience, and that land had not been completely taken by the end of the Joshua's life.  I think I can compare this with the challenge to make the most of our days on earth, like the old saying, "life is a gift from God, and what we do with that life is our gift to God."  Jesus echoed this in His parable of the talents, (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27) in which the worst response from the servants charged with investing on behalf of their master was to bury the money in the ground.  While there is some discussion as to what the "talents" represent, I think one way to look at it, and at this book, is to ask ourselves what we are doing with our days and with the opportunities before us, and would the Lord be pleased with it?  A long series of small acts of obedience to the Lord, committed over a long period of time, can amount to much.  Pray today, and ask the Lord to reveal the opportunities before you during the course of your day.